Alchymist (94 page)

He
turned away, but something about her manner must have bothered him, for he
swung back. 'Is there anything else I should know, Ullii?'

'O-other
mancers, surr,' she stammered.

Giving
Ullii an unpleasant smile, Ghorr lifted her onto the tips of her toes. 'What
other mancers, Seeker?'

'I
don't know who they are, but there are three, and each is very great. Greater —
as great as you, surr,' she amended hastily.

'Really?'
he whispered. 'What can you tell me about them?'

'Nothing,
surr, but for one, an Aachim.'

'Aachim!'
he ejaculated. 'What's an Aachim mancer doing here? This changes things,' Ghorr
said to Fusshte. 'We don't want to upset the Aachim. Is that all, Seeker?'

Ullii
stood there, frozen to the spot.

'You've
been very helpful, Ullii,' Ghorr cajoled, 'and when we return home you shall
have your reward — whatever you care to name. Just tell me what else you saw in
your wonderful lattice, that no one else in the world can see.'

'Tiaan,
surr,' she whispered. 'I can see Tiaan, and her amplimet, and a flying
construct.'

Ghorr
almost fell down in astonishment. He went to his knees, kissed the canvas deck
then sprang up with a silent cry of exultation. Seizing Ullii's hand he kissed
it as well.

She
tore her hand free with a look of profound disgust, but he did not notice. Fate
had just offered Ghorr the world and nothing was going to stand in his way.
Calling Fusshte and his lieutenants together, he rapped out orders, then turned
to his men.

Ghorr
said, in a low but carrying voice, 'Soldiers and crew, below us lies the
greatest prize in all of Lauralin, one I never dared to hope for — a prize that
can win us the war. It is Artisan Tiaan Liise-Mar, her precious amplimet, and
the unique, marvellous flying construct. At all costs we must secure them, even
if, in so doing, our enemies escape. But we will not let them escape, for they
don't know we're here.'

He
paused while signallers semaphored his words, with luminous coloured flags, to
the soldiers assembled on the decks of the other air-dreadnoughts.

'They've
got no army to protect them,' Ghorr continued 'just a few guards. When I give
the word, you will begin the attack. Watch all the escape routes. Let not a
soul get away. For every person captured alive, there will be a reward beyond
your dreams. We will make an example of these renegades that will be sung for a
thousand years, and the whole of Santhenar must know of it.

'The
evil traitor Xervish Flydd is worth ten thousand gold tells if captured alive
and fit to stand trial, but only one hundred dead. There are two other mancers
here as well. I don't know who they are, but clearly they are scoundrels and
renegades. For each of them, the prize shall be two thousand gold tell if
captured alive, but a mere forty dead. And for the lesser villains: a thousand
gold tells if alive, or twenty dead, for Cryl-Nish Hlar or Irisis Stirm; five
hundred alive or ten dead for Perquisitor Fyn-Mah; and fifty tells alive or one
dead for each of the ordinary folk. Do not fail me. Any man who does will go to
a scrutators' quisitory, and I need not tell you—'

The
sharp intake of breath was all he needed. Every man, woman and child in
Lauralin knew what a scrutators'

quisitory
signified.

'But
there is more,' said Ghorr. 'I'm advised that a great Aachim mancer is also
here. He must be taken alive and unharmed, and treated with courtesy. He maybe
subdued if he struggles and, once taken, must be restrained hand and foot and
his mouth stopped. Such a mancer may use his Art simply by the power of his
voice. But once that's been done, take good care of him. The Aachim are not our
enemies and we cannot survive if they declare war on us. He may not be harmed,
on pain of death.

'My
personal guard, you are charged with securing the construct. Those doing so
will each receive two hundred gold. But should you lose it, each of you will be
dismissed and sent to serve in the front-lines. So do not fail me.

'Finally,
and most importantly of all. Artisan Tiaan Liise-Mur must be taken alive. She
is a hero. I repeat, Tiaan is no renegade, but a hero worthy of the highest
honour, and vital to the war. She must be taken alive and unharmed, though she
too must be restrained until after the trials. Those who assist in taking her
will share in twenty thousand gold tells. Twenty thousand gold tells,' he
repeated. Ghorr looked around at his troops and his mancers, engaging with each
of them in turn. His signallers stood behind him, relaying his words to each of
the other air-dreadnoughts. 'But,' Ghorr went on, 'no matter how hard she
struggles, any man who harms Artisan Tiaan, deliberately or accidentally, will
be flayed alive. So have particular care. Master Artist, show everyone the
sketches you have made. There must be no doubt of Tiaan's identity.'

A
wizened little man covered in liver spots and flaking psoriasis hobbled down
the line displaying his sketches. They bore a passable likeness to Tiaan. Her
description was also relayed to the other craft.

Ghorr
held up his hand. Everyone went still. He stared towards the east, tapping one
foot. The arc of the sun crept above the horizon. Its first light fell on the
powered mirrors and the operators did their work. Incandescent beams struck the
three towers holding Yggur's defences. The towers erupted, their stone running
like honey down the side of a jug The defences were silent.

As
the sun illuminated the mighty flying machines, Ghorr said 'Go.’

The
signalmen hoisted their flags, the great mirrors swung onto their targets, and
the beams tore holes through the walls and towers. When all was chaos, the
soldiers went down on ropes and stormed Fiz Gorgo.

Ghorr
sat back in his chair, the other scrutators surrounding him. 'It's been a long
wait, but today will make up for everything. We'll have the lot of them within
the hour.’

'And
the flying construct.' Fusshte rubbed his scaly hands together. 'This will make
all the difference, Ghorr.'

Ghorr
gave him an ambiguous glance. 'Indeed it will, Scrutator. All the difference in
the world.'

Exploding
stone and seething, boiling metal shocked Irisis awake. She shot up in bed,
thinking she was back in the manufactory, under attack by the lyrinx. 'Nish?'
she cried, 'Where are you?'

He
was gone and the nightmare was back, but this time Irisis knew it was real.
That crash was a battering-ram on the front doors. Those shrieks — the death
screams of the servants who had foolishly run to see what was going on. This
was it. Her long-anticipated doom had come at last.

She
pulled on her clothes, tied her boots, grabbed the sword and peered out the
door, expecting to see lyrinx everywhere. Soldiers were advancing methodically
along the corridor, checking every door. For a fleeting second she relaxed,
until it penetrated her fuzzy mind that they were human soldiers, wearing the
black and scarlet uniform of the chief scrutator's personal guard, the most
elite troops of all. It was worse than lyrinx, far worse. Ghorr had found them.
She could see at least a hundred soldiers and, from the racket in the other
halls, many more were there. Doubtless there were mancers, too.

Against
them, Yggur had merely twenty troops and Irisis was prepared to bet that the
majority of them, stationed in the barracks outside, were dead. The battle was
already lost, the only option to try to escape into the labyrinth of tunnels
that honeycombed the rock underneath Fiz Gorgo. Unfortunately, though Irisis
knew how to get into the labyrinth, she had never been down there. That was the
problem with labyrinths, she thought wryly. They were so damned hard to get out
of.

Ducking
out the door, she ran towards the rear of the building. At the first corner,
she stopped. Flydd's room was just to the left, Nish's a long way down the
corridor to the right. There wasn't time to rouse both. After a second's
hesitation, she turned left. Nish was a poor sleeper and was probably up
already. If not, he'd be captured within seconds. It took a lot to rouse Flydd,
so there was no choice. Ah, Nish love, I'm sorry.

Fleeting
down the corridor in the dark, she pounded on Flydd's door. There was no answer
so she kicked it open. Flydd was sitting up in bed, naked.

'What
is it?' he said, only half-awake.

She
dragged him out of bed. 'The scrutators are here, inside Fiz Gorgo, with hundreds
of soldiers.'

He
didn't move. "Then we're done for. Run to the labyrinth. Hide. It's me
they want.'

She
found his boots, a knife, his clothes. 'I don't leave my friends behind. Get
these on. Besides, they've come for the lot of us and they won't leave until
they've torn this place apart, stone by stone. There's no point hiding unless
you know a way out.'

'I
expect I can find one.' He threw on his boots, buckled a belt around his waist,
into which he thrust the knife, and tossed his satchel over his shoulder.

Irisis
stood at the door, peering out into the dark corridor. The soldiers weren't yet
in sight. There might just be time to run down to Nish's room. No, she could
hear them coming from his direction. They'd have him already.

'You
could at least tie on a loincloth,' she snapped. 'For dignity's sake.'

He
tore a sheet off the bed and wrapped it around himself. 'At a time like this,
dignity is the least of my worries.'

'It
was my dignity I was thinking about,' she said.

'Oh!'
He smiled. 'Right. Let's go.'

She
opened the door. The corridor was now illuminated by distant lantern light, and
soldiers were advancing on them from both right and left. Past the junction of
the corridors she saw people she recognised, struggling with their captors.
Fyn-Mah went down under the weight of three men, who swiftly bound and gagged
her. One soldier sufficed to subdue the tragic little pilot, Inouye, who just
waited listlessly for her fate.

A
great roar echoed along the hall, followed by a flash and a clap of thunder.
Plaster rained down from the ceiling. It was Yggur, half-dressed and struggling
furiously. A scarlet-robed mancer collapsed screaming and holding bloody ears.
Another mancer reeled sideways, going face-first into the wall. Yggur let out
another roar and, raising his arm, swung it like a scythe at his attackers.
Black light streamed out in rippling beams and a group of soldiers fell. He
swung it the other way, hurling aside another trio of armed men.

'He's
going to do it,' she said, awed at Yggur's power.

The
remaining soldiers broke and ran, abandoning their weapons.

'To
me,' Yggur roared. 'Rally behind me. Flydd, make a—'

An
unnoticed soldier behind Yggur brought the flat of his sword down on the
mancer's head. The sword broke, but Yggur was driven to his knees. The soldier,
gasping for breath, slammed the hilt into the side of Yggur's skull. He slid to
the floor, stunned. The soldier pinioned his hands. The ones who had fled ran
back, swarming over Yggur and binding him like a moth in a spider's web.

'That's
it,' said Irisis.

'There's
still a chance,' said Flydd. 'Gilhaelith and Malien each have the power to take
on a brace of scrutators.'

'But
not all of them together.' Irisis ducked back inside Flydd's room. 'And their
mancers at the same time. There's no way out, Xervish.' The room had no window.

Flydd
was fumbling in his satchel and did not answer.

'Forget
it, Xervish,' she said. 'There's far too many of them. There's nothing you can
do.'

'Bar
the door and shut up.'

She
flung it shut, dropped the heavy bar and pushed the bed up against the door.
'What do you have in mind?' She didn't imagine he could do much, not being
fully recovered yet. 'Close your eyes. Turn your back.'

'But-'
she began, then obediently closed them and turned away. She'd been down that
road before.

'One,
two, three . . .' he said under his breath, then something cracked against the
floor.

Sound
enveloped the room, a roaring, crashing and crumbling. A piece of stone thumped
her in the side so hard that it knocked the breath out of her.

He
took her hand. 'You can look now.' The room was full of whirling dust and there
was a hole in the floor between them, large enough to have slid the bed down on
its end. She could not see what lay below.

Flydd
was already knotting the sheet and the blankets together and tying one end to a
leg of the bed. 'Go down!' he said.

Something
struck the door so hard that it shivered. Irisis grasped the blanket and slid
through the hole to the first knot, then past it to the second, and the third.
As she was dangling there her feet scraped the floor, though she still could
not see anything. The room was in darkness.

Abandoning
the makeshift rope, she sprang to one side. Flydd came sliding and bumping
after her. He hit the floor hard, clutched at his middle and she steadied him.
'Are you all right?' Just a twinge.' 'Where to now?' said Irisis. 'I'm not
sure. Feel around the walls for a door.' He found it first, opening it into
darkness. 'This way,' he whispered- "Follow me.'