Ian Irvine - Alchymist

She trudged across to the far edge of the rock platform, the brown pea-sized bladders of seaweed popping underfoot. There was nothing to see but water. Irisis sat down on the wet rock, but even that was tiring. She lay on her back, feeling the cold water seeping through her coat but too drained to do anything about it. Irisis was hurt that Flydd hadn't recognised all they'd done to find him; she felt unappreciated. She could have fixed the device, weary though she was, but let Flydd have his go. When he failed, he must realise how much he needed her.

She put up with their incompetence for another ten minutes, then looked up to see dark clouds gathering behind them. A wave broke next to her and she scrambled to her feet. They were dreadfully exposed here — the mildest of storms would drive head-high breakers right across the platform. A strong wind would simply blow them away. It had gone on long enough. Irisis wobbled across to the air-floater.

'Get out of the way, you dills! Can't you see, it goes like this.' She twisted the housing one way, then partway back.

The mechanism clicked and she tugged gently on each end. The two parts slid open.

She laid the internal workings on the canvas, turned it over and said, 'There's the problem. The crystal that draws power into the mechanism was smashed by the impact. I'll pop in another one and we'll be on our way.'

It didn't turn out to be that simple, of course. There were no replacement crystals.

'We had a spare,' said Inouye in that dreary, husk-like voice, "but one of the other air-floaters had a problem on the way from Nennifer, and we had to give it to them.'

'Don't you have any other crystals?' asked Flydd.

'Only in the spare controller for the rotor. But it wouldn't fit.'

'What about my scrying crystal?' said Fyn-Mah.

'It wouldn't do at all,' said Irisis without looking up. 'I'll have to cut down the spare controller crystal. And that won't be easy without suitable tools.'

After an hour of careful labour, during which time the storm clouds came ever closer, she managed to obtain a suitably shaped sliver of crystal, which she tested with her pliance. 'It's far from ideal, but it's the best I can do.'

Flangers had pounded the dent out of the housing on the rock platform, keeping well away from the airbag in case of sparks. Irisis inserted the crystal and put the case together. Flangers and Muss climbed the ladder, hefting the device onto its frame. They filled the barrel with seawater. By the time all that had been done the airbag was as flabby as an old bladder.

Irisis held her breath as she worked the controller. The floater-gas generator shuddered and gave a cheerful whistling hiss.

By this time the sea had come up and waves were breaking over the platform, foaming all the way across and swinging the keel on its mooring ropes. The wind had risen, jerking the airbag this way and that. It took a long time before the air-floater began to lift; when it did, it reached a height of a few hundred spans and would rise no higher.

They crept north-west, crossing the southern coast of Meldorin after noon the following day. She'd expected to see lyrinx everywhere but, apart from a sea eagle wheeling in the distance, the sky was empty. Some way off to their left she saw a town or port, abandoned long ago, with trees growing in the middle of the streets. They crept on. Directly ahead, a range of mountains towered above them. The air-floater would never rise that high.

'Go east around it,' said Flydd, who had a rolled map in one hand.

'We've got to set down,' Irisis said, rubbing her swollen eyes. 'I can't go any longer without sleep.'

'I'm not keen on stopping just here. I believe there's a lyrinx town not far away.'

'There'll be no light tonight.' Irisis cocked an eye at the dense overcast. 'It'll be just as dangerous floating in the dark, if we can't get higher than this.'

'We'll have to take that risk. Keep going as long as you can.'

It was completely dark before they had passed by the eastern end of the range and turned back onto their north-westerly tack.

'What's ahead of us?' said Irisis.

'Grassland, then forest, swamp, more forest, more grassland and, finally, desert.'

'And the lyrinx control the lot?'

'Most of it,' said Flydd. 'Not being keen on water, they keep clear of the bog country.'

'Even so, I don't see how we're better off than we were before.'

'There are creatures in Meldorin that even the lyrinx are afraid of.'

'Very comforting. So where are we going?'

'I'll tell you, if we get there.'

She shivered and drew her coat around her. There had been snow on the mountains and she could feel it on the wind.

The dark became so intense that finally they were forced to land, creeping down with the rotor off while Flangers stood at the front, and Muss at the rear, with lanterns held out on poles to watch for trees and other obstacles. Normally they were forbidden on air-floaters because of the danger of explosion. Irisis held her breath all the way but they made it safely to the ground, hammered in wooden pegs and tethered the machine.

'If there are lyrinx about, we've just told them exactly where we are,' said Fyn-Mah.

Can't be helped.' Flydd paced up and down, cracking his knuckles and muttering under his breath.

'I'll make the camp fire,' said Irisis. 'I'm starving.'

'Can't risk fire here, in case there are enemy patrols on high. Have something from the stew pot.'

'Cold bean-and-onion soup? We've been eating that for weeks.'

'The youth of today!' he muttered. 'When I was on the clanker-hauling team, I would have given my right foot for a bowl of bean-and-onion soup. Fetch me some, would you?'

'Get it yourself!' Irisis felt like hitting him. They'd passed half a dozen isolated peaks where they could have hidden for the night, built a roaring fire and cooked a decent meal from the supplies they'd bought in Jibstorn. Not even a brazier was permitted on the air-floater, lest it set off the floater gas. Irisis could think of nothing but the haunch of venison in the larder.

He was unfazed. 'Shall I wait on you with a bowl?'

'No thanks, I'm going to sleep. Why don't you pull the airbag down and patch those gashes properly?'

'Good idea.' He strolled down to the galley as if nothing had happened.

They warmed a flat iron against the floater-gas generator. Flangers ran it over the patches until the tar softened enough for the patch to be eased off, re-tarred and replaced smoothly. A larger patch was placed over that, just to be sure. Irisis set the floater-gas generator running and went to the cabin. She lay on the floor next to Nish, listening to his steady breathing, and suddenly, out of nowhere, realised that she loved him.

This changed everything — she could no longer be fatalistic about their probable fate. She had something to live for. And everything to fear.

The night passed uneventfully. Nish was still asleep in the morning, which bothered her. It was almost two days since he'd hit his head. However, he was breathing normally and nothing seemed broken so she left him to it.

The airbag was so full that the machine was straining at its ropes. They did not wait for breakfast, just went up as fast as they could and kept going, north by north-west.

In the mid-morning they passed over a city, also abandoned and partly overgrown. 'Garching,' said Flydd. 'It was held to be a beautiful place, in its time. A garden city at the foot of the mountains.' He scanned it with the spyglass, frowning.

'What is it?' said Irisis, who was standing beside him, Inouye having recovered enough to take the controller.

'Oh, I was just thinking of the past. Garching features in one of the Great Tales, you know. I was wondering if such times will ever come again. If, indeed, there'll be any more Great Tales. Or anyone to hear the old ones.'