Geomancer

'As must we, human. What if we struck at your homes, where your defenceless women live with their offspring? Better they be armed and trained to defend their children. Better still, we will feed on you all. We are fittest.'

'You're nothing but barbarians!'

'How so?' Ryll said mildly.

'You eat us!'

'And you don't eat other animals?' said the lyrinx. Surely it was just pretending astonishment.

'They're just animals. We're intelligent. We're human!'

He gave a sniff. 'You smell like an animal to me, little Tiaan. That you are sentient does not make you better than other animals, or more worthy. Why should I not eat you, if I be hungry? Why should you not eat me?'

She shuddered at the thought. 'I couldn't! It would not be right. Besides…'

'Yes?'

'You would probably taste disgusting.'

'How did your unworthy kind come to dominate this world?' said the lyrinx. 'There are a hundred sentient creatures in the void, little Tiaan. We all ate each other as the need arose.'

'Are you going to eat me?' Her voice rose to the very edge of a shriek.

'No!'

'Why not?'

'I'm not hungry. Besides…'

The unfinished sentence hung in the air between them. Was it a threat of worse? Torture, to extract secrets vital to the war? Or… She'd heard horrible stories of what the other side did to prisoners. 'What?' she snapped. 'How will you use me?'

The lyrinx drew itself up and its rubber lip curled into what she interpreted as a sneer. Tiaan had to remind herself that this creature's facial gestures would probably have entirely different meanings.

'I cannot understand your kind. Why do you insult me?'

'Why do you make war on us?' said Tiaan.

'Because you have attacked us from the moment we came out of the void.'

'You started it!'

'We would say that you began it.'

'But it's our world. You're trying to take it from us.'

'You've turned Santhenar into a sewer. A ruined world. And it's not yours anyway.'

'It's our right…'

'How so?' said the lyrinx. 'Who gave such a right to humankind?'

'We are the top -'

'In our philosophy no species can confer rights on themselves. The very concept is derisory. How dare you put yourselves above other creatures! Humanity destroys for the sake of destruction. Your kind deserves to be eaten.'

'Why must we fight and die?' said Tiaan. 'Why can't we live together?'

'That is not nature's way.'

Ryll licked his lips. Was he licking his chops? Had the conversation made him hungry? Tiaan moved back a pace.

He gave a gurgling chuckle. 'If I was going to eat you, nothing could save you.'

'Why aren't you?'

'You saved my life. A debt of honour.'

Tiaan almost made a sneering reference to lyrinx honour but thought better of it. What did she know about them, apart from the propaganda that came up the mountain?

'You forced me,' she said weakly. 'I was going to kill you.'

'But you did not, and thus I owe you.'

It was all too much. She could hardly stand up for hunger. She tried, her head spun, and Tiaan collapsed. When she roused, the creature was looming over her. 'Are you injured?'

'I'm starving. I haven't eaten for days.'

'I often go a week without eating,' said Ryll. His knee wobbled and he sat down hurriedly. 'But then, I might consume a whole antelope, or a small…' He broke off. 'Your tiny belly would only hold one mouthful.' He gripped her thigh, the fingers curling all the way round. 'There's nothing of you. Eat! I won't harm you.'

'What are you going to do?' she asked, taking out one of the ration packets with many an uncomfortable glance at the creature that, even sitting, was taller than she. He was holding out his injured hand, staring at it. Previously, pieces of ragged bone had protruded from the severed ends of his fingers. No bone was visible now. The stumps were covered with smooth skin, pinkish grey.

'What are you doing?' she said.

'Regenerating my hand.'

'How?'

'It's just something we can do – there are animals of your world with the same ability.'

Ryll was concentrating so hard that droplets of perspiration appeared on his brow.

'Is that a form of mancing?' she wondered.

'I dare say. Without it, we would never have survived in the void.'

No further changes were evident. Regeneration must be a slow process, and an exhausting one, for Ryll went limp, his colours fading to pastel greens and blues. He could barely hold himself up now. She might escape after all, if she was quick. She'd better be, before the other lyrinx came back.

'You are different to the humans we meet – soldiers and armed men,' said Ryll. 'We can learn a lot about humankind from people like you.'

Tiaan methodically chewed her way through the ration packet, rice pasta layered with vegetables cooked to a thick paste. Was talking to this lyrinx treason? Saving its life, even under duress, must be.

She rose, watching Ryll from the corner of her eye. He put out an arm as if to restrain her, but had to let it fall. Her chance had come. Careful now; don't alarm him in case he's saving his strength. She went across to check on Pelf and the other man. Both were dead. Tiaan closed their eyes. The dead flesh made her shudder. Ryll's eyes followed her though he lay still, panting softly. Gathering her pack, she kept well out of reach.

'Where are you going, little outcast?'

She glanced at the entrance to the long tunnel. 'The other lyrinx went up there. I have to find another way.'

'You are brave,' said the lyrinx, 'but I fear you will die just the same. There is a blizzard blowing outside. Or…' Ryll tilted his head, giving her a cunning look.

'What?'

'You could come with me.'

'No!' She backed away. 'I know what you want. I'm not going to be a little grub to feed your hatchlings.' The thought nearly made her scream. She imagined herself lying helpless in a food chamber while its vicious young tore out her soft parts.

'We give birth, just like you,' said Ryll. 'Do you know so little about us?'

She knew nothing but dreadful rumour and what she had seen with her eyes.

'Besides, I owe you,' he went on.

'I do not wish to insult you again,' she said carefully, 'but how do I know you have honour?'

'I could have killed and eaten you a dozen times.' Ryll slammed his mighty fist down and his skin changed to the uniform grey it had worn into battle.

Tiaan backed away hurriedly. 'Now you reveal your true colours.' The pun was unintended, though it pleased her nonetheless.

Taking a crossbow and satchel of bolts from one of the dead archers, she fitted a bolt into the weapon. 'I could kill you.'

His skin faded to a sludgy green. Ryll slid sideways, his cheek striking the floor. 'I do not doubt it, in my present state,' he said hoarsely. 'Are you going to?'

Had he attacked she would have shot him, but while he lay helpless, watching her, she could not. At the mouth of the middle tunnel she took out her crystal, which was glowing as before. Ryll's eyes widened and Tiaan regretted her action. However, he did not move. He resembled a collapsed balloon, nothing like the flesh machines the lyrinx had been before the battle.

She hurried down the passage. After a few minutes' walking she was brought up by a body lying on the rocky floor. The head lay some distance away, only recognisable by its white hair – the unfortunate Hants. The eye with the cast was staring at her.

Stepping around the corpse, she continued, shortly coming to a dead end. The tunnel stopped at a smooth rock surface. The light revealed a lever down low. As she pulled it, the door rotated, letting in a blast of freezing air. The sky was gloomy grey, the same colour as the landscape. It looked ominous.

The wind went right through her. The cold was the worst she had ever felt. An icicle began to form on her upper lip. Tiaan ducked inside to put on the mountain gear that had belonged to Joeyn's wife. The gift warmed her and she spent a minute, head bowed, thinking of her dead friend. Opening the door again, she peered out. It was a blizzard and only the lyrinx could have made her go out into it.