Alchymist (6 page)

'I
present my witnesses,' said Ghorr. 'Mancer Vydale and Mancer Lubis.'

The
sallow-faced man bowed formally, as did the stout woman.

'You
all know Klarm, of course,' Ghorr went on. There were a few nods around the
table. 'Vydale and Lubis, you designed the device that was given to Scrutator
Flydd in Nennifer, did you not?'

'We
did,' said Vydale.

'Each
must answer the question, if you please,' said Halie.

'We
did,' said Mancer Lubis.

'And
you supervised the team of artisans who built it?' said Ghorr.

They
both affirmed that they had.

'Was
the device tested?' asked Ghorr.

'It
was,' each said in turn.

Flydd
sat up, surprised, though he should not have been. The scrutators were
notoriously thorough.

Ghorr
smiled thinly. 'Who supervised the testing?'

'I
did!' said Scrutator Klarm.

'How
was the device tested?' Flydd asked. 'With an operating node-drainer?'

'How
else could it be tested?' said Klarm. 'We rotored to a node in the mountains
that had gone dead, located the enemy's node-drainer and fitted the device to
it. After some adjustment by the artisans, the node-drainer collapsed and
failed.'

Flydd
felt his last hope die. 'What about the node?'

'Its
field returned to normal the following day.'

Flydd
knew that Klarm was telling the truth, and there was no doubt that he would
have done his work competently. Flydd's counterattack had been destroyed.

'Mancers
Vydale and Lubis,' he said, 'can you confirm what Klarm has told us?'

They
averred that they could.

'Any
further questions, Flydd?' said Ghorr.

Flydd
had none, for he believed them too. Nonetheless, the breaker had been tampered
with. But how, and by whom?

'Only
one. When I began to use the device, it became clear that it was faulty.
Someone must have —’

'I
saw it sealed in its box,' said Klarm. 'It never left my custody until it was
placed in your air-floater, just before you left Nennifer. Were the seals
broken when you opened the box?'

"They
were not,' said Flydd. 'And no one but myself and my trusted prober, Eiryn
Muss, ever had charge of it: 'Then it can't have been tampered with. No one but
a scrutator has the Art to break those seals. They were made with scrutator
magic.'

'So
if it was tampered with,' Ghorr said relentlessly, 'it happened while you had
charge of it. Again, the negligence is yours.' He dismissed his three
witnesses. 'We'll take a vote on the countercharges. Yea if they are proven,
nay if disproved.'

There
were eleven nays.

'And
my first principal charge, that Flydd's incompetence led to the destruction of
the node?'

Nine
yeas and two nays.

'My
second principal charge, that Flydd's negligence after the destruction of the
node lost a third of our army?'

Seven
yeas and four nays.

'It
is enough,' said Ghorr. 'The charges are proven. Now, scrutators, we must agree
on penalties.'

The
scrutators dismissed Flydd ignominiously from his position and broke him to a
common citizen. However, after half an hour of acrimonious debate, during which
time Ghorr became ever colder, they could not agree on a penalty for the second
charge.

'I'll
take no more of this!' cried Ghorr. 'The enemy could counterattack at any time.
I make the Declaration of Emergency. All rights are suspended, and all
privileges, that conflict with my duties.'

He
stared around the table. All broke under his stare, even Flydd, though he
strove mightily against the chief scrutator. Ghorr had played the unbeatable
card. Later he would have to justify the declaration but for the moment he was
unassailable. Ghorr could punish him in any way he saw fit.

'I
beg leave to address the Council,' came Jal-Nish's voice from behind Flydd.

'The
matter is closed,' Ghorr said frostily.

'I do
not wish to speak about that.' Jal-Nish glanced idly at Flydd, then away, as if
he were of no significance. 'Fault and blame are irrelevant now. Rather would I
speak about the war. And how we might still win it:

'Go
on,' said Ghorr, showing his canines.

'The
enemy have abandoned Snizort in haste, leaving behind everything, including
their flesh-formed abominations. They must be dreadfully demoralised by the
destruction of the node as well as the loss of their great city. The Histories
tell us they are slow to recover from their rare defeats. And they have
suffered terrible casualties: twelve thousand dead and half as many unable to
fight.'

'Our
losses are worse,' snapped Ghorr, 'for we've lost all our clankers as well.
It'll take years to replace them.'

'Were
we to pursue the enemy now,' said Jal-Nish, 'with our clankers and the
constructs of the Aachim, they would be hard put to save themselves. The lyrinx
are obscenities that flesh-form their own young in the womb. We must eradicate
them to the last child!' He looked as though he would enjoy the slaughter.

'The
node is exploded, you fool! The field is dead, our clankers useless metal.'

'I
can save them,' said Jal-Nish.

Now
he had their attention. 'How?' said Ghorr.

'I
would bring in bullock teams,' said Jal-Nish. 'And teams of horses, buffalo and
men. I'd put the clankers on skids and haul them to the nearest node field,
north-west of here. It's only seven leagues away, I'm told. Then I'd go after
the enemy with all our strength and strike them down before they have a chance
to recover. From this defeat we can yet snatch victory, and what a sweet
victory it will be. It could turn the tide of the war, Chief Scrutator.'

Flydd's
voice dropped into the following silence. 'This is folly! The lyrinx are at no
disadvantage at all. They don't need supplies — they've enough of our good
soldiers in their bellies to do them a week.'

Ghorr
turned on him. 'We'll hear no more of your cowardly words, Flydd. As of now I
strip you of all rights. You are a non-citizen, and the meanest person in the
world may strike you down without penalty. Guards!'

Two
burly guards burst through the entrance Take Non-Citizen Flydd to the
punishment pen. Guard him well and await my further instructions.'

The
guards hauled Flydd off, his legs dragging.

Ghorr
turned back to the table.' Jal-Nish, take Flydd's place at the table. We would
hear more of your proposal, though I don't see how it can be done. To move five
thousand clankers that distance would take a hundred thousand men, and even
then it would be the most spine-cracking labour.'

'We
have forty thousand hale troops,' said Jal-Nish, 'plus many thousands of camp
followers. And we can conscript half as many again from the towns and villages
to the east and south. Adding their beasts of burden, we'll have sufficient, if
we drive them hard enough.'

There
was silence around the table while the idea was considered.

'I
don't see how it can be done before our supplies fail,' said Ghorr. And who
could pull together such an unwieldy force in the time?'

'I
can do it,' said Jal-Nish boldly. 'You know my record, surr.'

Ghorr
looked doubtful. 'You have never held such high command.'

'No
scrutator has, surr.' Excepting Flydd, but Jal-Nish was not going to mention
him, in case the Council had second thoughts about the man. 'We must have
courage, Chief Scrutator. We must dare the impossible. What have we to lose?
And . . .'

'Yes?'
snapped Ghorr, nettled that a mere acting scrutator should lecture him.

'If
the enemy should get over their fright and come back, they'll annihilate us.'

That's
my main concern. Very well. I will give you the command, Acting Scrutator. But
remember, I'll be watching you . . .'

Jal-Nish
went still. 'Acting Scrutator, surr? But . . , you told me to take Flydd's
place on the Council.'

'Flydd
was dismissed from this Council months ago. I said take his place at the table.
The test for scrutator is a stern one. Prove that you are deserving, Jal-Nish,
and I will promote you. I may even admit you to the Council, should a vacancy
occur. Fail and you may share the rack with Non-Citizen Flydd.'

'I
won't fail,' said Jal-Nish with such black-eyed intensity that one or two of
the Council members, hardened though they were, shuddered.

They
worked for an hour before breaking up with a plan. Then they ran, each to their
own duties. It fell to Jal-Nish to visit the guards at the punishment pen, a
cage made from stakes hammered into the side of the hill.

'Rouse
out the slaves,' he said with a liquid chuckle.

Xervish
Flydd lifted his head. His face was bruised all over, for the other prisoners
had welcomed the fallen into their company.

'What
do you want with us?' he said.

'We
don't have enough bullock teams, so men must make up the difference. You're
going in the first team, to serve as an example to all. The lash will teach you
to do your simple duty, Slave Flydd.'

Flames
blasted from a fissure in front of Tiaan. Liquid tar, hot enough to sting,
dripped from the roof onto her head and shoulders; fumes burned tracks up her
nostrils. A red glow lit up the tunnel behind her, for she was trapped in her
walker, deep underground in Snizort. Though the lyrinx had repaired her severed
spine with their flesh-forming Art, her legs were still too weak to stand on.

There
was no field here, and the node was no longer visible. She reached down and
felt the amplimet. It was still cool to the touch, thankfully, for heat could
destroy such crystals.

The
amplimet was powerful enough to draw on a more distant node, so she still had a
chance. Tiaan tried to remember where other nodes might lie. In her long flight
here in the thapter she had used many, and should have been able to recall them
all, those memories were gone.

Everything
was strange here; the ethyr was clotted with warpings the like of which she had
never seen before. The amplimet seemed different, too. She wasn't sure how, but
it was harder to use, almost as if it had grown stronger since the node
exploded, or more wakeful and watchful. She did not like the feeling. Fighting
down panic, Tiaan sought for a field and, at the very limit of her senses,
detected a faint aura.

So
far from the node that generated it, the field was tenuous, weak, fragile. She
drew power into the controller. One leg twitched feebly but the walker did not
move.

Dismayed,
Tiaan made another attempt. That was better; she actually got one leg to take a
step, though a wobbly, lurching one. She took another. Better still — she was
remembering how to manage it.

Ahead,
through cracks in the tunnel wall, the flames roared as if pumped by a distant
bellows. They died away for the count of nineteen before roaring forth again.
If she misjudged the timing, or went too slowly, she would be roasted alive.

Creeping
as close as she could get, Tiaan waited for the next exhalation. It was
sweltering here. She put her hand over the amplimet to protect it. The cracks
flamed, then died to wisps. Now! She lurched the walker forwards and they
flamed again, right at the controller. The impulse to jerk her hand away was
overwhelming. She fought it, enduring the pain as she tried to make the machine
go backwards. It shuddered but did not move.

The
flames stopped. She tried to move forwards but that did not work either.
Blisters were rising on the back of her hand. 'Move!' she screamed. The walker
gave only a spastic twitch. Its front feet were stuck in tar which had softened
in the heat.

Hot
tar ribboned onto her shoulders. She bent the four legs as far as they would
go, then straightened them all at the same time. Three legs pulled free, the
other did not, and the machine began to topple. Tiaan threw her weight the
other way and managed to save it, though it left her directly in front of the
cracks. The next blast would burn her to a crisp. She could hear it coming, a
breathy roar.

Flexing
the legs again, she gave a mighty heave. The stuck leg pulled free and the
walker shot forwards and up as the flames roared by. Tiaan felt the heat on her
backside.

Further
on, she went down into a hollow where heavy black fumes had pooled on the
floor. As the walker crabbed through it lifted inky tendrils as high as her
head. Eyes stinging, she lurched down the corridor, having no idea where she was
going. Since the explosion, Tiaan could not remember Merryl's directions, and
most of the wall lamps had gone out. She just kept moving because she could not
remain where she was.

Creeping
along, breathing through her sleeve, she thought she heard human voices coming
from one of the branching tunnels ahead. 'Hello!' she yelled.