Fifty

Lying still, Nish felt the ground shake in that familiar thump-thump. A clanker went slowly by, greatly modified from its original purpose. The shooter's platform had been enclosed with pieces of metal in all shapes and sizes, and then roofed over with leaves of cast-iron armour from wrecked clankers. The roof bristled with metal spikes and the machine had a javelard at front and rear. Everything was rusted, makeshift and appallingly ugly.

Metal screeched and squealed as it shuddered to a stop. Three men leapt out, wild-haired, dirty creatures dressed in rags and pieces of armour. All were armed with swords and knives, and two had crossbows strapped to their backs.

One bent down, pointing. 'They've found our heel marks,' Yggur said quietly. 'Now they'll follow our tracks, coming this way but not going back.'

'Better hope we didn't leave tracks all the way,' said Nish.

The scavengers prowled around the curve of the barrier for the best part of an hour before returning to their machine and thumping off.

'Get working, Nish,' Yggur called. 'You too, Irisis. I'll keep lookout. I don't think they've gone very far.'

When the sun was as high as it was going to get, Irisis slid down the curved side of the construct. Yggur passed a sack to her, which she placed carefully on the ground in the shade, and sat beside it.

'What's that?' said Nish.

'All the controller workings.' Irisis picked at a broken fingernail.

Do you know how to use them?'

They've been disabled, but I expect we can work it out, said Yggur. 'How are you going, Nish?'

'I've freed the driving mechanism,' he replied, "but it's too heavy to lift by myself. Even with three of us, I don't see how we're going to carry it to the other side of the harrier.'

'Let's get it out first.' Yggur moved under the construct, which was tilted at an angle, having come down onto a boulder when the field failed. He began to pull. 'Irisis, get that stick over there. Put it underneath the mechanism and, as we pull it free, let it slide gently to the ground.'

They did that, accompanied by much grunting and heaving, not to mention the near loss of Nish's toes when the mechanism slipped at the last moment; but finally it lay on the stony soil, undamaged.

'Wait here,' said Yggur, heading for the invisible barrier a few hundred paces distant. He passed through, looking up for signs of the air-floater, and disappeared among the sparse shrubbery.

Several minutes went by. 'I hope it hasn't gone too far,' said Nish.

'Or worse,' Irisis replied darkly.

Thump-thump.

'The scavengers are coming back,' she added.

'Afraid so.'

'What are we going to do?'

'Haven't a clue.'

Neither spoke for several minutes. The clanker contraption reappeared, tracking along the outside of the barrier. The same three men got out.

'I've just had an uncomfortable thought,' said Nish.

'What's that?'

'This protection keeps out living things, but the wind blows straight through it.'

'I'm not sure what you're saying,' said Irisis.

'What if they can fire their weapons through?'

A big, hairy man climbed on top, peering in their direction with a rusty spyglass. The pair on the ground squatted down.

'We're in trouble,' said Nish. 'Don't move. 'You're the one who's breathing so loudly,' Irisis retorted with her famous calm.

'I hope Yggur sealed the protection when he went out.'

The spyglass tracked across to where they huddled in the shadow under the construct, passed on, then came back. The hairy man shouted instructions, though Nish could not distinguish them.

Shortly a woman emerged from the rear hatch of the clanker, pulling a child by the arm. The child, a girl of ten or twelve with tangled black hair, resisted. The man roared at the woman, pointing at the tilted construct. The woman screeched back, clipped the struggling girl over the ear and dragged her to the barrier by her hair.

The girl shook the woman off, turned towards the hairy man, who was still roaring, and gave him a two-fingered sign. She poked her tongue out at the woman and received another clip over the ear.

Pressing her grubby hands to the barrier, she stared through it. As her gaze passed across him, again the soles of Nish's feet tingled.

'That's done it,' said Irisis. 'She must have a native seeker's talent.'

'Doesn't explain how she found me,' said Nish. 'Since, as you frequently point out, I've got no talent at all.'

'You make up for it in other ways, Nish.'

The girl pointed at them, shouting excitedly.

'Look out!' cried Irisis as the hairy man swung his javelard in their direction.

No time to run. All Nish could do was flatten himself against the ground and pray that he made an indistinct target. The spear slammed into the base of the construct next to him. Irisis cried out.

'Are you all right?' said Nish.

'Just dirt in my eye. Run! Next time he'll put it right through one of us.'

They scrambled out, clawing their way around the other side, where he would not be able to see them. Another missile whizzed by Nish's backside as he went.

'He's bloody fast to reload,' Nish said, panting.

'Now what do we do?'

'Wait for them to go away?'

'Have you got any water?'

'No. Have you?'

'No. It could be a thirsty wait.'

'At least the company's good' said Nish.

'I've been wondering when you'd notice,' she said, pretending to be piqued.

'You know what I'm like—'

'Slow!'

'I have to work things out in my own way and my own time.'

'But I don't. Come here.' She put her arms around him. 'I've missed you so badly, Nish.'

And I you — you're my dearest friend.' After a long moment he pulled away. 'Sorry — it's too hot.'

She sighed.

'Yggur will do something,' Irisis said a good while later.

'If they haven't got the air-floater already. There were three clankers, remember?'

'That's comforting.'

'Glad to be of assistance,' he grunted.

'It seems to be getting hotter every second,' she said after another long wait. 'Do you think they're still there?'

'We'd hear them move. Scavengers must be used to waiting.'

It was mid-afternoon now and Nish was parched. Unable to stand the suspense, he crept to the front end of the construct, peering warily around. A spear slammed into the dirt a finger's length from his nose. Shortly, the other two clankers thumped up.

'How long does it take to die of thirst?' Irisis asked casually. A few days, I'd imagine.'

'I don't-'

'What's that?' hissed Nish.

'It must be Yggur coming back in the air-floater.'

A shadow passed across the sun and soon the machine was hovering above the barrier, just out of javelard range.

'Now what?' said Nish. 'It can't come any lower, and we can't move without being shot.'

'We wait for dark.'

They did, interminably, but dark brought no relief. The scavengers raised a ramshackle tower from the top of the first clanker, from which, by some uncanny means, a beam of blinding light lit up the area around their refuge. The other two clankers did the same from the sides, leaving only a tiny pool of darkness behind the construct for Nish and Irisis to hide in. Camp fires were built, and shortly the smell of roasting meat drifted across.

'I could use a haunch of that, whatever it is,' Nish said in a cracked voice.

Irisis took his hand, giving it a hard squeeze. 'We've got to do something, Nish.'

Once Nish would have thought the same, but he was wiser now. 'There's nothing we can do. Leave it to Yggur. He'll have a plan and we might spoil it.'

'What if he doesn't? What if he's past it?'

He didn't reply.

'Can you hear something?' Irisis was on her feet. There was shouting off to the right, and one of the beams had gone out.

'Something's burning,' said Nish.

Another of the beams swung away. Nish peered from the dark side. 'One of their wagons is on fire.'

'Yggur's made a diversion,' said Irisis. 'Does he mean us to run for safety?'

'He hasn't come all this way to leave without the driver mechanism,' said Nish. 'Let's see if we can get it out.'

After further shouting, the third beam went out. They scampered round the exposed side and underneath, heaving and tugging, but hadn't moved the mechanism far before the beam swung back in their faces. They froze under the construct, trying to look like red dirt and black metal.

'If he realises we're here,' Irisis said out of the corner of her mouth, 'he can hardly miss.'

'Whoever he shoots won't know anything about it.' Nish shielded his eyes, but the beam was so dazzling he couldn't tell what was happening at the clankers.

As he was squinting off to his right, Nish saw a tiny spark drift down, as if attached to a piece of thistledown. It floated towards where the second of the clankers had been.

The explosion painted his retina red. The black cut-out of the clanker was lifted into the air and turned onto its side. His eardrums throbbed from the colossal boom and crash. There were cries of pain and terror, and the last beam swung away, crisscrossing the sky for the air-floater.

Feet pounded towards them. They shrank down into the dirt, then someone skidded under the construct. Flangers!

'Is this it?' he panted, indicating the mechanism.

'Yes, but we'll never lift it.'

'We don't have to.' They lugged it out from underneath. 'Round the back!' said Flangers, 'where they can't get such an easy shot at us.'

'What was that bang?' said Irisis.

'A big balloon full of floater gas, pulled down by sandbags. Went off nicely, didn't it?'

'We're not complaining,' Irisis said dryly.

'And before that, I dropped a burning jug of oil onto one of the wagons.'

'You're a dangerous man in an emergency,' said Nish. 'What's the plan?'

'Yggur's getting another balloon ready. As soon as it goes off, he'll lower a rope onto us and winch the mechanism up through a hole he's made in the barrier.'

 'I'm not sure I want to be hanging in the air when the beams find us again.'

'We run,' said Flangers, 'and try to get out the way I came in.'

'Oh well,' said Irisis casually, it we don't get there, at least Yggur will have what he came for.'

'That's the way it is,' said Flangers, in a tone that suggested he'd be happy to make the sacrifice. He might have given his life into her keeping, but the soldier still wanted to do the only thing left to him.

Another explosion rocked the night, though this one did not do much damage. 'Get ready,' said Flangers.

The rope came hissing down, its last coils smacking into the ground just a few spans away. Flangers retrieved it, knotted it expertly around the mechanism, gave three sharp tugs and stepped back.

The rope tightened and the mechanism came up off the ground, but it rose only half a span before stopping, swaying back and forth.

'How's Yggur going to lift that by himself?' said Nish.

'A collection of pulleys,' said Flangers.

Someone shouted from the remaining clanker and the beam returned, picking up the rope, which shone like a vertical rod of light. The javelard fired.

'It's a difficult shot but if he hits the rope we're sunk,' said Flangers. 'We've got to make a diversion. Run, that way! Go separately. I'll come last.' The most dangerous position.

Irisis ran diagonally away from the clankers and the burning wagon. Nish went a few seconds later, followed by Flangers. The girl's voice called out a warning; the beam swung, fixed upon Irisis and tracked her.

'Down!' Flangers roared.

Running full tilt, she threw herself down, skidding on her front across the ground. Thunnggg! A spear went over her shoulders, ploughing the dirt beyond her, then she was up and haring off again.

Another beam fixed on the mechanism, now ten spans in the air. As Nish fled, he heard a spear clank off the outside and prayed it had done no damage. Another spear flew past Irisis's ear — he saw it flash like a silver snake through the beam -and they were beyond range of night shooting.

Flangers passed Nish, running easily. 'How far to go?'

panted Nish, who had a stitch already.

'A thousand paces, more or less.' 'Less, I hope.'

The soldier drew level with Irisis, pointed a little to his left, then drew ahead. Irisis had begun to flag and Nish felt no better. After a day without food or water he had nothing left to give. He chanced a glance back and up. The clanker had one last shot at the rope, but missed. The mechanism was almost out of sight.

The clanker turned in their direction, following the other, which was moving slowly along the perimeter of the barrier. Ahead, Flangers was trotting, barely visible in the dark. As they caught up to him he had one hand out, searching for the opening Yggur had made for him earlier.

'Here!' he called in a low voice, pushing something invisible open and holding it for them.

'Which way?' gasped Irisis.

'Straight towards the north-western corner of the Snizort wall.' He indicated the direction with a finger.

Irisis jogged that way. Nish staggered after her, his throat so dry he could hear each breath rushing in and out. Flangers picked up a crossbow he'd left at the entrance and came last.

By the time they were halfway to the Snizort wall, the clankers, with at least thirty vengeful scavengers hanging off the top and sides, were thumping after them. The seeker girl must have been directing the pursuit for, no matter how they twisted and turned in the darkness, Irisis and Nish could not shake it off.

They topped a rise. To Irisis's dismay, the wall was a good half a league ahead. Flangers dropped to one knee and fired. Nish heard the bolt clang off the iron plates.

Just when he thought he could go no further, there was an explosion between the two clankers. They stopped in a scream of metal and the beams wavered across the sky, searching frantically, then went out.

The air-floater dropped out of the dark beside Irisis. They flopped over the side and it shot up and away.