“We need the girl alive!” The Delf cried in Fandel’s ear as he guided the bird towards his prey.

“I know, you stupid witch!” Fandel barked, leaning his head away, the stench coming from the Delf’s mouth making his stomach somersault.

With the crow hovering just inches over the fleeing peacekeeper and the girl, it struck out with its talon, knocking them both clear of the rafter horse. Anna flew from the back of the horse, slamming into the ground. Dust clouds billowed up from beneath her, and she gasped as the air was knocked from her lungs. Tanner hit the ground with a sickening thud. His crossbow shot from his hand and he lay in the dust some feet away. Rolling over, he stretched out his hand to grab for it, but it was out of reach. With the sound of the crow’s beating wings drowning out any other sound, Anna wiped sand from her eyes as she saw it land. With her heart racing in her chest, she watched as her Uncle Fandel and the witch clambered from the bird and came towards them.

“When are you going to learn that running from me is so futile?” Fandel sneered down at her. Then turning his attention on Tanner, he drew back his boot and kicked the peacekeeper in the ribs. Tanner rolled over in the sand and groaned.

“Good to see you again, Fandel,” Tanner groaned.

“You think this is funny?” Fandel spat, the veins on his narrow temples flashing green through his pale skin. “I’m going to enjoy watching you suffer, you little shit.”

The Delf came forward, and wrapping her bloated fingers around one of Anna’s wrists, she pulled her to her feet. “Throat is going to be so pleased that we finally have you,” she grinned, a stream of maggots crawling over her front teeth in a white froth.

Anna looked away, fighting the urge to puke.

“Soon we’ll have your brother and the key to the box, too,” the Delf said, gripping Anna’s face in her hands and forcing it around so the girl had to look at her face.

“You don’t even know where the boy is,” Tanner groaned, nursing his ribs. “What makes you think he is still in Endra? He could be back in Earth.”

“He’s heading for the canyon,” Fandel gloated. “He’s searching for a way across the Outer-Rim.”

Tanner eyed him with suspicion and said, “You don’t know anything.”

Smiling, Fandel bent low over Tanner as he lay in the sand and said, “You know different, peacekeeper?”

“I wouldn’t tell you even if I did,” Tanner smirked through his pain. “I’d rather die.”

“That can be arranged,” Fandel smiled back. “But before I have that pleasure, I believe the Delf might have something for you.”

“What?” Tanner asked. He watched the Delf let go of Anna and pick up her bag of charts and potions.

The Delf bent over her bag made of bloat skin, and farted. Grunting and groaning to herself, she rummaged through the bag. When she had found what it was she was looking for, she straightened up. In her hands she held what looked like a tube of lipstick. She pulled off the cap to reveal a thin, red stick. Slowly she approached Tanner, while smearing the red paint over her blistered and maggot-infested lips.

“Hey, lady, it really doesn’t matter how much of that stuff you put on, you’re still gonna look like an old mutt chewing a wasp,” Tanner said, inching backwards towards his crossbow. But Fandel saw what the peacekeeper was up to. He seized the crossbow for himself and aimed it at Tanner.

“Get up!” Fandel barked. “C’mon, we don’t have time for your fun and games.”

Slowly, Tanner got to his feet, one hand above his head, the other holding his bruised and battered ribs. Anna watched on as the Delf shuffled towards Tanner. She had smeared so much of the blood-red lipstick over her lips, it had covered her broken front teeth. Tanner had been right, it had done nothing to improve her looks. Only the most gifted of plastic surgeons would have been able to help her and even then, Anna doubted it. The woman was a train wreck.

The Delf stood before Tanner and he lowered his arm and covered his nose with it.

“Hands up!” Fandel ordered, waving the crossbow at Tanner. “The lady just wants a kiss, that’s all.”

Then before Tanner had a chance to refuse or even react, the Delf had lunged for him. Flinging her arms tight about his neck, she yanked her face towards his and smothered her lips over his. Tanner tried to push her away, but it was like he had somehow fallen into a trance as his arms fell limply by his sides. The Delf kissed him, that bright red lipstick spreading around Tanner’s mouth. His cheeks were sucked inwards, making his face look emaciated. His eyes bulged in their sockets like two hardboiled eggs, as maggots crawled from the corners of his mouth.

“Stop it!” Anna cried, taking a step towards the Delf.

“Keep back,” Fandel snapped, turning the crossbow on her.

“Sucking the truth from him,” Fandel giggled with a boyish excitement.

“But how?” Anna asked, feeling repulsed by what was happening.

“The lipstick is the congealed blood taken from prisoners tortured in the cells beneath the Prison of Eternal Despair,” Fandel laughed. “Some of that murderous scum had to be...how can I explain...persuaded to tell the truth and confess to their barbaric crimes. Some of their spilt blood was collected and is believed to get others to give up their secrets.”

“Like a truth serum?” Anna asked.

“Yes, I guess you could say that,” Fandel smiled at her. “I have never tried it myself – but the person being kissed is believed to be able to taste the pain – the misery – of those tortured souls, and fearing that such pain might be dealt upon them, they give up their secrets.”

“You’re sick,” Anna breathed.

“Thank you,” Fandel smiled, and then gave her a sly wink.

The Delf broke away from Tanner and wiped the lipstick – congealed blood – off her lips with her arm. Tanner stumbled backwards and fell on his arse in the sand. Anna went to him, wrapping her arm about his shoulder. A few lost maggots fell from the corner of his mouth and into his lap where they wriggled away. His head rolled to the side like a drunk’s and his eyes rolled in their sockets.

“What have you done to him?” Anna gasped.

“He’ll get over it,” Fandel said. “Might take an hour or two, but anyone who is kissed by the Delf will need to take a moment.”

“Whoa,” the Delf gasped, stumbling about herself as if giddy.

“What did you see?” Fandel snapped at her, desperate to know what she had discovered. “What secrets does he know about the boy – Zachary Black?”

Steadying herself, the Delf glanced at Fandel with a look of shock on her face, and said, “The peacekeeper has deceived all of us.” Then turning to look at Anna, she added, “The peacekeeper has deceived you too, Anna Black...and your brother.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“Bring him back,” Neanna hollered, as the spider-ship soared away, William dangling beneath it.

“Go after him,” Zach shouted. Then glancing to his right, he saw Bom struggling now to keep his Butter-Flyer under control. “Go after William!”

“I’m having problems steering this thing!” Bom roared.

“Just do it,” Zach ordered. “We’ve got to get him back!”

He looked ahead and could see that Faraday was already in pursuit of William, his mechanical arms dissecting anything that got too close to him.

Way ahead in the distance, William dangled beneath the spider, his arms and legs waving and kicking desperately about. Wrapping the reins around her hands, Neanna yanked on them and the Butter-Flyer responded by shooting forwards. She pulled to the left a little, then to the right until she was heading in the direction of her friend. Bom pulled hard on the reins he was holding and his butterfly machine gained speed. The wings beat so fast on either side of it that they were just a haze as they zoomed after William.

Spider-ships with their riders dived towards them on either side. Zach fired wave after wave of stakes from his crossbows. Neanna discovered that if she tilted her body weight to the right or the left, the Butter-Flyer banked in that direction. If she leant back, the creature soared higher, and if she bent forward, it lost altitude. As she grew more confident of flying the Butter-Flyer, she pulled her catapult free and released one of the inferno berries. It thudded into an approaching spider-ship and then erupted in a flash of green light. Several spider-ships, which were close by, screamed, and their riders gripped their respirators as they caught fire on the seething shockwave of light that came from the exploding berry.

Zach glanced up to see William was only feet away now. Neanna swooped alongside the spider-ship that had hold of him and seized the reins again to gain greater control of the Butter-Flyer. The dead peacekeeper riding the spider turned to look at Zach, its dead eyes staring out from behind its mask.

“Give up, Black!” the dead peacekeeper wheezed at Zach from behind its mask.

Zach, taking aim with his crossbow, simply said, “Not today – not ever!”

“You won’t make it across the Outer-Rim!” it rasped.

‘”I’d rather die trying, than let you take me,” Zach shouted over the roar of the wind, then he released the stake into the dead peacekeeper’s face.

Out of the corner of her eye, Neanna saw Faraday sweep in beneath the spider-ship, and with one deadly swipe of his arms, all six of the creature’s legs were separated from the rest of its body. Immediately, the ship began to roll uncontrollably and the rider’s eyes filled with panic as it screamed and spun away.

Zach glanced down to watch Faraday swoop after William as he tumbled through the air. Neanna raced the Butter-Flyer downwards to draw level with William. One of the spider-ships swooped in close to Faraday and rammed him from behind as he reached for William. Faraday lurched backwards and fell off the spider he had taken. To his horror, Zach looked down and saw both William and Faraday plummeting to their deaths.