This brief breakthrough gave Artemis hope. His brother was in there somewhere, and he hadn’t lost a lick of his acid tongue.
Gobdaw tucked the pike under the crook of his good arm and charged. The pike seemed as big as a jousting lance in his hand. He fanned the tip from side to side in a flashing arc, slicing Holly’s elbow before she could sidestep the attack.
The wound was not serious, but it was painful, and Holly did not have the magic for a quick heal.
“By Danu’s Beard,” said Gobdaw. “First blood to the Berserkers.”
The two soldiers faced each other a second time, but now Holly was backed into the corner with less room to maneuver, and Gobdaw’s deadened arm was coming back to life. The Berserker grabbed the pike with both hands, increasing the speed and steadiness of his sweep. He inched closer, giving Holly no space to make a move.
“I take no pleasure in this,” he said. “But then, I don’t feel much sorrow, either. You chose your worm, elf.”
Chose your worm was a reference to the fairy game of chewing root worms. A group of kids would dig up five worms, and each would choose one to pop in their mouth. Statistically, at least one of the worms would be in its dying cycle and have begun to rot from the inside, so one of the kids would be in for a putrid mouthful. But it didn’t matter, because the rules of the game dictated that you had to swallow it regardless. A human equivalent of this saying would be: You made your bed, so now you have to lie in it.
This looks bad, thought Holly. I don’t see any way of taking out Gobdaw without hurting Myles.
Suddenly Artemis waved his arms and shouted, “Myles! The tip of that pike is steel. Where does steel sit on the periodic table?”
Gobdaw’s features twisted, and Myles emerged. “Artemis, steel isn’t on the table. It is not an element, as you well know. It is composed of two elements: carbon and iron.”
Toward the end of the last sentence Gobdaw took control once more, just in time to feel his arms being yanked behind his back and to hear the sounds of the plasti-cuffs ratcheting over his wrists.
“You tricked me,” he said, not sure exactly how he’d been hoodwinked.
“Sorry, Gobdaw,” said Holly, lifting him by the collar. “The human doesn’t play fair.”
“When did humans ever play fair?” muttered Gobdaw, who at that moment would have gladly vacated young Myles Fowl’s head if another host had been available. But then he realized how clever Artemis had been.
That is not a bad strategy, he thought. Perhaps I can show the butterfly its own wings and turn that human’s trick against him.
Suddenly Myles’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he hung slack in Holly’s arms.
“I think Gobdaw has gone,” said Holly. “Artemis, it looks like you have your brother back.”
Butler pursued Bellico into the office, where she was two steps away from sabotaging the siege box. Her fist was drawn back for the strike when Butler hooked his own arm through the crook of her elbow and they spun like dancers away from the security terminal and onto the rug. Bellico’s arm slipped free, and she pirouetted to the wall.
“You’re finished,” said Butler. “Why don’t you release my sister?”
“Both of us will die first, human!” said Bellico, circling warily.
Butler stood his ground. “If you have access to my sister’s memories, have a flick through them. You can never defeat me. She never has, and you never will.”
Bellico froze for a moment, accessing the database of Juliet’s mind. It was true, Butler had easily defeated his sister a thousand times. His talents were far superior to hers…but, wait. There was a vision of the big human on his back, with pain on his brow. He was speaking:
You really nailed me with that move, Jules. It came out of nowhere. How is your big old brother supposed to defend himself against that?
Bellico’s eyes flashed. Which move was the big human speaking of?
She dug a little deeper and found a fifty-four-step kata that Juliet Butler had developed herself, loosely based on the teachings of Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo.
I have found the human’s weak spot.
Bellico allowed the memory to fully surface and send instructions to the body. Juliet’s limbs began to seamlessly perform the kata.
Butler frowned and dropped into a boxer’s defensive stance. “Hey, what are you doing?”
Bellico did not answer. There was anxiety in the Mud Man’s voice, and that was enough to assure Bellico that she had chosen the correct course of action. She swept around the office like a dancer, her speed increasing with each revolution.
“Stand still!” said Butler, struggling to keep her in his line of sight. “You can’t win!”
Bellico could win, she was certain of it. This old man was no match for the young powerful body she inhabited. Faster and faster she spun, her feet barely touching the ground, air whistling through the jade ring that held her long ponytail.
“I’ll give you one more chance, Juliet, or whoever the hell you are. Then I will have to hurt you.”