Alchymist by Ian Irvine Read Free Book Online Page A

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,