Julian tried to form his mind for a psiblast, but just the effort was enough to cripple him with a blinding headache. He fell to his knees, blood spilling thickly from his nose and mouth. Halloweenie grabbed him by an arm and dragged him with desperate strength into the stateroom, shutting the door and then pushing heavy furniture against it. He hovered over Julian for a moment, distraught at the sight of a human bleeding and in distress, and then he grabbed an iron poker from beside the fireplace, and stood before the barricaded door, determined that no one would pass while he still had strength in his bony arms.
Bruin Bear and the Sea Goat were as much targets as the humans, and fought side by side. The Goat had produced a large club from somewhere, and wielded it with great authority and a certain amount of glee. The Bear's claws had burst out of his paws again, and he tore through the attacking toys with a cold, methodical fury. Poogie had also sprouted terrifying teeth and claws, and was tearing a vicious path through the packed crowd of toys filling the deck. Up on the bridge, the Captain yelled curses and defiance, and tried to increase the paddle steamer's speed, to leave behind those toys still in the water. As yet, none of the patchwork toys had reached the bridge, but the Captain had a long cutlass ready for when they did.
They covered the whole deck now, with still more swarming over the sides. There were already hundreds of the patchwork toys, and there seemed no end to them. Swords cut through them easily enough, but where one part was damaged, the toys just discarded it and kept fighting. When they were damaged too badly to continue, other toys would rip them apart to repair themselves. Scattered body parts littered the deck, getting underfoot. Disembodied hands clutched at human ankles. The humans fought on with increasing desperation as they grew tired and their enemies did not.
Finlay was fighting at the peak of his powers, rested and strong and deadly, and no one toy could stand against him. But there were so many of them, and not even a man who had been the undefeated Masked Gladiator of the Golgotha Arenas could stand for long against an army. Evangeline guarded his back with savage determination, doing her best to wield a sword as he had taught her, and tried to keep her rising horror to herself, so as not to upset Finlay.
The barricade around Toby and Flynn was slowly but steadily being dismantled, despite all their efforts. It was becoming clear to the two newsmen that they had allowed themselves to be trapped in a corner from which there was no escape. They struck out with their swords, reluctantly becoming part of the story they were covering. Toby yelled for Flynn to be sure and get his good side. Flynn said he didn't have one. Toby laughed harshly, and swung his sword with both hands.
Giles Deathstalker stood alone at the bow, surrounded by furious, howling toys, with no way out. He fought hard and well, slowly tiring, but still strong. The boost thundered in his arms. The odds were bad, but he'd faced worse. Or at least, he thought he had. And then, for the first time, he looked out at the hundreds of toys filling the deck and his confidence wavered. There were some odds that no man could beat Not even the legendary Giles Deathstalker. He fought on anyway, because there was nothing else to do, but desperation, and the beginnings of something that might have been fear, began to gnaw at him. He'd faced death before and never been afraid to look it straight in the eye, but he'd never thought he'd die like this. To die so ignominiously, brought down by sheer force of numbers. Hacked apart by toys on a stupid pleasure planet.
The toys surged forward, screaming horribly, their artificial voices full of rage and anticipation, swords and axes raised to hack him into pieces that would never re-form. And rage and desperation flooded through Giles, igniting the Maze-given forces within him. Power blazed up in the back brain, the undermind, shining so very brightly through parts of his mind he'd never used before, and suddenly Giles was somewhere else. He stood on the bridge, next to the startled Captain, while down below the toys overran the bow where he'd been and stared stupidly about them, wondering where their trapped prey had gone. Giles laughed suddenly. He'd teleported. He could feel the new ability settling into place within him, as easy and natural now to him as breathing, and couldn't help wondering what other abilities he might manifest in times of need. He looked down at the swarming toys and smiled unpleasantly as he began to plan what to do next with his new power.
On the bridge, the Captain staggered back and forth on his peg legs, swinging his cutlass with more strength than skill. Only a few toys had reached him so far, but he could hear more on their way. The parrot fluttered in their faces, screaming abuse, distracting them. With no one's hands on the wheel, the ship drifted aimlessly, heading for the bank.
Down below, Anything had turned into his most martial shape, and was cutting through the massed toys with razor-sharp hands. Their weapons rebounded harmlessly from his metal body, so they clung to his arms and legs, trying to drag him down by sheer weight of numbers. But the toy who wished he was a Fury stood firm and would not fall.
Poogie had become a snarling fury of hate and destruction, no longer cartoonlike at all. Enraged at the toys who would keep him from his atonement, and would dare attack humans under his protection, he fought tirelessly in the center of the deck and defied one and all to bring him down.
But there were so many patchwork toys. So very many.
In the stateroom, Halloweenie hovered helplessly over Julian, and wondered desperately what to do for the best. Toys were hammering on the barricaded door and smashing the windows. The young esper was still bleeding heavily from the mouth and nose, despite everything the Li'l Skeleton Boy could do to stop it. The ship did have a med bay, but Halloweenie knew he wasn't strong enough to drag the esper such a long way, even if they could avoid being noticed by the patchwork toys. Halloweenie might have escaped on his own, but he didn't want to leave the injured human unprotected. The toys hammering against the door were slowly forcing it open, and pushing the piled-up furniture back inch by inch. Toys were trying to get through the windows. Halloweenie ran back and forth, pushing them back out.
And then the barricade of furniture suddenly collapsed and fell backwards, and the door swung open, and the toys came howling in. Halloweenie ran forward to stand between them and the human, but they were so many, and he was just a little skeleton boy. He went down under their stamping feet, his bones cracking and breaking, crying out for Julian to run. The young esper tried to get his feet under him and lurched forward to help his small defender. Swords and axes rose above him.
There was a clap like thunder and a rush of displaced air, and Giles Deathstalker appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the stateroom. The patchwork toys fell back, unnerved by the sudden appearance, and Giles moved forward and hauled Julian to his feet. And in that moment, while the toys hesitated, Giles reached out with his Maze-altered mind and slammed into Julian's. There was a moment of opposition, as the young esper realized what the Deathstalker meant to do, and then Giles swept it aside, seized control of Julian's esp, and summoned up a psistorm.
Julian screamed horribly, the sound rising above the roar of battle, and everyone hesitated a moment. And then it was as though a great wind swept the length of the boat, picking up the patchwork toys and pitching them overboard. Others were torn apart, reduced to their component parts, and scattered by the wind. Some simply exploded, touched by the stormfire crackling across the deck, spitting and seething. The humans stood and watched in awe, untouched by the power of the storm.
Bruin Bear was lifted off his feet by the strength of the wind, but the Sea Goat grabbed him with one hand and clung grimly to the guardrail with the other. The strain almost pulled him in two, but he wouldn't let go. He was the Sea Goat, and he didn't let his friends down. Poogie and Anything clung together in terror, wedged under a pile of deck chairs. In the stateroom, at the heart of the storm, toys fell dead at its touch. The wind howled like a human voice, in agony and exultation, and swept the deck clean of patchwork toys.
The storm shut off as suddenly as it began, and all was still on the ship again. Apart from the agonized screaming from the stateroom, and Halloweenie calling desperately for help. The humans and the toys forgot about their sudden victory and their various wounds and ran to the stateroom, pushing their way in past the half-open door and the scattered furniture. And there they found Halloweenie dragging his broken body painfully across the floor, trying to reach Julian Skye, convulsing in Giles Deathstalker's arms. The esper's screams were growing hoarser, as though the horrid sounds were damaging his throat. Giles dropped Julian and backed away, his eyes cold and watchful.
'Don't let him get away!' said Halloweenie. 'He did it! He hurt Julian! He did something to him, and he started screaming and couldn't stop!'
Finlay and Evangeline moved quickly forward to kneel beside the young esper. His whole body was convulsing now, his heels drumming on the floor. His head whipped from side to side, blood spraying from his mouth as he screamed. Evangeline sat him up and cradled him in her arms, trying to contain his helpless movements. Finlay tried
