The Seventh Scroll - Smith Wilbur - Страница 154

of it."

"Enough of that. Let's go." Nicholas grabbed her hand and dragged her

after him. After the first few steps she shook her hand free and started

to run in earnest, outstripping him and reaching the top of the

staircase a few paces ahead of him.

Even under their burdens the porters were making good time. Caught up in

the long hurrying column, Nicholas and Royan wound their way back

through the maze, grateful for the signposts at each corner, and made it

down the central staircase into the ruined long gallery without taking a

wrong turning. Sapper was waiting for them at the ruins of the sealed

doorway, and grunted with he porters.

relief when he saw them amongst I thought I told you to go on ahead and

get the boats ready,'Nicholas shouted at him.

"Couldn't trust you not to be bloody stupid." Sapper looked miserable.

"Wanted to make sure you didn't hang about in there."

"I am touched, Sapper."Nicholas punched his shoulder, and then they ran

down the approach tunnel and clattered over the bridge across the

sink-hole.

"Where is MeV Nicholas panted at Sapper's back as he jogged in front of

him. "Have you seen Tessayr

"Tessay is back. She had a nasty experience. She was in a terrible mess.

Seems she got badly knocked about."

"What has happened to her?" Nicholas was appalled.

"Where is she?"

"It looks like she fell into the hands of von Schiller's gorillas and

they beat the hell out of her. Mek's men are taking her down to the

monastery. She will wait for us at the boats."

"Thank God for that," Nicholas muttered, and then louder, "What about

MeV

"He is trying to hold off Nogo's attack. I have been hearing rifle fire

and grenades and mortar shells all morning. He too is going to fall back

and wait for us at the  boats."

They ran the last few yards down the tunnel ankle, deep in slush and

water, and at last crawled over the wall of the coffer dam on to the

rocky ledge around Taita's pool. Nicholas looked up to see Hansith's

porters scrambling up the bamboo scaffolding ladder towards the top of

the cliff, each of them hauling up one of the ammunition crates.

At that moment he caught a sound that he recognized instantly. He cocked

his head to listen and then told Royan grimly, "Gunfire! Mek is fighting

it out, but it's pretty darned close."

"My bag!" Royan started towards her thatched shelter at the foot of the

cliff. "I must get my kit., "You won't need your make-up or your

pyjamas, and I've got your passport." He seized her arm and turned her

back towards the foot of the ladder. "In fact the only thing you need

now is plenty of space between you and Colonel Nogo. Come along, Royan!'

They swarmed up the bamboo scaffolding and when they reached the cliff

top Royan was surprised to discover that, although the earth was wet

underfoot from the recent rain squalls, the sun was high and hot. She

had lost all sense of time in the cold, gloomy passages of the tomb, and

now she held up her face to the sunlight and drank it in gratefully for

a moment while Nicholas checked the porters and made certain that they

were all out of the chasm.

Sapper set off at the head of the column along the trail through the

thorn forest, with the file of porters strung out behind him. Nicholas

and Royan waited until all the men were on the pathway before they

themselves brought up the rear of the column. The sound of the fighting

was frighteningly close now. It seemed to be almost at the brink of the

chasm close behind them, less than half a mile away.

The crackle of automatic fire gave a spring and a lift to the feet of

the porters, and the entire party raced back through the forest to reach

the main trail down to the monastery before they were cut off by Nogo's

advance.

Before they reached the junction of the paths, they ran into a party of

stretcher-bearers carrying a litter. They too were headed down towards

the monastery. Nicholas thought the person they were carrying was one of

the wounded guerrillas of Mek's force. But even when he caught up with

them it took a moment for him to recognize Tessay's swollen and burned

face.

"Tessay!" He stooped over her. "Who did this to you?" She looked up at

him with the huge dark eyes of a wounded child, and told him in halting,

broken words.

"Helm!" Nicholas blurted. "I' love to get my hands on that bastard." At

that moment Royan caught up with them, and she let out a small cry of

horror as she saw Tessay's face. Then immediately she took charge of

her.

tcher'bearers Nicholas spoke quickly to one of the stre from he

recognized.

wh

"Mezra, what is happening out there?"

"Nogo moved a force in from the east of the gorge.

They outflanked us, and we are pulling out, This is not our kind of

fighting."

"I know," Nicholas remarked grimly. "Guerrillas must

"Where is Mek Nimmur?" keep moving. \

"He is retreating down the eastern bank of the chasm." As Mezra replied,

they heard a renewed outburst of firing behind them. "That is him!"

Mezra nodded. "Nogo is pushing him hard."

"What are your orders?"

"To take Lady Sun to the boats and wait for Mek Nimmur there."

"Good! Nicholas told him. "We will go with you."

he jet Ranger was flying low, hugging the contours Of the land, never

cresting the high ground. Helm knew that Mek Nimmur's shufta were armed

with RPGs, rocket-launchers. In the hands of a trained man, these were

deadly weapons against a slow-flying, unarmoured aircraft such as the

jet Ranger.

The pilot's defence was to use  the terrain as cover, weaving and

twisting up the valleys so as to deny the racketeers a clear shot.

Although the rain clouds were slumping down the into the Abbay gorge,

the helicopter was escarpmen keeping well below them. However, the

sudden squalls of wind rocked the machine dangerously and splatterings;

of heavy raindrops rattled against the windshield. The pilot sat forward

in the seat, leaning against his shoulder-straps as he concentrated on

this dangerous low flying in these unpleasant conditions. Helm sat in

the right'hand seat, beside the pilot. Von Schiller and Nahoot Guddabi

were together in the rear passenger seat, both of them craning nervously

to peer out of the side windows as the heavily wooded slopes of the

valley streamed past, seemingly close enough to touch.

Every few minutes the radio crackled into life, and they could hear the

terse transmissions of Nogo's men on the ground calling for mortar

support or reporting objectives attained. The pilot translated the radio

gabble for them, twisting round in his seat to tell von Schiller, "There

is a sharp fire-fight going on along the top of the chasm, but the

shufta are on the run. Nogo is handling his force well. They have just

dislodged a strong force from the hillside to the east of us," he

pointed out of the left hand port, "and they are hammering the shufta

with mortars as they run."

"Have they reached the spot in the chasm where Quenton-Harper was

working?"

"It isn't clear. All a bit confused." The pilot listened to the next