Their party sat by the river for a time, speculating, sometimes arguing. A meal broke up the discussion, but not the mood. Afterwards Jefri was gone for a time, checking with Benky that the soldiers and lookouts were in position. Ritl was occasionally visible, on some scouting mission of her own.
Ravna checked in with their hidden expedition participant: Scrup had parked his airboat on a mountain pass selected by Oobii. He was playing relay; ionospheric bounce was not good enough today. Ravna wanted reliable communication back to Woodcarver and Oobii. Scrupilo kibitzed on the link but wasn’t supposed to mess with the main data stream. “Amazing,” he said. “From this mountain top looking east, it’s like being the Pack of Packs. I see glaciers and mountains going on forever, like a stony sea. Pilgrim used to brag about this.”
“I still don’t have imagery, Scrupilo.” Ravna’s data tiara was giving her audio, but she had no windows from Oobii.
“Sorry,” said Scrupilo. “Maybe your tiara is finally busted? We’re getting good pictures from Wilm Linden’s camera.”
“Okay.” Audio plus Wilm’s camera should be enough for today. She talked past Scrupilo: “Ship! What are you seeing?”
Oobii replied, “My radar shows mostly clear sky, a few bird swarms. I can’t see all the way down into the valleys.”
“Yes,” interrupted Scrupilo. “Damn Nevil. If his idiots hadn’t crashed EA2, we might have our own look-down radar.” He ranted about Denier incompetence for some minutes; Scrupilo had his own geeky slant on what was wrong with Nevil.
The sun was well past noon when the packs farthest from the noise of the river sounded alarms. Their shouts were not quiet alerts. They were booming chords that announced, “Airship sounds! Airship sounds!”
Flenser was instantly scanning the ridgeline. “I don’t see anything.” He kept his scopes aimed at Nevil’s side valley, but there was a subtle change in the rest of him. He was listening with most of his attention. “I’m too close to the river. It’s not the best hearing … Yes! Airships, definitely.”
Now other packs began shouting. They were racing around, not looking anywhere in particular. Give me a clue, guys! thought Ravna. Where should I be looking?
Benky came racing down from the tree line, jabbing snouts at the southeastern sky.
Ravna followed the gestures. Nothing. And she still couldn’t hear a shred of engine sound … but now Oobii reported secondary radar echoes that might be aircraft following the curve of the Streamsdell Valley.
A minute passed. There! Just above where the glacial valley turned further south, she saw two dark spots floating against the snow glare.
Flenser was dancing around his telescope watchers. He had his own news: “Hei, hei! There are two-legs coming down from Nevil’s little valley.”
Eyes turned from the sky to the ridgeline. At least a dozen tiny figures were descending the valley wall. The abrupt, simultaneous emergence was as dramatic as Nevil and Tycoon had no doubt planned.
One of the airships might have been the one Ravna and Jefri had flown on; it had the Pack of Packs twelvesome painted on its nose. But the other airship was just as large. There was plenty of room for all the prisoners.
The ships didn’t immediately land. They circled in a long elliptical path above Ravna’s group, flying back and forth along the breeze that swept the valley.
Øvin made a rude gesture at the airships. “The crapheads aren’t going to land until the Great Nevil gives the command.”
Flenser’s had one telescope on the descending humans and the other two on the airships. Øvin Verring’s comment got his attention though: “Heh. That’s certainly the claim Dear Nevil would make. But I remember EA2 landings. It’s tricky without a ground crew to help.”
Magda Norasndot said, “Yes. Be nice, Øvin. We can’t afford nastiness.” She and Elspa Latterby were already talking about where the ships would land. They wanted to be at the front of the welcomers.
Benky had run back into the forest. Now he and some of his troops came into view, accompanying the Denier party. Ravna didn’t need a telescope to spot Nevil Storherte. How did he keep his clothes so clean out here? The villain strode confidently toward them. As he came nearer, Ravna could see he was grinning as with general good nature.
“Greetings, greetings!” Nevil shouted as the loyalist Children ran out to meet him. He stopped well short of Ravna to talk with those most desperate for news.
There were fifteen Deniers in his party. Tami Ansndot and several others were carrying cams and comms. They looked like a news crew from some ancient time. It was interesting the added importance they seemed to give whomever they were pointing at.
Nevil had picked Elspa out of the crowd. Ravna strained to hear him; the tiara was no help today. “Yes,” Nevil was saying, “communications have been awful. Getting better comms should be everyone’s highest priority. But I know your Geri is one of those whom Tycoon found. I know for a fact she is on the first airship—” He turned as Magda touched his arm. He nodded, giving Magda a hug. “Yes, I hope the Norasndots will be here too. We’ll know soon enough.” Some of the Children were openly crying.
Oops. Where is Giske? She wouldn’t be in the middle of all this unless she was carrying a knife. Ravna glanced quickly around. There—Giske was almost thirty meters away, arguing with Bili Yngva.
Now Nevil stepped back and his voice became more public: “Please. Give us a few minutes. We have to get the airships safely landed.” He looked into the sky at the farther airship, just now making a turn at the far end of its circuit. “I’ll land the one with our friends first. The other is just a backup flier.” He delivered this disappointment so casually that people scarcely seemed to notice. Could you really get all the missing on one of these airships?
Nevil touched his ear, like some player in an ancient drama. In addition to what he had stolen, he must be getting radios from Tycoon. With the orbiter for a relay, he had better comms than the Domain. Nevil looked around, then gave a go-ahead wave. Most of the Denier Children ran out into the marshy flats by the river’s outer curve. Ah, there was Del Ronsndot in the lead, waving an arm in a wide circle. The other Children spread out. One of the airships was coming toward them.
The ship’s buzzing rose to a whine. Its bow dipped till the long airform hung foreshortened, descending to earth. All conversation stopped. This was a little like what you might see in civilization—only there, the ship would be a solid mass, perhaps one hundred thousand tonnes, a vehicle that could navigate solar systems.
By the time the first craft had dropped lines and Del’s crew had pounded down anchor spikes, the second airship was descending to land a hundred meters behind. Ravna noticed that Benky was shifting his troops around, inconspicuously setting up fields of fire.
At that point, almost everyone surged forward onto the marshy ground. Benky looked outraged; some of his own troops had joined the crowd. Here in the middle of nowhere, a couple of dozen humans and some packs were doing a good job of imitating a mob. Jefri—who was already at the first airship—got some of the troops into a circle around the ship’s main hatch. Wilm Linden had made it to the front with his camera.
Flenser scrambled down from the river rocks. He let Ravna help with White Tips and his wheelbarrow. They made slow progress across the marsh. Ritl hung back with them. Maybe she realized that she was likely to get trampled if she rushed into the crowd.