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end. Some of them did not make it; poisoned, they fell.
He whirled and pushed the Wufea ahead of him through the door and then through several rooms to the
door that opened in the side of the hangar. Once all were outside, he got them into battle order, and they
moved out between the two hangars into the open area of the field. Another hangar to the right burst into
noise and flame, and, in two minutes, all six buildings were burning fiercely. His entire air fleet was
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destroyed.
There was nothing to do but to take his people out onto the broad field. They could not go back, and
they had to get out of the brightness and into the dark. The Dhulhulikh had not left, but were flying
overhead, seemingly intent on killing all the air force personnel. Ulysses' troops fell on all sides of him, but
he had seized a shield dropped by some dead human and held it overhead. A few arrows thudded into its
leather-wrapped wooden disk, and heavy stone-tipped wood darts and arrows thunked around him, or
struck those around him. No bombs were tossed at them, although these would have been the surest way
of killing. He presumed that they had expended them in the initial attack. It was possible, however, that
other bat-men with bombs were being called in.
Then they were on the edge of the darkness and under trees. They formed concentric circles and shot
out at those bat-men who came low enough to provide reasonably good targets.
Far to the west, where the city was, the clouds reflected bright lights, probably from burning buildings.
There were other dangers besides flying bat-men. An armoured car drove up, and a human hopped out
and ran up to him. He ordered Ulysses to report to the Neshgai officer in the car. Ulysses did so, and
found Bleezhmag, the equivalent of a colonel in the armoured car corps, waiting there by the open door.
Bleezhmag had a deep gash across his forehead, a light cut across his trunk and a hole in his left arm. His
human soldiers had gotten out of the car and were shooting wooden bolts from wooden crossbows.
"I have orders from the Grand Vizier to take you out of the danger zone, wherever that is," he said. He
leaned out and looked up at the great-winged figures flickering from darkness to the glare of burning gas.
"We're been hit twice on the roof by bombs, but aside from temporary deafness, we haven't suffered.
Get in!"
"I can't desert my men!" Ulysses said.
"Oh, yes you can!" Bleezhmag said. He trumpeted impatiently perhaps a trifle hysterically through
his proboscis.
"It's not just the Dhulhulikh! The other Tree peoples are in on this raid! They're not a horde, if our
information is correct, but they are a large body, and they've formed a spearhead which has swept
through most of our defences in this area! They're being held up now, but they won't be kept back long!
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The Grand Vizier says they're probably intent on getting you! They can't hope to take the city! But they
could get you!"
Something nudged the darkness aside and revealed itself as another armoured car. Like the first, it
looked like a wheeled tortoise. The curved roof was made of three layers of thick densely grained wood
over a thick layer of plastic. The sides were double-walled and contained doors and slitholes. It held a
driver, an officer, and six archers. Though there had been no thought of its withstanding explosives when
it was built some years before, it had proved capable of shrugging off the small bombs of the bat-men.
Ulysses crouched near the door while the crossbowmen stood outside to cover him. Then he gestured at
Awina to run out to him. She did so, almost ending up as a recipient of a poisoned arrow. This missed
her by several inches, and then she was by his side. A bowman was lucky enough to hit the bat-man who
had flown in to shoot at Awina. His bolt caught the bat-man in his arm, pinning it to his side. The bat-man
screamed and dropped his bow and then fluttered down. Another bolt struck deep into his ribs just as his
feet touched the ground.
"Get in!" Ulysses said to Awina. He spoke to Bleezhmag. "I will go if you will see that the rest of my
people are transported, too."
"Very well," Bleezhmag said.
Ulysses gestured at his men under the tree, and those still on their feet helped the wounded to get across
the open area to the cars. Either the bat-men had exhausted their supply of missiles or they were too
respectful of the bowmen. They did not try to attack the group while it was unprotected.
The cavalcade moved out onto the road at twenty miles an hour. The headlights were not bright
compared to those on the cars of Ulysses' time; they illuminated the road perhaps twenty feet ahead of
them. Ulysses asked Bleezhmag why the lights were on. They would only attract the invaders, and they
were not really needed, since the drivers knew this road well.
"I have no orders to turn them off," the Neshgai said. He was slumped down in his seat and breathing
heavily through his mouth. The blood was still running from his wounds.
Ulysses was standing on the seat beside him, which had held another Neshgai officer, presumably left
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