by Ian Irvine
'How so?' said Gilhaelith.
'Despite their near-defeat at Snizort, the human army is pursuing our Land forces towards the sea. We'll prepare a trap and wipe then out. What do you think of that, Tetrarch?'
'I would be sorry to meat an army' he said, 'whether human or lyrinx.’
'I regret the necessity, but we did not start this war, despite the propaganda of the scrutators. In the early days they rejected every peaceful overture we made. They regard us as abominations, even denying our right to exist. Now that we have the upper hand, and may soon win the war, I won't let the fate of their soldiers stand in the way.'
Gilhaelith was still thinking about the residue. 'SoJ was right about the node.'
'And I keep my bargains. I'll take you wherever you wish, within reason. I can't carry you far into Lauralin, nor to any place that would endanger my own life. Where do you wish to go?'
'I'm not sure,' he said. 'Because of…'
'Your betrayal of the scrutators,' she said helpfully. 'And the Aachim.'
He felt a momentary embarrassment. 'Quite. There are few places in Lauralin where I can live in safety now, unless I dwell in a cave as a hermit. I can't do that — my work is everything to me.' It had been and still was, though the earlier failure had shaken his confidence …
Gilhaelith realised that the matriarch was staring at him. 'I must have my geomantic instruments and be near a node,' he went on, 'preferably a powerful one. I'd prepared a refuge in the far south, but my health isn't good enough to go that far, without servants and loyal guards. Because of my, er, situation, suitable ones may be impossible to find. But…'
'Yes?' she said.
'Were you to give me a safe conduct, and a small number of your human prisoners to provide for my necessities, there's a place in Meldorin which would serve equally well. It's filled with ancient resonances and I could continue my work there.'
'You want me to provide you with servants?' she exclaimed.
'Now you're asking for more than the bargain. Should I agree, what can you offer in return?'
'My aid with problems you may encounter, of a geomantic nature,' said Gilhaelith.
'What makes you think I'm likely to encounter any?'
'I believe you will, as the war progresses. I imagine you may want to further develop your node-drainers, for example.'
'How can I trust a man who has betrayed his own kind in favour of an alien race?' Gyrull said reasonably.
'I'm descended from several human species, not just old humankind, so I don't consider I've betrayed anyone. Besides, you lyrinx are not as alien as you appear. And has not my word always been good?'
'Not always,' she said, 'since you make such a point of it. But it's enough, for the moment. You can't cause too much trouble in Meldorin, I think. Tell me — what is this place you want to go to, filled with ancient resonances?'
'It was called Alcifer, long ago.'
'Alcifer!' Slivers of yellow shone out on her flanks. 'Is that the limit of your needs, or do you demand yet more?'
Her reaction bothered him. 'It can't be more than a few days' flight from here. It was the great city built by Rulke the Charon —’
'Oh, I know all about Alcifer.' Gyrull began to laugh. Lyrinx rarely displayed amusement, but this became a great, sidesplitting guffaw that showed all her hundreds of teeth and made her sides heave like the bellows upstairs. 'Alcifer!'
'Is there some problem?' he said, anxious now. 'You did agree to do this for me …'
'I'm pleased to be able to repay you so easily,' she chuckled 'You could walk there from here. Oellyll is delved into the rock directly beneath Alcifer.'
Eighteen
Ullii was sitting on a rock a pebble's throw away, Staring at Nish, as she had done all morning. She expected something of him and he had disappointed her. What could she want? He liked Ullii and cared about her, but did she really expect him to pick up from where they'd left off, months ago, as though nothing had happened since? It seemed she did – her nature was single-minded, obsessional. Nish could not reciprocate, for his life had been turned inside out and he could not make sense of it. He wished Irisis were here — she understood such things instinctively.
'Let's get moving,' said Flydd.
Nish brushed away the few tracks they had left on the stony ground. Flydd rubbed crushed mustard-bush leaves over their boots and they set off to the north, taking advantage of the cover afforded by vegetation along dry creek beds. It was midday and a sweltering northerly blew in their faces. Nish, who came from a cold and drizzly land, had never experienced such heat. Green, iridescent flies hung about their eyes, noses and mouths, not to mention their wounds and whip marks, and no amount of arm-waving could get rid of them.
'I've swallowed enough flies to make a hearty meal,' he grumbled as they took a hasty break in the early afternoon. 'Where do they come from?' They were sitting under an arch of grey rock, its roof toothed like the mouth of a shark.
'Good eating for maggots, over on the battlefield,' Flydd grunted.
'Can't say the same for us.' Nish was chewing on the stem of a piece of dry grass. It generated a little moisture, which only reminded him how hungry he was. And his boot was coming apart again. He looped another lace through it, knowing it would soon wear through like the others.
Pull your belt in another notch.'
'If I do it'll cut me in half.'
'At least it'll be an end to your infernal griping.'
Nish didn't react — Flydd's carping was almost affectionate these days.
'I'm thirsty,' said Ullii plaintively.
'We'll get water down in that gully, Ullii,' Flydd said. 'It won't be long now.' He treated her far more gently than he did Nish. But then, Ullii never did anything wrong.
The baked earth crunched underfoot as they went out into the sun again. It seemed to grow hotter, and the flies more numerous, with every step. For some reason that Nish could not fathom, they swarmed around Ullii. The little seeker plodded on, not complaining, but in misery.
'Stop for a moment, Ullii.' Flydd tore the bottom off her green smock, knotted the corners into a bag and dropped it over her head. Ullii didn't need to see where she was going.
Several times they saw air-floaters behind them but all were moving around the army camps, or following the lines of clankers being dragged to the north-west. Late in the afternoon, however, one appeared close to the node crater, now two leagues distant. The machine circled it several times, floated upwards, then turned directly towards them.
They were scrambling along the rim of an undulating plateau which afforded a good view but little cover, just scattered mounds of orange boulders, sparse, scrubby undergrowth and occasional small trees twisted into bizarre shapes by the wind. Some distance to their left, a deep ravine cut through a corner of the plateau.
'I don't like it,' said Flydd. The air-floater seemed to be following every twist and turn of their path, as if they had left a trail on the ground. 'How can it track us from that height?'
'What if we were to slip into the ravine?' said Nish.
'Too easy to bottle us up.'
They watched the air-floater in silence. Ten minutes passed. 'It's still tracking us, Nish said anxiously. 'Is there something you haven't been telling mem surr?'
'There are a thousand things I haven't told you!' Flydd exclaimed in vexation. Pulling his tattered trousers up, he felt along his right thigh. With his knife, he made a careful slit that matched the one on the left thigh, and felt inside. After some wincing he withdrew a bloody crystal half the length of his little finger.
Flydd bound the wound with his other sleeve. Limping across to the edge of the ravine, he peered over and tossed the crystal in, underarm. 'I don't know how they could track a charged crystal, but how else could they have followed us?'
'Perhaps they have another seeker/ said Nish, 'and she's sensing some aura it leaves behind.'
Flydd cast him a perceptive glance. 'I hope not. A seeker might locate me, i
n which case I've wasted my only weapon for nothing. We'll soon find out. Come on.'
Before it grew dark, from a hill only half a league away, they saw the air-floater drop out of the sky into the ravine. 'If they're tracking the crystal, that'll be the end of it; said Flydd. 'We'd better keep going, just in case.'
'I'm at my limit, surr.' Nish felt quite light-headed from hunger. Nothing seemed real any more, and he could hardly think straight. 'My belly feels like a pickled walnut. And my boots are falling to pieces.'
'I thought you'd fixed them.'
'I did, but the leather is worn out.'
'Then you've got a long walk ahead on bleeding feet.'
'Thanks!'
'Sympathy won't get us out of this mess, only sheer bloody-minded toughness. How are you getting on, Ullii?' Flydd was always solicitous of her welfare, though Ullii was nearly as tough' as the old monster himself. Life had taught her to endure.
fortunately, the moment the sun had gone down, the flies disappeared. Ullii took off her head-covering and her mask. 'Hungry,' she said softly.
Then we'd better find you something to eat,' said Flydd. 'After all, you're eating for two.'
It was like having a bucket of cold water thrown in his face. Ullii was pregnant? How had that come about? It took Nish a long time to make the link to their lovemaking in the balloon after they had repelled the nylatl. It wasn't that it hadn't mattered to him. It had been a precious moment, but so much had happened since, it seemed like another life. Another him.
That day, he realised, probably marked his delayed transition from youth to adulthood. It seemed so far off; almost like a tale he'd heard about someone else.
'Are you saying that I'm a father?' Nish said, to Flydd rather than to Ullii.
'You will be, in a few months.'
'Why didn't anyone tell me?'
'I assumed you knew.'
'How could I know?' Nish exclaimed. 'I'm not a mind-reader.'
He perched on an angular rock, trying to come to terms with this dramatic, momentous development. He was going to be a father! Nish was so caught up in the whirlwind of emotions that he didn't even look at Ullii, who was watching him anxiously, desperately waiting for some gesture towards her. He gave none, for Nish was still running through the implications. And what would his mother say?
She would not be pleased. Ranii Mhel was a clever, ambitious woman who'd always tried to control her children's lives. Nish could only imagine what she would make of Ullii, who had no family, no money, no education or social graces. As far as Ranii was concerned, it would be the most disastrous match in the history of the world, and she would have no part of it. Ullii would be paid off and sent away with the baby, as far as a ship could take her. Nish would never see her, or his child, again.
And deep down, Nish understood why Ranii would do that. He and Ullii could have no future together, for he could never give her the total, cloying devotion she required. They would tear each other apart, or drive each other mad.
But how could he let her suffer so? Equally important, how could he go through life knowing that his child would never know its father? Plenty of children had lost fathers in the war, but few were abandoned by them. Not his'. Children were infinitely precious. I will not become my father! he thought, and the decision was made.
Nish realised that Ullii was watching him out of the corner of her eye. She must feel exposed, vulnerable, afraid. She was looking for some kind of commitment from him and afraid he would not make one. Afraid that he would not want the child, or her.
On the contrary, Nish was pleased he was going to be a father. After all, everyone was brought up to cherish parenthood, in a world where there were never enough young to replace the people who had died because of the war.
'Oh, Ullii,' he exclaimed, reaching out for her. 'Why didn't you -?'
The blow came from nowhere, knocking him backwards. 'I don't want to have a baby,' Ullii said shrilly. 'And I don't want you!' She fled into the darkness. 'You abandoned me. You never cared about me. I hate you!'
'The balloon carried me away,' Nish cried. 'I couldn't get back.'
He began to run after her but Flydd caught him by the collar. 'It won't do any good. Leave her.'
'How can she blame me?' Nish said, bewildered. 'I was half the world away — I couldn't do anything about it.'
'She needed you but you didn't come back. To Ullii's mind, with her history, that constitutes rejection. And then, in the Aachim camp before the battle, you didn't seem very pleased to see her.'
'I was a prisoner,' said Nish. 'And . . , it's hard to show your feelings amongst a crowd of strangers.'
'It's hard to believe you even like her,' said Flydd. 'She's been reaching out to you and you've ignored her.
'I —’ Nish hesitated. 'I like Ullii a lot, but …'
'Just as I thought,' Flydd said coolly. 'You want the child but not the mother. Stay here.'
'What was I supposed to do?' said Nish.
'You were supposed to think before you made her pregnant. Some women just want the child and don't care about the father, but Ullii isn't one of them. When she gives, she gives her entire heart, and you've refused it. What is she to make of that, after her tragic life?'
'Can't you make her see sense?' said Nish.
'It would be easier to beat it into your numb cranium.'
'But it's my child too.'
'You took your time about it.' Flydd sighed. 'I'll see what I can do, though it has to be said my credibility with Ullii isn't high either.'
'But…' Nish was confused. How could she not want him? He was the father.
It was a long time before Flydd came back with Ullii, and Nish had plenty of time to fret about what had happened, and fail to understand it. Had she expected an instantaneous declaration of love and commitment? He wasn't like that; he had to think things through and become used to them. It didn't mean he cared any less.
They appeared out of the darkness, right beside him. Ullii could move as silently as a tracker. He could not see her face, so Nish had no idea what kind of mood she was in. Flydd, however, seemed pleased with himself.
'We found a tree in fruit,' he said, pressing a knobbly object, like a bush lemon, into Nish's hand. "Try this. They're rather good.'
Nish broke the skin with his thumbnail. The fruit was soft in places, firm elsewhere, and with the creamy texture of avocado. He peeled the pointed half and bit into it. It had a rich, oily taste, immensely satisfying to a starving man, though a residue clung to the roof of his mouth afterwards. He put the other half in his pocket for later.
'Finish it off' Flydd advised from the darkness.
'I gathered a shirtful.'
Ullii kept her distance and, with Flydd beside her, Nish found no opportunity to talk. They tramped through scrubby bushland then long dry grass before entering a patch of open forest. The moon was rising through the thorny branches sur-rounding a small clearing. It was nearly ten o'clock.
Flydd let out a stifled groan. 'We'll stop for a few hours' sleep. I can't go another ell.'
Nish was surprised the old man had managed to go this distance, with a wound in each leg and his hack a mass of sores. Not daring a fire in case the air-floater was still searching from on high, they felt around on the ground for obstacles before lying down. At least, he and Flydd did. As Nish was working out what to say to Ullii, she disappeared. Perhaps she was curled up in the fork of a tree. There was no point looking, for she could have been anywhere. Tomorrow, he thought. As soon as it's light, we'll sort it all out.
Around midnight, Nish woke with a crick in the back of his neck. The moon cast long shadows across the clearing. He rolled onto his whipped back and had to bite back a groan. Through the trees, in the southern sky, a light flashed and was extinguished, like a silver dagger plunging through black velvet.
'Are you awake, Xervish?' he said softly, touching him on the arm.
'I saw it too.'
'What do you think —’
&nbs
p; 'I don't want to know,' Flydd murmured, 'but get ready to move.'
'What's the point, if they can find us wherever we go?'
Flydd did not bother to answer. 'Ullii?' he hissed. A small shape detached itself from the trees behind them. She went to Flydd, not to Nish. 'What can you see in your lattice?'
She was as still as the night. The tension in her was palpable. 'Nothing.' she muttered.
There was a long silence. 'I don't believe you, Ullii,' said Flydd.
She walked away into the trees. Nish turned to go after her.
'Leave her, Nish,' said Flydd. 'Something's very wrong. I can feel it.'
They stood together, staring at the field of stars. Nish caught another flash, though this one was the moon catching something high up.
'Was that a night-bird, do you think?' Nish knew it was not, 'It's an air-floater, searching for us, and it hasn't got this close by accident. They must be tracking me, and my only defence is at the bottom of that ravine. Why didn't I think before I threw it away?'
Shortly Nish heard the distinctive whirr of the air-floater's rotor and its silhouette appeared low down in the west.
'Shouldn't we run?' he said.
'It's too late — we can't outrun it. We must make our stand, Nish. Here we survive, or here we fall.'
Here we fall. The air-floater would carry armed, well-fed soldiers. Nish was no warrior and had no weapon. Flydd had only the overseer's knife and the partly unravelled whip. In the dim light Nish looked around for a stick, but all he could find was a sorry, worm-eaten item that would break at the first blow. Just slightly better than nothing, he thought, hefting it above his shoulder.
'I'm beginning to feel something,' Flydd said softly.
'What?'
'There's a weak field here. We must have moved into the influence of another node last evening, though I was too tired to realise it.'
Does that help?'
'It just means I'm not completely defenceless.'
Ullii came drifting through the trees, again going to Flydd. Though it was a warm night, her teeth were chattering. What was the matter with her? She hadn't reacted that way the last time they'd seen an air-floater.
