The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [163]
‘We’ve still got eight miles to go,’ Nina reminded him. ‘And we’re getting lower.’
‘So’s the valley.’
‘We’re going down faster.’
‘Thought you liked it when I go down fast?’
‘Eddie!’
‘We’ll make it,’ he assured her.
But they had already lost almost half their initial height. Eddie angled upwards, the wind’s whistle dying away as they slowed. There was a roller coaster feeling of weightlessness as he levelled off, then they began to drop again.
More quickly than before. A faint hiss of tearing fabric came from the damaged wing, and the vimana listed. Eddie quickly compensated, but it took more effort than before. ‘Okay, maybe only some of the way.’
Nina searched for potential landing sites. They were past the relatively easy upland approach to the village, floating above rugged slopes through which the river had cut a gorge. ‘How long have we got?’
‘I dunno - two miles. If we’re lucky.’
‘Okay, okay,’ said Nina, forcing herself not to panic. ‘Keep over to the right, away from the river.’ She squinted into the distance, seeing dark shapes taking on dimensionality against the snowscape. They were down to an altitude that could support more varied plant life than tough grass. ‘Eddie, those bushes - if we fly into them, they’ll cushion our landing.’
‘Hopefully,’ he replied. If they were moving too fast, they would tear straight through them - pitching the vimana’s passengers into the gorge. ‘Hold tight!’
They flew down the valley, the rough ground undulating beneath them - but drawing inexorably closer. The bushes were spattered across the valley floor like specks from a paintbrush. Eddie found a fairly dense patch, and judged the distance to it. If he pulled up almost into a stall, then descended sharply, it should catch them before they built back up to a dangerous speed.
Should being the operative word.
He made a final course adjustment. ‘Okay, here we go.’
Kit regarded the approaching vegetation with an increasingly unhappy expression. ‘What if it doesn’t stop us?’
‘Then we’ll find out which religion’s right! Ready, ready . . . hang on!’
He hauled the controls back as hard as he could. The vimana pitched up sharply, the wood groaning. They were gaining height, but slowing, slowing . . .
‘Now!’ He shoved the wooden levers forward. The nose dipped—
Too late. They had lost too much speed - and stalled, the vimana plunging almost vertically. ‘Oh, shit, shit!’
He yanked desperately at the controls. Something in the wing snapped. The ground rushed at them—
With a whump, the fabric of the wings filled with air and pulled taut one last time. The vimana shot forward like a daredevil bird swooping out of a dive just short of the ground. Nina shrieked and shielded her eyes as it crashed through the bushes in a burst of snow, stubby branches whipping at her face.
But they didn’t stop.
The vimana ripped the bushes right out of the ground. For a moment it seemed that it was going to take off again - then with a huge crack the wings finally collapsed, broken spars and shredded silk trailing behind the glider as it crashed down on its runners.
And still it kept going. It had turned from an aircraft into a sledge, slithering downhill at an ever-increasing pace.
Nina hurriedly unwound her wrists from the leather straps as she saw what lay directly ahead. ‘We’re gonna go into the river!’
‘Everybody off!’ said Eddie.
‘What do we do?’ Kit asked, eyes wide as he saw the rapidly approaching gorge.
‘Just jump!’ Eddie grabbed him and leapt from the back of the platform. Nina followed. Human snowploughs, they bounced and skittered down the hill after their former ride. Despite Eddie’s best efforts, he lost his grip on Kit. The two men separated, skidding along on their backs.
Nina, the lightest, was the first to be slowed by the mass of snow she had collected in front of her. Dazed, she lifted her head to see two white fountains continuing past. ‘Eddie!’ she shouted as the broken vimana sailed over the edge of the gorge and smashed on the rocks below.
Eddie had also witnessed the glider’s sudden