Live and Let Drood

overhead, circling the great clearing, swooping down to attack the Hall on massive wings that briefly blocked out the sun. Droods went up to meet and duel with them, in flying saucers, autogyros, attack helicopters…even sitting astride winged unicorns. They darted back and forth, easily evading the languorous movements of the larger creatures, plunging in to attack again and again and blasting the winged creatures with all kinds of weapons. Like golden wasps attacking winged whales.
    Huge wormlike things burst up out of the ground inside the shimmering barrier, exploding up and up into the air, sending dark earth flying in all directions. Slimy ringed segments the size of hot-air balloons and with leprous grey flesh rose over the Hall, carrying blunt heads with great circular mouths full of rows of teeth that rotated like meat grinders. The Droods inside the Hall targeted the massive worms with every weapon they had and blew them apart one segment at a time. The slimy flesh soaked up incredible amounts of punishment before the worms collapsed and fell, slamming back to earth inside andoutside the barrier. The creatures still outside tore the wounded worms apart and ate them up, all in a few moments.
    And inevitably there came a time when the monsters were packed so tight together before the shimmering barrier that Molly and I were forced to a halt. No matter what we did with armoured strength or with Oath Breaker, we just couldn’t make any progress. They were simply too big and we were too small. Of course, size didn’t mean anything where Oath Breaker was concerned; if I’d unleashed its true power, even for a moment, I could have blown whole monsters apart right down to the molecular level.…But then, neither I nor any of my party would have survived such an explosion. Using the ironwood staff as a club was a bit like hitting someone over the head with a nuclear device, but it was still safer than the alternative.
    Patrick and Diana kept up a steady stream of fire, while Molly and I looked around for another way forward. They blasted anything that got too close, and then they stopped briefly to confer before concentrating their firepower on a massive leg that blocked our way. The vicious energies actually opened up a tunnel through the flesh of the leg, and Molly immediately ran forward into it. So of course I had no choice but to go after her, with the others bringing up the rear. Patrick and Diana kept firing their guns, blasting out more elbow room from the meat walls and ceiling of the tunnel, expanding it as we went.
    I couldn’t help noticing how well they worked together, as though they’d been doing it for a long time. And they certainly seemed a lot more familiar with action in the field than I would have expected, even from the Regent’s favourite Special Agents. They were excellent marksmen, too. I never saw them hit anything they didn’t mean to. So, professional field agents with a long working relationship who didn’t seem fazed by anything they encountered…Who were Patrick and Diana, really? And why was I so sure I knew them from somewhere?
    We burst out the other end of the meat tunnel to find the shimmering barrier right ahead of us. I yelled for Molly to stop so the others could catch up, and she did, reluctantly. I looked back in time to see Patrick and Diana run out of the dripping tunnel mouth and immediatelylook around for new things to shoot at. The Regent strolled out after them, and a monstrous foot came slamming down from above and crushed him into the ground. We all cried out in shock and horror, but there was nothing any of us could do. It had already happened; it was over. And then the massive foot lifted up and moved on, and there, in a deep depression in the ground, was the Regent. Sitting up and brushing fussily at his clothes, entirely unhurt. Which was, of course, when I remembered.
    “Kayleigh’s Eye!” I said. “When that tea lady tried to kill you, the bullets couldn’t hurt you because you were wearing Kayleigh’s Eye! No wonder you weren’t bothered by taking a walk in monster country!”
    Even as I was saying that, a winged thing dropped down from above, heading straight for the Regent. It was much more our size, our scale, barely twenty to thirty feet in wingspan. The Regent looked up at it, smiling, and suddenly there was a small silver gun in his hand. He aimed carefully and pulled the trigger, and the winged creature just blew apart into hundreds of