[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Absently, he noted the irregular sides of the tunnel or cave, but the smooth
floor. In some places, but far from all, the overhead was timbered and
supported, although most of the timbers looked old and cracked.
They passed a wooden barrier on the right side of the cave tunnel.
What s that? asked Mykel.
Drop tube. Goes straight down. So far as we can tell, not much guano on the
sides, and the bottom s a good two hundred yards, maybe more.
The overseer headed down another long and gently sloping tunnel, walking and
explaining, until he stopped in an open space surrounded by darkness. Without
the oil lamp held by Nophyt, which cast but a circular glow, and not a
terribly strong one, the cave would have been pitch-black.
Mykel thought that the air wasn t that good, although the odor seemed less.
Then, it might have been that he was getting used to the stench.
This is the deepest part we ve found so far, not so much deep as far back,
Nophyt said. We have to rotate the crews working here. They don t like it
here. Say it s dangerous.
Mykel looked around, but could see nothing beyond the circle of dim light. He
closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it might be like in the dark.
Despite his closed eyes, or perhaps because of them, he could see a faint
red-purple glow from somewhere, almost seeping in at the edges of his vision,
if he had had vision with his eyes open. Where had he seen that color?
His eyes flew open, and the color vanished. The rock-creatures with the
ancient soarer! Was that why the miners feared the depths here? Is this one
of the places where miners have disappeared?
Don t know. No one ever sees em vanish. Some have disappeared from crews
working here, but we could never tell if the crew hid that they d escaped or
if they disappeared.
If the prisoners said they disappeared& ? asked Mykel.
Can t trust what they say. Nophyt snorted. They d say anything to get out
of here.
Could you close sections like this for a while? Until people forgot?
Not here. Director Donasyr wouldn t let us. This is where the guano is
oldest, most concentrated, and effective. The overseer laughed. It also
smells less and gets the best price.
You have different types of guano? Mykel hadn t known that.
Page 144
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
More like different grades. The real old stuff is almost white, powders when
you hit it with a hammer. It doesn t smell much. Nophyt gestured with the
lamp. Better start back up. Won t be long before they open the gates, and it
takes longer walking back. Doesn t seem bad going down. Another thing heading
back.
As he followed the overseer out of the works, Mykel knew where at least some
of the missing miners had gone. There was really no way he was about to tell
Dohark or the colonel what he thought. He certainly couldn t prove it, but if
the prisoners thought that they d be dragged into the depths and die at the
hands of the rock-creatures, he could certainly . see why some of them would
do anything to escape.
60
Dainyl looked out the window of the commander s study, taking in the shadows
of a late-winter afternoon in Dramuria as they stretched across the Cadmian
compound. Londi had come and gone, and Duadi had almost done the same. Quelyt
had not yet flown back from Elcien, and his delayed return suggested that all
was not well in Elcien. Overcaptain Dohark had reported by messenger that most
of the patrols undertaken by the companies of Third Battalion had been
uneventful, except that Seventeenth Company had been attacked by several
squads of horsemen with longbows and arrows and was pursuing them to the north
of the western road.
Dainyl had immediately sent a messenger back to Dohark, suggesting that
pursuit to the west was unwise, except in cases where the horsemen could be
clearly cut off. He hoped that would be sufficient, since so far there had
been no sign of any of the western seltyrs horse troopers moving east. Dainyl
thought it would likely be only days, weeks at the most, before that happened.
For that reason, he had also alerted Dohark that the western seltyrs had armed
horse troopers who could be used against the Cadmians.
He still fretted somewhat about the troopers he and Fa-lyna had overflown.
Marshal Shastylt would have destroyed them. Yet Dainyl didn t see what good
that would have done. It would only destroy higher-level lifeforce mass, and
lead to greater destruction, while not getting at the basic problem. He
laughed softly. If& if he could ever discover the basic problem.
Then, there was the problem of the ancients. Much as he had tried, with his
own Talent, he had been unable to recreate or find, see, or sense the vision
of the world life-mass web that the soarer had shown him, for that was all
that it could have been. The best he could do was sense, if he concentrated,
the purple-pinkness of his own lifethread for less than a yard from him.
Still, that was an improvement. The prediction that he would perish unless he
changed still lurked in the back of his mind as well Change? How? And why?
Sir?
Dainyl looked up to see Quelyt standing in the open doorway to the study. He
stood. I m glad to see you. I worried that they might have pressed you into
courier duty somewhere.
The Myrmidon laughed as he stepped into the study. We did do a message run or
two to Ludar, more as a favor, while we waited. He extended an envelope.
From the marshal.
Any other dispatches?
No, sir. Then the ranker grinned. There is a letter.
Dainyl shook his head. Sometimes, you re a brigand, Quelyt.
Only sometimes, sir.
What s happening in Elcien?
It s hard to say, sir. The other fliers think that the mess in Iron Stem is
finally settled, but there are rumors that someone killed five alectors on the
regional staff in Dereka. They re missing, anyway, and that s not good.
What else?
It was a frigging cold winter in Elcien, and it s still cold. Good to get
down here.
For winter, it s been pleasant here.
Oh& one other thing, I almost forgot. A bunch of new alectors showed up in
Page 145
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Elcien. Zorclyt said they d been translated from Ifryn. Most of them will be
sent to Alustre, he said.
Why Alustre? Dainyl wondered. I believe you mentioned a letter?
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]