Alchymist (85 page)

'If
he did, why didn't he use it himself?'

'No
one could predict what would happen. Safer to let you and me do it.'

'If
it was Muss, why didn't he go directly to the node? Why was he looking for the
tears in Snizort?'

'He
must have thought they'd form at the node-drainer,' said Flydd. 'By the time he
realised otherwise, the tears were gone. Jal-Nish had them.'

And
Muss has been hunting them ever since,' said Irisis.

'I
wish you'd mentioned this before I sent him back to Lauralin.'

'Why
does he want the tears anyway? Who is Muss?'

'He's
been my faithful, meticulous spy for many, many years. It's hard to believe he
could be otherwise.' He stood up. 'But one good thing has come out of your
news, Irisis.'

'What's
that, Xervish?'

'I
feel inspired again.'

'No
progress on the construct mechanism, Yggur?' Flydd said the following morning.

Yggur
had just emerged from his workroom, looking as though he'd neither slept nor changed
his clothes in days. On returning from Snizort he had taken the construct's
mechanism to pieces and begun working on it by himself.

'I
don't expect miracles. It's only been a few days.' He did look disappointed,
though.

'I
wonder how Tiaan managed it?' said Nish. 'It didn't take her long to make one
fly.'

'Now
there's a thought,' said Yggur. 'What happened to the flying construct after
Vithis took Tiaan?'

'It
burned. It was covered in tar.'

'Did
you learn anything while you were in it? About how she made it fly, I mean?'

'It
was Tirior's construct, but Tiaan made it go when Tiror could not, using the
amplimet to draw on a distant field. A little later, Tiaan had us blindfolded
while she did something to the mechanisms, and after that it flew.'

'But
how did she make it fly?' said Yggur to himself.

Vithis
had custody of her amplimet for a long time,' said Flydd, 'yet never succeeded
in making any of his constructs fly. Which means . . .'

'That
Tiaan alone knows the secret and he couldn't get it out of her,' said Nish.

'There
must be more to it,' said Flydd.

'There's
more,' said Yggur with a remote smile. 'I've had a full report come in by
skeet. When Tiaan escaped from the Aachim she had the amplimet, but the
construct didn't fly. Something vital must have been lost in the one that
burned, and she couldn't replace it. We're getting closer.'

'And
she's getting further away,' said Flydd.

'After
flying a construct, merely hovering must be galling to her. She'll want to
replace what was burned as quickly as possible.'

'She'll
go back to Tirthrax,' said Flydd, bright-eyed, 'where she first discovered the
secret, doubtless with Malien's aid. We can expect to see a flying machine
again before too long.'

'Malien's
still alive?' Yggur exclaimed. 'That is good news. What can you—?'

Ask
Nish,' said Flydd. 'He's met her!' It galled Flydd, for he'd desperately wanted
to meet the legend when he had been in Tirthrax, but she hadn't shown herself.

'I
had a couple of run-ins with her,' said Nish, looking down at his hands. 'Neither
to my credit, though at the time I thought I was doing the right thing.'

'I'm
beginning to see a possibility,' said Yggur. 'I've a mind to take the
air-floater to Tirthrax and talk to Malien.'

'You
can't have it!' said Flydd.

Yggur
grew very still. 'You, a beggarly ex-scrutator, presume to tell me what I can
do?'

'It's
all we've got and if we lose it, we're finished,' said Flydd, daunted but
defiant. And we will lose it. The lyrinx will be watching the skies, and so
will the scrutators.'

What's
the point in having an air-floater if you haven't the courage to use it?'

I
need it for a plan of my own. Anyway, I thought you were going to make a flier
with the construct mechanism?'

It
may take years to discover a secret that Tiaan or Malien could show us in a few
minutes. What's your plan?'

Flydd
hesitated. Secrecy was a way of life to him. His tired eyes searched Yggur's
face, then he seemed to come to a decision. 'It also relies on a flying
construct, though I'm not planning to build one. I'm going to track Tiaan down
and ask her for the secret. Then, go to Tirthrax and make a flying construct
from the damaged machines there.'

And
if that fails?'

Attempt
it at Snizort, where there are hundreds to choose from.'

And
once you have your flying machine, what then?'

Flydd
studied his adversary. It was hard to overcome this instinctive rivalry, not to
mention his dislike of a man who seemed so much more than he, in every respect,
yet was reluctant to use his talents for the war.

With
an effort, he put the feelings aside. 'Nennifer, the scrutators' secret
bastion, isn't designed for defence against flying constructs. They'd never
expect us to have one, or to attack them. I plan to go in at night, through the
roof, and take them by surprise. In half an hour it could all be over.’

'Just
you against eleven Council members and their thousands of guards and mancers?'

'I'll
go alone, if no one will come with me,' said Flydd. 'The Council must be
overthrown and I've sworn to do it, whatever it costs.'

Yggur
regarded him, smiling faintly. 'You took your sweet time about it, but for once
I agree. I will work with you, after all. First we must have flight. Once we
have it, we bring down the Council and replace it. Only then can we plan how to
end the war.’

Flydd
stood up and shook his hand. 'I'll send Flangers out in the air-floater, to
contact Muss . . .' His eyes met Irisis's. 'Yes, Muss. If anybody can find
Tiaan, he can.' If he's still working for me he thought.

And
I'll send skeets to my factors, with the same message.’

said
Yggur. 'It seems that we have the beginnings of a plan.

While
we wait to hear from our spies, I'll keep working on the construct mechanism.
Nish will assist me and Flangers will be our labourer. Irisis and Inouye will
work with me on a flight controller. You, Flydd, will refine your plan to take
Nennifer and consider what you will do afterwards. If Malien or Tiaan is abroad
in a flying construct, half the world will know of it.'

'What
about the Numinator, surr?' Irisis said quietly to Flydd as they went back to
the fire. 'Since he controls the Council, he won't appreciate you overthrowing
it.'

'A
masterly understatement,' said Flydd. 'Know your enemy, and I don't, so there's
no way to prepare for him. But he dwells a long way south, so it'll be a while
before he realises what has happened. I'll have that time to deal with him.'

'Or
be dealt with,' Irisis added gloomily.

'Quite.'

A
month went by. Though they made no secret of their dislike for each other,
Flydd and Yggur had managed to achieve a working truce. At the end of that
period they met to report progress.

'I
haven't come up with much, I'm afraid.' Yggur touched the little beetle-shaped
device that he had demonstrated before. With a faint hum it rose into the air.
He moved his hands before him, sending the device whizzing down the room. It
curved around in a series of spirals then floated back just below the ceiling.
Another wave of his hands and it settled to the table without a sound. Yggur
went pale and abruptly sat down.

'It
flies,' he said hoarsely, 'but only for a few moments, and takes a great deal
out of the user. What have you to report, Irisis?'

Irisis
demonstrated her progress on a flight controller, but the could do no more
without testing it in a full-sized flying machine.

And
you, Flydd?'

'The
plan to attack Nennifer is coming along. I'll go through it with you in private
later.'

'Did
you manage to contact Muss, surr?' said Irisis.

'He's
disappeared,' said Flydd with knotted jaw. 'Flangers could find no trace of him
and he didn't reply to messages left at any of his rendezvous.'

'He's
left you,' said Yggur. 'Muss has struck out on his own.'

By
the scrutator's expression he thought so too, though he did not appreciate
Yggur's pointing it out.

'Has
either of you had news of the war?' Irisis asked.

'It's
not much worse than before,' said Yggur. 'And with the coming of winter we can
expect the situation to ease. The lyrinx breed at that time, avoiding conflict
if they can.'

'They
attacked our manufactory in winter, over and again,' said Irisis.

'Just
small bands, I'll warrant, made up of lyrinx who had not yet mated.'

'Then
let's pray for a long winter' said Nish, 'and a vigorous mating season.'

'Judging
by the early snowfalls,' said Yggur, 'it's going to be a hard winter. There'll
be famine in Lauralin before spring.'

'Is
it better to starve to death in the cold or be eaten by the enemy?' said Flydd.
'I think I'd probably choose the latter. If that's all, I'll go back to my
work.'

'Ah!'
Yggur held up a long finger. 'One more thing. A skeet came in the other day,
bearing a message that's come in relays all the way from the east.' He looked
pleased about it.

'Well?'
Flydd snapped, not liking his own tricks being used on him.

A
flying construct was sighted over Stassor last week.'

'What!'

'It's
true. It was seen on more than one occasion.'

'So
Tiaan has gone to the Aachim.'

it
would appear so . . .'

Yggur
looked as if he was holding something back, and Nash thought he knew what it
was. 'I happened to be up on the wall at dawn this morning,' Nish said; 'I
couldn't sleep. I saw another skeet come in.'

It
brought even better news. Just two days ago a second flying construct was seen
above Stassor. It was a new design, quite different from Vithis's constructs.'

'So
the secret is out!' breathed Flydd. 'If they can make two, they can make a
thousand. And so, hopefully, can we.'

'What
were they doing?' asked Nish.

'Good
question,' said Yggur. 'The original one was flying a regular pattern over the
mountains surrounding Stassor.'

'Really?'
frowned Flydd.

'It
flew slowly along a line, east-west, further than my informant could see,
turned south for a league and flew back along a line parallel to the first. It
did that all night. My spy was not able to find out what the flying construct
was doing, though he did learn the identity of one of the people inside, as it
turned for home in the morning. It was Tiaan.'

'She's
surveying the nodes,' Irisis burst out. 'Even when she was a child, Tiaan used
to map fields.'

'Interesting,'
said Yggur, and there was a strange gleam in his eye. 'I'm getting an idea.'

They
scarcely saw Yggur after that. He spent day and night in his workroom,
labouring frantically on a project that he would not talk about, and rebuffed
everyone who came to the door.

Irisis
was insatiably curious. One day, being at an impasse in her work, she decided
to find out what he was up to. She cooked another of her glorious meals, loaded
up a tray and knocked at the door.

'Go
away!' he roared, sounding more frosty than usual.

Irisis
faltered, but she had not got this far without being strong of will and thick
of hide, so she turned the handle and went in.

'Get
out!' he said without looking up.

'I
brought you something to eat,' she said softly. 'It'll be a change from the
gruel your cook provides, the same thing day after day.'

I
like the same thing day after day.' He glanced at the tray, at her, back at the
tray. He moistened his lips. 'Oh, very well, bring it here.'

She
pushed the door shut with her foot and put the tray on the table, careful not
to disturb his work. 'I've made—' she began.

'I
can see! What do you want, Irisis?'

'I
don't want anything . . .'

'I'm
not stupid.'

'All
right,' she said quietly. 'Let me be honest with you.'

'Why
do those words always make me think I'm about to be conned?'

'I
want to know what you're working on.'

And I
don't want to tell you.'

'Don't
you trust me?'

'I
don't trust anyone except the one person who has never let me down. Myself.'

'I've
never let you down.'

'Ah,
but you will. Everyone does, in the end.'

She
laughed. 'You're a sad man, Yggur.'