He laughed at her, his voice ringing with scorn.
'You may have conquered my Black Birds, Little Hawk,' he told her, sneering, 'but now you meet the Devourer. I am Hunger, and you cannot escape me.'
She didn't reply; she could only wish, desperately and profoundly, that there was some way to invoke Watches-Over-The-Land, to bring him back from the Summerlands. He defeated this Evil One before; her ancestor Moh-shon-ah-ke-ta was the one who knew how to deal with him, what worked against him the first time-
But she was on her own.
She was more frightened now than when she had been struggling to keep from drowning; more frightened than a few hours ago, facing her murderers for a second time. That had only been a physical death that she risked. This was more-the death of all that made her whole.
She had never, ever, felt so helpless in all of her life.
What was worse, she watched the Evil One's eyes, and knew that he knew all of this by the sly smile creeping onto his thin lips; knew that he read her every thought, and could play on all her weaknesses and exploit them.
You have to deal with the enemy inside yourself before you can take on the enemy that faces you. . . .
Like I have the leisure for a psychological review right now! What should I do, ask him to wait for a minute while I bring in my analyst?
His smile widened, just a little more, while the bitter wind of his place, called by his power, whipped her hair around her face, stinging her eyes and calling up tears of pain and pure unadulterated fear. He licked his lips, as if he tasted and relished those tears.
David was not prepared for Calligan to come lunging over the desk; he stepped back, instinctively. That was a mistake; he cleared the way for the man to body-slam Jennie into the wall of filing cabinets opposite the desk.
Then he reacted, leaping to Jennie's defense, but it was too late; Jennie was out cold, and Calligan was backing away, toward the door. Quickly, he positioned himself between Jennie and Calligan, taking a defensive stance over her prone body. He glanced down briefly, desperate to determine how badly she was hurt, but afraid to take his eyes off Calligan for long.
But Calligan relaxed, and gifted David with the nastiest smile he'd ever seen. David tensed. If something made Calligan smile, he had a pretty good idea that he wasn't going to like it.
Then the contractor reached around behind his own back and locked the door of his office.
'I told Romulus, I told Sleighbow, over and over, that they couldn't trust you savages,' he said, pulling a clasp knife from his pocket. 'Now-let's see if I can come up with a good story.' His eyes focused just past David's shoulder for a moment. 'Got it. That primitive little tart must have decided to use you as her way to bring me down.' Calligan eyed David as if he were some kind of lower form of life, a bug or a worm. 'I can see why; you must make a lot of money as a gigolo. So. First you seduce and steal my wife, then persuade her to file against me; then you use serving those papers on me as an excuse to get in here to try and murder me.' He shook his head and tsked. 'Barbarians. There isn't a judge and jury in Oklahoma who'd blame me for killing you and your bimbo. Temporary insanity, that's what they'd say.'
Strange, Calligan spoke as if he was reciting something; as if someone were coaching him with a hidden mike. But his eyes were alert enough, so he wasn't on drugs or anything.
David tensed, his eyes on Calligan's, regretting profoundly that he had left his gun at home and his knives in the car with Mooncrow. But Jennie had sworn that he couldn't risk going armed when he was serving legal papers. And he really hadn't thought that Calligan would try anything stupid in a place as public as his office.
Calligan handled that knife as if he knew how to use it. A very bad sign.
Calligan saw his eyes flick briefly to the knife, and his smile widened. 'I was a Navy SEAL, did you know that?' he asked conversationally. 'They train the SEALs right. Missed 'Nam, though. I always felt kind of cheated. I'd have enjoyed it.'
He circled a little, and made a brief feint to the right. David saw immediately what he was up to; he wanted to get David away from Jennie.
So instead of moving, he simply pivoted, watching Calligan's eyes, and trying to think if there was anything within reach that he could use for a weapon.
Kestrel backed up another pace, but she didn't think a simple tactic like that was going to work for much longer. It might look as if she could back up forever across this wasteland, but this was his wasteland, and he could manipulate it in any way he chose. Sooner or later he was going to get tired of this.
Oh, Ancestor, if only I could call you back to me!
'Daughter-' said a deep voice just behind her, suddenly; so suddenly that it made her jump. Something materialized at her side, a bright presence in the darkness.
She glanced to her right, and almost sobbed with relief.
Another Osage stood beside her, his costume dating from the same ancient days as the Evil One. Like his, all the decorations on it were non-European; shells, quills, claws, teeth-but this man wore proper war-paint, a mussel-shell torque. And like Kestrel, he wore eagle feathers; both the under-tail covert of the Tzi-sho, on the left, and the hard tail-feather of the Hunkah, on the right.
There was no doubt whatsoever in her mind who this was, not when she sensed an immense power and strength in him, and an enormous confidence.
'Moh-shon-ah-Jce-ta,' she said, with a little nod of respect, and a smile of relief. 'Ancestor. You are very welcome here!'
As she spoke, she moved back and to the side, instinctively placing herself shoulder-to-shoulder with him. He smiled back at her, and some of that power and strength flowed into her, erasing some of her blind terror.
But when she looked back at their enemy, the Evil One did not seem to be any less confident. He looked Moh-shon-ah-ke-ta up and down, contemptuously. 'One, old and brittle,' he said with scorn, 'and one, green and with no experience. Hardly a challenge at all.'
'So?' Watches-Over-The-Land said mildly. 'But you are hardly younger than I.'
Kestrel felt a third presence join her and Moh-shon-ah-ke-ta; a moment later, Mooncrow stood at her left shoulder. He looked very much like Watches-Over-The-Land, except that the decorations on his ritual clothing, like hers, boasted the additions of ribbon- and beadwork.
The Evil One snorted. 'Even three-to-one you cannot defeat me!' he laughed. 'You, old fool-' he continued, pointing at Kestrel's Ancestor, '-should have warned them! You had the Little Old Men of all the gentes beside you when you bested me last! You have only these two at your side now! And I-'
He seemed to loom larger-no, he was growing larger, looming over all three of them!
'-I have no limits upon my power now!'
He spread his arms, gathering his power to him, and lightning flickered about his head as he prepared to strike them.
But Watches-Over-The-Land was not going to stand there and wait for him to act!
'Follow!' he ordered, and fled.
Kestrel followed him, as he somehow twisted the very fabric of this place, and escaped from the Evil One's land into another level of the Spirit World.
Her sight distorted, then cleared; she gasped for a moment, trying to breathe air that was suddenly heavy.
No, it was not air at all.
Kestrel found herself wearing the form of a fish, the swift and clever trout, arrowing through the sparkling water of a clear river. Ahead of her was a great salmon, which must be Moh-shon-ah-ke-ta; beside her, a black bass, which was surely Mooncrow.
The river darkened, as something passed overhead. Kestrel gathered herself and leapt, high-
The Evil One was there, waiting for her, fishing spear in hand. He had already stretched a net across the river ahead of them! They were trapped!
He struck at her leaping body; she writhed as she fell, and the head of the spear just skimmed past her sleek flank. This time it was her turn to cry 'Follow!' as she fell back into the river and gulped life-giving water, then twisted the fabric of the river and-
Ran on four hooves across a grassy plain, in the shape of an Appaloosa mare. Her unshod hooves thudded
