She threw herself to the deck and almost went over again as the air-floater turned even more sharply. Another spear whistled through the air, just missing the airbag. Whatever else Inouye was, she was a brilliant pilot. Then, as she clutched the lowest rail, Irisis saw, as clear as anything, Nish stand up on the round rock. Her eyes misted over.
'It's Nish!' she screamed. 'Go down.'
'I don't dare,' said Inouye. The soldiers up the hill were within easy range. The pilot turned; turned again. Her cheeks were blotched, her eyes glassy.
She's taking too much power, Irisis thought. She's going to burn her mind out. Without thinking, or even knowing what she was doing, Irisis ran to Inouye's side and wrapped the chain of her pliance around the controller, putting crystal to crystal.
Laying an arm across the pilot's shoulder, she sought for the node. Inouye's whole body was shuddering with the strain. Irisis took some of the load through herself, into her pliance and thence into the controller. To her amazement, it seemed to be working. The colour came back into the pilot's cheeks. The rotor spun more quickly.
'Flangers!' Irisis screamed. 'See if you can do something about the soldiers with the javelard. Quick, they're nearly ready to fire.'
Flangers was already behind the loaded weapon, tracking the soldiers as the air-floater ducked and dived. He fired.
'Missed!' He cursed under his breath and reached down to reload.
Muss was on the other side, holding a crossbow inexpertly. Come on! Irisis thought, I could do better than that. He fired, though with no result.
Fyn-Mah pushed through behind Irisis, shaping the air with her fingers. Tossing them high, she clapped her hands together with a crack like a dry stick breaking. A series of puffs crystallised in the air between her and the enemy javelard, one after another. The last puff burst around the weapon and the soldier behind it. He went head-first over a smooth rock and came to rest with his legs waving in the air. The javelard fell over but another soldier wrestled it up onto its stand and began to aim it.
'Go down, now!' snapped the perquisitor, pale with the strain.
'He'll put a spear right through the airbag. He can't miss.'
'The spear is jammed in the javelard,' said Muss calmly, 'Hurry, before they free it.' Inouye threw the machine about so sharply that Irisis fell to her knees. It seemed to skip across the air, bounced and fell. The keel slammed into the rock. Struts creaked and groaned.
Irisis looked around frantically. 'Flydd, Nish?'
'Here,' came Nish's voice from the other side. 'You nearly took my bloody head off.'
Leaving her pliance wrapped around the controller, she leapt over the rail. Inouye shrieked but Irisis could not be in two places at once. 'Come on. Get in! Where's Flydd? Is he…? Is he…?'
'He's down there.' Nish pointed to the crevice. 'He's hurt his ankle.'
She skidded down the steep side of the rock, ploughing red lichen off with her boot-heels. 'Xervish? Are you all right?'
'Of course I'm all right,' he said querulously. 'Why wouldn't I be?'
'Well, you're taking your bloody time. This isn't a picnic.'
He was leaning on the stone and looked more emaciated than ever, if that was possible.
'What's the matter with you?' she snapped.
'I've been running for the past hour and I've hurt my ankle.'
'You look like an old bag of bones,' she muttered.
'And you're as fat as a pig! Hey, what do you think you're doing?'
She hoisted him over her shoulders and scrabbled up. He was heavier than he looked.
'Come on!' Fyn-Mah was screaming.
Her boots slipped on moss. Nish gave her his hand and heaved, which got them up the steep part. Irisis ran across the top, looking over her shoulder. The soldiers were struggling to free the jammed spear. The two air-floaters were approaching rapidly. The third was still hanging back. Must be scrutators in it, Irisis thought, the gutless swine.
Flangers fired his javelard, its spear smashing through the cabin of the leading machine. It kept coming. He slammed another spear in place, winding back the cranks like a sweat-drenched, red-faced demon.
They reached the side. Irisis's knees were so wobbly that she dropped the scrutator onto the deck.
'Bloody cheek!' he roared.
She tried to throw her leg over the rope rail but it wouldn't go. She tried again, then Nish's hand slid under her thigh and heaved her on top of Flydd.
'Go!' screamed Fyn-Mah, as Nish vaulted the rail. She pulled Irisis off Flydd. 'Are you all right, surr?' she said tenderly, helping him into the cabin.
She does care for him, Irisis thought as she got up. That's going to change a few things.
The front of the air-floater tilted and the machine shot up at a steep angle. Nish fell backwards, slid all the way down the deck and slammed his head into the stern post below the rotor. He sighed and lay still.
'Nish?' Irisis shrieked, hanging onto the ropes as she went down the canted deck.
He did not answer. The naked blades of the rotor were whirring just above his nose, for the wire guard did not run underneath. Stay unconscious, she prayed, falling to her knees in front of him. If he sat up, the rotor would puree his head.
'What's the matter now?' yelled Fyn-Mah from inside.
'Bloody fool's knocked himself out.'
Inouye levelled out. Irisis, ever so carefully, eased Nish out from under the rotor and carried him into the cabin. Fyn-Mah was decanting the deadly quicksilver into its flask. She stoppered it. The machine tilted up again.
Laying Nish on the rear part of the floor where he'd be as protected as possible, Irisis kissed him on the forehead, then went out and slid down the steeply sloping deck to the pilot, who was choking and shuddering as she clung to the controller arm. Abruptly Inouye doubled over, clutching her belly. Steam wisped from her mouth. Irisis threw her arms around the little woman and tried to take power through herself. Her entrails grew boiling hot. If she failed it would anthracise them both.
Part Four: Globe
Forty-three
Inouye began to jerk as if she were having a fit. Droplets of sweat burst out all over her, saturating her clothes in a few seconds. Irisis grew hot all over. Her eyes clouded until she could see nothing but floating specks of blue light.
The pilot slid from her grasp and power struck Irisis like a sledgehammer, knocking her to her knees. She fought against it, catching Inouye's hand with her free hand. If she let go the controller would fail, for it was tuned to Inouye alone.
As the air-floater turned, she saw the soldiers at the jave-lard halfway up the hill. They had freed the bent spear and were inserting a good one. The lever went back, the spear hur-tled towards them. She threw her weight against the steering arm, having difficulty keeping her balance. The air-floater did not move quickly enough. The heavy spear whistled over her head, smashing through the back end of the cabin and out the front Nish! Nish was inside. 'Shoot them!' Her voice cracked.
Flangers was cranking a crossbow. 'No spears left. Not many bolts, either.'
The pair of air-floaters were approaching. Both were armed with javelards and soldiers bearing crossbows, though they were not yet in range.
Another spear shot by, passing close to the top of the airbag. Where had that come from? Her erratic movements had taken the air-floater offshore and it had come within range of one of the ships' more powerful javelards. Irisis felt a flurry of panic but bit down on it. She would get everyone to safety or kill them all in the attempt.
'I need some help here,' she gasped as Inouye's weight pulled her hand off the controller.
The air-floater kept turning. Irisis, realising that it would take them towards the air-floaters, pulled the steering arm the other way with her boot. That brought them past the soldiers on the hill and, as they drifted west, she saw the soldiers from the third landing boat climbing the ridge ahead of them. There was nowhere to go.