Arm aching, he returned to the broken window and looked up, following the hose’s pale line to its source. From this angle he couldn’t see any of the people still in the other tower, but they would surely realise he had created an escape route. ‘Come on, come on,’ he muttered, picking glass from his hands.

‘Here!’ shouted one of the warriors, spotting the unmistakable gleam of orichalcum against the crash bags at the end of the bobsled run. He snatched up the key. ‘I have it!’

A comrade looked into the broken hole, trikan at the ready. ‘What about the beast? She fell down here.’

The first man shook his head. ‘We have the key. That is all that matters. We need to bring it back to the vimana.’ He took out a speaking crystal to tell Gadreel the good news.

The warrior at the edge of the pit peered into the shadows below, but saw no movement except wafting dust. Irked by his prey’s escape, he followed the others from the frozen chamber.

‘He made it!’ Macy told Cheng. ‘The hose isn’t moving, look.’

The Chinese was less certain. ‘What if it just got stuck on something?’

‘This is my dad – he does this kind of stuff all the time! Well, not exactly like this,’ she admitted. ‘Although he did once tell me he and Mom escaped from a skyscraper before its top fell off . . . But whatever, he did it. We’ve got to go.’ She carefully made her way to the waiting soldier.

He had retrieved the rifle straps, taking off his equipment webbing and the jacket of his combat fatigues. The latter was twisted and knotted into a crude rope, which he tied to the straps to increase their length. He held out the webbing to Macy with an encouraging smile. ‘He’s telling you to put the harness on, but not to fasten it yet,’ Cheng translated. ‘He’ll lower you down. Once you reach the reel, fasten the harness around the hose to hold yourself, then put your legs over it and slide down.’

‘If I’ve got his harness, how’s he going to get down?’ she asked.

The relayed question drew a chuckle from the soldier. ‘He says not to worry,’ Cheng told her. ‘He’s a tough guy, he can hold on.’

‘Okay . . .’ said Macy, unconvinced. But she let him help her don the harness, adjusting it to fit her much smaller frame, then nervously held the strap. He lowered her to the open hatch.

The journey, though nerve-racking, took only moments. She grabbed the reel with relief and stepped into the recess. From here, she could see the hose stretching away towards the other tower, though the ceiling blocked sight of its far end.