Geomancer (Well of Echoes) (44 page)

The clanker pounded on, going fast down a gentle slope. The view out the front porthole was solid grey.

‘What’s the matter?’ Nish asked, lifting Ullii’s mask so she could read his lips.

She withdrew his hand but did not let go of it. ‘I can see his pain.’

‘See his pain?’ Irisis echoed.

‘A blood-red clot in my lattice, with hooks all over it. Digging, tearing hooks. I tried to help him but underneath the red was blinding yellow. It burned.
He hates me!
’ Her back began to arch again. ‘I just wanted to be kind to him,’ she said in the voice of Irisis.

‘Dhirr doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s in too much pain,’ Irisis said with rare insight. Then, softly to Nish, ‘Maybe he’s got a latent talent for the Secret Art. Many people do and never know it. Perhaps she probed too deep and his unconscious mind hit back in self-defence.’

The clanker stopped suddenly, throwing them forward. The soldier groaned. They got out to see what the matter was. This time Ullii leapt through the hatch as Nish was about to close it.

‘It’s the front leg,’ said Ky-Ara. ‘You’ll have to pull it down again.’

‘And this time do it properly,’ scowled Jal-Nish. ‘If the beast gets away because of your incompetence …’

‘Are you suggesting that
I’m
incompetent?’ said Tuniz, standing up tall and straight and showing her filed teeth. She towered over the perquisitor.

‘No,’ he said faintly.

They went through the whole tiresome business again, but could find no fault. ‘Would you check the controller, please, Irisis?’ said Tuniz.

‘It’s one of yours, isn’t it, Irisis?’ Nish said furiously, sucking his battered fingers.

The controller proved to be the problem and Irisis had it fixed within minutes. The constant shaking had disconnected one of the controller arms from its stub.

On they went, but had only been going a few minutes when the clanker drifted to a stop.

‘What now?’ screamed Jal-Nish from the next machine. The afternoon was waning.

‘Lost the field,’ said Ky-Ara, taking off his crown-of-thorns. Getting out, he went into conference with the other operators. Everyone assembled outside.

‘Where is she now, seeker?’ said Jal-Nish.

Ullii did not hear. Nish tapped her on the shoulder. She lifted the mask and he signed for her to take the plugs out.

‘Where is Tiaan, seeker?’ Jal-Nish repeated, more loudly. The frustrations were telling on him and he was not a man to take failure well.

‘I can’t see her,’ Ullii said in a small voice.

‘Why not, damn you?’ He raised a pudgy club of a fist.

She backed away behind Nish.

‘It’s Dhirr,’ Nish interjected before Ullii could go into one of her states. ‘We think he has an undiscovered talent for the Art. He’s broadcasting his agony and it’s clouding up her seeking.’

‘Bah!’ Jal-Nish stormed up to the front of the column.

The others followed. Everyone gathered around in a straggling circle, stamping their feet to keep warm. The sky was clear now but a keen wind was blowing.

‘We’ve lost them!’ The perquisitor tore viciously at a length of sausage with his teeth.

‘They can’t be far ahead,’ said Arple. ‘There’s no snow in these tracks. We’ll catch them down below. There’s a big river there. Take care, operators; it should be frozen, but you must not go onto the ice until I’ve tested it. There may be places where a man can pass safely but a clanker would fall through.’

‘What’s the matter with the field?’ Nish asked Irisis.

‘Can’t be too serious. Ky-Ara’s on his way back, and he’s smiling.’

The operator resumed his seat. ‘I have the field,’ he called.

Jal-Nish had perked up. ‘The river is very good news. I’ve a trump set aside for just this contingency and it should be in place now.’

‘What is it?’ Arple asked.

‘You’ll see!’ Jal-Nish looked unnaturally smug. Clearly he was not going to say.

Arple called to his troops. ‘There’s no more than an hour of light left. If we’re to catch them …’

‘I’ve seen them!’ cried one of the scouts, skiing across from a lookout. ‘They’re not far. This side of the river.’

Arple issued directions in a low voice, ending, ‘Go at them, hard as you can. The perquisitor promises a
quile
of silver to anyone who takes the woman alive, and another for her crystal.’

‘And death by quartering should anyone harm her!’ Jal-Nish added. ‘So shoot over their heads, if she’s close to the beast.’

‘Advance guard, take the heavy crossbows and ski out to either side,’ Arple ordered. ‘Be ready to cut off any breakout.’

They hurled themselves in and the machines pounded down the slope. The clankers, going full speed for the first time, drew ahead of the soldiers. The slope steepened. To either side the snow had been stripped away by avalanches that terminated in untidy mounds near the river. Ullii began to make that keening sound behind them. Nish tried to see out through the front porthole but Irisis’s head was in the way.

‘What’s happening?’ he said irritably. ‘Give me a look.’

She pushed him away. ‘We’re gaining. The lyrinx is carrying her now. It’s running. I never thought any creature could go so fast. The skiers are faster though. They’re coming round on either side. They’re bold! It could tear them apart.’

Irisis fell silent. Nish tried to shove her out of the way so he could see, but she pushed back.

‘Stop that!’ snapped Ky-Ara. ‘I can’t concentrate.’

Nish withdrew sullenly. ‘Irisis?’ he whispered.

‘The lyrinx has gone in between the rocks. If it’s going to stand and fight there, it’ll be bloody. Ah, there it is again.’

There came a sharp snap above them. The clanker jerked, flinging them forward. ‘We’re firing!’ said Nish. ‘Can you see?’

‘I’ve lost sight of it. That was close! The ball smashed the top of a boulder to splinters. I wouldn’t like to be standing next to that!’

The threaded rods of the catapult whirred as the shooter wound it back to reload. Another clanker fired. ‘Just to the left of the beast!’ cried Irisis. ‘They’re taking a risk.’

‘Better she’s dead than helping the enemy.’

Tiaan and Ryll had spent all day, and a good part of the next, crossing a vast plateau dotted with boulders that protruded through the drifts from the great blizzard. There had been no landslides up here. Tiaan was alert for a chance to escape but it never came. Ryll watched her ceaselessly and he could walk as fast as she could run.

Around the middle of their second day, he stopped so Tiaan could eat. Having no need for food, he climbed onto a boulder to keep watch. He spent a lot of time doing that. The sun came out brightly. His eyes began to water, even after he closed them to slits. For a moment he seemed confused. Did the lyrinx have a weakness?

Tiaan unwrapped a packet of rice balls. Threads of grey mould webbed the surface and the interior too. She bit into the ball. There was no food to waste. Tiaan was used to indifferent food – the only times she’d eaten well had been when she’d visited her mother.

The rice ball smelled bad inside and made her stomach heave. Tiaan began on a piece of jerked meat. It reminded her of the conversation about eating human flesh. Her jaws ached; the soggy texture repulsed her. Suddenly the whole idea of eating meat was nauseating. She spat it on the ground. No doubt Ryll would find that equally incomprehensible. Tiaan pushed it under the snow with her boot.

They set off but Tiaan began to fall behind. The lyrinx kept up a pace that would have been difficult to meet when fit, and she now felt decidedly uncomfortable. Her stomach began to bubble like a witch’s cooking pot; the revolting taste kept rising up her throat. Plodding on, head down and in misery, her lunch came rushing up without warning.

Afterwards she felt no better. A sharp pain crept down her bowel; she had to concentrate hard not to soil herself. The lyrinx was staring at her as if committing everything she did to memory. Maybe he was; Ryll was a keen student of humanity.

Another spasm doubled Tiaan over. As she was washing her mouth out, the lyrinx squatted beside her.

‘Is this a common difficulty with humans?’

‘The food is bad,’ she gasped, wiping tears from her eyes.

He opened her rations, sniffed everything and tasted a mouldy rice ball. ‘It would not harm me.’

‘Well, you’re tougher than I am!’ she snapped. Tiaan pretended that it was just a passing illness. If he knew how bad she felt, he might eat her.

They set off again but within half a league Tiaan was forced to stop. She went behind a rock, which eased the pain in her intestines somewhat. She’d just come out and was miserably contemplating her pack when Ryll sprang from his watch boulder and bound her wrists with a strip of leather before she realised what was going on. Swinging her onto his shoulders, he put the pack under his arm and ran.

His strength was phenomenal – he ran in great, thudding strides, much faster than Tiaan could ever have sprinted.

‘What are you doing?’ she cried, struggling helplessly.

He made no reply but as they went over a rise she saw the dark shapes of soldiers against the snow, well back.

Ryll increased his pace. The soldiers began to fall behind. He ran for half an hour, as near as she could judge, before stopping on a gentle hill dotted with boulders and springing up on one.

Thud-thud, thud-thud
, a sound Tiaan knew very well. Over the rise behind them came the blunt snout of a clanker, its mechanical feet pounding rhythmically. Another appeared to one side of it, and a third. Then the soldiers, at least thirty.

Such a force would easily kill a single lyrinx, especially a flightless one such as Ryll. A clanker was better armed and armoured, and could go full speed for as long as the field allowed it to. Its weapons included the catapult and also a javelard that could send a heavy spear in one side of a lyrinx and out the other.

Snatching her from the rock, Ryll bounded off, but before they’d gone far he let out a roar and threw himself to one side. Tiaan fell, breaking through the crust into grainy snow. The impact winded her. A long spear stuck, quivering, in the ground some way ahead. It had gone straight over their heads.

Tiaan scrambled to her feet. Her belly felt no better. Was this her chance to get away? She tried to run for it but the lyrinx struck her behind the knees with one leg. She went face first into the snow. Another spear shattered against the rock to her right.

Ryll ran with her, taking advantage of what cover there was. An occasional glimpse showed the racing clankers, the shooters on top frantically cranking their javelards. The spears were no longer than an infantryman’s javelin but thicker, with a head of hardened steel. Propelled by a mechanism like a giant crossbow they would destroy any living thing they hit.

The lyrinx was moving as fast as a trotting horse, the breath whistling in and out of his lungs. His grip threatened to force what remained in Tiaan’s belly out either end. She could hardly breathe. Her eyes were watering and freezing on her cheeks.

Ryll began to outpace the clankers, which were slower in this rocky country. Another spear was fired but it fell well behind. However, after a further half-hour of full-speed running, Ryll stopped and bent over, gasping. For an instant she saw panic in his eyes.

He continued, plunging down the edge of the great dome they’d been crossing for the past two days. The slope steepened below them and was scored with the paths of avalanches. The clankers had spread out, while soldiers on skis were curving round on either flank. Ryll could only go directly forward. If he turned, he must be killed. Already the clankers were drawing closer and would soon be within firing distance. There was no escape.

Tiaan considered what would happen when they killed him, as they must. If they judged her a collaborator they might execute her on the spot, or take her back to the breeding factory. She’d rather die.

They headed down the steepening slope. Ryll sprang onto one of the slides, here stripped of its snow cover, taking reckless leaps that had the snow slipping underneath his feet. A misstep at this speed and they were both dead.

Crack! A ball of rock exploded against a boulder to Tiaan’s right, peppering them with shrapnel. The lyrinx yelped, rubbing one eye with his free hand. His feet slipped on ice and he nearly went down. Tiaan shrieked.

Ryll recovered and ran harder. Another ball went over their heads, neatly taking the cap of snow off a tall boulder ahead. The lyrinx darted left, weaving among the rocks. In their cover he set her down to catch his breath. Their eyes met. She could not read his expression.

The clankers were coming down the slope in three prongs, the advance guard now speeding ahead on their skis. Only minutes left. Why did Ryll not abandon her?

Below, the slope was an obstacle course of boulders, torn-up trees and avalanche mounds, treacherous conditions that would be impossible to run through, though a few strands of undisturbed snow wound between the avalanches. There the crust would be hard enough to move on. Beyond, a gentle rise concealed what lay ahead. Down to their left it looked like a frozen river.

Another ball splintered a solitary tree ahead of them. Ryll took off with Tiaan under his left arm. This was difficult terrain for a clanker. He scooted along a ribbon of snow between the debris. They crested the rise and ahead lay a broad, winding river, iced over except for necklace beads of dark water along the centre. Beyond, Tiaan could see another snow-covered dome. There was nowhere to hide and the clankers must catch Ryll as he laboured up the slope. Wherever he went, the machines would run him down. She kept hearing Minis’s cry,
Tiaan, Tiaan, why have you forsaken me
?

The day was fading. Darkness could not come too soon. The lyrinx kept going. She had to admire Ryll’s courage. They went over a second rise and the expanse of the river stretched before them. With a guttural cry Ryll skidded to a stop.

Below, on the ice at the other side of the river, stood a fourth clanker and ten more soldiers, five in a curving line on either side. The loaded catapult was aimed directly at them. Suddenly the ball was not there. Something whined over their heads to embed itself behind them. A cloud of snow drifted on the breeze.