The cutter’s scythe sliced through the material of a tarp over the deck of Luther’s flagship. Saul gripped the side of the cutter, with one hand, and the hilt of his sword in the other.

  Shreds of tarp flew up along either side of the hull. Then they passed through completely. The blade of their cutter never touched the deck of Luther’s ship. Adam’s control arrested the descent with incredible precision.

  A gern’s roar sounded from above them, and screams of warning came from every direction on the deck of Luther’s ship. Olivia grabbed her cattle prod and thrust it over the side. A guard in armor, who Saul had not even seen, fell to the burst of electricity from the weapon’s prongs. He dropped a sword.

  Olivia vaulted the side of the smaller cutter and landed on the flagship’s deck. Saul jumped down beside her. Shock ran through his legs. She glanced at him. “We have to find Luther.”

  He nodded, then checked to his other side. Besides the one Olivia had dropped with her prod, he saw no other crew near them in the center of the ship. Gern dived in from above them, drawn to the hole their cutter had torn in the tarps that had previously warded the gern off the deck of the flagship.

  “We stick together,” he said. “There’s a lot more of them than us.”

  “Right.” She crossed into the shadows of the remaining tarp, heading toward the prow.

  He looked over his shoulder. A pair of winged gern with the upper halves of metal taph rings emerging from each of their shoulders landed on the cutter that still hovered over the deck. The smaller vessel flew higher, thruster spheres glowing and roaring. The cutter Saul and Olivia had ridden in on flew free of the flagship.

  The two gern on the small cutter squealed and leaped over the side, heading for the hole in the tarp once more. Saul pulled an oven rod from a loop with his free hand. He backed toward Olivia as the two gern landed at the center of the flagship’s deck. One of them stalked toward the stunned Rokarian Olivia had taken down with her cattle prod.

  Saul’s blade cut the creature along its massive jaws. The point bounced off the metal ring just over the gern’s shoulder. Saul darted back. The gern roared and charged toward him. Long crocodile-like jaws snapped open.

  The tines of Olivia’s taser connected with the roof of the gern’s mouth. Electricity surged into the monster. Flesh blackened and it fell back. The jaws snapped shut and tore the taser from Olivia’s grip. The gern did not rise.

  Saul advanced on the second gern, sword out in front of him. Halfway there, he stopped beside the fallen guard. Still holding the oven rod, he slipped his fingers under the man’s armored collar. He dragged the Rokarian with him as he fell back toward Olivia under the torn edge of the tarp. The gern gave a bird-like squawk and backed away the opposite direction. More gern descended through the great tear in the tarp.

  He reached Olivia, still dragging the unconscious guard. “We have to keep moving forward. Nat, stash this guy below decks. I’m not letting the gern eat him.”

  Nat dropped onto the guard’s chest plate. Saul released the collar. Nat and the guard vanished into the shadows.

  “What happened to you?” Olivia asked. “You care about these people all of a sudden?”

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  “We’re all human, I suppose. No one deserves to get eaten by gern.”

  She shot him a smile. “We agree.”

  Nat hopped back to Saul’s shoulder. “He’s safe, Saul.”

  “Good.” He looked up at the tarp as he slipped his oven rod into the loop of his jeans. He held out his hand to Olivia. “It’s dark enough here, we can hop straight to the prow.”

  She took his hand in her grip, still holding tight to her cattle prod with the other. “Go.”

  Nat fluttered his wings and then obeyed. They warped through the shadows. The deck returned, shifted into a slope under Saul’s shoes.

  She released his hand. Ahead of them at the front of the boat, stood three shapes, silhouetted against the deep blue light of the root universe as the ripples began to subside.

  Luther stood with cane in hand, William’s heavy frame on one side, and Irene’s black-clad form on the other. Red-feathered Hush perched on Irene’s shoulder, wings folded.

  Irene turned toward Saul and Olivia. A sad expression crossed her face. “I knew you wouldn’t listen.”

  William giggled but didn’t stop staring at the root universe.

  Luther’s cane clacked against the deck. He pivoted and smirked at Saul. “Well, you two are an unwelcome sight. I admire your persistence.”

  Saul took a step toward Luther. His gaze shifted between Luther’s dark face and Irene’s pale one. “Hand over the hilt, Luther. You’ll start a war if you activate it here.”

  Luther’s lip curled. “Exactly. I’m tired of being treated like a criminal, but that’ll be over when Hidria falls to Rokar.”

  “If you’re tired of being treated like a criminal, stop killing people.” Olivia’s voice sounded hot from beside Saul.

  “Lots of people kill. I have a better reason than most. No killing means no doors.”

  “And without your doors, you’re just a normal man.” Saul pointed the tip of his sword at Luther’s chest. “You can’t make the new world, can you?”

  Luther exaggerated a sigh. “You got me, Saul. Turns out, Rufus and Irene would rather give me a new world than live the way you do. You should have heard the things Irene’s told me about you. Sad. Weak. Pathetic.”

  Saul clenched his teeth. The point of his sword wavered, and he worked to still his shaking hand. He glared at Luther.

  “It doesn’t matter what she says.” Olivia’s words pierced Saul’s anger though they were directed at Luther. “She left him in exile.”

  Irene’s eyes flashed toward Olivia. Hush shrieked like the hawk he resembled. She took a step toward Olivia, fists unfolding. Fingers stretched. “Don’t speak to me that way, exile.”

  Saul stepped into her path. “She’s right. I don’t like it, but that’s the way things went.” The roars of gern faded into the distance behind him. The world tunneled as he matched

  Irene’s gaze.

  “You always choose exiles over your own kind.”

  “They don’t let me down the way you did, Irene.”

  “I’m not like Rufus. I don’t hate them. But at one time you were more like him than you were like me.”

  “I guess I’ve changed. Maybe that’s why Rufus is knocked out back in Rokar, and I’m the one standing here.”

  Olivia’s hand touched his shoulder. “Saul.”

  “Get the hilt from Luther. He can’t use it without Irene.” He held the sword on guard between himself and his former love.

  Olivia took her hand from his shoulder. “Okay.” She stepped to his side and faced Luther, cattle prod in hand.

  Luther motioned to one side.

  William turned, heavy form slow. He giggled. A trickle of drool hung from his lips. “I guess I get to kill you again, girl.”

  Saul’s stomach roiled as he remembered the bloody wound William had torn in Olivia’s belly. He nudged Nat. The art-child stirred and then fluttered onto Olivia’s shoulder.

  She shook her head. A taser fell from her sleeve into her free hand. “This time, I’m ready for you.”

  William lumbered between Olivia and Luther. Drool dripped onto his wife beater. “Fun. Fun. Fun.” His face began to glow from within. Lines of intense brightness cracked his features and his skin began to redden.

  Luther turned toward the root universe as the ripples of color shifted from deep blue to pale gold. He twirled his cane, then glanced over his shoulder at Saul and Olivia. His eyes roved to Irene. “I’ll be waiting. Make this quick.”

  Irene nodded, but with a frown on her face. Her fingers stroked Hush’s feathers at a band of black about his throat. “No time like now, my dear.”

  Hush faced Saul and opened his beak. A fiery glow bloomed from the bird’s throat. Saul leaped toward Irene.