gravity, and dropped himself into the air. He lashed out with the sword and caught Madi through the chest with the tip. Sullivan landed on his feet, and pushed the blade in deeper. Madi roared and grabbed onto the steel even as it sliced through his hands.
They were face to face again, with a foot of sword sticking out Madi's back. 'You still don't get it. I'm the strongest there is!' Sullivan's nose broke as Madi's forehead slammed into it. Down was now up, and Sullivan fell ten feet into the air before the Power tapered off. He used his magic to cushion his fall, but by the time he hit the floor on hands and knees, Madi had already dragged the bloody sword from his torso. His brother raised it in both hands and bellowed. 'Strongest THERE IS!' The sword cleaved through Sullivan's back, through one lung, out his chest, and dug deep into the floor. It was a brutal killing blow. Blood erupted like a geyser.
Sullivan fell facedown in a pool of his own blood.
Failure. He could see the Geo-Tel sparking, the Chairman watching curiously. All he could hear was a buzzing noise. As his vision darkened, he saw Madi's legs pass in those swishy samurai pants, and then he saw Jane being dragged across the floor by her hair again. Madi was screaming something, and then he felt the burn as his wounds were stretched tight and flesh was welded together again.
'Please, leave him alone,' Jane was crying. 'You've won. Quit torturing him.'
Madi shoved her out of the way and grabbed Sullivan by the throat. 'Last chance, Jake. Third strike and you're out.' He shoved Sullivan back down and returned to the center of the room.
Sullivan climbed to his feet. It felt like there was a ball of molten lava in his chest. He didn't bother to pick up the sword. Madi was the strongest. But even the strongest can lose. He gathered all of the Power he had left. 'No matter how tough you think you are, with all your Imperium bullshit, and all your fake magic, and all these punks looking up to you, you're still that same low-as-dirt bully you've always been, and I'll never be scared of you.'
Madi watched him with his good eye. He was furious, the living half of his face red. Spittle flew from his lips as he screamed, 'AGAIN!'
Sullivan threw every piece of magic he could. Gravity shifted ten times in as many seconds. Iron Guards fell up, down, and across the room. The Chairman, nonplussed, put out one hand to steady the Geo-Tel. Madi threw up his hands, countering magic with magic, every kanji on his chest glowing bright, burning so hot to keep up that the wood around his feet blackened and smoked. Every loose item in the room fell to the ceiling. Windows shattered. The light bulbs all exploded and dropped sparks until the room was lit only by glowing kanji and the pale blue light of the Geo-Tel.
And still, Madi kept getting closer, teeth ground together behind his destroyed lips, tears of blood leaking from his ruined eye. Sullivan stood his ground, feeling the pressure as Madi hammered him back. One of the bodyguards fell screaming out a broken window. Madi finally reached him and backhanded him across the face. It was the blow of the mightiest Iron Guard, and it shattered Sullivan's teeth and wrenched his neck around.
Sullivan landed on his back ten feet away. He started sliding away on his rear, crawling on his elbows, pushing himself back with his feet. Madi walked forward, following him, ready to finish it once and for all. They continued for several feet, Sullivan grasping along, desperate, while Madi took his time strolling after him, savoring the moment. Finally, Sullivan stopped, raised his trembling hands, and looked up at the killer towering over him.
'Why the sad face?' Madi asked sarcastically.
'Not sad,' he spat around his broken teeth. 'This is what I look like when I'm concentrating…' He cut his Power.
Madi's eye flicked up, realizing what was happening just as the katana dropped from where Sullivan had been holding it against the ceiling. The blade fell, the tanto tip piercing through Madi's skull, through his brain, down his throat, until it pierced his heart in two. Overloaded, the healing kanji exploded with the light of a bonfire.
Sullivan surged off the floor and grasped the hilt protruding from the top of Madi's head. He pulled his brother's face in close and whispered, 'You're right. You always were the strongest.' Madi's good eye was twitching madly in its socket, trying to focus. His hands came up, curled into useless, spasming claws. He was trying to say something, but the only thing coming from his mouth was foaming blood and a gacking noise. 'But I'm the smart one, remember?'
With a roar, Sullivan pulled the blade toward him. The razor steel cut through the rest of Madi's skull, appearing right between his eyes, then through his nose and teeth. He wrenched the sword all the way out, opening him from top to belly button, and Madi's organs spilled out in a gushing heap. Somehow, he was still standing, the front of his head split in two. One side was the face of a human, while the other was the shredded white-eyed face of a monster.
No amount of healing magic could fix that. Sullivan raised his hand, palm open, and activated his Power.
'So long, Matty.'
Gravity changed direction and Madi plunged across the room, through the window, and out into the night.
Chapter 26
We have tried everything. Bullets bounce off. Bombs thrown under his carriage have turned it to splinters and killed the horses, but don't so much as muss the Chairman's hair. He does not sleep so we can't sneak up on him. He does not eat so we can't poison him. We've tried fire, ice, lightning, death magic, crushing gravity, bone shards, blood curses, all without effect. Decapitation might work, if you could come up with a blade sharp enough, but the finest steel simply dulls against his skin. Even if you were to wield this modern Excalibur the problem then would be that you can only touch Tokugawa if he lets you. He is all knowing, all seeing, moves faster than the wind, and can Travel in the blink of an eye. You don't touch the Chairman. The Chairman touches you, and as far as we've observed, that only happens when he's ripping the very soul from your body.
– Frank Baum, knight of the Grimnoir, testimony to the elders' council, 1911 San Francisco, California It was Kristopher Harkeness, elder of the Grimnoir, who responded to the call of his ring. The thin man came into the hospital room, locked the door behind him, and Browning wondered why he'd never seen it before. Plague lived in his flesh. This was an Angel of Death. This was the Pale Horse.
'You called?' Harkeness answered.
'I did.' Browning pulled the Colt.45 out from under the blankets and leveled it at his fellow Grimnoir. 'I'm surprised you came.'
'I'm bound by a sacred oath. I had to come.' He took a seat in one of the metal folding chairs next to the door. He did not look surprised to see the gun. 'You are, after all, one of my brothers. Isn't that what the oath says? So I know you won't shoot me. I am still Grimnoir.'
'I don't see a knight. I see a traitor.'
Harkeness laughed. It was a hollow and joyless sound. 'Allow me the chance to explain myself before you murder one of your fellows.' His awkward accenting of random words grated on Browning's ears. He reached very slowly into his coat. 'Mind if I smoke?'
'The man standing before the firing squad is always allowed one.'
'Do I get a blindfold?'
'I'd prefer for you to see this coming, for I do believe you murdered John J. Pershing, and I would assume that even if they did not die by your hand, you are responsible for many other deaths.'
The Pale Horse struck a match and lit his cigarette. He took a long drag and let it out in a cloud. 'That would be correct. But not for the reasons you believe. You see, Mr. Browning, I am no traitor. I have accomplished that which has been considered impossible. I have accomplished the thing that has cost so many of our brothers' lives. I am the furthest thing from a traitor. I am a hero.'
Browning decided to hear him out. Then he would shoot him in the heart. Imperium flagship Tokugawa Faye couldn't walk. Electrical shocks seemed to travel up her leg every time her foot touched the ground, but lucky for her, she didn't need to walk to Travel.
Time was short. Already the blue light was coming up out of the ocean. The magic jellyfish from the place with all the dreaming dead people was coming here, right now.
She appeared in the greenhouse where the surviving pirates had holed up. They were boxed in by two sets of
