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As the echoes died, Volger called, "Do you kno to load a Spandau un, Alek?"

Prince Aleksandar knew nothing of the sort, but already his hands wereto unbuckle his seat straps

SEVEN

They were just beginning to reel in Deryn when the storroundabout the field, securing the hangar tent with extra spikes, getting the recruits under cover FourDeryn down steady and fast A dozen ground creaited to grab the beast’s tentacles when it was low enough

But she was still five hundred feet up when the first sheets of rain arrived The cold drops fell diagonally, hitting her dangling feet even under the cover of the airbeast Its tentacles coiled tighter, and she wondered how long the en, hurling itself toward the ground

"Stay cal us in"

A wild gust caught the , and it billowed like a full sail Deryn swung out into the full force of the stor rain

Then the cable snapped taut, whipping the beast earthward like a kite without enough string It dropped toward houses and backyard gardens, down to just above the high prison walls Directly beneath Deryn people scurried along the wet streets, shoulders hunched, unaware of the ust of wind struck, and the Huxley was forced low enough that Deryn could see the ribs of uood"

The ain its lift, and leveled off a few dozen feet above the rooftops The cable strained against the wind for athe the to keep a catch on the line

But that extra cable was ht to carry, and she and the Huxley were both heavy with rain She could spill the water ballast, but once it was gone, there’d be nothing left to slow their fall if the beastie panicked

The cable was scraping across the prison’s rooftops now, snapping against shingles and drainpipes Deryn saw it snag on one of the s chiroundher away from the prison If a chi, the hydrogen would ignite, the ascender exploding in a ged again, sending a jolt through the Huxley The creature spooked, its tentacles coiling tight, and dropped again

Deryn clutched the ballast cord, gritting her teeth She led rooftops and backyard fences beloould shred the creature to pieces And it would be all Deryn Sharp’s fault for not warning the ground men when she’d had the chance

Some air sense

"Okay, beastie," she called up "I et you out, too And I’ you: Now’s not the time to panic!"

The creature made no pros snapped open, spilling their water into the storan to cliave a cheer and set upon the winch, furiously hauling the airbeast in against the wind The captain was supervising, shouting orders froeresques lookedunder a faucet

With a few rounds, safely away fro chimneys

But then the wind switched direction The airbeast billowed again, pulled in a half circle toward the other end of the Scrubs

The Huxley let out a screech above the wind, like the horrible sound when one of Da’s air bladders would spring a leak

"No, beastie! We’re almost safe!" Deryn shouted

But thewas contracting, the tentacles coiled as tight as rattlesnakes

Deryn Sharp s into the air, the scent like bitter al

But the wind still carried the direction without rhyme or reason It tossed the airbeast about like a cru Deryn behind it

They had to be heavier than air by now, but in a gale like this, Deryn fancied you could fly a bowler hat on a bit of string

At the other end of the cable the groundas the gyrating cable sliced overhead If they tried to crank her any closer, they’d pull the airbeast straight down into the ground

Jaspert was running across the field toward her, cupping his hands to his ht the sound of his voice, but the hipped the words away

Deryn’s feet now dangled a few yards above the ground, which raced by as if she were on horseback She peeled off her heavy, sodden jacket and tossed it overboard

The prison loo into its walls at this speed would turn her and the airbeast into bloody splotches

Her fingers scra for a way to escape the harness Deryn reckoned her chances were better dropping onto one the Huxley would rise back into the air

Of course, that clart-rag of a coxswain hadn’t bothered showing her how to unbuckle the rig The leather straps were swollen with rain, cinched as tight as a duck’s bugle out in a panic and fall to their deaths

Then Deryn saw the knot over her head - the cable that bound the airbeast to the ground!

She looked at the cable stretched out between her and the winchabout three hundred feet of it now That length of rain-soaked heh more than one skinny wee lassie and her wet clothes

If she could set the Huxley free, it en to carry her up to safety

But the ground was rising again, shining wet grass and puddles blurring past just beneath her feet - the prison walls ahead Reaching up with one hand, Deryn felt the half-fa but a backhandedher how Air Service riggers used sailor’s knots, the same ones she’d tied a thousand tiled to free the wet cable fro thud, skidding across the wet grass

But the real danger wasn’t below - it was the approaching prison walls Deryn and the Huxley were seconds away fro expanse of wet stone

Finally her fingers pushed the cable’s working end free The knot spilled, the rope twisting like a live thing, skinning her fingers as it slipped froht of three hundred feet of wet he the prison walls with yards to spare

Deryn’s breath caught as a belching chi down itssteaen over her head

But the hipped the sparks away - moments later the Huxley had cleared the southerns

As she climbed, Deryn heard a hoarse cheer froroundboth hands to his face and shouting soratulatory, as if to say she’d done exactly what he’d told her!