‘What do you think about attacking their cities, Troist?’ said Yggur.
‘To attack a well-defended city we’d need at least a four-to-one advantage,’ said Troist. ‘Even if we could gather together all our armies in Lauralin we wouldn’t have enough men to attack Oellyll, and even if we won we’d lose most of them. And that’s not even considering these uggnatl creatures, against which we have no defence.’
‘They’re what I’m really worried about,’ said Flydd. ‘We can’t allow the enemy another six months to breed them. We simply have to act before winter …’
‘Are you absolutely sure?’ said Yggur. ‘If we implement the plan, there’ll be no going back.’
Nish looked from one to the other. ‘I hadn’t realised it had come to this.’
‘It’s come,’ said Flydd. ‘What if they were to release uggnatl into our cities? Can you imagine the horror if they were let loose among our children, our unarmed mothers?’ Flydd didn’t go on. He didn’t need to.
‘Then we’ll have to go with the plan,’ said Yggur.
‘What plan?’ said Nish and Irisis together.
‘An aerial strike, simultaneously, on each of their cities.’
‘With what?’ said Irisis, puzzled.
Flydd took a deep breath, let it out, then motioned to Yggur.
‘We plan to drop a barrel of fungus spores down the airshafts of each of their underground cities,’ said Yggur.
‘Is that all? It wasn’t all that successful when we used it last spring,’ said Nish. ‘Except on their morale.’
‘That was out on an open battlefield,’ said Yggur. ‘Underground, the conditions are perfect for the fungus to grow and with luck we’ll infect most of them – enough to destroy the lyrinx threat and force them to capitulate.’
‘Is there any danger to us?’ said Nish.
‘We’ve been working with it since mid-winter and it hasn’t infected anyone yet.’
‘I don’t think it’s right to use that kind of a weapon,’ said Malien.
‘Nor I,’ said Tiaan uncomfortably. And after they capitulate, then what? Are you going to kill all the survivors?’
Flydd and Yggur exchanged glances. ‘They’ll have to go into camps,’ said Flydd at last.
‘Prisons?’ said Tiaan.
‘Well, yes.’
‘For how long?’
‘Forever. Either that or …’
‘So you’re planning to pen them up, and then wipe them out?’ said Tiaan, her fists clenched on the table.
‘We’re not planning anything that far ahead,’ said Flydd. ‘Look, Tiaan and Malien, what else are we to do with the lyrinx? Uggnatl aren’t just another battlefield weapon – they’re living, breeding creatures born for one purpose only – to slaughter. They can wipe us out, and if we give the enemy time to breed up their numbers, they will wipe us out. Once they’re released, the lyrinx won’t have to fight. These uggnatl will hide and breed until they sweep like a plague across the land, consuming everything in their path.’
‘It’s not right,’ Tiaan repeated.
‘It’s not right to use uggnatl against mothers and children either, but the enemy will. We’ve got no choice, Tiaan. We’ve got to attack their cities first. Now, before the creatures can be bred in numbers. What do you say?’
‘I’ve fought nylatl twice,’ said Nish. ‘The first time was the most terrifying of my life. If these uggnatl are faster and more agile, I couldn’t possibly beat one. Who could?’ He shuddered at the thought.
‘Well, Tiaan?’ said Flydd. ‘You assisted in the making of the first nylatl.’
Shadows crossed her face. ‘I saw what it did to three defenceless women. I – I can imagine the horror of an uggnatl in my mother’s nursery. If there’s no other choice, I suppose we must attack their cities.’
‘There’s no other choice,’ said Flydd. ‘Believe me, we’ve tried to think of one.’
‘Let it be done,’ said Yggur, and one by one everyone agreed.
FIFTY-THREE
Rather to Tiaan’s surprise, Irisis and Nish had asked if they could accompany her to Alcifer, where she was to drop a barrel of spores into one of the air vents. Flydd had allowed it and, to her own surprise, Tiaan had agreed. Though they were friends now, she preferred her own company. But then, she had to take someone.
‘What do you think of the morality of this attack?’ she said once the three of them were settled on their course from Fiz Gorgo to Alcifer.
‘I can’t say it bothers me,’ said Irisis. ‘How can it be worse than what the enemy has done to us, and hope to do with these uggnatl?’
Not long after dawn, Tiaan settled on a misty mountaintop a few leagues away from Alcifer, where they could hide unseen. The thapter sank a little way into powdery autumn snow,