by Ian Irvine
She went out again. Far below, the situation was unchanged, though the construct seemed to have drawn a little further ahead. 'They're getting away,' Irisis said.
'I don't think so,' said Yggur, but it became clear the machine was outdistancing its pursuers, and shortly the lyrinx began to turn back. Soon there were none pursuing. The sun was just above the horizon.
After them! Full speed, Inouye,' Yggur ordered.
He whipped the transfer controller from his pocket. It was an oval made of metal with holes in it like a colander, though larger, concealing the crystals and wires at its core. Thrusting his fingers through the holes, he held the device above his head, closed his eyes and strained.
'Iit's still drawing away,' said Flangers. 'Which direction?' 'Continuing west.'
Yggur strained again. Irisis focussed her spyglass through the veils of cloud. The construct dipped sharply before continuing on.
Yggur was panting. He kept trying, but without success He doesn't have the strength, Irisis thought. He was very old despite his appearance. And, she reminded herself, he had not been tested in a long time.
'I can't help thinking that you're past it,' she said.
'The scrutator would have done the same, you know.'
Irisis knew it to be true, knew it to be the right thing to do, too, but it made no difference. Her loyalties were personal, not national.
'They're drawing further away,' called Flangers.
The sinews on Yggur's arms stood out. Still with eyes closed, he strained again. The construct sailed on, unaffected. He grunted with the effort. Sweat burst out on his forehead. The machine stalled, then dropped like a stone.
'I bloody well knew it!' Irisis raged. 'I knew this was all going to be for nothing.' She made a move towards him but thought better of it.
Yggur stood, hands straining above his head, eyelids bulging. They watched the construct plunge down and down. Irisis could imagine how the people inside must be feeling.
Yggur's eyes opened and closed again. He trembled from head to foot. A thread of saliva dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. 'Aaagh!' he cried, swinging the device around his head, then, Aah! I've got it.'
The construct fell unchecked.
'I've got it.'
There was no change in its downward plunge.
'I've got it!' Foam flew from his lips.
Irisis saw, through her spyglass, the fall become less vertical. The construct swerved wildly but recovered. It curved away, away, away, rose slightly, flattened out and headed west.
'I've got it,' he whispered.
From inside the cabin, Flydd let out a groan that trailed off to nothing.
Fifty-eight
Gilhaelith had stopped pounding on the hatch long ago. Tiaan lifted it and looked down. He was sitting on the floor, eyes shut, rocking back and forth. She closed the hatch -putting off the confrontation for as long as possible.
'Hey, there's an air-floater behind us — really high up.'
'Is it the one we saw over Alcifer the other day?' said Malien.
'It looks the same.'
The air-floater disappeared in the clouds. The thapter was slowing now, as they began to pass over swamp forest. The sun went down. They continued in the dark for hours, having no idea where they were going. Finally, in pitch darkness the whistling of the wind died away. The base of the thapter thumped hard against stone and sparks flew up.
A glowing globe blazed, revealing part of a dark wall and a wide doorway. All else was in darkness.
'What now?' said Tiaan.
'We wait,' Malien replied.
'This doesn't look like a lyrinx city.'
The air-floater ghosted down to their left. It was there one second, gone the next, as it went up in a rush. A tall man stood in the centre of the yard, a shadowed object in his left hand.
Malien said, 'Well, well. In a dozen lifetimes I wouldn't have expected this.'
'Who is it?'
She didn't answer.
'What do we do?' Tiaan squeaked.
"Go down. But keep your counsel, Tiaan. Let's find out what they want, first.'
Tiaan unfastened the lower hatch and quickly climbed down the side. Her back was aching but she managed to walk across to the steps without limping. The man extended a hand. I am Yggur. Welcome to Fiz Gorgo.’
Had she been capable of rational thought, Tiaan would have assumed him dead centuries ago. 'Thank you. My name is Tiaan Liise-Mar.' She looked around but Malien wasn't in sight. 'Surely you're not alone?' he said.
No:
Malien had gone down the far side of the machine and now appeared out of the darkness without warning. 'Well met, Yggur. I imagine you no more expected to see me again than I did you.'
'Malien!' he exclaimed. 'It seems like it was only months, ago I last saw you. And for all the change in you …' 'You flatter me. That was two centuries ago. It was in Chanthed, wasn't it, when Llian told his Tale of the Mirror and the masters voted that it become a Great Tale.' And he was banished from being a chronicler for seven years. No, Malien, we met for the last time in Gothryme, when the Charon sent Maigraith back through the gate.' 'Of course we did. My memory must be going. I wonder what-?'
He hastily interrupted her. 'Do you know what happened to Llian?'
He would be dead a hundred and fifty years, even if he lived into grand old age.' And Karan too, no doubt.'
'We all have our time,' Malien said. 'I'll not complain when mine comes. The old must give way to the young.' 'Quite. Come inside,' said Yggur.
They went indoors, to a large chamber off the hall, where a fire blazed. Shortly Gilhaelith appeared in the doorway.
There were lines on his forehead, blood spots along his ribs, and his skin had a greenish cast. He was furious.
'Where did you come from, fellow?' said Yggur. 'I feel as though I ought to know something about you.' He did not offer to shake hands.
'I don't see why,' said Gilhaelith curtly. 'I'm a trader in odd commodities and a dabbler in the arts and sciences. My name is Gilhaelith and these wretches have just kidnapped me from Alcifer.’
'Ah, yes, Gilhaelith. The geomancer who trades with the enemy!' Yggur turned his back. Tiaan, I apologise for taking over your flier in such an .., abrupt manner, but we need it desperately. We have a plan for the war.’
'I'm pleased to hear that someone has,' she said quietly. That terror of falling, of having control snatched away, would never leave her. 'But you're mistaken. The thapter belongs to Malien, not me.' She moved away from him, taking refuge by the fire. Thankfully Yggur did not follow, for she had no idea how to deal with such a legend.
Gilhaelith came up beside Tiaan. 'How dare you interfere in my life!'
She looked up at him, remembering how he might have come to her aid in Snizort, but had cared more about the amplimet. 'Do you mean to say you didn't want to be rescued?'
'I chose to be in Alcifer, and I was close to a breakthrough. Now all my precious instruments lie abandoned. You have destroyed the work of a lifetime.'
'I'm sure your friends the lyrinx will take good care of them!'
'What price did you pay, for them to repair your broken back?'
'Nothing I wasn't forced to. Unlike you, I've never dealt with the enemy for profit.'
'Why did Malien come after me?' he said in a low, quivering voice. ''Why me?'
Tiaan saw no reason not to tell him. 'You're the greatest geomancer and mathemancer in existence now, and no one else can help her.'
That mollified him a little. 'Certainly I am! Go on.'
She's concerned that the nodes are being overdrawn and will soon fail, to the ruin of all.'
'What does it matter if one or two nodes fail?' he said.
'Because they're linked! Malien has discovered that a drained node is replenished from those surrounding nodes at are linked to it. Those, in turn, are replenished from nodes further away. If enough fail, all the nodes could colapse and the whole world—'
'That's it!' he w
hooped. 'The missing piece of the puzzle.'
'What do you mean, Gilhaelith?'
He strode away without answering, already so caught up in the problem that Tiaan was an irrelevance.
She ran and took him by the arm, so outraged by his arrogance that she wanted to unsettle him, shock him. 'The lyrinx were using you!' she cried. 'I can't believe you didn't realise that. You were just the bait to lure me and the thapter to Alcifer.'
His mouth opened and closed, and Tiaan could see the calculations running. He'd been manipulated from the beginning, all unknowing. Panic flared in his eyes but he controlled it and turned away.
Yggur took his place, and to Tiaan he seemed equally forbidding. 'May I ask what that dispute was about?' he said pleasantly.
'It seems that Gilhaelith chose to live in Alcifer, under the protection of the lyrinx, and I've ruined his life's work.'
Yggur frowned. 'Is that so? I'd hate to think I've allowed a cuckoo into my nest. What is his life's work?'
'To master geomancy and understand all the forces that move and shape the world.'
'To what end?'
'He maintains it's for the noblest purpose of all — simply to understand the material world — but Gilhaelith has a compulsion to control everything around him.'
A dangerous man. You'd better tell me everything you know about Gilhaelith, Tiaan.'
The air-floater flew directly to Hripton, setting down outside the healer's house. Nish, Irisis and Flangers carried Flydd in. He was still breathing, though his chest barely moved and his lips were blue.
'What's the matter with him?' asked the healer, a woman of advanced years with a dowager's hump and white hair so thin that Irisis could see her scalp through it.
She explained as best she could without giving away any secrets. The healer lifted Flydd's shirt and drew in a sharp breath at the sight of his emaciated chest, practically bare of flesh, and the ancient scars crisscrossing his body. She laid hands on him, up and down. They turned him over and she did the same for his back.
'Something is damaged inside,' she said to Irisis. 'In his belly.'
'Is he going to die?' said Nish, who'd been silent for hours. He looked shattered.
'He may,' said the healer. 'Tonight will tell. He's dangerously ill.'
'Are there medicines? Potions? Herbs?' said Irisis. 'I have coin enough—'
'It's not a matter of coin,' replied the healer. 'He'll have the best treatment I can give, and besides, it will be to Fiz Gorgo's account. After that it will be up to him. Go now.'
But I want to sit by him,' said Irisis.
I can't work with people looking on. His life is wasting while I'm talking to you. Come back in the morning.'
They went out to the air-floater. 'You can fly,' Irisis said to Nish and Flangers. 'I'm going to walk. I need to think.'
Nish began to say something, searched her face then plodded across to the machine. He was taking it hard and Irisis could not comfort him. She just had to be alone. She headed down the road into the darkness.
Flangers spoke to Nish and Inouye, then the air-floater lifted off without him.
Alone,' said Irisis. 'That means by myself.'
You can't walk back by yourself at night. It's not safe.'
Flangers eased his sword in its scabbard.
"In the mood I'm in, I could take on a lyrinx with either hand. All right, Flangers, but don't talk to me.'
They paced side by side along the rutted track that wound along the side of the bay towards Fiz Gorgo. It was so dark that they could not see each other. The many potholes were full of muddy water. She tramped through them, oblivious. Irisis could think of nothing but Flydd in that dingy little room, probably dying — and for what?
They passed by a pungent field of turnips, and another that reeked of freshly spread manure, before the track turned along the tidal flats. The tide was low and the strand stank of rotting seaweed and decaying fish.
'Flangers?' she said after they'd gone a good league.
'Yes, Irisis?'
'What if he dies? What are we going to do?'
'I'll be asking you to release me from my promise.'
'Does your honour mean so much to you?'
'I betrayed my oath, Irisis.'
She moved closer, taking his arm. 'He's a good man, Flangers. Without him, we're lost.'
'Do you love him?'
'As a friend and a guide.'
'I can't think of anyone better to have beside me in a dark hour' said Flangers.
'Have you spoken to him?'
'What about?'
'Shooting down the air-floater.'
'How could I bother him about such a trivial thing?'
'It's your life, Flangers! He'd be angry if he knew you'd kept silent.'
'He'll never hear it from me. The scrutator will have enough problems of his own, if he recovers.'
'He'll hear from me the instant he's well enough.'
'No!' he cried.
Then I'll tell him. If you don't, I will.'
He did not reply. They trudged another league or two and, long after midnight, saw the gate lanterns of Fiz Gorgo in the distance. 'Flangers?'
All right; he said softly. 'I'll speak to him, once he's well enough.'
'You think he's going to die, don't you.' 'We're all going to die.'
Irisis rose before dawn, roused Inouye out of bed and they rotored back to Hripton. Irisis leapt out of the air-floater before it touched the ground and ran inside. Flydd's bed was empty. Her heart froze over. She stood there, staring down at his small indentation in the mattress.
'It's not what you think.' The healer had come in silently and the pouches under her eyes were like black bruises. She'd been up all night. 'I've moved him out the back. It's warmer there.'
'How is he?'
'A little better, though there's still some bleeding inside. He's not out of danger yet.'
'Can I see him?'
'Just for a minute.'
She led Irisis out to the back room. Flydd lay on the stretcher, staring blankly at the ceiling. He was so still that she thought he must have died after all, but then his eyes moved.
'You're an idiot; she said fondly, taking his hand. 'Why did you go, when you'd done yourself such harm? You could have stayed behind.'
'I didn't realise I'd hurt myself.' His voice was like a breeze blowing through gossamer. 'When Yggur took over the little flier I felt a sharp pain in my belly, but it went away.'
'Why did you have to resist him? You're an overly proud man, Xervish.'
'I admit to a certain . . , rivalry,' he said hoarsely, 'but do you really think me so shallow? He asked me to fight him to he limit of my strength. It had to be a true test, otherwise he would not have known that he could take over the thapter when the time came.'
'That doesn't make up for his neglect of you,' she snapped. 'I meant what I said up there, Irisis- I would have done the same, even had it been you. What else could any good leader do? Would you not sacrifice one or two people, if by doing so you would be saving the whole of humanity?'
'I could not sacrifice my friends,' she said stubbornly. 'Not even for the sake of humanity.'
'That's the trouble with being a leader. You're always sacrificing someone. Or something.' He closed his eyes.
'Come away now,' said the healer. 'You can see him again tomorrow. He's got the constitution of a lyrinx. Two hours ago I'd have sworn he was dead, but he's looking better already.'
On her return, Irisis shook Nish awake. 'The healer thinks he's going to be all right.'
Nish sat up, rubbing red crusted eyes. He clutched her hands in silent thanks.
'You look as though you've had a hard night, Nish.' Despite only having a few hours' sleep she was as immaculate, and as beautiful, as ever.
'I've been having trouble sleeping lately. Flydd has been so good to me, Irisis. A hundred times he could have sent me to the front-lines for my follies, but he never did. He believed in me. Without him I'd be nothing.
I couldn't face the thought of him dying.'
'Nor I — he's the anchor of all our lives. And our only hope. Come on, let's get some breakfast. I'm starving.'
They were walking down the corridor side by side when Tiaan turned the corner, coming the other way. She stopped dead, looking from Nish to Irisis in dismay.
Irisis had last seen Tiaan at the manufactory almost a year ago, just before she'd been diagnosed with incurable crystal fever and sent to the breeding factory. That, Irisis was ashamed to recall, had been partly due to her own scheming 'What are you doing here?' Tiaan was trembling like a plucked wire.
'We came with Xervish Flydd, the scrutator' said Irisis. Tiaan relaxed a little. 'Where is he?' She looked ready to bolt.
'He's being treated by a healer. He's very ill.' 'Was that you flying the construct, Tiaan?' asked Nish. He took a step towards her and put out his hand, tentatively. 'Let me say how sorry—'
Tiaan backed away a step, her eyes darting from one to the other.
We're on the same side, Tiaan,' said Irisis. 'We—' 'You betrayed me, both of you,' Tiaan hissed. 'Don't come near me.' She turned and headed back the way she had come, almost running.
'I suppose that was only to be expected,' said Irisis, not overly perturbed. 'A pity, though, since we'll have to work together.'
'Yes,' said Nish, staring after Tiaan. 'A great pity.'
Nish's unrequited passion for Tiaan had begun the whole affair, Irisis remembered as they continued down the hall. Surely he didn't still nurture some feeling for her? Even if he did, it couldn't come to anything. She was no more suited to him than Ullii had been. Irisis bit her tongue in case she spoke without thinking, as was her wont. Nish was hers and he would realise it sooner or later. In the meantime she would watch over him, enjoy his friendship and say nothing about her own feelings. She would be patience itself. She might have to be.
Fifty-nine
