Geomancer

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.