that could change the nature of the world.
"Of course." She shrugged. " What an abomination, though."
Knowing what she meant, I let that go. "The question is, what do we target to put it out of action?"
"The big one, of course." I could hear the laughter even in her faint whisper. "Size matters, after all."
That made sense. As far as our intelligence could make out, the Engine was constructed where two powerful ley-lines crossed, and the positions of the stones directed the earth energy into patterns that could provide answers to impossible questions and control tools throughout the megavillage and far beyond.
The big one she referred to was slightly off centre and clearly fixed, since it had no trench to be dragged along. This must be the one our informant had called the central lithoid, which coordinated the whole complex.
"So what are you going to do?" asked Gazelle. "Huff and puff?"
"Better than that." I swung the hide bag off my shoulder and opened it, carefully drawing out the object inside.
For the first time, her eyes widened. "That's a death-gourd," she breathed. "I thought only the council of elders made those. No-one else even knows how they work."
"We do." Tempted as I was to brag to this woman who again seemed less self-assured, as in the cave, I didn't know enough about Gazelle to give away our secrets. "Just leave it at that."
She frowned, examining the dried gourd. "So how is it going to help? I've seen these things in use." She shuddered. "They kill a lot of people, but that's not what we want."
"We think it'll damage the stone, at least. At best, shatter it."
Baffled and wondering as she was, with wide eyes and on the edge of fear, Gazelle looked more like her namesake than before. I just hoped our assumptions would be justified. The gourd was filled with the crystals from the mountain quarry dedicated to their production for the megavillage government's stockpile. We'd liberated a large quantity from a convoy and been able to make our own death-gourds.
Any strong impact resulted in the crystals bursting out into fire and wind, and the hundreds of tiny flint shards mixed in with them could cause widespread injury. Our tests had shown that they could split a rock in half, but it was still a gamble that the same would happen to the central lithoid. A gamble worth taking, though.
"So..." Gazelle frowned, glancing from the stone to the gourd and back. "What are you going to do? Throw it?"
"It needs to be placed just right." I examined the great stone as I spoke, trying to identify the right place. "Then it depends whether my shooting's as good as it should be."
"Huh?"
"This..." I pointed to the pebble plugging a small hole in the gourd. "This has to be made to strike...what's inside. Best way to do that from a safe distance is with a shardcaster."
She raised an eyebrow which eloquently questioned whether I could really expect to hit the target, but all she said was, "So we need to wait till no-one's too near the stone or our route to it. Fair enough. And afterwards?"
"Well, disrupting the Engine should disorientate the stoneguards at least. Maybe put them out of action. And hopefully we can get out in the confusion."
"Hopefully?" She frowned. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"
A flash of anger stabbed me. "It's dangerous, obviously, but not suicidal. You want to go back?"
An impudent urchin's grin replaced the frown. "And miss the fun?"
It seemed the opportunity would never arrive, amid the comings and goings of the operators with their teams of beasts, and the stoneguards wandering the area. They'd be difficult to elude here, despite their lumbering gait. The way we were taught to give a stoneguard the slip was to keep it moving till it had to recharge its earth energy. Here, with the power crackling around the Engine, that would be a long time coming.
Then..."There!" Gazelle breathed, an instant before I could speak, and we were both up and over the bank, running for the central
"Of course." She shrugged. " What an abomination, though."
Knowing what she meant, I let that go. "The question is, what do we target to put it out of action?"
"The big one, of course." I could hear the laughter even in her faint whisper. "Size matters, after all."
That made sense. As far as our intelligence could make out, the Engine was constructed where two powerful ley-lines crossed, and the positions of the stones directed the earth energy into patterns that could provide answers to impossible questions and control tools throughout the megavillage and far beyond.
The big one she referred to was slightly off centre and clearly fixed, since it had no trench to be dragged along. This must be the one our informant had called the central lithoid, which coordinated the whole complex.
"So what are you going to do?" asked Gazelle. "Huff and puff?"
"Better than that." I swung the hide bag off my shoulder and opened it, carefully drawing out the object inside.
For the first time, her eyes widened. "That's a death-gourd," she breathed. "I thought only the council of elders made those. No-one else even knows how they work."
"We do." Tempted as I was to brag to this woman who again seemed less self-assured, as in the cave, I didn't know enough about Gazelle to give away our secrets. "Just leave it at that."
She frowned, examining the dried gourd. "So how is it going to help? I've seen these things in use." She shuddered. "They kill a lot of people, but that's not what we want."
"We think it'll damage the stone, at least. At best, shatter it."
Baffled and wondering as she was, with wide eyes and on the edge of fear, Gazelle looked more like her namesake than before. I just hoped our assumptions would be justified. The gourd was filled with the crystals from the mountain quarry dedicated to their production for the megavillage government's stockpile. We'd liberated a large quantity from a convoy and been able to make our own death-gourds.
Any strong impact resulted in the crystals bursting out into fire and wind, and the hundreds of tiny flint shards mixed in with them could cause widespread injury. Our tests had shown that they could split a rock in half, but it was still a gamble that the same would happen to the central lithoid. A gamble worth taking, though.
"So..." Gazelle frowned, glancing from the stone to the gourd and back. "What are you going to do? Throw it?"
"It needs to be placed just right." I examined the great stone as I spoke, trying to identify the right place. "Then it depends whether my shooting's as good as it should be."
"Huh?"
"This..." I pointed to the pebble plugging a small hole in the gourd. "This has to be made to strike...what's inside. Best way to do that from a safe distance is with a shardcaster."
She raised an eyebrow which eloquently questioned whether I could really expect to hit the target, but all she said was, "So we need to wait till no-one's too near the stone or our route to it. Fair enough. And afterwards?"
"Well, disrupting the Engine should disorientate the stoneguards at least. Maybe put them out of action. And hopefully we can get out in the confusion."
"Hopefully?" She frowned. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"
A flash of anger stabbed me. "It's dangerous, obviously, but not suicidal. You want to go back?"
An impudent urchin's grin replaced the frown. "And miss the fun?"
It seemed the opportunity would never arrive, amid the comings and goings of the operators with their teams of beasts, and the stoneguards wandering the area. They'd be difficult to elude here, despite their lumbering gait. The way we were taught to give a stoneguard the slip was to keep it moving till it had to recharge its earth energy. Here, with the power crackling around the Engine, that would be a long time coming.
Then..."There!" Gazelle breathed, an instant before I could speak, and we were both up and over the bank, running for the central
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