Chimaera (34 page)

‘Hold just a moment,’ said Klarm. ‘I think this fellow knows more than he’s telling us. Prober Muss, pray enlarge upon your previous statement. What do you know about our doings?’

Muss glanced at Flydd but found no relief there.

‘Well?’ said Klarm. ‘What does a humble prober know about the Art?’

‘Nothing, surr,’ said Muss, his normally impassive face showing the faintest sign of discomfort.

‘Come now, Eiryn Muss,’ said Flydd. ‘Don’t treat us like fools. You’re far more than a humble prober,
aren’t you
?’

‘I don’t know what you mean, surr.’

‘Of course you do. One of the reasons you’re such a brilliant spy is that you have a
hidden
talent, in the true sense of the word. You’re a mancer too, Eiryn Muss, but of a very rare kind.’

‘I –’ Muss shook his head. ‘No, surr …’

‘You’re a morphmancer, Muss – you can take on the shape and appearance of any human, or any creature, roughly your own size. You can go anywhere, and disguise yourself as anyone, and no one will ever know it’s you.’

Muss, who had regained his self-control, scarcely reacted this time. All Nish caught was a slight tightening of the fists, a momentary flexure of the brows.

‘I can take on certain shapes and appearances, surr,’ Muss said, ‘but my essential nature remains unchanged. Therefore any ward or sentinel set against me will keep me at bay no matter how I change my shape. I tried to enter the chamber where the amplimet is held, but the sentinels would not allow it. Therefore I know not, of my own eyes, what went on in there.’

‘You just said your eidoscope was linked to the sentinels,’ said Klarm.

‘Only to read them. I can’t change their settings.’

‘What does your eidoscope tell you about what we did?’ said Flydd.

‘I believe,’ Muss said carefully, ‘though I do not
know
, that you managed to bypass the wards and the rings of mancers surrounding the amplimet. You melted the ice wards –’

‘That was our intention, but the ice wards had already been eaten away from within,’ said Flydd. ‘The amplimet must have done that, so it must have already woken, secretly.’

‘You forced power into the amplimet,’ said Muss, ‘allowing it to take control of the field for an instant. It lashed out, killing the ring of adepts and causing the dislocation of Nennifer, before the Council brought up another ring of ward-mancers to reinforce the wards that now contain it again.’

‘Are you sure they’ve contained it?’ said Malien, trying to sit up but failing. She lay down, cradling her head in her hands. ‘It’s under their control?’

‘For the moment,’ said Muss. ‘Though it may not remain so. Once they tire, or if Fusshte decides that there’s no more to lose …’

‘Are the Council united in this?’ said Klarm shrewdly. ‘One would have thought that Fusshte …’

‘They
weren’t
,’ said Muss. ‘Had you chosen subterfuge over action I would have led you inside. You might have taken advantage of their intriguing to seize control. That’s not possible now – they’re united by their fear of the amplimet. Your rash stroke has made your task far more difficult.’

‘You forget yourself, Prober!’ snapped Flydd.

‘You taught me to speak plainly,’ said Muss.

‘There’s a difference between plain speaking and insolence. Does the Council know we’re here?’

‘They must do,’ said Klarm. ‘The guards fired on us.’

‘The guards fired on a shadowy movement,’ said Muss. ‘I explained it as a mountain goat wandering onto the parade ground.’

Flydd regarded him dubiously. ‘Really?’

‘False alarms aren’t uncommon. The guards are taught to shoot on sight, then go and see what they’ve shot.’

Flydd nodded. ‘So even in this supposedly impregnable fastness the Council feels insecure. How interesting. Can you get us inside without alerting the guards?’

The spy consulted his concealed instrument. ‘The sentinels have failed now and we can get in anywhere, if we’re quick. Once the guards recover from the dislocation they’ll renew their watch on the perimeter.’

‘Very well. Lead us in, Prober, without delay.’

‘Where do you wish to be taken, surr?’ said Muss.

‘To the chamber where the amplimet is held,’ said Malien from the ground. ‘Before anything, we must put it –’

‘Can you help us?’ said Flydd. ‘Are you fit, Malien?’

‘Alas,’ she said, ‘I can’t even stand.’

‘And Yggur is still unconscious,’ said Flydd. ‘Aftersickness won’t release him today, so we can’t take on the amplimet yet.’

‘The Council are close by the warding chamber,’ said Muss.

‘And they’ll be in disarray, so we’ll try to overpower them. Only then can we attempt to deal with the crystal.’

‘Once you bring them down,’ said Malien quietly, ‘their hold on the amplimet will fail and you may not be able to control it.’

‘I can see no other way,’ said Flydd. ‘We can’t delay any longer. Where can we safely leave our disabled, Prober?’

‘There, surr,’ said Muss, indicating a corner section of wall jutting out from the front of the building. ‘It’s solid and sheltered from the wind; as safe as anywhere.’

Which isn’t saying much, Nish thought. They left Malien and Yggur inside, along with the soldier with the broken leg, plus food, drink and cloaks to cover them, and Evee to do what she could for their hurts.

‘Splendid,’ said Flydd, visibly gathering his resolve. ‘Take us within, Muss.’

T
he stream of fleeing people had dropped to a trickle, now following an ant trail of refugees that led around to the rear of Nennifer, where there would be shelter from the biting wind.

‘This way will be quicker,’ said Muss. ‘Try not to attract attention.’

‘What about a disguise?’ said Flydd.

‘Your own mother wouldn’t recognise you under all that dust, surr.’

Muss led them across the tilted, shattered stones of the parade ground, keeping to the low side of an upthrust bank of rubbly rock that curved towards the former entrance of the fortress. In the drifting dust and smoke it was hard to follow him. Though Muss was undisguised, he tended to blend into his surroundings.

‘He’s almost as weird as the rest of the place,’ Irisis said quietly to Nish. ‘I don’t trust him, despite his fine words.’

Nish didn’t have the energy to worry about anything else. ‘He knew we were here. He could have betrayed us any time in the past few days, had he wanted to.’

‘He’s up to something,’ she muttered.

Muss, ten or fifteen paces ahead, stopped and looked directly at her, before heading off again.

Irisis shivered. ‘And he’s fey.’

Nish put an arm around her but the sudden movement made his head spin again. He gagged and pulled away.

‘Are you all right?’ Irisis said sharply.

‘This place makes me dizzy.’

‘I feel it too.’ She touched her pliance with a fingertip. ‘Whatever the amplimet did to the dimensions, they haven’t quite gone back to normal.’

Where the rubble bank branched into two, Muss stopped for everyone to catch up. ‘Best if we go in here.’

The curving slice of building in front of them was shaped like a fingernail paring cut in half. The short straight end still had its outer wall, but the exposed side, which protruded several spans further than the neighbouring slice, revealed a section through all the above-ground floors of Nennifer. The lower floors were intact and contained their original contents, but the upper two levels were in disarray, their floors and ceilings partly crumbled.

Muss sprang lightly up onto the lowest floor, which stood two-thirds of a span above the ground, and disappeared.

‘What –?’ said Klarm.

The spy reappeared, his image wavering as if seen through the surface of a rippled pond. Nish felt an almost overwhelming urge to throw up.

Irisis steadied him until the nausea faded. ‘Perhaps if you close your eyes?’

‘Fat lot of use I’ll be then, when we’re attacked.’

‘You won’t be any use if you’re hurling your breakfast up all over yourself.’

‘We didn’t have any breakfast!’ he said miserably.

‘You’ll be fine then. Hold my hand while we go through.’

Klarm looked back, frowned, then flipped himself up onto the floor. This time Nish couldn’t control his stomach. Once he’d finished, Irisis took his hand and led him to the edge. ‘Close your eyes,’ she hissed as Flangers swung himself up.

Nish did so. ‘Ready?’ Without waiting for him to answer, Irisis took him under the arms and heaved him up, grunting with the effort.

His stomach tied itself in knots as he passed through a chilly, wetly-clinging barrier, but the nausea faded as he landed on the floor inside. He stood up, steadfastly looking the other way as Irisis came through.

The room appeared to have been the sleeping chamber of a senior mancer, or possibly a scrutator, for it was lavishly appointed with rugs, tapestries and furniture made of inlaid ebony and other rare timbers. An ivory wand lay in the middle of the rug, broken in half.

‘Which way?’ said Flydd, moving in behind Muss and taking him by the upper arm.

Muss went still. ‘I don’t like to be touched, surr,’ he said stiffly.

Flydd didn’t let go, and the pair stood frozen for a full minute before Muss gave a slight dip of the head and Flydd stepped back.

‘I still have to find the way,’ said Muss, looking around. He glanced down at the eidoscope in the folds of his cloak, then opened a door and slid through it. They waited. His head appeared around the door. ‘This way.’

Irisis muttered something rude. Flydd directed a fierce scowl at her. ‘If you are to lead, you must also learn when to trust.’

‘I’d trust Muss more if he had a personality,’ she retorted. ‘I’ve known him for years, yet I have no idea what he thinks or feels, about
anything
. He’s a machine.’

‘One who’s served me faithfully and well, and never let me down, which is all that matters. Now be quiet. This place could still be full of enemies.’

‘They’ve all run away save the scrutators and their pet mancers.’

‘Really?’ said Flydd, thrusting at her his seamed and puckered face, all bone and gristle. ‘A good seven thousand people dwelt in Nennifer and there could be many still inside.’

She pulled away, scarcely abashed, but drew her sword. Oddly, Flydd had lost the bitter fury of the past days. The duress seemed to have driven him back to his normal irascible self, which she was used to dealing with. Nish moved closer to her. The dust made everyone else look grubby but it only heightened her beauty.

He’d expected to be fighting his way in, but the monumental corridor proved empty apart from blocks of stone, scatterings of plaster and overturned pieces of furniture. One or two wall globes still glowed further on, and moonlight streaming in through fissures provided irregular slashes of illumination. The walls and ceiling were webbed with cracks, while pieces of plaster were falling all the time.

‘One more shock and the rest of this will come down,’ Flydd said with unsettling good humour.

It was the first time Nish had seen a smile on the scrutator’s face since the rescue at Fiz Gorgo. ‘You look awfully cheerful about it.’ It was incomprehensible in such a situation.

‘I’ve been looking forward to this day since Snizort. I feel almost restored.’ A momentary spasm distorted his features, but he overcame it.

‘Do you think there are going to be aftershocks?’

‘Bound to be,’ said Flydd. ‘Muss?’

Muss had stopped in a corner of the wall, again scrying under his cloak. ‘That way.’ He pointed to the right, across a mess of rubble and timber that marked the junction with the next building slice.

The rubble contained three partly crushed bodies; none had died pleasantly. ‘It doesn’t look too safe to me,’ said Nish, averting his eyes. ‘There could be a crevasse below that, or anything.’

‘Or
nothing
,’ Muss said cryptically.

‘What if we crossed up there,’ said Irisis, pointing to the next floor. ‘See the beam that’s fallen across?’

They went out and along to a stair that led to the next floor, then walked the beam in single file, a miniature nightmare to add to the rest of Nish’s horrors. It was precariously balanced on shifting chunks of stone and every movement made it wobble.

They passed diagonally across part of a prentice artisan’s training room, or so Irisis judged from the boxes and displays of crystals and other artefacts, each with its crudely lettered instruction cards. The front right and rear left corners of the room had been shorn off, replaced by a masonry wall on the one hand and a triangular section of room containing only a pair of butcher’s blocks on the other. The second block, illuminated by a puddle of moonlight, held a partly carved ham and a neatly severed hand and arm, still holding the carving knife. The arm had hardly bled at all, though the fingertips were as white as the ivory wand Nish had seen earlier.

At the door, Muss checked his instrument. This time Irisis, who had been watching for it, caught a quick glimpse of brass rods and mottled lenses. Muss pointed to the right, down a narrow hall.

They were just gathering behind him when Klarm said, ‘We’re being watched.’