Ladna stirred and sat up with an effort that set her coughing again.
"I'll be all right.... We'll go back into the desert, and live there
somehow, as long--as long as we live."
"That's right," said Torcred. In the dark she couldn't see how his face
grew grim at the thought of how short their life together was likely to
be.
He raised his head, sniffing the air. A thin sharp taint, reminiscent
of stifling agony, told him they must be up and moving soon. The gas
was diffusing but still dangerous; up yonder on the plateau, where it
had been concentrated, it must have left nothing save desolation and
death....
Only then did he become aware, with a start of amazement, of the great
silence that enfolded mountain, sky, and desert.
The air, at least, which had snarled with motors not twenty minutes
earlier, should still have echoed to the sound of battle. But the sky
was empty.
No, not empty--abruptly landing lights cut a brilliant swathe far out
on the desert. The buzzard pilot saw he had misjudged his altitude
and tried to pull up, the huge ship stalled and its lights went out as
it plowed into the ground. Before the sound of its crash reached the
mountain's foot, a pillar of fire was mounting above the dunes, and
they saw that the air was full of machines, attackers and defenders
alike in one confused flitting swarm, wheeling, dipping and always
drifting downward, unpowered.