Geomancer

T HIRTY

Jal-Nish drove them hard for what remained of the day and most of the night. The field was strong here but the country unknown, so they crept along under the light of a single flare. That was risky but Jal-Nish dared not stop. The clanker operators were issued with spicy nigah leaf, to keep them awake. The army sometimes used the drug to combat cold and fatigue. Everyone was on edge, knowing how vulnerable they were. Half a dozen lyrinx, attacking from the darkness, could slaughter them all.

Just after dawn, most of the way across a domed plateau, the hunt again came upon tracks in the snow.

'It's them!' shouted one of the soldiers.

'I can't see anything.' Gi-Had was up on the shooter's platform, staring through a spyglass, when Nish and Irisis scrambled out.

Jal-Nish squatted to examine the smaller prints. 'It's Tiaan's boot all right. I don't understand it. It's as if she's going willingly.'

Arple inspected the evidence, stroking his scarred lip. 'If you can tell that from a bootprint you're a damn sight better tracker than I'll ever be.'

'She hasn't run away!' Jal-Nish said.

'Would you run from a creature three times as big and twice as fast? If I were her, I'd do exactly as it told me.'

'That's why you're a sergeant in the Tiksi garrison rather than a general at the front,' Jal-Nish sneered.

Arple reared up before him. 'Have you ever fought a lyrinx, perquisitor?'

'No.' Jal-Nish drew back.

'Then shut up before you make a fool of yourself. You don't know what you're talking about, and if there's one thing I despise it's the ass that flaps his mouth from the safety of an armchair. I've seen hundreds of my boys dead at the hands of lyrinx, perquisitor. Dead and eaten! Better men than you'll ever be, just fighting for their families and their country. Don't talk to me about lyrinx. Don't tell me my job. And don't sneer at my courage until you've proven your own.' He stalked away, head held high.

Gi-Had said quietly, 'He may be only a sergeant, surr, but Arple's been up north fighting lyrinx for fifteen years. He's killed five of the beasts, two all by himself, and that makes him as tough a man as you'll ever meet.'

The column moved off at a faster pace, following the marks in the snow. The soldiers had skis on now, since the way ahead was flat. Irisis chuckled.

'What's so funny?' Nish asked.

'It's good to see someone get the better of your father. He's such a hypocrite.'

Nish had enjoyed the sight too, though family loyalty would not allow him to show it. 'It remains to be seen if Arple has got the better of him. My father is a ferocious enemy.'

Up the front, metal screamed and the machine shuddered to a stop. 'That doesn't sound good,' said Irisis.

Nish got out. 'What's wrong?' he asked Pur-Did, who was squatting by the front leg.

'Rod's jammed, I'd say. You'll have to pull it down.'

Nish cursed. It would be a hideous job in the freezing conditions and he would not be able to wear gloves.

Tuniz and Nish spent an hour and a half taking the leg apart. It proved the very devil of a job and when it was stripped down they could find nothing the matter with it. Tuniz sat back on her haunches, sucking a skinned knuckle. 'Well, this is a puzzle,' she grinned.

Nish repaid it with a scowl. 'You're awfully cheerful about it, senior artificer.'

'Tuniz, please. I hate titles. Things generally go easier if you can have a laugh.'

Nish found that he liked working with her. 'You're from Crandor, aren't you? How did you end up so far from home?' She had been at the manufactory for nearly a year but he knew nothing about her.

'Let's put the leg back together, eh?' She talked as she worked. 'Yes, I'm from Roros, one of the biggest cities of Crandor. My man was an artificer with the navy. I hadn't seen him in three years, and the children…' She broke off, wrestling with a rod that did not want to go into its socket.

Nish steadied the mechanism. 'How many children do you have?'

She bit her lip. 'Two boys and a girl: seven, five and four years old. News came that my man was lost. His ship ran aground, down the coast from Tiksi. Then I heard he wasn't lost, but captured by the enemy. The army wasn't going to do anything, so I came after him.'

'How did you get permission?' Nish asked.

'I… didn't. I left the children with their grandparents and stowed away.' Her brown eyes met his. 'I was too late. My man had been eaten. I tried to get home, but with the war, and no papers…' She paused. 'I had to turn myself in, and this manufactory needed a senior artificer, so I was sent here.'

'You must miss your children.'

'I never stop thinking about them. Or my man.' All the cheer was gone. 'Let's get this finished.'

The reassembled leg worked and they continued. Nish's frozen hands had lost skin in a dozen places.

'I hate being an artificer at times like this,' he said to Irisis, just as his father walked by.

'It might be different if you put a bit of effort into it,' Jal-Nish said frigidly.

They kept on going, faster than before. As the clanker hit a bump, a gasp escaped from the injured Dhirr. His eyes fluttered open then closed. Irisis nudged Nish in the ribs. He looked around. 'What?'

Ullii was staring at Dhirr, her back arched like a cat confronting a snake.

'What is it, Ullii?' said Nish.

She backed away from the injured man until her elbow struck the metal side of the clanker. Looking around wildly, she lifted the earmuffs and forced in her wax plugs. Taking the goggles off, she stared at Dhirr. With undue haste she put the mask on over the goggles and reached blindly for Nish's hand. He put it in hers. She pressed it hard against her nose, which appeared to calm her.

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.

Ryll sprang onto the terminus of an avalanche. Bounding recklessly from one ice-covered boulder to the next, he let out wild roars of defiance. One false step meant the end. She could sense the thrill of peril, of him pitting his strength against them all.

He took four great leaps, one after another, skidding, claws scrabbling for a grip, teetering, steadying, the great thigh muscles driving him on. Three times Tiaan thought he was going to fall and crush her. Three times he just made it. Across the river the soldiers were frantically regrouping. With a last bound he made it down off the toe of the avalanche and raced toward the river.

Ryll almost got across. He would have, had not one of the following clankers hurtled down the slope just as recklessly, and found a clear passage to the river well downstream. Ignoring Arple's instruction, it was already ploughing across the snow-covered ice.

Emitting a deafening war cry, Ryll ran onto the ice. The surface was slippery; wind had blown the loose snow away. The clankers were not so encumbered. They converged from four directions, blocking any escape. Making a superhuman effort, Ryll gained the middle of the ice. It was not enough. They were surrounded.

The clanker bounced and jerked on uneven ground. Their headlong passage slowed. 'Can you still see them?' cried Nish.

'Just now and then,' Irisis replied. 'The lyrinx is weaving through the boulders. We'll have to go round. Ah, it's a bad place for an ambush. I can't see the beast. There it is – it's out the other side – it's got her under its arm. The lyrinx is really flying now. It's going down a track between the avalanches – too narrow for us.'

Nish was practically jumping up and down. 'Let me see, you selfish tart!'

Irisis held him away. 'Stop it! You're upsetting the operator.' She turned back to the porthole. Her voice had gone flat. 'It's getting away. It's up on the avalanche, bounding from rock to rock. It's like a mountain goat,' she said with a trace of admiration. 'The only chance is to get it with a spear.'

'Our shooter is loading one now,' said Nish. 'I can hear the ratchet going.' He knew the sound intimately; one of his principal jobs as artificer was to adjust and repair the javelard, which could shoot a heavy spear a third of a league. It was deadly accurate in the hands of a skilled operator, though not from a moving clanker. Especially not on uneven ground.

A bell rang in front of the operator. The clanker stopped. The sighting mechanism creaked above them. Crack! Again the clanker jerked, though not as hard as when the catapult had fired. They moved off again. It was snowing. The wind intensified, whirling the flakes about. The weather was turning bad.

'Any luck?' cried Nish.

'No. We're too late; it's nearly to the ice…'

Her voice trailed away. Perhaps she was thinking through the consequences of failure, for them. Nish certainly was.

'It's on the river. The ice must be thin; I can see patches of water. Arple will never risk the clankers out there.'

'We've lost,' Nish said dully.

'Oh!' Irisis exclaimed. 'Brilliant. Your father did have a trump after all. Oh, yes!'

'What?' he said frantically.

'There's another clanker coming down the far side of the river, with a squad of soldiers. He must have sent them out secretly, before the blizzard, just in case.'

'A lucky guess!' Nish felt miffed that, after all, the success would be his father's.

'Maybe. The lyrinx would have had to cross this river somewhere. From a high place they could have seen our flares in the night. Plenty of time to get into position.'

'The beast has stopped,' Irisis continued in a low voice. 'It knows it can't get away.'

The clanker stopped too. 'Are we close?' Nish was practically screaming with frustration.

'Just at the edge of the river.'

Pulling the hatch up, he leapt out. Ullii, who had been silent during the long chase, let out a wailing cry and snatched at his hand, but too late. Irisis went after him. Ullii crept out too. The light was fading; snow began to fall more heavily. Jal-Nish was making hand-signals to the fourth clanker.

'I'm not sure this is a good idea,' said Irisis, stumbling on blocky ice.

'It's a lousy one.' Nish kept going. 'But I'm not going to cower inside after all we've been through. I want to see it taken.'

'Tiaan isn't even running,' said Irisis. 'Maybe she was the spy after all.'

'I'll have none of that talk,' grated Gi-Had, peering through his spyglass. 'Her hands are tied!'

'She's more afraid of us than of it.' A rare interjection from Ullii, beside Nish.

Only Nish heard, but he was too distracted to notice. The wind drifted clouds of snow across the ice. Nish could hear it howling through the rods and wires of the javelard. He shivered. It was going to be a miserable night, whatever happened.

In a movement too fast to see, the lyrinx pulled Tiaan up before its chest. Gi-Had called out to it to surrender. It did not move.

'What are we going to do?' said Nish. 'If we fire, Tiaan will surely die.'

'I want her alive,' grated Jal-Nish. He called Fyn-Mah over. 'Is there anything we can do?'

'Not at this distance,' the querist said. 'Besides, there's people watching. The Secret…'

'Damn the rules! Try!'

The querist shrugged then made a circle of her fingers and sighted through it. She whistled between her teeth, her black hair stood up and a globe of mist condensed in the air several paces in front of her.

Ullii screamed as there came a clap like two shields being struck together. A cloud of loose snow was kicked up to the right of the lyrinx. A roar echoed back and, as if hit by a fist of compressed air, Fyn-Mah was tossed off her feet.

Nish helped her up. The querist's lip was bleeding. 'It's too strong,' she mumbled, cross-eyed. 'Reflected it back.'

Irisis was staring at her pliance, which momentarily glowed a baleful green before fading.

'What is it?' Nish said.

'I have no idea, but something just activated my pliance and I saw the field as clear as day, streaming out in all directions.'

'Was it the beast or Tiaan's crystal?' Jal-Nish demanded.

'I don't know,' said Fyn-Mah, 'but the lyrinx is strong in the Art. Too strong for me.'

Irisis was pleased at the admission. The snooty querist was not as capable as she made out. 'We want the crystal too,' Irisis reminded them.

Jal-Nish gave her a considered glance. 'Indeed we do, but we want Tiaan more. I'll have the head of anyone that harms her. If the beast doesn't surrender, Arple, fire when I say the word. For its legs.'

'What if you hit Tiaan?' said Gi-Had.

'She doesn't need legs to be an artisan.' Ryll stopped midway between two beads of clear water. The ice was thinner here. Tiaan felt it bow beneath their weight.

'Release the prisoner, lyrinx!' screamed Gi-Had. 'Hold your arms high.'

Ryll clutched Tiaan to his chest. She could feel his muscles quivering. 'Shoot me and she dies,' he roared back.

Tiaan looked from one clanker to another. Their javelards seemed to be pointing directly at her. But surely… surely they were not shooting at her.

'Fire!' snapped Jal-Nish.

The revelation struck her. If they could not get her back, they would kill her rather than allow her talents to be used by the enemy.

The clankers fired. They were trying to kill her. Ryll moved so fast that she had no idea what had happened. They went head first into the water. The shock was so great that Tiaan felt her heart stop beating. Her lungs went into spasm. It was as if she had been buried in ice.