dreams you have,” Margaret said.
David grimaced. “If only they were merely curious.” He stretched his arms above his head, yawned. “Are you rested?”
She shrugged. “All my weapons hold a charge,” she said. “All I want is to look down on the Engine of the World.”
David smiled. “You don’t look at all rested.”
“Neither do you.”
Yes, he thought. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea. Maybe you couldn’t rest before such a thing. Not when the drug you depended on for calm was leaching out of your body. But he had tried.
He yawned. “Where’s Kara?”
The toilet flushed in the cabinet nearest them, followed by the sounds of furious scrubbing. A half minute later, the door swung open. “Can't a person use the amenities without half the world talking about them?” she said.
David felt his face slip into a disapproving expression that wasn't his own. “I'm touched that you think I'm half the world,” David said.
Kara grimaced.
“We’re almost there,” David said. “I need you to be ready.”
“A pilot is always ready,” Kara said. “Ready or dead. Now, ready for what?”
Margaret peered north. “Just what is that fire?” she said quietly. David turned to her.
“What fire?”
“The one streaking towards us.”
David made a gagging noise. “Ready for that,” he said. “Kara, could you veer to the right, please?”
“Starboard, veer to the starboard. Why should I — oh.” She began her curious conversation with the Dawn, fast and furious, but not without its eccentricities. She touched the control panel twice, and the Dawn almost seemed to shiver, rather than fly, starboard.
The flaming ball swung past them, almost perfectly between the Dawn and the Collard Green, close enough that they could hear its screaming descent; the air smelt burnt.
“That makes no sense,” Kara said. “We're flying in the safe zone.”
David sighed. “I’d forgotten this,” he said.
Margaret sighted along her nearest rifle, pointing out into the void. “Forgotten what exactly?”
“Well, forgotten is probably the wrong word, Cadell had forgotten it, or I'd suppressed the bit that knew. This is the problem. This is the problem when you fight it. We're almost there, and I still only know half of what I need to,” David said. “But it doesn't matter now, this far north, and with the Roil expanded, the safe paths have changed.”
“What do you mean changed? Or have you suppressed that, too?” Margaret asked.
“There is only one set of coordinates that will have us reach the city by air without being shot down. Well, a range of coordinates.”
Another ball of flame cruised towards them. “I take it that we’re not exactly following those coordinates now,” Kara said.
David closed his eyes. Margaret wondered just what it was that he was considering.
“No,” he said. “No, we are not. But we're close. It's going to slow us down a little.”
“Fabulous,” Margaret said, “when we have so much time to spare.”
“Won’t have any time if one of those bastards hits,” Kara said.
“Bear to the north-east,” David said. “Just a little more, and we will be safe.” He turned to Margaret. “And signal to the Collard Green, they have to follow us.”
“Watson’s no fool,” Kara said. “He’ll know to keep on our tail.”
“But just in case.”
“Ah, you risk offending him, but just in case.”
Margaret went for the flags. “Which ones?” she asked.
“The red, the green and the black,” Kara Jade said. “Means follow right on our arse.” She smiled. “Look, he’s doing it already. Clever little fellow. Flash those flags, Margaret, give the bastard something to complain about. Now, David, are you sure that this is the right way? I’m not too keen to die engulfed in flames as a result of your incompetence.”
David couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Believe me, I’m sure. It will add a half a day to our journey, but we’ll make it. The defence mechanism has tolerances,” David said. “As long as we travel within those, we will be all right.”
David’s memory proved better than he had thought. They were shot at several times more — each time Kara glared at him — but none came as close as that first shot.
Soon the great mountains, and the city between them, dominated everything. The path they followed kept them zigzagging towards it, drawing closer with painful slowness. Twice, they almost touched the mountains and the wall, though Tearwin Meet remained hidden; only the central tower of the Engine of the World was revealed, rising above the wall.
And here the winds grew fierce and twisted, curling around the mountains and the city's walls. The wind battered at them, the Roslyn Dawn struggled in its grip, but did not succumb.
“We can't stay up here long,” Kara said.
“We don't need to. Not today.”
“How do we get to that?” Margaret said, gesturing at the tower.
“Today, we can fly over it. Kara, don't drop below this altitude. Everything beneath the height of the walls is well guarded,” David said. “And even I am unsure of the path required to bring you to safety.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Kara said.
“And please, signal to the Collard Green. They're not to follow us.”
Kara whispered at the Dawn, and the Aerokin lifted, rising up over the wall. At its top was a narrow walkway. David was struck again with an ancient memory, of guards set at regular intervals along the wall, and a great dark storm building on the horizon.
The winds stilled, as they flew over the city, the tower to their right. David pointed at the tower, and the fine mist of wires that surrounded it. “We need to make for the door at the tower's base. We'll have to go from the walls and walk in, the tower is too dangerous to descend itself.” He smiled. “It's coming back to me. Bit by bit.”
Flying over Tearwin Meet, and looking down, David had the impression again of a vast consciousness, and one that was directed at him. Only this time, he wasn't looking at it via the panoptic map. There was anger and curiosity in that gaze, and strangely enough, amusement.
“Perhaps we should land now,” David said.
“I could try to land in there,” Kara said.
David shook his head. “Try and the Dawn would be torn apart, trust me, Kara. I know this. You might not see it, but the top of the walls are webbed with wires sharp enough to shear through her.”
“We could climb it now,” Margaret said. “Just drop us on the ridge. The narrow walkway circles the wall, and down we go.” Her face was pressed against the window, she'd tapped her section to complete magnification. David peered down with her, not that it revealed much, the city beneath the walls was hidden in shadow. Nothing but gloom, though it was a gloom that seemed to stare back.
“I'm used to the dark,” Margaret said.
David shook his head. “Not now. Not yet.” He looked over at the walls. “Kara, just how much rope do you have on the Dawn?”
“For climbing?”
“Abseiling,” he corrected. “It’s how we… they used to get to the ground.”
“I’ve got miles of the stuff. As fine and strong a thread as you could imagine.” She followed David’s gaze. “I hope you’re not scared of heights.”
“We’ll find out tomorrow, I guess.”
The Dawn passed over the city and came to its edge. And David was reminded of one more thing, here they truly were at the end of the land. Beyond the northern wall of the city was a great dark sea, one that could be followed all the way north — until one headed south, seeing nothing but a small island chain known as the
