Matt threw up his arms to protect his face and landed on both wrists. Jagged bolts of pain shot up through his wrists. He tried to get up, but as soon as he was on his knees, one of the giant’s boots slammed into his stomach, sending him flying back down the street, his head bouncing off the asphalt.
Matt gasped for breath and felt blood filling his mouth. He spit it on the ground, where it merged with all that had spilled from Vetch and Gilhoolie the night before. He was one of them now, another victim or, increasingly unlikely, another victor in this endless war.
Was this why Mr. Dark had sent him to Heaven? To show him that’s all he ever was, just another faceless combatant in a conflict that would never end? Or just to get him caught up in a fight that didn’t matter so he’d forget about the one that did?
There was a skittling noise on the ground and Matt felt something hard hit his hand. It was the handle of his axe. One of the spectators had kicked it to him.
Matt grabbed his weapon and felt a strength flowing through him. It was nothing magical. The axe was no Mjolnir and he couldn’t be further from godhead. But it was him. He was whole.
Matt looked up and saw the giant standing over him again, one mighty foot raised in the air, ready to bring it down on his skull and smash his brains out on the ground.
As the foot came down, Matt rolled out from under it. The foot slammed into the ground and Matt thought he could feel the vibration through the asphalt. The giant wheeled toward him, lifting his foot.
Matt saw exactly what he had to do. He lashed out with the axe, striking just under the giant’s kneecap. The giant let out a howl of pain, but Matt didn’t stop. He brought the axe straight up, slamming it between the giant’s legs. The giant doubled over, clutching his groin. Matt jumped to his feet, ignoring the screaming pain from his ribs, and brought the axe down on the back of the giant’s head.
The giant tumbled to the ground, one hand on his groin, the other on the back of his neck.
“You would be dead right now,” Matt said to him, “if I’d used the blade instead of the butt.”
Matt became aware of a chanting from the Gilhoolie side of the street. “Kill him. Kill him. Kill him.”
And then realized with a shock that the chant had spread to the Vetches as well, as they urged him to finish off their own champion.
“Is that what you want?” Matt said to the giant. “Do you want me to kill you? Or do you yield?”
The chant grew louder. Matt could see the giant’s lips move, but he couldn’t hear the words over the shouting. Matt put his ear to the giant’s lips.
“I want to live.”
Matt turned to the crowd. He held up his axe, and they fell silent.
“It’s over,” he said. “It’s all over.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The road curved down the mountain in front of him. Matt walked slowly toward the switchbacks that led away from Heaven. He was feeling pain now, but he knew that would ease as his body healed.
He couldn’t tell if the people of Heaven had been sorry to see him go. He hadn’t stuck around to find out. What he’d seen at the very end had filled him with such disgust he couldn’t bear to stay another second.
It had been while the giant was down on the ground and Matt was waiting to see if he’d yield. The whole crowd had been pumping their fists into the air, calling for the giant’s death.
And on the porch of the general store, Mouse and Orfamay had been united in bloodlust, calling for Matt to murder the Vetch champion. And the girl he’d rescued, the girl who had been stunned into shock by the violence that had been done to her and her lover, was yelling with them.
He’d done what he could. He got them to agree to peace after so many years of war. The looks on the faces of both family leaders told him they might be killing each other again soon.
Or maybe not. Maybe he really had made this place better than it was before he got there.
As he passed beyond the town limit, a thick fog had come down and settled over Heaven and blocked it from his view. When the fog lifted he wasn’t even sure the town would be there anymore.
What he did know was that he wouldn’t be around to find out.
Matt made the turn around the first switchback, heading for the highway and never looking back.
