Ryll stepped back a pace. ‘Time to go. You have food?’
‘Enough for a few days. How long will the journey be?’ It felt unreal. They might have been discussing a picnic, except that the feast would probably be her. She wished she was a quick-thinking hero who would instinctively know to escape.
‘We are here.’ With a long yellow claw he drew on the floor, a shape like the head of a fork with two tines, one rather longer than the other. It made an unpleasant scratching sound on the marble. ‘Here is your city of Tiksi.’ He marked a point just north of where the longer tine met the head of the fork, which represented the main mass of the Great Mountains. ‘To cross the first range to the land you call Buh-rr … Bhur …’
‘Burlahp!’ she corrected.
‘Buhrr-larp! That is about ninety slgurrk.’ Ryll thought for a moment. ‘Which would be about ten of your leagues, were we able to fly.’ He grimaced.
A strange expression crossed his face, almost a shudder, and the vestigial wings stirred involuntarily. He snapped them down. ‘Across Buhrr-larp is fifteen of your leagues, and ten more across the second range.’ He indicated the second tine with his claw. ‘This is the land you call Tarralladell. It is a long way from Mirrilladell, your destination.’ His yellow eyes searched her.
‘To walk to Buhrr-larp might take as little as six days, or as much as twelve, depending on the weather. That is, if I carried you. I will get food on the way.’ Noting her horrified look he said, ‘Mountain goat, fish, or maybe a small Hürn bear. Fill your pack, in case.’
Tarring up a torch, she rifled the dead soldiers’ packs. There was more food than she could carry – dried meat and fruit, tiny onions, cheese and rice balls, some starting to go mouldy. Ryll was busy across the other side of the cavern, feeding again, judging by the nauseating rending and gulping noises. He did it in the darkness, thankfully.
By the time she had packed, he was on his way back, wiping his enormous mouth on a rag torn from the seat of a soldier’s pants. Tiaan turned away, busying herself with her gear. She did not want to know.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Bring one of those spears, in case of a bear.’
How little he feared her. ‘I already have a crossbow.’
She took a few more bolts, just in case, and was surprised that he allowed her. A spear would not help her against a Hürn bear, for she felt so weak that a breeze might blow her away. However, Tiaan had a good eye and the crossbow had been her weapon of choice in defence training. She might, just possibly, bring down a lyrinx with it. That made her feel better, though the crossbow was an awkward weapon and took a long time to reload.
Now heavily laden, she followed Ryll down the passage. Outside he turned left, the direction she had taken after first leaving the tunnel. It was cold, but there was no wind and the moon was shining. They went along the ledge past the old tree, which somehow had survived the landslide. The stars were out.
A beautiful night for walking, were it not for the company.
They continued until dawn, getting in a good five or six hours. It was hard going, up and down all the time, though at least the snow had a solid crust. Ryll seemed to know exactly where he was going. After half an hour he left the ledge and headed up through unmarked snow, sometimes across alpine meadows, sometimes along ledges which fell into chasms hundreds of spans deep. As it grew light his skin plates changed colour. In a few minutes he was as white as a Hürn bear, disappearing into the landscape.
Tiaan felt a mixture of emotions. Did he really have a code of honour, or had he some ghastly use for her? What twisted purposes, what warped desires, what strange lusts might he be planning to slake upon her?
Tiaan stopped abruptly, staring at the monster’s back. One hand slipped down to the butt of the crossbow, though she did not draw it. She could not shoot Ryll from behind. Even had she been able to, the armour was thick there. To kill him she would have to hit him in the eye, the throat, or send a bolt between chest plates and ribs, into the heart. Assuming it was in the same place as hers, of course.
Ryll spun around, going into a crouch. The retractile claws extended. ‘I have a sense for danger, small human.’
She hastily moved her hand from the weapon. What was she thinking? Even with a loaded crossbow she could not expect to beat an alert lyrinx.
He came back, took the bolts and packed them in a pouch at his waist. It was the first time he had used his regenerating hand.
‘I need a rest!’ she said in a croaky voice. ‘And breakfast.’
‘Strange creatures, you humans,’ said Ryll. ‘What a handicap, needing to eat three times a day.’
‘I don’t have to eat three times a day!’ she snapped. ‘But I do need to rest. I’m an artisan, not a mountain climber. At least, I was an artisan …’
TWENTY-NINE
The clankers had taken a mine tunnel that ran through the mountain. Late that night they stopped, everyone ate and those not on watch dozed on the uneven floor. Though exhausted, Irisis could not sleep. Ullii was walking about in the dimness further up the tunnel, without goggles or earmuffs, eating little balls of sticky rice. She took little else, for anything flavoured or spiced tasted unbearably strong to her. Finally, bored senseless, Irisis strolled up to see what the seeker was doing. She seemed to find the rock an endless source of fascination, sometimes staring at one vein or crystal for ten minutes or more.
‘There is magic in these rocks,’ said Ullii.
‘Oh?’ Irisis was careful to speak softly.
‘It’s in the lattice – there and there. And there!’ She pointed in various directions, through the rock.
‘We find the controller crystals in this mine,’ said Irisis, wondering if they might use Ullii’s talent to locate better ones than the miners could, in their blind delving. Especially blind now that the best, Joeyn, was dead.
‘I know. I can see them. The mountain is like a pudding full of crystals.’
That was something to explore, if they came back. It would be another mark in her favour.
Gi-Had pushed the lever. The door swung back against the wall and the column passed into the other mine, torches held high, weapons at the ready. Following a zig-zagging path through tunnels that were barely wider than the machines, they eventually emerged in the cavern where the battle had occurred. Everyone except Ullii got out, examining the remains of human and lyrinx in silence. Someone retched noisily by the far wall. Ullii put her head out the back, took one whiff and retreated, slamming the hatch down.
‘I can’t blame her,’ Nish said to Irisis. ‘What a gruesome place.’
Gi-Had described the battle in clipped sentences, then walked away with Jal-Nish. They squatted down, staring at the floor. Nish crept closer, wondering what they were doing.
‘I found the pincers just here,’ said the overseer, pointing to the floor. Taking a small package from his pocket, he handed it to the perquisitor
Jal-Nish held something up. ‘Her finger marks are on the pincers and the bolt.’
‘Doesn’t prove she helped him,’ Gi-Had said unhappily.
‘I’ll keep them, just in case.’
They came back towards the bodies. ‘We’ll collect the remains for burial on the way back,’ said Jal-Nish. ‘Move on.’
When Irisis climbed in, Ullii was shivering and had stuffed a spare pair of earplugs up her nose. Breaking through to the outside, they found the sun rising on a cold, breezy but clear day. Breakfast was handed around while snowpads were fitted to the feet of the clankers. Jal-Nish came up to where Nish stood with Irisis and Ullii.
‘Well, Cryl-Nish, let’s see if your monkey can do her tricks.’ His voice expressed all the doubt in the world.