Tetrarch (Well of Echoes) (64 page)

‘Look at
that
!’ The scrutator whistled.

‘Don’t!’ she said irritably. ‘You’ve got to
tell
me things.’

‘The crystal is gigantic – a perfect prism of quartz as tall as you are.’

‘Doesn’t necessarily mean it’s any good,’ she said peevishly. ‘Most crystals are useless.’

‘This one’s different. Even
I
can tell that. Let’s get to work. Find the field, quickly.’

With her pliance, Irisis saw it at once. ‘It’s weak.’ It was fluttery and hard to monitor. She was trying to get a good image of it, which proved unexpectedly difficult, when she had the strange sense of being watched from afar. How could that be, through solid rock? She rested her head on the stone, struggling to work out what was going on.

‘What’s that?’ she hissed, facing the other way.

‘What?’

‘I thought I heard something.’

‘I didn’t hear anything.’

She paced, trying to extract sense from what her ears were telling her. No, it hadn’t been a sound, rather the absence of one. ‘The pumps have stopped working.’

‘Water’s flooding into the bottom of the pit,’ said Flydd. ‘Check the field.’

She tried. ‘There
is
no field now, Xervish.’

‘There’s got to be something,
this
close to the crystal, if it is actually the node.’

‘There’s not a trace.’

‘It was there a minute ago.’

‘Well, it’s not there now –’
Thud-thud-THUD
. The pumps were working again. ‘I don’t understand. How can it be there one minute and gone the next? And … it felt as if someone was watching, but from a long way away.’

‘Maybe the enemy is watching. Maybe they sensed you and turned up their node-drainer.’

‘Is there any way to find it?’

‘They’d hide it somewhere inconspicuous. It doesn’t have to be close to the node, of course, though the closer the better.’

The pumps stopped and a whistling sound arose from low in the pit – threads of water forced through the joins of the metal sleeve. The sound became shrill, then
ping, ping, ping
.

‘What’s that?’ she whispered.

‘The bolts shearing,’ said Flydd. ‘The whole thing is failing.’

They tried to induce an aura with the reader but the node was now so dead that they could not draw the required power.

‘Now what?’ said Irisis.

‘We can’t do it when there’s no field at all. We’ll have to wait. If it comes back, even for a minute, we’ll try again. Let’s scout around and see what we can find in the meantime.’

They went up and down the tunnel, Irisis trying to visualise any kind of power seep, the scrutator searching in his own, mancer’s way. Some distance along, the tunnel was blocked by a rockfall. They turned back to the shaft.

‘This hasn’t been any use either,’ said Irisis.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ replied Jal-Nish, stepping out from behind a pillar. Golden lamplight reflected from the platinum mask. The ragged hole made in the cheekpiece by the crossbow bolt was still there. ‘Hard work pays off, if you’re patient enough.’

I
risis wanted to die. Just as well, she thought, since I’m about to do just that.

Flydd gave a mirthless laugh. ‘Good to see you again,
acting scrutator
. You’re looking well.’

‘I’ve never felt better,’ said Jal-Nish. ‘Why have you come back?’

‘To make certain of why the nodes are failing.’

Jal-Nish’s single eye narrowed. ‘And why are they?’

Don’t tell him! Irisis prayed. It’s your only bargaining chip.

‘Because the enemy is draining the field from them.’

Jal-Nish’s laugh raised hairs on the back of her neck. ‘I believe we’ve already disproved
that
one, Xervish! It’s too late; I’ve had you dismissed. You’re not scrutator any more, you’re not even a citizen. You’re
nothing
! No one will listen to a thing you say. Don’t you find that galling? You’re an invisible man, Xervish.’

‘Considering what the scrutators did to me when I was young, I have no wish to grow old among them.’

‘You could have fooled me.’

‘I
did
. It wasn’t hard. You’re a brilliant man, Jal-Nish, no question about it, but you see only what’s on the track straight in front of you.’

Jal-Nish yawned. ‘The same old flaccid wit and pointless jibes, Xervish. It’s so tiresome.’

There was a long silence, in which Irisis felt sure she could hear something ticking. Could it be the crystal? She tried to sense the field but her pliance showed her nothing.

‘But you, Irisis, I am prepared to give another chance. It was only during the previous escape that I understood what a talented woman you are. We need people like you.’

What was he talking about? The way she had used the field against that mancer on the aqueduct?

‘Take it, Irisis,’ Flydd said in a stage whisper. ‘It’s your only chance.’

‘I know what kind of a man you are, Jal-Nish,’ she said. ‘Do you think I’d give myself into your hands?’

‘You’re already in them,’ said Jal-Nish. ‘I’m not alone. How did you think I found you so quickly?’

‘No doubt you’re about to tell me,’ said Flydd. ‘You never miss a chance to demonstrate your own cleverness.’

‘And you’re any different?’ Jal-Nish snarled. ‘You don’t have a choice, Irisis. You’re coming with me anyway. But things will be easier if you come willingly.’

‘I don’t think I’ll bother,’ she said as casually as she could, taking her cue from Flydd. ‘Thanks all the same.’

Jal-Nish must have been expecting that. He snapped his fingers and she heard marching feet. ‘A squad of six soldiers, armed with crossbows,’ Flydd said in her ear. ‘And Ullii behind them.’

Of course. Ullii could see forms of power in her lattice, and people who had it. Jal-Nish would have ordered her to keep watch for them, and as soon as Xervish, or Irisis, appeared in the lattice Ullii knew where to find them. They had walked into a trap. Why hadn’t Flydd realised? Why hadn’t she?

‘This is a mistake,’ said Flydd, and now there was a note of desperation in his voice Irisis had never heard before. She hoped he was putting it on. Surely he had not come down here without a plan of escape. He’d better have, because she could think of nothing. ‘Jal-Nish –’

‘I must say I’m surprised,’ said Jal-Nish. ‘The great scrutator allowing himself into a situation where there was no way out. It’s not like you, Xervish.’

‘Only my friends call me Xervish,’ said Flydd, seeming to recover his composure.

‘And I was never
your
friend, was I, Flydd? You did your best to thwart me from the moment I became perquisitor.’

‘That’s part of the test, and those who would be scrutator must pass it on their own. You cannot buy the favour of the Council. I knew you’d rise to your level of incompetence without my assistance.’

Jal-Nish showed no sign of being nettled. ‘I expected more of you, Flydd. But then, some rise and stay up; others fail as quickly as a salmon after spawning.’

Flydd said jovially. ‘Hello, Ullii.’

The little seeker sounded just as cheerful, oblivious that she had betrayed them. ‘Hello, Xervish,’ she replied. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Oh, away,’ he said. ‘Looking at a couple of nodes that failed. Do you know what a node is?’

‘Of course. It is a place in the earth where power comes from, like the one down there. It has all sorts of fields –’

‘What do you mean,
all
sorts of fields?’ said Jal-Nish.

Ullii scuttled backwards and Irisis could hear her barely suppressed panic. Jal-Nish had terrified her even before he’d come back with the mask, and the horror beneath it.

‘Th-this node has four fields,’ she said. ‘There is the weak one you call
the field
. It is dead now – the clawers drained it all away. But there are three more fields, much more powerful. They are like walls going through each other.’

Jal-Nish gave an inarticulate cry of rage. ‘
The strong forces!
We’ve been searching for them for a hundred years. Why did you not tell me?’

Flydd chuckled. Ullii was silent. With Jal-Nish she’d learned that no answer was better than the wrong one. ‘Because you didn’t ask me,’ was definitely the wrong answer.

‘Can you see these other fields now?’ said Jal-Nish.

‘Oh yes! They’re very bright.’

‘What about you, Irisis? What’s the matter with your eyes?’

‘Silly cow blinded herself up on the aqueduct,’ said Flydd.

Jal-Nish laughed nastily. ‘The blind leading the blind. Well, Irisis?’

‘I’ve never seen anything but
the field
.’ But then she recalled that strange pattern Zoyl Aarp had seen in the aura of the Minnien node.

‘Flydd?’ said Jal-Nish.

‘I’m tempted to say yes, just to annoy you,’ said Flydd. ‘I’ve never seen them either. But if Ullii says –’

‘I know the seeker is reliable,’ Jal-Nish snapped.

‘Ullii,’ said Flydd, ‘can you see a node-drainer near here?’

Silence.

‘Well?’ cried Jal-Nish. ‘Is there such a thing, seeker?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered.

‘Where is it?’ He sounded surprised.

‘Up the tunnel, past the rockfall.’

‘Guards!’ Jal-Nish’s voice rang out. ‘Bind these two.’

Irisis waited for Flydd to attack but still he did nothing. Irisis held out her hands. Ropes were yanked tight around her wrists.

‘Bring them!’

She was led up the tunnel on a rope, Flydd’s crab-like shuffle sounding beside her. ‘We’re at the rockfall,’ he said, jerking her arm.

Irisis squatted down. The soldiers moved rubble for what seemed like a long time.

‘Nearly done,’ said Flydd in her ear.

Part of the roof fell, booming, cracking and shaking the floor beneath their feet. ‘None fell on his head,’ Flydd said regretfully.

The soldiers moved that rubble, too. An interminable wait, before Flydd went on, ‘We’re in business.’

‘Come on!’ shouted Jal-Nish.

‘Roof looks a little insecure,’ came Flydd’s amused voice. ‘Wouldn’t be in such a hurry if I were you.’

‘You’re going through first, just in case. Soldiers, keep your weapons ready. The enemy may be near.’

Flydd scrabbled across the rubble but no more rock came down. The soldiers followed. ‘Out of the way, you old fool!’ Jal-Nish pushed past him.

They continued for another twenty minutes, as near as Irisis could judge, when she heard someone gasp.

‘What is
that
?’ whispered Jal-Nish. ‘Bhan and Mord, go and see.’

Flydd’s hand gripped Irisis’s wrist so hard that it hurt. She froze. ‘What?’ she whispered. ‘What is it, Xervish?’

‘Let’s wait for Jal-Nish to tell us,’ he said softly.

Irisis felt a strange sensation, unlike anything she had experienced before. She seemed to be vibrating inside. The layers of flesh beneath her skin were shivering back and forth. Irisis put her hand on her arm and could feel movement through her skin. Her guts began to churn.

‘The very rock is in motion,’ said Jal-Nish in awe. ‘It’s creeping, and swirling, and bubbling, though it’s not hot at all. Oh, this is uncanny. I’ve never heard of such a thing.’

‘Nor the Council, either,’ Flydd said. ‘The scrutators will want to see what’s causing it, Jal-Nish, though you’re not man enough to take it back.’

‘We’ll see!’ snapped Jal-Nish.

‘What are you doing?’ Irisis whispered to Flydd.

‘Trying to save my old bag of bones, and yours,’ he muttered.

‘You have a charming turn of phrase.’

‘You four, come with me,’ said Jal-Nish to the soldiers. ‘You two, keep watch on the prisoners, especially the walking corpse. If he tries anything, hit him over the head.’

‘Jal-Nish is advancing,’ said Flydd. ‘The soldiers are just behind.’

‘Can you see the node-drainer?’

‘No.’

The vibration under her skin ceased, before beginning again in another direction. She could not get used to the feeling. Sparks flashed through her skull. Her eyes began to burn, her nasal passages to itch. Her intestines writhed in her belly, making an audible gurgle. Her stomach contracted sharply, pushing burning acid up into her throat. Was the unreality of the node-drainer slowly peeling her apart, as it had the rock?

‘What’s going to happen, Xervish?’ Her voice sounded blobby.

‘I have no idea,’ he said, though she was sure that was a lie. ‘Jal-Nish has gone up about thirty paces. It’s … foggy up there, but the fog looks like granite. I can hardly see him.’

‘I can see the node-drainer!’ came Jal-Nish’s cry. His words returned in shredded echoes.

‘What’s it like?’ called Flydd.

Like an excited child, Jal-Nish had to tell someone who would understand, even his enemy. ‘It’s … like a luminous toadstool with a hole in the top, and currents boiling out of it, filled with whirling specks like sparks from a bonfire.’

‘I’d keep well clear of it if I were you,’ shouted Flydd.

‘I’m sure
you
would!’ Jal-Nish sneered. ‘Soldiers –’ His voice was cut off.

‘What’s happened?’ said Irisis.

‘I don’t know.’

Jal-Nish’s cry rang out. ‘Just look at
that
!’