"Follow!" cried Mooncrow.
And once again she darted through the air, this time above a landscape she recognized. It was the area around Carlsbad, New Mexico, and she was, indeed, in the shape of a swallow.
Unfortunately, she was entirely alone.
And behind her was a Cooper's hawk, talons outstretched to snatch her out of the sky.
The Cooper's was the deadliest predator of birds that flew; Kestrel had seen them take starlings and crows before their prey even knew there was a danger. With a squeak of panic, Kestrel twisted and dipped and turned, trying to outmaneuver her enemy.
But she was tired, and the Evil One wasn't even missing a wingbeat!
She looked down, hoping for some kind of brush to dive into to shake her pursuer. But there was nothing down there but rocks and cactus-
And the mouth of a small cave.
She folded her wings and dove. The hawk followed, but as she looked back, she heard him laugh, and saw him transform in midair from a hawk to a great black owl!
Too late for her to change direction-
She shot through the mouth of the cave into echoing semidarkness. "How kind of you to be so stupid as to go into a place where I have the advantage!" he mocked, as she banked frantically, just in time to avoid the back wall of the cave. Then she had to bank again, as her flight took her too near the entrance he was guarding, evading his talons by so little that she squeaked with pain as he grabbed one of her primaries and yanked it out.
He lunged at her-
And as soon as he passed into the cave itself, he flew directly into the web of an enormous spider!
It confused him, and he flapped in place, angrily shaking his head to try and rid himself of the clinging fibers. But before he could, a huge bat dropped down on his back from the ceiling above, knocking him into the floor of the cave so hard that he hit his head. And for the moment, he lay stunned.
Kestrel seized the opportunity and darted outside, followed by the bat.
The bat transformed into Moh-shon-ah-ke-ta as soon as both of them were outside; Mooncrow rose up from out of the rocks, and Kestrel dropped down beside him and took her human form again.
"Now!" cried her Ancestor.
They joined power, calling on the ancient rocks, calling on the Earth and Air, the Sky and Lightning-
And all the ancient spirits answered them.
The earth shook itself, knocking them off their feet; the Sky sent down Lightning all around them, blinding them, deafening them, hemming them in-
Rocks tumbled down the slope of the hill, blocking the entrance of the cave, and before the Evil One could find a shape to escape the trap, Lightning struck the hillside again and again until the sand smoked and fused, sealing him inside for all time.
David dodged a swipe of Calligan's knife, and stumbled into the side of the desk, sending everything that was not already on the floor flying. He grabbed an ashtray and flung it at the man, who dodged it, laughing wildly, and slashed at him again.
The window's too small to get out of, even if Jennie were conscious. The only chair is on the other side of the desk. The filing cabinets are too heavy to tip over-
He ducked another knife strike, frantically running through his limited options.
The phone is on the floor, and I don't think he's gonna give me a minute to call 9-1-1-
Was that smoke?
He glanced to the side and swore. The lamp that had been on the desk had gone into the wastepaper basket; smoke wisped up from the trash. Calligan followed his glance, and grinned even more as flames licked up from the paper and the bulb exploded with a pop.
Oh shit. Isn't the other side of this trailer where they keep the explosives' shed?
To put it out, he'd have to leave Jennie-which was exactly what Calligan wanted. The minute he left her unprotected, Calligan would kill her.
Calligan laughed, and David snarled as the flames licked up a little higher from the wastebasket.
This guy is effin' crazy! Where the hell is Mooncrow? Can't he see the fire from here? Mooncrow might not be able to get through the locked door, but if he called the fire department-
Calligan lunged, and David skidded out of reach, the blade actually ripping his shirt in passing. Calligan was as fast as a striking snake; he recovered and lunged again, as the flames caught the chair next to the desk and dense black smoke mingled with the flames-
If the fire didn't get them, the smoke surely would!
Where was Mooncrow?
Calligan's got him. Or he's had a stroke. He'd looked awfully gray back there at the office.
Calligan lunged again, trying to drive David away from Jennie, and cackled insanely. And this joker doesn't care if we all die so long as he gets me and Jennie!
Screw this. There's only one way to deal with this maniac.
He knew he was going to get hurt, but he didn't think that Calligan would anticipate his next move, and he remembered something one of his Lakotah buddies told him about going up against a knife-fighter.
You can always take the knife out of the picture if you're willing to get hurt doing it. Just force the target on him; don't let him pick where he's going to stick you.
And the flames were climbing the wall beside him, now.
They didn't have more than a minute or two if they were going to get out of there alive!
Calligan lunged-and David charged into the lunge.
He took the knife in his shoulder, but his adrenaline was up now, and he didn't even feel it. He body-slammed Calligan into the wall; grabbed both his shoulders and slammed his head up sideways into the filing cabinets. Calligan's eyes rolled up into his head, and David let him fall.
He pulled the knife out of his shoulder with one hand while he kicked the door open. The flimsy lock didn't hold past the second kick.
Now the flames covered the back wall entirely.
He took the two steps he needed to reach Jennie, thanking all the gods that she was tiny, then slung her fireman-style across his good shoulder, as blood poured from the wound in his other shoulder, soaking his shirt.
As he turned, he took a fraction of a second to look for the artifacts, knowing that Jennie would ask after them, remembering that she had said they were important. But there wasn't anything anywhere in sight, and he had no time, no time left at all-
He plunged through the door, stumbled down the stairs, and staggered across the bare, sandy ground-the office was going to go up at any moment, and they needed some cover, quick-
There. He spotted a pile of bags of sand for concrete and tumbled around in back of them, dropping Jennie as soon as they were behind them and falling to his knees-