After that the lyrinx went through five abreast, as fast as they could be formed into lines. No more than five could fit at once and the gate could not be widened. It had been designed for thousands, not half a million.
‘This is going to take hours,’ said Tiaan.
‘If the field lasts,’ replied Malien. ‘Your people are attacking it furiously.’
They squeezed along the walls and outside, eyeing the funnel of the Well, which was larger than ever and lit up the salt, and one side of Nithmak, brighter than moonlight. ‘Is it coming at us?’ said Tiaan.
‘It seems to be.’
‘Could it be the gate attracting it?’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Malien.
They watched it in silence. Nish came up beside them. ‘How is the field going?’
‘Slowly fading,’ said Tiaan absently.
‘And if it dies?’
‘The gate will close and we’ll be trapped here, as will all the lyrinx who haven’t gone through,’ said Malien.
‘Can we do anything to maintain the field?’ said Nish.
‘No. The amplimet’s being used for the gate,’ said Malien.
‘Would Flydd really do this to us?’ said Nish.
‘There may be no Flydd any more.’
‘What?’ he cried.
‘He may have fallen all the way,’ said Malien. ‘Many mancers could operate the field controller.’
Tiaan had to put that possibility out of mind. She couldn’t cope with anything else. She went to the edge of the pinnacle and perched upon a rock, looking down. The lyrinx were scrambling up the steps and the sides of the peak, hundreds every minute, but there was still a huge throng at the base. Half the visible bed of the sea was covered with water now. Irisis came and perched beside her, spyglass in hand.
‘They’ve mostly reached the base,’ Irisis said. ‘Though there are still several bands of stragglers out there.’
Tiaan put out her hand. Irisis gave her the glass.
‘There must be hundreds of them, running for their lives.’
‘And they’re all going to drown,’ said Irisis.
‘But …’
‘We can’t do anything for them, Tiaan. Malien could barely keep the thapter in the air before she came down. She’d have no hope of ferrying them back now.’
Tiaan knew she couldn’t do anything either, for that would require using her amplimet. It burned hot between her breasts, drawing power for the gate.
‘If only we’d started sooner,’ said Tiaan. ‘Another hour would have made all the difference.’
Irisis shrugged. She wasn’t one to waste any time on futile regrets. They watched the islands of salt shrink around the two blotches of lyrinx.
‘Tiaan!’ yelled Malien. ‘Quickly.’
Tiaan knew what had happened before she got there. The field was fading, and once it did, the gate would fade with it.
‘How many are through, Ryll?’
‘Nearly twenty thousand. The gate has been open for an hour.’
Tiaan calculated swiftly. ‘So it would take a full day and a night for everyone to pass through.’
‘Yes.’
‘The way the field is failing, we have another hour at most,’ said Malien. ‘Better try to draw from another field.’
Tiaan attempted to, but the nearby ones were under the command of the field controller and the more distant ones were too far away for the amplimet to use.
The Nithmak field was still under her control. Perhaps it was difficult to seize it with the Well so close. Unfortunately the Nithmak node, though potent, was a small one and the gate was draining it rapidly.
She walked back and forth, muttering to herself, then came to a decision. ‘Are there nodes on Tallallame?’ Tiaan said to Malien.
‘I have no idea.’
‘I’m going through the gate.’
‘Tiaan, no!’
‘Why not?’
‘Tallallame is a savage place and you don’t know what the effect might be, on you or on the amplimet. Or the gate, if the device powering it passes through to the other side.’
‘If I recall the Great Tales correctly, Rulke’s original construct passed safely though to Aachan.’
‘But it might not have. Look how the Mirror of Aachan was corrupted on its journey.’
‘I’ve got to take the risk, otherwise most of the lyrinx are going to drown when Nithmak goes under water. Anyway, my mental image of the port-all isn’t the same as a real, physical device. It probably won’t be affected by the gate.’
‘You don’t know that.’ Malien frowned. ‘All right, but wait until the last moment. If you fail, you doom everyone here, for the gate won’t remain open without you. Wait one hour and another twenty thousand will be saved.’
The hour seemed to fly by in minutes. The field continued to falter. ‘Will you go through in the thapter?’ asked Malien.
‘I’ll leave it for you, and enough in the field to get you away if the best happens. Or the worst.’ Tiaan shrugged her little pack on her back, snuggled a water bottle by her side and touched the amplimet for comfort. ‘Farewell,’ she said.
‘Wait,’ called Irisis. ‘I think I’ll come with you.’
‘And I,’ said Nish.
‘Are you sure?’ said Tiaan.
‘After this …’ Nish did not need to go on. What could be left for them here, after such a betrayal? Especially if Flydd was no more.
‘I’m coming too,’ said Gilhaelith. ‘No geomancer could be satisfied with just one world, if a second was on offer.’
The flow of lyrinx eased to allow them into the gate. Tiaan felt faint. Nish took her by one arm, Irisis the other.
‘I’m all right now,’ she said, but they held her anyway and it felt good to be among friends.
Tallallame was only a few steps away. Tiaan could see the grass, the trees; she could feel warm, humid air on her face, and smell spicy floral odours. The lyrinx made way for them. The passage seemed to take an eternity and, with each step, the link between her and the black box upstairs, with its port-all that was there and yet still here in her mind, grew ever more tenuous.
The cloudy exterior of the gate went milky, fading until they could see right through it.
‘The gate’s failing,’ she said, panicky. ‘This is going to break it. I’ll never be able to make it from the other side. You’ll all be trapped –’
‘We knew that when we decided to come,’ said Irisis, easing her sword in its sheath.
Gilhaelith had a crystal in his hand and it was glowing faintly. Tiaan couldn’t decide if that was good or bad. She took another step, and another. Darkness exploded in her mind and then they were through and stepping down, unexpectedly, onto grass that was more blue than green and unusually springy to walk on.
Tiaan let out her breath. The gate was still open after all; power still passed through to the port-all. They were standing in a clearing in the middle of a forest, though it was richer and more luxuriant than the cold forests of her distant homeland. The air smelt sweet and spicy. ‘What a beautiful place,’ she said.
‘The most beautiful world in the universe,’ said Malien. ‘So the Faellem used to say, before they lost it.’
The recently arrived lyrinx had adopted defensive positions. Some had gone up trees, others to the top of a mass of purple-brown boulders away to the left. A burly male stood by a stream and scooped water with one hand. He tasted it and smacked his lips.
‘Any sign of a node?’ asked Gilhaelith.
‘I haven’t looked yet.’ Tiaan scanned her surroundings in the usual way, amplimet in hand. She could sense no field at all. ‘Nothing!’
‘There’s no saying that fields on Tallallame would be the same as ours.’ Gilhaelith had his crystal out again, holding it high. It was still glowing.
‘Is that coming through the gate?’ asked Irisis.
‘I don’t think so. Let’s go over by that rock.’
They followed him around the other side. ‘Its glow seems a little brighter,’ Gilhaelith said, ‘though it could be that it’s gloomier under the trees.’