Jack stood, paralyzed, as Sloat bulled his way through the hole between the two universes. Gobbets of flesh began to rain down around Jack. Blood flew in a needle-spray of droplets. It struck one of the cow-sheep caught in the reedy muck on the other side of the stream and the unfortunate beast simply exploded, as if it had swallowed dynamite. There was another clap of thunder, this one a huge oaken thud that rolled through the sky like an artillery shell.īlue fire arched over Jack's shoulder, sizzling-it was like a deadly electric rainbow. A moment later another of the terrified cow-sheep struck him and bore him under again. Wolf bent over and retched up a great muddy sheet of water. He stood at midstream in water that was crotch-deep, cattle passing on either side of him, baa-ing and bleating, staring at that window which had been torn in the very fabric of reality, his eyes wide, his mouth wider.Īnd the small silver thing in his hand had turned to a small rod tipped with crawling blue fire. As he watched, they began to sag tiredly outward in four different directions. The animal's legs were still there, mired in the mud like shake-poles. Again it struck the other bank, this time vaporizing one of Wolf's cattle. The wet, sizzling zap of electricity again, seeming almost to part his hair. 'Jason' Morgan of Orris screamed, and Jack realized that Morgan was not cursing in the Territories argot he was calling his, Jack's, name. Morgan started forward, his face swimming and rippling as if made of limp plastic, and Jack had time to see there was something clutched in his hand, something hung around his neck, something small and silvery. It was like listening to a man shout inside a telephone booth. His voice carried, but it had a muffled, dead quality as it came from the reality of that world into the reality of this one. 'There you are, you little shithead' Morgan bellowed at him. The cry was low, gargling, full of water.
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