Alchymist (77 page)

He
did not correct her. Yggur seemed to be sniffing the air, his head questing
this way and that. 'I sense it, too. It's .., a kind of defence, or protection!
'Against what?' said Nish.

'I
can't say, but it's likely to cause us some trouble.' 'Can't you break it?'

'Only
a fool would break a magical defence without understanding what it was for, or
who put it there.' 'What's that?' hissed Irisis. 'Where?'

'Way
over to the west, by that loop of the creek. See the smoke?' She reached out
blindly for the spyglass. Nish put it in her hand. 'Can you see what it is?' 'A
camp fire. A big one, and wagons pulled by clankers, though they're the oddest
clankers I've ever seen.' 'What's odd about them?' asked Yggur sharply. 'They're
clankers below, but above they look like shacks.' 'Nothing to do with the scrutators,
then,' said Nish. Appearances are everything to them.'

'And
rightly so,' Yggur observed, taking the spyglass. 'The outside is a mirror to
what lies within.'

My
father was the most fastidious of men,' Nish countered, yet inside he
festered.'

The
air-floater was closer now and he could see the contraptions unaided. There
were three, each with a six-wheeled wagon connected behind. A host of people
had emerged, staring up at them. Some were loading crossbows, others manning
javelards.

'Scavengers,'
said Yggur.

'Where'd
they get the clankers from?' said Nish.

'There
are wrecked ones everywhere, and not just on this battlefield. The human
maggots are always the first to get there.'

'How
can they use them without trained operators?'

A
question Irisis would do well to ponder,' said Yggur. 'But there are many with
talents who remain outside the law.'

'I
meant, how do they get away with it?' said Nish.

'The
scrutators' writ no longer holds in this land, so the scavengers can do what
they like. It's marvellous what human ingenuity can achieve when survival is at
stake.'

'Is
that where the protection spell comes from?' asked Irisis.

'I
doubt it,' said Yggur. 'It's too strong, and doesn't have the right flavour,
but we'll keep well away from their camp, just in case. Go down to the other
side of the battlefield, Inouye. Stay low so they can't see where we're
heading.'

They
descended to within a few spans of the ground, Yggur staring over the side,
gripping the rope rail with both hands.

'I'm
losing the field,' Inouye sang out. She was drawing from a distant one, of
course, since the Snizort node was completely dead. The rotor slowed until it
was barely ticking over.

'Try
another.'

She
did so. 'Nothing.' Inouye looked anxious but-determined. A threat to her
controller was a threat to her and she would fight to protect it.

'What's
the matter?' said Yggur.

'The
field's still there but I can't draw from it.'

'Can
it be the protection?' Irisis wondered.

'It
must be' said Yggur. Let it drift, Inouye, and I'll make sure.'

A
breeze carried them further west. Shortly the rotor began to tick again and
soon spun up to full speed.

'Set
down,' said Yggur. 'There, on that little mound. And keep a sharp lookout. If
anyone comes, go up fast.'

'What
if it's lyrinx?' said Flangers, checking that the crank of his crossbow turned
smoothly.

'Use
your initiative. Irisis, Nish, come with me.'

They
slipped through the ropes, dropping to the ground before the keel touched, and
turned towards a group of damaged constructs that lay close together. Before
they'd gone a hundred paces, Yggur, who was a little way ahead, stopped
abruptly. He put his hands up, feeling the air in front of him.

'Is
it the protection?' said Irisis.

'Yes.
It's a defensive shell designed to keep out living things.'

'What
for?' said Nish.

'The
Aachim greatly revere their dead. It would distress them to leave the bodies
here, in alien ground. Some day, as soon as they can manage it, they'll come
back and remove the remains. Until that time they've protected them from
scavengers and looters, and those who simply want to pry into what's none of
their business. And also, I think, they'd want to keep people from studying
their abandoned constructs. The ones outside the protection, you'll recall,
were all ruined.'

'How
is the protection made, and maintained without the field?' said Irisis.

'The
Aachim have used sentinel devices, self-powered, for thousands of years. They
may have linked dozens together to create this. Or it may be a more potent
spell. It's a mighty work, however they've managed it.' Yggur was walking
sideways, hands still in the air. They followed in silence. He seemed to be
feeling, or sensing, for something.

After
a good while he stopped, moving his hands slowly in circles. His lips moved.
Ah!' he said softly, pulling outwards as if peeling open the flap of a tent.
'Come through. Be quick. It's a strain to do this.'

It
looked odd, for the barrier, whatever it was, was completely invisible. It felt
odder going through, a tingling of the skin that extended into Nish's ears and
up his nose, only to disappear once he was through, though the soles of his feet
itched for a long time afterwards. Inside looked exactly the same as outside.
The sun was just as bright. He could hear birds calling, and the gentle tick of
the rotor, and the same breeze ruffled his hair. Yet it was totally different.
Nish felt enclosed. And also, that he was in a sacred place.

Yggur
strode past, not awed at all, heading for a pair of constructs, seemingly
undamaged, some way further in. 'Come on. Those scavengers might come to
investigate and I don't want to be trapped in here.'

There
were no bodies inside either machine. Yggur wasted no time. 'Nish, pull the
base of this one apart and see if you can get the driving mechanism out in one
piece. Irisis, we'll work in the cabin, to discover whatever we can about how
it's controlled. We'll have to be quick.'

The
metal was cold but Nish had experienced far worse. And having spent so much
time with Minis and the Aachim, he was quite familiar with constructs, even if
he'd never taken one apart by himself.

By
the time the sun was halfway up the sky, he had removed the base plate and was
struggling with the mechanism inside, a complicated structure of reciprocating
metal parts set in a black metal casing the size of a small barrel. As he sat
back, trying to work out how to remove it, he heard the hum of the rotor. The
air-floater shot up and turned away.

'Keep
down!' hissed Yggur from above. 'If they see us, they'll hang around until we
come out.'

'Who?'
said Nish, who couldn't see very far from his vantage point.

'The
scavengers.'

Lying
still, Nish felt the ground shake in that familiar thump-thump. A clanker went
slowly by, greatly modified from its original purpose. The shooter's platform
had been enclosed with pieces of metal in all shapes and sizes, and then roofed
over with leaves of cast-iron armour from wrecked clankers. The roof bristled
with metal spikes and the machine had a javelard at front and rear. Everything
was rusted, makeshift and appallingly ugly.

Metal
screeched and squealed as it shuddered to a stop. Three men leapt out,
wild-haired, dirty creatures dressed in rags and pieces of armour. All were
armed with swords and knives, and two had crossbows strapped to their backs.

One
bent down, pointing. 'They've found our heel marks,' Yggur said quietly. 'Now
they'll follow our tracks, coming this way but not going back.'

'Better
hope we didn't leave tracks all the way,' said Nish.

The
scavengers prowled around the curve of the barrier for the best part of an hour
before returning to their machine and thumping off.

'Get
working, Nish,' Yggur called. 'You too, Irisis. I'll keep lookout. I don't
think they've gone very far.'

When
the sun was as high as it was going to get, Irisis slid down the curved side of
the construct. Yggur passed a sack to her, which she placed carefully on the
ground in the shade, and sat beside it.

'What's
that?' said Nish.

'All
the controller workings.' Irisis picked at a broken fingernail.

Do
you know how to use them?'

They've
been disabled, but I expect we can work it out, said Yggur. 'How are you going,
Nish?'

'I've
freed the driving mechanism,' he replied, "but it's too heavy to lift by
myself. Even with three of us, I don't see how we're going to carry it to the
other side of the harrier.'

'Let's
get it out first.' Yggur moved under the construct, which was tilted at an
angle, having come down onto a boulder when the field failed. He began to pull.
'Irisis, get that stick over there. Put it underneath the mechanism and, as we
pull it free, let it slide gently to the ground.'

They
did that, accompanied by much grunting and heaving, not to mention the near
loss of Nish's toes when the mechanism slipped at the last moment; but finally
it lay on the stony soil, undamaged.

'Wait
here,' said Yggur, heading for the invisible barrier a few hundred paces
distant. He passed through, looking up for signs of the air-floater, and
disappeared among the sparse shrubbery.

Several
minutes went by. 'I hope it hasn't gone too far,' said Nish.

'Or
worse,' Irisis replied darkly.

Thump-thump.

'The
scavengers are coming back,' she added.

'Afraid
so.'

'What
are we going to do?'

'Haven't
a clue.'

Neither
spoke for several minutes. The clanker contraption reappeared, tracking along
the outside of the barrier. The same three men got out.

'I've
just had an uncomfortable thought,' said Nish.

'What's
that?'

'This
protection keeps out living things, but the wind blows straight through it.'

'I'm
not sure what you're saying,' said Irisis.

'What
if they can fire their weapons through?'

A
big, hairy man climbed on top, peering in their direction with a rusty
spyglass. The pair on the ground squatted down.

'We're
in trouble,' said Nish. 'Don't move. 'You're the one who's breathing so
loudly,' Irisis retorted with her famous calm.

'I
hope Yggur sealed the protection when he went out.'

The
spyglass tracked across to where they huddled in the shadow under the
construct, passed on, then came back. The hairy man shouted instructions,
though Nish could not distinguish them.

Shortly
a woman emerged from the rear hatch of the clanker, pulling a child by the arm.
The child, a girl of ten or twelve with tangled black hair, resisted. The man roared
at the woman, pointing at the tilted construct. The woman screeched back,
clipped the struggling girl over the ear and dragged her to the barrier by her
hair.

The
girl shook the woman off, turned towards the hairy man, who was still roaring,
and gave him a two-fingered sign. She poked her tongue out at the woman and
received another clip over the ear.

Pressing
her grubby hands to the barrier, she stared through it. As her gaze passed
across him, again the soles of Nish's feet tingled.

'That's
done it,' said Irisis. 'She must have a native seeker's talent.'

'Doesn't
explain how she found me,' said Nish. 'Since, as you frequently point out, I've
got no talent at all.'

'You
make up for it in other ways, Nish.'

The
girl pointed at them, shouting excitedly.

'Look
out!' cried Irisis as the hairy man swung his javelard in their direction.

No
time to run. All Nish could do was flatten himself against the ground and pray
that he made an indistinct target. The spear slammed into the base of the
construct next to him. Irisis cried out.

'Are
you all right?' said Nish.

'Just
dirt in my eye. Run! Next time he'll put it right through one of us.'

They
scrambled out, clawing their way around the other side, where he would not be
able to see them. Another missile whizzed by Nish's backside as he went.

'He's
bloody fast to reload,' Nish said, panting.

'Now
what do we do?'

'Wait
for them to go away?'

'Have
you got any water?'

'No.
Have you?'

'No.
It could be a thirsty wait.'

'At
least the company's good' said Nish.

'I've
been wondering when you'd notice,' she said, pretending to be piqued.

'You
know what I'm like—'

'Slow!'

'I
have to work things out in my own way and my own time.'