Dragonfly: A Tale of the Counter-Earth at the Cosmic Antipodes (10 page)

19 Chimeras

I followed her down the steps and through the gathering dusk. We wove our way through the maze of mausoleums overgrown with mosses and overshadowed by the black boughs of the pines. I looked toward the viaduct. A long car with flashing white lights was slowing to a stop. “What’s that?” I asked. The girl glanced where I pointed but didn’t answer.

She led me to a strait sepulcher whose original occupant had been removed. She went in before me and lit a clay oil lamp. I hesitated at the threshold.

“Come in,” she said. “What are you afraid of?”

“Whose ancestor were the bones that rested here?”

“What hole did you crawl out of?” she laughed. “We incinerate our dead now. This place hasn’t been used in chiliads. No one knows his ancestors in Enoch.”

“Yes, I suppose I’ve been told that.” I took a few steps inside.

She was spreading a rough blanket on a stone bier in the center. She laid a thinner blanket at the foot, folded, and put a hard lump at the head for a pillow. “There now,” she said. “Will you be needing anything more?”

“No, thank you.”

She looked dubiously at me. “You’ll serve Jairus faithfully and well, won’t you?”

“It means a lot to you, does it?”

“I should think so. Where would we all be without him?”

“In the pits of Hela, I suppose,” I said.

“That’s right. Before he came and showed us the way, we were nothings. The Cheiropt didn’t care whether we lived or died. Now we have a place and a people.”

“Do you want to know what I think? I think he’s only as good as the Cheiropt allows him to be.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I think he’s a flesh-seller, a brigand, a dealer in vice and twisted dreams. Only, he doesn’t soil his own hands with it—no, he has others do that for him. I just saw a filthy old woman—his ‘tenant’—and her innocent sister die an ugly death because he gave the nod.”

Her eyes flashed. “Maugreth! I’ll tell him the things you say.”

“Do so,” I said.

“Why are you here? What do you want with him?”

“I have my wants, but I don’t have a plan.” I shrugged. “When I lived in the desert I used to hunt packs of maugrethim. Sometimes they would all crouch out of sight in a ravine, waiting in the crannies to ambush me. I learned that the only thing was to leap right in among them, draw them out, and strike as need be when an opening offered itself.” I circled my poniard in the air. “I’m here to stir things up and see what comes to the top.”

She took a step toward me. “Do you think you have what it takes to seize what you want when you see it?”

“That remains to be seen,” I said. “What’s your name?”

Unaccountably, she blushed. “Joanna,” she said.

“Good night, Joanna.”

“Good night, Amroth.” She hesitated at the threshold. “If you decide to go out, be careful of the man watching your house.” She vanished into the darkness.

I put out the lamp and lay down on the bier to think. I was sorely exhausted, but a pricking at the back of my mind kept me awake. After a while I rose and went to the doorway. Night was a damp shroud over the cemetery, cutting off light and muting noise. A sullen red glow rose and fell at the entrance to a nearby tomb. It was my watcher, smoking a pipe.

I withdrew into the chamber and twisted the end cap of my tube lamp. Shadows fled into the corners. I satisfied myself that there was no other exit, then shut it off again.

Was the man outside there to keep me from leaving, or merely to watch me, and follow me if I did leave? I weighed it in my mind. Jairus hadn’t commanded me to stay indoors. There seemed no harm in putting the matter to the test.

Setting down the light and the poniard, I went out, turned, and began walking in the direction opposite the pyramid. I walked unhurriedly, as if going for a stroll. My shadow stayed behind me.

At a place where many trees grew close together, I went down a narrow path between two houses. Before he rounded the corner I slipped to the right and swung myself up to the roof. An instant later I was perched in the boughs of a nimlath.

The watcher blundered about below, nonplussed. I swung silently from tree to tree, alit in a different part of the grove, and set out for the pyramid. Its pinnacle was a beacon in the night.

*          *          *          *          *

I circled around to the back of the pile. The flagged courtyard was patrolled, but the sentries were curiously lax. I slipped between them and swung myself up to the first tier. There was no sign that I had been observed. I continued up the side of the structure, climbing from tier to tier, until I was all the way at the top.

Someone was speaking in the throne room. I crept as close as I dared to one of the side doors. The suave voice was one that I recognized: “They told me you gained a new recruit.”

Jairus gave his strange, low chuckle. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“It’s certainly convenient, isn’t it? I suppose you won’t be needing the helot now.”

“No,” said Jairus. “As a matter of fact, it seems that it was our guest who overpowered the escort.”

“Interesting. What reason did he give for coming here? I’m curious. He refused my invitation, yet here he is.”

“You think it would be all the same to him whether he offered his services freely and willingly or was brought here by force? You misjudge our young friend, Derrin, not to mention me. Also, it may be that he didn’t trust you. It may—it just
may
—be that
I
don’t trust you.”

The man called Derrin chuckled. “Why? What’s not to trust?”

“Would any person in his position trust a ghularch of the Cheiropt? Of course, it has occurred to me…” Jairus was silent for a moment. “You’re quite certain he hasn’t made contact with the woman?”

“He most certainly has not. How could he have? The old lady didn’t even know where we put her.”

“But she’s set up like a princess and all the signs are out.”

“Yes, in the temple district! He could hardly have gotten all the way over there, searched for her, found her, and gotten back here in the amount of time since we took care of the old woman.”

“True. To be quite frank I don’t know why he’s here. He wouldn’t tell me outright. Perhaps he doesn’t know himself. He’s a stranger in Enoch, or pretends to be. Perhaps he had nowhere else to go. He was still muzzled when we found him.”

“If you want my advice, he’s just one more variable to worry about. Slip a knife between his ribs and be done with him, as was supposed to have happened weeks ago. We can’t afford to have unknowns running about loose.”

“Perhaps you are unaware of his reputation, my friend. Every day the call for his return to the pit grows louder. When he fought the cyclops, phylites—phylites!—were coming in secret to watch him work. That little debacle made him extremely unpopular for the space of two breaths; now everyone want to see him. You know how the bulletins work. Also, he may seem like a bit of a fool to you—possibly he is one—but he’s intelligent. He keeps his own counsel.

“So here we have a young man, hardly more than a boy, who, in addition to being wise beyond his years, can single-handedly strangle behemothim, go spear-fishing for urianthim, lay low anakim and
spare them
through some misplaced sense of magnanimity, and fend off six trained ghulim at once. Murder him? I’m not certain I have the man for the job.”

“Then use two men. All you say is all the more reason to get rid of him. He’s dangerous, I tell you. Do you want to know what I think? I think you’re swayed by his value in dramachs. Just like the old lady. But
they
won’t be very impressed by such considerations, I think.”

“I try not to let that worry me. The Deserits are a long way from here. And even you must see that he’s more use to us alive than dead, until we know what he knows and where he stands.”

I could hear Derrin’s sneer. “Well, take your own risks. The Cheiropt will take care of me, in any event.”

“Speaking of which,” said Jairus.

“Yes?”

“Do you have the parcels I was expecting?”

“They’re in the rail-car.”

“Guarded?”

“Six ghulim on the car. Your guards down below. What are you afraid of? Your own men? I know you too well to think you fear the Cheiropt.”

“Let’s go see them,” said Jairus.

“Actually,” said Derrin, “I have a case here for your inspection.” He went out to the steps and whistled. A moment later I heard labored grunting and slow, heavy footsteps. I leaned forward a little at the risk of being seen. Two extremely large ghulim with tiny heads were porting a cube between them. They set it down in the middle of the floor and withdrew.

Its sides were of thick glass, beaded with condensation, held together in a frame of rusty angle-irons. Discolored salt encrusted the sealed hatch at the top. Through the glass could be seen a fleshy mass about the size and shape of a gymnasium ball.

Jairus twisted on a nephridium lamp and handed it to Derrin. He began to release the hatch. “Are you sure that’s wise?” Derrin asked nervously. Jairus looked at him, then returned to what he was doing. He got the hatch open. A strange, unpleasant smell insinuated itself into my nostrils.

The Misfit took the lamp back and held it down close to the fluid. Its light fell through the side of the ball, which was a thick, translucent membrane. Something inside it fluttered. Jairus jerked back involuntarily. He sealed the hatch and shut off the light.

“There’s a whole carload of those waiting for you,” said Derrin. “From the Sun Mage with warm regards. Splendid allies you have.”

“I take them as I find them.”

“Where does he get these little lovelies?”

“They come out of the Deserits, apparently. My contacts have never told me how.”

“And what are they?”

“Ova. Germs of living war engines left over from the tumults of the gods.”

“Ah, yes, your demiurgic vicars of earth.”

Jairus had recovered his composure. He smiled as he sat on his throne. “Don’t underestimate the Old Ones, Derrin. They have more influence over Enoch that just a pythoness here and there.”

“I’ll leave the lords of the air to you. But tell me, now that I’ve helped you get your ‘princess’ established. What’s the Sun Mage’s interest in her? You mentioned that she’s bait in a trap, or so you think. Bait for what?”

Jairus flashed his sharp teeth. “Don’t trouble yourself with the secrets of my ‘splendid allies.’ Suffice it to say that there’s someone Vaustus wishes to contact. Someone who’s sent feelers throughout all Enoch, searching for that particular prize.”

“I knew it,” said Derrin. “The Adept. Now, what does your Sun Mage have to do with the Adept?”

Jairus leaned back unconcernedly in his iron chair. “I don’t know. Perhaps it’s the religious question. He’s mad on religion, the Sun Mage. He’s setting himself up as a reformer. He’s going to restore the true worship of Taïs in Enoch.”

“How do you feel about that? As a votary of the Dancer, I mean.”

“The Cheiropt will devour him as it does everything else. I’ll be gone by then. These eggs are what I’ve been waiting for. The exodus begins in one moon.”

20 Fire and Wind

I raced through the night. I missed my poniard, but I knew that its presence in my bedchamber might slow down the alarum my watcher would raise.

A string of lights like pearls showed where Derrin’s car waited. Beneath was a sea of darkness and, at the bottom of that, on a level with my eyes, a single tube lamp suspended over the foot of the service stairs. Two of the Misfit’s men stood guard there.

I crept as close as I dared and peered around the side of a tomb. One guard wore a helmet; the other did not. The tube’s glare made his head an excellent target. I stooped and selected two stones and tumbled them in my hand, getting the feel of them. I threw the first. The bare-headed guard went down without a cry. His partner leaped to his side. An instant later the lamp exploded in a flare of white light.

The guard began to cry a challenge, but I was already upon him. I rushed off his helmet and drove his head against an iron girder. His blade, an anlace, clattered to the ground. I took it and shot up the steps.

I slowed as I neared the head. Two ghulim stood guard on the last landing, restive, having heard the disturbance below. I killed one with a slash across his throat. The other I flung over the side. He plummeted toward the earth without a cry.

Now I was on the platform. The car lay alongside it, a cargo bay with a steering compartment at each end. Three ghulim shambled out of the sliding bay door and came at me at once. They wore metal gauntlets with needle-sharp claws at the fingertips. I threw myself among them, doing my best to evade their rending swipes. One I dispatched with a thrust through the middle. I spun between the other two, using their mate as a shield. The second one tripped and fouled the third’s lunge. I killed them both.

I leaped up to the cargo bay. Fifty cases like the one I had seen in the pyramid stood in rows on the floor. I jumped down, ran to the engine compartment that faced the direction from which Derrin had come—the east—and swung myself inside.

It was dimly lit. I felt the heat of the furnace, heard the simmering boiler. My eyes ran over the pipes and valves and levers. No longer a stranger to such complicated machinery, I quickly grasped its purpose.

Cries came from the stairs below. There was no time to unravel the engine’s intricacies. I began turning and pulling things at random. Mysterious noises came from the belly of the beast. The car convulsed, jerked backward, and set up a terrifying din. I threw myself against a lever that stood up from the floor. The car lurched in the direction opposite the one I wanted to go. It began to pick up speed. I yanked the lever again, and was flung off my feet as the car screeched to a halt.

I got up and looked out. The Misfit’s men were massing on the platform ahead in the darkness. Silhouetted against the flare of torches I saw Jairus himself, towering over the other fighters.

I began pulling levers again. The engine bucked and reared. I released the brake. The car started moving in the right direction. It accelerated and roared past the platform. The men all shouted and pointed, and crossbow bolts pattered against the metal hull. Then the locomotive was soaring over the abyss, cutting through the damp night like a bullet.

The basin fell behind. The tracks ran along a street, straddling it on pairs of iron legs. Up ahead I saw where the defile came to an end against a tall building. The railway dropped below street level, and the car shot into a tunnel’s mouth.

It was then that the sixth ghul burst in upon me, yowling and rolling its vacant eyes. I led it on a mad chase around the compartment, dodging its outstretched claws. The shadows raced from darkness to darkness as the yellow gaslights flew by. A valve damaged by the ghul’s blows was shooting a plume of steam now. The metal floor became slippery. I lost my footing and went back against the pipes. The ghul pinned me there, wrapping its claws around my neck.

I looked out the front window. A metal barricade was flying up out of the darkness. With a final burst of strength I set both feet on the ghul’s breast and thrust hard. Its claws raked the back of my neck as it tumbled out through the door. The car collided with the gate an instant later.

The world seemed to end in the clash and scream of rending metal. I was thrown about the compartment like a ball. For a second everything was heat and fury. Then the locomotive lurched to a stop, having driven itself halfway through the barricade.

Gingerly I picked myself up. I was battered and bruised but no bones were broken. Clouds of hot steam filled the tunnel outside, yellow in the gaslight. The engine was galloping madly. The car trembled. I leaped out and ran down the tracks on the far side of the gate.

A hot, invisible hand pushed me flat between the rails. The scream in my ears drowned out my own thoughts. Pieces of metal and glass rained down all around me. And then there was silence.

I stood up unsteadily. The engine was an unrecognizable mass of scrap metal now. I thought I could hear a thin, wailing scream. Another, smaller explosion rocked it. Sullen orange filtered through the lattice of twisted metal.

I turned my back on the sight and continued down the tunnel. Soon I could feel fresh air on my face. I rounded a bend. The tunnel mouth yawned before me. I went out and surveyed the view.

I had regained the inner edge of the city. The tracks went out to join a viaduct running parallel to the foundation-wall. The marsh was a grid of feathery black. Pale lights went back and forth along the earthen causeways. A ladder of metal rungs fixed to the foundation climbed from beside the tracks up to the streets and down to the margin of the moat.

I began to descend.