“After we launch keep your body straight and do whatever I tell you. Understand?”
“Yes,” she replied with a dry mouth.
“Right, step to the edge and get ready to jump as hard as you can when I give the signal.”
They moved to the very edge of the deck, the silk wing standing almost upright behind them. “On the count of three,” said Milo, bending his knees in readiness to jump. Jan did the same. Her long hair was caught by the wind and blown across her face. The silk fabric of the wing began to flap.
“One. …”
Angry shouts behind them. The Japanese had arrived.
“Two … three!”
The knowledge that the deck was about to fill up with furious Japanese warriors overcame any last-moment doubts Jan had about jumping. She put every effort she could into her leap from the edge of the deck—but just as she and Milo jumped there came the crash of gunfire and she felt a bullet pass close by her ear.
More gunfire, but by then she and Milo were hurtling downwards through the cold night air. For several moments Jan thought they were falling out of control, but no; she then realized they were in a downward, gliding swoop. They were flying.
“Shift your weight to the left!” ordered Milo.
“What?” The glider was levelling out now. The air was rushing by so fast her eyes were watering. Not that there was anything to see anyway.
“Shift to the left—towards me!” shouted Milo. “Now!”
She did as he wanted. She felt his body move in the same direction. The glider dipped to the left, then she realized they were turning. Moments later he yelled, “Okay, stop! Straighten out again!” She did so. “Good,” he said. “At least we’re going in the right direction, but we need more height if we’re going to reach the city. Let’s hope we encounter some updrafts.”
As they flew on Jan discovered that she was beginning to enjoy the experience. Flying in silence like an arrow through the night air. …
“Shit,” grunted Milo.
“What’s wrong?”
“Got a rip in the wing. Bullet hole, or a sword slash.” She looked over her shoulder, but though she could just make out the shape of the wing above them in the darkness she certainly couldn’t see any rip in the fabric. “Is it a problem?” she asked.
“Not yet, but it’s getting bigger.”
“Oh.” Her feeling of exhilaration had gone. She peered downwards, trying to see how far they were above the ground.
“Shit,” said Milo again. “We’re not going to make the city at this rate.”
“Are we going to crash?”
“I doubt it, but we may have a long walk. And that’s blight land below us.”
Jan had no idea how much time passed before she felt a violent jolt and almost lost her grip on the bar. She heard Milo yell “Hang on!” and then the glider stood on its nose and plunged downwards. She screamed.
They seemed to fall thousands of feet before the glider unexpectedly straightened out again. “You okay?” Milo called.
“I think so,” she said shakily. “I thought we were finished.”
“These things are designed to pull out of dives automatically. Trouble is, we’ve lost even more height now, thanks to that pocket of turbulence, and I can’t see how—” The ripping sound was clearly audible over the flapping of the wing and the rush of the air. Then the glider dipped violently to the right. It didn’t dive this time but went into a spiral. Milo was yelling something, but she couldn’t hear what.
It could have been hours later or merely seconds when the glider crashed into something and Jan received a blow on the forehead that sent her consciousness spinning off into the void. …
When she came to she found she was suspended upside-down by her harness. She couldn’t see anything. “Milo?” she groaned. There was no answer. She reached blindly out for him but couldn’t find him. What had happened? Where was she? The glider seemed to be facing nose down, but was it on the ground or stuck in the branches of some tall tree? She felt her face. It was sticky—with blood, no doubt—and there was a lump on her forehead just above the hairline. “Milo!” she called again, more loudly this time.
Something coughed in the darkness. The sound was familiar to Jan. It was the sound the big cats often made as they prowled around the walls. She remembered where she was. In the blight lands. And, apparently, alone. Milo had abandoned her. Or he was dead.
She drew her short sword. It provided a modicum of solace but she still felt ridiculously vulnerable and exposed, hanging there upside-down. She probed about with the sword and found Milo’s empty harness hanging nearby. Then she made contact with one of the tubular metal poles. With difficulty she managed to grab hold of it. As she did so the glider shifted slightly and there was a tearing noise. As she’d suspected the thing appeared to be caught in the branches of a tree. But she still had no idea how high up she was. One thing was certain, though; it wouldn’t take much, from the sound of it, to dislodge the glider from its precarious perch.
Jan came to a decision. She had no choice but to try and jump to the ground before the glider fell, taking her with it. She sheathed the short sword and reached out for the glider’s crossbar. She gripped it firmly with one hand and with the other began to undo the straps of her harness.
As the last fastening came free the harness slipped open and she was suddenly falling. Desperately she grabbed for the bar with her other hand.
Got it! She gave a grunt as her body swung round, putting all her weight on her arms with a violent jerk. Then she swung there, legs dangling in space. She felt down with her toes, hoping to touch the ground. But it wasn’t there. How far away was it? Five feet? Ten? Fifty? It was the difference between a sprained ankle, broken bones or death.
Get it over with, Jan told herself. She took a deep breath and let go of the bar. …
As she fell she drew up her knees, instinctively beginning to curl up into a ball.
She fell and fell. …
I’m going to die!
She plunged into something very soft, but though the substance broke her fall the impact was still sufficient to knock the breath out of her. She rolled head over heels though the stuff and ended up lying on her back, frantically trying to suck air into her lungs. Whatever she’d landed in was all over her face as well, which made trying to breathe even more difficult. As she scraped it off the foul smell told her what it was. …
Fungus!
“Ugh,” Jan groaned with disgust. She sat up and hurriedly brushed the stuff from her clothing. Then she stood up and took a tentative step. Immediately she sank to her knees in the springy, repulsive substance. She wanted to be sick, then she told herself that the fungus had saved her life. Without it she would have surely broken her neck, not to mention every other bone in her body.
Then it occurred to her that if she had survived the fall from the glider then Milo must have as well. But where was he? Probably a long way from here already, she thought bitterly. Maybe he had given her up for dead, or had he just decided that she would slow him down on foot? Either way, he had abandoned her.
She heard that feline cough again. It was closer now. She drew the longer of the two swords, holding it with both hands, and faced in the direction where she thought the big cat was. She remembered, with a superstitious chill, the black panther at the gate. The one that had brought about Carla’s death. Surely it couldn’t be the same one. …