The Way of the Ram Read online

Dreamer pointed to Guz. “Someone shut him—”

  The four canaries dove off her back, flying up at Guz with astonishing speed to peck at his face and forelegs. The device fell from his trotter, past the edge of the roof, and shattered on the sidewalk.

  “Storm the bunker!” Ponder bellowed as she flew above the crowd, her eyes glowing violet. “Save the sheep! Save yourselves!”

  Dreamer felt a wave of renewed energy as Ponder channeled victorious fervor into everyone she could reach.

  Even when Guz’s loyal bulldogs began to emerge from the front of the bunker, Dreamer was not worried. She and her friends had overcome so much already. This would not defeat them.

  Ledger stepped out in front of Dreamer. “What are you doing? Stand down, dogs! Pincher has been defeated! The dogs answer to the sheep now!”

  “We answer to the pigs,” the nearest bulldog snarled. “Threaten them at your peril.”

  “So be it.” Ledger moved to engage him. The rest of Boxer’s students followed suit, and then so did every other dog in the crowd.

  Dreamer moved ahead with the sheep. Pressing forward into the cold, bare bunker, they tripped an alarm system. But no one came to confront them, and they kept going. They barged through a security door and into a network of hallways containing rows and rows of cells. The group came to a complete halt at the sight of the final line of defense between them and their friends and relatives.

  Slog, the bank manager. Gobb, the psychiatrist. Gorga, Chugg’s assistant. They and several dozen other pigs, well-groomed and dressed in fine clothes, stood in a loose group blocking access to the individual rooms behind them.

  Slog pointed a shaking trotter. “S-stand down.”

  The sheep stood still, looking about and mumbling amongst themselves.

  Dreamer took a step. “Are you all from uptown?”

  Slog nodded.

  “So you hid here while the city was being attacked. You know the purpose of this place. Were you all in on developing the ‘project?’”

  Gobb sniffed. “We don’t answer to you.”

  Emboldened, Slog raised his voice to address the crowd of sheep. “This disobedience has accomplished nothing but threatening your own lives. Now please, get to a safety enclosure, one to a room, in an orderly fashion. Someone will be along shortly to make you comfortable.”

  No one moved. The sheep started to stir, talking amongst themselves.

  “What are we doing?”

  “We’re pretty lucky the pigs are being so nice to us after we broke in like this.”

  “Yeah. I don’t know what came over me for a minute, there.”

  “Did you see the Healer fighting in the field? He didn’t want us to come here.”

  “That’s right, he said we were being betrayed. He even killed General Pincher over it.”

  “I trust the Healer… but the pigs have never lied to us. Who’s right?”

  “Who do we listen to?”

  “Stop chattering and start moving,” Slog ordered.

  “Do you want to put us in cages?” Dreamer said, the volume of her voice matching Slog’s. “Why? How could you do this to us? We’re thinking, conscious people just like you. But you’re treating us like… fodder. When I came here before, Swill told me that word of Healer’s treatment of pigs got back to the Megatropolis. Doesn’t that mean anything to you? Sheep have the capability of being kind to pigs, why can’t it go the other way?”

  “Swill would have said that,” Gobb simpered. “He was a downtown ruffian with ideas above his position. He was useful for his technical skill, not his sentimentality.”

  Dreamer felt an urge to tear her wool out. “I’m not getting through to you. You have no compassion even for pigs below your class, sheep wouldn’t have a chance.” She took a breath and gathered her thoughts. “What’s going to happen if you just don’t feed Toxid anymore? If you’re so above it all, why keep following Chugg’s orders? He’s gone. Why still follow the plan?”

  Slog trembled. None of the pigs said anything.

  “Wasn’t it enough that you made so much profit off of us?” Dreamer continued. “The way you exploited the labor of quarry sheep, while you kept them terrified of being attacked by dogs? How about the city sheep, who you kept numbed up with television and medication while you dangled the next promotion in front of their faces, all so you could live in comfort out here? What else could you possibly have to gain? Everything you are was made on the backs of sheep.”

  A few of the pigs exchanged glances ranging from bemused to offended.

  Dreamer laughed. “Don’t even pretend you don’t know. The downtown pigs have no idea what Chugg has done to sheep, but you do. Your company has eyes all over the place. I’ve seen some of you in Fleece City. So let me ask you one more time: is that what all this is for? Isn’t it enough that you all get to wear silk and stuff your faces? Do we have to be caged up and fed to your god too? Is our suffering and death worth it? Do you sleep well at night?”

  Slog finally cracked. “If we don’t feed Toxid, it’s over. If he dies… we all do.”

  Dreamer looked at her father and back at Slog. “That’s not true.”

  “It is.” Gorga pouted. “Even downtown pigs don’t know this. Could you imagine the chaos? No, we have to keep the Devourer fed. That’s why there can never be peace. And now that you know, we can’t let you leave. Please start moving into the safe rooms.”

  Dreamer shook her head. “So it’s you or us.” She turned to speak quietly to her father. “Arghast was right. If we don’t want to die… we have to become monsters. We have to be like them. Which is worse?”

  Shiver touched his cheek to his daughter’s. “It’s not all on you, Dreamer. It’s time these sheep made a decision. Let them choose. Sheep or pigs.”

  Slog, meanwhile, was moving toward the crowd. “Alright now, Like I said, let’s get going in an orderly fashion. You first.”

  Several sheep backpedaled as Slog approached. They parted around him, leaving a small lamb in front of the pig. Slog took hold of her wool with one trotter and started to pull her in the direction of the uptown pigs. Gobb opened a cell door.

  Dreamer gasped as she recognized young Whisper. The little girl struggled to get away. “No, I don’t want to go in there!” she cried. “Mommy!”

  Dreamer surged forward, but Shiver stopped her with a hoof on her shoulder. “Their choice,” he hissed. “If they won’t defend their own, then—”

  A white flash darted past them. Swifter dashed out in front of the crowd, lowering his head as he picked up speed. His forehead re-broke Slog’s nose.

  “Not again…” the pig moaned through his bleeding snout as he sank to the floor. Whisper jerked away from him and vanished into the safety of the group.

  Swifter’s aggression, like a crack in a dam, spread through the sheep around him until they were all moving forward once again. Gorga turned and fled. Gobb and several other pigs were pulled to the floor and trampled by the rush of sheep.

  When the mob reached the enclosures and peered inside, their conviction was kindled to anger.

  “That’s my neighbor! Look, they’re draining his blood!”

  “My sister too!”

  “Get them out!” Dreamer shouted. “Take them all home!”

  Bleating and stamping with a fury she never would have believed, the sheep went to work rescuing their fellows. They broke locks with their hooves and bashed doors down with their heads.

  Dreamer pushed through one of the cage doors and ran to the side of the prisoner lying on the floor. She pulled an intravenous tube out of the woman’s foreleg and looked closely at the hanging bag.

  “Vexylam,” she hissed with contempt. “These people have all been drugged! Get them out of here!”

  A cruel trotter seized hold of Dreamer’s leg, spinning her around and slamming her into the cell wall. She saw a snarling white face with a black spot over one eye and smelled garbage breath.

  “I’ve heard about enough out of you
!” Guz roared in her face.

  The pig was thrown aside, sent skittering off balance on his tiny legs and toppling to the floor. The enraged black ram followed him across the cell, rearing up to strike with his hooves.

  “Lay… your… grubby… mitts… on… my… daughter… will… you?” Shiver thundered, pounding at Guz’s fat face with each word.

  Shouting in victory, the invading army of sheep surrounded the disoriented prisoners for the trip back out of the Megatropolis. Shiver and Dreamer found Ponder spurring on Ledger’s dogs as they pinned the last of the resisting bulldog guards.

  “We’re leaving,” Dreamer called out.

  Ponder smiled. “Protect the sheep!” she yelled to the dogs and birds. “Everyone escape this city!”

  The second the leaders of the group came out through the exit gate, they looked up into the sky and stopped dead. Everyone else continued to stream out around them until they too saw what was going on up above.

  Everyone stared at the very top of Fleece City’s branch of Chugg National Bank & Trust. Two gods, hundreds of feet tall, seemed to be emerging from the smoke and flames to glare at each other from opposite ends of the building. A silent crowd of hundreds of birds, sheep, dogs, and even the few pigs who had chased them out, stood transfixed, awaiting the outcome of the battle on the roof.

  Dreamer’s eyes followed the intimidating storm cloud as it crept ever closer to the bank.

  Chapter 98

  Mauler’s fists collided again and again with the Hogdogger’s hide, but even with the borrowed power of Karkus surging through his body, he could not seem to land a crippling blow. The cloned monster just kept coming. It was as if every time Karkus gave Mauler a new surge of strength, Toxid responded by ramping the Hogdogger up in kind. It was a dangerous arms race, and Mauler was caught in the middle of it.

  The Hogdogger grabbed Mauler’s head, raked his face open with its claws, and drove him back against one of the metal struts coming out of the roof. The corporate logos above teetered on their increasingly ponderous mount, on the verge of collapsing. Mauler tried to get away, but the Hogdogger seized him again and smashed him against the I-beam even harder.

  “A valiant effort, but the fact remains that I defeated you long ago,” Toxid crowed. “I am, and always have been, the greatest son of Arghast. Now watch your beloved champion die.”

  The jaws of the Hogdogger closed on Mauler’s neck, gripping with its teeth as well as the hideous insectoid mandibles born of Toxid’s possession.

  Mauler’s legs gave way and he collapsed, his back pinned against the support beam. His head tilted back and he made a futile upward reach, as if his final gesture was to ask Karkus for more help.

  Something struck Mauler in the face and shoulders, accompanied by a pounding hiss and… cold.

  Rain.

  Toxid shrieked in outrage as the storm cloud came to a halt over the city square and unleashed its pent-up stores. Both Mauler and the Hogdogger were drenched within seconds. The pig-dog flinched, momentarily relaxing its grip, and Mauler was able to take a gasping breath. The fire down in the city retreated, the black smoke replaced by a rising column of white steam.

  The smoky fire that contained Karkus and Toxid continued to burn in defiance of the storm.

  Mauler heard an uproar of mixed voices from below. He turned his head with a feeble motion, looking through half-closed eyes down into the square.

  A wave of sheep, dogs, and birds were flooding into the residential area, moving rubble and searching for survivors. Well, at least he had been able to help.

  “Pitiful,” Toxid gurgled, sneering at the form of Optera that appeared in the clouds above them. The Hogdogger redoubled its efforts, shoving Mauler back against the I-beam and throwing blow after blow into his head.

  Toxid’s jaws flexed with anticipation. “Even with Optera’s help, Karkus, you fail. Your followers have corralled themselves in the sheep city for the slaughter once this Mauler is finished off. Then I will put you down like the hobbled old dog that you are. All of your strength, all of your scheming, has come to this.”

  “All of my strength?” Karkus mused. “I do not have all of it at my disposal, unfortunately. A good portion of it was already invested in Mauler when he visited my shrine.”

  Mauler tried to shove the Hogdogger off, but his strength was drained. His eyes rolled in his head, his gaze drifting past the body of his enemy and off into the rising white cloud behind Toxid. Before his vision went dark, he thought he saw tawny wings cutting through the fog.

  “The rest of my power,” Karkus said, “was placed into another.”

  Chapter 99

  Healer hit the roof running, taking extra momentum from Caper’s flight and using it to power his charge as he threw himself forward and speared his horns into the Hogdogger’s back. The clone threw back its head and screamed, lumbering away from Mauler and twisting around to catch the interloper. Healer withdrew his head and struck again and again, seeking to pierce the thick mounds of muscle and hit the spine.

  But the Hogdogger’s agonized lurch threw him clear. Healer rolled away across the roof, his eyes flaring green as he looked at Mauler’s slumping body. The Hogdogger came for him and he scampered away, luring it into smashing into one of the other I-beam supports. The bank insignia broke loose and came crashing down, flinging glass and pieces of metal in every direction. The face of Charlie Chugg wobbled, but the bolts held.

  Healer ducked down behind the fallen logo, forcing the Hogdogger to grab it and throw it aside in order to reach him. While the creature was occupied with moving the heavy chunk of metal, Healer darted in to slash at its knees with his horns. It reached for him—

  —and Mauler came barreling back into the fight, slamming into the Hogdogger’s torso and locking both of his arms around its waist. He lifted it off its feet and dropped onto his side, smashing them both into the roof. Healer took the opportunity to jump in and get at the Hogdogger’s face with his horns.

  “See, Toxid,” Karkus gloated, “now you’ll feel all of my strength.”

  Healer and Mauler attacked together, striking with claws, horns, and hooves against the downed enemy. They beat the Hogdogger into a bloody mess.

  “Y-you won’t defeat me!” Toxid screeched, apoplectic with rage.

  The Hogdogger stood up with such force that Healer was thrown away, nearly off the roof altogether. The monster roared into the sky, and Toxid’s own movements matched it. He channeled every ounce of strength he had so that creature’s next blow sent even Mauler flying. The red beast saved himself by catching one of the I-beam struts.

  Among an incomprehensible stream of gibberish, Toxid ordered his Hogdogger to finish Mauler off. But Healer leapt in, cutting the pig-dog’s leg and dropping it to one knee. Mauler took the opportunity to get back onto solid ground, breaking into a full-on sprint.

  Mauler balled up a fist and turned his run into a flying punch. And at the exact instant that Mauler struck the Hogdogger, Karkus’s arm shot out above them, crossed the space between the two gods, and collided with Toxid’s face.

  “Y-you break the commandment!” Toxid roared, reeling from the savage hit.

  Above them, Optera screamed. “Karkus! You cannot attack him directly!”

  Ignoring them both, Karkus took hold of Toxid’s reaching claws and yanked him in close. On the roof, Mauler also took a grappling hold on the Hogdogger. Healer hung back, blasting Mauler with every bit of energy he could muster to cancel out the rips inflicted by the Hogdogger’s panicked clawing.

  The fire god and his champion struck together, first a headbutt to the face and then a shattering elbow to the side of the jaw. Toxid’s right mandible fractured, spraying blue-black blood all over Karkus.

  Mauler’s knee snapped his enemy’s head back and the Hogdogger fell over in a daze. Then Mauler’s eyes drifted up. Healer saw it too—the metal visage swayed above their heads, threatening to come loose at any second. The ram ran to the corner of the roof to get
out of the way.

  Jumping straight up in the air, Mauler caught hold of the face of Charlie Chugg and climbed up on top of it. The bolts broke under the additional weight and Charlie Chugg collapsed on top of Hogdogger.

  The clone screeched, pinned in place by the shards of metal and broken rebar embedded in its body. Mauler stood over the fallen creature. He braced one arm against the Hogdogger’s forehead, and with the other took hold of one of the long, white tusks. Above them, Karkus had also seized Toxid by the head and grabbed onto the already cracked mandible. Optera screamed.

  Karkus and Mauler both roared into the sky as they gave a synchronized, tremendous wrench. There was a white flash with a cataclysmic thunderclap, and all three gods vanished from the sky.

  Healer stood near the edge of the roof, watching the flames and smoke finally recede. Beside him, Mauler hunched over, breathing heavily, gazing down at his vanquished nemesis. The Hogdogger lay on its back. Its eyes, no longer burning yellow, were as dead as the rest of the clone’s body. Its bleeding, broken jaw hung skewed to one side.

  “Hey, buddy,” Healer ventured.

  Mauler met his eyes and dropped the snapped-off tusk onto the roof. “I’ll carry you down. They’re waiting for us.”

  ✽✽✽

  Karkus stood in the realm of gods, the endless void of grey clouds, with his head bowed. In his hand was a broken, antler-like jaw. Toxid lay at his feet, sputtering and choking as blood poured out of the gaping wound in his face. Karkus let out a deep sigh and allowed the mandible to slip out of his grip. At that same moment, Toxid gave a final lurching spasm and breathed his last.

  Chapter 100

  When Mauler set him down on the soaked, ash-covered sidewalk of the Fleece City square, Healer gawked at the crowd that received them.

  Ponder and Dreamer reached them first. Dreamer collided with Healer in her relief, embracing him and kissing him all over his face. Ponder cradled Mauler’s head in her hands, saying nothing, sinking into his arms.

  Shiver clapped Healer on the foreleg. “You did it. You saved us, brother.”