‘To your positions!’ roared Arple.
The troops formed a ragged oval around the clankers, shields up, spears out. Irisis scanned the forest. If this was an ambush, they were too spread out to defend themselves.
Nothing further happened. Arple called the soldiers into a tight circle around the first clanker. The world stopped shaking. Irisis clutched at her pliance, which felt uncomfortably warm. That had not happened before.
‘What was that?’ shouted Jal-Nish.
‘The enemy …’ Gi-Had trailed off, worrying about his family.
‘The artisan did it with her crystal,’ Ullii said. ‘It’s burning her up.’ She swooned, half out of the hatch.
‘’I can see the field again,’ called the second operator, Simmo, through the top hatch of his machine.
Fyn-Mah looked to the perquisitor, who drew her aside. ‘You also have some mancing talents,’ he said quietly. ‘What do you say that was?’
Irisis, whose hearing was keen, slipped into the forest and edged closer.
‘Power,’ said Fyn-Mah, ‘as I have never felt it used before. And not far away.’
‘I thought so too. But Tiaan is just an artisan. She has no mancer training.’
‘Look to her heritage …’ began the querist.
‘Hush! Don’t talk about that.’ He glanced over his shoulder but did not see Irisis, who had slid behind a tree. ‘She’s stumbled onto something new.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘That kind of power, enough to shake the mountain, could not have come from the weak field.’
‘Well, other people have made such discoveries. I don’t know that any survived to use them.’
‘The ancients did!’ he said vehemently. ‘The Histories are full of Rulke’s marvels, and what Yalkara did. Can’t you see? This could be the answer to that failure of the field at Minnien. A new, stronger force?’
‘Nunar did write about such things,’ she said slowly.
‘With such power at our disposal, impossible things become possible. We won’t just win the war, we can wipe the enemy off the face of the globe. There is a way, Fyn-Mah, and if we bring it to the scrutators we’re made for life. We’ve got to bring her back alive, whatever it takes. We must find out what she’s discovered.’
‘Indeed,’ said Fyn-Mah. ‘To say nothing of this “crystal”. It would be tragic if she died using it and the secret was lost.’
Jal-Nish gave her a curious look, as if there was sarcasm in her words, then signed for the column to move off. The other two operators helped an ashen Ky-Ara into his seat. ‘I thought the field was gone,’ he said over and over to his clanker. He rubbed the controller with his cheek. ‘I thought I’d lost you.’
Irisis got in beside Nish and Ullii and sat quietly, trying to digest what she had heard. Had Tiaan made a brilliant breakthrough, or was it just this new crystal she’d found? Whatever it was, it could be as much to her advantage as Jal-Nish’s. For the first time in years Irisis allowed herself to hope.
TWENTY-EIGHT
The fumes were worse than ever. Tiaan rolled over and broke into a fit of coughing that sprayed the stone red. It felt as if she was bringing up specks of lung. She rested her forehead against the rock. Why did it take so long to die?
Thump! Something landed on top of the ice globe, knocking a cold cinder down on her head. She rolled onto her back. A shadow clung to the outside like a kitten to a ball. Vaguely outlined against the stars, it looked like a Hürn bear; a big one.
The creature scratched at the ice, the sound reverberating in her ears. Moving under the shelf, she pressed her nose to a crack in the stone and breathed deep, trying to suck fresh air out of it. The grinding grew louder. Wiping her streaming eyes, Tiaan sat with her crossbow loaded. It made her feel better.
The beast sprang in the air and came down reversed, clinging with its back feet, scraping with one forefoot. She closed her eyes. Though everything hurt, Tiaan could feel herself drifting off.
Another thump; the scratching resumed. She did not look up. Breathing was taking all her strength. The crossbow slipped from her hand. A louder thump. Again the bear had reversed position. Its legs drew back and kicked at the circular gouge.
The outer half of the sphere split off in a ragged circle and freezing air rushed in. Tiaan gulped it down. It tasted better than the fine wine her mother had occasionally offered on her visits to the breeding factory.
The creature’s head came over the edge of the ice. It was not a Hürn bear at all, but a lyrinx. There was frozen blood down its front – one of its victims, no doubt. She felt for the crossbow. Her eyes were all blurry. Ryll slowly came into focus.
‘Can you cling to my back?’
‘No!’ she gasped, backing against the rock. ‘No!’
He took the crossbow away, pulled her out and tucked her under one muscular arm. She caught a whiff of his odour – strong, gamey, though not unpleasant. Tiaan did not struggle. There was no point.
‘Where are you taking me?’ she said hoarsely.
‘Don’t be afraid.’ He began to climb up over the ice, seemingly unburdened by her weight. ‘I am paying my debt.’
‘Pack!’ she croaked.
Ryll stopped. ‘What is the matter?’
‘I must have my pack!’
He resumed the climb. ‘I will come back for it.’
Tiaan sagged. Whatever he planned to do with her, or to her, she was too weak to resist.
The darkness was complete, not the least pinpoint of light anywhere as Tiaan came to. Rock pressed against her shoulder blades. She felt around. More rock. It felt strange, having no idea what space she was in. Tiaan wished she had the senses of a bat, to move carefree through the dark. She was not cold, but so weary that merely moving her arms exhausted her. She felt acutely aware of her body. Every part was tingling; she could feel every nerve strand. What damage had the amplimet done to her?
The air was still. Silence surrounded her, and smells – the odour of blood and meat, the bodies of the soldiers, and a different kind of odour that must be the dead lyrinx. She was in the cavern.
‘Hello!’ she said. The sound came back in dull-edged echoes. ‘Hello?’ she shouted. ‘Ryll!’
Echoes but no reply. This was her chance to escape, and Tiaan felt a sudden pang of homesickness for the smell and the racket of the manufactory, and even her cold little sleeping cubicle. If only she could go home.
She was imagining that she could when she had a vision of Minis’s reproachful face. But you gave your word, Tiaan.
She groaned aloud. She would not go home, but how could she go after Minis? Tirthrax was hundreds of leagues away, through some of the most inhospitable country in the world. It would take years, even if she had plenty of money and supplies. And everywhere she went, guards would question her, officials demand her papers, and throw her into the cells because she had no right to be there.
It was absurd to think that she could walk to Tirthrax. Quite impossible. Give him up, she told herself. You just can’t do it, and no one could expect you to. But where could she go?
Minis, she thought. My poor, lost love. You picked the wrong person. I would save you if I could, but I can’t. I’m just not strong enough. She lay on the floor and wept.
Tiaan felt washed out. Why had Ryll saved her life then left her here? Had he fled with her amplimet? Was it what Ryll really wanted? Her outstretched hand touched the webbing of her pack and she felt inside. The helm was there, and the small crystal.
Emptying her pack, she scratched frantically through the contents. Her tools fell out of the toolkit, to tinkle on the rock floor. Clothes, food rations, sleeping pouch, soap, all were there. The amplimet was not.