Four

 

Liv held up her hand, covering up the sun that shone down overhead and trying to not shudder with the cold that bit through the fur coat that she wore.

“We're closer to the fucking thing, why is it doing less work?”

“Air's thinner, there's less to keep the warmth in,” the Golden Git said. His voice was tight and when Liv looked down from the sky, she saw that he hadn't moved. His tail hadn't moved, his head hadn't moved – he was standing perfectly still, watching the entrance to the ancient temple. The temple had been what, apparently, their group had set out from the City of the Dead Gods to find. Liv had to say she wasn't very impressed. The temple had no carvings and no runes, no artistic decorations at all. It was just a solid metal rectangle set into the side of the mountain like a yawning, gaping mouth.

The only thing that indicated it was a temple at all had been the mutant guardians.

Said guardians were sitting off to the side, their tentacles and hands behind their backs, their variform eyes looking murderous.

Liv frowned. 

She had been with the rest of the group, peering down at the village of guardians. I say, Liv said, We come back with an army.

Rao, the Golden Git had said. A single word – a name – and his lilin had stood, several dozen slave collars looped around her left arm, her sling on her right. A sling shot had struck the temple of each guardian who was on lookout, stunning them as the lilin had rushed forward, then tossed the collars around their necks with unerring precision. Other mutants had charged forward, but in the open, with surprise on the lilin's side, they had been slapped in the collars within a few moments.

From then on, it had just been an order to disarm and stand down.

“I hate this,” Liv said, standing up in a single smooth motion and starting to pace left and right. “I fucking hate this waiting. And I don't even like your people.”

“Imagine what it must be like for me,” the Golden Git said, his voice tight.

The two of them paused and looked at the large entrance. No sounds emerged from it, no light, no sign of any movement from within.

The three others had gone in an hour ago.

Liv sat down beside the Golden Git. She frowned as she let her palms rest behind her. She considered using the only knife open to her with the slave color – her tongue – but when looked at the Golden Git she saw genuine for his bodyguards.

Liv reached out, putting her hand on the shoulder of the lizardman. Not for the first time, she found herself marveling at whatever had turned him gold. The coloration wasn't just coloration – his scales felt faintly metallic. But something had been worked into the metal to make it as soft and pliant as actual scales. She could still feel his warmth, and his muscles beneath. Her fingers caressed along his back and she felt the tension that was worked through his body.

“They'll be okay,” she said. “Why can't we go in there?”

“Hm, yes, Vazt and Anix would definitely allow that,” he said, sounding wry.

“They're your soldiers, you can order them around,” Liv said, her fingers pausing as she realized she had started to trace the curve of his neck, feeling the crest of feather-like scales that served as the Golden Git's hair. What did she care if he was tense?

He snorted. “They serve our false god, not me, not really,” he said. “And Sysminor-”

“What kind of a name is Sysminor!?” Liv spluttered, her tension forgotten as she giggled.

“That's what I wanted to know,” the Golden Git said, looking at her and grinning. Liv grinned back at him. Then, frowning, he looked back at the entrance to the ancient temple. “But still, they serve him – and he uses me as his general. And his orders were clear: I was to survive this mission.”

Liv nodded. “And having my father trying to murder you would make that hard.”

“Yeah,” the Golden Git said.

“Any idea why Ares put me here?”

“One, but you might not like it,” the Golden Git said.

Liv frowned. “I'm not having your babies.”

The Golden Git jerked his head back, snapping his head around. “What!?”

Liv shrugged. “Father's tried to set me up with great generals before. Seems to think that being good at bossing troops around can be inherited. A few were good lays.” She grinned. “Father isn't always the smartest, or most observant, at least two of them were girls. Though, in his defense, one was dressed as a man.”

The Golden Git shook his head. “No! Your father clearly thinks that we lizardfolk are going to win.”

“Well, as I said, Father's kind of dim,” Liv said. Her hand, by its own accord, had crept back to the Golden Git's back. She frowned. “Okay, if you tense your spine out of whack, you won't be able to make it back to anywhere. Lay down.”

The Golden Git frowned at her.

“I'd rather not,” he said.

Liv grinned, her teeth flashing. That had been what she was hoping for. Memories of tormenting Liam were tinted with the rosy happiness of how that story had ended but she found herself pushing it further than she had with Liam. Her palms pressed against the Golden Git's shoulders, shoving him gently. “Come on, belly down.”

The lizardman let himself be laid flat on the ground. His hardened scales didn't seem to mind the dirt and the dust and his tail twitched as Liv ran her palms along his back. She felt the knots of tension here and there. Her fingers worked into his muscles, rubbing in slow circles. He grunted in pain and Liv felt a moment's satisfaction – nothing quite like making a dickhead uncomfortable.

Her fingers traced the small of his back, coming down to his loincloth as the Golden Git's eyes closed and turned to the side. The cloth had slipped slightly to the side and Liv's eyes moved to his sculpted behind. The term was more literal here than elsewhere, due to his golden hue, but she still found her breath stopping for a moment as she noticed, nestled between his muscular thighs, a firm pair of balls. Liv gulped slightly.

Something she had never admitted to Liam – and never would – was that she…

Well…

She really liked a big set of balls. It was almost more important than a cock – since she only usually came from the ministrations of a tongue. And when you were trying to find release just before or just after a battlefield, what you wanted was someone who could both see what they were doing and using a part of their body that could be directed in more motions than just forward and back. Plus, women tended to use tongues, and women tended to be better at pleasing women than men.

But it was something about a man's balls that caused her heart to race. She knew if Liam had been here, he'd have spouted some kind of big rambly point about it. But Liv knew what she liked and wasn't about to worry about it. And Brax had an amazing pair. The light scaling on his scrotum added an interesting texture, and the lack of hair to catch grime meant that even when she leaned close, she couldn't smell anything other than a pleasant musk. Then, leaning forward, she noticed that his cock was pinned under her belly. Once more, his golden coloration seemed to have made him tougher. Most men wouldn't want their cock caught between a belly and uncovered earth.

But Brax...

Liv flushed and grabbed onto his loincloth, jamming it back over the Golden Git's bottom. “Shameless,” she muttered. “Presenting to a slave.”

His tail touched her cheek for a moment as it writhed in the air.

“I'm not the one who pushed me over,” he rumbled. Her palms pressed to his back, harder now. She felt the tension receding as she worked her palms into him, kneading him. He groaned quietly.

“Asshole,” Liv muttered.

“Mm, yes. Most people are,” Brax said, quietly. “But I try to minimize it.”

Liv snorted.

Brax turned his head. “For instance, I'm not ordering you to spread your legs right now – and I am sorely tempted too, Liviana of Sparta.”

Liv felt her sex moisten, tingling between her legs. Liam was manly, though it had taken her time to realize it. But he was a different kind of manly from this general. Brax's eyes were experienced and his voice was stern and he spoke with utter certainty as he shifted, drawing himself up onto his knees. His loincloth tented out before his cock, doing more to accent its length and eagerness even as it draped forward.

Liv scowled. “Do it. Rape a slave, why not?”

He snapped his teeth in a fierce click. “New theory as to why your father sent me: You're an attempt to drive me insane to sabotage Sysminor's plans. I may need to reconsider his genius.”

Liv snorted. “So, how long?”

Brax blinked.

“How long since you pumped those balls into someone?” she asked, her voice riding the line between teasing and insulting.

“Ah,” Brax said. “Ballslut, then?”

It was now Liv's turn to be thrown. She shook her head, flushing slightly. “Excuse me?”

Brax smirked at her, his tail lifting and twitching from side to side. “There's a one in three chance that, if you care about men at all, you're interested in their ass, their cock, or their balls. At least, when it comes to eros.” He winked at her. “Another useful Hellenic principle, that? Multiple forms of love. Eros is the madness, irrational, lustful kind of love, yes?”

Liv scowled at him. “Irrational. Yes.”

Brax leaned forward slightly, his nose almost bumping against hers. “So,” he said, softly, “I take it my guess was right.”

“Golden git,” she growled, not drawing back.

“That's not a no, you know.”

His lips were very close right now. Liv's twin instincts warred against her. The first was to find a sword and start beating him about the head with it. She wondered, faintly, if he was actually any good at using the sword at his hip. The other instinct was to grab him and mount him and see if this barbarian general was any good at using his other sword. But as she saw him leaning fractionally forward, Liv put her finger up, pressing it to his snout.

“Not in front of the mutants,” she whispered.

Brax turned his head to the side, laughing quietly. “Fuck, it's been too long.”

“A few months?” Liv murmured, her finger sliding from his nose to his neck, feeling the quick pulse of his heart. She noticed that his beat wasn't like that of an elf's – she felt it go beat beat-beat beat. She wondered if his heart normally went this fast.

“Six years,” Brax said, shrugging.

“Holy-fucking-what!?”

Oiiiiii, General!”

Between heart beats, Liv and General Brax were a good five feet away from one another. She was kneeling and glaring off into the air, her arms crossed over her chest to hide her hard nipples, while Brax was lounging back on the ground, one leg crooked over the other, concealing his hard on as his soldiers emerged from the temple. Vazt led the way, grinning widely, sword in his hand, his other holding up something that made even Liv gape.

“I found it,” Vazt said.

 

* * *

 

Liam's mouth was fastened around a stranger's nipple, sucking on the hard tip and feeling the light patina of scaling that surrounded it, when his morality leaned forward and kicked him hard in the ass. He jerked his mouth away with a smack, leaving the green nip glistening – and then it was covered by a dark human hand as another slave cupped the lizard's tit and ground against her ass. The lizardwoman didn't seem to notice or care that Liam was stumbling back and away from her.

The sounds of pleasure were filling the air, but Liam shook his head, trying to fight down the intense lust burning through his body. His cock swung from side to side as he turned – and saw Mary. She was between two lizardmen, stroking both of their black, black cocks. Her fingers tightly gripped their shafts and her eyes were closed, her lips spread in a smile. Her thumbs caressed the triangular tips of their dicks and the two lizardmen caressed her – one squeezing her ass, the other tearing the leather strap from her breasts with a quick jerk of his claws.

Liam staggered over. As he moved away from the woman he had been pleasuring, his head cleared slightly and something became obvious to him.

He was horny as hell but he wasn't mind controlled.

He could think about things other than fucking – and when he looked at the stairs leading to the second floor, he saw several slaves slipping away. Many of them were clearly wracked with lust, but they still moved.

For whatever reason, they didn't want to be here.

So they were leaving.

He nodded. Mary just needed to be helped away from the two lizardmen who were pressing against her and she could leave as well.

“Mary!” he hissed.

She opened her golden eyes as Liam stood before her – a tail caressing his back, a woman's breasts brushing against his shoulders. Every few moments, someone slipped by him, and several times, they caressed his chest, his balls. Liam felt every instinct screaming at him. Telling him, desperately, to join. His nose, his ears, his eyes, all of them were filled with glorious sights. A human woman, her legs spread, a lizardman's cock plunging into her eager sex, while an elven woman sat on her face. A human man eagerly nuzzling a lizardman's balls, licking and sucking on them as he stroked his cock.

He looked at Mary, his eyes speaking as loudly as words: Ask me and I'll help you get out of here.

Her eyes met his and focused. And subtly, she shook her head. Her lips twisted in a slight smile. Liam saw that her eyes weren't confused, she didn't look drugged. Hell, she looked like she was more in control than him. Her hands released the two cocks she was stroking as she walked forward – her tongue darting out as she licked her left thumb. She stood before Liam and her voice purred into his ear as she put the tips of her index and middle finger against Liam's mouth. He tasted, for the first time, the musk of another man.

To his surprise, he... didn't hate it.

“Lilin are always horny,” she whispered in his ear.

Liam blinked, then leaned against her. He kissed her neck and grabbed her ass. She moaned, squirming, and whispered. “I s-should head upstairs, you're right.” Liam leaned forward. His mouth closed around her nipple. It was just as pleasant, just as glorious really, as he had imagined back in the cave. His fingers squeezed her ass tighter and Mary moaned, her voice a sweet note among the chorus of the orgy surrounding them. “Mm!”

Liam knelt down, kissing her belly. To his shock, he was being joined by another lizardman – the other man was kissing Mary's ass, tongue sliding forward to lick between her thighs. Liam kissed the top of Mary's pussy, tasting the tingling, almost spicy juices that dripped from her. His tongue circled her clit and he slid a finger into her sex, feeling the lizardman's tongue bump against his digit.

“A-Ah, yes!” Mary rolled her head back. “Head upstairs, ah, later...”

Liam kissed her sex as the lizardman slid back. From the moans coming from Mary, she certainty didn't mind having her ass tongued. Liam tasted her sex, then tasted again and again, drawing his tongue along her pussy. At the edge of his perception, he became aware that a tongue was licking along the underside of his cock. He pulled back from Mary just enough to look down and saw that a beautiful, olive skinned human was on her back under him, her hands craning up to caress his belly and his balls at the same time, her tongue swirling around the head of his cock.

Liam grinned at her and at the tiny nod the woman sent his way, he plunged his hips forward. His cock slid into her throat and her back arched, her pussy sending a thin stream of clear juice onto the floor. She was squirting just from getting her throat fucked. Liam turned back and saw that the lizardman had gotten bored tonguing Mary's ass. He had stood up behind her, lifting her leg with one hand. Mary's palms pressed against a nearby pillar, supporting herself as the lizardman put his red cock to her sex – then slammed home. His balls slapped against her belly with a loud pap pap pap as Liam watched Mary's breasts bounce and jiggle.

“Oh god, oh Mary, oh yes!” Mary moaned, her eyes closing as the lizardman squeezed her breast.

Other moans and cries calling out to other gods rang through the air. Liam pulled his cock from the woman under him and she moaned wetly. “Fuck me, fill me with your cock, please!”

Liam wasn't about to refuse. He crawled around to orient himself properly, pushing her hands above her head and pinning her to the ground. He kissed her neck, his tongue tracing the line of her slave collar. She moaned, hungrily, her legs spreading wantonly wide. Liam had stopped caring at the moment. He just let the need surge through him as he kissed the woman on the mouth. He didn't even know her name. But he knew what she wanted.

He hilted himself inside of her, his balls slapping her ass as the sounds of moaning filled his ears. Her sex was tight and smooth and so very wet. His hips drew back, then slammed home as he started to fuck her, his body gleaming with sweat in a few moments. He had never felt quite so frenzied before. His eyes grew hooded as he drew his mouth back, letting her and him pant and moan. Her climax was wordless – her back arching, her head rolling back, her breasts mashing against Liam's chest as she wailed out in pleasure.

Liam's climax came a few seconds later. His balls clenched and he came inside of her. He pulled out and suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He rolled to the side and blinked, laying on his back as he watched a lizardman pounce on the woman he had been inside mere moments before. The lizardman's black cock slammed into her and she squeaked – then moaned. Her hips lifted to meet his and Liam grinned slowly.

She was going to have a good time.

A set of fingers caressed his head. Liam looked up and saw that the lizardwoman he had been sucking on before was standing over him. Cum dripped from her scaled sex, sliding along her thighs, while her tail twitched from side to side. Her tongue darted out, sliding along her muzzle as she grinned at him.

“Not letting you get away,” she purred, softly.

Liam laughed, taking her hand and tugging her to her knees. Sitting there, he tried to kiss her – and like kissing Neb, the jackalgirl he had met earlier that year, he found that kissing someone with a muzzle took a bit of practice. You needed to tilt your head to the side, open your mouth, and let most of the contact come from tongues. But dear god, the girl had a tongue. It plunged into his mouth and then coiled around his, then drew back as she put her hands on his chest. She made a soft, happy hiss.

“What is your name, you glorious hunk of a man?” she whispered, her voice breathy. Liam cupped her large breasts, squeezing them. He heard Mary crying out in pleasure and he spared a glance back. A black skinned valkyrie was fucking her like his life depended on it. The lilin nun looked completely lost in the pleasure of the moment – and the only thing that could have made it hotter for Liam would have been if she had still been in her nun's habit.

I am a kinky son of a bitch, Liam thought. But instead of using that as his intro, he grinned at the lizardwoman. “Liam.”

He kissed her neck. The buzzing need that still filled him seemed less intense as the orgy went on. But he didn't feel any particular urge to stop. This felt amazing. His hands cupped her scaled ass as she chuckled.

“Nice name. My name is Fizit,” she said, softly, “And I notice you rather like my breasts.”

“They are amazing titties,” Liam nuzzled her breasts, kissing them gently. Then he bit down on her nipple just enough to draw a moan from Fizit. Her fingers caressed along his back, finding his ass. She slapped him gently and Liam drew back. He had been spanked before, but what made him more curious was the odd look in Fizit's eyes.

“Unusual name, Liam. And you're very tall,” she murmured.

Liam's eyes widened.

Fizit started to stand but Liam was faster. He grabbed onto her wrists, shoving her down and pinning her under him. They struggled for a moment, her thighs pressing against his sides as she tried to work her feet between him and her. His cock, despite the deadly seriousness of the moment, bumped against her sex and the grinding motion of her hips made him groan. Fizit was wet as hell, her sex moistening the tip of his cock almost as much as her tongue could have, and she managed to press her breasts against him as she hissed out.

“He-”

Liam leaned forward and kissed her, trying to quiet her without letting go of her hands. Fizit froze and Liam tensed, ready for a bite. Instead, her tongue pressed into his mouth. Darted against him. Her thighs were still pressed against him, but her ankles hooked behind him. Liam felt his cocktip spreading her sex. He broke the kiss, hoping that the moans of pleasure surrounding them would cover anything she said.

Instead of screaming for help, Fizit moaned. “Oh fuck, I'll tell him later – I need this.”

Liam nodded, then slammed into the enemy soldier. She gasped and shuddered under him as his cock filled her to the brim. “Oh Liam...” she whispered in his ear as he kissed her neck, his hands sliding from her wrists to the ground beside her head, holding himself up as he started to fuck her. He moved slowly, gently now, trying to buy himself some time. Fizit didn't seem to mind – she moaned with every movement of his cock. “Oh Liam!”

“Fizit!” he grunted. “I, ah, was wondering, mmm, what's your rank in Sysminor's army?”

“Not his army,” she said, her voice holding an edge. Her fingers caressed Liam's back, then started to play in his hair as she looked into his eyes. “Brax. We follow Brax. Ah. Gods. Even if, mm, Brax doesn't throw orgies, he's the leader.”

“Mmm,” Liam said, nodding. “Good guy.”

“Good general,” Fizit whispered, her voice becoming even more breathy as Liam's balls gently bumped against her ass. Her hips moved slowly forward and backwards and Liam was about to ask her more questions when he felt a tongue slurp along his balls. He looked back and saw Mary – cum dripping liberally from her sex – licking his balls. Her fangs caressed them for a moment as she leaned forward and took as much of his scrot into her mouth as she could. From the beatific look on her face, it had either been far too long since she had done this, or she was fully embracing her lilin heritage at the moment.

Either way, Liam appreciated the feeling, but didn't appreciate the distraction quite so much. He had no idea he'd ever get actionable intelligence in the middle of a massive, magically-induced orgy.

Man, the CIA would love to read this report, he thought.

Fizit gasped. “Oh gods!”

Liam blinked. “Gods?” He whispered in her ear. “I thought Sysminor was the one true god.”

Fizit turned her head to the side, but despite her look of consternation, she lifted her hips more eagerly, closed her legs around Liam more tightly. He was now barely able to thrust into her but every tiny motion he made wrung a tiny moan from her muzzle. Mary's tongue had dipped down and now, Liam could feel her caressing where he and Fizit were joined. Fizit's muzzle blushed darker red as she shuddered under him.

“None of us have, ah, a choice,” Fizit said.

Liam smiled slightly. “There's always a choice, Fizit.”

She looked at him, then her eyes widened as Liam used every skill he had. He held himself up on one arm, his elbow joint almost locking as he suspended his upper torso over her. His other hand reached down and he found and rubbed her clit, wringing more pleasure from her as Mary's ministrations redoubled, as if the lilin knew how important this moment was. Fizit's eyes grew unfocused as her mouth opened in pleasure. Liam plunged deep into her and came. Hard.

His balls tightened and his seed filled the other woman as she shuddered underneath him, holding him tightly. But to Liam's surprise, he found that she was glowing. Her scales shimmered and rippled with a pale blue light, and when he looked up, he saw every other lizardman was glowing from within.

Sysminor laughed. “Yes YES yesyesyes!”

The glow brightened and Fizit clung to Liam, her eyes wide with fear and confusion and wonder. Then she cried out again and her sex clenched on Liam's cock like a fist as what had to be the most powerful climax she had ever felt ripped through her body. The other lizardmen and lizardwomen roared out in pleasure – a unified voice that shook the room. Mary drew her mouth away from the joining of Fizit and Liam, looking around with wonder.

Then the light faded and…

And the lizardfolk looked exactly the same.

“It has worked,” Sysminor said, burbling happily to himself. “Now! Soldiers! Soldiers soldiers! Stand at attention – form up! Line! Now!”

The orgy disentangled itself slowly with some resistance. Liam saw that everyone seemed a lot calmer but that didn't stop men and women from clinging to their partners as the lizardmen pulled back. There were some shared caresses, some parting kisses as the detachment of lizardmen and women walked forward. They stood before their god, their heads bowed. Most of them glittered with moisture – sweat, cum, lubrication. And yet, despite that, they had a martial air to them.

Liam walked forward, feeling more naked than he was. Which was pretty impressive, considering how the only strip of clothes he had on him was the slave collar and the tiny piece of skin colored cloth that Meg had put around his throat. He hoped to god that Tethis had that spell prepped and that she and Meg were in position.

“My soldiers – you are now unstoppable,” Sysminor said. Well, his actual speech was more rambling than that – with echoing, repeated words, added sibilants, and random and bizarre strings of words that sounded like they had come from some well of madness. Liam, though, could hear what mattered. “We shall leave nothing for our enemies. Kill the slaves, then put the buildings to the torch. This town will be ashes when the enemy arrive.”

The slaves started to draw back in horror, their eyes wide.

The lizards – the people, Liam forced himself to remember – started to retrieve their weapons from where they had left them up by the front. Most of them were hefting up bows and arrows as slaves pressed back to the wall. Several people started hammering on the doors. But the doors had been barred. There was no escape.

Liam nodded.

There was only faith.

He stepped out from the crowd. “Wait!” he called out, holding out his hand. He didn't speak the word pleadingly. He simply left no room in his voice for disagreement. Sysminor looked at him and started to buzz and crackle. Lightning surged around him and his arm pointed at Liam without any intervening movement.

“You!”

“Yes, me,” Liam said, grinning. “I am Liam Vanderbilt of Earth. You've probably heard of me.”

The lizardmen actually looked curious – not scared, but clearly not dismissing him. He noticed Fizit in the middle of the row. She had put on some kind of fancy headdress. Who was she in the army's ranks, he wondered. She also had a bow and a nocked arrow. Well, Liam thought. If this doesn't work, then at least I'll die fast.

“I have faced your kind in battle,” he said. “You fight well and bravely. You fight warriors – men and women armed and ready to face you. Do you slaughter your naked lovers?”

“They're not LOVERS -lovers lovers!” Sysiminor screeched. “Slaves – fuckmeat, for discarding – dis-carding-carding-carding!”

Liam saw that the soldiers, though, looked uncomfortable.

“How many of you have been forced to nail innocent people to crosses? And why? Because a god orders you?” Liam asked, slowly walking forward, his hands spread wide. “Because I worship a god who once ordered that a man kill his child, but stayed his hand at the last moment. That god believed in compassion and forgiveness – in fighting for what is right, for justice!” He slammed his fist into his palm. “For honor, damn it! Now, are you warriors...or are you murderers? Because if you are, do it. Kill me.”

“Kill him him him!” Sysminor screeched.

The lizardmen…

Didn't move.

Fizit let her bow dip. She looked at the soldier to her left, then the soldier to her right. She shook her head.

“I won't do it,” she said. “I won't kill them.”

Sysminor howled in fury. Lightning crackled around his body in ever greater arcs. Chunks of the floor started to raise into the air, lifting up and tumbling about his body. The wall crumbled and cracked behind him as Sysminor drew more and more pieces to orbit his body, his arms spread wide as the sounds emerging from his jagged mouth became even higher, even more painful to listen too. Liam clapped his hands over his ears as the wall tore away even more and revealed Meg and Tethis, both crouched down, Meg holding the godkiller in one hand, Tethis holding a pot and a paintbrush in the other.

They had been gluing the bomb to the wall – but now there was no wall.

Meg looked at Liam through the crowd of debris.

Liam grinned.

Then all of the sounds coming from Sysminor cut out at once as the false god stood, wreathed in wreckage and rubble.

Your god is nothing next to me, Liam Vanderbilt of Earth. You will die. Purgatory will be mine mine and Earth will burn, burn, burn forever- burn forever...It laughed and sang at the same time.

Liam shook his head. “Protip, Sysminor.”

Meg stood and threw the bomb. It had been half coated in thick glue, so when it smashed into Sysminor's back, it stuck.

“Kill people,” Liam said, “Don't just talk about it.”

Meg grabbed Tethis and flew into the air.

Hit the deck!” Liam screamed and flung himself flat. The lizardmen – battlefield veterans all – flung themselves forward. The slaves were mostly cowering on the floor as well, so they didn't need to move as far, nor as fast. Sysminor reached backwards and, for just moment, the look of comic surprise on its cubist face was utterly hilarious.

The godkiller struck.

And the world came to an end in white fire.