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A HUGE CRASH STARTLED Dun from his reverie and shook the room down to his feet. He rushed over to the hole that Padg had just disappeared through and nearly choked on the cloud of dust ballooning there.
“What the hells?” Dun put his head out of the hole, both hands on the rail, but the dust cloud was all he could Air-sense. It smelled of all those Stone-folk scents—masonry, plaster, cement. It stung Dun’s nose. The cloud was swirling, but not clearing. He lowered his head to see if that gave any kind of sign of what was below but the cloud hung there too. He brushed his chin and contemplated his next move.
“Hurry up slow-poke,” came Padg’s voice from below.
Well, whatever it was that caused the explosion hadn’t taken Padg with it. That was something.
“Keep your fur on!” Dun tried the projecting-but-trying-not-to-have-the-enemy-overhear-you voice that Padg had deployed. He wasn’t sure it had worked either time. He could sense the form of Padg waving, about fifty longstrides below him.”
A breeze picked up across the face of the offices, taking some of the powdery veil from Dun’s Air-sense. It revealed a shape, roughly round, suspended in the distance. When Dun shook his whiskers and Air-sensed again, he realised it was getting larger and closer at an alarming rate. It was difficult to make out exact details. was it spinning in the air? Regardless, it was a longstride in diameter and it was incoming—fast. All he could do was stand open-mouthed in the aperture of the room as it loomed. He thought its spin had a slight wobble that made it look as though it would miss him, just not by much. He reached down to find the rope Padg had already rappelled down at his feet and clipped on.
The projectile hit the wall with a crash that sounded as if the world was ending. The force of the collision threw Dun out of the window and he pitched headfirst towards the floor of the cavern, rope whirring in the clip at his waist and burning as it ran at the same speed over his shoulder. The drop at full speed would be plenty enough to kill Dun outright, though his mind was moving much more slowly. He didn’t want to die after kind of finding Tali again. She’d be so cross. The rope, he had to slow the rope. He reached down to the whirring serpent running out rapidly and snatched at it. The fibres bit at his fur then yanked his hand into the shackle holding him on. The cord juddered through the metal. There was a crunch. Pain lanced through Dun’s hand as he jerked like a ragdoll. Dun’s remaining limbs and head were whipped towards the ground, until his spine stopped them. Everything stabbed. The line and Dun smashed into the wall. Just on the edge of his consciousness. he started to hear things in real time once more.
Padg shouted, “Shreds!” close to him now. There was a whistling noise above and behind Padg, and distant twangs and wooden creaks to accompany that. His friend bustled round him. How was that possible? Well, he wasn’t dead, that was sure. He hadn’t run out of rope either, since he could feel himself swinging gently to and fro after the abrupt stop. So, suspended above the ground before he hit? That must be it. Why couldn’t he move his right hand, though? It was clutched into him at his stomach with the rest of him folded over it. Perhaps that was it. He could clench his left hand, though that sent another sharp jolt up and down his spine.
He drifted round again on the rope while Padg still bustled. He could feel a shape beneath him and then the familiar smell of wood shavings. “Hey, down there Padg!”
“Shush, or next go they won’t miss!” he hissed back.
“Pah, rubbish shots they are.”
“Huh,” Padg gained some height. Had he stood on something? Either way he could reach the rope above Dun and started sawing through it with a knife. He paused long enough to say “Incoming!” before cradling Dun’s head into him as another of the massive projectiles crashed into the wall twenty odd strides to the right. He felt as if the wall would be in front of him if he looked up. A small piece of, masonry dinged off Dun’s behind, more rained down all around them. When the last piece had fallen, Padg resumed sawing at the rope. “Okay, this is gonna hurt,” The rope twanged. Dun fell into Padg’s arms. It hurt a great deal. Dun was shouldered by his friend, along with both packs.
“Ouph!” said Dun.
“Exactly,” said Padg and loped off as fast as he could while laden.
More whistling came from the right as Dun could sense it. He was over Padg’s shoulder so he guessed they were running away from it. None of it seemed to matter all that much anymore, Dun’s head felt very swimmy, “Ooh, incoming!” he chirped up in a sing-song voice. “Whistly things. More whistly things. In. Com. Ing.”
“Yeah, thanks for that,” said Padg. “You use your shaman powers to work that out smart ass?”
“Noooo! All quiet on the shaman front. No-one talking. No-one there at all. Shhhhhhh!”
“Oh this is gonna be so much fun!” said Padg. A huge crash behind them threw soil and plants from the floor of the cavern. Then a massive clang in front and Padg pulled up short, nearly dropping Dun. The projectile—Dun had decided they were rocks or metal barrels or something—had smashed through a grille in the floor in front of them, and they teetered on the edge of the hole. Padg dropped Dun at the edge of the pit. “This might do,” he said. “Try not to die for a minute, while I scope it out.” He disappeared into the ground, leaving Dun and the packs lying on the ground. Dun started humming gently to himself.
Padg’s head popped up again and he started hauling gear and then Dun into the hole. Wedged against the square hole, Padg supported the weight of Dun’s body and edged them down the hole.
