‘Like you said, long story,’ he replied. ‘I’ll tell you later. We need to get out of here first, though. And I don’t just mean this city,’ he added as Cheng arrived. ‘Getting out of China would be a very good idea. Before they blame all this on us.’

‘I agree.’ Nina looked back at the fortress. It weaved between skyscrapers, still losing height. ‘But I don’t think this is over . . .’

Chapter 37

37

‘What is happening?’ roared Gadreel, clinging to an altar as the vimana rolled. ‘Take us higher!’

‘I can’t, my lord!’ the warrior at the controls protested. ‘Something is wrong!’

Sidona hurried into the throne room. To Gadreel’s shock, she had a bloody gash down the left side of her face. ‘They destroyed the crystal heart! The mausoleum is also damaged. Some of the sarcophagi are broken!’

‘How many?’ he asked, appalled.

‘I don’t know – perhaps eight or nine?’

‘The woman Wilde killed some of our warriors as well. We have lost too many people today.’ A brief look, both grieving and angry, at Turel’s body. ‘The humans have become dangerous.’

‘Too dangerous,’ she snapped. ‘There is only one way to deal with an infestation. Wipe them out!’

‘And we shall. But first we must find the rest of our people.’

‘They are imprisoned! We don’t know where they are!’

His knowing expression changed her despair into hope. ‘I do,’ he told her. ‘The humans’ machine showed me a map of the whole world. And I saw where the lines of force meet at their strongest. I know how to find Tartarus! But the vimana is too damaged to take us there. Sidona, use the key and wake as many as you can, quickly. We will leave in the vimana-kal.’

Her gaze went to the golden clamshell behind the three thrones. ‘It is too small to take us all!’

‘We must make hard choices to survive.’ He put his hands firmly on her shoulders, eyes fixed on hers. ‘But we will survive. Choose the strongest, the best.’

The weight of responsibility placed upon her was almost physical, her shoulders sagging, but she nodded. ‘Yes, my lord. And . . . what of the others?’

‘They must win us the time we need to escape.’ He released her and went back to the window. The fortress was passing between towers, following a broad avenue into the city’s heart. ‘Can you go no higher?’

‘No, my lord,’ the pilot replied.

‘The humans will send more flying machines against us. They came from the west . . .’ He surveyed the vista ahead, then pointed at another park, with a low hill at one end. ‘There! Land us with our weapons facing west – and the vimana’s nose raised. When they come, we shall be ready for them. And if they attack our fortress on the ground . . .’ His face twisted into a snarl. ‘We will take a hundred of their worthless lives for every Nephilim who falls!’