SIXTY-NINE

‘The enemy are advancing,’ Operator Daesmie said just after Irisis came back. Her face had gone white, which made the rings around her eyes stand out as purple as bruises. ‘Every segment reports the same. They’re coming right for us.’

‘How could they attack Klarm?’ said Flydd. ‘I don’t understand it.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Fight on, hopeless though it is without him.’

‘I’ve sent for more field-controller operators,’ said Irisis.

‘It won’t do any good. Hilluly and her cousins were the best. Besides, I’m being undermined and I don’t know how to stop it.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘The power is still in the fields but now I can’t get it out. It’s as if someone else is attacking me from the other side.’

‘Could the lyrinx have more than one power patterner?’

‘I don’t think so. This new attack is different. It’s strong but ragged, as if whoever is using it is very powerful but not used to fighting this way.’

‘Who can it be?’

Flydd made a face. ‘Anabyng, their master mancer, I’d say. He’d have the power to bring Klarm down.’

‘I’ve called for an operator to replace him too,’ said Irisis.

‘Whoever it is, he won’t be strong enough.’

‘It’s Yggur.’

‘He won’t come,’ said Flydd.

‘He will,’ said Irisis.

‘How do you know?’

‘Really, surr,’ she grinned. ‘Surely you don’t expect me to reveal my wiles, even at such a time as this.’

He managed a smile, as she’d hoped. It heartened Irisis, for without Flydd the battle, the war and the world were lost. ‘Not that. And what price must I pay?’

‘I told him you’d save the lyrinx if we won. Somehow.’

The smile faded. ‘You’re assuming a lot, Crafter.’

‘I’m expecting you to lose the battle, surr, so you won’t have to find a solution.’

‘A challenge,’ said Flydd. He chuckled. ‘What would I do without you, Irisis? I’ll just have to prove you wrong.’

Shortly Yggur came across the salt, clad all in grey, his face carved out of granite. ‘Flydd,’ he said, nodding. ‘You will hold to your word.’

Flydd stood there for a moment, in thought, then held out his hand. ‘I will do everything in my power,’ he said softly.

‘Then let’s fight the final battle,’ said Yggur, and turned to Klarm’s vacant seat, with the bloodstains on the salt beside it.

The runner came back with two more operators for Flydd. Irisis recognised both, though she did not know their names. Flydd sat the first girl beside him and explained what had to be done. She looked afraid. Moreover, even after three explanations she used the controller awkwardly and, as soon as power was drawn, began to cry. ‘It hurts, surr. I can’t do it.’

‘No, you can’t,’ said Flydd gently. He glanced at the other, a thin, plain, stringy-haired young woman with a defiant set to her jaw. ‘How about you, girl?’

‘I’ll do my best, surr,’ she said stoutly.

‘That’s all I ask. What’s your name?’

‘Kirrily, surr.’

Kirrily did do her best, which turned out to be surprisingly good. She learned quickly and managed to last for over an hour, but after that succumbed quickly. Irisis drew off the gloves and laid her out on the ground to recover.

‘The same,’ said Flydd to her unspoken question. ‘I was doing all right until my nemesis began to attack me at the same time. If the node map was better, or the operator stronger, I might be able to fight this new attacker as well as the lyrinx. But I can’t.’

‘There’s fighting, surr,’ called the farspeaker operator. ‘The lyrinx have fallen on us in the west and the south. It’s bloody.’ She gave details.

‘Now they’re driving us,’ said the scrutator. ‘And they’ll run through us in an afternoon.’

A soldier hurried in. ‘The enemy is advancing this way, surr. General Troist says to pack up and get to your thapter.’

‘How long do we have?’

‘At the rate they’re coming, they’ll be here in an hour.’

‘We’ll keep going for a little while longer, tell him. You never know …’ Flydd bit his lip.

The soldier saluted and ran out.

‘There doesn’t seem much point,’ said Irisis.

‘Once I pack up,’ said Flydd, ‘it’s an admission of defeat and it’ll be twice as hard to start again. Confidence is everything. I don’t suppose you could operate a field controller, Irisis?’

‘No.’

‘I’ll work without an operator for the moment. Run and see if Hilluly is any better yet. She was the best.’

After some time, Hilluly was brought back on a stretcher. She could barely sit up, but she didn’t flinch from the job when Flydd asked her if she could take the gloves.

They worked for a while, whereupon Flydd turned to Irisis and shook his head. ‘How long do we have?’

‘Quarter of an hour, at most.’

‘Then only a miracle can save us now. Tell Yggur he’d better get ready to run.’

Irisis loped across to him. Yggur was sitting at the master farspeaker, his big hands stretched over it. ‘We’ve only got fifteen minutes, surr.’

‘I’ll be here until the end.’

Irisis ran back. Already she could hear the shouts of battle, the squeal of racing clankers, the cries of the dying.

‘What’s that?’ said Irisis, cocking her head.

‘I can’t hear anything.’

‘It sounds like a thapter.’

Flydd’s face didn’t change. He’d been disappointed too many times. ‘Whose?’

Irisis ran outside. ‘I think it’s Tiaan and Malien,’ she yelled.

‘Signal them, quick! And tell Yggur to get his team ready, just in case I can pull something out of a very empty bag.’

‘He’s ready.’

The thapter was drifting around in circles, looking for the command tent. They wouldn’t find it – it had been packed and loaded into a clanker long ago. All the tents were down and a line of clankers were moving out into the Dry Sea – the suicide path, as Flydd called it.

Irisis ran out into the open space, waving her arms frantically, but the thapter continued north. She stood looking after it, praying that it would come back on another sweep. The anguished cries and savage roars grew louder. There was no time to waste. Irisis ran back towards the shelter; and then she heard the thapter again.

She waved furiously and to her joy it dropped sharply, turned in her direction and came to rest just outside the shelter. Tiaan’s face appeared over the side.

‘Tiaan!’ Irisis screamed. ‘Flydd needs your map. Desperately.’ She pointed to Flydd’s shelter.

Tiaan seemed to hesitate for a second, then she scrambled over the side, roll of linen in hand, and ran in. Irisis wrapped the map around the barrel of the field controller, over the top of the old map.

‘I’ve never been more glad to see anyone in my life,’ said Flydd. ‘Can you operate this, Tiaan?’

‘Of course,’ she said, putting on the gloves and helmet. ‘I did the first trials, remember? Though I wouldn’t be as good as a trained –’

‘No time for that. He pointed with his cane to a node out in the Dry Sea, and muttered, ‘Ifis 312, Nihim 99, Husp 3, Gyr 64.’

Tiaan flexed her fingers. She seemed to be taking a long time to follow him. It would not be easy to make the mental switch from flying the thapter.

Flydd glanced at Operator Daesmie, who shook her head. He pointed and rapped another series. Tiaan followed more quickly. Again the interrogative glance; again the little shake of the head.

A pair of soldiers appeared at the entrance. ‘The enemy are coming on quickly, surr,’ the first yelled. ‘You must go now.’

‘We’ll just be one minute.’

Irisis could now see the army retreating towards them, only a few hundred paces away. They were still fighting, but once they broke, the enemy could cross the distance in well under a minute.

Flydd was now calling his series without a pause, his pointer flicking from one part of the map to the other so fast that Irisis could barely follow it. Sweat rolled down his bare chest. Even Tiaan was perspiring.

Irisis ran to the farspeaker operator and put an encouraging hand on her arm. ‘How’s it going?’

‘Nothing yet,’ Daesmie said, one eye on her globe and the other to the right, where the enemy were advancing. Though terrified, she held to her duty.

Irisis could feel the strain building. Her head was pounding like a racing clanker, there was a roaring in her ears and she could taste blood in her mouth. Were they all about to suffer Klarm’s fate, just from being near the field controller? She squeezed her pliance in one fist and the fields flamed around her as allies and enemies drew on them for every ounce of power they could take.

The map was spinning now, the cane flicking back and forth, Flydd choking out the numbers, scarlet-faced. He looked about to have a seizure. He stood up on his toes, roared out a set and Tiaan’s fingers danced.

And then Irisis felt something break with a wrench that set the fields bouncing.

‘Yes!’ roared Flydd, brandishing his fist at the purple sky. ‘Yggur, get ready to use the mind-shocker. It’ll work this time.’

‘It’d better,’ grunted Yggur. ‘Team, now!’

‘Have you broken the power patterner?’ said Irisis to Flydd.

‘No,’ he said grimly, ‘but I have broken Anabyng’s attack.’

‘Better get on with it,’ said Irisis. ‘That’s the enemy just out there.’

He glanced that way and his red face paled. ‘So close. All right, Tiaan, the last effort. Ryll and Liett are using the power patterner. Take advantage of any weaknesses you’re aware of.’

Again the tiny hesitation before she said, ‘I’ll do my best.’

The struggle went on. The enemy had temporarily stalled but their numbers were overwhelming. The soldiers of the rearguard were fighting to the death to protect them and create a chance for everyone else. But the dead were piling up and the lyrinx must break through at any moment.

‘Call Troist,’ she yelled at the operator. ‘Tell him we’re still working.’

‘I have. He said his men can’t hold out any longer.’

‘Neither can we.’ Irisis held a cool drink to Flydd’s cracked lips and sponged his forehead with water. She offered a drink to Tiaan but Tiaan shook her head.

‘Mind-shocker, now!’ Flydd shouted to Yggur. ‘Irisis, keep an eye out. Tell me if it’s working.’

The air crackled as Yggur went to work, and Irisis felt a faint throb at the base of her skull, a momentary weakness in her limbs. Yggur was directing the mind-shocker so powerfully that even she could feel it.

Flydd was growing hoarse now and the cane wasn’t moving as quickly as before. Irisis glanced over her shoulder and saw the enemy for the first time. Troist’s line had broken.

‘I can see the enemy. To the thapter, surr!’

‘Wait!’ said Flydd, his teeth clenched so tightly she expected them to shatter. He choked out another set of numbers.

Tiaan’s fingers raced, then went still. She looked questioningly across to the scrutator, who wasn’t saying anything. He was staring at the farspeaker.

‘They’ve broken,’ Operator Daesmie said, her eyes glassy. She was drenched with sweat and Irisis realised that she had neglected Daesmie, who had been working for hours without a break. ‘They’ve broken, surr!’

Flydd lurched to his feet, looking around wildly.

‘No, surr,’ cried Daesmie. ‘The enemy have broken.’

‘Broken?’ Flydd whispered, unable to comprehend, much less believe that they had finally done it.

Yggur was slumped in his chair, utterly drained.

‘Come outside, surr,’ said Irisis. She helped him out, then signalled to Malien. ‘Take us up so we can see what’s going on.’

Yggur looked up as Flydd staggered by. ‘Well, Scrutator,’ he said in a hoarse rasp, ‘I’ve met my end of the bargain.’

‘And I will honour mine,’ said Flydd. ‘Though I’ve no idea how.’

The thapter slipped into the air. The enemy line had broken. The clankers equipped with mind-shockers had swung around in a curving line and the lyrinx were being pushed north, further out into the Dry Sea. Malien climbed higher. It was happening on the other side as well: another curve of clankers splitting the enemy in two around the human army and driving them out into the wasteland.

Flydd shook his head. ‘I never thought it was possible. Not for a second.’

‘But you never gave in, either,’ said Malien. ‘You’re quite a man, Scrutator.’

‘If only you knew the despair I give way to, in the dark each night after I’ve gone to bed.’

‘You’re not alone, Xervish Flydd. You’re not alone.’