Still hanging out of the gondola, still gripping Lin Mae’s hand, he shouted, “Pull it up!”
His words were unnecessary. Peng Yong was already frantically cranking the little fuel they had left, while Wang, showing rare speed and nimbleness, had pulled out his sword and was slashing free unwanted ballast.
As the weights fell and the hot air gave the balloon extra lift, the gondola rose so quickly that it tipped a little, then righted itself. Fortunately for William and Lin Mae, it tipped up rather than down on the side of the gondola where he was clinging to her. As a result, she was jerked up into the air. Before she could fall again, William reached out and gathered her in, then allowed himself to drop backwards.
They tumbled into the gondola in a tangle of arms and legs, William on the bottom and Lin Mae landing on top of him. For a moment their bodies were pressed together, their faces so close that their noses were almost touching. Breathless and stunned, Lin Mae stared into William’s eyes, as though unable to believe he was here in front of her.
“I set you free,” she said.
He smiled. “And yet here I am.”
“Hold on!” Wang yelled before she could respond. Both their heads jerked up. Lin Mae used her now freed arms to push herself to her feet. The balloon had cleared the higher roof, but now, thirty feet in front of them, was one of a pair of huge pagodas, its tiered roofs shining red and gold. The balloon was still rising, but the pagoda was at least a hundred feet high and dead ahead; there was no way they would clear it.
They were going to crash!
Commander Chen’s balloon had passed by the right hand pagoda, and he and another Eagle Corps soldier were now firing arrows at a line of Tao Tei that were running along the rooftops beside them. Most of their arrows were hitting the target, but for every Tao Tei that tumbled dead from the rooftops another sprang up to take its place.
Seeing movement in his peripheral vision, he glanced behind him, and his eyes widened. In the balloon that was closest to his own he could see General Lin Mae, Strategist Wang and the foreign soldier, William, who was dressed in the armour of an Eagle Corps warrior. Yet although this was surprising enough, what really shocked him was that their balloon was heading straight for the pagoda his own balloon had just passed by. If the General’s balloon hit the pagoda, Chen knew they would all surely die.
The fuel was all but used up, but for now the brazier was roaring and the balloon was still rising. Peng Yong, having fed as much black powder to the brazier as he could without blowing it up, was now hauling desperately on the ropes, helping Wang steer the craft.
“Left! Left!” Wang was yelling. “Up the center! Split the pagodas!”
They both hauled hard to the left and the balloon responded accordingly, heading towards the gap between the two huge towers.
Behind them, closer to the back of the gondola, William and Lin Mae were now both up on their feet. She was still a little shaky, still recovering from her ordeal. She made no attempt to shrug herself free of William’s grip as he held on to her.
All at once Wang let out a cry of shock
“What is it?” William asked.
Wang pointed at the ground below. “See for yourself!”
William and Lin Mae exchanged a glance, then the two of them made their way up to the front of the gondola, where Peng Yong was now successfully steering the craft towards the gap between the two multi-tiered towers, which rose up majestically on either side of them. When they saw what Wang had seen they both gasped.
The two matching pagodas were standing either side of the foot of the broad North Steps, which rose up towards the huge and magnificent Reception Hall. Here, on the wide mezzanine in front of the vast double doors was a seething horde of Tao Tei, surrounding the Paladins, which had massed into a protective circle. It was clear the Tao Tei had fought and feasted. Many of them were smeared and splashed with human blood.
Lin Mae’s mouth opened in a silent gasp of horror and wonder.
Having successfully negotiated their way around the pagodas, and seen the General’s balloon change course and sail safely towards the channel between the two towers, Commander Chen’s craft had now run into difficulties. Passing to the right of the right-hand pagoda instead of steering the balloon between them had meant having to negotiate a forest of jutting spires on the long building that ran parallel to the North Steps. However some of their ropes between the balloon and the gondola had become caught on, and tangled around, one of the spires, and the balloon, though still airborne and billowing impotently in the wind that wanted to push them onward, was now stationary.
This wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for the fact that the Tao Tei were now homing in on them, more and more of the creatures swarming across the nearby rooftops to mass on the roof below. As Chen and another Eagle Corps warrior kept them at bay with arrow after arrow, the third member of their crew clambered up on to the side of the gondola and began trying desperately to free the tangled ropes. He couldn’t cut them, because it would mean severing the connection between gondola and balloon, but if he didn’t free them quickly then it would be only a matter of time before the massing Tao Tei swarmed up the spire and overwhelmed them through sheer force of numbers.
Peng Yong was still hauling on the ropes, trying to steer a steady course through the twin pagodas. However, it was not proving easy. A strong, sideswiping wind was blowing them back towards the right-hand pagoda.
Wang was all but jumping up and down in desperation and eagerness. “Left!” he shouted. “Left!”
Peng Yong glared at him, sweat pouring down his face. He snapped something in Mandarin, which William didn’t need to understand to know that the young man had retorted he was doing his best. By the time he yelled something else, a warning of some kind, William’s attention, along with that of both Wang and Lin Mae, had become fixed on the mezzanine area below and ahead of them. They stared in fascination and revulsion as they caught their clearest and closest glimpse yet of the Tao Tei Queen.
She was sitting within her circle of Paladins and appeared to be feeding. The Paladins had allowed a select number of Tao Tei soldiers to come forward and open their vast jaws. Also open was the Queen’s mouth, from which had extended multiple tentacle-like tubes, which had reached down into the throats of the uncharacteristically servile Tao Tei. Now the tentacles linking the Queen to her soldiers were bulging and rippling as she gorged on their already partly digested meal.
William didn’t know what was more disgusting—the Queen’s eating habits or the fact that the belly of her already bloated form was distended yet further by the many thousands of eggs rippling beneath her almost translucent skin. He glanced at Lin Mae, who put a hand over her mouth to demonstrate how the sight made her feel. He grimaced and nodded.
Peng Yong yelled another warning, and William looked up to see that, despite his efforts to steer them the other way, the strong wind had plucked them yet closer to the right-hand pagoda. It was looming up on their starboard side, coming at them both too fast and too quickly. Instinctively William grabbed something solid and fixed with one hand and, as the balloon suddenly swung up in a wide arc, Lin Mae with the other.
Chen kept firing arrow after arrow, but he knew it was hopeless. The ropes were still tangled around the chimney, the balloon above them was now slumping and sinking, and the Tao Tei were becoming too numerous to keep at bay.