hardened skin, and they had to retreat periodically as it spat gouts of flame.
To no one’s great surprise, Standeven didn’t get involved. He scurried off to cower behind a pile of masonry slabs.
Adding to the confusion, a fourth creature turned up and darted towards the fray. Dallog spotted it and shouted an order. He and the tyros, Wheam, Chuss, Keick and Pirrak, peeled off and ran to meet it.
Stryke and his crew were making progress in frustrating their opponent if not actually overcoming it. When it turned away from them and loped off they thought it had been beaten. But it stopped at the nearest fire, supped there, and came back at them.
“The fire doesn’t last!” Stryke yelled. “They have to renew it!”
They knew what to do. Jup, Spurral and the two grunts moved to block the creature’s access to the replenishing fires. After that it was a case of staying out of its way and landing blows when they could. Before long, the beast exhausted its flame. Its fangs and claws meant it was still a formidable challenge, but a less dangerous one. They moved in on it, hacking with their blades. A swing from Stryke sliced across the brawny chest, causing the head to dip, and Haskeer brought his axe down on its skull, cracking it open. The creature collapsed and lay twitching, tiny puffs of flame huffing from its nostrils.
“The bastards can stick their faces in fire but they ain’t unkillable,” Haskeer announced triumphantly.
The band members fighting the second beast had also noticed that it needed to refresh its flame and followed the example of Stryke’s group. They were busy parting its head from its writhing body with a series of brutal strokes.
As they all rushed to aid Dallog and the tyros with their kill, Stryke looked around. “Anybody see where Coilla and Pepperdyne went?”
Jup shook his head.
Running full pelt, the heat from the fire-breather practically scorching their backs, Coilla and Pepperdyne found an open doorway. Open but two-thirds blocked. Urgency sharpening their agility, they managed to wriggle through. The bulky creature got its head and part of its upper body in but struggled furiously to get any further. It vented its fury with blasts of flame. They quickly retreated into the building and only just avoided them.
The interior was a complete shambles. But there was some light other than that coming from the fire- breather. It came from a small opening, possibly a window, set about halfway up the far wall. A sloping mound of rubble that had probably come in through the aperture made a natural ramp leading to it.
“Think we could get through that?” Pepperdyne asked.
Coilla nodded. “It’d be tight, but yeah, I think so.”
The creature gave another blast that lit up the room. It afforded a brief glimpse of the chaos and some of the strange objects strewn about, which could have been the remains of curiously designed furniture.
“So let’s get out of here,” she urged.
“Hang on.”
Above the door, and over the probing creature’s head, was a large quantity of wreckage, including blocks of something like stone. All that supported it was a couple of uprights. To Pepperdyne, the whole thing looked tenuous.
Coilla followed his gaze and guessed what was on his mind. “If you’re thinking what I think you’re thinking that could bring the whole place down on us.”
“I reckon we could get away with it.”
“Why bother when we can just get out through that?” She jabbed a thumb at the window.
“It wouldn’t solve the problem. What’s to stop this monster circling round and waiting for us outside?”
Coilla weighed the odds. “All right. Let’s do it.”
“Good. You climb up to the window and I’ll take care of it.”
“No way. We’re doing this together.”
“It won’t take two of us. Look at the state of those uprights. One good kick and-”
“I’m not some helpless female, Jode, and don’t you dare treat me like one!”
Regardless of their plight he almost laughed. “I’d never make the mistake of seeing you that way, Coilla. It’s just practical. If something goes wrong we’d both be in trouble. Better one of us is clear to help if needed.”
The creature at the door grew more frantic. It sent in another sheet of flame.
She nodded. “You take care, mind.” Then she edged her way to the pile of rubble and started scrabbling up it.
Pepperdyne waited until she reached the window and called, “Can we get through?”
“Yeah,” she replied, “I’m pretty sure we can.”
He turned back to the door. To reach the uprights he had to get nearer to the furious creature than he liked. He considered pelting them with chunks of debris, but knew that wouldn’t do the job. So he started sliding towards them on his back, legs first. When he got as close as he dared, he gave one of the supports a hefty kick. It let out a loud snap and fell away. Crablike, Pepperdyne hastily retreated. But nothing happened. It was obvious that the other upright was the only thing holding up the tremendous weight above the door.
The frenzied creature was still trying to force itself into the too small opening, and let out a further gush of flame. It didn’t reach Pepperdyne, but he felt the heat through the soles of his boots. He shuffled forward again, aiming for the remaining prop. A powerful kick had no effect on it, so he pounded at it with his foot. The repeated impacts started to tell. A creaking sound came every time he hit it, and the post started to shake.
The upright suddenly gave with a resounding crack. Pepperdyne rolled aside, his hands instinctively covering his face. The debris collapsed with a thunderous roar. Tons of wreckage came down on the creature’s head and upper body, instantly crushing it to pulp and disgorging its sticky, green life fluid.
The whole structure didn’t cave in, as they feared it might, but a cloud of dust filled the room.
“You all right, Jode?” Coilla shouted anxiously.
He didn’t answer right away, and when he did it was only after a coughing fit and having to spit the muck out of his mouth. “I’m… fine.”
Getting to his feet, he climbed up the rubble slope, taking Coilla’s outstretched hand. She pulled him the last few steps and they squeezed out of the window. There was just a short drop to the ground.
They found their way back to the square without much trouble. The rest of the band was there, along with the bloody corpses of the fire-breathers. Standeven had come out of hiding and looked on pasty-faced.
“Been off for a spot of canoodling?” Haskeer taunted, raising a ragged laugh from some of the grunts.
Coilla and Pepperdyne ignored him.
“I was about to send a search party for you two,” Stryke said.
“We’re all right,” Coilla told him. “Any sign of Jennesta?”
“No.” He shot a critical glance Dynahla’s way. “I’m starting to think-”
Right on cue, one of the privates yelled, “ Over there!”
They all turned. At the far end of the square, near the point where the creatures had emerged, stood a group of figures. Jennesta was at the forefront, and Thirzarr could be made out beside her.
Stryke began running towards them, the band close behind. He called out to Thirzarr.
Jennesta’s hands moved. She and her force vanished.
“I think we saw that coming,” Coilla remarked, arriving at Stryke’s side.
“Dynahla!” he bellowed.
The shape-changer had the instrumentalities out and was manipulating them. Swiftly, the band gathered together.
“Here we go again,” Jup said.
Dynahla slapped the final star into place and their surroundings disappeared.
20
They came to a place quite unlike the one they had just left.
It was pleasantly mild. The air was clear, the sky blue, the terrain green and abundant.
They were on high ground. A pastoral scene was spread out before them. Rolling hills, lush grassland,
