Free Kill Fish Jones by Caro King Page B

chronometers.
    They were too late. The Horsemen were upon them, flooding the air with the stench of blood and hot steel. It filled Grimshaw’s nostrils, making him gag and splutter. Now, hooves were thundering on the desert sand and Grimshaw could feel the power of the horses’ huge bodies as they surrounded the Avatars.
    Still in the grip of Hanhut’s crony, Grimshaw fought hard, desperate to break free. But he felt the sharp pull and the whoosh of air as the lead Horseman bent down, scooping up his Ancient Egyptian prey by its bandages and Grimshaw along with it. There was a moment of jerking chaos and noise as they dangled by the horse’s side and Grimshaw caught a jumbled glimpse of a night-black flank, a steel-clad leg and some unravelling bandages. Suddenly the thundering grew less as the horses left the ground, their hooves now pounding on air rather than solid sand. The jolting eased too as they rose higher and higher into the sky.
    There was a horrible scream from over his head and a lurch and the grip on his arm let go as Hanhut’s struggling crony was hauled up and flung over the horse’s back. Unnerved by the sudden release, Grimshaw made an instinctive grab and got hold of something firm, silky and horribly hot. A huge fiery eye rolled to look at him – he was wrapped around the horse’s head!
    With a horrified shriek, Grimshaw let go again. Feeling the wind and the chaos whirl around him, he shut his eyes, knowing it would be a long way down. But he’d be free too, which was the main thing. And then, just as he began to fall in earnest, a blackened fist closed around his backpack and held on. Now Grimshaw really screamed. The Horseman had got him!
    Almost faint with terror, Grimshaw felt his captor lift him by the backpack and turn him. He caught a terrifying glimpse of the Horsemen flanking his andshut his eyes. He braced himself, waiting for the limb-rending to begin.
    Hmm
, said a voice heavy with the sound of grating steel,
did we mean to bring you along?
    Grimshaw knew that the Horsemen were angel Avatars, but anything less angelic than that voice he couldn’t imagine. They were levelling out and speeding up now, the wind whipping about them, the air filled with the horrible screaming of the other demons as they pleaded for mercy. But Grimshaw could hear the voice perfectly, as if it didn’t need to go through his ears to get into his head.
    Daring to open his eyes again, he saw that he was dangling eyeball to horrible eyeball with his captor. He could see its skull face, barely covered with blackened flesh and with holes for eyes that glowed like furnaces. Flames flickered over its whole body, burning even in the gale that howled around them.
    The furnaces were looking at Grimshaw with curiosity.
    Answer
, said the Horseman. He shook Grimshaw and then set him down carefully, placing him between the horse’s ears.
    Grimshaw grabbed hold of a chunk of mane, wrapping his tail around the horse’s neck for added safety. Even in the air, the galloping motion was enough to make his whole body bounce with every swift stride. ‘I’m an … an accident!’ he stuttered, seeing an opportunity. He stared earnestly into the Horseman’sglowing eyes. ‘I was j-just looking for T-Tun. You know? The Curse of the H-House of Ombre?’ He had to shout above all the wind and screaming, and what with the galloping motion his voice came out in bursts. He bit his tongue twice and tasted blood.
    Indeed we do. And you? You are rather a small curse, aren’t you?
    â€˜G-Grimshaw, Curse of Lampwick the Robber. Very unimportant. M-my Architect is a stupid thief. No class.’
    Grimshaw was trying hard not to see what was happening to his fellow demons, though he could make out Hanhut in the background, shrieking wildly as one of the Horsemen turned his insides into his outsides piece by piece. Grimshaw’s Horseman seemed to have forgotten the