JULIEN

II

Chapter 17

Into the wild ...

“What do you mean, disappeared?!!!”

It was a strange scene: Julien, wearing nothing but his Marks, dripping salt water and with his hair plastered to his head, stood blinking in the dazzling morning sunlight on the beach of a beautiful tropical lagoon on Nüngen's Eastern Ocean, trying to preserve a certain dignity in front of a tall, impressive-looking warrior who was almost looming over him. Aïn stood off to one side pretending not to be there.

“Well, My Lord... see, after a while, when he still hadn't come out, I went into the house to look for him.”

“And?”

“There was nobody in the house at all. I looked everywhere – I even asked the blackwing to look for his master, but...”

“A blackwing?”

“Yes, My Lord. It's a small flying creature you send...”

“I know what a blackwing is. What I don't know is why there was one taking part in this operation. You haven't explained that bit yet.”

The man was clearly uneasy, and it was obvious to Julien that he was trying to work out how much of the truth to tell him.

“Listen,” said Julien, “I don't want to listen to a load of old rubbish. If either you or Tannder messed up somehow I want to know about it right now. All you've told me so far was that you were going after some spies, but I'm starting to get the feeling that there was more to it. Perhaps I should ask Aïn? That way you won't have to feel you've betrayed your boss...”

“My Lord, Aïn doesn't know anything. He just stayed at the inn like Tannder told him to.”

The man didn't say anything else, and Julien became impatient.

“Look, we can't just stand here all day long,” he said. “We've got to find Tannder, and the more time you send beating about the bush the more trouble he's going to be in. So think about that and then get ready to tell us the whole story. I'm going to go and fetch someone, and when I get back I want a proper, full report.”

Julien ran about a hundred metres along the beach, where Master Dennkar was busy describing the fall of the Dzenn Arang Empire to three boys who didn't seem to mind in the slightest their lesson being interrupted.

“Dennkar,” said Julien, “I think Tannder's in trouble. That Warrior back there came to tell me that he's disappeared, but I still haven't been able to get the full story from him. And I think I'm going to need your help if we're going to rescue Tannder.”

Once they got back to where the Warrior was waiting Julien introduced Master Dennkar to him, and when he found out who he was going to be reporting to the Warrior looked even more nervous than he had in front of the Emperor himself. In his world Master Dennkar of Meh Tchenn was not just a run-of-the-mill Warrior, and the fact that he was retired did not in the least diminish the respect in which he was held. Doing his best to keep his voice steady the Warrior gave a full account of what had happened.

“One question,” said Dennkar, once the recitation was over. “Who did you leave to guard the house?”

The guilty look on the Warrior's face was answer enough.

“Get back there immediately,” ordered Dennkar. “Aïn will take you. I want a permanent watch on the place starting the moment you get back there.”

He had barely finished speaking when the man vanished with scarcely a whisper. Aïn could be extremely efficient.

oo0oo

“Dennkar,” said Julien, “I think you should be in charge of this operation. What do you think we should do?”

“First we need to make sure you're safe. As soon as Aïn gets back we'll move to somewhere you've never been before.”

“Why not go back to the shelter on Emm Talak?”

“Because we have to assume that Tannder will have talked. And if he hasn't talked, he's sure to be probed.”

“But there's no way in! There's no klirk there, or any other way to get inside! And Tannder doesn't even know exactly where it is – only Aïn and Wakhann know that.”

“That's true, but it would still be safer to hide somewhere that Tannder has no knowledge of.”

“All right, I'll let you decide where we go. We'd better tell the others. Karik isn't going to like it...”

“That's certainly true. And...”

“What?”

“Well, perhaps it would be better not to tell Karik that his master has been using nyi doug.”

“What's that?”

“That's what we call the substance his blackwing carried into the house for him.”

“Why shouldn't we tell him that?”

“Because it's an illegal weapon. Simply for possessing it a court could order Tannder to be exiled to Tandil. And, of course, he was using it to abduct people he didn't even know for sure were spies.”

“But he was right, wasn't he?”

“It certainly looks like it. And really it's hard to criticise him for not playing by the rules when we're facing an enemy like this. But I still want this information restricted to just the two of us.”

Karik took the news very badly. For the first time Julien saw him on the brink of tears, and it took several minutes to convince him that there would be no point in going back to Kardenang. But Julien did promise that he could take part in the rescue mission once Master Dennkar got one organised.

Aïn returned with Niil and Sandeark. They decided that everyone should leave straight away, and that their few possessions could be collected later, when and if they were needed. The transfers would be carried out by Aïn in three batches, because once again they were going somewhere that had no klirk.

oo0oo

All forests look much the same at night, but the Great Forest on Tandil was still somehow special. The insulating bubble over their heads was an efficient barrier against every life form, animal or vegetable, but not only was it transparent – at least when there was actually some light to be seen - it was also permeable to sound, and the air that passed through it also carried scents and smells, although the barrier filtered out those toxic elements expelled into the air by a wide variety of bizarre flora. The membrane of which the bubble was composed was the pinnacle of achievement of the Art of Life, an Art that only a tiny number of individuals had mastered.

So although at this moment it was impossible to see beyond the dimly-lit platform on which they were standing, they could hear an amazing variety of noises, quite a few of which seemed to indicate the unpleasant death of some creature not high enough up the particularly brutal food chain for which Tandil was notorious. The powerful smell of vegetative decay was periodically eclipsed by aromatic scents that suggested that several of the local flowers sent their messages by night.

“Are we going to be staying here?” asked Julien a little nervously.

“Yes, but further down. This is just the observation bubble. I thought that if we arrived here rather than in the underground shelter you'd get a better idea of where we are. We'll go down once everyone is here.”

“I'm really impressed with Aïn's precision. I would never in a million years be able to target a platform ten metres wide in the middle of a forest without a klirk.”

“It's even more impressive than you think. When day breaks you'll be able to see that the bubble is hanging just below the crown of a giant ching tchenn.”

“What's one of those?”

“It's a tree. This one is roughly the same height as one of the Aleth towers.”

“Wow! So how do you get up here if you start on the ground?”

“There's a hidden ladder up the trunk.”

“Are you serious?”

“Oh, yes. This isn't a holiday resort – it's an ancient training venue for certain elite members of our Order. Actually, I'm now the only person who knows exactly where it is – me and two Guides, one of whom is Aïn. The other one is enjoying his retirement on Yaï Ho. I gather he spends most of his time in meditation, which is an excellent way to...”

He was interrupted by the arrival of Ambar, Dillik and Karik. Aïn went straight back to collect Niil, Master Sandeark and Master Subadar, whom he had left in his library, gathering reference books.

“Where are we?” asked Dillik.

“On Tandil,” Julien told him.

“What?! But it's full of...”

“Dangerous things,” completed Julien. “I know. So that's going to mean no gallivanting around, all right? Here we do exactly what Master Dennkar tells us to. Our situation is tricky enough without making it worse.”

“All right, let's go down and leave some room on the platform,” said Dennkar. “It's a lot easier to go down than to climb up,” he added to Julien. “See that opening at the edge of the platform? It's the top of a tube which is part of the bubble. You just slip into it – feet first is best – and allow yourself to sink down. It feels a bit odd, but there's no risk of the air running out or of getting stuck.”

Before Julien could reply Karik stepped between him and the opening.

“If it's all the same to you,” he said, “I'll go first.”

Julien almost protested that Karik didn't need to do that because he trusted Master Dennkar, but he managed to keep quiet. He realised that he had to allow Karik to show that he had taken on Tannder's mission to protect them, and that meant standing between Julien and any possible danger. So:

“Thank you,” he said, stepping back. “We'll follow you down.”

'Odd' was a poor word to describe the feeling: it was almost like being swallowed alive and sliding slowly down a huge oesophagus, propelled by muscular contractions. In daylight it might have been different, since the tube was transparent, but at night he could just as easily been slipping towards the stomach of a gigantic giraffe. But the process didn't last as long as he had feared, and in due course he landed with a slight bump in a softly-lit hemispherical room. Karik was waiting for him, trying to hide his anxiety behind a screen of martial readiness.

“We'll find him,” Julien assured him.

Karik didn't think he could trust his voice, so he just nodded.

“He's our number one priority,” said Julien.

He didn't have time to say anything else before Dillik arrived, followed by the rest of the party, including Niil, Sandeark and Aïn.

oo0oo

The base was a bit like what you might imagine a burrow to be like: the vaulted galleries lacked the regularity and precision you might have expected from a military order, or indeed from any other human building. Instead they wandered around in any old way, going up and down in places. The junctions were remarkable for the complete absence of right-angles.

They passed a number of doors and eventually came to quite a large room which might have served as a refectory – it held five tables with seats around them – and as a briefing room, because most of one wall was taken up by a writing-board. There was no decoration on the blue-green walls, and there was a fine layer of dust over everything, which clearly indicated that the place had been deserted for some time.

“This base hasn't been used for around fifteen cycles,” Dennkar told them. “The installations are still working, but don't expect to find much in the way of comfort here. The stores are stocked with military rations and some other tinned food, but obviously there's nothing fresh. If we want to eat a proper diet we'll need to stock up. We can of course eat outside – by which I mean on other worlds – provided we don't set any pattern that an enemy could follow.

“There's also an airlock leading to the world outside. Don't even think about using it. This is Tandil, and without a lot of very thorough training you couldn't expect to last five minutes on the surface. If you want to see what's out there you can use the observation bubble – in fact I'd actively encourage it: as I was telling Julien, you get there by climbing a ladder, and it's excellent exercise. Up on the platform you'll be able to see for yourself what the local fauna is like. Now, I'd suggest we pick out our kangs, get settled in and then come back here to decide what we're going to do next.”

The kangs turned out to be small rooms, each of which held two rather basic beds and little else. They were probably not a lot bigger than the average prison cell. But they were all too busy worrying about Tannder to give much thought to the comfort, or lack of it, of their surroundings.

It didn't take them long to 'settle in' because they had hardly any possessions with them – little more than the clothes they stood up in. There was a small chest at the foot of each bed to keep possessions in, but right now they contained only a set of sheets and a cover for each bed. Julien and Ambar agreed that Dillik should sleep with them: obviously Karik couldn't be left alone to brood on things, and Niil was clearly best placed to stay with him and comfort him. The only problem Julien and Ambar might have to face if they shared a room with Dillik would be a likely increase in the amount of intimate physical exercise that might be indulged in.

oo0oo

“For the time being,” said Dennkar, once they had reassembled in the large room, “I want you all to stay here. I'm going to Kardenang to try to find out more about Tannder's disappearance.”

“Master Dennkar,” said Karik, “I want to go with you. I can be useful to you – for a start, I know the place. And, anyway, Julien promised that I could help you find my master.”

Julien expected that to get a short answer, but Dennkar surprised him: he thought about it for a moment or two and then said “Very well. But you're the only one I'm going to take, and you'll be under my direct command. That means that you do exactly what I tell you and you obey nobody else. Is that clear?”

“Yes.”

“If your master has told our enemies what he knows, you could be in considerable danger. You do realise that?”

“Yes.”

“Finally – and I'm being open with you here – I might well be tempted to use you as bait if I can't find any other way of reaching the enemy. If you want to be sure that you're safe from that sort of extreme action you might do better to stay here.”

“I want to come. Master Tannder is my...”

He fell silent, unable to express exactly what Master Tannder was to him without breaking down.

“Then that's settled,” said Dennkar. “We'll leave at once. Julien, I'll send Aïn to you as soon as I can, provided I can persuade Wenn Hyaï to leave his retirement to help us. In the meantime I urge you not to leave here, even though I know you could do so if you wanted to.”

“Don't worry,” said Julien, “I have no intention of going anywhere - at least, not yet. But if I don't hear from you, or if Aïn doesn't get back to us within one day, I'll move everyone somewhere else. Using the Orientation Table,” he added, for Aïn's benefit. “I can transport everyone at once. Of course if I do that I won't be able to get back here – at least, I don't think so. And Xarax is assuring me right now that if I were to try he'd stop me.”

oo0oo

Chapter 18

Rescue

When they arrived on Dvaârinn it was still well before dawn. Aïn chose to take them, not to the inn, but to the path leading to the enemy's house. Before leaving Dennkar and Karik had dressed in the camouflage fatigues that were in plentiful supply at the Tandil base, and even the trained eye of the Guide found it hard to see them as they walked noiselessly towards the hedge that surrounded the house. However, even their best efforts to avoid detection were not sufficient to defeat the vigilance of Tannder's team: they were eager to show the illustrious Master Dennkar that they weren't completely useless, and they were more determined than ever not to be shown up again by an inexperienced juvenile.

The group leader stepped forward to make his report.

“Nobody has entered or left the house,” he told them. “We sent the blackwing in again, but it says the house is empty. With your permission I'd like to send a man inside to check the place over.”

“You do not have my permission. I'm confident that anyone who goes in there won't come out again. The whole place is a trap. The people behind it don't need to conceal that from us any longer. Tannder was deliberately lured into that house, and they used the boy to lay the snare – rather skilfully, in my opinion.”

“But we have to know..”

“If you really want to gamble your life I won’t get in your way. After all, I can understand people being keen to get to the Blissful Fields But I won't allow you to send anyone else on a suicide mission. Is that clear?”

“Perfectly, Gyalken.”

“Good. Maintain a watch on the house. We'll station a Guide at the inn round the clock until we're sure the emergency is over.”

As they walked back along the path Aïn came close and put himself into the 'communication' posture. Dennkar laid a hand on the Guide's neck.

If you're not going to enter the house, the Guide said, maybe I can look to see if there is any trace of a transfer. But if I'm going to do that we need to go and collect Wenn Hyaï first. We can't risk you being stuck here if anything happens to me.

Is what you're proposing to do dangerous, then?

Perhaps not dangerous, but certainly tricky.

Do you think you'll be able to talk Wenn Hyaï round? It won't be easy.

I know Wenn Hyaï. He won't refuse to help you, even if it does mean leaving his happy retirement. Just out of interest – you weren't really intending to use Karik as bait, were you?

Of course not! But suggesting it made him feel that he really could contribute something to his master's rescue. And the fact that I'm not going to use him that way in no way diminishes his courage and loyalty. I like this boy: Tannder was definitely right to rescue him from his previous situation.

oo0oo

Wenn Hyaï didn't refuse to help. Without a word of protest he left his little shack, which sat in the sort of landscape that a Taoist artist would have swooned over. His dark green fur had silver streaks in it here and there and his movements were a little more deliberate than Aïn's, but otherwise there was no indication of his age. Once they got back to the 'Blue kang' in the inn at Kardenang Dennkar issued his instructions.

“Karik,” he said, “you are to stay with Master Wenn Hyaï at all times. You're to follow us back to the cluster of houses, but keep your distance and don't come any closer than is necessary to maintain a clear line of sight. If anything goes wrong and I can't issue any further orders I want you to go immediately to join the others on Tandil. The priority for Wenn Hyaï is to make sure that the Emperor still has an efficient travel and communication system. Karik's mission is to serve Master Wenn Hyaï and help him to fulfil his own mission.”

oo0oo

Once they got outside they found that the first hint of an approaching dawn was visible in the sky. The temperature had fallen considerably, and the humidity of the sea was now condensing into a heavy dew which made everything unpleasantly damp. Karik shivered, pulling his camouflage smock tighter as he strove to keep Master Dennkar and Aïn in sight, which was far from easy: they were dark shadows in a dark night and were making no sound at all. Then he realised that his companion had moved close to him, and he automatically placed his hand on the Guide's neck.

My boy, said Wenn Hyaï, it looks as if we're going to be a team for a while, so... would you mind doing me a favour?

Of course not, Honourable Master Guide. What do you want from me?

Well... I've been living alone for a very long time now, and so there has been no member of your species on hand to scratch behind my ears...

Despite the seriousness of their situation Karik almost burst out laughing. He managed to suppress it, but his mirth was still like a whole battery of fireworks going off in his head, and of course the Guide was immediately aware of it. Suppressing his feelings he simply said, You can laugh if you want, boy, but I'd still like you to scratch me.

They could now make out the house ahead of them, so they stopped. Wenn Hyaï sat on the path and submitted to Karik's attentions, and since Karik already had a fair bit of practice at this art – he'd previously used it on Ugo – he was able to scratch away diligently while still keeping a careful watch on the silhouettes of Dennkar and Aïn.

oo0oo

Guides didn't usually linger in the Outside, staying there for no longer than was necessary to achieve the journey they were undertaking at the time. Time spent in the Outside could not be measured and in fact had only a purely subjective duration. In other words, as long as he didn't move on to another destination, a Guide could stay in the Outside for an hour and then return to his departure point without every having left it. The only limit to the stay was the Guide's own mental strength. It was extremely difficult to maintain the concentration necessary for cogent thought, and it was all too easy to go insane if he slipped up somehow. But Aïn was undoubtedly the best there was when it came to probing the Outside. He'd proved that by being able to follow the faint trail left by Julien when he returned to his native world, something which only one other had ever been able to achieve. That was of course Yol the Intrepid, now the dog Ugo, who had earned himself the title of 'Yol, Saviour of the Emperor.'

It only took Aïn a few seconds to find what he was looking for. The Outside, the very substance of the Universe, still bore the trace of a tear that no Guide could have caused. The best way to describe the image Aïn saw would be a great gash through the lines of force that had melted and welded them together randomly. He knew at once that no living being could have been responsible for this violent rape: only a machine could have done this. There were no such machines in the Nine Worlds, but it was thought that attempts had been made to build one on Emm Talak before the devastating war that had destroyed the planet. If someone had succeeded in securing one of those prototypes and had developed it, it would be very worrying indeed. However, there was one advantage here: whoever had used the machine apparently had no idea of the damage it was causing to the Outside, or of the trace it left afterwards, and consequently nothing had been done to try to conceal what had happened.

All the same, he knew he couldn't simply follow the trace back to its source. Quite apart from the fact that he had no idea where it went, he was suspicious enough to see that it might be a trap. Besides, even if he did follow it and found Tannder, he had to bear in mind that three of Tannder's men had vanished with him. That was more than he could transport on his own, and it might not be possible to make more than one journey. And that meant that, unless he was prepared to leave one of the men to his fate, he would have to get help from another Guide. They would also have to take a human with them, in case they needed to use tools or weapons. Ideally he could ask Julien to help, since he was both a Guide and a human, but he was pretty sure that Dennkar would never allow it. And so, since there was nothing further he could achieve alone, he decided to leave the Outside.

oo0oo

They held their council in the blue kang at the inn. They agreed to say nothing to Julien, because they knew that if they did he would insist on rushing to Tannder's aid, which would be both foolish and highly dangerous. They knew that he had to be kept in the dark, because if they lied to him or even told him what Aïn had found out it was a certainty that he would try to get involved – he might even try following the trace himself. So they decided not to speak to Julien at all. Nor could they take the risk of Dennkar being captured or killed: it was essential that Julien retain one adviser he could totally depend on.

The choice of the Guide was straightforward: they would ask Wakhann. He was already used to working with Aïn, and he was already part of the Emperor's inner circle.

“I want to go!” blurted Karik, having worked up the courage to speak.

Dennkar looked at him. Until now the discussion with the Guides had taken place mentally, but Karik had not been able to stop himself from speaking aloud. But instead of telling the boy off for his exclamation he simply raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yes, I know I look like a kid,” Karik said, “but I am fifteen. I can use a weapon – Master Tannder trained me himself. Master Aïn knows me and I know him, so I won't be afraid of travelling with him because I know he can get us out of any sticky situation. The rest of the guards are good, certainly, but they don't know Aïn like I do and so they won't be able to work with him as efficiently, and Master Tannder always says that teamwork is essential if a mission is to be successful. And... I can't stand just waiting around and not doing anything to help him.”

Dennkar said nothing.

“Look,” said Karik, “give me one of those illegal weapons. I'm better with them than anyone else I've seen practising with them. Even Master Tannder said so.”

“Your Master wouldn't want you risking your life for him,” said Dennkar.

“True, but he'd be even less happy about Aïn risking his - or anyone else, come to that. He'd say that if he'd been stupid enough to get himself into trouble, then nobody else should have to risk their skin to get him back.”

Dennkar had to smile at that, because it was exactly the sort of thing that Tannder would say. He consulted briefly – mentally and privately – with his old friend Wenn Hyaï and then announced his decision.

“Master Aïn will go and collect his colleague,” he said. “That won't take long, but while he's gone, think about it. After all, if Niil is old enough to be First Lord of the Ksantiris I think we have to consider you to be old enough to make up your own mind about risking your life, and that of others. Please consider this: if you aren't up to the situation the consequences might be severe, and not just for you. Aïn says he trusts you, but now you have to make your own decision. If you are still determined to go when Aïn gets back you have my permission to volunteer.”

When Aïn got back with Wakhann Karik had not changed his mind. However, after a brief consultation the Guides announced that Wakhann would not take part in the mission. He'd been given the coordinates of the base on Tandil and would stay with Dennkar, and Wenn Hyaï would accompany Aïn and Karik instead. This was because Aïn and Wenn Hyaï thought it was unreasonable to send someone pregnant on a mission such as this: Wakhann had determined himself as female a few weeks previously and had now begun his gestation period.

Karik was issued with a knife and one of the strictly illegal hand weapons carried by the security team, and then, clinging to the fur of the Guides, he set off into the unknown.

oo0oo

He had no idea of the complexity of the feat undertaken by his companions, both veritable artists of the Outside, or of their arduous journey through the interstitial chaos that separates our reality from the apparently senseless environment beyond it. He simply found himself transported into a long corridor with light grey metallic walls. Two lines running just below the ceiling gave off a light similar to normal daylight, and the floor was covered in a yielding grey-green coating. Rectangles at regular intervals along both walls probably indicated doors. These carried large characters that could have been numbers, but there seemed to be no break in the walls to indicate an actual opening.

We seem to be in some sort of fortress or prison, said Wenn Hyaï. One of Tannder's men is beyond this wall. They are questioning him. I think you're going to have to use your weapon. You'll have to kill three men. Do you think you can do that?

Karik felt a sudden weakness and had to lean against the Guides. He'd prepared himself for the possible violence of a fight, but not for having to kill three total strangers in cold blood without even issuing a challenge.

If you don't think you can do that, said Wenn Hyaï, I'll take you back to the inn. There's no shame in it. I'll bring one of Tannder's men back instead. Now that I know how to get here it won't take very long.

No, just give me a moment. After all, someone is going to have to do it.

As you wish. But make sure you don't miss. If they get a chance to raise the alarm...

But Karik had pulled himself together by now. After all, the three men were probably probing or torturing a prisoner with no qualms about it, and there were likely to be others doing the same thing to Tannder and the other two members of his team. They had to put an end to it, and quickly: this was no time to pussyfoot around having second thoughts. He'd wanted to be involved in the rescue – well, now he was.

Take me inside and lie flat, he said. I'll do the rest.

Aïn will stay here, said Wenn Hyaï. There's no point in cluttering up your field of fire unnecessarily.

The boy took the strange weapon from its holster and fastened the lanyard to his wrist to make sure that he didn't lose the weapon even if he found himself in hand-to-hand combat. The weapon was of some black synthetic substance, quite small - no bigger than his hand - and it worked by firing at very high speed, using some sort of magnetic impulse, tiny grains of an extremely dense substance whose enormous kinetic energy was brutally dissipated when they hit anything. The results were devastating.

Let's go, he said. I'm ready.

Immediately he was in the room. While Wenn Hyaï lay flat on the floor Karik let his instincts take over and fired three times, once at each of the three clearly human figures who were standing around a table onto which a naked body was strapped. The weapon used no explosives but the supersonic speed of its missiles still caused three detonations to be heard in rapid succession. He'd practised on targets and even on dummies, but nothing could have prepared him for the horror of exploded torsos, walls sheeted with blood or, a few seconds later, the pungent smell of excrement. He dropped to his knees and was violently sick while Wenn Hyaï rushed to the table. He caught a brief glimpse of Aïn's blue fur as he materialised in the room and then he passed out.

oo0oo

He came to a moment later. Aïn was licking his face.

Wake up, boy said Aïn. We still have to free this poor man, because he's still alive. And, no, it isn't Tannder.

Karik stood up a little shakily and made his way to the table, trying not to look at the walls, down which little gobbets of flesh were still sliding. The Warrior on the table was conscious but his eyes were closed and he seemed to be absorbed in his communication with Wenn Hyaï, who had climbed up onto the table and put his paw on the man's forehead. Karik found the mechanism that released the straps of flexible metal that bound his ankles, wrists and neck. Then Aïn came and pressed against his leg.

We need to leave now, he said.

But... what about Tannder?

We'll come back for him. But we need information first.

And then they were back in the blue kang at the inn.

oo0oo