The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [57]
‘Identify yourselves,’ said the man in front, a nervous youth.
‘Just a second,’ said one of the others, who went over to Rory and pushed back his hood. ‘Ja, I thought so – you are Rory McGrain, aren’t you? I saw you back at Tusk Mountain before you went missing.’ He looked over at Chel. ‘And you’ll be the Uvovo Seer, Chel – I saw you once before with that headband over those eyes.’
‘Yes,’ said Chel, ‘that is who we are.’
‘Aye,’ said Rory. ‘We were caught by … the Brolts, but we escaped.’
‘You’d best be coming with me,’ said the older scout. ‘I’ll take you both to meet Mr V and the captain. Paul, Gennady, you spread out and carry on down the valley.’
The sky above the line of ridges and peaks to the west was a clear if fading blue, but a hazy dusk was already settling into the valley when they reached a steep southward ravine a little later. Here at the head of the valley, the daughter-forest loomed tall and dense, and only twenty paces from the path, a place of mist and shadows but also where soft glows and glimmerings were visible through the branches. Chel could feel its presence and hear that echo of Segrana’s song insinuating its way into his senses. Fear gave him the strength to shut it out.
The darkness of the ravine was relieved only by the few ineka beetles crawling along low branches and the occasional cluster of ulby roots wedged into a dripping notch in the ravine wall. A line of tall Human figures came towards them, towering over Chel, one or two holding lamps angled downwards, others wearing strange goggles with tiny bright dots on their sides. Moments later they were brought before a knot of long-coated Humans. By the light of rod-shaped torches Chel recognised the bearded features of Vashutkin, the Rus politician, his target. He fingered the solid shape of the beam pistol hanging in the inside pocket.
‘Rory!’ said Vashutkin in surprise. ‘Good to see you again, my friend. It has not been so happy without you, and the Seer Cheluvahar.’
Another man stepped into the light, not as tall as Vashutkin but wearing some kind of body armour beneath the waterproof.
‘I am Captain Gideon,’ he said in oddly accented Noranglic. ‘I command the Tygran volunteers—’
‘For which we are eternally grateful,’ Vashutkin said with irony.
‘—and I am concerned about what awaits us east of the valley mouth.’ The Tygran’s gaze swung between them. ‘What can you tell us?’
For a second Chel expected Rory to come out with a bland denial of all knowledge, but Rory was fixed on Gideon with an unwavering stare. Chel broke the lengthening silence.
‘After escaping from the mechs, we reached the valley by gullies and mountain paths. We never went down to the coastal plain.’
‘I’m curious,’ Vashutkin said suddenly. ‘Just how did you escape?’
Chel met the Human’s gaze across the torchlit space and saw a cold intensity that had not been there before.
He knows, Chel thought with an abrupt certainty as fear made his chest feel hollow and nauseous. He knows what we are. But fear was not the only sensation coursing through him for beneath it he felt and heard the song of Segrana, calling from the forest.
‘The machines kept us in an enclosure of invisible powers,’ Chel said, still holding Vashutkin’s gaze. ‘But last night, during a heavy raindown, one of their devices failed. The machines were frozen, the enclosure was gone so we ran … ’
Or does he really know? I have to kill this man and Rory has to kill the one called Gideon but … but there is something important about him …
‘Luck,’ Vashutkin said. ‘Always useful to have … ’
But now Rory had the gun in his hand, although still enfolded beneath the baggy robes. Chel moved to his side.
‘Rory, friend, you’re looking weary … ’
And without realising it he reached into his mind and opened the Seer talents while raising a hand to grasp Rory’s upper arm. The Human glanced round at him in fury and was about to speak when the talent flowered. Rory’s eyes unfocused and he staggered. Simultaneously a spike of pain drove down into the right side