Soarers Choice (37 page)

“Set
down where the Cadmians are, but not too close!” he called forward.

The
Myrmidon eased the pteridon into a glide downward, and warm air rushed past
Dainyl’s face, comfortable enough, but hot enough that he wondered how the
indigens dealt with the heat in the heart of summer. Alynt landed his pteridon
with a gentle flare.

By
the time Dainyl was out of the harness and standing on the sandy ground, a
Cadmian undercaptain had ridden up.

“Marshal,
sir... ah ... what can I do for you?”

“Is
Majer Juasyn still the battalion commander?”

“Yes,
sir. He should be here in a moment.” The undercaptain glanced back over his
shoulder. “He’s riding here now, sir.” He eased his mount back slightly.

Juasyn
rode toward Dainyl with the ease of someone who had spent a great deal of time
in the saddle, reining up short of the marshal. He was a smallish and dapper
black-haired man with a thin mustache. His eyes were light brown, but
penetrating. “Marshal, sir. Welcome to Soupat mines. I must say that I never
expected you here. What can we do for you, sir?”

Dainyl
smiled politely. “I’m afraid that we can’t offer you support in your efforts
against the mountain brigands, and for the next few days, possibly a week, our
actions will create some difficulties for you and the mine. The regional
alector’s compound in Soupat has been taken over by some insurgents, and we
will be using pteridons and skylances, as well as other methods, to return it
to control of the Duarches. Unfortunately, that will require that none of the
mine wagons will be able to travel the high road north until we finish the
operation. It will also require that you keep your men out of Soupat until
further notice.”

“Yes,
sir.” Juasyn cleared his throat. “We have been told that the High Alector of
Engineering expects no delays of any sort with the production and shipment of
the copper...”

“I’m
certain of that,” Dainyl replied, “but he will be even more distressed if the
wagons and horse teams are destroyed by the weapons likely to be employed over
and around the high road north of Soupat. If anyone questions you, tell them
that you felt it unwise to dispute your overall commander.” Dainyl grinned.
“And two companies of pteridons and skylances,”

Juasyn
bowed slightly, a glint in his eyes. “Thank you for that clarification, sir.”

Dainyl
could sense the officer’s concealed amusement. “If you have problems with
supplies or other items, we will be operating out of the patrollers’ station on
the southeast side of Soupat, and you can contact me or the senior officer in
charge there.”

“Might
I inquire as to whether we might be of assistance, sir? I would not wish to be
presumptuous ...”

“Your
courtesy and kindness is appreciated, Majer, but the insurgents are using
weapons similar to skylances, and I would prefer not to expose your men to such
weapons, except in extreme circumstances. If we do need your assistance, you
will be the first to know.” Dainyl smiled. “I appreciate the offer.”

Juasyn
nodded. “We will be happy to do what we can.”

“Thank
you. How are your efforts against the brigands going?”

“We
have managed to reduce two of the larger bands into scattered groups small
enough that they pose far less of a threat. The one matter that is of some
concern is how so many of them managed to obtain Cadmian rifles and
ammunition.”

“I’m
afraid I can answer that, Majer. Last year, an assistant engineer reported that
a large number of rifles, thousands in fact, were flawed and scrapped. They
were not. He diverted them for a great number of golds. While he was discovered
and executed, we’re still finding the rifles in places we never expected.” If
Ruvryn had been behind the weapons being made and shipped to indigen
insurgents, Dainyl wondered, why would he have allowed them to go to the
mountain brigands? Or had lander golds diverted them without alector knowledge?
Everywhere he turned, there was something else that seemed to make no sense.

“Like
Soupat, sir?”

“Unfortunately.”
Dainyl paused but briefly. “If you do not have any more questions, Majer, I
need to be returning to our efforts against the insurgents.”

“Yes,
sir.”

Dainyl
nodded, then turned and climbed back into the harness and second seat behind
Alynt. The pteridon launched itself into the wind, then swung northward.

Even
with the tireless pteridons beginning to gather stones less than a glass after
sunrise, it was past midmorning before there were enough of the huge stones
piled in the desolate valley, more like a collapsed sinkhole. After returning
from the mines, while the Myrmidons were completing the task of ferrying their
makeshift ammunition to its staging point, Dainyl had located a rocky outcrop
to the north of the target ridge, a vingt away, which was as close as he could
get with adequate protection should the massive lightcannon be turned on him.
The lower south side, of the outcrop was covered in powdery sand, almost
dunelike.

Another
half glass passed before all the fliers gathered around Dainyl. He looked over
the Myrmidons. “If you want to survive this, you have to make sure that the
rebels have no
i.e.
where you’ll appear for the few
moments it will take to release your boulders.” He smiled. “I assume each of
you knows the day and the month you were born? It’s very simple. You note where
the pteridon in front of you goes over the ridgeline. The first time you angle
to one side fifty times your birth month. If you were born in the third month,
that’s 150 yards. The second time, it’s fifty times your day of the month.
Alternate sides, but not evenly.”

“Sir
... I was born on the fortieth of ten month.”

“You’d
better cut those in half,” Dainyl said with a laugh. “The reason I want you to
base the deviation from the previous flier on your own birth dates is so that
whoever aims that lightcannon will be facing a different distance each time.
You’ll have to adjust early because you still want to come up over the ridge
facing the buildings. That’s so you spend as little time as possible where they
can fire at you.

“Captain
Lyzetta will direct you as to which of you are to attack from the east and
which from the west.” That would keep the defenders from focusing on one side
or the other.

“The
marshal will be watching this operation and advising us,” Lyzetta added. “I’ll
drop him at his observation post. When I get back, I expect everyone ready to
fly. For now, second squad will attack from the west, first from the east.”

Dainyl
followed her to her pteridon, mounting after she did.

“How
do you intend to signal me?” Lyzetta asked as she fastened her harness.

“I’ll
move to the back side and wave my jacket. Or fire a lightcutter into the air,
if I need something urgently. You’ll have to watch occasionally, but not much
will happen for a while.”

“You
think that they’ll just let us roll rocks at them and do nothing?”

“I
don’t think they’ll realize the danger at first. That big lightcannon can’t be
easy to move, and they don’t leave its protection while we have pteridons and
skylances.”

“I
hope you’re right.” She turned to face forward in her harness, and the pteridon
was airborne, moving in almost a low glide out of the sinkhole valley and
across the high road, turning slightly southward, and then climbing gently up
the long rugged incline leading to the ridge point Dainyl had earlier pointed out.

“Land
on the back side. I can climb up the last fifty yards. That way they won’t know
my vantage point.”

Lyzetta
eased the pteridon down, but the north side was so uneven that its crystalline
talons crunched into the rock, and it kept its wings spread to maintain balance
while Dainyl dismounted.

After
a quick wave, Dainyl clambered up the steep and stony slope until he reached
the top. From there, he took a careful survey before slipping from behind one
outcropping and moving forward to another, and then another. His final vantage
point was a hundred yards higher than the flat ridge that held the alector’s
complex, but both were actually outcroppings on a larger underlying ridge.

Dainyl
wished he were close enough to use his lightcutter or even Talent, but a vingt
was too distant for effective use of either. He tried to find a comfortable
position behind the rock shield from which he could watch the coming
bombardment.

Lyzetta
began the first run, her pteridon barely above the ground, certainly not more
than twenty yards, so close that it seemed that the tips of the long blue
leathery wings nearly touched the uneven stony prominences that rose in places.
Then, she was up over the eastern
e.g.
of the ridge,
the boulder arcing across the hard ground toward the middle building before
catching something and skid-rolling sideways.

From
that one pass, Dainyl had the feeling that it was going to be a long day.

The
next pteridon followed her, rising over the eastern ridge
e.g.
some seventy yards to the south of where Lyzetta had released her boulder. The
Myrmidon managed a touch more lift, arcing the stone almost to the base of the
easternmost building, before it slammed into the building wall and lifted a
small plume of rock dust.

The
following pteridon came in from the west, and its boulder rolled past all the
buildings and down the eastern slope.

The
Myrmidon on the fourth pteridon — from the east — had no better aim than his
predecessor, and his weapon dug in a good fifty yards short of any building.

Two
more passes went by before another boulder shuddered into the main building,
but it hit with enough force that Dainyl could see the entire structure shiver.

As
Dainyl watched, he could see that about one in three or four missiles actually
contacted the buildings, and only half of those impacted with great force, and
so far, the defenders had not opened fire on the attacking pteridons. He
doubted that would continue, especially if the Myrmidons and their pteridons
became more accurate in their bombardment.

Another
set of passes by both squads resulted in four more strikes against the stone
and masonry construction, and a pall of sandy dust was beginning to enshroud
the complex.

After
the first pteridon lofted its heavy stone at the beginning of the third run,
the light-rifle flashed out at the second Myrmidon, if nowhere close to the
pteridon.

Lyzetta
must have passed a shift in directions because the next set of pteridon passes
came more from the northeast and northwest — the southern approaches were too
exposed — and the light-rifle beams did not anticipate any of the pteridons.
Four more of the heavy stones slammed into the buildings, and the dust
thickened. While Dainyl hadn’t planned that aspect of the attack, the dust
aided his forces far more than the defenders, since the pteridons were changing
positions constantly and the buildings remained fixed targets.

Suddenly,
from somewhere behind him, Dainyl could sense a growing sense of amber-green —
the Talent of the ancients — but he was certain that there were no portals on
the ridgeline. The amber-green wavered, and then strengthened.

Abruptly,
one of the ancients hovered beside him, almost at his shoulder.

You
must crush them.

“I
know that.” He hated being told the obvious, even by an ancient. “I’m doing the
best I can.”

It
would be far easier if you linked directly to this world.

“I
don’t know how,” he pointed out, trying to see when and where the next pteridon
would loose its heavy stone.

You
know how. You wish to remain as you are. If you do not change, Talent-strong as
you are, you will perish. Once more, there was the impression of certainty,
finality, and sadness.

“Why
are you so interested in me? Why did you heal me before? Why don’t you destroy
me the way you have so many others?”

We
only destroy those who attack us. You have not. You have a (something) with
those landers who also have ties to the world.

Dainyl
had no understanding of the word or phrase she used. He frowned as he watched
the pteridon on the attack run loose a stone that rolled between the three
buildings without touching any of them, coming to rest a good hundred yards to
the west.

The
light-rifle fired by a defender missed by a wide margin.

Another
pteridon flashed up on the west side of the alector’s ridge, then dropped out
of sight. That stone rolled or slid into the westernmost building, and a puff
of dust or sand or crushed stone rose skyward. “Better ...”

“Exactly
how am I supposed to change?” Dainyl had asked the question before, but the
soarer of whom he had asked had simply told him he had been shown.

You
have the strength and ability to link your lifethread to this world. All you
lack is the will. There was the sense of an ironic laugh. We will provide the
desire. You had best know what to do when that time comes. It will not be long.

What
was “long” to creatures that seemingly outlived alectors?

You
see so much, and yet you learn so little. With that, she was gone.

The
last thing he needed was to worry about the undefined threats of an ancient
when refugee Myrmidons were using weapons that, if not stopped, would destroy
Acorus long before its time.

Another
stone hit the outbuilding to the west, and a corner crumbled slightly, with a
small cascade of stones spilling onto the ground of the ridge.

Following
six more passes at the buildings by both squads, there was a break, since the
pteridons needed to gather more of the heavy stones. Some of the rock dust
cleared, enough that Dainyl could see that the eastern wall of the center
structure was severely damaged and sagging inward around a gaping hole.