Titans of Chaos

way to betray each other, I feel it is my duty, as a loyal servant of the realm, ah, indeed, loyal towhomever will end up ruling the realm, my duty to mention, a fact which I hope has not escapedyour lordships' notice, occupied, as you are, with matters of such import. May I remind my lordsthat the entire sidereal universe will be destroyed if my children, ah, if the children, are harmed?

Might I suggest-although it is not, of course, my place to suggest-might I suggest a quick search ofthe bodies by medical teams? Yes?"

Mavors said, "Boreas, be quiet. You are only here because you are not loyal to anyone here. Aneutral third party."

Mulciber added, in a voice heavy with irony, "Whom we both mistrust equally."

Mavors covered up the shield and handed it over to Boggin.

Boggin took the shield and slid it under one arm. "Sir- if I may-the children's safety is aparamount-"

"You may not. Go."

Boggin hesitated a moment. My eyesight was too blurred yet to see any expression.

I saw his wings spread wide. There was a cold wind, and he was gone.

The statue of Trismegistus wiggled. I saw it open and close its hand.

Where the huge arm was extending inward through the broken hull wall, a peninsula of metal,there came a small motion. A hatch shaped as its thumbnail opened in the gauntlet of the golem.

A bent and hunchbacked figure emerged, climbed down a set of rungs. He moved with a limpingstride, crablike, over toward where the statue of Trismegistus lay on the boards.

I saw him bend over the fallen figure.

"Not dead," Mulciber said. "No escape for him that way. He's still in there."

Mavors said, "Lady Tritogenia, before handing me her shield, warned me he could work his wayout of the petrifaction, in time. A Chaos trick he learned."

"Not in time. Now. He's already working his way out. What a freak he is."

"You can contain him?"

Mulciber crooked his head up at the figure on the black deck above. "I am the master of iron andsteel, rock and stone. Stones don't move when I say they don't move. I can keep him bound. Youneed me to keep him in. I needed you to ensure victory. Deal's over now."

Mavors said, "You assume I am going to let you keep the prisoner. I don't want to see him addedto your side."

"Shut up, Mavors. You're an idiot. You think I'd make deals with vermin like him? He killed ourdad."

"My dad. Mulciber, if you thought he could put the crown of heaven on you, and keep it from me,you might find a way to forgive him."

"We going to fight now, eh? Is that the plan?"