Alchymist

by Ian Irvine

  Neither could draw on the field here, of course, but scrutators had at hand older, subtler powers, ways of weakening an enemy's will. Flydd used them all. Fusshte's snake eyes defied him. It won't do you any good, Flydd thought. I despise you too much to ever give in to you.

  He smiled, grimly at first, but as he saw the first flicker of uncertainty in the eyes of his opponent, Flydd gave a savage grin. The man was weakening. Flydd snorted in disdain and suddenly the secretary broke. Choking back a gasp, Fusshte looked down at his papers and the battle was over.

  Such a little thing, but the atmosphere of the room changed subtly. Flydd was not defeated yet. He turned back to the chief scrutator.

  'I have a countercharge against Ghorr!' Flydd said flatly.

  'We'll hear it after your trial is done,' said Chief Scrutator Ghorr.

  'I'll not fall for that one. Once you convict me, as you plan to, I'll have no right to put a countercharge.'

  'You were charged first,' said Ghorr. 'The procedure can't be changed.'

  'My entire case depends on my countercharge.'

  'How unfortunate.'

  'I appeal to the Council to set aside your decision.'

  'On what grounds?' asked a diminutive dark woman whose cheeks were painted with red wax: Scrutator Halie.

  Flydd was pleased to discover that she was the appointed appeals scrutator. Halie had been an ally of his previously in difficult times; he could rely on her to be impartial. 'On the ground that a failure on the part of one or more members of the Council led to the destruction of the node.'

  'How so?' said Halie in a dangerous voice.

  'My first countercharge is that Chief Scrutator Ghorr provided me with a defective device to destroy the lyrinx node-drainer, and that device failed in use. My second countercharge is this: in commissioning that device, Chief Scrutator Ghorr negligently failed to appreciate that it was likely to cause the destruction of the node itself.'

  'These are serious charges, Scrutator Flydd,' said Halie.

  'And I intend to prove them.' He held her gaze as rigidly as if she had been his most bitter enemy, then broke it before it became a contest.

  'I shall set aside Chief Scrutator Ghorr's ruling for the moment. The Council will hear your charges first. Present them with dispatch, Flydd.'

  'Thank you,' said Flydd. He stood up and met their eyes, one by one. 'You have heard my first two countercharges, which relate solely to the destruction of the node. Ghorr's other charges are frivolous and motivated by mischief. He's happy to waste the Council's time, even at this desperate hour, so long as he can bring me down.' He turned eyes like lighthouse beams on the chief scrutator. 'That is my third countercharge.'

  'I did not formulate the charges,' growled Ghorr, glancing at the secretary.

  'But you gave them your authority.'

  'Make your case, Flydd, if you have one.'

  'Putting it simply, the device you gave me was defective.'

  'On what evidence?'

  'It failed when I used it, and led to the destruction of the node.'

  'That proves only that you used it incompetently,' said Ghorr.

  'Also an assertion that must be proved,' Flydd retorted. 'It's up to the accused to prove his innocence.' 'And I'm accusing you.' Flydd flung out his arm. The chief scrutator smiled thinly. 'Very theatrical! You were charged first. Your claims are countercharges.'

  'Ah,' said Flydd, making a desperate gamble without knowing what the answer was. 'But my countercharges are being heard first, and therefore you must prove your innocence. Is that not so, Appeals Scrutator?'

  Halie looked dubious, but reached below the table, brought up a bound volume and began flicking through the pages. After some minutes she put it down again and went into a huddle with three other scrutators. When it broke up, all the scrutators, apart from Flydd and Ghorr, went to the other end of the tent, speaking in low tones with much glancing back at their chief. Ghorr grew purple in the face. Finally they returned to the table.

  'Though this question is unprecedented,' said Halie, 'we have reached agreement. Confirm that you have, members of the Council.'

  Each of the scrutators affirmed that they agreed. Halie continued. 'We have voted, by a margin of six votes to three, that the countercharges must be defended first.'

  'Be damned!' roared the chief scrutator.

  'Due process —’ began Halie.

  Ghorr stood up, and he was a huge, dominating man. 'We've lost a third of our finest army. We may yet lose the war because of it. Flydd led them to disaster and now you call on the evil of democracy to let him off!' He spat the word out as if it were heresy, which it was.

  'That is the prescribed process, Chief Scrutator!' said Halie. 'Would you care to retire for a few minutes to prepare your case?'

  'With the greatest pleasure,' said Ghorr, back in control. He strode out, robes flapping.

  The other scrutators gathered at the corner of the tent, talking in low voices. Jal-Nish remained where he was. Flydd moved his chair so he could see the acting scrutator. 'Nice day for it,' he said conversationally.

  Jal-Nish shifted in his seat, as venomous and deadly as a nylatl. 'I'll be dancing on your flayed corpse by sundown.'

  Flydd felt the touch of fear and was careful not to look into Jal-Nish's eye — it was the one contest he could not win. The man was determined to destroy him, whatever the cost. He could not afford to show his disquiet — not the least trace. Summoning all his strength, Flydd yawned in Jal-Nish's face. 'And you want to replace me, of course.'

  'I'll have your place on the Council and crush the lyrinx too.'

  'Really?' said Flydd, without bothering to correct him. 'What next? Abolish famine, pestilence, death?'

  'You won't be sneering when the torturers have their disembowelling hooks in you.' Jal-Nish stormed out.

  I've got to him, Flydd thought. Impossible to resist, but was it wise?

  After half an hour, Ghorr came through the flap of the tent, accompanied by Jal-Nish and three people in robes. The first was a thin-faced, sallow fellow, the second a grey-haired woman wearing shoulder pads that squared off her stout figure; the last was a sawn-off, good-looking man with regular features, brilliant blue eyes and a leonine head of brown hair, swept back in waves. He had the rolling gait of a sailor and was only half a span tall. Flydd knew him — Klarm, the dwarf scrutator, an honest man, as scrutators went, but as ruthless as any.

  Klarm nodded cheerfully to Flydd, who waved back. The other two newcomers, mancers both, did not acknowledge him. Jal-Nish resumed his seat.

  '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 do
ubt 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.'

  Four

  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.