Tetrarch (Well of Echoes) by Ian Irvine

Author:Ian Irvine [Irvine, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: General, Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Fantasy fiction - lcsh
ISBN: 9781841491998
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2002-09-30T06:00:00+00:00

The army continued to grow over the next few days as stragglers, and sometimes large bands, came in from all directions. They now numbered more than four and a half thousand, and their fleet of clankers, ninety-six. A powerful force, though matched by the lyrinx shadowing them in the west. Tension hung in the air, thick as glue. Troist paced more than ever. Fights broke out among the soldiers: brutal, ugly affairs that only ended when one was battered into unconsciousness. The other was whipped bloody, but it made no difference. Within hours, there would be another affray.

The whole camp knew of Nish’s fall from grace, and that any chance of an alliance with the Aachim had vanished. He ate alone. Nish had begun to have stomach cramps, so knotted was he inside. He had let Troist down, and everyone else. Why hadn’t he kept his mouth shut?

He went back to his old work, assisting with the development of tactics to use against the Aachim constructs, but Nish was conscious how little he knew of them. He did not even know what weapons they carried inside. But at least he had seen constructs in operation, and that was more than the other officers could say.

He realised that someone was talking to him. ‘I beg your pardon?’ he said.

‘If they attack, h-how can we c-c-combat them?’ The speaker was Lieutenant Prandie, one of the most junior officers, even younger than Nish.

‘Pits!’ said Nish. The idea had just popped into his head. ‘Constructs float hip-high above the ground and I don’t think they can go any higher. If we were fighting a pitched battle we could dig a series of pits across their path, cover them, and when the constructs fell in, they would not be able to get out.’

‘Neither would our clankers, should the battle move that way.’

‘But we would know they were there.’

‘A useful idea,’ said Troist, who had been standing up the back unnoticed, ‘but it’s not going to win the battle.’

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