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Forty-Seven

Standing on the observation tower of the Lowest Level Nuclear Plant, Pin had a ringside seat for the first clash between the dragons and the kuei. Both converged on one another, and then two were battling it out in the sky above him while the rest were hovering back, as if by some ancient and recognized law of combat.

When Pin had watched all those battles in the Opera—it seemed years ago now—he had never thought that he might witness something similar in real life. The Opera had been melodramatic enough, but this was truly dreadful: he watched, appalled, as the kuei twisted round and gouged a long weal in the dragon's flank. The dragon shrieked, filling the air with a sound that grated on Pin's spectral ears like a blade scraping down glass. Drops of hissing hot blood spattered down around the observation tower and one of the demons screamed with pain as the blood fell across his shoulder.

"They didn't warn us about this!" someone said.

"Get an umbrella," said another voice. Pin did not think the blood could hurt him, but you never knew. He scrunched against a stanchion of the observation tower and tried to keep out of the way. The dragon leaped across the sky and buried its teeth in the kuei's spine. The kuei began whipping to and fro, causing dust storms in the desert and a blasting wind that made the observation tower start to sway. Demons moaned and clung on.

It struck Pin that, sooner or later, one or both of these creatures would drop out of the sky.

And this was only the first fight. There were many dragons, many kuei.

Sure enough, this was exactly what happened. The dragon and the kuei had wound themselves into a raging knot. One of the kuei's sharp pincers tore into the dragon's wing and the dragon could no longer sustain its height. It fell, and Pin saw the kuei struggling to free itself, but it was too deeply entwined with its foe. Both the dragon and the kuei plummeted with the noise of a downed fighter jet. Below, troops scattered as they realized what was happening, fleeing from the estimated point of impact. Some of them did not make it in time. The fighting creatures struck the floor of the valley with a tremendous reverberating echo and the entire nuclear complex shook.

"What in hell happens," one of the demons shouted, wild-eyed, "if one of those fuckers falls on here?"

Pin decided, straightaway, not to think about that. He looked out across the valley to where an immense crater had appeared, behind walls of billowing yellow dust. The bodies of the dragon and the kuei could still be seen, writhing. A jet streaked across the sky, undertaking reconnaissance.

"Well." Someone had evidently decided to reply to the demon's question. "It's not going to be pretty."

 

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Framed