“I understand,” said Halran. “Would it not be better to chop it open?”
“No, that would take several licks. The noise would bring the witches. Stand back.”
Marko sprang across the corridor and hurled his weight against the door. It was held in place by a light bolt on the inside, the bolt plate in its turn being secured by four nails. As Marko’s weight struck the door, the bolt plate flew across the room. The door slapped open. Marko staggered across the room before he could stop himself.
The room was a sitting parlor, not a bedroom faintly lit by a turned-down lamp on a table. Marko heard a sharp voice:
“Who is there? What is it?”
Guided by the voice, he plunged into the bedroom, found the bed, and touched the point of his sword-knife to the chest of the Stringiarch just as she sat up.
“Be quiet and do as you’re told, and you shall live,” he said.
Voices sounded in the corridor. Halran tumbled into the bedroom. “The witches!”
“Tell them to stay out,” grated Marko, pressing his point a little harder.
“S-stay out, girls!” said Katlin. “Now, what do you two brigands want?”
“To leave,” said Marko. “Doctor, explain to our hostess.”
Halran gave directions for starting a peat fire and inflating the balloon. At the mention of the quantity of peat, Katlin balked. “Ridiculous!” she cried. “We have to import every bit of peat, as there is none on the island. You”
She subsided as Marko pressed a little harder, and said: “How long will this take?” Marko could not help admiring her coolness.
“What time is it now?” said Halran.
“Only about half-past fifteen. I had just gone to sleep.”
“It will take at least till dawn,” said Halran.
“And,” added Marko, “every minute I shall have the point of this against you, and the first false move…”
“Spare me your melodramatics, sir brigand,” said Katlin, throwing off her covers. “I trust you would not force me to stand naked all night on the cliff edge?”
“No,” said Marko, covering his embarrassment by handing his ax to Halran. “Stand in the doorway, Doctor, in case she gets past me. Dress, madam.”
Stringiarch Katlin covered her lean shape with clothes, while Marko stood guard. When she had finished, he seized her wrist, bent her left arm behind her, and marched her out with the point of the sword pricking the skin of her back.
Muphrid was well up in a clear turquoise sky when the balloon was inflated. Boert Halran tested the wind and said:
“Jump in, Marko.”
Halran pulled loose the canvas tube that led from the big peat stove, which the witches had woman-handled out to the site of the balloon. He swung aboard. Marko, still gripping the Stringiarch’s wrist, tossed his short sword into the basket and climbed in after.
“Cast off those ropes!” commanded Halran.
He emptied a couple of ballast bags. The witches untied the ropes belayed to the stakes that held the balloon down. Marko let go of Katlin’s arm as the balloon rushed up and away.
The instant Marko released her, the Stringiarch sprang away from the basket. “Bows!” she screamed. “Arbalests!”
From the nearest clump of dwarf stupas, a group of witches ran with crossbows cocked. When they came to the place from which the balloon had ascended, they raised their weapons.
The balloon was swiftly rising and drifting westward. The travelers were still within crossbow range. Boert Halran leaned over the side of the basket, placed the thumbs of his outspread hands against his ears, wiggled his fingers, stuck out his tongue, and yelled: “Yah, yah, yah!”
The bowstrings snapped. Both men ducked below the edge of the balloon. Two bolts struck the basket. Another glanced from the small peat stove above with a clang, while the rest screamed past. By the time the arbalesters had cocked their weapons again, the balloon was out of effective range. Two of the warrior women tried long shots anyway. The bolts streaked upwards, slowed, hung for an Instant, and sank back towards the ground.
Mnaenn sank and dwindled until the people were mere ants. Marko said: “Whatever possessed you to hoot at them in that undignified way, Doctor?”
Halran replied: “Had I not, they might have shot at the bag, which they could easily have hit.”
“Would the escape of air through the holes have forced us down?”
“I do not know. I do not think that one or two small punctures would force us down much sooner than we should have to descend anyway. But such a hole might start a rip in the fabric, which would drop us like a stone.”
“Oh,” said Marko.
“Again I owe you thanks, Marko. I am a peaceful fellow, who has not struck a blow in anger since boyhood. Without your iron nerves and steel muscles, I should now be as dead as the Ancient Ones; and without your - quick wit, my head would be an Afkan trophy.”
Marko blushed. “Please, Doctor. You know I’m not really proud of the few little things I did, because I had to. What I really want is an earned university degree.”
“Now, is that not the contrary human race?” said Halran. “When I was young, I yearned to be a mighty athlete and adventurer. Being a spindly, awkward little tersor, I had no chance. You, with enough might for two men, would rather be a pale, hollow-chested scholar. If the gods made man, which I doubt, they should have made him so he sometimes enjoyed what he has instead of forever yearning for what he has not.”
“If they had, we should probably be mere animals,” said Marko. “Whither are we bound now?”
Halran unfolded his chart. “At this rate, we should reach the Eropian coast in about six hours. It will not, however, be the part of Eropia to which we wish to go. We should come down somewhere around Ambur or Pari. And now, if you will excuse me, I think I am going to faint.”
11
Marko slept through most of the next leg. They crossed the Eropian coast around noon.
The country over which they drifted was thickly settled. When they passed low over a town or village, Mark would sometimes see groups of Eropians running about and pointing at the balloon.
Marko felt sad because he had not been able to bring Sinthi along. While of course he hardly knew her, she impressed him as the sort of girl a man like himself needed. He was particularly attracted by her self-confessed virginity. To find an Anglonian girl over sixteen with that status was apparently impossible.
As the afternoon wore on, the ballast and peat ran low. Halran lowered the drag rope so that its lower end trailed on the ground. This acted as an automatic height governor. When the balloon sank, more of the rope lay on the round; the balloon, relieved of its weight, rose again. By saving them the necessity of constantly valving air and dropping ballast to keep their altitude adjusted, this simple device stretched their flight for many miles.
The ground, however, came nearer and nearer despite the drag rope. Halran said: “Marko, keep an eye open for a good, firm-looking field near a road. And I do not wish to squash anybody’s crops if I can avoid it.”
As the balloon sank, Marko sighted a suitable field. The field was being plowed by an Eropian peasant with a team of oxen.
Halran valved air until the basket skimmed along a few feet above the ground. The peasant abandoned his team to run madly away. The oxen bellowed and ran, too. When they had crossed a couple of fields, they forgot their fright and fell to eating.
“Pull!” cried Halran.
Marko pulled the rip cord. Down they came. They climbed out of the tangle and set to work to unfasten the ropes and fold up the bag for transportation.