Alchymist Read Free Page A

ground, the mud began to steam gently. The next detachment,
some fifty lyrinx, resisted longer than the others, but within a minute they
too had fled.
    'With
a lens, anyone can focus the sun's rays so as to set paper or cloth alight,'
said Irisis, 'though I don't think that's their aim here.'
    'The
beam isn't tightly focussed,' said Flydd, putting down his spyglass, 'but it's
enough to dazzle and confuse. And blind too, should you look directly at it.'
    The
general had a calculating look in his eye. 'Shall I order the counterattack,
surr?'
    'Wait,'
said Flydd. 'If the mirror tears in the wind, or the lyrinx make a determined
attack on it, we'll be more exposed than we are now.'
    The
enemy now attacked desperately, but the beam stopped each onslaught. Within an
hour the lyrinx began to fall back en masse, whereupon the beam moved towards
the ranks of enemy surrounding the walled perimeter of Snizort.
    Suddenly
half a dozen lyrinx took to the air, well apart, rising into the path of the
air-floaters. This'll be interesting,' said Tham. "They'll never move the
mirror quickly enough.'
    The
air-floaters did not attempt to. The first lyrinx to approach took many
crossbow bolts to the head and chest. It tumbled over and over, wings cracking
in the wind, before slamming into the ground down the slope behind the command
tent. The second suffered a similar fate, for the air-floaters were packed with
archers. The other lyrinx flapped away. In the air they were too vulnerable. The
mirror beam continued its inexorable progress.
    'Something's
happening,' said Irisis in the early afternoon. She was watching enemy
movements inside the southern wall of Snizort. Lyrinx were running backwards
and forwards through the drifting smoke. 'Looks like they're sending out
reinforcements.'
    'I
don't think so,' said the scrutator.
    Flangers
said quietly, 'They're carrying boxes and bags.'
    'Where's
my spyglass?' Flydd demanded.
    'You
left it by the tent,' Irisis replied, passing him her glass. He focussed it and
said, 'You've got good eyes, soldier.’
    'That's
why I was chosen as shooter.'
    'What
are they doing?' Irisis and Tham asked together.
    'A
group of .., perhaps one hundred have formed up behind the southern wall,' said
Flydd. 'They've all got big packs on, which is unusual, and they're carrying
what appear to be boxes, or cases. Or coffins!'
    'The
same thing happened yesterday morning,' said a sentry standing nearby. 'Even
before the node exploded their fliers were heading south-west, carrying huge
packages.'
    'Is
that so?' said Flydd. 'How odd.'
    "The
tar's burning underground,' said Irisis, 'and it would be the very devil to put
out. They'd have to abandon Snizort, whatever the result of the battle.'
    'I
wonder if those cases contain flesh-formed creatures?' Flydd gave Irisis a keen
glance. 'If we could only . . .'
    'I
hope I'm wrong about what you're thinking' said Irisis.
    'Regretfully,'
said Flydd, 'you're not. They're weapons we don't know how to deal with, but if
we had one or two little ones to study, we might be able to find a defence
against them.'
    The
mirror beam now carved across the eastern wall, towards the enemy ranks on the
other side. It was not causing as much confusion as before, but the lyrinx were
still retreating from it.
    Fighting
broke out near the northern wall. A band of some twenty lyrinx had advanced in
a rush that took them right through a line of human soldiers. The beam did not
shift to counter this new threat, but kept moving back and forth across the
ranks of the enemy, on the far side of Snizort.
    'That
was just a diversion,' cried Irisis. 'They're retreating.'
    The
group of lyrinx carrying the baggage rose into the air together then spread
apart, holding low to the ground until they crossed the southern wall, where
there was little fighting. There they climbed rapidly, disappearing into the
smoky haze that hung over the fortress.
    'They're
mighty mancers' said Flydd, 'to fly under these conditions. Whatever