‘We’re on our way, An-Gryferai,’ Dom Magator told her. ‘See if you can pinpoint Mago Verde.’
‘OK, but I’ll have to dive down lower. They’re all hiding themselves underneath their awnings now.’
‘Be careful, that’s all.’
He saw An-Gryferai circle over the big top, and then dive downward. But suddenly she appeared to jerk, and thrash, and her wings folded up. She disappeared from sight behind the tents, and he could hear a shout of triumph from the circus folk.
‘An-Gryferai! An-Gryferai! What’s happened? An-Gryferai, get back to me!’
Over his intercom, he picked up struggling noises, and static, and somebody saying, ‘Got her, the bird-bitch! Got her!’
He heard An-Gryferai grunting with effort, and then saying the single word, ‘—net!’
‘Did you hear that?’ he asked the other Night Warriors. ‘Sounds like they’ve caught her in a snare!’
They began to jog more quickly toward the circus. The morning was even hotter now. Their boots crunched through the trampled wheat stalks and the black pennants on the big top made a lazy, slapping sound. As they approached the outlying tents, a single figure appeared, in a black tuxedo, with a bright green smile. He waited for them patiently as they came nearer.
‘Well, well, what a surprise!’ Mago Verde called out. ‘It appears that I’m guilty of mistaking your identity, tin man! But then one lard butt looks so much like another!’
‘Where’s An-Gryferia, you creep?’ Dom Magator demanded. ‘If you’ve so much as touched her, I’m going to rip off your head off and piss down your neck!’
‘An-Gryferia? Is that her name? The bird-bitch who blew up poor Flammo? She’s OK for now, maybe a little bruised. But I warn you. If any of you try anything funny, she’s going to suffer. And not just suffer for now, but for ever and ever, amen. She wants to be a bird-woman? We can make her into a bird-woman for real!’
Dom Magator lifted his Scythe Rifle. ‘This is the end, you piece of shit. This circus is going out of business, permanent.’
‘I don’t think so,’ grinned Mago Verde. ‘You know why I came here tonight. That’s why you followed me. I have a ninth sacrifice for Brother Albrecht, and once we’ve enhanced his appearance, so that he begs us to stay with the freak show for the rest of his life, it will be time to pack up the tents and hitch up the caravans and trundle our way through to the wonderful world of wakefulness!’
‘Take me to An-Gryferai,’ said Dom Magator, pulling back the bolt on his rifle. ‘Take me to An-Gryferai or so help me I’ll cut you in half.’
‘I was going to anyhow,’ said Mago Verde. ‘Come on, tin man, follow me!’
He turned around and started to walk between the tents toward the big top, his thumbs in his lapels, strutting like Charlie Chaplin. Zebenjo’Yyx looked at Dom Magator and said, ‘What do we do now, man? He might have caught An-Gryferai, but we can’t let him take this circus through to the real world, can we?’
‘Let’s play it as it comes,’ said Dom Magator. ‘I don’t want any casualties if I can help it. Especially not An-Gryferai.’
Mago Verde led them through the archway that said Albrecht’s Traveling Circus & Freak Show and into the big top. Inside, the noise was overwhelming. The Night Warriors stood in front of the stage and looked around, and every seat was taken — by a clown, or a freak, or a dreamer. This was going to be Brother Albrecht’s big night — the night when he and his circus at least broke the sacred sanction that had kept them imprisoned in the world of dreams for over eight hundred years.
‘Here’s your precious An-Gryferai,’ said Mago Verde. And there she was, on the far side of the stage, gagged with a red scarf and tightly bound to a wooden chair, her wings folded behind her. A tattooed strong man in a leotard stood next to her, grinning toothlessly, holding a long-bladed knife in his hand.
An-Gryferai stared at the Night Warriors with her eyes wide, shaking her head from side to side as if she were appealing to them not to surrender.
Zachary, the bald Freakmaster came strutting up to them, wearing his long black rustling raincoat. He smiled at Jekkalon and Jemexxa and he obviously recognized them, even with their helmets on. ‘We meet again, then! Kieran and Kiera! Your mother the Demi-Goddess is very well, you’ll no doubt be pleased to know! You will see her in a moment!
Then he turned to Dom Magator and said, between gritted teeth, ‘Your weapons, please, all of them.’
‘You’re kidding me,’ said Dom Magator.
Zachary, still smiling, shook his head. ‘We can’t allow you to jeopardize Brother Albrecht’s greatest night, now can we?’
‘Go screw yourself,’ said Zebenjo’Yyx. ‘You ain’t havin’ my arrow storm stuff.’
‘Well, that’s your choice,’ Zachary told him. ‘But if you don’t hand over your weapons, your feathered friend here is going to be disemboweled before you can blink.’
Dom Magator looked across at An-Gryferai. He had seen other Night Warriors give their lives in the struggle against evil, and Brother Albrecht’s circus was one of the greatest evils that the world had ever faced. Corrupt, cruel and merciless. But how could he allow An-Gryferai to be cut open, right in front of him?
He unbuckled the rack of rifles on his back, lifted it off, and lowered it on to the ground. Zebenjo’Yyx said, ‘No, man! Sheeit! You can’t do that! We’re goin’ to be defenseless!’
Even Jekkalon said, ‘Yes, come on, D.M.! We’re warriors, dude! We know what the risks are!’
But Dom Magator shook his head. ‘I can’t let them butcher An-Gryferai, not in cold blood. Not when I can stop them.’
‘And how many other people are going to be butchered, because we didn’t stop Brother Albrecht? Thousands, maybe! Millions! You know what Springer told us! The whole damn planet is going to go to hell!’
Dom Magator loosened his belt and let all of his knives and handguns and ammunition magazines drop with a clatter around his feet. Zachary snapped his fingers and one of the circus hands came over and collected them up.
‘Now your friends,’ he said. ‘Come on, please. We’re running out of time here.’
‘Shit,’ said Zebenjo’Yyx, and reluctantly unfastened the arrow-firing mechanisms on his forearms. Another circus hand lifted the curved quiver off his back.
Jemexxa took off her power pack and that was carried away, too.
Zachary approached Xyrena. She looked up at him with a challenging expression on her face.
‘And what weaponry do you have, beautiful lady?’ he asked her.
Xyrena shook her head. ‘Only my irresistible looks, baldy.’
‘She’s Xyrena the Passion Warrior,’ put in Dom Magator. ‘That says it all. Don’t tell me she isn’t turning you on already. She can turn on a cigar-store Indian.’
‘OK…’ said Zachary, although he didn’t look totally convinced. ‘Now why don’t you people take a seat beside the stage? I believe that Brother Albrecht is quite keen for you to watch his final sacrifice. He always savors the taste of revenge.’
A clown with a miserable blue face led them to a collection of chairs not far behind An-Gryferai. They sat down together, feeling defeated, not even talking to each other. An-Gryerai twisted her head around to look at them and her expression was filled with pain.