"It's a family habit and hard to break."

"You aren't a preacher or something?"

"My father is."

"I knew it."

"When the urge hits, perhaps I should switch to Greek."

"It couldn't hurt."

Forty One

Vanilla Roses

"Is this the place?" asked Shrike.

"I believe so," Primo replied.

"Believe?" Spyder asked.

"A figure of speech. This is the place."

"What happens now?" asked Lulu.

"We wait," said Primo, "for the moon to move across the sky and reveal the location of the entrance to Hell."

Shrike was hunkered on the ground, her hands moving slowly across the face of the braille map. Spyder knelt down beside her. The desert night wind came in dry, frigid gusts that threatened to drag the map off into the dark.

"Does this feel right to you?" Spyder asked.

"As far as I can tell, we're where we should be," she said. "We're in Primo's hands now. Is the moon up?"

"Been up for a while. That's what worries me. We might have missed it."

"We still have tomorrow night."

"We lost all our food and most of our water back at the OK Corral."

"Then, let's hope we still have a chance tonight."

"Can we start a fire or something?" Lulu asked. "The wind comin' off these hills is giving me some serious raisins."

Count Non shook his head. "That's not a good idea. Not with enemies overhead. They would spot even a small fire."

Lulu shivered in her light cotton jacket. "I'm seriously dying over here." Spyder took off his leather jacket and draped it across her shoulders.

"What about one of those caves?" asked Spyder. "We can do like the other night, start a small fire and stack some of this scrub over the entrance. Maybe cover it with our coats."

"It's still dangerous," said the Count. "What do you say, Shrike?"

"If nothing else, moving around and gathering brush will warm us. Do you see anything yet, Primo?"

"No, ma'am. Whatever your decision about a fire, I'm going to stay here and watch the moon."

While Primo and the Count kept track of the sky, the others began pulling the dry, shallow-rooted brush from the loose desert soil and piling it in a nearby cave. While Lulu and Shrike broke up some of the brushes into kindling, Spyder spread their coats over a pile of brush at the cave opening. Count Non volunteered a heavy wool cloak that he pulled from his weapons bag.

When he'd covered the entrance, Spyder slipped inside, trying not to disturb any of the brush that kept in the light. Kneeling next to Shrike and Lulu, he struck a match and lit the kindling they'd laid out. The sticks caught quickly and the little cave filled with light. The heat came up more slowly, but in the frigid night, they felt their skin begin to warm and it felt good. Spyder leaned into Shrike as Lulu huddled up on the other side.

Lulu pulled off her blindfold. "All they can see is the fire, right?"

"Yeah. They won't know where the fire is," said Spyder. "We having a good time yet?" Spyder asked.

"Shit, this is better than dinner and a spanking," said Lulu.

From outside the cave came Count Non's voice. "Sorry to disturb you, but you should come and look at this."

"Who should?" called Lulu.

"All of you."

"Dammit."

They crawled out of the cave slowly, gloomily, leaving the warmth behind. It felt even colder and more miserable now that they'd had a few minutes of comfort. The three of them remained huddled together as they went to where Primo and the Count were waiting.

Spyder followed the men's gaze upward to the night sky. "It's the moon," he said. "Been there. Done that."

"Look beyond that peak," said Primo.

"Oh man," Spyder said.

"What is it?" asked Shrike.

Spyder felt Lulu shiver.

"Two moons," Spyder said. "There are two moons in the sky."

Shrike lowered her head, but didn't say anything.

"Who has the juice for this?" Spyder asked.

"The Brotherhood, perhaps," said Count Non. "Perhaps the Black Clerks, though I've never heard of them doing anything remotely this mad before."

"It could be a confederacy. Two or three of the groups wanting to stop us could have combined their powers," Shrike said. "This is bad."

"There's something worse," said Lulu, looking back at the cave.

Spyder turned and saw that the fire had ignited some of the brush by the entrance. The whole cave was burning like a merry beach bonfire on the Fourth of July.

"If someone's looking for us, I think we just sent 'em a flare," said Lulu.

"There's something in the flames," Primo said.

Black, moiling smoke slid from the cave, up the mountainside. But a slower, heavier smoke hung white in the air, turning in slow motion tornadoes. Things coalesced inside the spinning whirlpools, shape-angled, skeletal. A glimpse of bared teeth. A sharp arc of metal. Heavy, restless boots.

"Soldiers," said Spyder. "Primo, that cave we want is above us, right?"

"Yes, sir. Up the mountain."

"Maybe we should go now."

Spyder took Shrike's hand and they ran up a narrow switchback that cut back and forth across the face of the Kaslan mountains. Coming from far behind them, Spyder heard the clattering of metal and leather. He hoped the smoke soldiers were slow, or still smoky, so the mountain wind might blow them away. As the group ran, however, the sound of the soldiers' weapons came closer. Shrike pulled away from Spyder and ran back down the mountain, her sword up and ready to strike. Spyder was frozen in place, his mind a blank. What was she going to do against a soldier made of smoke? But when Shrike made her first slash, Spyder saw the blood and heard a scream. He realized that while the soldiers might have come from smoke, they were now just flesh and blood. He, Primo and Count Non charged down the hill while Lulu opened up behind them with the four-ten.

Spyder sent a couple of the soldiers off the edge of the trail as they tried to avoid the spinning Hornet, while the Count gutted one, then another of the smoke soldiers. Spyder saw other soldiers forming at the foot of the -mountain. While the others attacked the remaining few pursuers, Spyder grabbed Shrike.

"Do you know any magic to make the wind blow harder?" he asked.

"One spell."

"Use it."

Shrike got down on one knee and rolled up her sleeve. Whispering a low incantation, she pulled back the metal bird on the lancet, locking it into place. A moment later, the bird snapped down and Spyder saw blood run down Shrike's hand. The wind kicked up at their backs, pushing them toward the edge of the cliff. Spyder grabbed Shrike and pulled her back against the mountain.

Below them, the hurricane that now blasted down from the mountain scattered the burning scrub from which the soldiers were coalescing. Half-formed soldiers splattered onto the sand, a wet corruption of skin, bone and exposed organs.

Overhead, immense, dark things blacked out parts of the sky. Search lights played across the desert floor, illuminating the underbellies of the airships. The lights pooled around the bodies of the dead soldiers near the cave.

Count Non and the others trudged up the hill into the wind, finally reaching Spyder and Shrike.

"We should keep moving." The Count had to shout to be heard above the wind.

"Can you turn the wind off now, pretty please?" Spyder asked.

Shrike raised her hands and uttered a few words. Nothing happened. She indicated that they should start up the hill. "Sometimes it takes a few minutes," She said. "This isn't like turning off the TV."

They started up and within a few minutes, the wind began to slack off. The airships kept up their search, lighting up the bodies of the slaughtered soldiers on the trail below. Looking for us among the dead, thought Spyder. He felt a surge of excitement, having come through another fight. Primo came up from the rear, still scanning the sky, trying to find some clue in the mad light and crisscrossing shadows cast by the twin moons.