"There's no need to cut those now!" Deyv shouted.
She said, "Yes, there is. I saw some khratikl fly off toward the slave compound. They'll be bringing back more. Remember what the Yawtl said! There are at least a hundred khratikl there, maybe more. They may be flying toward us now. They Can see this fire; they'll be alarmed!"
"Yes, but we'll be adrift!" Deyv cried.
"I don't like it, but how else can we avoid them?"
The wind had increased while they were belowdecks. Now the smoke from the fires in the cabins had covered the top deck. Deyv could see nothing through it. Yes, he could. Several figures had plunged through the roiling black clouds. One of them was the Yawtl's.
Deyv cursed and ran to the railing to start hacking at the cables on the sides. Vana had gotten there before him. He followed the railing around the bow, only to find that she had severed these. He went to a point where the hulls of the two tharakorm joined, and he leaped onto the deck of the next one.
Furiously, he started cutting.
He thought, We only have to drift out of reach of the khratild. Then we can punch holes in the gas cells and sink down slowly.
Sometime later, the Archkerri and Hoozisst joined him. In a short time, Vana was with them. Sloosh stopped cutting the cables and said, "One of you find the vases of fluid on this creature and empty them along the railing where this one joins the other. They haven't seen us yet. Perhaps the fluid can be set on fire to keep them from going over the railing and getting to us."
"I should've thought of that," Deyv said. He scab-barded his sword and ran to a cabin. The light from the fires was just enough for him to see torches in racks on a wall. A box on a shelf held several flints and irons.
He took one of each and groped his way down the steps of the opening. He didn't want to start the torch burning where its light would attract the attention of the enemy. At the bottom of the stairs, he knocked off sparks onto the oil-soaked tip of the torch until it finally caught. He went up and down the corridors, searching each room for the fluid. Though he knew that there was no one aboard to spring the trap of the sliding walls, he still felt uneasy.
The fourth chamber he looked into held jars of the fluid on wooden racks. He put one in each arm while holding the torch in one of his hands, and returned to the bottom of the steps. Here he dropped the brand and went up to the cabin. On the deck he saw the Yawtl, who'd found vases in the bow cabin. They broke the wax sealing in the fluid, and they ran, crouching down along the railing. When they met in the middle, they had poured the fluid from the bow to the stem. Deyv ran to get the torch. The Yawtl did the same; he had also been astute enough to conceal his below the cabin, where its flame wouldn't be seen.
As Deyv came out of the doorway, he heard a disconcerted cry from the next ship. The khratikl had seen the flames; they also must have seen his figure by the light. He dashed up near the railing and threw the torch against the bottom of the railing. Flames raced along it in both directions, going faster downwind.
The Yawtl's torch set the trail ablaze near the bow, and the two streaks of fire met. Smoke billowed and was caught by the wind and hurried toward the stem.
The two men went to the aft cabin, where Deyv thought he could get vases quicker than by going belowdeck. They spread more oil a few inches away from the original trail. Then they set this afire and went back to get more vases. These they threw at a distance, breaking them. The fluid spread out and caught on fire. Now the slaves and children of Feersh would have to jump down into the burning oil if they wanted to get at them.
Deyv's grin of triumph faded. He said, "I forgot! The plank! She might have others hidden in other rooms, she does, they can cross over these."
"Not likely," Hoozasst said.
Deyv understood what he meant. How could the enemy get below to a plank, if there was one, through the fires? Nevertheless, he wasn't going to leave anything to chance. Taking a torch, he went down and found the room in which the plank was located. He had to give Feersh credit for courage. Though blind, she had gone on the plank, crawling, no doubt, and had then found her way up to the deck and back onto the first tharakorm. She would be thoroughly familiar with her home.
Deyv returned to the top deck. He was startled to see the flames and the smoke going straight up. Nor was any wind blowing against his face.
"We won't drift now," he shouted at Vana, who had just leaped over the railing. "That's rotten luck! The khratikl from the compound will soon be upon us!"
She was sweating, and there was blood and soot on her. But she was grinning.
"No, the wind hasn't stopped. If anything, it's gotten stronger. I think it's going to storm. We're cut loose now, that's why you don't feel the wind. Sloosh said we're going the same speed as the wind."
Deyv looked toward the horizon where a thin band of light shone between it and the lower edge of The
Beast. He picked out a silhouetted landmark, an especially tall tree. It was true, it was slowly moving past them. Rather, they were passing it.
Hearing cries above him, he looked up. The khratikl had flown from the other deck and were now sitting on the yardarms or clinging to the masts of the creature occupied by their enemy. Evidently, they were hesitant about attacking, and with good reason. They numbered only twelve. So, they would be waiting for their fellows from the compound. These would have no trouble finding the creature, since the fires would be a beacon.
Presently, he saw tiny black dots against the band of horizon light. They were coming at an angle, hoping to intercept their quarry. Time passed, and then it was evident that the khratikl would have to chase the tharakorm from directly behind. They'd be going faster than the wind, since it was behind them. Could they catch up?
Though all four were very tired, they got more vases and added fuel to the fire. At least they wouldn't have to worry about a flank attack from the humans. Then they used the last of the oil to set fires at the bases of the masts. The smoke rose up to drive the khratikl away. However, they merely flew over to the third tharakorm and settled on its masts.
The four found kegs of water and stores of dried meat and fruit, fresh vegetables, loaves of bread, and jars of butter. They ate eagerly and then rested by the stem. The wind had turned the tharakorm around, and this place was the nearest to the pursuing fliers. Deyv and Vana prepared their blowguns, which could be shot with good aim in such still air. The Yawtl brought a big double-headed metal war axe for the Archkerri. He'd found it in a cabin.
"It must have been made for a giant of the ancients," he said. "No slave or any of us for that matter can handle it." He dropped a bundle of spears. "We can throw these when we run out of darts."
By then they could see by the firelight the first of the fliers. These were evidently straining to catch up, their wings beating hard, their labor so great they had no breath for their cries. Though gaining, they were doing so very slowly.
"They might peter out before they get here," Deyv said. "And if they do catch us, they're going to be very tired."
The Yawtl handed Sloosh a spear. "Here, try your luck. They're too far away for us weaklings to hit them, but you might do it."
The Archkerri hefted the weapon and said, "I'll wait until they get a little closer."
His first cast missed the body of the leader, but it went through a wing. Shrieking, the khratikl dropped into the blackness below. The others did not slow down.
Jum barked loudly. They turned in the direction at which he pointed. The beasts that had taken refuge on the masts of the tharakorm were swooping silently down upon them. They meant to keep the four occupied while their fellows landed.