that question here, after what we’ve just seen,’ said Flydd.
‘All things considered,’ said Klarm, ‘I think we should go now.’
He was nearly knocked down in the rush for the door.
Outside and well away from the strongroom, they stopped to splint Nish’s broken arm. Dawn had broken by the time they reached the place where they’d left the injured. Malien had recovered from her aftersickness and volunteered to go and bring back the thapter.
‘Where’s Yggur?’ said Flydd.
‘He recovered suddenly an hour ago and went off, saying he had business to attend to,’ she said.
‘You’d think this was a birthday party,’ Flydd muttered. ‘I suppose we’ll have to drag him out from under the rubble. As if we don’t have enough to do.’
Before he could organise a search team, Yggur came limping in, carrying Inouye in his arms.
‘She had a panic attack when she was left in the cupboard,’ he explained. ‘I could sense her pain from down here.’
He passed her to Irisis, who hefted the slight burden in her arms. Inouye moaned and reached out for Yggur. He laid a hand on her brow, her eyes closed, and with a little sigh she settled into sleep.
‘What about Tiaan?’ said Nish relieved of his fears for Inouye.
‘I locked her in that little room at the back,’ said Malien. ‘She wasn’t rational and I didn’t have the strength to deal with her.’ She went out.
‘Tiaan is in withdrawal,’ Flydd said quietly. ‘Artisans have sometimes gone mad from it. Leave her to Evee. We’ve got work to do. The survivors will be dead within days unless we take command.’
‘We?’ said Klarm.
‘The scrutators were led by a chief with absolute authority, so we must replace him with a different kind of rule. A council –’
‘They called themselves a council,’ said Klarm. ‘If we use the same name, people will think that nothing has changed.’
‘If we change it, we’ll spend years fighting usurpers and opportunists instead of the enemy. I propose that the new council’s members be myself, Klarm, Malien, Yggur and –’
‘I won’t be part of any council,’ said Yggur. ‘And I suspect Malien won’t either.’
‘I’ll do my best to persuade her when she gets back,’ said Flydd. ‘Have the guards taken Fusshte?’
‘Unfortunately he got away in an air-dreadnought,’ said Yggur, ‘along with Scrutator Halie and more than a hundred soldiers.’
‘He would have needed more than one air-dreadnought to carry them …’ Flydd said slowly.
‘Fusshte took them all, including the one moored out front. Seven, I believe.’
Flydd cursed loud and long. ‘I should have cut him down while I had the chance. Why didn’t I?’
‘Because Muss seemed a greater threat,’ said Nish.
‘I suppose he’ll head for Lybing,’ said Klarm. ‘To damage our victory in any way he can.’
‘The truth will out,’ said Flydd. ‘We’d better get to work or there won’t be any survivors.’
It proved a brutal day and a bitter night, as hard as any Nish had ever experienced. He laboured with the rest of them, as best he could with a broken arm, and was still working when the thapter finally appeared overhead around the middle of the following day, towing the dirigible. They’d rounded up more than four thousand survivors, organised them to construct flimsy shelters inside the walls of the air-dreadnought yard and recovered enough rations to feed them, and firewood to keep them warm, for the next few weeks. Only then was Nish able to lie down on a deck made of loose planks with hundreds of other people, as close to a fire as he could get, and snatch a few hours of glorious sleep.
He’d just woken, late that afternoon, when Irisis, who was looking up at the sky, said, ‘I think that’s an air-dreadnought coming in.’
‘Who can it be?’ Flydd said. ‘Flangers, bring a detail armed with javelards, on the double.’
They hurried around to what remained of the parade ground, for the air-dreadnought was coming down in a rush.
‘Looks like it’s been through a storm,’ said Irisis. ‘The rigging is all tangled and one of the airbags has been torn open.’
‘I can’t see anyone but the pilot,’ said Nish.
‘It may be a trick. It’d be just like Fusshte.’
‘Pilot looks half-dead,’ said Inouye, who had limped after them. She shouldn’t have been walking at all, but her professional curiosity had been aroused. ‘She’s going to crash.’
Nish thought so too. The air-dreadnought swept in upon a strong wind, trying to land on the narrow strip of parade ground that remained at the southern end, but the wind swept it sideways.