against them; Tesserax's orange robes splashed out colorfully in his wake.
Jessie threw the blood into the wind as Helena finished her chant, then dropped to one knee and fired a dozen silver darts at the dragon's belly just as Brutus came to the final verse of the maseni prayer. The effect was quite dramatic. The charging beast jerked, staggered clumsily to the side, fell down and rolled past them, into the back of the inn. Mythical boards burst, and mythical windows shattered….
'It worked!' Tesserax cried.
'Elation,' EmRec said. 'Or is it surprise? It might even be relief of a sort….'
The dragon wailed and writhed, trying to regain its feet. But there was no use to its struggles. The winds around it had abated. Already it was becoming transparent, like a milk glass novelty in the pale moonlight.
A few minutes later, Tesserax said, 'It's gone. We did it, Blake! Or, rather, you did it, my friend.'
The animals, having fled to the far edges of the meadow, came slowly back toward the trees, now, sniffing the air where the beast had once walked.
'This calls for a celebration!' Hogar said. 'Food, wine, candies and spices! All on the house, of course.'
Pearlamon said, 'I must admit, Mr. Blake, that many of us knew what the beast was. But we hoped to find a way to destroy it ourselves, without letting the secret out.' He was munching on some peanuts which he had taken from a pouch in his loincloth, and his words were somewhat slurred. 'But now that you and your brave companions—' He stopped, looked startled, dropped the peanuts and grabbed his throat. 'Ach!' he said.
Hogar giggled.
'Ach, ach, ach,' Pearlamon choked.
Jessie turned away from the god as he fell onto his back. To Brutus, the detective said, 'You know, you were right when you said I had a latent fear of becoming a Shockie like my folks. I don't have that fear any more. If I can keep my perspective in the midst of this crazy gang, I know I can adjust to anything at all.'
'I never was afraid of change or of danger or of crazy creatures,' Helena said. 'Excitement always makes me horny, that's all.'
'Ah, hah!' EmRec said. 'I recognized that expression. Boy oh boy! Your face was a mask of sheer lust.' The metal dwarf looked at Jessie and said, 'Oh, and yours too, yours too!' He paused. 'Or maybe yours isn't lust Perhaps you're constipated? I have a faulty visual node here, and I can't tell for sure. Is it, maybe, a tick in your cheek? Or could it be… No. I think what it is, you have had a religious revelation, a miraculous… No, not that either. Your expression is more one of… Or is it? Well now…'
