The Lokants were not slow to organise themselves. Llandry watched them arrive in their numbers, each one calm-faced, alert, and not looking in the least concerned that they had been thrown into the midst of a battle. They were so devoid of emotion, in fact, that they were almost like mechs themselves. That thought gave her a shiver.
Her parents. Travelling west, they would soon run into the circle of whurthag mechs that were approaching the city - if they hadn't already. Dare she hope they had somehow missed them? That thought fluttered optimistically in her muddled brain for about three seconds before she discarded it.
She wished, most fervently, that Eva was here, for her ladyship would have set off immediately to find them and shepherd them safely to Irbel. But she wasn't, and she had asked Llandry not to call her again. Llan had no wish to imperil Eva and Tren if they were in Krays's Library by now. Llandry would have to steel herself to approach one of these intimidating strangers with her request. Searching among the sea of pale faces before her, she at last spotted Limbane.
But he wasn't the mild-mannered gentleman she'd first known. He was grim and imposing, barking orders to groups of Lokants in turn. As Llandry watched, they divided themselves into many small groups and began to prepare their mystifying equipment. She couldn't hear Limbane's orders over the tumultuous background noise.
Pensould's arms slipped around her waist and his voice murmured in her ear. 'Ori has taken Avane back to the village. You must come too, Minchu. It's dangerous here.'
She nodded, knowing he was right. Iver had set up his headquarters on the edges of Waeverleyne, far from the landmarks that attracted the primary attentions of the draykoni invaders. It was, therefore, relatively quiet out here; but "relatively" didn't mean much.
I can't leave yet, Pense, she told him silently. Ma and Pa are walking straight into the whurthags!
What do you mean to do? Pense's mind-voice was full of misgiving.
I want some of these Lokants to help me. They could carry my parents straight out of the forest and all the way to Irbel in an instant, then bring Pa back too. And if Ma and Pa are in trouble with the whurthags, they'll know how to deal with it.
They look busy, Pense commented, watching the Lokants' activity.
If they won't help us, we'll go ourselves in our draykon forms. Never mind what the commander says!
Pensould sighed, but he didn't argue. 'Better do it now,' he said out loud as the Lokant teams began to move.
Biting her lip, Llandry summoned her courage and ran forward to grab at Limbane's sleeve. If only she wasn't so much smaller than almost everyone else! It always put her at a disadvantage.
'Limbane! Please, I need to borrow some of your people, just for a little while.' She blurted out the whole story, talking fast, praying he wouldn't dismiss her.
Limbane listened in silence, a slight frown creasing his brow. 'Do you think this "help" they're looking for in Irbel will be granted?'
'Ma will persuade them,' Llandry said with perfect confidence.
Limbane looked out at his Lokants, thinking it over. Reaching a decision, he nodded. 'I can give you two, Llandry, but this can't take long. I need everyone on this.'
Llandry could have wept with gratitude. 'Thank you! I promise, it won't take long.'
He nodded his head once, and raising his voice shouted: 'Rael! Melle!'
Two Lokants ran up, one a youngish looking male and the other a somewhat older female. Both were wearing tool belts and carrying weapons. In addition, Melle had a set of unidentifiable devices strapped to her torso.
'Lokantor,' they both said together.
'Brief secondment. For the next... hour,' Limbane said, checking his watch. 'Help Llandry get hold of her parents, will you?'
Llandry was relieved when Melle smiled at her, though Rael remained immovably grim. 'Yes, sir,' they both said, and with a nod, Limbane walked off.
'Let's have the problem,' Melle said. 'Fairly sharpish.'
Llan repeated her story. Fearing that she sensed reluctance, even annoyance, in Rael's silent manner she emphasised the importance of her parents' errand two or three times.
'No problem,' Melle said when she'd finished. 'Get to someplace safe, all right? If we're bringing your dad back here, no sense in dropping him somewhere dangerous.' She glanced up as she spoke, indicating the vast, dark shapes that were fighting over the centre of the city.
'I'll be in the village,' Llan promised, and started to give directions, but Melle held up a hand.
'I'll find you. Go. Careful, now.' With that, the two of them vanished, leaving Llandry alone with Pensould.
'I wanted to go with them,' she said in a small voice.
'Nonsense, Minchu, for you could not be of use. Let them concentrate on extracting your parents. Meanwhile, Melle's advice is sound. We must go.'
Llandry allowed him to shepherd her out of Iver's base camp and back towards the village, skirting around the most violent conflicts. It wrung Llandry's heart to be climbing over the piled rubble of people's homes and shops. Blood, old and fresh, stained areas of burned or trampled ground, adding queasiness, sadness and profound dismay to her discomforts. She forged ahead through the war-torn landscape, grimly turning her attention away from the carnage and the battle that still raged over the centre of Waeverleyne.
'I think you should rest a little, Minchu,' Pensould said as they reached the village. 'You are tired, and opportunities are scarce.'
Llandry didn't object, but she gripped Pensould's sleeve. 'Come with me? I don't want to be alone.'
Pensould smiled. 'Come to think of it, I could stand to rest a little myself.'
'Only for an hour,' she cautioned. 'There should be news of my parents by then.'
'Agreed.' Guiding her with unusual gentleness, Pensould led her to the little house they used as a safe haven and put her to bed. Drawing her into a comforting embrace, he tucked blankets around her throat and laid a kiss on her hair.
'Sleep,' he instructed. Feeling protected and safe, Llandry allowed her fevered mind to slide into unconsciousness.
She was woken soon afterwards by the sounds of heart-broken sobbing.
'Who's that?' she mumbled, opening her heavy-lidded eyes.
Pensould was already out of bed. 'I think it is Avane,' he said, helping her to stand. The sounds came from the next room; the walls were thin and crude and did little to block out the noise. Her heart fluttering with dismay, Llan trotted through to the little living parlour, praying she wasn't about to hear yet more bad news.
Avane was huddled on the floor, convulsed with tears. Ori was hovering over her with an air of desperation, obviously lacking any notion of what to say.
'Avy,' Llan murmured, going to her knees beside the woman. 'What's happened?'
'N-nothing, exactly,' Avane sobbed, 'only with all those Lokants here I w-wondered what's b-become of Lyerd, and I feel so awful for leaving him alone all this time, and I realised maybe I'll never be able to get back to him and he'll b-be alone forever, and...' Her words dissolved in a renewed flood of tears. 'I'm s-sorry,' she stammered, gulping in air. 'I'm just n-not cut out to b-be a soldier.'
'I don't think any of us are,' Llan said frankly. 'But we can keep going, because we're needed and we have to.'
Avane nodded, uttering a damp sniff. She didn't meet Llandry's eye.
'Lyerd is fine, I'm sure of it. He is much safer out there than he would be here. And if Yora was summoned along with the others, she will have got someone else to care for him. She wouldn't leave him alone.'
Avane nodded again, her tears more or less under control now. 'I just want this to be over.'
'Me too,' Llandry said with a long sigh. She wrapped Avane in a hug, full of sympathy for the poor sorceress. Other than Ori, Avane had had the least time of any of them to adapt to her new life. Lacking any kind of ambition, she didn't revel in the power of it the way Ori did. She was also old enough that her youthful fearlessness - if she'd ever had any - was long gone. Being a parent as well only took her situation from bad to worse. If Llan could have kept her out of the conflict somehow, she would have. But the inescapable truth was that they were going to need her. Four draykoni against the invaders was already poor odds; three would be beyond saving.
'Green flare,' Ori said suddenly.
Llandry sat up. 'What?'
'Green flare!' Ori repeated. 'That's a summons, right?'
'Should be,' Llandry said, her heart beginning to pound. The Commander wanted them! 'Maybe the Commander's ready to make a major attack,' she suggested, torn between hope and dread at the idea. 'It might be the beginning of the end of all this mess.'
Avane nodded, not looking hopeful. Llandry didn't feel hopeful on that score either, but she made herself appear so.
'Let's see what the Commander wants,' she said, drawing Avane to her feet.
Leaving the cottage, Llan suffered a moment's severe apprehension about trekking back across the city to the Commander's base. She toyed with the idea of shape-shifting into a small bird's body and winging her way there, but since most of the conflict was taking place in the air this struck her as a singularly bad idea. If a draykoni didn't spot her, she'd be lucky to avoid the streams of bullets her father's machines were once again spraying into the air.
But on foot, they'd be all the more visible; and what of the whurthag mechs? Had Limbane's people dealt with those, or had some of them reached the city? Llan had suffered injuries enough at the hands of a real whurthag; the prospect of facing one or more of the chilling mechanical ones was a paralysing thought.
But these fears vanished when she found two Lokants waiting outside, one of whom was Avane's friend Yora.
'Limbane sent us to fetch you,' she said. 'We're to spirit you past the mess.' Catching sight of Avane's tear-stained face, she wrapped an arm around her friend's shoulders. 'Lyerd's fine, Avane,' she assured her. 'I left him with my grandmother. Some of us had to stay with the Library, after all. They're getting along swimmingly.'
Avane looked so relieved Llandry feared she might dissolve into tears again, but she mastered herself. 'Thank you,' she whispered with deep gratitude. Then, to Llandry's admiration she squared up her shoulders, swallowed her distress and adopted a look of determination. 'Let's get on with it, then.'
A few moments more brought all six of them into the Commander's presence. The second Lokant - a man Llandry didn't recognise - released the hold he had on her wrist and stepped away with a polite nod. Thanking him, Llandry went straight to Limbane.
'My parents?' she asked at once.
He nodded briskly. 'Located successfully. Your mother and her friend are in Irbel, and your father is back in this city.'
Llandry let out a long sigh of relief, welcoming the release of tension that this news brought her. 'Thank you, Limbane,' she said with grave sincerity.
Limbane waved a hand. 'Your father tells me that there is a fair chance that his home realm will send aid. If that is the case, then it was worth the diversion. In the meantime, I need the four of you to assist me.'
Limbane's motives were, as always, odd. His words implied that it would not have been worth the effort if there hadn't been the possibility that Ynara would bring help. Never rely on the friendship of Lokants, she thought with some bitterness.
Llandry directed an enquiring look at Commander Iver, who was standing slightly to one side. He looked haggard, and she could only imagine his state of mind. Men and machines lost, and command taken out of his hands by a stranger... but a hint of relief lurked in his eyes, too.
'Listen closely,' Limbane said, drawing the four of them to him. 'Those draykon mechs are your biggest problem. They haven't been belching flame for some time now, so I believe Pensould was right about the solar power and the regeneration time. But they're protecting the live draykoni and we can't get near them. We need to take them down as soon as possible - certainly before they regain enough energy to resume burning your trees.'
'How many of them are there now, sir?' Ori enquired.
'Four. The biggest difficulty is getting near them. Some of Iver's soldiers have tried it, but they can't fly fast enough. They're being picked off far too easily, if not by the mechs then by the living draykoni. What we want to do is get these up there.' He showed them a box small enough to rest in the palm of his hand. 'Highly explosive. Nothing's penetrating that cursed hide of theirs, so the only approach we can come up with is to blow the damn things up. We need you to shape-shift; something winged, big enough to carry this but no bigger. You've got to get in without being seen by the draykoni, deposit these and get out of there, fast. I'll have people on the ground setting them off once they can see you're clear. Got that?'
Limbane rattled this off in such a hurry that Llan struggled to keep up. He spoke to them as though they were his own people, used to his manner of instructions.
'I think so,' she said, sounding anything but sure.
Limbane eyed her. 'Any questions, out with them now.'
Nobody spoke.
'Then get to it. Yora will equip you with the explosives. I don't need to tell you that it's imperative to keep hold of them once you've picked them up. Don't drop them on the city!'