Hecht had the old woman returned to Ghort. 'We have to explore this Artecipean connection. It just keeps coming up.'
'Knowing my grandfather, that's already well under way.'
'He's out there, you know. Sniffing around like a wolf scouting a sheep cote. Which reminds me. Mutton would be a nice change.'
'Are you ready to question the Society assassin?'
'It never ends.'
'If you'd stayed a spear carrier you'd be somewhere loafing right now, hoping your petty officer won't find you and make you dig a latrine or cut firewood.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning you made your choices. You said yes every time someone handed you more work. Oh!' Delari went white. He slammed both hands to his chest. For an instant Hecht thought it was his heart. Then-
The earth slammed up, fell down, shimmied like a belly dancer's bottom. There had been tiny, barely perceptible tremors for days. Nothing like this. Accumulated dust and dirt fell from higher up in the mill. Chunks followed. 'Downstairs!' Hecht ordered. 'Everybody out! Earthquake!' Hecht's left wrist itched cruelly. 'It's sorcery, not…'
Principal Delari, a ghastly pale, already starting down, said, 'I know. Get out. Get the situation under control.'
The panic faded. Hecht got down and out. He pushed through a mob of gawkers, all facing downriver. The ruined castle could not be seen. A cloud of dust, or fog, intervened. A breeze shredded that and carried it westward, over the river into the Connec.
Principate Delari poked Hecht in the ribs. 'Don't gawk, move.'
Hecht moved. Toward the cloud. Which faded to a trace.
His wrist continued to nag. He barked, 'Colonel Sedlakova! Have the officers assemble on me immediately.'
The earth continued trembling.
From the vantage of a hummock two hundred yards southeast of the mill Hecht could see that a quarter mile of hillside, sloping toward the river, had split like a rip in the seat of too-tight trousers. At several points he saw a pale bluish mother-of-pearl surface. Pulsing.
Puffing, Muniero Delari trudged past. 'Come along, Piper. Come along.' The old man's course angled uphill. He wanted a closer look at the crack.
The ground shivered. The pearlescent blue moved.
Pinkus Ghort caught up as Hecht and the old man climbed to where they could look down the length of the tear in the earth. He blurted, 'Holy shit! It's a giant-ass fucking worm!'
'Grub,' Delari corrected. 'A larval stage.' A wave of motion ran along the thing in the crack. Its downhill end moved forward slightly. The itching at Hecht's wrist amplified severely. 'Piper! You should…'
Hecht had decided what he should. 'Consent!' Puffing, Titus was catching up. Random officers followed, seriously confused. 'Bring out the falcons! With special loads! I need them up here yesterday! Your Grace. Are we seeing what I think we're seeing?'
'The birth of a god. More or less.'
'But what…?'
'I don't know anything you don't. This could be the hatching of an egg left over from before mankind reached this part of the world. But we don't have the luxury of taking time to worry about who, what, where, and all that. We have to act.'
True. That thing would be no friend of Piper Hecht's. Or anyone else round here.
It was Esther's Wood all over again. Another race against time. That thing was maturing. He could sense it nursing on what little free power was in circulation nearby. Soon it would want to feed in earnest.
A backward curved horn began to form atop the downhill end.
'That the head down there?' Hecht asked.
'It would seem,' Delari replied.
'Pinkus, you aren't in the chain of command but you have a way with words. Go make those gawking fools take this seriously.' The whole army wanted to see the monster. No one seemed smart enough to be scared. 'Tell my idiot officers I want everyone moving upriver. With the animals. Except the artillerists.'
The falcon crews were running round in confusion in the meadow where they had built bunkers to store their weapons and firepowder. Hecht hoped they would not try to tow the weapons. No. Here came Kait Rhuk and his gang, two men dragging the falcon and three lugging ammunition. The other crews seemed intent on following Rhuk's example.
Hecht told Principate Delari, 'I should go run this show. They know what to do only in theory. If you think of anything useful to do, don't hesitate.' He stumbled down the slope. Several officers intercepted him. He repeated his orders to get everyone out of harm's way. 'This thing is going to want to eat. Let's don't be its first meal.'
Clej Sedlakova asked, 'What're you going to do?' Hecht thought it worth noting that the handicapped officer was among the first actually to come for instructions.
'I'm going to kill it.'
Seven falcons were in position. The other three crews were still getting organized. There would be personnel adjustments later. If there were survivors.
The god grub continued trying to shake the chains of the earth. Hecht moved down to the front end, which had come out of the ground a few dozen yards from the river. That end had developed obvious mouth parts and dark patches where eyes might appear.
Pinkus Ghort jogged up. Hecht demanded, 'What're you doing back here?'
'I couldn't miss this.'
'You could be as sorry as you've ever been. Rhuk! Weber! Stand by. Hell, Pinkus, we need to get behind those things.'
Rhuk and Weber took his sudden movement for the signal to fire.
The simultaneous roar of both pieces, hurling sulfurous hot gases, felled Hecht and Ghort. Hecht rolled over in time to see hundreds of black spots appear on the grub's vast face. Three more falcons discharged, raking the monster's length.
The earth shook. Three-quarters of the grub rose into the air. It crashed back. Hecht, trying to get up, went down again.
The acne spots on the grub grew quickly. As did the spots that would become eyes.
'Get the eyes!' Hecht shouted. 'Keep it blind!'
More falcons barked. The least competent crews were in place. Rhuk and Weber prepared their second shots.
Principate Delari limped down to where Hecht had given up trying to get his feet under him, dropped to his knees. Shaking his head. 'There's no choice. I know there's no choice. I can't guess what spawned this… There's going to be a storm, Piper.'
Hecht had no chance to ask what that meant. Falcons discharged. They ruined the face of the grub and tore smoldering black wounds along its length. Ten thousand tails of vapor, like feathers stirring in the breeze. The grub shook and screamed-inside every mind for miles.
Hecht's new amulet was not supposed to hurt. Good thing. He could not imagine how bad the pain would have been were he wearing er-Rashal's gift.
There was always ambient power in the world. It kept the ice at bay, made sorcery possible, fed the Instrumentalities of the Night. Like air, the power was always there. Like air, its presence went unnoticed. It became notable only when it was absent.
Rather than absorbed, the ambient power began to be sucked into the god grub. Its wounds stabilized.
Hecht made a whimpering noise.
Principate Delari shouted. The storm had arrived. 'This is too damned expensive!'
The falcons barked raggedly, voices nearly lost in the psychic roar. A power vortex began to form above the grub. It darkened and grew, spinning, streaked with threads of every imaginable color.
Delari said, 'You
