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.The ground shook, shook again and with a roar that hurt his eardrums the centre of the crater erupted upwards with colossal force, a cataclysm of steam, pulverised rock and red-hot particles of lava.Nish bolted to the thapter.Gilhaelith followed with calm and measured steps.As he climbed inside, the debris was boiling towards them.'To the Marches of Tacnah,' he said.'And be quick about it.'P ART F IVEWELL OF ECHOESS IXTY-ONEThe following afternoon, Irisis and Tiaan were putting the core of their crude field controller together when Golias's globe belched.'Flydd, Flydd? Troist here.'Irisis didn't look up.Tiaan seemed to understand what she was doing but Irisis felt as though she were working blind and Flydd had been fretting at their lack of progress.He ran to the globe.'What is it? Are you under attack?''We've been under attack for two days, Scrutator.I've been calling and calling but couldn't raise you.' Why not, was the unspoken implication.'Sorry,' said Flydd.'We've been using the farspeaker for something else.Is everything all right?''We're surviving.Tiaan's idea was a brilliant one.''What idea?' said Flydd distractedly.'Shouting into the farspeaker, remember? It only works if the enemy are within twenty or thirty paces, but it knocks them down for a minute or two, and if we change the setting it keeps knocking them down.I've issued slave farspeakers to as many units as I could.We've driven off quite a few attacks that way, though with heavy casualties.Two thousand so far, and eight hundred of those are dead.''Two thousand.' said Flydd, unconsciously clenching one fist.'It could have been worse, I suppose.''I weep for every life lost,' said Troist.There was a heavy silence, broken only by squelches and clicks in the background.'But that's not what I've called about.Yggur was right about Gilhaelith.I should never have trusted him, though his timely warnings did save many lives.He's just played his hand.''What's he done now?' cried Flydd.'He stole Kimli's thapter and flew north, just half an hour ago.''Has he gone over to the enemy?' Flydd asked dully.'I've no idea, surr.'Shortly Flydd set down the farspeaker and turned to Yggur.'Gilhaelith took Nish with him in Kimli's thapter, as well as Merryl and four soldiers, one of whom was Flangers.'Irisis dropped the assembly she was trying to put together.Crystals and tiny silver clips went everywhere but she didn't move to pick them up.'Why did he take Nish?''He was helping Merryl to listen in to the enemy's mindspeech.''What's Gilhaelith up to?' said Yggur, who seemed to be resisting the urge to say 'I told you so'.'Troist doesn't know,' said Flydd.'Unfortunately, Gilhaelith took most of the mindspeech records.Troist has the last page, which mentions Matriarch Gyrull and some relics that seem to have precipitated his hasty departure.''The relics they took from Snizort?' said Yggur.'I don't know.Pack everything up; we're going to Booreah Ngurle.That's probably where he's headed.''He'll be long gone before we get there.''Not if we hurry.We're not much further away.'But it took longer than expected to pack the partly assembled field controller, and when they reached Booreah Ngurle late in the night it was erupting violently.They settled in the forest for a few hours' sleep, returning at dawn.They could not see the crest of the volcano for dust and falling rocks, and of course there was no sign of the thapter.'That's the end of Nyriandiol,' said Flydd soberly as Malien circled at a safe distance.'One of the most extraordinary places ever built.It's a shame.''Nothing lasts forever,' said Malien.'Indeed not.Not even our kind.''Where do you want to go now?''I need to talk to Troist.Tiaan and Irisis can finish their work while we're there.And be careful.We're down to three thapters now.''You're down to two,' Malien pointed out.'I still have mine, and I'm always careful.'Work was the last thing on Irisis's mind but she continued mechanically, doing whatever Tiaan told her while she tried to understand what Gilhaelith could be up to.His actions didn't make any sense, though one thing was clear - he didn't care about people and Nish was in deadly danger.Malien turned east and they met the army near a small lake between the great lakes of Warde Yallock and Parnggi.The surrounding grassland was clear of enemy so they felt relatively secure, though the lyrinx could not be far away.From here, Troist planned to head east, by paths suitable for clankers, then south to meet the refugees on the other side of Parnggi.The four remaining mindspeech listeners had recorded intense message activity the previous afternoon and all morning, but in the early afternoon it stopped abruptly.The two thapters continued with the army.It was not attacked again, not even the solitary night raids from flying lyrinx to which Troist had grown accustomed.'It's so quiet,' said Flydd the morning after that.'Too quiet.'They were camped on a gentle rise, a patch of barren ground with good views over the grassland in every direction.A small fire smoked between the thapters and Irisis was grilling gangrene-coloured offal sausages over it.She wasn't looking forward to dinner.'I can practically feel the enemy's rage about their loss,' said Tiaan, who'd spent two days in the bowels of the thapter working on the field controller with Irisis, or by herself after Irisis had gone to bed.It had come together at last and they were going to begin testing after breakfast, Tiaan working as the operator.Golias's globe sounded and a voice rumbled like a cow's belly, the words low and drawn-out.'Who was that?' said Troist.'It sounded like Governor Zaeff in Roros,' said Flydd in amazement [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]