by Ian Irvine
'In Tirthrax I met an elderly woman called Malien,' said Tiaan, 'who had something of your looks. Her ancestors were Clan Elienor; she said, though the Aachim of Santhenar no longer hold to clan allegiances.'
Thyzzea frowned. A few of my clan were shipped here as prisoners, or slaves, in ancient times.'
'She's a famous hero. Malien is in one of the Great Tales.'
'Then I hope to travel to Tirthrax some day and meet her. We know little about how our kind have fared on Santhenar in the thousands of years they've been exiled here. Would you care for something to drink?'
'Yes, please. I'm really thirsty.'
'I'll carry you to our tent.'
Tiaan found herself liking the young Aachim, and that would be a problem when she tried to escape, though Thyzzea had not asked Tiaan for her parole.
The tent was the size of a cottage, with a large living area and small rooms opening off it. Rugs on the floor looked costly, though the space contained nothing but some metal chests and a small table, at which a red-haired youth stood, writing in a book.
'My little brother, Kalle,' said Thyzzea, holding Tiaan in her arms. 'Kalle, here is Tiaan, who opened the gate and made the construct fly.'
Tiaan felt embarrassed at being carried like an invalid. She resolved to exercise harder than ever.
Kalle dropped his pen, awe-struck. 'Tiaan!' Remembering his manners, he put out his hand. The long Aachim fingers wrapped right around Tiaan's hand. 'It is a great honour to meet you.'
Kalle looked to be about thirteen, though it was difficult to tell the age of the Aachim. He was also her height, with pale, unfreckled skin, a lengthy, bladed nose, green eyes and hair the most brilliant deep red.
'How is it…?' he looked from Tiaan to his sister.
'Vithis ordered me to guard her,' said Thyzzea.
Kalle flushed the colour of his hair. 'But …Oh! Oh!' He could not look at Tiaan. 'We are dishonoured. What are you going to say to Father?'
'He hasn't come back from the battle …' Seeing the anxious look in her brother's eye, she amended hastily, 'yet.'
Kalle struggled to control himself. 'But he'll be all right, won't he?' His voice was shaky.
'Of course he will,' Thyzzea said in reassuring tones. 'You'd better get back to your studies.'
Kalle began to turn the pages of his book, but his eyes were fixed on the open flap of the tent.
Thyzzea picked up a basket in her free hand. 'Shall we sit under the tree again? It's cooler outside. This is a hot world.' For me too,' said Tiaan.
'You come from the other side of Lauralin, don't you? The city of Tiksi, on the west coast?'
'You know a lot about me,' said Tiaan.
'You saved us. You're in our Histories.'
'But…'
'Yes?' Thyzzea said politely.
'I don't wish to intrude on you. You must be anxious about your father.'
'I am,' she said, 'but that's a private matter and I've a duty to watch over you. Let's talk no more about it. In truth, you're a welcome distraction from worries I can do nothing about.'
'It still seems a bit. . , casual,' said Tiaan.
'What do you mean?'
'Sitting here, talking, while the war rages only a league away.' She waved one hand in the direction of the battlefield.
'The battle ended some hours ago and the enemy are retreating west.'
'Did we win, then?' Having been underground for so long, Tiaan had no idea how the struggle had gone.
'No, but nor did we lose.' Thyzzea explained about the unexpected destruction of the node, and the fleet of air-floaters turning the tide of battle at the critical moment. 'The enemy are withdrawing, as they must, because Snizort is on fire. But since there's no field, we can't move our constructs. Until that problem is solved, we young ones have little to do.'
'Why did Vithis leave me with you? I thought I would be imprisoned.'
'You made the gate that brought us to Santhenar, Tiaan. And you learned how to make the construct fly, a secret we've been searching for since the Way between the Worlds was opened. Vithis may be our leader, but the other clans will not follow him into dishonour. You'll be treated with the respect you've earned, in our house.'
'Thank you,' said Tiaan, a little uncomfortable with such praise. 'But I don't understand. Am I a prisoner or a guest?'
Thyzzea looked embarrassed. 'The situation is an awkward one, Tiaan. You are Vithis's prisoner, but my guest.’
Tiaan found this difficult to take in. 'But why you? I mean no insult,' she said hastily, 'but surely, for such an important captive …?'
Thyzzea smiled. 'I'm skilled in all manner of arts — few of my age more so. Even were you not handicapped, you could not escape me. But that's not why I was chosen.'
'Why then?'
'To humiliate my father and degrade me. I'm firstborn, my father's heir, and he is the leader of Clan Elienor. That I should do guard duty for a prisoner who is not our own kind …' she coloured, '. . , and now it is I who mean no insult — demeans us both.'
'I don't understand.'
'Clan Inthis has always hated Clan Elienor and tried to do us down. Now Inthis has been reduced to two men, and Vithis is sterile, while Elienor has a higher place than before. It's bile to him.'
They returned to the tree, where Thyzzea unpacked the basket. 'I'm sorry there's no wine to offer you.' She handed Tiaan a mug of water. 'Our supplies are low.'
'I rarely drink wine,' said Tiaan. 'It makes my head spin.'
'We used to take it at every meal, on our own world, though that was the weak wine, not the strong. Strong wine is for adults, except on special occasions, and then only sparingly.'
'I thought you were an adult.'
Thyzzea unpacked hard bread, which was brown with a purple tinge, a variety of dried and smoked fruits of kinds that Tiaan did not recognise, a glass flask of red oil and a string of stubby sausages. With each item she apologised for the lack. Carving slices from the bread and the hard sausages, she drizzled them with red oil and handed the platter to Tiaan.
'In your years I would be about seventeen,’ said Thyzzea. We mature slowly compared to old humankind. I am a woman, but not of adult age.'
Tiaan found it strange to be referred to as an old human. She just thought of herself as human, and the Aachim did not seem that different, though clearly they considered themselves to be a distinct human species. Perhaps that was connected to their obsession with their clans. 'Then we're not far apart. The day you came through the gate was my twenty-first birthday.' She took a piece of bread but laid it down again. I hope you find it edible,' Thyzzea said anxiously. 'I enjoyed the food Malien gave me in Tirthrax.' Tiaan tasted the sausage. It was heavily spiced, burning the tip of her tongue and making her eyes water. 'Delicious,' she said, taking a sip from her mug, 'though rather hotter than I'm used to.'
'I'm sorry,' said Thyzzea. 'If it's …' 'I'll just take a little at a time,' Tiaan said hoarsely. Hearing a high-pitched whine from their left, Thyzzea stood up. 'It's a construct. The field must be working again.'
'I don't see how it could be,' said Tiaan though, lacking her amplimet, she had no way of telling. Shortly a construct floated by, whining furiously yet moving slowly, towing another seven with stout cables. The blond-haired giant stood at the controls, looking pleased with himself. He waved to Thyzzea and Tiaan as he passed.
'That's Ghaenis.' Thyzzea rose to watch him go by. She sighed, her breast heaved. 'Doesn't he look magnificent?'
'He carried me from the battlefield. He seemed like a decent fellow.'
'He's a brilliant young man, even cleverer than his mother. He's brave and honourable, and modest too. If anyone can get us out of here, it will be him.' Another sigh. 'But. . , of course,' she added, now speaking about herself, 'it can never be.' 'Why not?' said Tiaan.
'He's spoken for by the beautiful Rannilt. And even if he were not, his mother is Tirior of Clan Nataz, and she hates my father even more than Vithis does.'
Tia
an did not ask why. Deep currents ran between the clans.
Thyzzea wrinkled her brow. 'It one construct can go, why not the others?'
'Vithis gave Ghaenis my amplimet, and it's powerful enough to draw from a distant field.' Tiaan wondered how long it would take to move the thousands of constructs stranded here. Weeks, surely.
Thyzzea had gone pale. 'He's using the amplimet? Hasn't anyone told him? But of course, Clan Nataz have always desired it…'
'It'll be all right if he takes it slowly,' said Tiaan.
'You don't understand. We can't use —’
A few hundred paces away, the leading construct screeched to a stop and thumped down. The seven towed machines thudded after it, shaking the ground.
'He must have lost the field,' said Tiaan.
Ghaenis threw himself over the side and landed hard, rolling across the dry soil in little puffs of dust. He stood up, looking back at his construct as if he expected it to explode. A cloud passed in front of the sun and momentarily Tiaan felt icy cold.
'Something's wrong, Tiaan.' Thyzzea's eyes were huge.
'He'll be safe if he's lost the field.'
'You don't understand,' Thyzzea wailed 'He shouldn't have gone near it. We Aachim —’
'He begged Vithis for it,' said Tiaan.
'But Vithis has always been against using this deadly crystal.'
'Ghaenis was most persuasive —’
Scarlet rays streamed out of Ghaenis's torso. The air seemed to shimmer.
'Tiaan!' Thyzzea cried. 'You know the amplimet best — can't you do something?'
'I don't know what the matter is.' Yes, she did. The chill ran all the way down Tiaan's back. 'Power must still be flowing from the field.' She pulled herself up by the trunk of the tree, pricking her hands on the red thorns. 'It's hurting him. Carry me across, quickly.'
Before Thyzzea had taken a step, Tiaan could feel the power — and something else, a brittle, inanimate crystal rage. The treacherous amplimet had refused to be cut off, and it was directing all that power into Ghaenis.
'Can you stop it?' gasped Thyzzea, running as hard as she could.
'If I can get near enough.'
Ghaenis was staggering about with his hands tightly pressed to his ears. The Aachim from the other machines ran towards him, including a striking young woman, presumably Rannilt, whose wavy black hair streamed out half a span behind her.
'Ghaenis, love!' she cried. 'What's the matter?' When Thyzzea and Tiaan were still a hundred paces away, Ghaenis collapsed. Steam or smoke wisped up from his mouth. He arched his back, drummed his heels on the ground then, to the horror of everyone there, burst into flame. Ghaenis screamed but once. Aachim raced up with buckets of precious water but it made no difference. He was burning from the inside out.
Thyzzea stopped dead. Ghaenis arched up in a semicircle, just his heels and outstretched hands touching the ground. His body was grotesquely swollen, his nostrils emitting rings of black smoke. Then he exploded. The legs and head fell back but the rest of Ghaenis was gone. It was the most hideous sight Tiaan had ever seen.
Thyzzea clutched Tiaan hard, making incoherent sounds in her throat. Rannilt screamed so shrilly that the flask of oil under the tree cracked. Two Aachim carried her away from the dreadful scene, still shrieking, and thankfully someone cast a cloak over the smouldering remains.
Thyzzea just stood there, choking. Tiaan wished she were a thousand leagues away. 'Take me back, please. We can't do anything now.’
Thyzzea stumbled back to the tree, gasping for air. Putting Tiaan down, she fell to her knees and began to weep into her hands. Tiaan reached out, drawing Thyzzea to her and folding her arms around the younger woman. She said nothing. Words had no value whatsoever.
Finally Thyzzea disengaged herself and drew away. With a visible effort, she internalised her grief. The Aachim seemed able to do that — or perhaps they preferred not to show emotion in the presence of strangers. 'Rannilt will go out of her mind' she said hoarsely. 'Why, why did Vithis let him have the amplimet?'
Tiaan could not answer that. 'Once anthracism starts, there's no stopping it. But at least it was quick.'
'Ghaenis was a wonderful man. Everyone loved him. What will his mother -?'
Tirior, recognisable from a distance by the black curling hair, came flying across the dirt. Several Aachim tried to stop her from passing through the circle but she knocked them out of the way and pushed through. A great shuddering cry rent the air.
Vithis appeared from the other direction, robes flapping. No one hindered his passage. The crowd separated behind him, before moving away hastily. Vithis converged on Tirior, who was standing by the smoking remains. She turned, ground out something that Tiaan did not hear, then struck Vithis down with a vicious blow to the midriff.
Laying her cloak over the other cloak, she knelt by her son's remains, head bowed.
Vithis picked himself up and retrieved the amplimet from the construct, keeping the platinum sheet between it and his hand at all times. After wrapping it carefully, he stalked towards Tiaan's tree, waving an attendant across. 'Bring her!'
The attendant picked Tiaan up.
'Where are you taking Tiaan?' said Thyzzea with desperate dignity, determined to preserve her clan's honour no matter how far Vithis outmatched her.
Vithis did not deign to reply.
'I must insist on knowing' she said stoutly.
"How dare you question me, child of an outcast clan!'
'You required me to take Tiaan into my house, and so I have. She has guest right.'
"The Eleven Clans do not recognise guest right for aliens.'
'Clan Elienor does,' Thyzzea said, 'and your actions are a deliberate insult to my father, our clan, and myself.' A red spot had appeared high on each cheek; one knee shook as she faced him. 'And to Tiaan, whom our Histories honour, despite your insulting behaviour.'
'You have not reached your majority and cannot offer guest right. How dare you lecture me!'
'My father put me in charge of his house when he went to battle. He gave me his seal and full authority to run his affairs.'
'Then let doom fall on his head! I shall tell you nothing. Attendant!'
As Tiaan was carried away, she was trying to work out what Vithis would do next. It was impossible to focus — she kept seeing Ghaenis's cheery face, and his gruesome death.
Now that his own efforts had failed so disastrously, Vithis would do whatever it took to force the secret of the thapter out of her. She had to resist him. Fortunately the construct, coated with tar, had burned hot. With luck the diamond hedrons and the carbon filaments connecting them to the amplimet had been consumed, and Vithis need never learn they had existed. Let him think the secret of flight lay in the amplimet and how Tiaan had used it. She could not resist torture but, after what Thyzzea had said, it seemed unlikely that the Aachim would permit that. On the other hand, after the death of Ghaenis, anything was possible.
Could she pretend not to understand the talent that enabled her to make the construct fly? Pretending stupidity was a dangerous course; they knew too much about her. But how else could she save herself?
They reached a tent guarded by four Aachim men. 'Let no one disturb us!' Vithis ordered.
The guards saluted and he went in. The attendant sat Tiaan in a metal chair and departed. Vithis walked round the room several times, pushing his fingers through his hair until it stood out like bristles. The hollows under his eyes had a yellow tinge.
He swallowed and turned to Tiaan. 'I have much to get done,' Vithis said softly, 'so let us get this over with as quickly as possible. How did you make the construct fly?'
Vithis, an exceptionally tall man, was standing so close that she had to tilt her head right back to look at him. A fly buzzed around the tent. The sun was going down but the heat and stillness remained oppressive.
'I don't know,' she lied. 'I've never understood how I used the amplimet, even after all the instruction the Aachim gave me. My talent just see
med to grow. Sometimes it was as if the crystal was instructing me.'
His face was as expressionless as metal; she could not judge his thoughts.
'You're lying,' he said without emphasis. 'You blindfolded everyone in the construct and did something to it to make it fly. What did you do?'
'Nothing,' Tiaan said as steadily as she could. She could not match his strength so she must give before him, then spring back. 'You can check Tirior's construct.'
'We will, once it's cool enough to get inside. If you didn't change it, how did you make it fly?'
Any construct can be made to fly if you have an amplimet,' she lied.
'How?' he roared in her face. And why did you blindfold everyone?'
'I didn't want anyone to see the amplimet. Look what it's done to Ghaenis, after you gave it to him. It causes trouble everywhere I go, and everyone who sees it wants to take it from me. It's mine!. Joeyn gave it to me with his dying breath. It's all I have left, since you forced Minis to break his promise to me. Since you killed little Haani.'
'I did not kill her!' he snapped, but it put him off balance. 'It was an accident and reparation has been paid. Neither could Minis break his promise, since he did not have the right to make such a commitment to you.'
Tiaan had to reinforce his false impression of her character. She tried to make her emotions as flighty as a hutterfly. 'I did everything for the love of Minis,' she said with a sweet, dreamy smile, like a smitten adolescent. Then she screeched, 'He promised me! He lied, and you forced him to it. I hate you'.'
Vithis took a step backwards. 'Minis does not lie.' He grimaced as if he'd just swallowed something nasty.
'He lied to me!' she shrieked. 'Liar, liar, liar!' You're overdoing it, she thought. Vithis is a clever, subtle man. Don't be too emotional.
'You show your true nature at last. The amplimet can never be yours, sad little creature that you are. You're unworthy of it.'
'No!' she shouted. 'It's mine.'
He shook her until she felt like vomiting fragments of red sausage all over him. 'You're no geomancer, Tiaan. You have a brilliant native talent, but not the intellect to control the amplimet.'
'I flew my thapter all the way from Tirthrax,' she muttered.