Pausert wished, desperately, for some way to protect the unconscious Leewit. If only she was conscious! If only there was some kind of klatha shield he could raise around her. Olimy, the top Karres witch they'd transported from Uldune to Emris had been protected like that. Olimy had disminded himself, protected himself from the horror of the Worm World with a kind of stasis. If only . . .
A complex klatha pattern came to his mind, unbidden. What was it that Goth's Toll pattern had said? When you need it, not when you want it.
But what would it do? Dismind him? That could only be reversed with difficulty on Karres. Or dismind the Leewit? The glittering knife drew closer to the Leewit's face. There was no time for doubts now. The captain traced the klatha pattern with his mind. It was an intricate one, full of strange dimension-turning twists which made him feel both giddy and cold. He directed it at the Leewit and had the satisfaction of seeing the pirate captain pull her knife hand back as if stung.
The watching Fullbricht hissed "Witchcraft!" and backed off fearfully.
Captain Elin turned towards Pausert, her eyes glittering. "So. You're also one of those Karres witches. We were told it was just them! That we just had to keep them doped."
"They told you wrong," said Pausert with a confidence that he didn't feel. He didn't know that he could reverse what he'd done on the Leewit, or how good a protection it was. For that matter, he didn't really even know exactly what he'd done. It had certainly left him feeling physically drained.
"You'd better let us go. Or else."
"Keth. Blast her."
To his horror, Pausert saw that the huge man with the Mark 20 bring his weapon to bear on the Leewit. Before Pausert had a chance to protest the man let loose with it.
It should have blown her head off her ferroplast-encased shoulders.
It didn't. A puff of wind might have had more effect.
The glittering eyes of Captain Elin didn't blink. "Let's see how good you are with machinery, witch. Fullbricht, set the pourer running." The man, wild-eyed, backed up against the wall and pressed a green button. High above them, machinery clanked and whirred to life. Riding along a roof-rail came a mechanical bucket. Pausert didn't need to be told that the bucket was full of ferroplast. This was presumably a leftover machine from when this place processed radioactives for shipping. He'd bet that the machine had been set up to seal these drums.
What should he do now? If he sealed himself and Goth in with the pattern, they might be unreachable and unhurtable. But they'd be unreachable in a state from which there might be no return at all—and certainly in a state in which they could neither help Hantis, Pul nor themselves.
Indecision nearly paralyzed Pausert as the suspended bucket rolled closer. Pausert was very aware that the Mark 20 was now pointed at himself. Better there than at Goth. But what was he to do?
He tried focusing his newly discovered klatha shield on the suspended bucket. It had no effect at all. Perhaps it needed something living, or something he cared about. The bucket clanked closer . . . well, there was nothing for it but to shield Goth.
The chest of the big man with the Mark 20 disappeared in a sear of blaster fire. The lights went out.
"Witchcraft!" yelled someone in a huge voice, and cackled maniacally.
* * *
Hulik watched as Vezzarn tickled the lock at the back of the hazardous materials warehouse with a tool from his tiny set. It clicked open most obligingly, and they slipped inside and up the stairs to the office that overlooked the warehouse.
Looking down at Captain Pausert, Goth and the Leewit, each trapped in their barrel, with the hard-bitten, heavily armed captors surrounding them, Hulik did not see how they could get them out.
"I've found the switch box," said Vezzarn quietly, just as the captain successfully created a klatha shield to protect the Leewit.
Hulik had found a switch, too. For the intercom. She switched it on in time to hear someone below exclaim "Witchcraft!"
That would do. That would just have to do. "Have you got a gun, Vezzarn?"
He shook his head. "No. They took it away. To be honest, I'm not a very good shot anyway."
"I am. We'll just have to chance it. The captain and the girls will be quite well protected in those barrels. I'll take out the guy with the Mark Twenty. You cut the power to the bucket, and the lights. And see if you can cause some panic with the intercom microphone. Then cut the lights back on so I can get some more shooting in."
Vezzarn grinned wryly. "It's a pity that the little Wisdom can't be here to give them some of her whistles. I'll do my best, Hulik do Eldel."
* * *
The shrieks and blasterfire prompted Pausert to go right ahead and shield Goth. He put a lot of force into that klatha pattern. He wanted it strong and big. He gave it his everything.
There was the sound of tearing metal; then, a hideous metallic whine and an explosive crashing sound. The lights came on again. Captain Pausert saw Goth, no longer in a barrel and no longer encased in ferroplast, slowly topple over like a round-bottomed skittle. She lay about two arms-length above the floor . . . on nothing. And there was a substantial hole in the side of the building. As blasterfire from the roof-suspended office hissed down into the warehouse, Pausert realized what he must have done. The shield around Goth was so thick that it had torn the barrel seam and exploded it.
Some of the pirates had fled, and at least one was dead. But most of them had sought cover behind the vehicles at the main door, except for two who were crouched beside the barrel that held the Leewit. One of them began firing at the stanchions that held the office. If they could burn through it then the rescuers up there would fall.
Pausert concentrated on the klatha shield around the Leewit, hoping that he'd be protected by his own barrel. He concentrated his effort on the lower part of her shield. Suddenly, the bottom half of the Leewit's barrel split with a tortured metal scream even the Leewit herself would have been proud of. Barrel shards and ferroplast flew all over like shrapnel. The eruption killed the two pirates beside the barrel instantly, and it was enough to send the remaining ones scrambling towards one of the groundcars or racing towards the heavy double door.
Someone obviously had a remote door control because the doors opened as they reached it, then swung shut behind them.
Hulik and Vezzarn came running down the stairs. In the distance, Pausert heard the sound of police sirens.
"Captain, are you all right?" Vezzarn attempted to haul Pausert out of the barrel.
"Well, I'm alive. Am I glad to see you two. How did you get here?"
Hulik had now taken the other shoulder and the two of them hauled. She was slightly built but lithe and strong. Slowly, he began to move. "We followed you. Not without difficulty, Captain. You bolted the coop ten minutes before I was ready for you."
Captain Pausert was grateful to be hanging over the edge of barrel. It helped to hide his embarrassment. "They took my chronometer. I thought you must have been captured."
"Just as well, in a way," said Hulik, as Pausert half fell, was half-dragged out onto the floor, dripping ferroplast. "We'd all have been captured. These guys were watching your cell too."
Vezzarn went to work on the captain's bonds with the vibro-knife. "Now all we've got to do is get out of here, Captain. What's up with the little Wisdoms?" He was using the Uldune term for the Karres witches.
"I put them into some kind of shield. I just hope I can get it off." With difficulty and with the support of Vezzarn and Hulik, the captain struggled to his feet. Partly, his weakness came from having been tied up in the ferroplast. Partly he was just dead tired. He knew now how Goth and the others felt after the Sheewash Drive. As Goth said, it sure took it out of you.