Dread Brass Shadows

Dwarves peered around nervously. Gnorst's wicked little eyes went squinty. He wondered if he'd walked into a trap.

Chodo managed a little chuckle. "You're going to do it to yourselves. Because half of you are her creatures and half are Gnorst's." He continued, stirring them up. The old boy had balls that dragged the ground. And he was telling the truth. That was obvious. You could tell as soon as the short folks started eyeballing each other.

The witch yelled, "Don't!"

Chodo laughed.

The fur started flying

How'd he set them off so easy? One second they were calculating their chances, the next flying around hooting and hollering and stabbing.

The men holding the witch eased along the outside wall, toward Chodo. She didn't look so chipper now. Chet paused once to stick a shiv into some short guy who thought he'd be a hero and rescue the maiden not so fair.

It wasn't all dwarf hacking dwarf into chop meat, though. Chet got his before he could get behind the desk with Chodo and his coolie.

Crask made another thumbs-up sign. He and Sadler moved over some, got set.

Gnorst's loyalists were getting the best of the witch's boys. The last two broke for the doorway. The rest whooped in pursuit. I heard Chodo laugh again, softly, now through a gap opening in the wall of the secret room.

Gnorst caught on a step too late. Chodo made good his escape... Only it wasn't so good, was it?

Crask and Sadler bopped the two guys with Chodo, cracked the witch a good one, made sure the wall was solidly in place. Gnorst had him a fit on the other side.

Crask said, "Hi, Boss."

Chodo was fresh out of good humor. He sighed. "You place your bets and take your chances, don't you, Mr. Garrett? But you can't beat the house forever. The wheel is fixed"

"You ought to know."

"I've rigged it often enough. I knew I should have tried harder to find that missing stone."

I tossed it into his lap. "I didn't need it. They killed all your pets." I nodded toward the wall. The dwarves out there had gotten awful quiet. I went to peek.

They were quiet, but there were a good forty of them out there now. Most just stood there staring at Gnorst. Gnorst didn't look a whole lot like Gnorst anymore. He was scared shitless.

His buddies had caught onto him. He'd been using them so he could grab the Book of Shadows and turn himself into another Nooney Krombach. And he'd given himself away here. His pals had fallen into what you might call an unforgiving mood.

He'd told me what dwarves thought about Nooney and his book.

He started trying to yak his way out, but there was no hope in his voice and nobody was listening. Short folks started edging toward him, growling. I put the plug back in the wall.

"Well?" Chodo said, like he was in a hurry to get it over. Like he wanted to see if I had what it would take.

The witch wobbled to her feet. "Let's get a leash on her," I suggested. "Chodo asked a question I never heard answered. I'd like to know myself."

Chodo smiled feebly. "I knew you had a price, Mr. Garrett. It's a high one, admittedly, but it turns out you're human."

"I want to destroy it. If I have to lug it up to thunder-lizard country and dump it into a volcano."

He eyed me while Crask and Sadler rummaged for a choker for the Serpent. His smile faded, then returned. "You really would." He shook his head. "You understand about this afternoon?"

‘‘Not really."

"I believe you. My error. I appear to have been misinformed and thereby have moved to a false conclusion. But more than one source suggested you knew the whereabouts of the book. I wanted to ask about that. All I accomplished was to activate your enmity. Well. You can't beat the house."

"Why the hell would anybody think I'd know where the damned book is? I've been ru

Winger muttered, "We going to stand around jawing all night? We're going to have those runts out there after us real soon now. Let's do what we got to do and get."

"I think they're done. I don't think they'll be any more trouble."

She went to check through the peephole.

I looked at Chodo.

I couldn't do it. And he knew I couldn't. He smiled. And not like he'd won some victory but like I'd won one and he was pleased. He smiled even knowing he wasn't going to get out of anything. Crask and Sadler didn't have my sensibilities. They wouldn't forgive and forget.

Bigger smile on a devil's ugly face. "Look out for my baby, Mr. Garrett."

I nodded.

"She'll be fine," Crask said. And she would. That's the way those people worked. They counted women and children out, untouchable.

"Gods," Winger said from the peephole. She turned away pale, shocked. I decided I didn't want to see anything that would shock Winger.

Crask and Sadler eyed her, responding to the grim awe edging her voice...

The Serpent let Crask have it in the crotch. He folded up. She leaped at Chodo...

45

I like to make out that I'm fast on my mental feet, but usually I'm no quicker than anybody else. When a woman is involved, I can be frightfully slow. But I do have a knack for seeing right and doing right when my tail is on the line.

Everything seemed to slow down as the Serpent lunged toward the kingpin. I noted that she was not totally naked. She wore a ring. A big ugly snake thing probably still on her because they hadn't wanted to chop her finger off till after she died. I started to yell but it was too late.

She hit Chodo while Crask was still folding and Sadler was turning to see. She didn't know where she was going but knew she couldn't stay. Anywhere would be safer than here.

I yelled, "Winger! Come on! Let's get her!"

She responded without thinking. Good for her.

It had occurred to me that this was the ideal moment to separate ourselves from Crask and Sadler. Before they started considering who ought to follow the kingpin down that dark road.

The witch had a good sense of where to run. We couldn't corner her. She found her way out of the hidden passages. She fled the house from the rear. And gained on us while doing it.

I pounded around the side of the house just as she reached the front and almost landed in the middle of the departing dwarves. She whirled and headed east, toward the false dawn just begi

Now Winger and I gained ground. We had longer legs and no need to worry about scratches from weeds and brush.

A winged shape dropped out of nowhere, brushed the Serpent's right shoulder, staggered her. Another followed it, then another, forcing her to change course.

Winger grabbed my arm. "Slow down. We might not ought to catch up."

"Huh?" I'd stopped thinking much.

"They're steering her."

They were indeed. I slowed to a trot and tried getting my brain to perking again. But I'd used my daily ration of smarts in Chodo's secret room.

The Serpent scrambled over the estate wall, raced for the cover of a woodlot following a small creek. MorCartha swarmed around her as Winger and I cleared the wall. They ignored us completely. The witch stopped just short of the trees, looked around wildly. MorCartha were there to cut off any attempt at retreat.

Men came out of the woods. Little guys, all of them, but men, not elves or dwarves or whatever. They surrounded the Serpent. A little old guy with glasses hobbled after them.

Willard Tate.

"Whoa," I said. "Stop right there, Winger. Good. Now, real careful, let's stroll toward the road." In half a second I'd overcome an impulse to go down and talk some sense into the Tates. That might not be any healthier than going back to hang around with Crask and Sadler. Willard Tate appeared demonic in the feeble light. He was set to get even with the world.