The Dragon's Tooth Part 23

"Maxi," he said.

The bells roiled the air, and doors all around the courtyard were flying open. Maxi drew two guns and emptied them while he walked. A porter tumbled onto his face and the others retreated. He threw the guns down and drew two heavier, four-barreled monsters-the kind that spat fire, the kind that could burn motels. People shouted. Doors slammed.

"Up, Tigs!" Cyrus said. "Go! Go!" He hadn't needed to say it twice. Antigone was already scrambling back up the stairs on all fours, keeping below the solid railing. From around the courtyard, adults and training teens and porters had drawn sidearms and were returning fire. Cyrus snuck a look above the rail and watched corks.c.r.e.w.i.n.g flame explode first one and then another hot-air balloon. Baskets dropped while people screamed.

Maxi, laughing, focused both his flaming guns on the main building. One, two, three white-hot spiraling spheres splattered on the steps, erupting toward the doors. A tall shape tumbled through the flame and down the stairs, rolling back to his feet-Rupert Greeves. He was carrying a gun longer than he was tall, what looked like a wooden-stocked musket but with a ma.s.sive black ammunition drum above the trigger.

"Maximilien!" Rupert bellowed. "Stand and fight!"

Cyrus inched up.

Maxi was less than fifty yards away, heavy guns dangling from his hands. "Are we hunting elephants, Monsieur Greeves? The Avengels I've tilled into earth must weep for you."

Greeves raised his long gun. Still laughing, Maxi ducked and began running, zigzagging toward the stairs. The gun roared and green turf exploded. Again, and again, and two more craters emptied themselves into the sky. Again, and Maxi's running legs were swept out from under him.

Giggling, coughing, wheezing like a child tickled sick, Maxi staggered to his feet. Rupert was aiming while jogging. A pair of fireb.a.l.l.s spiraled back toward him.

"Cyrus!" Antigone barked. She was still on her hands and knees. "Where do we go?"

The walkway was lined with doors, but Cyrus didn't know if any of them had exits. Windows. They'd have to jump and hope for the best. He glanced back into the courtyard as Rupert dove into a somersault, a sunburst of white fire licking at his heels. Once more, the huge gun rose to his shoulder. Behind him, just visible through the hazing smoke, another, smaller shape dove from the high, broken window. A bounce, a roll, and it raced to the side of the courtyard.

"Into the room!" Cyrus said, crawling forward. The elephant gun fired, but he didn't look back again.

Inside, he jumped to his feet, slammed the door, and tried to wedge a chair beneath the k.n.o.b. It didn't work.

Antigone was already at the window, leaning out and looking down. "There's a tree, maybe close enough if we were squirrels and if this window opened wider. It's high, Cy, and the ground looks pretty rough. I don't think we can jump."

Cyrus dropped the chair and ran to the cas.e.m.e.nt. Pus.h.i.+ng Antigone to the side, he jumped onto the table and kicked at the window's hinges. His boots were solid. Aluminum bent and warped and popped. Finally, the window swung wide, slammed against the outside wall, and tore free, dangling awkwardly.

Antigone was right. A straight leap out was their only chance, and it wasn't a good one. "You first, Tigs," he said. "Roll when you land."

The door to the room banged open and Cyrus spun around, grabbing a chair, not sure what he would do with it.

Breathing hard but evenly, Nolan shut the door behind him. His bare arms and white tank top were covered with dust. His eyes were empty. His voice was strangely calm. "Maxi's up the stairs. Eldridge is dead. Greeves is burning. You should jump."

The wall shook, and fingers of flame curled in and fisted around the door behind him, tearing it from its frame. Nolan, the door, and blazing heat tumbled across the room.

As Latin books crackled, Maxi stepped into the doorway.

Antigone lunged for the window, but Cyrus pulled her to the floor as Maxi fired again. Searing magnesium flame swirled out the window and into the tree, exploding through the branches.

"No window this time," the man said, licking his worn smile. "Not again, ma cherie. Mi florita."

Nolan rolled out from beneath the door and stood. Cold, rigid, he stepped in front of Cyrus and Antigone. His dirty skin was striped with angry veins, and a piece of gla.s.s stuck out from the back of his neck.

"Children," Maxi said. "There is something you are very much wis.h.i.+ng to give me."

A bullet whistled into the room and ceiling plaster shattered. Pumping fireb.a.l.l.s over his shoulder, Maxi stepped to the side, leaning his back against the blackened wall. Antigone's fingers were digging into Cyrus's arm. She was trying to pull him up. Together, they stood.

"If you do not give it to me"-Maxi shrugged, showing them his tiny teeth-"then there will be much dying. Your brother, your mother, the two of you." He pointed his four-barreled gun at Nolan. "And this one."

Nolan took a small step forward. His voice was low, unruffled. "Fight with me, Maximilien. You think you cannot die? Fight with me." His fists pulsed. Clenched in Nolan's right hand, Cyrus glimpsed the keys, the unsheathed black tooth protruding between his knuckles.

"Ah ..." Maxi's eyebrows shot up. He brushed back his hair, and his smile grew.

Cyrus's eyes drifted down from Maxi's miniature teeth to the thick scar that encircled the man's neck.

"You are Nikales," Maxi said. "The little serpent, oldest and most cursed of thieves. I can free you from your curse."

Without looking, he blasted fire out the door beside him, swiveling his gun around the walkway. Shouts. A scream.

Then he drew a long, slender knife from the small of his back.

Nolan took another step, tense as a coiled snake. "I can kill you, Maxi. I will be the one to pluck the life from your flesh-as easily as picking some low, worm-riddled fruit."

"Can you?" Maxi asked. "Are you then greater than G.o.d, little thief?"

Nolan exploded forward. Latin ashes tumbled and sparked.

Cyrus watched Nolan spit himself on Maxi's knife. He saw Maxi's gun rise and Nolan's toothed fist flash forward. The gun fired too soon. Swallowed in flame, Nolan tumbled across the room, slamming into the wall.

The blast knocked Cyrus to the ground, Antigone gasping beneath him. Singed, hair smoking, Cyrus clattered toward Nolan. The keys were dangling from his limp hand, and his s.h.i.+rt and the skin from his chest and stomach had burned away.

Maxi fired again out the doorway, and then moved forward through the rubble.

"Cy!"

Cyrus heard Maxi step behind him, and he hunched farther forward, trying to hide what he was doing. The key ring was around Nolan's finger, and it had been crushed in place. Frantic, gritting his teeth and pinning Nolan's wrist down with his knee, he tugged harder. The knuckle popped, and the key ring slid free.

"Give them to me." Maxi jerked Cyrus around and clamped his hot hand tight around Cyrus's neck, crus.h.i.+ng veins, nails digging deep into skin. Cyrus tried to twist, he tried to breathe, he heard Antigone scream, and then he felt Patricia grow.

The silver snake, suddenly as thick as his arm, struck straight for Maxi's face. Shocked, releasing Cyrus, Maxi staggered back, knocking the first strike away. But the snake was still growing. Patricia slid down Cyrus to the ground and reared up after Maxi, chest height, hissing like a monstrous silver cobra, emerald eyes sparkling with wrath. Maxi raised his gun and fired as Patricia struck the barrel, taking the fireball down her wide throat. The snake's thick body bulged, glowing orange, and then a pillar of fire exploded back out of her mouth and up Maxi's arm.

Heart racing, Cyrus slid the tooth out between his knuckles as Nolan had done, clenching his fist around it. Selam. Kill me. He knew what had to be done. Maxi's gun was on the ground and his back was against the wall. With one hand, he was gripping Patricia just beneath the head as she spat and fang-groped for his forearm. With the other, he raised a knife.

Muscles taut with drumming adrenaline, Cyrus threw himself forward, fist raised, focusing on the man's temple as he swung. He saw Maxi's eyes turn toward him, surprised. He saw the knife flick through the air, but he didn't feel the blade graze his scalp and nick his ear. He didn't hear himself yelling.

Bone crunched.

A cold, jarring s.h.i.+ver ran up Cyrus's arm and into his skull. He staggered backward and sat down in smoking rubble. Patricia, her head now the size of a football, retreated to him, slowly winding her heavy body around his waist. She was shrinking quickly.

Maxi still stood, back against the wall, arms hanging limp at his sides. The keys and the charms hung from the tooth in his head, brus.h.i.+ng against his cheekbone as he began to sway. His eyes, no longer surprised, rolled slowly toward Cyrus. His lips twitched into a final smile.

"Merci ...," he said quietly.

Cyrus scrambled to his feet. Patricia was barely a belt now, and she'd found her tail.

"Where's Dan?" Cyrus yelled. "Where's my brother?"

Keys jingling, Maxi fell forward.

Cyrus caught him. The man was bird-light. Rolling him onto his back, he stared into empty eyes that had seen centuries of murder and ma.s.sacre and revolution, that had struck fear into the hearts of kings and chieftains and mobs. Now they were gla.s.sy and false-their secrets gone-like the eyes of some huge and horrifying doll. Grimacing, Cyrus tugged the keys from the man's skull, ignoring the gore, and shoved them quickly into his hip pocket.

Antigone dropped to the ground beside Nolan's smoking body. His eyes were closed, but somehow he was still breathing. The long knife stood out from his chest.

"He alive?" Cyrus asked.

Antigone nodded. "For now."

With his huge gun raised, Rupert Greeves crashed into the room. Parts of his safari jacket were missing and the rest was smoking. He had burns on his forehead and jaw. Half of his pointed beard was gone.

Lowering his gun, he nudged Maxi with his foot and then crouched to feel for a pulse. His eyes settled on the black oozing wound in Maxi's temple. Again, he checked for a pulse.

"Sebastian de Benalcazar," he said quietly, "Maximilien Robespierre, you have been hung, shot, stabbed, keelhauled, and decapitated by guillotine, but now you are dead."

Rupert looked at Cyrus and raised a long finger. "Cyrus Smith, I will give you only this one moment to speak the truth to me about what you have done and what you are carrying. Decide now if you want me for a friend."

Nolan groaned.

"I'm sorry," Cyrus said. "I was going to tell you today. Seriously. Antigone made me promise." He pulled the key ring from his pocket and held up the sticky tooth. Hooking his finger through the ring, he then unwound an extremely slender Patricia from his waist.

Rupert's eyes widened. "And a patrik?"

Cyrus nodded. "Skelton gave her to me. She and Nolan are the ones who really did the fighting. I just punched him once."

While Greeves watched, Cyrus wiped the tooth on his pants and clicked the sheath closed. Patricia was winding around his wrist. Rupert blinked when she found her tail and vanished.

"Now you know everything," Cyrus said.

Rupert sighed. "I know that in all the Estates of the Order, in every villain's den and necromancer's lair, from the hidden alleys of New Orleans to the witch doctors' lanes of Sierra Leone, men and women will hear that Maxi Robes is dead. They will hear the name of Cyrus Smith, Acolyte of Ashtown, and they will know that he carries the Reaper's Blade."

He looked into Cyrus's eyes. His voice was low but furious. "They will know that once more the immortal can die, and the dead can be raised. Cyrus, I cannot protect you from what will come, but I must protect Ashtown. Give me the tooth."

Cyrus swallowed, looking at the key ring in his hand. Then he looked up into Rupert's eyes and shook his head. "Skelton told me not to give it up. Not ever."

"Rupe?" A nervous voice trickled in through the door. "You all right in there?" A head peered in around the corner.

"A moment!" Rupert yelled. His eyes hadn't left Cyrus's. The head withdrew.

"They got him!" the voice yelled. "Maxi's dead!"

"Cyrus," Rupert said. "It's too dangerous."

Outside, the murmur and chatter of a crowd began to grow. Three more faces peeked in the doorway.

"Go!" Rupert yelled, and they pulled away.

"Listen, um, Mr. Greeves," Antigone said. "Could we be mad at Cyrus later? Nolan really needs help."

Rupert ignored her. He held out his hand to Cyrus. "Let me keep it safe for you. It's what your father would have done."

In the corner, while Antigone winced and turned away, Nolan whimpered and raised his arm. He slowly pulled the knife out of his chest and dropped it in the rubble.

Sighing, Cyrus began to twist the charm off the key ring. "My father," he said, "was kicked out of this place." He reached out to drop the silver sheath in Rupert's broad palm. He felt weak, like all his adrenaline was falling through the floor. "You don't know what he would have done," he said quietly.

Rupert suddenly closed his empty fist, looking at the silver sheath still in Cyrus's hand. "Good. I can trust you, Cyrus Smith." He looked up. "Do you trust me?"

Cyrus nodded.

Rupert leaned down eye to eye with Cyrus. "When I ask for it again, you must give it to me. Without question." Cyrus nodded again, closing his fingers tight around the sheath. The bones in his arm tingled. Greeves continued. "The tooth stays on the patrik. Tell everyone that I took it. If they think the Avengel of Ashtown carries it, those who come will come after me."

Antigone grimaced, listening to Nolan's spastic breaths start and stop, and then she raised her voice. "Nolan should really be in a hospital right now!"

Rupert shook his head. "No ... Nolan should be in a grave. But he will not be, no matter how hard he tries. The little thief has been cursed with life."

Nolan's eyes opened, sparking. His breath fluttered, and they closed again.

Rupert hoisted Maxi's corpse easily to his shoulder and picked up his enormous gun. He looked at Nolan. "Take the thief where you will. Tell no one-no one-what you still carry." He began to turn toward the doorway.

"Wait!" Antigone yelped. "Mrs. Eldridge? Nolan said ..."

Rupert paused, and then nodded. "She's gone. Bravely. No doubt trying to protect you." Turning quickly, he left the room.

Antigone stood up. "What?" she yelled. "Really? You're just going?" She looked back down at Nolan and inhaled slowly. "Cy, come here."

Cyrus turned away from the door and began twisting the tooth back onto the misshapen key ring as quickly as he could. Then he unwound Patricia, fed her through the ring, and raised her to his neck while he moved to help Antigone.

Gripping Nolan's arms, they pulled him to his feet, and then each slid under a shoulder.

Nolan muttered something in another language.

Outside, the courtyard and walkway were crowded. Armed guards, porters, young runners and bicyclists and balloonists, men and women with guns in hand were all parting as Rupert Greeves strode through them with a corpse on his shoulder. As Cyrus and Antigone emerged with Nolan, the sea of shocked and gaping faces swung back to them.

The stairs were crowded.

A tall boy in white workout clothes with a tattoo of a hieroglyphic eye on his neck stepped out of the crowd. "Who killed Maxi?" he asked.

Cyrus gritted his teeth and ignored the question as they moved down the stairs to the path below.

"Cy did," Antigone said. She looked at her brother. "With some ... black bone blade from Skelton. Greeves took it."

A rumble rippled through the mob as the people in front pa.s.sed the news to the back.

"Hey!" Diana Boone tore herself free of the crowd and hurried forward. Antigone was struggling. Diana relieved her, ducking a shoulder beneath one of Nolan's arms and grabbing on tight to his waist. She nodded at Cyrus. "Come on."

Cyrus imitated her on the other side, his arm crossing Diana's on Nolan's back. She didn't seem to notice the oozing burns and tarring blood, or care that she was pressing up against it.

"Grab his belt and lift," she said.