Flydd said jovially. ‘Hello, Ullii.’
The little seeker sounded just as cheerful, oblivious that she had betrayed them. ‘Hello, Xervish,’ she replied. ‘Where have you been?’
‘Oh, away,’ he said. ‘Looking at a couple of nodes that failed. Do you know what a node is?’
‘Of course. It is a place in the earth where power comes from, like the one down there. It has all sorts of fields –’
‘What do you mean, all sorts of fields?’ said Jal-Nish.
Ullii scuttled backwards and Irisis could hear her barely suppressed panic. Jal-Nish had terrified her even before he’d come back with the mask, and the horror beneath it.
‘Th-this node has four fields,’ she said. ‘There is the weak one you call the field. It is dead now – the clawers drained it all away. But there are three more fields, much more powerful. They are like walls going through each other.’
Jal-Nish gave an inarticulate cry of rage. ‘The strong forces! We’ve been searching for them for a hundred years. Why did you not tell me?’
Flydd chuckled. Ullii was silent. With Jal-Nish she’d learned that no answer was better than the wrong one. ‘Because you didn’t ask me,’ was definitely the wrong answer.
‘Can you see these other fields now?’ said Jal-Nish.
‘Oh yes! They’re very bright.’
‘What about you, Irisis? What’s the matter with your eyes?’
‘Silly cow blinded herself up on the aqueduct,’ said Flydd.
Jal-Nish laughed nastily. ‘The blind leading the blind. Well, Irisis?’
‘I’ve never seen anything but the field.’ But then she recalled that strange pattern Zoyl Aarp had seen in the aura of the Minnien node.
‘Flydd?’ said Jal-Nish.
‘I’m tempted to say yes, just to annoy you,’ said Flydd. ‘I’ve never seen them either. But if Ullii says –’
‘I know the seeker is reliable,’ Jal-Nish snapped.
‘Ullii,’ said Flydd, ‘can you see a node-drainer near here?’
Silence.
‘Well?’ cried Jal-Nish. ‘Is there such a thing, seeker?’
‘Yes,’ she whispered.
‘Where is it?’ He sounded surprised.
‘Up the tunnel, past the rockfall.’
‘Guards!’ Jal-Nish’s voice rang out. ‘Bind these two.’
Irisis waited for Flydd to attack but still he did nothing. Irisis held out her hands. Ropes were yanked tight around her wrists.
‘Bring them!’
She was led up the tunnel on a rope, Flydd’s crab-like shuffle sounding beside her. ‘We’re at the rockfall,’ he said, jerking her arm.
Irisis squatted down. The soldiers moved rubble for what seemed like a long time.
‘Nearly done,’ said Flydd in her ear.
Part of the roof fell, booming, cracking and shaking the floor beneath their feet. ‘None fell on his head,’ Flydd said regretfully.
The soldiers moved that rubble, too. An interminable wait, before Flydd went on, ‘We’re in business.’
‘Come on!’ shouted Jal-Nish.
‘Roof looks a little insecure,’ came Flydd’s amused voice. ‘Wouldn’t be in such a hurry if I were you.’
‘You’re going through first, just in case. Soldiers, keep your weapons ready. The enemy may be near.’
Flydd scrabbled across the rubble but no more rock came down. The soldiers followed. ‘Out of the way, you old fool!’ Jal-Nish pushed past him.
They continued for another twenty minutes, as near as Irisis could judge, when she heard someone gasp.
‘What is that?’ whispered Jal-Nish. ‘Bhan and Mord, go and see.’
Flydd’s hand gripped Irisis’s wrist so hard that it hurt. She froze. ‘What?’ she whispered. ‘What is it, Xervish?’
‘Let’s wait for Jal-Nish to tell us,’ he said softly.
Irisis felt a strange sensation, unlike anything she had experienced before. She seemed to be vibrating inside. The layers of flesh beneath her skin were shivering back and forth. Irisis put her hand on her arm and could feel movement through her skin. Her guts began to churn.
‘The very rock is in motion,’ said Jal-Nish in awe. ‘It’s creeping, and swirling, and bubbling, though it’s not hot at all. Oh, this is uncanny. I’ve never heard of such a thing.’
‘Nor the Council, either,’ Flydd said. ‘The scrutators will want to see what’s causing it, Jal-Nish, though you’re not man enough to take it back.’
‘We’ll see!’ snapped Jal-Nish.
‘What are you doing?’ Irisis whispered to Flydd.
‘Trying to save my old bag of bones, and yours,’ he muttered.
‘You have a charming turn of phrase.’
‘You four, come with me,’ said Jal-Nish to the soldiers. ‘You two, keep watch on the prisoners, especially the walking corpse. If he tries anything, hit him over the head.’
‘Jal-Nish is advancing,’ said Flydd. ‘The soldiers are just behind.’
‘Can you see the node-drainer?’
‘No.’
The vibration under her skin ceased, before beginning again in another direction. She could not get used to the feeling. Sparks flashed through her skull. Her eyes began to burn, her nasal passages to itch. Her intestines writhed in her belly, making an audible gurgle. Her stomach contracted sharply, pushing burning acid up into her throat. Was the unreality of the node-drainer slowly peeling her apart, as it had the rock?
‘What’s going to happen, Xervish?’ Her voice sounded blobby.
‘I have no idea,’ he said, though she was sure that was a lie. ‘Jal-Nish has gone up about thirty paces. It’s … foggy up there, but the fog looks like granite. I can hardly see him.’
‘I can see the node-drainer!’ came Jal-Nish’s cry. His words returned in shredded echoes.
‘What’s it like?’ called Flydd.
Like an excited child, Jal-Nish had to tell someone who would understand, even his enemy. ‘It’s … like a luminous toadstool with a hole in the top, and currents boiling out of it, filled with whirling specks like sparks from a bonfire.’
‘I’d keep well clear of it if I were you,’ shouted Flydd.
‘I’m sure you would!’ Jal-Nish sneered. ‘Soldiers –’ His voice was cut off.
‘What’s happened?’ said Irisis.
‘I don’t know.’
Jal-Nish’s cry rang out. ‘Just look at that!’
‘What now?’ Flydd called.
‘It’s – Aah! Help! Pull me out!’
‘What’s happened?’ Irisis repeated.
‘Jal-Nish has fallen through the floor; or into it.’
‘Into solid rock?’
‘You asked what it would be like where the node-drainer emptied to. Now we know. It’s like nothing on this world.’
‘Help, help!’ It was a chorus of voices now.
‘Better go and rescue them,’ said Flydd to the other guards.
A guard screamed, truncated in the middle.
‘Hurry!’ Flydd snapped.
The soldiers ran off.
‘Let’s go,’ said Flydd. ‘Ullii, lead the way.’
They ran, Irisis stumbling along by her lead rope. It was a long hike in the dark and by the time they reached the roof fall she was bruised all over from running into the walls.
‘Wait,’ she called, her heart hammering wildly. ‘I’ve got to stop for a second.’
‘Hear that?’ It was a distant wailing cry. ‘He’s behind us. Come on!’
They kept going. Irisis’s knees felt like jelly, though at least the weird flesh-shivering had ceased. ‘How far to the lift?’
‘Too far.’
‘Are they catching us, do you think?’
‘Can’t tell,’ he gasped. ‘Just keep going.’
Running and running, through the empty dark. Irisis was dragged around a corner and struck her knee on a projecting rock. She cried out.
‘What’s the matter?’
‘Just a broken kneecap!’ she said.
‘I’ve climbed mountains with worse. Stop moaning and get on with it.’
‘When we get out of here, you hateful man, I’m going to give you the biggest drubbing you’ve ever had in your life.’