‘How is waking it going to advantage us?’ said Yggur. ‘We can’t know what the amplimet will do, so how can we know where to attack Nennifer?’
‘We’ll have to be ready to take advantage of whatever opportunity comes our way,’ said Flydd.
‘That’s not good enough,’ said Yggur. ‘Even if the amplimet were to disable every sentinel and device in Nennifer, there will still be seven hundred guards to deal with. We can’t fight our way in.’
‘We’ve got to have a clear and specific plan.’ Klarm scratched his belly. ‘Would it be possible to direct the amplimet, so it creates an opportunity we can use?’
‘I’m reluctant to do that,’ said Malien.
‘Why?’
‘It … I’m afraid it might try to take control of me.’
There was a long silence. Xervish Flydd finally broke it. ‘Is there something you aren’t telling us?’
Malien looked anywhere but at him. It was the first time Irisis had seen her at a disadvantage.
‘Malien?’ said Yggur.
‘The one found on Aachan got out of control,’ she said with evident reluctance. ‘Whole clans were wiped out in a great cataclysm, though whether it was caused by the amplimet, or the clans fighting over it, no one will say.’
‘But you’re afraid it was the amplimet?’
‘I’m very afraid. That a crystal – an inanimate lump of rock – should communicate with a node is an abomination. This one has already woken once, so what does it want?’
‘A serious question,’ said Flydd, ‘though not one we can answer. We must rely on our own judgment, and I say we use the amplimet. What’s our alternative? Only to run away and hide until the Council’s incompetence finally brings our world to an end.’
‘How can an inanimate piece of crystal want anything?’ said Nish. ‘It’s absurd.’
‘How can it communicate with a node?’ said Malien. ‘I agree, the notion is preposterous. Nonetheless, the amplimet has done so, and that surely isn’t the end of it. It’s deadly and it can turn on you in an instant, as Ghaenis, son of Tirior, found to his cost.’
‘I’m going to destroy the Council and I’m prepared to take my chances on the amplimet,’ said Flydd. ‘If it takes control of me my troubles will be over. But I sense there’s more, Malien.’
The thapter creaked as the wind, which was increasing as nightfall approached, battered at its left flank.
‘There’s more,’ she said.
‘So if we follow Flydd’s plan,’ said Yggur, ‘we not only have to overcome the scrutators and all their forces; we’ve got to find the amplimet and shut it up in your platinum box with the utmost dispatch.’
‘Yes,’ Malien said faintly. ‘Why don’t we continue after dinner? I’m more fatigued than I thought.’
Flydd put on his coat and gloves, lurched up the ladder and went out into the dark.
After dinner Irisis had restless legs from being cooped up too long, so she went outside, pacing across the gritty ground. The night was overcast though not completely dark, and shortly the outline of one of the guards loomed up. ‘Flangers?’ she said softly.
‘Yes. What brings you out here?’
‘A need to stretch my legs. And too much company.’
‘I know what you mean,’ he said. ‘In truth, I’d sooner spend the whole night on watch than crammed into the bowels of the thapter.’
‘Quite. Which way did Flydd go?’
He pointed to the left. Irisis went right. She’d had enough of the scrutator for the moment. She climbed the slope for a few hundred paces but soon felt short of breath and sat down on a rock shaped like a toadstool. The thapter was out of sight, the world reduced to a few dark outlines.
She felt sure that this attack would fail. Logic told her that they’d have little chance even with the best plan in the world. But this shambles – it couldn’t be called anything else – was laughable. They’d be killed or captured, and falling into the hands of the scrutators again filled her with dread.
She heard the footsteps long before she saw the shadow, and Irisis could tell by the sounds that it was Flydd, dragging himself up the slope. He took every opportunity to walk, forcing himself through the pain to recover his strength and mobility. She debated whether to say anything or not, but he was coming so close that she could hardly ignore him.
‘Scrutator,’ she said.
Flydd stopped a few paces away and she could just see his head move as he sought her out. ‘Ah,’ he said and came towards her.
She stood up. ‘You seem better, surr.’
‘Do I?’ he said bitterly.
‘Don’t start that with me,’ she snapped. ‘I’m fed up with it.’ Irisis wasn’t unfeeling by any means, but they desperately needed the old Flydd back.
‘I beg your pardon?’ he said coldly.
‘You know what I mean. We all know you’ve suffered. You don’t have to rub it in our faces every moment of the day.’
‘You don’t know anything about it, Crafter.’
‘That’s because you won’t talk about it.’
‘Do I have to expose my deepest torment to the world so people can sneer behind my back and use my shame against me?’
‘We’re not your enemies, Flydd. They’re inside Nennifer.’
‘Well, I can’t talk about it.’
‘Then I will,’ she said. ‘They castrated you, didn’t they?’
He stopped suddenly. ‘Is that what they’re saying?’
‘They’re not saying anything. But I am.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘They’ve unmanned me. I’m just a hollow shell.’
‘You look the same to me,’ she said. ‘A little more battered and scarred, a lot more angry, but still Flydd. Still the same man I used to admire.’
‘But not one you’d have for a lover, eh?’
Irisis sighed. She’d been hoping not to have this discussion. ‘That was over long ago and you know it, Xervish, so stop using it against me. More to the point, stop using it to whip yourself.’
‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘And nor would you, if the heart of your womanhood had been cut from you.’
‘Look, surr,’ she said. ‘We can’t understand what you’re going through, but you’ve got to get over it. We can’t do without you.’
‘So what I’m feeling inside doesn’t matter?’
She ignored that. ‘We’re all here because of you. It’s been your plan, and your object, ever since Snizort. Without you at your best, the attack can’t succeed. We’ll fall into the hands of the scrutators and what they’ll do to us next time …’
‘I see,’ he said coldly. ‘Walk on, Irisis.’
‘Surr?’ she said.
‘Leave me!’
‘I’m going!’ she snapped. ‘And when you’re done with feeling sorry for yourself, be done with the whining as well.’ And then she ran to escape his outrage.
Flydd returned an hour later. His face was pinched from the cold but he said nothing to Irisis, just sat down and took a sparing portion of bread, cheese, sausage and pickled vegetables.
‘If we’re going to do this, let’s put the plan together,’ said Yggur. ‘There’s still an army to be overcome, in the unlikely event that the Council and all their mancers are distracted by the amplimet. How do we get past that army?’
Malien didn’t answer.
‘What if we were to allow the amplimet to take control?’ said Irisis.
‘I presume you mean get out of control?’ said Yggur.
‘Yes.’
‘How do we know that it will?’
Everyone looked at Malien.
‘It must,’ said Irisis, ‘otherwise Malien wouldn’t have suggested it. She knows more than she’s letting on …’
‘Malien?’ said Yggur
Malien gave Irisis a cold stare. ‘Yes, that’s what I had in mind – the amplimet trying to take control of the node.’