"Do not use me as ammunition, please," Amberdrake asked it very nicely, but also very... mm, there was a finality there. He helped hoist Sanzo's arm over his shoulders and held onto the priest's wrist, looping his other arm around the skinny blond's waist. May as well, if the cat was out of the bag anyway.

The birds all at once stopped their little perimeter-checking and started to gather up, as though they'd been asked to. Two of them had even found the bits of buckshot that had passed through Sanzo's leg, and seemed determined to bring it.