Freda Warrington by A Blackbird in Twilight

Author:A Blackbird in Twilight [Twilight, A Blackbird in]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780450568657
Google: IxB9GwAACAAJ
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 1992-12-15T08:00:00+00:00

10

On the Storm-wind

No more than a missed heartbeat could have elapsed before Melkavesh found her voice, and her strength.

‘Im Nerek!’ she cried. She set her heels to Faara’s side and barged in front of the Battle Marshal’s mare, almost unseating her. ‘Stop!’

‘How dare you —’ Im Nerek began, but Melkavesh interrupted desperately.

‘Just listen to me! Hold the advance. There is something coming.’

She pointed, and Haeth Im Nerek squinted at the silver horizon. I see nothing,’ she snapped.

‘Be patient, use your eyes!’

Within a few seconds, the officers and standard bearers knew something was amiss, and their apprehension spread swiftly through the ranks. Soon everyone was staring out across the Omnuandrix. Silence fell over them like a smothering cloak as they watched incredulously, and when even the least keen-sighted of them could no longer dismiss what they saw as imagination, a murmur of consternation broke out that struck through Melkavesh like a knife.

Marching out of the west, outlined by fluid argent brilliance, came black giants—or statues brought to life. They moved with long, swift strides, their arms hanging stiff at their sides, their domed heads facing rigidly forwards. As they came nearer, Melkavesh counted twenty of them, moving in a rank of five across and four deep.

They were on the far bank of the Omnuandrix now, and despite its great width, she could clearly see them approaching the water’s edge without slackening their pace. Her breath stuck in her throat like a rock. The river must stop them—it must - but as they reached it they did not even pause. The first rank plunged into the water and waded deeper and deeper until the surface closed over their heads. The others followed.

For a few moments there was utter stillness, except for sinister ripples criss-crossing the river’s surface. Everyone watched with breath suspended, while the air thickened with tension until Melkavesh felt she could have sliced it with a sword.

Even the Gorethrians seemed galvanised. Silence … and then the sudden, heart-stopping swoosh as the first colossus burst through the surface and towered upwards with water cascading over its dark, shiny armour.

Screams of shock shattered the tension, and suddenly the air was full of the sounds of roaring water, terrified cries, officers yelling at their men to stay in rank. The figures began to ascend the bank, unstoppable. Should we hold our ground, should we retreat? Melkavesh thought wildly, too stunned to make a sensible decision. Im Nerek was open-mouthed, equally at a loss. And still the machines came on, spreading out until they had formed a staggered line along the bank, four hundred yards short of the Kristillian flank and stretching almost to the walls of Ehd’rabara. And there they stopped.

Melkavesh swiftly took in every detail. They were about thirty feet tall, fashioned in a wondrously grotesque simulation of armoured warriors. They were constructed of overlapping metal plates which she could now see were not black but a very dark blue with rainbow strands of colour playing across the surface. A green and

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