As all three of them crashed down into Allun, there was no way he could hold their fall. The weight snapped his arm, and sent him careening free and away from the others. He bounced off the rocks before hitting the water.

Below the spot where Allun had clung on moments before was Viktor. He saw Karni and the others sliding towards him and caught the loose end of the cable, wrapping it about his waist like a belt as the others thudded down into him.

Even about his flak armour the cable squeezed him so tight he thought he would pass out. But he stopped their descent. The four of them hung in the air, twirling in pain, each one pressed into the other.

‘Throne,’ Orugi said at last.

No one else could speak. Baine’s hands were a shredded mess. Karni was moaning. Viktor was struggling for breath. ‘I’ve got you,’ he hissed at last. He had to grind the words out as the weight of all three of them tightened the cable about his waist. ‘I’ve got you.’

Baine looked at his hands and saw the burns, the flesh flayed away. As soon as he saw the dreadful damage it was as if someone had turned his pain circuits on. The agony seared through him.

‘I’ve got you,’ Viktor repeated, trying to adjust the cable. The buckles of his flak armour were pressing into flesh. They felt like they had been stapled into him.

He was grunting with the effort. It was a hell of a job keeping all four of them up. He looked down. They were hanging from a single wire cable, three hundred feet above the beach, turning slowly on their axis.

‘It could be worse,’ Orugi said.

Karni made a weeping noise. He had never heard her sound like that before. Above her Baine was struggling to hold on without his hands. His efforts sent them into another spin.

‘Hold still!’ Viktor hissed. He tried to slow their revolutions. ‘Can you pull yourself up?’

Baine tried, but his hands were lacerated and there was no way he could get purchase.

‘Wrap your hand into the wire,’ Orugi told him. The muscles in his arms were starting to tire. ‘Wrap it round twice, and pull.’

Baine did so. It was agonisingly slow work while keeping his wounds away from the cable, but inch by inch he managed to lift his weight off Orugi. Then Orugi did the same.

Viktor felt the weight ease. He managed to adjust the cable. It hurt a little less. ‘Karni?’

She didn’t answer. It was clear that she was not in any state to pull herself up. He could see the silvery tendons in her forearm moving her fingers, but there was no strength in them, and she was so deep in shock that her reactions were hopelessly slow.