Alchymist Read Free Page B

they're
carrying, it's more important than winning the battle.'
    There
was no way to bring them down; the lyrinx were out of range of the catapults
and javelards, and the fleet of air-floaters did not seem to have noticed. The
flying lyrinx reappeared out of the haze, flew into a pall drifting from the
molten remains of the node, and vanished.
    The
scrutator shook his head. 'I think we're going to regret that.'

Two
    Inside
Snizort, the remaining lyrinx began to swarm over the western and southern
walls. Fighting their way through the few human defenders nearby, they headed
south-west down the tar-crusted valley. One by one the detachments outside the
walls turned to follow them. Those lyrinx not yet called to the orderly retreat
fought on.
    The
air-floaters turned together, drifting closer so as to direct the beam at a
skirmish on the northern wall. The lyrinx must have been waiting for that, for
three catapults fired at once and their balls of stone went through the mirror
sail, tearing gashes which spread until the fabric hung down in tatters. It was
released, the shreds winking in the air like tinsel. Each machine produced many
smaller mirrors, the size of large shields, which the soldiers aimed
individually. The effect was not as dramatic, but the lyrinx still broke when
the beams struck them.
    Eiryn
Muss, Flydd's personal prober, or spy, came up beside him, whispering in his
ear. Flydd looked surprised. He whispered back and Muss, an entirely
nondescript fellow in his present disguise, slid away.
    'What
was that about?' said Irisis.
    'Scrutators'
business,' he "replied tersely.
    The
air-floaters continued their work for another hour, until, suddenly, it was all
over.
    'The
last of the lyrinx are retreating,' said Flydd. 'We've survived — at least
until nightfall.'
    'So
you think they'll come back?'
    'You
can't always tell with lyrinx. Since they've had to abandon Snizort, they may
not. But then again, the opportunity to destroy our army in the dark may be too
tempting to resist.'
    The
air-floaters were rotoring towards the command hill, but they did not all make
it. A squad of lyrinx catapult operators had remained in position, camouflaged,
waiting for just that moment.
    A
ball went right through the cabin of the lowest air-floater, shattering it into
splinters and sending at least a dozen people to their deaths. Another missile
struck the ovoid bag of a second machine, deflating it instantly. Fortunately
it was, by then, only a few spans above the flank of the hill. The crash made a
loud noise, though the machine did not seem to be damaged further. The other
ten air-floaters made it to the ground a safe distance from the catapults.
    'The
lead one's flying the Council flag,' said Flydd, squinting through his spyglass
again. I wonder who can be in command? Surely not Ghorr. The chief scrutator
would never do anything to risk his mangy hide.'
    'We'll
soon find out,' said Irisis.
    'I'd
better go to meet them.'
    Again
Irisis felt that foreboding. She was following the scrutator when he turned and
said, coolly, 'You won't be needed, Crafter. Wait here for my orders. If you
would be so good as to ask Fyn-Mah to come down?'
    The
sudden, cold formality was like a slap in the face. He kept going so she headed
back to the tents, found Perquisitor Fyn-Mah and gave her the message, then
resumed her pacing around the hill.
    Flydd
did not hurry, for he also had an uncomfortable premonition. Despite their
truly heroic efforts, the mission to destroy the node-drainer had been a
failure, doomed before it began. The device the Council had given him had been
faulty, perhaps deliberately so. Because of that, a third of the army had been
lost. Flydd could not avoid the blame, nor would he, had he been able to. The
soldiers lives had been in his hands, and he had failed them. Though inured to
war, and hardened by it, every death weighed on him.
    But
another leader might have won this battle, he thought, despite the loss of the
node. Another