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vingt before leveling out onto a stretch of scrubby grass-land that ended at
the foot of a low hill. From a vingt away, Mykel could see where the hill had
been cut away and the redstone layers exposed.
There might not be anything at the quarry, but... be-ing prepared made sense,
and if there were not, the exer
cise wouldn t hurt. Mykel turned in the saddle, looking at Fabrytal.  Order a
line abreast, by squads, five across. Ri-fles ready.
The faintest hint of a puzzled frown crossed the under-captain s face, but he
pulled his mount to the side and stood in the stirrups.  Fifteenth Company!
Line abreast by squads. Five across. Third squad centered on me. Ri-fles
ready!
Fifteenth Company was re-formed within moments, then continued riding across
the grasslands.
Less than a hundred yards from where the excavation began, Mykel looked to
Fabrytal again.  Have them halt here.
 Company! Halt!
Mykel surveyed the area to the south. He had only seen one quarry before in
his life, and that had been the mas-sive granite quarry to the north of
Faitel, where he had grown up. The quarry at Hyalt was far smaller, less than
half a vingt from side to side, and extending only fifty or sixty yards into
the hillside, with tiers cut out of the stone, like stair steps up the
redstone. There was a muddy red-dish pool less than ten yards across in the
southeastern corner of the lowest level.
 Just a big hole in the ground, said Fabrytal.
 That s what quarries are holes in the ground where people have taken stone
out. This is a small quarry. Mykel surveyed the quarry once more. Something
about it bothered him, but he couldn t pinpoint either a specific source or
location. Finally, he turned to Fabrytal.  For-ward at a walk. Rifles ready.
 Fifteenth Company! Slow walk! Forward! Rifles ready!
Mykel had his own rifle out as well, disregarding the unspoken adage that a
commander should concentrate on tactics, rather than engage in direct combat.
The company had moved forward a good thirty yards toward the unused quarry
when a dark shadow appeared just above the base of the quarry, in the western
corner
where the stonework ended and the hillside remained rel-atively untouched.
Mykel blinked. The shadow looked black, but it felt like an ugly pinkish
purple. Then it was no longer a shadow, but an enormous catlike creature that
raced toward fifth squad, the westernmost troopers of the company.
 Company! Halt! Fifth squad! Fire at will! Mykel snapped.  Fifth squad, fire
at will!
 Company, halt! Fifth squad ... echoed Fabrytal.
Mykel watched intently for a moment, then scanned the rest of the quarry, but
he neither saw nor sensed any-thing else that felt threatening. His eyes went
back to the giant cat, its body at least a good two yards in length.
Fifth squad s first shots did little good, and the cat creature accelerated
silently toward the troopers. The creature jerked and stumbled as several
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shots ripped into it, but Mykel could see no wounds, although the cat slowed
somewhat. Continual fire poured into the creature as it neared fifth squad.
Less than a handful of yards short of the squad, it fell forward, legs
twitching.
 Keep firing! came the command from Vhanyr, the fifth squad s leader.
More shots struck the wounded creature, and it writhed, then slumped onto the
ground, but its body still twitched.
 Hold the company, rifles ready, Mykel ordered Fab-rytal.  I want to get a
good look at that creature.
 Yes, sir. Company hold! Rifles ready!
Mykel rode along the front of the arrayed company at a fast walk.
Vhanyr had ridden out from his squad several yards, but reined up short of the
fallen creature, still twitching on the reddish sandy ground that sported but
sparse grass. Mykel reined up beside the squad leader, his own rifle still out
and ready.
 Sir. Vhanyr held his rifle in the general direction of the cat.  We must
have put fifty bullets into it before it went down.
Mykel would have judged far less than that, but he d seen over a half score
impact the giant black cat. As he watched, it lifted its head and struggled to
rise, jaws open-ing and revealing teeth that seemed half-crystalline,
half-yellow. Was it healing itself? He lifted his own rifle and fired once,
twice, three times, and again. His shots tore away half the creature s head,
and it dropped onto the ground.
The creature had not bled, Mykel realized unless a purplish blue ichor
staining a clump of grass was what the creature had for blood. Nor had it made
a sound in the entire span of its attack.
 What is it? Do you know, sir? asked Vhanyr.
 I ve never seen anything like that, Mykel admitted. He d never read about
anything that remotely resembled the black catlike giant.
As he watched, the clumps of grass around the fallen beast shriveled and
blackened. The dead creature ap-peared to lose its shape, disintegrating into
a long pile of a greasy-looking purplish black substance. Then, abruptly,
bluish red flames burst from the disintegrating corpse, the heat so intense
that Mykel eased the roan back away from the pyre.
 ... what the frig!
 ... never seen anything like that...
Mykel wrenched his attention away from the bluish flames and studied the
quarry again. He could see or sense nothing. That didn t mean another of the
cat crea-tures might not appear again at any time.
 Fifth squad, reload! Now!
Vhanyr s command reminded Mykel to do the same. He did not replace the rifle
in its case, but rested it across his thighs, one-handed.
 Sir? asked Vhanyr.
 We ll be advancing shortly, Mykel told the squad leader, then turned his
mount back toward the center of the company. He doubted they would see another
of the beasts immediately, but he could definitely understand
why the quarrymen were leery of the place. That meant at least two squads on
duty all the time the stone was being cut and carted away.
He reined in the roan beside Fabrytal s mount.  For-ward at a walk.
 Forward...
Mykel kept studying the quarry, the courses of stone, and the hill that
surrounded them. Strange creatures in-deed.
46
Dainyl and Lystrana sat in the darkness of their bedchamber, Lystrana
reclining on the bed, and Dainyl sitting on the chair beside her.
 The quiet in Elcien is disturbing, Dainyl said.  We know that Ifrits, and it
could be scores of them, are com-ing through the Tables to the east of Corns.
Zelyert knows as well. It s fairly certain that the engineers of the east are
constructing additional equipment of some sort, probably of a military nature.
Three of the four eastern Myrmidon companies are under Brekylt s and Alcyna s
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control, and I d wager Second Company in Ludar is aligned as well. If Brekylt
can present his position as supporting the Ar-chon, Samist will agree to
whatever they have in mind.
 What is your point, dearest? asked Lystrana.
 Why isn t anything being done from here?
 It is. She laughed, ironically.  One of the recorders who supported Brekylt
is dead. One Myrmidon majer and one RA are also dead. Several engineers are
dead. More than a few know that it is dangerous to oppose a submarshal [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]