Geomancer

T HIRTY -S IX

They arrived in position just as a slate-grey dawn broke. The wind was shrieking but they found a relatively protected north face. Rustina paced back and forth, scanning the cliffs for a suitable place to climb.

'Here, I think!' She placed her gloved hand on the layered rock.

A flurry of snow whirled up the gully like a miniature tornado. Irisis watched the white flakes spin. Obsessed with the crystal now, she dreamed about it every night, and in her waking moments fantasised that it would give her back her talent.

The rest of the squad were carrying enormous packs, which they placed at the base of the cliff. Rustina motioned them away. 'No, over there! Move it well back! If we're discovered they could wipe us out with a few boulders.'

Soon they were ready. Irisis turned her back to the wind and watched. The first two climbers received their final instructions. Both were like Rustina: tall, lean and long-limbed. They wore clawed, retractable spikes strapped to wrists and boot toes. Each carried an ice axe spiked on one end, and a small pack. A length of rope connected them.

Rustina clapped each on the shoulder and up they went, climbing with surprising swiftness, using crevices Irisis could not see. They looked like four-armed spiders creeping across the stone. Soon they disappeared into the blasting snow.

Jal-Nish stood with his arms folded. Arple was some distance away, as rigid as if on parade. Blown snow had caked in his furrowed upper lip. More than ever it seemed like a second mouth. Rustina strode back and forth, red hair flying, thin lips tight. The minutes ticked into an hour. They heard no sound, not that anything could be heard over the wind. The sergeant muttered to herself. Jal-Nish began pacing nervously, casting anxious glances up. Arple still had not moved.

With a squeal of metal on stone something bounced off the rock above him. Landing with another scrape, it pushed off and came down another couple of spans. It was one of the climbers, bounding on a rope. His feet struck the ground.

'All's well so far,' he said, beaming. 'No sign of them. We've set up, up top.'

Jal-Nish came running across. 'And the weather?'

'Wonderful!' The climber gave a fierce grin. His gums were stained bright yellow from chewing nigah leaf, which dulled the senses to cold. Rustina had issued rations of it to her troop, though she did not take any for herself. 'It's blowing a gale, surr. Visibility no more than twenty steps.'

'You saw no tracks, no path?'

'No, surr!' By way of emphasis he spat a yellow gob on the snow.

'And the clankers?'

The climber scratched his head and spoke briefly to Rustina. She nodded.

'I believe it's possible, surr.' They went into a huddle. Irisis did not hear the rest. Soon after they broke up.

'Get your troops up, sergeant,' Jal-Nish said. 'Quick as you can! Put the defences in place and set up the lifts. Arple, send for the camp and the clankers. We're going to take them up.'

Arple looked dubious but rapped out his orders and a soldier skied off to the camp. Rustina's troops brought the strapped bundles of rods out from under an overhang. They had been bound to the top of the fourth clanker. Irisis had often wondered what they were for. They also carried bags with pulleys, clamps, coils of rope and other equipment. Rustina went back and forth, carrying loads the equal of the strongest soldiers. She drove herself the hardest of all. Finally, the rest of her squad donned their packs and went up the cliff, using the rope.

Irisis sat on a rock. The troops were well drilled and there was nothing she could do to help. How were they going to get the clankers up there? It seemed like madness, in this gale, especially after the fiasco that had killed Dhirr.

Soon the rope jerked. Rustina signalled back and the troops tied on the bags and bundles of equipment, which were lifted with no more than an occasional clink of metal against the yellow cliff. The rope came back down. The remaining soldiers were hauled up, Rustina last of all.

Jal-Nish stood back, looking anxiously around. They were particularly vulnerable now, if the weather cleared or a scouting party ran into them down here, with Arple the only trained soldier to protect them. Even the eleven above would have trouble with a pair of lyrinx. If there were more, they would be annihilated.

A couple of hours went by before the soldier returned, skis whispering on the snow. The others followed. They gathered around in their ranks, were briefed and hauled up in a rope chair.

Arple went with them to inspect the defences. Shortly the first of the clankers came clunking along, followed by the others. Heavier ropes were taken up, then Artificer Tuniz, anxiously showing her pointed teeth.

Nish wandered across. 'What's going on?'

'Most of the troops are atop,' Irisis said. 'They're setting up a structure to lift the clankers.'

'They're mad!'

'Well, you'd know, being an artificer.'

'Tuniz is a better one, fortunately.'

Tuniz reappeared, lowered in the chair, and began issuing orders. The first clanker was moved into position and tied fore and aft. She signalled with the original rope.

The haul ropes went taut and without any apparent effort the clanker lifted off the snow and began to rise upwards, to disappear in the thickening snow.

'How?' began Nish.

'I've no idea.'

It turned out to be brilliantly simple. The rope at the top passed over a series of pulleys held up by a frame made from the rods, and down over another frame and pulley. The other end of the rope was tied to a boulder which acted as a counterweight. Another structure of ropes and pulleys enabled soldiers to brake the boulder's descent.

The boulder struck the ground. Tuniz waited for the signal that the clanker was on solid earth, checked and had it confirmed, then untied the rope. The end went up, the other ropes came down and were tied around the second clanker, which was lifted with another boulder. And so it went on.

'There you are,' crowed Jal-Nish as the last clanker, with Ullii still inside, rose smoothly into the air. 'It's all gone perfectly. That's what happens when you do things yourself.'

Irisis held her breath and stepped well back. If anything would call the wrath of fortune down on them it was statements like that. However, the signal soon came that everything was all right.

'Perfect,' said Jal-Nish. It was only mid-afternoon. 'We'll camp up top, send out our scouts and prepare to move in the night. As soon as we find them, we'll strike with everything we've got. I want to see waterfalls of lyrinx blood. No one will get away this time.'

'What about Tiaan?' said Irisis.

'I'm working on a plan,' he said smugly, wanting them to ask so he could have the pleasure of refusing to answer.

Irisis said nothing, nor did Nish. They went up in the chair. The wind was blowing off the plateau, reducing visibility to a few paces. They ate their fill of cold food and tried to sleep. Irisis was woken in the night by a hard hand on her shoulder, a soldier she did not recognise. 'We've found them. We're going in twenty minutes, artisan.'

Irisis had slept in her clothes, so it only took a minute to pull on her icy boots and she was ready. She chewed on a strip of smoked fish. The others were gathered in a space between large boulders, where they dared a little light.

'They're here,' said Arple, drawing a chart in the snow with the tip of his knife. 'A collection of linked snilau.'

'What's a snilau?' Irisis asked.

'An ice house – igloo! There aren't many; the scouts guess at around ten lyrinx.'

'Still a formidable force, even with our clankers,' said Rustina, gnawing on a raw potato.

'But some may be children. We'll attack at dawn, bombarding the snilau with rocks from our catapults. With luck we may kill half of them in their sleep.'

'And maybe Tiaan too,' said Nish.

'I've a plan for her,' Jal-Nish said. 'Move out!'

The soldiers went ahead on skis. The passengers withdrew into the clankers, which moved off slowly, to make as little noise as possible. That was not such a risk, with the wind positively howling in their faces, but a lyrinx patrol could be anywhere.

They sat in silence for most of the journey. The clanker was frigid, since they'd had no fire to warm the heatboxes. Sometimes a furious gust would rock it on its sturdy legs. Ullii had been consulted several times, to ensure Tiaan was at the snilau. Her directions always confirmed the scouts' advice.

Ullii became increasingly edgy as they approached. Unable to sit still for a minute, she moved forward, then back, swayed from side to side, twitched her legs, rapped her knees with her knuckles, flexed her fingers and toes. The closer they got the more anxious she appeared. Peering through the porthole into the darkness, she turned to Nish and her eyes were wide.

'It's horrible!' she whispered.

'What?' Nish stroked her hand. Irisis shot him a dirty look.

'It's horrible!' Ullii shuddered.

It was dark in the clanker and the seeker was not wearing her mask. Occasionally Irisis caught a gleam from her owl eyes.

'After tonight, nothing will ever be the same again,' Nish said soberly.

Irisis wished he had not spoken. What would happen when they got Tiaan back? Whatever it was, Irisis knew she would not be returning to her safe artisan's position at the manufactory. Her stupid assault on Jal-Nish had ended those hopes forever. Why had she done it? Could it be that she cared for the little seeker? Or had it just been black despair, a kind of death wish?

The clanker stopped and someone opened the hatch from outside. 'We're in position,' Arple's voice issued from the darkness. 'It's just coming dawn. Ready?'

Irisis jumped out, easing her sword in its scabbard. At the telltale scrape Arple said, 'I'd advise you to keep well back, artisan. Leave the fighting to them as knows how.'

'I've done my training,' she said. 'I'll not stand by when there's work to be done. Besides…'

'Yes?' He turned back.

'I have no future, sergeant, after the other day. Unless we get back the crystal. And maybe not even then…'

'Aye,' he said. 'Nor I. Still, we do what we must.' Dawn broke. It was still blowing but the snow had stopped during the night. 'There!' said Arple, standing at Irisis's shoulder.

By straining her eyes where he pointed she could just make out the curving shapes of the ice houses, white against white. One of the scouts came running. 'We ran into one of their sentries, over east. It must have been coming back from watch. We hurt it bad, but it killed Marti.'

'Where is the beast now?'

'Back there about a league. We toppled it down into a gully, but lost it in the snow. It's got a great gash in the leg.'

'Can it walk?'

'Only stagger, surr.'

'Keep watch. We'll leave it for the moment. I want everyone for the assault on the ice houses. We'd better attack right away, in case it has some way of sending a signal.'

'First we find the artisan, alive,' Jal-Nish said nasally. He was having trouble breathing through his crushed nose.

'No one could guarantee that, surr,' said Arple. 'We don't know where she is.'

'We soon will. Seeker, get out here!'

Ullii emerged warily from the clanker.

'Where is the artisan and her crystal?'

Ullii pointed towards the snilau.

'Which one, seeker?' Jal-Nish said patiently. Now that things were going to plan he had gained control of his temper.

Ullii looked panicky. Nish gave her his hand to sniff. She gulped, then steadied on her feet. 'I… I can't tell.' She braced herself as if expecting a blow.

Nish ran across to Fyn-Mah and whispered in her ear. They came back together.

'Ullii,' Fyn-Mah said in her pleasant voice, 'I have here a map of the snilau.'

Ullii looked down at the slate, which showed the ice houses in a spiral pattern. She smiled. 'It's like a snail. I like snails; they know how to hide.'

'Can you see any of the lyrinx?' Nish asked softly.

'Of course,' Ullii said brightly. 'I can see all of them.'

'What?' cried Jal-Nish. 'Why didn't you say so?'

'Because no one…' She broke off. That had been the wrong answer last time.

Arple pushed through the throng gathered around her. The tough sergeant went to one knee before her. 'Seeker, it will save many lives if you can tell us where the enemy are. Please try.'

She closed her eyes behind the goggles, then walked along the ridge, turned, looked down to the ice houses and came back.

'There are fourteen lyrinx.' Her voice was barely audible. 'Five here; three here; two here; three here; one here.' In turn she pointed to five of the outside snilau.

'More than we thought,' said Arple. 'I don't like the odds, surr.'

'Then you'd better make sure of them with the catapults.'

'And Tiaan?' asked Arple of Ullii.

'She is in the big one in the middle.'

'That's wonderful!' Arple ran to the clankers to give orders.

'See that she is not harmed or I'll be taking heads,' Jal-Nish growled.

'Ready?' Arple called to the shooters. Each had his catapult loaded with a round ball of stone and two more beside it. They signed that they were. 'Rustina, take your troops out and around the left side to cut off any escape. We'll fire in three minutes. After the third firing, attack the ice house in the centre. You are to take Tiaan alive, and her crystal, before anything else. Go!'

Rustina saluted and her squad skied down the slope. The other troops were given their orders, and they too moved out. Irisis could hear Arple counting under his breath. 'Ready?' he called to the shooters. 'Fire on four!'

He lifted his arm, beat it up and down three times, then slashed it down. 'Fire!'

The catapults went off as one. The clankers jerked. The shooters wound their handles frantically. 'Fire at will,' yelled Arple.

Irisis saw splashes of snow where the balls had landed. Two had missed, though not by much. One had definitely hit the nearest snilau and the other may have. It was hard to tell, everything being white.

The catapults fired again, one, then two together, then a long pause to the last. 'Hurry it up, damn it,' cried Jal-Nish.

Three hits this time, including the last, which appeared to have demolished most of the end ice house.

'Good work!' said Arple. 'Now the third! Remember, keep clear of the ice house in the middle!'

They fired their third missiles but this time Irisis could see nothing though the clouds of snow.

'Two more hits!' said Arple, peering through a spyglass. 'I can see something staggering about. A lyrinx. Looks like it's lost a leg. Ready your javelards!' yelled Arple. 'Move! Find the artisan.'

Irisis jumped in. The four clankers raced down the slope. The terrain was bumpy; they bounced and thudded all the way.

'What's happening?' she said, for Nish was hogging the line of the view hole.

'Rustina's troops are just reaching the ice houses,' Nish said. 'I can see three lyrinx now…'

'What?' cried Irisis, for he had fallen silent.

He took a long while to answer, and she heard his amusement, getting his own back on her. Irisis, in no mood for it, jabbed him in the ribs. 'A flurry of snow,' Nish said. 'I can't see anything.'

The clanker roared around in a wide circle before stopping abruptly. They could hear fighting over the wind – the bellowing of lyrinx, the clash of sword on armoured skin, screams of agony – some human, others not. Irisis leapt out.

'Where are you going?' yelled Nish.

'After the crystal. Stay here. Look after Ullii.'

'But…' Nish began.

'Someone's got to guard her, and the clanker. And who's to say you won't be in more danger than I am?'

That was true enough. Anything might happen. Somebody had given Nish a short sword, which he drew. He was competent in the weapon, for a civilian. Few people were not, in these times, though he had not handled one in ages. He'd neglected his practice, working so hard at being an artificer. Nish regretted that now.

It was hard to see. The wind had come up with the dawn and the air was full of drifting snow. Nish climbed onto the clanker, next to the shooter, Pur-Did, whose javelard was aimed at the ice houses some thirty or forty paces away. Too close, Nish thought. A lyrinx could cross that distance in a few seconds.

He caught sight of a squad of soldiers hacking at the blocked entrance of the central snilau. Good, Nish thought. This will soon be over and we can go home.

A wild melee began outside the right-hand snilau, whose roof had collapsed. Two lyrinx were fighting five or six soldiers who had discarded their skis and were attempting to trap the enemy against the wall. They were handicapped by the deep snow.

The lyrinx went backwards, not seeming to defend themselves. 'They don't appear as tough as I've been told,' said Nish. 'They…'

One lyrinx did a backward somersault, landed on the rubble of ice blocks and, in a series of movements too quick to follow, hurled blocks the size of sheep at three of his opponents. One ducked, receiving only a blow on the shoulder. The other two, struck in the middle, went down.

The second lyrinx leapt among the other three and with quick swipes sent two of them flying. Blood sprayed through the air. The last man on his feet back-pedalled and began to run. The lyrinx hurled one of the bodies at him, bringing him down. The soldier stuck the lyrinx with his sword as it came for him, but it did not stop the creature.

The other had already finished off his three opponents. Nish felt sick. Six soldiers dead and it had taken only a minute. As the second lyrinx straightened up, the javelard snapped. The missile went through the lyrinx's chest and out the other side. It fell among the bodies.

The other lyrinx looked up. Pur-Did furiously cranked his winder but the beast, after a swift look at them, ran towards the central ice house.

'After him!' Nish called down through the hatch.

'My orders are to remain here unless one gets away with the artisan,' said Ky-Ara.

A wild gust raced across the plateau, carrying a cloud of snow. Within seconds Nish could not even see the ground. Wiping snow grit out of his face, he caught the eye of the shooter, who was doing the same.

'Nice day for it,' the man said cheerfully, sucking air through his warty nostrils.

'Yeah! And in a minute we might all be dead, with our guts trailing over the snow.'

'Could do.' Pur-Did brushed snow out of his javelard, making sure that nothing could foul the mechanism.

The cloud thinned. Nish scanned the area for enemies. A wild struggle was going on between the ice houses. He looked the other way, in case a lyrinx had sneaked around behind them. Half a dozen soldiers had what appeared to be a very pregnant lyrinx down on her knees, and as he watched they ran her through. Two infants were despatched just as ruthlessly, their heads completely severed from their bodies. The mother gave an agonised scream, then she too was beheaded. Nish could not watch.