‘Perhaps there just aren’t any entrances around here… ’
Loman nodded as suggestions were put to him, but he could not avoid the feeling that he was missing something.
‘Pass me the map,’ he said eventually.
Jenna retrieved the document from his horse and spread it out on a nearby rock. Loman stared at it pensively, running his finger slowly along the route they had taken. It stopped a little way from the bright red dot that marked the location of the central camp.
‘This is where we had our first… difficulty, isn’t it?’ he said. There was general agreement. He continued. ‘Let’s mark on here where each of the others occurred.’
This took some time and considerable debate but eventually Loman found himself looking at four distinct and separate clusters of dots. He smiled. ‘I think we’ll go back a little way,’ he said, resting his finger on the nearest of the clusters to their present position. ‘We’ll go back, and we’ll search this area very thoroughly.’
No sooner had he spoken than angry voices rang out from somewhere within the ranks of the waiting crowd. One of the section leaders jumped up on to a rock to locate the source of the problem, then, scowling angrily, jumped down and made to run towards it.
Loman caught his arm in a powerful grip. ‘Gently,’ he said. ‘Very gently. If you go rushing in you know what might happen.’
The man stared at him angrily for a moment, then lowered his eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I just forgot.’
Loman indicated two of the others. ‘Go with him,’ he said. ‘The rest of you, get back to your people and tell them what we’ve found and what we’re going to do. And tell them to be particularly alert. I think we might have trodden on some toes at last and things might start getting very peevish. Jenna, send a signal to the other two groups telling them to do the same as we’ve done.’
Loman was correct about the response of the Al-phraan. The return journey proved to be eventful, with spasms of anger and disorder rippling through the riders far more frequently and severely than before.
Loman smiled, however, as he struggled on his roll-ing mount to mark these incidents on the map. They were completely random now.
Too late, little people, he thought, too late. You’ve given yourselves away.
He passed his new information to the section lead-ers immediately, together with his interpretation. The more everyone knew about what was happening, the better able they would be to withstand what must surely become increasingly virulent and desperate attacks.
Finally, though not without some minor injuries, they came to the point which lay at the centre of the small cluster of dots on Loman’s map. He looked up at the peak that dominated the scene, then dismounted and climbed up onto a jutting rock.
The Orthlundyn gathered round him, drawn to this powerful solid figure like a myriad planets around a small but massive sun. Loman pointed up to the mountain.
‘Our friends are up there,’ he shouted, his voice echoing. Some jeers and cheers rose up from the crowd. Loman focused on it. ‘No,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t being ironic. These people have lived peacefully as our neighbours for generations. For all they’ve troubled us lately amp;mdashimposed on us, in fact, and worse amp;mdashthey’re our friends. Friends we’re having a disagreement with at the moment, to be sure, but friends nonetheless.’
Some of the jeering turned to outrage. ‘They’ve killed our people, Loman. What kind of friends do that?’ someone shouted. There was a considerable chorus of agreement.
Loman gestured an acknowledgement of this, then strode forward to the very edge of the rock and looked straight at his inquisitor.
‘Friends who’re frightened, confused and can’t un-derstand what’s going on,’ he said.
‘It’s not through want of telling,’ someone else said angrily. ‘They just don’t want to listen.’
Loman turned to him. ‘I can’t excuse what they’ve done, you know that,’ he replied. ‘But do all your friends at your Guild meetings listen when you try to tell them something? Are there none who take a deal of persuad-ing on certain matters?’ It was an apt and homely point and took the edge off the crowd’s response to the man’s angry denunciation.
Loman spoke again before anyone else could inter-rupt. ‘And take care with your anger, all of you,’ he said. ‘It has no part to play in today’s proceedings, you know that too. Our anger is their most potent and dangerous weapon. Be what you are, Orthlundyn amp;mdashcarvers, craftsmen and artists, who see truth. Ask yourselves what anger can possibly achieve here?’ He allowed a brief pause, then continued almost savagely. ‘What do you want to do? Drag them from their holes and kill them? One for one?’
The crowd was silent under his reproach.
Loman turned to look up at the mountain. ‘Al-phraan, we know you can hear and see us,’ he said. ‘And we know your homes amp;mdashor the entrances to them amp;mdashare on this hill, and on others nearby. We come in opposi-tion to you, but in peace. We will do you no harm, but we will find your homes and deny them to you, as you have denied our Armoury to us. And we shall possess more and more of your property until you release the Armoury and agree to interfere with us no further.’
‘We will prevent you,’ said a voice.
Without turning, Loman held out his hand to qui-eten an angry murmur that this comment brought from the crowd.
‘I beg of you, please don’t,’ he said. ‘You know you can’t control a host this size. At the best you’ll simply cause more deaths and injuries before we find you. You, who purport to be doing this to prevent death and injury. And do you really want these people surging into your domain, raging and demented, their darker natures unfettered by you yourselves?’
‘Be warned, human,’ the voice said, after a pause. ‘Do not threaten us.’
‘You’re wasting your time, Loman,’ said someone behind him.
Loman raised his hand again, requesting a little further patience.
‘Voice,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how you speak to us in this manner, or how you hear what we say. But I dispute your authority to speak for the Alphraan. I cannot see that any rational people would be so stupid as to allow this tragic farce to continue in the light of our conduct and of our reasoning.’ He turned round suddenly and looked at the assembled Orthlundyn. ‘Do I speak for you, here?’ he shouted. There was a brief pause, then a great roar went up that rang around the mountains.
Loman turned back to the mountain. ‘Voice, would your people speak thus for you?’ he said quietly.
There was no reply.
‘I thought not,’ Loman said. ‘Anyone who would intimidate a free people wouldn’t scruple to intimidate his own kind.’ An angry hissing filled the air. ‘Do not judge us, human,’ said the voice. ‘Our ways are not your ways.’
Loman turned back to the Orthlundyn. ‘Ponder your ways then, leader of the Alphraan,’ he said dismissively, over his shoulder. Then, to the crowd. ‘Section leaders to me for a planning meeting. The rest of you’ amp;mdashhe smiled amp;mdash‘rest. While you can. We’ve got some stiff walking ahead of us shortly.’
It took little time to plan out the proposed search of the mountain and, within the hour, the first parties set out. Loman stayed in the valley, watching intently, as the tiny lines of figures moved painfully slowly across the lower slopes of the mountain.
He turned to Jenna. ‘This must be the strangest army in all history,’ he said, almost jovially. ‘Military intention, military tactics, and yet everyone obliged to treat it as some kind of Festival picnic.’
Jenna smiled nervously. She was finding the am-bivalence of the venture less easy to accommodate than Loman seemed to be. ‘It’s impossible,’ she said reluc-tantly.
‘No,’ said Loman easily. ‘Just slow, and, I hope, very boring. But we’ll stay here until every stone and every blade of grass on this mountain has been examined at least twice. It’ll… ’
‘Signal.’ The interruption came from a young man standing nearby, watching the same scene through a seeing stone.