Snare

  ‘Try what?’

  ‘The trace command. Sorry, I see you don’t know that one. Say, “jump to tracking crystal”.’

  When Ammadin did so, Spirit Eyes chimed twice. The view inside changed so fast that she felt briefly nauseated. When her vision settled down, she could see Arkazo in the exact centre of the crystal’s view.

  ‘Yes,’ Ammadin said. ‘There he is.’

  ‘And that bastard Soutan is still with him?’

  ‘Yes, and his Chof, too.’

  The two H’mai were sitting on purple grass, one on either side of the slate, which Soutan had placed on a flat rock. When Ammadin locked Long Voice onto their position, she could hear, through the bone behind her ear, Soutan’s voice, heavy with despair. She handed Long Voice to Loy so that she could hear as well.

  It has to be right here somewhere, Soutan was saying. I just don’t understand, Kaz. According to the map cache, the installation absolutely has to be somewhere in this stretch of cliff.

  Maybe it was moved after this map was made. Arkazo sounded merely weary, and he stifled a yawn. Can’t think of anything else.

  Maybe so. Ah God! we’ll never find it in all of this mess!

  Both Arkazo and Soutan turned to look back at the traps rising behind them. Pillars and vents, caves, arches, deep gouges in the rock – millennia of rain storms had dug architecture into the pale cliff face. From the ground a sloping path led up to a flat lip of stone under an arch of black rock. Set back from the edge were two black pillars that resembled stacks of beads. Between and around them strands of blue light sparkled and danced. When Ammadin focused in, she could see the entrance to what seemed to be a sizeable cave behind the crackling light. She could make out a barrier, perhaps a solid metal door, first hidden, then revealed, as the blue light flickered.

  ‘Loy, it’s right there behind them. They just can’t see it. It must have one of those hologram things hiding it.’

  Loy took the crystal, stared into it, then howled with laughter. ‘I love it!’ she said at last. ‘The poor little bastard! Oh, suffer till your balls fall off, Yarl!’

  Arkazo was speaking again, and Loy stopped in mid-diatribe to listen.

  Well, if we keep going, we’re bound to come to it sooner or later. It’s got to be here somewhere, or Water Woman wouldn’t have told that spirit rider about it.

  That’s true. Soutan took a deep breath. You know, that gives me an idea. Why don’t we find somewhere to hide and wait for her to catch up to us? Chiri Michi never go anywhere alone. This Water Woman person must have a retinue with her, and that means dust, a lot of it, rising into the air. We’ll be able to see them coming and follow.

  They’ll be able to see our dust, too. It’s so barren out here.

  That’s true. Well, let me think. There has to be a way. We’ve come this far, and damned if I’ll give up now.

  ‘Isn’t this interesting?’ Loy said. ‘We’re both the bait and the hunters.’

  ‘If they do what Arkazo suggested.’

  ‘True. If. But I’ll bet you silver vrans to horseshit that they can’t come up with anything better.’

  When they told Water Woman about Soutan’s predicament, she stamped both forefeet. ‘I tell not-tell you? Sibyl know how to shut her door.’

  ‘You were right, yes,’ Ammadin said. ‘But there’s something I don’t understand. You told us that the way to Sibyl lies through the town of N’Dosha.’

  ‘This be true.’

  ‘But when I used my crystals, I didn’t see any town.’

  Water Woman raised her pseudo-hands and peered between them, then stamped her forefeet. ‘Oh, I think-now, Ammadin Witchwoman, that you see-then the town. I think-now, however, that you know-not you see the town.’

  ‘And what is that supposed to mean?’

  ‘You see-next-soon. We get there short while now.’

  And that was all she’d say, no matter how Ammadin and Loy prodded her.

  Loy wasn’t the only impatient member of the caravan. After the evening meal, Zayn sat with Warkannan and Jezro Khan while the two H’mai women went off to scan. With the last of the sunset, a young Chur brought the H’mai men food, stacked wood for an eventual campfire, then bobbed his head to each of them before he left. The other Chof seemed to be holding some sort of meeting. They stood in a rough circle around Water Woman and Stronghunter Man, who were sitting haunched face to face. Their throat sacs pulsed and fluttered; every now and then the Kazraks could hear a high-pitched thrum or a few bursts of words. Stronghunter Man waved his pseudo-hands in the air, while Water Woman had folded her arms across her chest to listen.

  ‘What’s that about, I wonder?’ Jezro said.

  ‘I have no idea, sir,’ Zayn said. ‘Maybe it’s got something to do with Soutan. Ammadin tells me he’s nearby.’

  ‘Oh, does she?’ Jezro leaned forward. ‘How near?’

  ‘Maybe twenty miles away, maybe thirty,’ Zayn said. ‘Apparently he’s waiting for our line of march to reach his hiding place, so he can follow us to Sibyl’s cave.’

  ‘Good,’ Warkannan said. ‘That means Arkazo will be within reach.’ He glanced at the other two men in turn. ‘Yes, I’m admitting I’m worried – worried sick, in fact. I don’t want to leave the boy with Soutan when we ride back home. Who knows what that would do to his mind?’

  ‘It’s a worrisome thought, yes,’ Jezro said. ‘I hope these Chof move a little faster tomorrow. Now that I know I’m going back, I’m getting impatient.’

  ‘Well, maybe we should just leave,’ Warkannan began.

  ‘Idres, you don’t need to martyr yourself. I promised the spirit rider our help. And we’re going to need hers to get back across the Rift.’

  ‘Hadn’t thought of that.’

  ‘It’s too bad that I don’t know this territory,’ Zayn said. ‘I’ve been trained to remove annoyances like Soutan, and with his crystals dead, he’d never see me coming.’

  Jezro considered him with weary eyes. ‘Ah, the temptations of power!’ he said at last. ‘I begin to see why my brother grew so fond of the Chosen.’

  ‘They can be convenient, yes,’ Warkannan put in. ‘But it’s a dangerous convenience.’

  ‘Yes.’ Jezro turned to Zayn. ‘I’ve been thinking about your guild. I’m going to have to take some kind of steps when I get home. Look, Hassan, if you start feeling like convulsions are coming on, please tell me, and I’ll shut up.’

  ‘Don’t worry, sir. I will.’

  ‘Good. Do you think they’ll try to assassinate me first chance they get?’

  ‘Maybe, if it looks like their side is losing.’

  ‘What about if we win, and we take Haz Kazrak?’

  ‘Someone might try to get at you, but most of the men that loyal will have made a point of dying with your brother.’

  ‘Shaitan!’ Warkannan said. ‘Why?’

  ‘We were always told that it was our one chance to escape damnation, if the Great Khan spoke for us before God.’

  Every muscle in Warkannan’s face turned tight with rage. He tried to speak, could only make a growling sort of noise, took a deep breath instead.

  ‘Calmly, Idres, calmly,’ Jezro said. ‘Yes, I know that’s blasphemy, but don’t have a stroke over it. We’re going home and we’ll fix it, all right?’

  Warkannan forced out a smile, but he didn’t even try to speak.

  ‘Hassan, what about the less loyal ones?’ Jezro said.

  ‘If you offer them the right bait, they’ll switch sides and protect you.’

  ‘And what’s this bait?’

  ‘The same thing you offered me. The chance to feel like a man instead of an abomination.’

  ‘Which means stopping the persecution of the – what’s the name again?’ Warkannan had regained his voice. ‘The Inborn, that’s right. Anyway, you’ll have to do something about that, Jezro. We can’t have children burnt alive for talents they can’t help.’

  ‘I’d prefer not to have children burnt alive for any re
ason whatsoever.’ Jezro paused for a wry grin. ‘Although – hang on a minute here. I’ve never heard of any children actually being burnt. Have you, Idres? Hassan?’

  ‘No, I haven’t,’ Warkannan said. ‘But I have heard of children being taken from their mothers and smothered because of the talents.’

  ‘So have I,’ Jezro said. ‘But not being burnt.’

  ‘All I know is what my father used to tell me,’ Zayn said. ‘He told me they’d burn me alive if they found out.’

  ‘I wonder.’ Jezro glanced at him. ‘I’ll bet he was as frightened of the mullahs as you were. He may have invented the death by fire to scare the shit out of you, so you’d keep your mouth shut, although you’d think being smothered would be threat enough.’

  ‘Smothering’s relatively painless,’ Warkannan said. ‘As those things go, of course.’

  In unison Jezro and Zayn blurted, ‘A perfect Idres remark!’ Warkannan favoured them both with a sour smile.

  ‘Doesn’t matter anyway,’ Jezro went on. ‘If the Lord wills that I become Great Khan, there will be new laws and proclamations about those talents. No one is going to suffer because of them again. I promise you that.’

  ‘Thank you, sir.’ Zayn suddenly found it hard to speak.

  Warkannan leaned forward and laid a hand on Zayn’s arm. ‘Are you going to be all right?’

  ‘Oh yes.’ Zayn swallowed heavily. ‘It’s not convulsions. Just gratitude.’ He stood up, desperate to keep control of himself. ‘Sir, if you’ll excuse –’

  ‘Of course, Hassan.’

  Zayn turned on his heel and strode away before he wept and disgraced himself – again – in front of Idres and the khan. He was remembering his father and his father’s threats of death by fire. What if Jezro were right, and it was only fear that had made the old man threaten such a horrible punishment? What would he have been afraid of, except losing his son? And that would mean – Zayn found himself unable to finish the thought.

  Walking soothed him. He decided that Loy and Ammadin shouldn’t be off alone and left the camp, heading for the twistrees. Due east the young mountains rose like the heads of giant birds, pointing their beaks at the fading light in the sky. Out in the river frogs croaked; little greenbuhs rose from the thatchy grass and sang their one faint note. At the riverside beyond the trees, Loy and Ammadin were just packing their crystals away.

  ‘Any sign of Soutan?’ Zayn said.

  ‘No,’ Ammadin said, ‘but he has to be nearby. The traps are riddled with caves. There’s plenty of places to hide.’

  They returned to camp to find that the Chof meeting had broken up. The spear Chur had resumed their guard of the campsite. Water Woman’s servants were rubbing their mistress’s skin with oil from a leather bottle. Stronghunter Man, spear in pseudo-hand, saw the returning H’mai and boomed a greeting. He strode over, nodded to the two women, then spoke to Zayn, pitching his voice as high as a human basso. He coughed as the effort pained him.

  ‘Idea,’ Stronghunter Man said. ‘We go, you, me, some Chur, find Soutan and kill him.’

  ‘I’d like nothing better,’ Zayn said, ‘but what does Water Woman say?’

  ‘She let-now us go. I talk-just-now her round.’ He stamped a heavy forefoot. ‘We leave-next morning, travel-soon ahead.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. But we’ll have to be careful. My friend Warkannan’s nephew is Soutan’s prisoner.’ Zayn decided that this small exaggeration would do no harm – it wasn’t as if Arkazo had really understood the situation when he’d gone with Soutan. ‘We can’t kill him.’

  ‘Kill-not boy, then. You agree-now?’

  Zayn was about to say yes when he remembered Jezro Khan calling the Chosen a temptation. ‘I don’t know. I have to talk with the khan.’ He glanced at Ammadin. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I’m still worried about Arkazo, but Warkannan’s here now. Why not ask him what he wants you to do?’

  ‘Good idea,’ Stronghunter Man said. ‘We go-now, talk with the khan and Warkannan.’

  The night sky was darkening, except for the faint silver glow that the galaxy, rising beyond the mountains, sent ahead of itself like the promise of salvation. A servant Chur was just lighting the fire previously laid; once the tinder caught she bowed her head and scuttled away. Jezro and Warkannan rose to greet Stronghunter Man, Idres warily, Jezro with an open smile.

  ‘Stronghunter Man’s come up with an idea,’ Zayn said. ‘He wants to go hunt Soutan down, and he’s asked me to go along with him. He knows the territory.’

  ‘You know H’mai mind.’ Stronghunter Man pointed at Zayn. ‘Easier if I go-not alone.’

  ‘I see.’ Jezro hesitated and looked at first Zayn, then the Chur Vocho, in the flaring light of the fire.

  ‘You talk-next Karshak speak.’ Stronghunter Man haunched and sat. ‘I wait.’

  The three H’mai walked a few paces away from the Chur Vocho.

  ‘Soutan’s a criminal, sir,’ Zayn said. ‘Any court at home would have him executed for raping that poor girl.’

  ‘There’s that, yes.’ Jezro glanced at Warkannan. ‘But a Canton court would only send him to prison.’

  ‘Well, true,’ Warkannan said, ‘but we’re not in the Cantons any more.’

  ‘Not technically, anyway.’ Jezro turned to Zayn. ‘Think you could take him alive?’

  ‘We could try, sir.’ Zayn shrugged and turned his hands palm up. ‘But it’s going to be hard enough to keep Arkazo safe if we get into a fight with his spear Chur. I don’t understand why you care what happens to Soutan. Back at the dookis’s manor, you told me you were afraid he’d show up there after you were gone, maybe try to hurt Marya somehow, steal from her at the very least. That’s the kind of scum he is.’

  ‘That’s true, Jezro,’ Warkannan joined in. ‘We won’t want to leave Soutan on the loose behind us when we head back home.’

  ‘So,’ Zayn said, ‘why don’t I just solve the problem once and for all?’

  Jezro considered with a sharp sigh. ‘For some strange reason the idea of sending a man out to murder someone for me isn’t sitting well.’ He glanced at Warkannan. ‘Maybe because I’ve been at the other end of this proposition.’

  ‘Are you asking me to pardon you for it in advance?’ Warkannan said.

  Jezro winced. ‘Not any more.’

  ‘Sir?’ Zayn said. ‘What’s the difference between sending me out after Soutan and sending an army out after a regiment?’

  ‘Well, I probably never considered this hypothetical regiment to be a friend of mine.’ Jezro paused for a wry smile. ‘Maybe that’s what my scruples come down to. I don’t know, Hassan. I don’t know what I want you to do.’

  ‘Well, sir, Stronghunter Man’s going after him whether I go or not. I might as well ride along and see what I can do about rescuing Arkazo. But I can’t vouch for Soutan’s safety.’

  Jezro looked at the empty air when he spoke again. ‘Isn’t this handy? Now I can pretend that you’re only going to fetch Kaz back, and if something should happen to Soutan, I won’t even need to know. Unfortunately, that’s so much sheepshit.’ He turned to look Zayn straight in the face. ‘If you can, kill him, Hassan. And may God forgive me!’

  The camp woke before dawn, and the warparty – one Chur Vocho, ten Chur, and one H’mai – assembled out down by the river to wolf down breakfast. Ammadin and Loy sat nearby, backs to the men, and searched for Soutan in their crystals. While they never actually saw him, they did spot a tendril of smoke; it seemed to come from a cave mouth on a cliff perhaps two miles north of Sibyl’s location.

  ‘That’s as good a place to start as any,’ Zayn said. ‘But don’t worry, we’ll find him, sooner or later.’

  ‘I hope so.’ Loy looked and sounded weary. ‘I keep thinking that maybe Rozi can be healthy again, someday anyway, if she knows he’s dead or at least in prison.’

  ‘Maybe so.’ Zayn glanced at Stronghunter Man. ‘I’d better go get my horse.’

  ‘No horse,’ Stronghunter M
an said. ‘Keep-never up with Chur. We move-next fast, steady.’ He pointed to a young Chur whom Zayn had assumed to be a servant. ‘Ride.’

  The Chur lowered his head submissively. ‘I speak some Comnee speak.’ His voice, a deep baritone, was high enough to be easily heard. ‘When Stronghunter Man speak, I repeat.’

  ‘All right,’ Zayn said. ‘But a saddle’s not going to fit you. Can you stand wearing a halter? I’ll sling my saddlebags over my head. The bedroll – I can tie that on somehow.’

  The Chur looked at Stronghunter Man and whined.

  ‘Halter, yes,’ Stronghunter Man said firmly. He dropped his voice to a pitch that fell below Zayn’s ability to hear, but the young Chur repeated his words. ‘H’mai need hang on. Zayn, get-now your gear. One other of us carry bedroll. All carry things but not Stronghunter Man.’

  ‘All right. What’s your name?’

  The young Chur thought for a moment, then answered in Hirl-Onglay. ‘Fifth Out.’

  ‘Fifth Out? Out of what?’

  ‘The ocean, when the change come-then and some of us, we leave-then the ocean for land. Young Chur get real names later, when we see if we be michi or vocho.’

  Zayn nearly blurted, ‘You mean you don’t know yet?’ He managed to turn the blurt into a cough. None of the strange revelations he’d heard lately had surprised him as much as this, that a sapient being might not have the slightest idea whether it was male or female.

  Zayn had left his gear at Warkannan and Jezro’s fire, and Warkannan stood nearby, waiting for him. The khan and Water Woman were walking back and forth nearby and talking about the journey ahead. When Zayn knelt by his saddlebags, Warkannan joined him.

  ‘I’ll do my best to keep Arkazo safe,’ Zayn said.

  ‘I know you will,’ Warkannan said. ‘But it’s in God’s hands.’

  ‘Be glad. He has better hands than mine.’

  Warkannan managed to smile at that. Zayn opened his saddlebags and looked over the contents. He could lighten them by leaving things with Warkannan, but you never knew when some piece of equipment or weapon would save your life or make your kill. He still regretted leaving his bow behind at the dookis’s manor. He closed them up, tied them loosely together, and pulled them over his head to hang over his chest and back. The two men stood up, turning to look at the khan, still deep in his conversation with the Chiri Michi.