Snare (87 page)

Zayn started to smile, then remembered Arkazo. What am I going to tell Idres? he thought.

‘Are we going to camp here tonight?’ Zayn said.

‘No. We rest-next, then go-soon back. We travel-till Silverlands set, then rest-again.’ Stronghunter Man glanced around. ‘The horses, they run-then some time while we fight. You and Fifth Out, go see if you have power to catch them.’

Eventually, just as twilight turned to night, Zayn and the young Chur did find the horses, but seeing Arkazo’s riding horse made Zayn’s stomach twist. He had promised Idres that he’d try to save his nephew, but in the heat of the fight, he’d forgotten the promise and Idres both. As they jogged back south by galaxy-light, the memory throbbed like a knife wound.

‘I am grateful for your information, Jezro Khan, and yours, too, Captain,’ Sibyl said. ‘As for your plan to save the Chof, I warn you: they will never give up their way of life. Their continued existence depends on the rulership of the women, who alone can truly value the children born from their eggs. The males are far
too removed from the biological process.’

‘I don’t see why they’d have to change,’ Jezro said. ‘The Qur’an discusses differences between H’mai men and women. Those suras don’t have any relevance to another species.’

‘Good. I do agree that if the Chof embrace your religion, or even that of the Cantons, your less civilized compatriots will be forced to treat them with respect.’

‘That’s something, at least,’ Warkannan said. ‘Though I’d like to see them embrace the faith out of a love of God, not expediency.’

‘Many will,’ Sibyl said. ‘Especially if you return to the more flexible form of your religion that predates Mullah Agvar.’

‘You’ve made it clear that he was something of a heretic, yes.’ Warkannan paused, thinking. ‘I just hope we can get the Chof some decent teachers.’

‘I have the perfect one in mind,’ Jezro said, grinning. ‘Bashir Benumar. Hassan’s charming father.’

‘It’s nothing to joke about.’

‘I’m not joking. It will do the old boy good. If ever anyone needed to loosen his attitudes, it’s the elder Benumar.’

Warkannan started to argue, then let it lie. He and Jezro had finally been allowed inside late that morning, but Sibyl had asked most of the questions. By Warkannan’s watch, they had spent six hours describing the situation in Kazrajistan. In return, Sibyl had promised Jezro something she called
Diderot’s Encyclopedia,
books that, she assured them, would show the Kazraks how to build any number of simple devices.

‘The set contains detailed pictures as well as text in Vranz, all suitable for the level of your technology,’ Sibyl said. ‘Some of the original Settlers had printed it out from the ship archive banks early in the colony days, and the copies now reside in a hidden cache down in the Metro, along with a crate of accus that you will find useful. Water Woman will show you where as you make your way back. The data you have given me is invaluable. I thank you both. Do you have any more questions for me?’

‘Just one,’ Jezro said. ‘Do you know where Yarl Soutan is?’

‘He is currently in N’Dosha, where he went to hide last night after a skirmish between his men and the warparty led by Stronghunter Man. A young Kazrak accompanied him, but his spear Chur all fled long before the two H’mai entered the tunnel complex.’

‘Will you know when the two of them leave N’Dosha?’

‘The question is not when, Jezro Khan, but if.’

Warkannan and Jezro shared a troubled glance.

‘I will explain,’ Sibyl continued. ‘I can hear what happens in approximately eighty per cent of N’Dosha thanks to a communication grid put in place by the Settlers. Although most of the visual elements of this grid no longer function, the audio components were simple enough to survive. Yarl and the young Kazrak entered the complex at the North Gate, which then suffered so much damage that it is no longer operational. Yarl and his companion have no map and are now lost.’

‘Lost?’ Warkannan stepped forward. ‘Can they find their way out?’

‘Only by the sheerest good luck.’ Sibyl’s image shrugged its shoulders. ‘I predict that Yarl will remove the problem he presents without any action on our part. He will starve to death unless he manages to find his way out, and the probability of that is very low. He sounds angry and panicked. Every time the young Kazrak makes a rational suggestion, Yarl only curses and raves.’

Warkannan turned so cold that for a moment he feared that he would faint. Jezro caught his arm and steadied him.

‘Captain,’ Sibyl said. ‘Are you ill or distressed?’

Warkannan tried to speak, but his mouth had gone too dry.

‘He’s distressed,’ Jezro answered for him. ‘The young Kazrak is his nephew, but he’s been more like a son.’

‘I apologize. I did not have access to this data, or I would have phrased my response in a less blunt manner.’

‘I’ve got to rescue him.’ Warkannan managed to summon his voice. ‘Can you tell me how to get into N’Dosha?’

‘The journey down is easy,’ Sibyl said. ‘Day and night the gates stand open. Getting out again – that’s the problem, that’s the hard job.’ Her face remained motionless, but a long peal of laughter sounded from behind the image.

‘Damn you!’ Warkannan snarled. ‘What in hell is so funny?’

‘You won’t understand,’ Sibyl said. ‘But I assure you that the joke is not at your nephew’s expense but a reference to Old Earth literature.’

‘Stay calm, Idres. I’ll take over. Sibyl, is there a map of the complex?’

‘Yes, Jezro Khan. If Zayn Hassan, your Recaller, stored the map
and accompanied you, there is a high probability that you could indeed find them. However, Yarl is more likely to try to kill Hassan than accept his help. If he succeeded, you would be in the same position that he is now, hopelessly lost. I cannot recommend such a course of action.’

‘I can’t just let Arkazo die.’ Warkannan realized that he hovered on the edge of fury and did his best to calm himself. ‘Isn’t there anything I can do?’

‘There is nothing that you can do.’

‘Sibyl,’ Jezro said. ‘What about you? Can you rescue them?’

‘If Yarl is willing to be rescued, I can lead them to safety.’

Warkannan decided that he had better sit down on the floor before hope finished the job fear had started. He managed with some dignity, but Jezro stayed standing.

‘Good idea, Idres,’ the khan said. ‘Sibyl, try to rescue them. Is there some way I can help you?’

‘I can reach no conclusion on this point until I contact Yarl. If he refuses to take my help, I will ask you to intercede by sending a message via my communicator circuits.’ Sibyl raised a hand and pointed off to the right. ‘Look!’

A three-dimensional map appeared, hovering in the air, a thing of coloured lines and cubes easily six feet on a side, livened with glowing dots. After a moment’s study, Warkannan realized that it depicted the complex and its various levels. Vertical lines, which he took to be staircases, connected them, but the staircases seemed randomly placed on the different floors rather than recurring in the same relative location in each one. He gave up counting at fifteen floors, each with a myriad of rooms, all joined by hallways of various widths and orientations. Jezro pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his nose before he spoke.

‘That’s one hell of a mess, isn’t it? No wonder they’re lost.’

‘Yes,’ Sibyl said. ‘From their conversations I know that they lack food, and the standing water that has collected here and there in the complex is not always drinkable. Therefore it would be optimal to bring them to the surface as quickly as possible.’

‘Very well.’

‘There is a way into this complex, the Analysis Lab, through one of the tunnels. It is the most direct route to the surface, but its end point, here, is problematic. Yarl has a pistol, but since he is untrained in its use, he has very poor aim. Pistols do not possess
the locking function of rifles. Should someone try to apprehend him in this room, the probability is high that he will shoot wildly and damage some piece or pieces of the hardware essential to my functioning.’

‘That would be another kind of disaster,’ Jezro said.

‘Yes. I will only bring them out of N’Dosha if you promise to wait until they reach the landing beyond the cave before you take action against Soutan.’

‘Fair enough, and a good idea.’ Jezro held up one hand palm out. ‘I promise.’

Sibyl nodded her approval. ‘Now. Let me represent the two H’mai by these silver arrows.’ On the map, some twelve levels down, the symbols blinked into existence inside a room-cube. Sibyl froze herself to a flat image. ‘Sending message now. Relaying message throughout grid. Message content: Yarl, listen to me. Yarl, listen to me. This is Sibyl, and I will guide you out of N’Dosha. Walk towards my voice.’

The arrows never moved. ‘They are arguing,’ Sibyl said after a few minutes. ‘The man you call Arkazo is trying to convince Yarl to accept my help. I will resend the message.’

Warkannan heard nothing but a series of clicks. Again a silence lasted for some minutes.

‘Yarl,’ Sibyl said eventually, ‘I am not lying to you. I am not the spirit rider. The spirit rider is not here; she is not in the complex. Therefore she cannot be trying to trap you.’

For a heart-stopping moment the two arrows remained immobile, then slowly they began to float across the cube.

‘Very good,’ Sibyl said. ‘Follow my voice, and I will lead you out.’

The silver arrows began to slide along one of the hallways. Sibyl’s flat image turned towards the two waiting Kazraks.

‘To them my voice appears localized some twenty feet ahead of their position,’ Sibyl said. ‘Their journey will take approximately sixteen hours because some of the direct-route tunnels have been damaged by earthquakes over the years. They will also have to rest at intervals. If you leave, I can minimize other functions in order to commit all power resources to the task of guidance.’

‘Then we’re on our way out,’ Jezro said.

Warkannan scrambled up and nodded at the image. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am.’

‘Gratitude means little to me, Captain,’ Sibyl said. ‘But I find
that exercising my functions is satisfying. You will need some sort of plan of action to deal with Yarl when he arrives. Please tell Ammadin to come here in the morning to tell me what you’ve decided. I see that you carry a chronometer.’

‘A what?’ Warkannan said. ‘I’ve never heard of –’

‘Idres.’ Jezro interrupted him. ‘She means your watch.’

‘Oh.’ Warkannan took it out and checked the time. ‘It’s eighteen hundred now, more or less.’

‘I know this,’ Sibyl said. ‘I merely wanted to ensure that you know it, too. Have Ammadin come report to me at nine in the morning.’

They hurried out, then paused on the ledge just beyond the cave. Although the summer sky still shone blue above them, the shadows of the traps lay across the pale grass below.

‘Look!’ Jezro suddenly pointed. ‘Hassan’s back, and Stronghunter Man.’

Below them, in the messy sprawling camp, Stronghunter Man stood talking with Water Woman while the other Chof clustered around. Ammadin and Zayn had gone together to tend the horses tethered out in the grass.

‘They’ve brought back Arkazo’s horse,’ Warkannan said. ‘Soutan’s, too, and the pack horses.’

‘Well, at least Kaz will have something to ride when we get him out.’

‘If we get him out. I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this.’

‘So have I, actually, but I’m refusing to give in to it. I suggest you try to do the same.’

Warkannan managed to smile. Together they walked down the path and rejoined the camp.

‘So, Hassan,’ Loy said. ‘You managed to get yourself a gun after all.’

Ammadin, who’d been heading back to Sibyl’s cave, stopped to listen. Loy had come up to talk with Zayn as he knelt by his bedroll. The pistol lay between them on the blankets.

‘It was Arkazo’s,’ Zayn said. ‘I don’t know where Soutan got them, but he had one, too.’

‘That’s bad news.’

‘I’d say so, yes.’ Zayn held out the pistol and power pack. ‘Here, take it.’

‘What?’

‘If I were going back to Kazrajistan, I’d want it, but I’m not. These things start fires if you look at them wrong. Out on the grass, that could mean disaster in summer.’

‘You’re quite right.’ Loy took the proffered pistol. ‘Thank you, Zayn. This will go back to the guild with me.’

Ammadin smiled in something like relief. Zayn was still thinking like a comnee man; she was beginning to trust the idea that he’d return to the grass with her.

That evening, as the others sat around the fire to listen, Water Woman and Jezro decided that in the morning they would pack up the camps and move them two miles east, so that Sibyl could assure Soutan that no one was waiting for him directly outside. Soutan would be easy enough to track once they emerged.

‘I’m assuming Arkazo will want to stick with him,’ Jezro said.

‘Probably so. Kaz thinks the world of him.’ Warkannan kept his voice steady, but Ammadin could see how much the admission pained him.

‘If they come out,’ Zayn put in. ‘Look, sir, Soutan must realize we’ll chase him down.’

‘Of course,’ Jezro said. ‘But I’m betting that he’ll be so desperate that he won’t care. Wandering around in the dark till you starve to death – a few years in prison for rape will look pretty good compared to that.’ He paused for a wry smile. ‘Even a lot of years in prison.’

‘Well sir, you’ve got a point,’ Zayn said. ‘But I don’t trust the slimy little bastard, I just don’t.’

Zayn’s doubts proved well-founded. At nine the next morning, Ammadin and Loy went to the Analysis Lab to relay their plan to Sibyl. The hologram appeared the instant that they stepped into the room.

‘I was about to attempt to summon you,’ Sibyl said. ‘A problem has developed. Yarl has realized that his enemies are here waiting for him.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ Ammadin said. ‘He’s not stupid.’

‘Unfortunately this value judgment is correct.’

‘We came up with a plan –’

‘Good, but here is new data that you will have to take into account. He is refusing to come out unless he has guarantee of safe passage. That is, he wants Jezro Khan to promise that he will
be given a horse, food, and time to make his escape.’