Geomancer (Well of Echoes) by Ian Irvine Read Free Book Online

couldn’t tune either of them in.’ His voice cracked as he relived the awful scene. ‘I began to think that the Lippi field was going, though the two clankers ahead of me seemed to be having no trouble.’ Ky-Ara went pale and had to sit down.
    ‘What happened then?’ Gi-Had prompted after a long silence.
    ‘I lost it. Both fields were gone! The hedron was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. If it had happened in battle …’ He shivered. ‘I took the controller out, got a lift back to Tiksi on a cart and sent the controller up the mountain.’
    ‘I have it in my workshop,’ said Tiaan. ‘I can’t work out what’s happened. The crystal is completely dead.’
    Ky-Ara looked distressed, like a lost boy. ‘If that’s all,’ he said, cradling the controller in his arms, ‘I’ll go to my quarters. I haven’t slept for two nights.’
    ‘Yes, thank you, Ky-Ara,’ said Gi-Had. ‘I know you’ve done your best. It must have been difficult for you.’
    The young man went out. Tiaan’s dark eyes followed him thoughtfully.
    ‘You’re wondering if he might be the one?’ Gi-Had’s rumble broke into her thoughts, startling her.
    Tiaan flushed. She had been thinking exactly that. Also thinking that, if she must mate, why not with a clanker operator? There were many similarities in their lives and work, and if they did not get on, he would be away most of the time. If nothing came of it, no one could say that she had not done her duty.
    ‘Yes,’ she said softly.
    ‘Strange folk, clanker operators. Their machines always come first – you know that.’
    It didn’t require an answer. He shook out the rolled despatch, scowling ferociously. ‘Bad news?’ she asked.
    ‘Another problem. A worse one.’
    ‘Oh?’ said Tiaan warily.
    ‘More clankers wiped out, on the coast well north of Xanpt. Each time, the enemy knew just where to find them.’
    ‘Clankers are pretty noisy,’ said Tiaan.
    ‘Not these ones.’ Gi-Had looked over his shoulder. The attendant was a long way away but the overseer lowered his voice anyway. ‘They were using a new development, a Sound Cloaker! You can’t hear them move. And no one knew where they were going.’
    ‘But that means,’ said Tiaan, ‘the enemy has a way of finding them. Using the Secret Art –’
    Gi-Had spun around. ‘Oy, you, clear out,
now
!’
    A large bald man touched his brow then slouched off. It was Eiryn Muss, a halfwit who had a lowly place at the manufactory. He was always shambling about, peering over people’s shoulders.
    Gi-Had turned back to Tiaan. ‘And if they can do that, they will destroy them all.
And us!
Find out how they do it, Tiaan.’
    ‘Is this more important than finding out why the hedrons failed? Or making replacement controllers?’
    ‘They’re all important,’ he growled.
    ‘I can’t do everything. I’m always exhausted as it is.’
    ‘Leave controller-making to the others for the time being. The best artisans from every manufactory have been ordered to work on these two problems.’
    Her head jerked up. ‘So it’s not just
my
controllers that have failed?’
    ‘Not according to this. But that doesn’t mean you’re in the clear.’
    ‘Are
you
happy with my work, overseer?’
    ‘Let’s just say that I’m keeping an eye on you. Better get on with it.’ Nodding distractedly, Gi-Had hurried off.

T HREE

    C ryl-Nish Hlar looked up from his bench as Tiaan went by. He desired her, and had ever since arriving at the manufactory three years ago. Unfortunately, Tiaan was oblivious to him. That hurt Nish, as he was mockingly known. In the local dialect the word meant pipsqueak.
    Nish was short and it was the bane of his life. He came from a long line of short people and despised every one of them for it. He was not unhandsome, in a brooding sort of way, with his cap of dark hair that showed the contours of his skull, and bright eyes that could be as green as the ocean, or as grey. Unfortunately his sallow skin