Christopher G Nuttall [Invers Sufficiently Advanced Technolog

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.Warlock’s Bane will fade away into nothingness.”“We can deal with it later,” Dacron said.“I have to go back to the base, to see what survived.Beside, Master Faye’s allies might attack me.”“Depends on who he recruited to serve as allies,” the bookseller pointed out.He held up a hand.“Look, this city needs you, right now.I can go find your people; you have to save the population.Because if Scions start uncontrolled fighting over who gets the city, they’ll reduce it to rubble.”Dacron scowled.“I will inform the city that there is a new Pillar,” he said.At least he had Master Faye’s collection of books.The money wasn’t a great concern to a Confederation citizen.“And then we go to the base.We have to know what happened to the people there.”“Understood,” the bookseller said.He stood up, rubbing the side of his head.“I’ll take you to face your loyal subjects.”***A sane human society would have greeted the arrival of the person who had killed their previous leader with a degree of concern, Dacron was sure.Very few societies allowed promotion through assassination, if only because it was hardly conducive to long-term stability – as Darius amply demonstrated.Warlock’s Bane had a council, appointed by Master Faye, and they greeted his arrival with obvious relief.They’d known, even if he hadn’t, the implications of Master Faye’s death.The whole concept revolted him.Among the Confederation, issues were settled by democratic vote; the AIs, being a Gestalt, simply considered every possible issue and then harmonised their thoughts.To have someone put into power because he had murdered the previous leader seemed absurd; a skilled assassin might not be very good at actually running the city, let alone the world.Darius was definitely in desperate need of an intervention, Dacron decided, as he listened to the council’s speech of welcome.They were relieved to see him and yet they were also terrified.Master Faye could have overturned their laws with a word.It was nearly four hours before he was able to break free and head out of the city, accompanied by the bookseller.The City Guard had wanted to send an escort, but Dacron had declined, even though it was probably too late to prevent further contamination of Darius’s society by showing them signs of a more advanced culture.Besides, a Pillar was meant to be his own, all-powerful protector.It was just another sign that Darius, far from being stable, had actually been designed to be inherently unstable.Dacron was still considering the issues as they reached the borderline and stopped, dead.“Master Faye had no authority beyond this point,” the bookseller warned.“A Scion who enters your territory is throwing down a challenge; you entering their territory can be seen as a challenge in itself.”Dacron nodded.The borderline was magical, barely enough to be visible to a normal magician, but easy to detect.Carefully, he stepped into it and felt the magic crackling around him, just before he was on the other side.He had the impression that magic was less controlled outside the borderline, as if Master Faye had done far more to keep his city safe than anyone had realised.At least the borderline hadn’t collapsed completely when he’d died.“Some Pillars can never leave their territory,” the bookseller said.“I’d suggest that you do what you want to do and then head back to the city.Right now, a Scion might think that you had decided to leave forever.”Dacron shook his head as he remounted the horse and rode onwards, up the road towards the clearing.He saw the pillar of smoke from a distance and spurred the horse on, already knowing that it was far too late.The clearing had been devastated by something – balefire, part of his mind whispered – and the buried shuttle was a blackened ruin.He scrambled off the horse and ran forward, jumping down into the pit the diggers had excavated.Up close, he could sense the magic still crackling over the metal shuttle.They’d done far more than simply lay waste to the base; they’d left a surprise behind for any unwary visitor who might have blundered into their trap.A human would have sworn.Dacron cast a spell he thought would dispel the magic, and then stepped into the shuttle.Fire had swept through the interior, consuming everything that could burn and wiping out all traces of human existence.The control systems, hardened against all kinds of rough treatment, remained undamaged, but Dacron doubted that the shuttle would ever fly again [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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