Live and Let Drood

giving it leprosy. The soldier smiled at us and waggled the monkey’s hand in our faces.
    “You don’t need to use that,” Molly said carefully. “Throw it away. You risk damning your soul just by holding such a thing.”
    “I’m a professional soldier,” the mercenary said easily. “Major Mike Michaels. To a soldier, a weapon is just a weapon; they’re all just killing tools at the end of the day. Now, armour down, Drood. Make that nasty metal suit disappear, or I’ll have the monkey’s hand do something really nasty to your girlfriend.”
    I pulled my armour back into my torc, and the mercenary soldier watched, fascinated, as the gold vanished and I appeared. I stood stiffly beside Molly. Blood was still dripping steadily off one side of her face. I wanted to hold her, but I didn’t dare move while Major Michaels was watching me so closely. He wanted an excuse to use the hand. I could tell. I felt naked and very vulnerable without my armour. I could feel it stirring resentfully inside my torc, disturbed by the power it sensed in the monkey’s hand. Moxton’s Mistake might or might not have been able to withstand the power contained in that nasty little object, but I couldn’t risk finding out while Molly was still in danger. The Witch’s Hammer had taken her magic, but the staff was broken now. So did she have her magic back? She wasn’t doing anything. I had no choice but to play along, and hope I could find a way out of this mess.
    Major Michaels held up the monkey’s hand so Molly could see it clearly. “Give me that trinket you’re wearing round your throat, Miss Metcalf. The ruby pendant.”
    Molly reached up slowly, removed the Twilight Teardrop’s chain from around her neck, and handed it over. Either because the monkey’s hand was affecting her, or because she had no power left to deny him what he wanted. The moment the pendant left her hand, she swayed and almost fell, as though the last of her strength had gone outof her. Without the Twilight Teardrop to power her magic, she was as helpless…as I was. The major smiled, and what I saw in that man’s face as he looked at Molly was enough to send me surging forward, calling for my armour.
    I’d barely got moving before Major Michaels thrust his monkey’s hand at me, and just the power of it was enough to force the armour back into my torc. I summoned it again and again, but even though I could feel the rogue armour’s presence at the back of my head, raging and desperate to get out, it was trapped. The major laughed softly and took his time pointing the monkey’s hand at Molly.
    “Behave yourself, Drood! Or do you want to see this nasty little object do something really unpleasant to your girlfriend? Maybe I’ll have it turn her into something really revolting.…That was always one of your favourite tricks, wasn’t it, Miss Metcalf? Perhaps I’ll fuse your legs together so you can play mermaid.…Or I could melt off both your arms.…Or just take away your eyes and your mouth, your ears and your nose, and leave you trapped in the dark inside your own head.”
    “Please,” I said. “Don’t. There’s no need for this. We surrender. Take us to Crow Lee. You know he’s going to want to talk to us.”
    “Oh yes,” said the major. “He’s just dying to have words with you. That’s all that’s keeping you alive. After all my men you killed…”
    “Run, Eddie,” Molly said dully. “Get out of here. Get help.”
    “I can’t leave you,” I said.
    “You picked a fine time to get sentimental,” said Major Michaels. “I always thought you field agents would be more professional. I am a professional soldier of long standing. Like the man you just killed, girl. Major Browten was a good soldier and a fine officer. Not a friend, as such, but a colleague. Kind of man you could depend on to keep his head in a firefight and do his job. Dead and gone now because of you. So don’t look to me for sympathy.”
    “You stood by and let it happen,” I said.
    He shrugged. “Orders…”
    More uniformed soldiers appeared out of nowhere and hurried forward to join the major. He looked at them scathingly.
    “Where the hell have you been? I had to take care of business on my own! Don’t look at them like that; they’re just captives now. Quite harmless. Search them, secure them and then escort them in to see Crow Lee.” He looked down at the dead body of Major Browten and shook his head briefly. “Bad way to go. Not that