'No one's winning here,' said Bruin Bear. 'They're just dying.'
And at that moment, as though the warring toys had only just noticed them, the armies on both sides of the River opened fire on the paddle steamer. The waters erupted as bombs and grenades fell short, showering the deck with water. The humans and the toys had to cling to the guardrails to avoid being swept away. Energy beams shot out of the murk, piercing the ship's sides in a dozen places. The deck shuddered underfoot as the Merry Mrs. Trusspot screamed. Fires broke out, flames licking hungrily along the wooden hull. The humans fired their disrupters at both banks, while the toys ran to fight the fires with buckets and hand pumps.
Evangeline stuck her head out of Julian's cabin, and Finlay yelled for her to get back inside. She was safer there. Evangeline looked around her and didn't argue. Giles and Finlay put away their guns and drew their swords. They knew someone would come. Toby kept his head well down, recording an exciting commentary, while Flynn sent his camera shooting back and forth, trying to cover as much as possible. More energy beams blasted ragged flaming holes in the ship's superstructure. So far, they hadn't hit the boilers. The ship was still screaming, but her great paddle wheels still turned.
Toys plunged into the River and swam over to the ship. There were teddy bears and shape-changing adaptors and dolls of all kinds. The Sea Goat appeared with a barrel of oil, and emptied it over the side. It floated on the surface of the water, thick and glossy. The Goat ignited it with a thrown torch, and flames sprang up around the ship. Toys caught in the blazing oil screamed as the flames consumed them. But many more made it to the side of the steamer, and surged up the holed hull and over the guardrails. Finlay and Giles met them with flashing swords, and the Goat was there with his club, but they were so few, and there were so many enemies, crazed to kill humans.
Toby and Flynn came to add their swords, and Poogie and Bruin Bear left their fire fighting and came to help with savage claws and vicious jaws. And even in the midst of the war, the Bear still had time to be appalled at how easy it was becoming for him to fight and kill. And Halloweenie, the Li'l Skeleton Boy, picked up a fallen sword and threw away the last of his innocence to join the battle, too.
They fought together, human and toy, not knowing who they fought or why, against an army of toys fired by Shub's imperatives, while flames roared around them. The ship was screaming constantly now. The bridge exploded as it took a direct hit, and the lifeless body of the Captain was thrown through a window, his blackened form hitting the deck hard, to lie still and smoking and unnoticed. The ship began to drift off course, heading for the left-hand bank.
Finlay found himself fighting back-to-back with Giles. Their swords had scattered dead toys across the deck, around them and underfoot, but still more pressed forward from every side. The air was full of almost human screams and bestial roaring from the attackers. The Campbell and the Deathstalker were fighting at the peak of their abilities, and nothing could get near them, but they both knew they couldn't hold out indefinitely against such overwhelming odds.
'Things look bad,' said Giles casually, over his shoulder.
'More than bad,' Finlay said breathlessly, as he cut down a slavering wolf in a woodsman's uniform. 'We'll need a miracle to get out of this one.'
'My thoughts entirely,' said Giles. 'The same miracle I used to save us last time.'
It only took a moment for Finlay to understand. 'No! Not again! It would kill him!'
There was a sharp crack of thunder behind him, and a clap of air rushing in to fill the space where the Deathstalker had been. Finlay knew where he'd teleported to. He fought his way through the crush to reach Julian's cabin. He kicked the door in and rushed in. Giles had dragged Julian to his feet, and was holding the esper up with one hand, while he used the other to fend off Evangeline. Finlay drew his disrupter and pointed it at Giles.
'Not again, Deathstalker. Not again.'
'Either he calls up a psistorm, or we're all dead,' said Giles reasonably. 'Which is more important—one already dying esper, or our lives and our mission?' They all staggered a moment as another explosion shook the ship. Giles smiled humorlessly. 'Make up your mind, Campbell. We're running out of time.'
'He's my friend,' said Finlay. 'I didn't rescue him from Hell just to let you kill him. I'll kill you first, Giles.' The gun was very steady in his hand.
'You've got power, Giles,' Evangeline said desperately. 'The Maze made you different, stronger, powerful. Use that power to save us.'
'I can't,' said Giles. 'I could teleport myself out of here, but I couldn't take any of you with me. And without the ship, how could we even reach the Forest?'
'You need power?' said Julian thickly. 'I'll give you power, Deathstalker.'
The esper grabbed his captor by the chin, and turned his head around so they were staring into each other's eyes. Power surged up in Julian as he called on all his reserves. He could feel things breaking and tearing inside him, and didn't care. His mouth stretched in a mirthless grin, and blood seeped between his teeth and dripped off his chin. Julian Skye focused his esp and hammered it right into Giles's head. For a moment Giles thought he was staring into the sun, brilliant and overpowering. Julian's strength was fueled by his last dying energies, and he used it all to reach out and meld his power with that of Giles, slamming them together so that they mixed and merged. Giles and Julian screamed together, and then Giles teleported, and took the whole ship with him.
Air rushed in to fill the great gap where the paddle steamer had been, and then there was only the River, burning here and there, with dead toys floating facedown in it. The toys forgot the ship and returned to the war, and the slaughter went on as always.
The Merry Mrs. Trusspot reappeared about half a mile farther up the River. Great waves splashed up on either side of her as she settled, drenching half her fires and putting them out. Giles and Julian and Finlay came storming out of the cabin and tore into the remaining enemy toys, cutting them down in hardly any time at all. They threw the bodies overboard, and for the first time a silence fell across the deck. Toby lowered his sword and smiled tiredly.
'Now that is what I call a miracle. I didn't know you could do that, Deathstalker.'
'Neither did I,' said Giles. 'And I don't think I'll be doing it again anytime soon.' He looked at Julian, standing strong and sure before him. 'What the hell happened to you?'
'Damned if I know,' Julian said cheerfully. 'My best guess is that when we joined, I was able to draw on your power to heal myself. You're capable of a lot more than you realize, Deathstalker.'
'You look a lot better,' said Finlay. 'Hell, you look human again. How do you feel?'
'Perfect in every detail,' said Julian. 'I'm back to how I was before the Empire found me. I'm cured, people. Feel free to shout Hallelujah!'
'Keep the noise down,' said the Sea Goat. 'We didn't all make it through.'
He gestured to the other end of the deck, where Halloweenie was kneeling beside the scorched and blackened body of the Captain.
'Damn,' said Toby. 'Now who's going to steer the ship?'
They pressed on into the afternoon, leaving the war behind them. Down-River lay the Forest, and the Red Man, and even the dark necessities of battle couldn't push the warring toys any closer than they were. All that lay between the paddle steamer and its destination now was time, and the pondering of mysteries. The humans polished their swords. The toys huddled together, speaking in hushed tones. Halloweenie manned the wheel on the bridge, standing on a box. He watched the River, and had nothing to say. The humans had thrown what was left of the Captain into the River, the nearest they could get to a burial at sea. They never did find his parrot. The damaged Merry Mrs. Trusspot chugged steadily on, silent again, her great eyes wide-open and watchful.
They saw the Forest long before they reached it. It appeared ahead of them like a huge dark stain on the horizon, into which the River was inevitably carrying them. The humans and the toys gathered together at the bow, eyes fixed on the end of their journey, old differences forgotten in the face of the unknown. The Forest was upon them with increasing speed, and soon they could all make out the first great trees of the boundary, and the narrow opening through which the River flowed. The paddle steamer slowed, as though offering one last chance to turn back, and then she sounded her whistle defiantly, chugged bravely forward into the narrow gap, and entered the Forest.
It was a dark and primal place, with trees so huge they had to be hundreds of years old. They were tall and vast and threatening, a reminder of a time when Humanity lived by the Forest's grace and was just a part of its slow primordial pulse. The heavy branches were thick with foliage, interlocked together high overhead in a canopy that blocked out most of the sunlight. Heading into the Forest, the humans and the toys left the day behind, and
