'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.