Chimaera

by Ian Irvine

  Irisis went over to read what Daesmie was writing. ‘Still no change,’ she said. ‘None of the lyrinx armies have moved all morning.’

  They’re playing with us, Irisis thought. They can overrun us whenever they like. She carried the message slate to Flydd, who had a pointed ebony cane in his left hand. He scanned it, nodded and waved her away. Irisis stood well back, and the struggle began.

  Flydd pointed to a purple coloured node on Tiaan’s map with the tip of the cane, and said, ‘Ifis 44, Nihim 5, Husp 220, Gyr 8.’

  Hilluly moved her fingers inside the gloves. A green light spiralled along one of the twisted tubes; a red one slid down another like an icicle down a wire. Strange poppings came from inside the field controller. Sweat broke out on her forehead.

  ‘They’ve countered your move with the power patterner, surr,’ Hilluly gasped.

  Flydd cursed. ‘Ifis 38, Nihim 11, Husp 187, Gyr 22.’ More lights and noises. Much more sweat.

  ‘Countered at once,’ panted Hilluly.

  ‘Oh, have they?’ cried the scrutator. ‘Then let them try this!’

  A third list, different names again, but the numbers were all single digits.

  Hilluly was rigid, apart from her dancing fingers. A line of flies, which were everywhere down here, gathered on her wet lips. Irisis went to shoo them away but Flydd said, ‘No!’

  Hilluly gasped and fell forward. The flies rose and settled on the back of her gown, which was wet with perspiration.

  ‘Now you can help her,’ said Flydd.

  Irisis gave the operator a cool drink. Hilluly sat up, rubbing her eyes with her gloved hands, then tore them off and examined her fingers. They were bright red. She rubbed them on her gown and said, ‘Not that time either, surr.’

  He rose from his seat, his every rib showing. ‘Thank you, Hilluly.’ Flydd went across to the farspeaker operator. ‘Any movement yet?’

  ‘No, surr,’ said Daesmie. ‘The enemy seem to be waiting for something to happen.’

  ‘Keep listening. I’ll be back in a minute.’

  Irisis walked out with him. ‘That looked like a game of Strategies.’

  ‘It’s exactly like it. I don’t have a perfect understanding of the fields here, and neither do they. I have to guess where their knowledge lies, and their ignorance, and they the same about me. It seems we’re evenly matched – whoever guesses or bluffs best will be the winner.’

  ‘Or whoever lasts the longest.’

  ‘True. They have greater endurance than we do.’

  ‘Do you know anything about their operator?’ said Irisis.

  ‘Gilhaelith said it would be Ryll, the wingless male who made the power patterner, probably assisted by Liett. She worked with him to develop the first nylatl at Kalissin.’

  ‘Is there any way we can target them?’

  ‘We might if Tiaan were here. She knows them both.’ Flydd glanced out at the empty sky.

  ‘I don’t think she’s coming back,’ Irisis said quietly.

  ‘Neither do I.’

  ‘It’s going to be a long day.’

  ‘I can’t last all day and neither can Hilluly. She’s already flagging.’

  ‘We have other operators.’

  ‘Aye, but to change from one to another in the middle of a contest rarely works. We’re a team, Hilluly and I, and this extraordinary device you built.’

  ‘Dozens of artisans worked on it, not just me.’

  ‘And you supervised them, Crafter.’

  ‘Let’s see the device prove itself before we praise it,’ Irisis said superstitiously. ‘And Xervish, even if you win the game, what then?’

  ‘We don’t die immediately. More than that I can’t say.’

  ‘But you have a plan.’

  ‘Yes. I just don’t have much hope that it’ll work.’

  Flydd went across to Klarm. Irisis followed at a distance. She had to know what was going on.

  ‘The enemy haven’t moved,’ Flydd said.

  Klarm stretched and rubbed his eyes. ‘How long will it be? I can’t keep everyone on alert all day.’

  ‘Tell them to put their heads down, if they want to. It’ll be a while before you can use the mind-shockers, assuming we get that far,’ said Flydd. ‘I’ll give you warning.’ He swilled down a gullet full of tepid water and turned back. ‘All right. Let’s see what we can do now.’

  The struggle went on, Flydd calling the numbers, Hilluly operating the field controller, and the flies hovering as if waiting for the inhabitants of the tent to die.

  ‘There’s movement in the south-west segment, surr,’ called Operator Daesmie.

  ‘Which way?’

  ‘The enemy are moving away.’

  ‘Quickly? Fleeing?’ he said hopefully.

  ‘No; quite slowly.’

  ‘Oh well,’ said Flydd. ‘It’s a point to our side, I suppose.’

  ‘Unless it’s a feint,’ said Irisis.

  ‘We’ll soon know.’

  It was not a feint. The enemy just seemed to be reorganising their forces. The game went on almost to dusk, by which time Hilluly was so exhausted that Irisis had to sit beside her and hold her up, and even subtly try to feed power to her, a dangerous thing to do at the best of times. Despite Flydd’s earlier words, his back was as straight as ever and he seemed to be calling the numbers more confidently than before.

  ‘Tell Klarm to get ready,’ Flydd said suddenly. ‘I think we’re wearing them out.’

  ‘Is that possible?’ said Irisis. ‘The lyrinx are tireless.’

  ‘Physically, maybe,’ he said. ‘But their device must take more out of them than yours does.’

  ‘We designed it that way.’

  ‘They’re moving,’ shouted Daesmie. ‘They’re moving, surr!’

  ‘Tell Klarm to do his work with the mind-shocker,’ snapped Flydd. ‘Yes, they’re cracking. One last effort, Hilluly. Now, now! All the way.’

  The messenger ran off.

  ‘The enemy have broken in the southern segment,’ called the farspeaker operator ten minutes later. ‘You’ve won, surr. Well done.’

  ‘It’s just the first round,’ said Flydd, ‘but we’ll keep the pressure up. Can you last a bit longer, Hilluly?’

  ‘I think so,’ she croaked.

  ‘This will be easier. Holding them isn’t as big a trial as breaking them in the first place.’

  The struggle raged for days as Flydd and Klarm tried to drive the enemy’s vastly superior forces south-west along the edge of the Dry Sea, towards the marshland and salt lakes below the Trihorn Falls, and the enemy tried to force them out into the waterless salt. After the first day, Flydd had to use a team of three operators, taking turns with them, for the work was so exhausting that none could keep it up for more than a few hours. Irisis called Tiaan over and again but heard no reply.

  It was the strangest battle Irisis had ever experienced. Eighty thousand soldiers, and far more lyrinx, did little but march, sometimes towards each other and sometimes away. Flydd and his operators, and Klarm and his, sweated in their shelters, or tried to operate their devices in jouncing clankers.

  ‘I thought the lyrinx were supposed to hate heat and bright light?’ said Irisis on the second afternoon. She was practically fainting with heat exhaustion.

  ‘They’ve equipped themselves with slit goggles just like ours,’ said Flydd. ‘As for the heat, they have adapted better than we expected.’

  On the fourth day, just when they thought they had the enemy on the run, the struggle took a dramatic turn for the worse. Hilluly collapsed without warning and had to be carried out, unconscious. Her replacement lasted only a few minutes before she too slid off her chair. Flydd called for the third.

  The girl sat down, trembling. Irisis gave her a hug but could see this operator would not do. Irisis exchanged glances with Flydd. His eyes were staring and she saw naked fear there. She hadn’t seen that since he’d gone to meet the master flenser on the amphitheatre. As soon as Flydd caught her eye it v
anished, and he was the same imperturbable scrutator she had always known, but the damage had been done. The enemy had struck back, and they were too strong.

  The third operator lasted half an hour. By that time her movements were growing slower and slower. They had a little warning this time – just enough for Irisis to catch her as she fell. And not long after that, disaster struck. Klarm sat bolt upright, threw out his arms and legs and fell flat on his face. Blood poured out of his nose and mouth onto the salt. He wasn’t dead but he couldn’t move a finger.

  Flydd looked at Irisis. He had regained control. ‘Well, old friend,’ he said casually, ‘We’re lost. I can’t do any more.’

  ‘What happens now?’ She could repress her feelings too. ‘Perhaps they’ll make an exception and eat us.’

  SIXTY-NINE

  ‘The enemy are advancing,’ Operator Daesmie said just after Irisis came back. Her face had gone white, which made the rings around her eyes stand out as purple as bruises. ‘Every segment reports the same. They’re coming right for us.’

  ‘How could they attack Klarm?’ said Flydd. ‘I don’t understand it.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘Fight on, hopeless though it is without him.’

  ‘I’ve sent for more field-controller operators,’ said Irisis.

  ‘It won’t do any good. Hilluly and her cousins were the best. Besides, I’m being undermined and I don’t know how to stop it.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘The power is still in the fields but now I can’t get it out. It’s as if someone else is attacking me from the other side.’

  ‘Could the lyrinx have more than one power patterner?’

  ‘I don’t think so. This new attack is different. It’s strong but ragged, as if whoever is using it is very powerful but not used to fighting this way.’

  ‘Who can it be?’

  Flydd made a face. ‘Anabyng, their master mancer, I’d say. He’d have the power to bring Klarm down.’

  ‘I’ve called for an operator to replace him too,’ said Irisis.

  ‘Whoever it is, he won’t be strong enough.’

  ‘It’s Yggur.’

  ‘He won’t come,’ said Flydd.

  ‘He will,’ said Irisis.

  ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Really, surr,’ she grinned. ‘Surely you don’t expect me to reveal my wiles, even at such a time as this.’

  He managed a smile, as she’d hoped. It heartened Irisis, for without Flydd the battle, the war and the world were lost. ‘Not that. And what price must I pay?’

  ‘I told him you’d save the lyrinx if we won. Somehow.’

  The smile faded. ‘You’re assuming a lot, Crafter.’

  ‘I’m expecting you to lose the battle, surr, so you won’t have to find a solution.’

  ‘A challenge,’ said Flydd. He chuckled. ‘What would I do without you, Irisis? I’ll just have to prove you wrong.’

  Shortly Yggur came across the salt, clad all in grey, his face carved out of granite. ‘Flydd,’ he said, nodding. ‘You will hold to your word.’

  Flydd stood there for a moment, in thought, then held out his hand. ‘I will do everything in my power,’ he said softly.

  ‘Then let’s fight the final battle,’ said Yggur, and turned to Klarm’s vacant seat, with the bloodstains on the salt beside it.

  The runner came back with two more operators for Flydd. Irisis recognised both, though she did not know their names. Flydd sat the first girl beside him and explained what had to be done. She looked afraid. Moreover, even after three explanations she used the controller awkwardly and, as soon as power was drawn, began to cry. ‘It hurts, surr. I can’t do it.’

  ‘No, you can’t,’ said Flydd gently. He glanced at the other, a thin, plain, stringy-haired young woman with a defiant set to her jaw. ‘How about you, girl?’

  ‘I’ll do my best, surr,’ she said stoutly.

  ‘That’s all I ask. What’s your name?’

  ‘Kirrily, surr.’

  Kirrily did do her best, which turned out to be surprisingly good. She learned quickly and managed to last for over an hour, but after that succumbed quickly. Irisis drew off the gloves and laid her out on the ground to recover.

  ‘The same,’ said Flydd to her unspoken question. ‘I was doing all right until my nemesis began to attack me at the same time. If the node map was better, or the operator stronger, I might be able to fight this new attacker as well as the lyrinx. But I can’t.’

  ‘There’s fighting, surr,’ called the farspeaker operator. ‘The lyrinx have fallen on us in the west and the south. It’s bloody.’ She gave details.

  ‘Now they’re driving us,’ said the scrutator. ‘And they’ll run through us in an afternoon.’

  A soldier hurried in. ‘The enemy is advancing this way, surr. General Troist says to pack up and get to your thapter.’

  ‘How long do we have?’

  ‘At the rate they’re coming, they’ll be here in an hour.’

  ‘We’ll keep going for a little while longer, tell him. You never know …’ Flydd bit his lip.

  The soldier saluted and ran out.

  ‘There doesn’t seem much point,’ said Irisis.

  ‘Once I pack up,’ said Flydd, ‘it’s an admission of defeat and it’ll be twice as hard to start again. Confidence is everything. I don’t suppose you could operate a field controller, Irisis?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I’ll work without an operator for the moment. Run and see if Hilluly is any better yet. She was the best.’

  After some time, Hilluly was brought back on a stretcher. She could barely sit up, but she didn’t flinch from the job when Flydd asked her if she could take the gloves.

  They worked for a while, whereupon Flydd turned to Irisis and shook his head. ‘How long do we have?’

  ‘Quarter of an hour, at most.’

  ‘Then only a miracle can save us now. Tell Yggur he’d better get ready to run.’

  Irisis loped across to him. Yggur was sitting at the master farspeaker, his big hands stretched over it. ‘We’ve only got fifteen minutes, surr.’

  ‘I’ll be here until the end.’

  Irisis ran back. Already she could hear the shouts of battle, the squeal of racing clankers, the cries of the dying.

  ‘What’s that?’ said Irisis, cocking her head.

  ‘I can’t hear anything.’

  ‘It sounds like a thapter.’

  Flydd’s face didn’t change. He’d been disappointed too many times. ‘Whose?’

  Irisis ran outside. ‘I think it’s Tiaan and Malien,’ she yelled.

  ‘Signal them, quick! And tell Yggur to get his team ready, just in case I can pull something out of a very empty bag.’

  ‘He’s ready.’

  The thapter was drifting around in circles, looking for the command tent. They wouldn’t find it – it had been packed and loaded into a clanker long ago. All the tents were down and a line of clankers were moving out into the Dry Sea – the suicide path, as Flydd called it.

  Irisis ran out into the open space, waving her arms frantically, but the thapter continued north. She stood looking after it, praying that it would come back on another sweep. The anguished cries and savage roars grew louder. There was no time to waste. Irisis ran back towards the shelter; and then she heard the thapter again.

  She waved furiously and to her joy it dropped sharply, turned in her direction and came to rest just outside the shelter. Tiaan’s face appeared over the side.

  ‘Tiaan!’ Irisis screamed. ‘Flydd needs your map. Desperately.’ She pointed to Flydd’s shelter.

  Tiaan seemed to hesitate for a second, then she scrambled over the side, roll of linen in hand, and ran in. Irisis wrapped the map around the barrel of the field controller, over the top of the old map.

  ‘I’ve never been more glad to see anyone in my life,’ said Flydd. ‘Can you operate this, Tiaan?’

  ‘Of course,’ she said, putt
ing on the gloves and helmet. ‘I did the first trials, remember? Though I wouldn’t be as good as a trained –’

  ‘No time for that. He pointed with his cane to a node out in the Dry Sea, and muttered, ‘Ifis 312, Nihim 99, Husp 3, Gyr 64.’

  Tiaan flexed her fingers. She seemed to be taking a long time to follow him. It would not be easy to make the mental switch from flying the thapter.

  Flydd glanced at Operator Daesmie, who shook her head. He pointed and rapped another series. Tiaan followed more quickly. Again the interrogative glance; again the little shake of the head.

  A pair of soldiers appeared at the entrance. ‘The enemy are coming on quickly, surr,’ the first yelled. ‘You must go now.’

  ‘We’ll just be one minute.’

  Irisis could now see the army retreating towards them, only a few hundred paces away. They were still fighting, but once they broke, the enemy could cross the distance in well under a minute.

  Flydd was now calling his series without a pause, his pointer flicking from one part of the map to the other so fast that Irisis could barely follow it. Sweat rolled down his bare chest. Even Tiaan was perspiring.

  Irisis ran to the farspeaker operator and put an encouraging hand on her arm. ‘How’s it going?’

  ‘Nothing yet,’ Daesmie said, one eye on her globe and the other to the right, where the enemy were advancing. Though terrified, she held to her duty.

  Irisis could feel the strain building. Her head was pounding like a racing clanker, there was a roaring in her ears and she could taste blood in her mouth. Were they all about to suffer Klarm’s fate, just from being near the field controller? She squeezed her pliance in one fist and the fields flamed around her as allies and enemies drew on them for every ounce of power they could take.

  The map was spinning now, the cane flicking back and forth, Flydd choking out the numbers, scarlet-faced. He looked about to have a seizure. He stood up on his toes, roared out a set and Tiaan’s fingers danced.

  And then Irisis felt something break with a wrench that set the fields bouncing.

  ‘Yes!’ roared Flydd, brandishing his fist at the purple sky. ‘Yggur, get ready to use the mind-shocker. It’ll work this time.’