Mallory’s gun was a distraction. And it was working.
They were all so busy watching Mallory miss that not even Phenex spotted the grey cloud reaching out for him until it was almost too late. Caught off-guard, he spun back – still holding his flail – and with his free hand threw the closest of the other two Fallen in front of him, straight into the clutches of the fog.
“So much for leading by example,” Alice said to Castor, who either didn’t hear or wasn’t listening. He was watching the unfortunate Fallen as he tried to drag himself out of the cloud, even as it wrapped itself tightly around him; even as first his feet and then his legs became heavier and heavier as they turned to stone.
Phenex stood behind him, just out of reach: his chest and shoulders heaving up and down. The roar that he let out made the hairs on the back of Alice’s neck stand up. As Vin closed his hand and the mist receded, the Fallen hefted his flail up to his shoulder – and even at that distance, Alice heard the links of the chain clank against one another. She got the point Pollux had been trying to make. If that thing hit any of them, it would wipe them out. If it hit her...
Pollux took advantage of the distraction; with a single step he was in the air, swooping towards Phenex’s remaining companion, snatching him up and beating his wings as they soared into the sky.
“Wait for it,” said Mallory, tipping his head on one side and raising a finger to his ear.
Alice forced herself to turn away from watching them, towards Castor. “Is he going to do what I think he’s going to do?”
“Depends.” Castor was busy examining his fingernails. He glanced up when the Fallen screamed as Pollux released him. “Was it that?”
The scream went on and on as the second of the Fallen tumbled back towards the ground, cutting off abruptly as he reached it.
Phenex had had enough of waiting. Raising his flail above his head, he started to swing it round and around and around, whirling it faster and faster overhead as Mallory reloaded.
“Vin. Back. Now.”
Vin nodded, sprinting back towards the van: apparently even the Earthbounds weren’t crazy enough to take on Phenex.
Mallory, however...
This time, Phenex didn’t even try to dodge the bullets: he swatted them away with the flail. Every shot pinged harmlessly off it except for the last one, which ricocheted straight back at Mallory, catching his shoulder and knocking him backwards. Behind the twirling chain, Phenex laughed.
“Is that all you’ve got, angel?”
Mallory didn’t reply. He threw down his gun and he charged, head down, wings tucked close to his back. He ducked beneath the flail and threw his arms around the Fallen’s waist in a tackle, lifting him off his feet and sending them both sprawling on the ground.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alice saw Vin tense; flexing his fingers. He wanted to be over there, she could feel it. But Phenex was still thrashing against Mallory, and still somehow managing to swing that flail even as fists rained down upon him, forcing Mallory to sway back... but never to release him, and never to stop. High above, Pollux folded his wings back and hurtled down towards the brawling pair, pulling out of the dive a hair’s breadth from them and snatching the flail from Phenex’s hand as he blew past in a barrel-roll.
Phenex twisted suddenly beneath Mallory, almost pulling himself free and sliding both his arms around Mallory’s back to wrestle him sideways. Locked together, they rolled over and over on the ground, and Alice felt a stab of pain at the top of her spine. “He’s trying to break his neck!” she said to Vin. He ignored her, keeping his attention on the brawl in front of them. The pain was replaced by a dull, heavy pressure: Phenex had his hands firmly wrapped around the sides of Mallory’s head and was twisting. The Fallen had now managed to completely reverse their positions and was pinning Mallory down... and Alice was afraid to watch as Pollux turned in mid-air and sped back towards them again...
It happened so fast that she almost couldn’t follow it: Pollux was there, moving towards Mallory and Phenex, and then he had one hand on the Fallen’s shoulder, half-lifting, half-dragging him up and away from Mallory... and tossing the flail down to Mallory, who snatched it from the air even as he scrambled to his feet. Phenex dangled with his feet just above the ground: an easy target for the spiked ball of the flail as, with a yell, Mallory brought it smashing into the middle of his chest.
The airborne angel let go of Phenex, who dropped to his knees; he stared up at Mallory standing over him, and then slumped sideways. Pollux landed gently beside them.
“We should go,” he said, resting a hand on Mallory’s shoulder.
“One more thing.” Mallory tossed the flail aside. It landed in the grass with a loud clatter, and he bent to scoop up his gun before turning to stand over Phenex.
Alice blew out the breath she’d been holding and sagged back against the van’s open door. Two shots from Mallory’s gun rang out.
“Hope you’ve got your good shoes on,” he said, appearing from behind the van. “It looks like we’re on foot from here. It’s only about twenty miles, give or take.”
“Twenty miles? You’re kidding.”
“If you’d rather, I’ll go the easy way and you can hoof it with this lot...” He fluttered his wings at her, then laughed as she pulled a face. His Colt vanished into his jacket – and Alice could just make out the bullet hole in the leather at his shoulder. He followed her gaze and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you...?”
“Yes. I am.” He grinned at her. “Enjoy the show?”
“Not exactly.”
Behind her, Pollux and Castor were dragging Xaphan and Florence out of the back of the van, still in their chains. Xaphan looked a little less smug than he had before; his face fell as he spotted Phenex’s body lying in the road.
“Are you just going to leave him there?” Alice was suddenly struck by the thought of someone finding him. Mallory shook his head.
“I don’t imagine he’ll stay there very long. I know Phenex: there won’t have been only two of them with him.”
“Lucky for you they didn’t turn up here.”
“Lucky for them, you mean.” He turned away from her, to Castor. “Shall we?”
“There’s not much point hanging around waiting for them to show up, is there?” Castor wrapped the end of the prisoners’ chains around his hand. “Shame about the van, though. Adriel’s going to be pissed off.”
“If I’m right,” said Mallory grimly, leaning back through the window to retrieve his other gun from the wreckage, “Adriel’s going to be pissed off about a lot of things. The van will be the least of his worries.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Medea
“THERE IT IS,” said Mallory, pointing at something ahead of them. All Alice could see was a bunch of trees.
“That’s No Man’s Land?” she asked. The sun was setting already; they had spent most of the day walking. No wonder her feet were sore. The light seemed to... shimmer. They had reached the sea at the last moment before the sun sank into the water ahead of her, staining the sky a deep pink, fading to orange, then to a shade of blue she didn’t think she had ever seen. She turned away to see Mallory standing with his wings outstretched, the light turning his feathers all the colours of the sunset.
“Not bad, is it?” he asked.
“Not bad,” she said.
“You do know you’re looking the wrong way, right?” He arched an eyebrow at her, and seeing her frown, he placed a hand on each of her shoulders, turning her almost ninety degrees.