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exoskeleton, and for each one he plucked from his body and crushed between fingers, a half-dozen more
assaulted him.
On the ground, I saw gears rolling along with a directed purposefulness. It felt as if I were watching a
stop-animation film, because the broken bits and pieces of birds gathered themselves up into piles that
slowly resolved themselves into bigger and stronger vultures. Those metal raptors, some large enough to
carry passengers or cargo back on Earth, slashed at Fiddleback with renewed vigor.
The sky above the Dark Lord glowed with the bronze colors of a sunset, yet the sun remained at its
zenith. The birds descended in a great cloud and looked like an angry swarm of bees. Their mechanical
shrieks filled the world with an industrial cry of victory.
As I watched Fiddleback falter and go down, I saw something else happening to him. The gobbets of
flesh unceremoniously stripped from him did not lie still on the ground. I saw them twitch, and all the
sharply torn edges folded down into themselves until each of the pieces of skin became pouchlike. Each
of these cocoons dried quickly and, as they did so, took on one of a rainbow of colors, from ivory to
onyx.
Something struggled within the fleshy pods,then the pods themselves split along a dark seam. A
frighteningly familiar head thrust it self through the opening, then an eight-legged creature dragged itself to
freedom. As it crawled out of the opening, I noticed the far end of the cocoon was sucked on inside
itself. Ultimately, it rolled on down and, insideout, sealed itself to form the Myrangeikki s abdomen.
More and more of these cocoons transmogrified themselves into Myrangeikki individuals. I looked back
at Fiddleback s body and saw, through a swirling cyclone of vultures, where other Myrangeikki were
popping free of the Dark Lord s flesh from a million boils, in a process akin to that which had birthed
Vetha.
It is as you expected it would be, isn t it?
I turned to my right and nodded to the Empress of Diamonds. Different mechanism, similar result. I
pointed out at the herd of Myrangeikki now working together to pull pods away from the carcass,
quickly sorting them by color and other factors that escaped my notice. I suppose I could have guessed,
after having seen how Vetha had been reconstituted from Fiddleback, that the rebirth of his race might be
possible.
Two of the ivory Myrangeikki came to me bearing a cocoon the size of a football and placed it in my
hands. I felt life stirring inside it. The outer surface went froma soft supple leather to the dry crispness of
an autumn leaf. The seam drew itself along the dorsal surface like mercury in a thermometer climbing
upward on a scorching day. The creature inside it stirred, then the pod split open and it began to emerge.
It grabbed on to my forearm with its mandibles to pull itself free of the cocoon. The grip did not feel that
hard, yet I knew its lack of ferocity came not from a lack of intent to injure, but from a physical inability
to generate that much power. Stunted forelimbs likewise struggled to free the Myrangeikki from the
cocoon, so I helped pulled the pod down and smoothed it as it closed to cover a misshapen abdomen.
Shifting my grip, I dumped the dwarf Myrangeikki onto its back with its soft thorax held firmly in my left
hand. It opened its jaws, freeing my right arm,then I supported its abdomen and held it like a baby.
You were my pet, Coyote, it buzzed, and now they give me to you zo I can be yourz.
Fiddleback s head swiveled toward my companion as she slipped her diamond pendant from around her
neck and fastened it around his. Emprezz, I zenzed your hand in thiz when I could not depart. Well
played. Will you zalvage me, now?
The Empress of Diamonds kissed the deformed Myrangeikki on the forehead and took him from my
arms. You are beyond even the salvation I offer. She laid him on the ground,then gestured at him. His
limbs plucked ineffectually for a second at the diamond pendant,then he lay quiescent.
Thuz it endz, he buzzed.
As I watched, the diamond began to flow out along the sliver strand in both directions. It hardened on
the chain as if crystalizing from super-saturated solution, instantly wreathing his throat in blue-white
splendor. Then, as if the two diamond waves had hit and passed through each other at the clasp, the
gems thickened as their momentum took them around again to race toward the pendant itself. There they
shot through each other yet again, turning the necklace into a diamond collar.
As the opening around Fiddleback s neck began saw-toothed contractions, I searched his emotions for
fear or anger. I found neither, but instead uncovered a mildly nostalgic sense of disappointment and a
smugness that cut at me like a cold wind. He looked up at me when the growing diamond torus bit into
his neck, and his mandibles parted ever so slightly.
Thuz it beginz, my pet
The doughnut became a disk and Fiddleback s head slid free of his body.
The Empress of Diamonds stood on Natch s tiptoes and gave me a peck on the cheek. I know, he
seemed so benign, but he was that way when he started his climb.
I looked out at the other Myrangeikki. There is no chance they will unite again?
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