Free The Dead Man: Hell in Heaven by Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin

giant.
    Too late. Even as he reached to grab the giant’s hand the room was filled with a horrible sound of flesh tearing and a howl of agony from the boy.
    “Oh, God, Cal!” Mouse screamed.
    The giant hurled the kid back to the floor, and as he rolled Matt could see the bloody hole where his genitals had been. The giant opened his hand and displayed his prize. “Never going to roon another Vetch girl!”
    “Vetch whore, you mean!” Mouse screamed “Trash like that’s only good for burning. Burn her! Burn her!”
    The Gilhoolie table flew aside and eight men set out across the floor, heading toward the Vetches. Five more were heading for the girl, who was sobbing on the floor.
    “Burn her!” Mouse screamed again. “Burn the Vetch whore!”
    Matt moved in front of the girl, trying to shield her. But a heavy plate flew through the air and shattered at his feet, raking her naked form with ragged shards of pottery.
    Matt looked around for help and saw Vern sitting frozen in his chair. “Stop them!” Matt said. “You’re the leader of the family. Don’t let them hurt her.”
    Vern looked at him, lips drawn so thin they looked like pale worms stretched across his face. He whispered two words. His tone was so quiet Matt was sure no one in the room could hear them. But Matt could read them on those bloodless lips:
    Burn her .
    The Gilhoolie men were almost on top of him now. Some had steak knives they’d grabbed off the table. Others carried bigger blades.
    “Stay back,” Matt warned, his hand itching for the axe he’d left back at Orfamay’s house.
    “I’m not going to let you hurt her.”
    The Gilhoolie in the front grinned at him, and Matt could see blood on his teeth. From where? And then Matt saw Ezekiel Vetch lying on the ground under the Gilhoolie table, one hand pressed to the side of his head where blood pulsed out from the mangled flesh that had been his ear.
    “We don’t want to hurt you,” the Gilhoolie said. “You killed that bitch queen for us. But you don’t want to make this stand.”
    “I’m not going to let you hurt this girl,” Matt said again, low and steady.
    “The whore is going to die,” the Gilhoolie said.
    “Not at your hands, Gilhoolie scum.” Orfamay’s voice came from behind Matt. “We take care of our own.”
    Matt turned to see the old woman at the head of a mob of angry men and women.
    “You’ll cover up the truth about what this whore did,” the Gilhoolie man said.
    “If she’s a whore, she’ll burn for it,” Orfamay said. “But it’ll be Vetch fire that chars her flesh.”
    “You’re both insane,” Matt said. “She’s just a girl. She’s—”
    A heavy plate struck Matt’s forehead and sent him staggering back. He looked where it came from and saw Mouse preparing to launch another one.
    “Burn her!” Mouse screamed. “Burn the whore!”
    There was a commotion on the Gilhoolie side, and a large man pushed forward holding a blazing torch. A broom , Matt thought as blood from his forehead dripped into his eyes. It’s a burning broom .
    The man shoved the flaming end of the broom toward the girl’s face. Matt dived on top of her, covering her with his own body, waiting for the stench of his own burning flesh to fill his nostrils.
    Instead he saw the broom fall to the ground, the bristles lighting the straw that covered the floor. He looked up. There was a pitchfork protruding from the Gilhoolie’s chest. He stood absolutely still for one moment, then crumpled down next to Matt.
    That was the signal. On both sides of the room, men and women lunged toward each other, wielding knives and forks and broken shards of pottery and any other weapon they could grab.
    For the moment, they’d forgotten him. In their blood lust they’d forgotten everything, even the girl whose sin had started the war. Even the flames that were spreading across the floor and licking the walls. Even the man who refused to be their lawmaker.
    Matt folded the girl in his arms,