Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,65

bother with hurting people?”

His ragged clothes fluttering, Timon looped the loop. Just for fun, I guessed. “Why do you take such pleasure in defeating your opponents in a game?” he asked.

“It’s not the same thing,” I said. “It’s a rush because it’s a fair contest. I don’t know if I’ll win, and if I do, it’s because I worked for it. It’s not just bullying and meanness.”

Timon surprised me by smiling. “You have a point. The pleasure of competition is real and keen. I’m certainly addicted to it. But what I did to the people in the crowd is something different and greater.”

“What?” I asked.

“Kingship. Godhood. Ecstasy that’s purest when you put people through something agonizing, degrading, and unforgivable, and yet they have no choice but to forgive.”

“You should apply for a job with the CIA,” I said. “You’d fit right in.”

“It makes you squeamish because you still think like a human. Let me show you how it can be. Let’s find this Victoria of yours. Or little A’marie. Or how about both of them together?”

“Jesus Christ! No!”

“Someone else, then. Anyone you want, to do and feel whatever you want.”

“Are you even listening to me? I told you, I don’t want any part of it.”

He scowled. “Damn you! I know destiny brought us together. You’re the weapon it put in my hand when I needed you most. We’re meant to do great things. And that’s why I’ve tried so hard to bind you to me with kindness.”

I snorted. “Is that what it was?”

“Yes, you ungrateful idiot, it was! I made you my champion—”

“Because no one else would take the job.”

“—I taught you magic—”

“Because I need it to save your ass.”

“—I paid your human girl’s ransom, and I offered to share the greatest pleasure I know. But you still won’t give me your loyalty.”

“I’m loyal to the terms of our deal. I’m going to win the tournament for you. And that will have to be enough, because I’m never going to kiss your ass.”

“Believe it or not,” Timon said, “I’m sorry about this. But a horse is useless until you break it to the saddle.”

Since he’d warned me what was coming, I flew at him with my hands stretched out to grab him by the throat. But before I could close the distance, he ripped the ability to fly away from me. And then, of course, I fell.

Everything went black, and then I landed with nothing more than a bump, like I’d dropped three feet instead of hundreds. A second later, a little light came back into the world. Some of it was flickering in front of me, as AK47’s cracked and chattered. The air stank of cordite, blood, and shit.

I was back in Afghanistan, crouching behind a rock with al-Qaeda, Taliban, or some heroin warlord’s thugs shooting at me. I tried to lift my M16. My hands were empty.

I looked around for the rifle. I didn’t find it. Instead, I saw the rest of my platoon, all lying on the ground. It was their blood and shit I smelled. I gasped in shock and grief. Then the need to survive pushed those feelings down, and I looked for my buddies’ weapons. They didn’t have any, either.

Panic surged inside me. I strained to control it, and that was when my thinking cleared a little. I remembered I was dreaming, and seeing what Timon wanted me to see.

That might mean I could make an M16, like I had in the Pharaoh’s temple. It might even mean I could flash the Thunderbird and tear the whole nightmare apart.

But would that be the smart play?

Since Timon really did need me, he wasn’t going to leave me trapped here for days, weeks, or months like Rufino, or do me any permanent damage. Not tonight. But maybe sometime. And beating him then might mean making moves he didn’t know I had, or at least didn’t know would work against him in his own special playground.

I decided to tough it out.

But that didn’t mean just curling up into the fetal position and taking whatever the dream dumped on my head. Even if I wanted to, the fear that was still on the verge of boiling over inside wouldn’t let me. As the enemy started forward, I jumped up and ran.

It was dark, I kept low, and for a few seconds, I thought that maybe they didn’t see me. Then something slammed into my back. I staggered, and got hit two more times before I finished pitching forward