Mrs. Falls a lot's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

Mrs. Falls a lot stood at the edge of the tower with Nuts. Below them, the pit waited in the rock. Nuts had built the tower and jetted them up it. Now he was a flying squirrel again, and he meant to carry her down. She weighed three times what he did, and she gripped a full beer in each hand. "Get on," Nuts said. He crouched, sunglasses down, cigar clamped tight. "Hold your beers. Don't shift." She climbed onto his back. His legs shook under her. He spread his arms and leaped. For one second they glided. Then the beers tipped her weight sideways. Nuts fought the drop like a squirrel caught in wind. He couldn't level out. "Too heavy," he grunted. "Can't steer." They fell fast. The pit rose up at them. Mrs. Falls a lot did what her body always did. She pulled both beers to her chest and cradled them. They hit the ground hard and punched a crater into the earth. Dust flew up in a ring. Broken rock ringed the sunken center where they'd landed. She sat up in the hole. Both beers were whole. Not a drop spilled. Nuts crawled out of the dust beside her, hat gone, cigar still lit. "Still alive," he said flatly. They climbed out of the crater. Ahead sat the arena, a wide floor of cracked stone ringed by fire. On the far side crouched the dragon. Flames curled from his mouth. He was the beast who had challenged her from the tower and flown down to wait. "Well," Mrs. Falls a lot said. "This is it. This is my moment." "Right behind you," Nuts said. They crossed to the arena. Heat pressed on her face. The dragon rose on the scorched floor and fixed his burning eyes on her. "You defeat me, permadrunk is yours," he said. "You lose, you die." Mrs. Falls a lot lifted both beers and drank. She did not answer. The place she'd crossed the whole trail to reach waited on the other side of this fight. Just as the dragon spread his wings, a shout came from behind the flames. Two old men stumbled to the ring's edge. One clutched a banjo. The fat one gripped a harmonica in his fist. Mrs. Falls a lot knew them. Her band. Buzz and Big Larry, who played the brewery patio with her. They'd chased her all the way into this world. "There she is," Buzz said, staring at the dragon. "Aw, hell." Big Larry didn't slow. He shoved past the fire and stood at her side, harmonica up like a knife. "You started a fight without us," he said. The dragon's head swung toward the two men. His nostrils flared, reading their scent. His eyes narrowed. For one breath, he forgot Mrs. Falls a lot entirely and stared at the strangers who'd walked into his arena.