Titans of Chaos

But then he had a woman in a Greek toga by one ankle. A lyre was falling from her wildly clawinghands. Colin contemptuously let go of the ankle and let her drop.

He did not say anything, did not pause to wonder about it. He just flung her away as if she weregarbage.

With a long, hideous wail, she fell away from us, growing smaller and smaller. I closed my eyesand clutched Colin with both arms, burying my head in his chest.

"Are you hurt?" he said, masculine anger still throbbing in his voice.

"My wings are reduced... crushed... I don't know if I can fly..."

"I'll carry you, Amelia."

"Are you hurt?"

"No. Red ink. But the magic ring just went kaput. I think we're visible___Hey. What is that... ?"

Colin had changed course and was now spiraling down toward a wide round clearing in themiddle of the forest.

Slabs of fitted stone formed the circular foundations of a ruined building. Grass grew in thecracks between the stones. Rusted stumps of pipe protracted up from an underground space inone or two places. There was a circle of toadstools, bright and gay with spots of yellow andpurple, making an outer circle exactly concentric with the circular rim of the grassy stones.

In the very center of the circle of grassy stones, a sleek, black, rocket-ship-shaped guitar wasvisible, unharmed, unscratched.

This looked like the selfsame guitar that had been slung over the saddle of the Amazonian horseshot to pieces and blown to smithereens before my eyes. How could it have survived... ?

Who had brought it here?

Colin said, "What is that?"

I said, "I bought it for you. A guitar. It was meant to be a surprise."

He laughed an odd laugh, and folded his wings, swooping down.

"Colin, what the hell are you doing? Up! Go up! Get us out of here!"

"Oh, come on, Amelia. Don't be silly. What could be the matter? I want to see this guitar youbought for me."

I was looking right at his eyes when it happened. His pupils shrank, contracting in a moment totiny pinpoints, as if he were staring into a blinding light.

"Colin! This is magic! I am ordering you, as the leader, I am ordering you to get us out of here!"

"Oh... now you're just being pushy. Please, Amelia. Don't be so paranoid. That guitar is mine, isn'tit? It looks cool."

"Colin! Wake up! Listen to me, for the love of God!"

"I am awake, Amelia," he said in a voice of maddening calm. "I can hear you just fine."

"Away! Fly us away!"