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Abbas made a hard right turn, swooping up and away from Crowe and the civilian entourage on the ground. He could all but sense Crowe's frustration with that avoidant maneuver as the four flocks of birds bristled and spun toward him, giving chase.

Good.

If Crowe was getting emotional, Abbas could only see that as a positive thing for their battle. The Man of Crows would be more likely to make mistakes, to act recklessly. This back-and-forth between them had gone on for days, after all. Abolishers were not known for their patience or mental discipline.

He lead the flocks away from the refugees. If he kept moving, they would keep following--so long as he didn't create too much distance too quickly. That would just motivate them to go after the civilians again.

It became a mad aerial dance. Bolting across the sky, weaving in and out of oncoming Abolishers who thought they could cut him off as he circled back around.

The flocks stuck on him, too--all of them, this time.

That was ideal. Many times previously, Crowe had tried to divide his attention between Abbas and the civilians, no doubt hoping to kill or capture them while the Lord Saqqaf was distracted.

An annoying strategy, but one that Abbas had made sure to consistently thwart. Crowe must have finally realized how unfeasible it was and--

'I sense Bloodeye approaching from the north!' came Worwal's private warning. The reaper was clinging to him inside the suit, not merged with a hyper-state.

That news was just about the worst thing Abbas could imagine, right now, short of more robots or Morgunov himself showing up.

Bloodeye was the other primary instigator in this war on his homeland. From the very beginning, it had been Crowe and Bloodeye together that led the invasion.

True, they hadn't been able to stand up to Iceheart, even while working together, but neither had Iceheart been able to pin them down and eliminate them. Their hit-and-run tactics in his presence had caused no end of headaches.

And now, Iceheart wasn't even here, anymore.