A Fire Upon the Deep

Pham leaned forward, trying to see as far along the walls as possible. "Maybe not. These guys aren't advancing. They're staying in range of the archers on the walls."

"Yeah. But we still have cannons." Pilgrim's perfect imitation of humanity broke for a second, and a Tinish chord filled the cockpit. "Something is really strange. It's like they're trying to keep someone from getting out."

"Are there other entrances?"

"Probably. And lots of little tunnels, just one member wide."

"Ravna?"

"Steel's not talking at all now. He said something about traitors infifltrating the castle. Now all I'm getting is Tinish gobble." From embrasure to embrasure along the battlements, Pham could see enemy soldiers moving above those on the ground. Something had upset the rats' nest.

Johanna Olsndot was a vision of horrified concentration, her free hand gathered into a fist, her lips faintly trembling. "All this time I thought he was dead. If they kill him now, I…" Her voice suddenly scaled up: "What are they doing?" Cast iron kettles had been dragged to the top of the walls.

Pham could guess. Siege fighting on Canberra had involved similar things. He looked at the girl, and kept his mouth shut. There's nothing we can do.

The Pilgrim pack was not so kind — or not so patronizing: "It's oil, Johanna. They want to kill someone in the walls. But if he can get out… Blueshell, I've read about loudspeakers. Can I use one? If Jefri is in the walls, Woodcarver can safely scrape Steel's troops off the field and battlements."

Pham opened his mouth to object, but the Rider had already opened a channel. Pilgrim's Tinish voice echoed across the hillside. Along the castle walls heads turned. To them, the voice must have sounded like a god's. The chords and trills continued a moment longer, then ceased.

Ravna's voice was on the line an instant later, "Whatever you did just now, it pushed Steel over the edge. I can barely understand him; He seems to be describing how he'll torture Jefri if we don't pull the Woodcarvers back."

Pham grunted. "Okay then. Get us in the air, Blueshell." It felt good to kiss subtlety goodbye.

Blueshell wobbled the boat aloft. They moved forward, scarcely faster than a man can run. Behind them more of Woodcarver's troops were coming over the military crest of the hill. Those fellows had been pulled well back after Pham's strafing run: things might be decided before they got to the castle… But Woodcarver's reach was still long and deadly: splashes of smoke and fire appeared along the battlements, followed by sharp popping noises. Killing Jefri Olsndot was going to be a very expensive proposition for Steel.

"Can you use the beamer to clear Steel's troops away from the wall?" asked Johanna.

Pham started to nod, then noticed what was happening by the castle. "See the oil." Dark pools were growing between the enemy packs and the walls they guarded. Until they knew where the kid was coming out, it would be best not to start fires.

Pilgrim: "Oops." Then he was shouting something more on the loudspeakers. Woodcarver's artillery ceased.

"Okay," said Pham, "for now, all eyes on the castle wall. Circle the perimeter, Blueshell. If we can see the kid before Steel's guys, we may have a chance."

Ravna: "They're spread evenly around every side except the North, Pham. I don't think Steel has any idea were the boy is."

When you challenge Heaven, the stakes are high. And I could have won. If he had not betrayed me, I could have won. But now the masks were down, and the enemy's brute physical power was all that counted. Steel brought himself down from the hysterical blackout of the last few minutes. If I can not have Heaven, at least I can still take them to Hell. Kill Amdijefri, destroy the ship the Visitors wanted so… most of all, destroy his traitorous teacher.

"My lord?" It was Shreck.

Steel turned a head in Shreck's direction. The time for hysteria was past. "How goes the flooding?" he said mildly. He wouldn't ask about Tyrathect again.

"All but complete. The oil is pooling beyond the castle walls." The two packs crouched as one of Woodcarver's bombs exploded just beyond the battlement. Her troops were already halfway back across the field — and Steel's archers were preoccupied with flooding the tunnels and watching the exits. "We may have flushed out the traitors, my lord. Just before Woodcarver resumed fire, we heard something by the southeast wall. But I fear the spacers will see whatever we do there." His heads bobbed spastically.

Strange to see Shreck coming apart, Steel thought vaguely. Shreck's was the loyalty of clockwork, but now his orderly world was failing and there was nothing left to support him. The madness he was born from was all that was left.