The Kill Society (Sandman Slim)(66)

“What else are we going to do?” says Daja.

Her hand is bleeding again.

“We put up a scarecrow.”

“What?”

“We scare the shit out of them.”

“How?”

“You want to use the weapon,” says Wanuri.

“Exactly,” I say.

“But it won’t work without the Light Killer,” Daja says.

“Then we make them think we have it.”

“How?”

I pull her and Wanuri in closer so people can’t hear us.

“You heard these winged clowns. I’m as big an Abomination as there is. And Abominations can do tricks. Big ones. I can make these assholes think that your popgun back there works.”

“How?”

I’m starting to get tired of Daja saying that. “Let me show you.”

“What have we got to lose?” says Wanuri. “We give everyone else the guns we know work and let the lunatic try his tricks.”

“Fine,” says Daja. “But if you hurt the weapon I’ll kill you.”

“It’s a date.”

Wanuri and I head for the bow.

I say, “Get some people on the ship with the flatbed. I need them to pull the tarp off. We’ll only scare these bastards if they can see the gun. I’ll be there in a minute.”

I look around for Alice and find her with the other angels near the mast. Vehuel has conjured a map of the river in the air between them. It floats, transparent, showing our ships and the ones heading for us. She moves her hand back and forth across the map, laying out a battle plan. When she’s done, the map vanishes and the angels head to the side of the ship. I run and catch up with Alice.

“Be careful, you,” I tell her.

“You too.” She looks at me, confused. “How come you’re not armed? Where’s your gun?”

“They’re getting it ready for me.”

“Keep your head down.”

“You too. Things are going to get loud.”

But she’s already in the air with the other angels and doesn’t hear me. I jump from the front of the ship onto the one holding the vehicles, weave through and onto the ship with the flatbed. It’s almost completely uncovered when I get there.

I head for the breech. Wanuri and a few other people are waiting.

She says, “How exactly do you plan on using an unloaded gun?”

“It doesn’t have to be loaded. They just have to think it’s loaded.”

“All right. How are you going to do that?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure. I’m making this up as I go along.”

“I don’t believe it. Daja was right about you.”

I take out the plastic bottle of Aqua Regia and have a pull.

“I’m going to try something. You might want to move back in case I don’t get it right.”

“Faith is dwindling in you, Mr. fucking Pitts.”

I pull open the breech and get down on my knees. I can see the other end through the barrel. It looks a mile away.

“Well?” says Wanuri.

“I don’t think it’s going to work from this end. I’m going up front.”

“Make up your damned mind!”

She follows me up to the muzzle. The ships are still a good distance away, but closing fast.

“If you’re going to do something, do it,” she says.

I watch the ships for a minute.

“We should wait until they’re closer.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I’m not sure how far I can do this.”

“Do fucking what?”

“Give me a minute.”

As the big ships crawl our way, a group of smaller attack boats moves out in front, speeding toward us. They send out long streams of fire over the water as they come.

“Right. You’re an idiot,” says Wanuri. “I’m going back to the real fight.”

“If you do, you’re going to miss it.”

“What?”

“This.”

Crouching by the barrel, I shout Hellion hoodoo as loud and long and pissed off as I can.

Fighting Hellbeasts in the arena isn’t a subtle job. I used the na’at as much as I could on the smaller ones, but the big ones I had to use hoodoo. The bigger the beast, the bigger the hex. It left me rusty when it came to small spells, but an expert at eviscerating house-size fuckers. But those were mostly close battles. I’ve never tried killing something as big as a ship and never anything this far away. I have no idea what’s going to happen.

But I know it’s going to be pretty fucking spectacular.

There’s an explosion by the muzzle and the gun rolls back a few feet. Over the attack ships, the air catches fire and blows three boats in the middle right out of the water. I shout hoodoo again. The air explodes. This time I miss, but a couple of the outer ships slow. I shout again, switching the hoodoo around a little.

This time the water beneath the remaining ships explodes, tossing them into the air. The blast also tosses a whole school of the tentacled underwater bastards upward with them. The ships and sailors that survive the blast are pulled into the churning water in a writhing mass of teeth and tentacles. I try shouting one more time, but nothing comes out. My voice is fried.