There were Hürn bears in these mountains, vast creatures ten times the weight of a man. Also wildcats of various types ranging from the panther-like carchous to the stubby-nosed and bewhiskered ghool. Wild dogs were a threat to solitary travellers, particularly the tigerish rahse and the pack-hunting mickle. However, attacks by any of those creatures were rare, especially in the autumn of a good year, when there was easier hunting than armed and vengeful humans.
On rare occasions there had been bandit raids near the coast, though never this high. On the other hand, the metal mine had been producing well lately, particularly the precious white gold, platinum, which was easily carried and easily hidden.
Tiaan had just come out of the forest into sunlight when she caught the tang of blood on the wind. It could be no further than the hairpin bend up ahead or she would not have smelt it. That area was exposed, for a recent landslip had carved most of the trees off the point. Ducking into the forest, she climbed the side of the ridge. At the crest, a good hundred spans above the path, she went right, following the ridgeline until she reached the top of the landslide.
Tiaan made sure that she was upwind. The point was concealed behind a large boulder. Tiaan crept down. On this barren rockslide even a dislodged pebble would give her away. Reaching the boulder in safety, she edged around the left-hand side until she had a clear view of the road.
None of her suppositions had been correct. It was neither bears, beasts nor bandits. Far worse! A brand-new clanker, just completed by the manufactory, lay on its back with its metal legs in the air. The back half of the machine had been crushed under a boulder that had been rolled down the hill. No doubt the people inside were dead. She hoped Ky-Ara had not been the operator. Tiaan tried to recall his face but got the young man from her dreams instead. She put both firmly out of mind.
There were at least six bodies on the road. Pawing at one of them was what could only be a lyrinx. Her heart began to pound. Tiaan was shocked at the size and brutal power of the beast. It stood well over the height of a tall man, a massively muscular creature that seemed to be all claw, tooth and long, armoured body. Its wings were folded. It had a huge crested head, the crest jade-green, indicating a mature female. It could have taken on a Hürn bear and won. And, she reminded herself, they ate people.
At the same time, something seemed not quite right about the lyrinx – there was a slight awkwardness about it, as if it was not quite at home in its powerful body.
A pair of lyrinx were methodically tearing the armoured side out of the clanker, opening it up like a lobster at a dinner party. Armed with no more than metal bars they created an opening big enough to squeeze inside. Bags and boxes were tossed out, ripped open then abandoned.
Clankers were often used to deliver precious metal to Tiksi. Clearly that wasn’t what the lyrinx were looking for, since Tiaan could see a scatter of golden rods on the ground from a broken bullion box. So what were they after?
A lyrinx pulled its head out of the opening, calling in a piping whistle to the third. Leaving off her gruesome business with the corpses, she joined the other two. With much heaving they rolled the boulder off the rear of the clanker, toppling it over the edge.
Tiaan took advantage of the racket to creep closer. The lyrinx tore the ruined clanker open from end to end. Splintered boxes and crushed bags were tossed to one side, and three sadly mangled bodies. With a shrill cry, the female held aloft an object that Tiaan recognised all too clearly.
It was one of the new controller apparatuses, with its pitch-coated hedron. Was that what they had come for? It must be, for they gathered around, their chatter emphasised by violent changes of skin colour.
Abruptly the discussion ended. The female with the green crest put the controller in a small chest pack, then the lyrinx touched crests and separated. The female went over the side; Tiaan heard her skidding down in the path of the boulder. The second lyrinx set off down the Tiksi path at a lope, perhaps going after those that had fled. The third tore a haunch from one of the corpses and, gnawing at the grisly article, scrambled up the hill toward Tiaan.
There was nothing she could do to avoid discovery. Tiaan simply crouched behind her rock and prayed. The lyrinx rattled its way across the scree, diverted round a boulder and headed up past her, not thirty paces away. She could smell the sweat on it, and the blood. What if it smelt her?
As it moved up, she edged back. About a hundred paces away the lyrinx checked and looked around, sniffing the air while Tiaan held her breath. It continued on. Soon it disappeared in the forest.
Tiaan did not move. Her legs had no more strength than the corpses down on the road. What were lyrinx doing here? The war must have taken a desperate turn for the worse, for she’d never heard of them coming so close to Tiksi. Unless the true state of the war was being kept from everyone. Clearly the creatures had come for the shielded controller. So there was a spy in the manufactory.
The sun came out. Tiaan was glad of it, weak and wintry though it was. She felt frozen to the core. She’d have to take the dreadful news to the manufactory. How was she to do that without being seized as a runaway and sent back to the breeding factory?
She climbed down to the track in case there were any survivors. There weren’t – the bodies were torn apart. Perhaps others had escaped up the road. She could not tell; the rocky path held no tracks. None of the bodies belonged to Ky-Ara, thankfully.
Tiaan continued, creeping through a forest so silent that it was eerie. An hour later, when her much-repaired foot blankets were practically falling to pieces, Tiaan heard tramping. She ducked into the pines, watching a group of porters go by. Well, they could read the evidence as readily as she; no need to risk her freedom.
It was only a few minutes from there to the shortcut to the miners’ village. Below the village she went off the path and up through the forest, circling around to come to Joeyn’s front door without being seen, for she stood out like a ghost in her pale shrouds.
Pushing open the wattle gate, she ran down the path and hammered at the front door. Tiaan did not expect him to be there – he usually went to the mine at dawn. However, the door opened and Joeyn stood in the opening, blinking.
‘Yes?’ he said.
She smiled uncertainly. He did not seem pleased to see her. Then she realised that his old eyes were slow to adjust to the light.
‘It’s me, Tiaan.’
‘What are you doing here? Get inside, quick!’ Jerking her in by the wrist, he banged the door closed.
‘I escaped,’ she said softly. ‘I was afraid you wouldn’t be here.’
‘I haven’t been out for days. Didn’t have the heart for it.’
Now he smiled, hugged her and stirred up the fire. ‘What on earth are you wearing?’
‘Half the dirty laundry. It was all I could find.’
‘I suppose you’re hungry.’
‘Starving. And freezing.’
He pulled up a stool by the fire. ‘Sit here. Take those rags off and put your feet on the hob.’ He busied himself, carving slices of corned goat leg onto a wooden platter, adding a wrinkled apple and a large sweet rice ball. While she began on that he put the pot on the coals. ‘You can’t stay here. They’ll come looking for you.’
‘I don’t think they’ll be here for a while.’ She told him about the lyrinx attack. ‘No one will be walking the road now without a small army.’
‘Lyrinx, here?’ He paced across the hut and back.
‘Perhaps something has drawn them to the manufactory; or the mine.’
‘Who knows? What are you going to do now, Tiaan?’
She didn’t answer at once. Tiaan was wondering if the manufactory might take her back, after this dreadful news. ‘Do you think there’s a chance for me?’ she said wistfully. ‘To work as an artisan again?’
‘I suppose it might be possible … I’ve known Gi-Had since he was a little boy. His father was my younger sister’s second husband. Would you like me to speak to him? In a roundabout sort of a way?’
She hesitated. The memories of her treatment, and the horror of the breeding factory, were strong. ‘I’m afraid. I’ll die before I go back down there.’ She shivered.
He went to the fire, made mint tea with a sprig of dried herb from a hanging bunch, sweetened it with honey, and handed it to her.
‘Thank you! Did you manage to get back my … things?’
‘I picked them up on the way back from Tiksi. All except your journal. The new crafter has it.’
‘Thank you. If you could see what I’m wearing under this.’ She held up the muddy sheets at the back, allowing heat from the fire onto her bare skin.
He laughed. ‘I’m too old for that sort of thing.’
Tiaan yawned. ‘I’m so tired. I think I’ll just curl up right here.’