“Coll, look,” said Fillan. He pointed towards the sounds of battle.
Coll frowned and turned. “What?”
He heard a screech, but could make out only dark shapes in the storm, movement but no form. And then the lightning came again, once, twice, three times, lighting up the world in moments … and he saw.
In the first flash Raven was caught in Dragon’s mouth, her whole body trapped. Her beak was open in a squawk, one wing flapping, the other hanging as if broken, her razor-sharp claws scraping against Dragon’s steel face. Sparks flew.
Then the next flash – Dragon was swinging its head down hard, still holding Raven, and Raven was smashing down, her metal beak colliding with the ground, her neck snapping back with a crack like a thunderclap, loud enough for Coll to hear from where he stood.
And then the world lit up again, and Dragon was lifting its head, with Raven still in its jaws…
Raven was dead.
It hung limp, lights out, no movement at all. Small shapes fell from it – pieces of casing, or perhaps humans. Coll stared in wonder. As he watched, Dragon dropped the remains and gave a roar of savage triumph that echoed over the plain.
Then it turned, gazed at Wolf, and started running towards them.
“Coll! ”
Coll shook his head. Fillan was pulling at his shirt, and he realised that Dolph and the others were rushing to Wolf’s side. Wolf was clambering to her feet as Rudy bellowed orders.
“The wagons,” Coll found himself saying. When did Dragon get so strong?
“Leave them!” roared Dolph. “Battle stations!”
Coll raced towards the cable and grabbed it. He tugged and felt it pulling him upwards. But as he looked down, he realised Fillan was still on the ground, staring at Dragon.
“Fillan!” he snapped. “Grab a rope!”
Fillan ran, but each cable seemed just out of reach. Coll cursed, lowered himself and dropped the last couple of metres, landing with a thud.
“You idiot!” he shouted. “Come on!”
Wolf was moving, with the last few groundcrew clinging to her side. Coll dragged Fillan into a run. “Come back!” he roared to Wolf. “Crew down! Crew down!”
He saw Rudy and Alpha shouting urgent orders on deck, but they didn’t see him. He called again, “Crew down! Rudy! Crew down!”
But Dragon was close, and Wolf was getting ready to fight, paying no attention to them. Beside Coll, Fillan gasped as he tried to keep up. They were too late…
A single tether flicked down and landed in front of them, and Coll leapt and grabbed it with one hand. With his other, he held fast to Fillan’s wrist. The cable whisked along the ground, dragging them.
“Coll!” shouted Fillan. “Help!”
“Hold the rope!” bellowed Coll. “Get a hold of the rope!” The ground scraped past them. Behind him, Fillan’s weight seemed to suddenly drop, and Coll looked back in alarm, but then realised the boy had looped one hand round the cable. With relief Coll let go of him.
“Pull us up!” he yelled, but the rope didn’t move. Groaning, Coll climbed. Rain lashed against him, and his world was nothing but flashes of Wolf’s grey-white body. Glancing back, he saw Fillan still at the bottom, too weak to climb.
“Hold on!” he shouted. “I’ll pull you up from the top!”
The boy nodded.
Coll heaved again and again. His arm felt strong and sure. He could do this. One metre. He could do this. Two metres. Dragon was almost on them. Wolf bared her teeth and shifted into a fighting stance. Three metres. Four—
“Argh!” Something wrapped itself round his head. Coll tried to drag himself free, but now there was a heavy shape too. He held on and looked up to see the Tock girl Rieka, in a thick black cloak, clinging to the rope and staring at him as if astonished. What was she doing? How was this helping?
“Don’t climb down, you fool!” he roared. “Pull us up!”
“I’m sorry!” she said. Her face was pale. For some reason she was carrying a backpack.
“What?”
“I’m really sorry! I didn’t know you were there!” Her hands were white with strain, and her feet were swinging free.
“Just pull us—”
She slipped, screamed and fell. Coll had just time to duck his head before she landed on his shoulders, knocking his right arm loose. All his weight, and hers, dragged against his prosthetic arm, and the hand slid down the rope with a sound like a shriek. Down they fell, colliding with Fillan and sending him flying – and then they smashed into the ground. Coll’s head cracked against a boulder and the world suddenly filled with light and dark and a noise like ringing steel.
He growled, forced himself up and saw the rope whipping away. His fingers touched the end of it—
It was gone. Rieka was on top of him, he could hardly breathe, and his head felt like a spinning coin. He saw Wolf ready herself for Dragon’s attack. He was close enough to feel Wolf’s Call: Wolf, Wolf, Wolf—
Dragon smashed into Wolf and knocked her aside with one heave. Wolf yelped. Her teeth glinted silver in the darkness. Dragon lumbered forward again and snarled.
Wolf? thought Coll in confusion. What was happening? This wasn’t the Dragon he remembered, the silly creature of weak wings and colours, laughed at and sent packing in the past. This Construct was larger, stronger, its body covered in heavy armour plating, even the deck hiding its crew. Coll could feel its presence, strange and furious and so much more powerful than Wolf’s. Wolf leapt, but Dragon swung its tail in a vicious arc and smacked the other Construct down.
Wolf got shakily to her feet and jumped again. She tried to get her jaws round Dragon’s throat, but its metal skin was impervious. It was unstoppable. It was appalling. When it roared, Coll’s head rang. Wolf jabbed once, twice, again, but it was like fighting a mountain. She retreated once more – and now Coll saw Rudy on the bridge, staring down at him in horror…
Then Wolf turned and fled.
