Nish repaid it with a scowl. ‘You’re awfully cheerful about it, senior artificer.’
‘Tuniz, please. I hate titles. Things generally go easier if you can have a laugh.’
Nish found that he liked working with her. ‘You’re from Crandor, aren’t you? How did you end up so far from home?’ She had been at the manufactory for nearly a year but he knew nothing about her.
‘Let’s put the leg back together, eh?’ She talked as she worked. ‘Yes, I’m from Roros, one of the biggest cities of Crandor. My man was an artificer with the navy. I hadn’t seen him in three years, and the children …’ She broke off, wrestling with a rod that did not want to go into its socket.
Nish steadied the mechanism. ‘How many children do you have?’
She bit her lip. ‘Two boys and a girclass="underline" seven, five and four years old. News came that my man was lost. His ship ran aground, down the coast from Tiksi. Then I heard he wasn’t lost, but captured by the enemy. The army wasn’t going to do anything, so I came after him.’
‘How did you get permission?’ Nish asked.
‘I … didn’t. I left the children with their grandparents and stowed away.’ Her brown eyes met his. ‘I was too late. My man had been eaten. I tried to get home, but with the war, and no papers …’ She paused. ‘I had to turn myself in, and this manufactory needed a senior artificer, so I was sent here.’
‘You must miss your children.’
‘I never stop thinking about them. Or my man.’ All the cheer was gone. ‘Let’s get this finished.’
The reassembled leg worked and they continued. Nish’s frozen hands had lost skin in a dozen places.
‘I hate being an artificer at times like this,’ he said to Irisis, just as his father walked by.
‘It might be different if you put a bit of effort into it,’ Jal-Nish said frigidly.
They kept on going, faster than before. As the clanker hit a bump, a gasp escaped from the injured Dhirr. His eyes fluttered open then closed. Irisis nudged Nish in the ribs. He looked around. ‘What?’
Ullii was staring at Dhirr, her back arched like a cat confronting a snake.
‘What is it, Ullii?’ said Nish.
She backed away from the injured man until her elbow struck the metal side of the clanker. Looking around wildly, she lifted the earmuffs and forced in her wax plugs. Taking the goggles off, she stared at Dhirr. With undue haste she put the mask on over the goggles and reached blindly for Nish’s hand. He put it in hers. She pressed it hard against her nose, which appeared to calm her.
The clanker pounded on, going fast down a gentle slope. The view out the front porthole was solid grey.
‘What’s the matter?’ Nish asked, lifting Ullii’s mask so she could read his lips.
She withdrew his hand but did not let go of it. ‘I can see his pain.’
‘See his pain?’ Irisis echoed.
‘A blood-red clot in my lattice, with hooks all over it. Digging, tearing hooks. I tried to help him but underneath the red was blinding yellow. It burned. He hates me!’ Her back began to arch again. ‘I just wanted to be kind to him,’ she said in the voice of Irisis.
‘Dhirr doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s in too much pain,’ Irisis said with rare insight. Then, softly to Nish, ‘Maybe he’s got a latent talent for the Secret Art. Many people do and never know it. Perhaps she probed too deep and his unconscious mind hit back in self-defence.’
The clanker stopped suddenly, throwing them forward. The soldier groaned. They got out to see what the matter was. This time Ullii leapt through the hatch as Nish was about to close it.
‘It’s the front leg,’ said Ky-Ara. ‘You’ll have to pull it down again.’
‘And this time do it properly,’ scowled Jal-Nish. ‘If the beast gets away because of your incompetence …’
‘Are you suggesting that I’m incompetent?’ said Tuniz, standing up tall and straight and showing her filed teeth. She towered over the perquisitor.
‘No,’ he said faintly.
They went through the whole tiresome business again, but could find no fault. ‘Would you check the controller, please, Irisis?’ said Tuniz.
‘It’s one of yours, isn’t it, Irisis?’ Nish said furiously, sucking his battered fingers.
The controller proved to be the problem and Irisis had it fixed within minutes. The constant shaking had disconnected one of the controller arms from its stub.
On they went, but had only been going a few minutes when the clanker drifted to a stop.
‘What now?’ screamed Jal-Nish from the next machine. The afternoon was waning.
‘Lost the field,’ said Ky-Ara, taking off his crown-of-thorns. Getting out, he went into conference with the other operators. Everyone assembled outside.
‘Where is she now, seeker?’ said Jal-Nish.
Ullii did not hear. Nish tapped her on the shoulder. She lifted the mask and he signed for her to take the plugs out.
‘Where is Tiaan, seeker?’ Jal-Nish repeated, more loudly. The frustrations were telling on him and he was not a man to take failure well.
‘I can’t see her,’ Ullii said in a small voice.
‘Why not, damn you?’ He raised a pudgy club of a fist.
She backed away behind Nish.
‘It’s Dhirr,’ Nish interjected before Ullii could go into one of her states. ‘We think he has an undiscovered talent for the Art. He’s broadcasting his agony and it’s clouding up her seeking.’
‘Bah!’ Jal-Nish stormed up to the front of the column.
The others followed. Everyone gathered around in a straggling circle, stamping their feet to keep warm. The sky was clear now but a keen wind was blowing.
‘We’ve lost them!’ The perquisitor tore viciously at a length of sausage with his teeth.
‘They can’t be far ahead,’ said Arple. ‘There’s no snow in these tracks. We’ll catch them down below. There’s a big river there. Take care, operators; it should be frozen, but you must not go onto the ice until I’ve tested it. There may be places where a man can pass safely but a clanker would fall through.’
‘What’s the matter with the field?’ Nish asked Irisis.
‘Can’t be too serious. Ky-Ara’s on his way back, and he’s smiling.’
The operator resumed his seat. ‘I have the field,’ he called.
Jal-Nish had perked up. ‘The river is very good news. I’ve a trump set aside for just this contingency and it should be in place now.’
‘What is it?’ Arple asked.
‘You’ll see!’ Jal-Nish looked unnaturally smug. Clearly he was not going to say.
Arple called to his troops. ‘There’s no more than an hour of light left. If we’re to catch them …’
‘I’ve seen them!’ cried one of the scouts, skiing across from a lookout. ‘They’re not far. This side of the river.’
Arple issued directions in a low voice, ending, ‘Go at them, hard as you can. The perquisitor promises a quile of silver to anyone who takes the woman alive, and another for her crystal.’
‘And death by quartering should anyone harm her!’ Jal-Nish added. ‘So shoot over their heads, if she’s close to the beast.’
‘Advance guard, take the heavy crossbows and ski out to either side,’ Arple ordered. ‘Be ready to cut off any breakout.’
They hurled themselves in and the machines pounded down the slope. The clankers, going full speed for the first time, drew ahead of the soldiers. The slope steepened. To either side the snow had been stripped away by avalanches that terminated in untidy mounds near the river. Ullii began to make that keening sound behind them. Nish tried to see out through the front porthole but Irisis’s head was in the way.
‘What’s happening?’ he said irritably. ‘Give me a look.’
She pushed him away. ‘We’re gaining. The lyrinx is carrying her now. It’s running. I never thought any creature could go so fast. The skiers are faster though. They’re coming round on either side. They’re bold! It could tear them apart.’