Geomancer

Tiaan took advantage of the racket to creep closer. The lyrinx tore the ruined clanker open from end to end. Splintered boxes and crushed bags were tossed to one side, and three sadly mangled bodies. With a shrill cry, the female held aloft an object that Tiaan recognised all too clearly.

It was one of the new controller apparatuses, with its pitch-coated hedron. Was that what they had come for? It must be, for they gathered around, their chatter emphasised by violent changes of skin colour.

Abruptly the discussion ended. The female with the green crest put the controller in a small chest pack, then the lyrinx touched crests and separated. The female went over the side; Tiaan heard her skidding down in the path of the boulder. The second lyrinx set off down the Tiksi path at a lope, perhaps going after those that had fled. The third tore a haunch from one of the corpses and, gnawing at the grisly article, scrambled up the hill toward Tiaan.

There was nothing she could do to avoid discovery. Tiaan simply crouched behind her rock and prayed. The lyrinx rattled its way across the scree, diverted round a boulder and headed up past her, not thirty paces away. She could smell the sweat on it, and the blood. What if it smelt her?

As it moved up, she edged back. About a hundred paces away the lyrinx checked and looked around, sniffing the air while Tiaan held her breath. It continued on. Soon it disappeared in the forest.

Tiaan did not move. Her legs had no more strength than the corpses down on the road. What were lyrinx doing here? The war must have taken a desperate turn for the worse, for she'd never heard of them coming so close to Tiksi. Unless the true state of the war was being kept from everyone. Clearly the creatures had come for the shielded controller. So there was a spy in the manufactory.

The sun came out. Tiaan was glad of it, weak and wintry though it was. She felt frozen to the core. She'd have to take the dreadful news to the manufactory. How was she to do that without being seized as a runaway and sent back to the breeding factory?

She climbed down to the track in case there were any survivors. There weren't – the bodies were torn apart. Perhaps others had escaped up the road. She could not tell; the rocky path held no tracks. None of the bodies belonged to Ky-Ara, thankfully.

Tiaan continued, creeping through a forest so silent that it was eerie. An hour later, when her much-repaired foot blankets were practically falling to pieces, Tiaan heard tramping. She ducked into the pines, watching a group of porters go by. Well, they could read the evidence as readily as she; no need to risk her freedom.

It was only a few minutes from there to the shortcut to the miners' village. Below the village she went off the path and up through the forest, circling around to come to Joeyn's front door without being seen, for she stood out like a ghost in her pale shrouds.

Pushing open the wattle gate, she ran down the path and hammered at the front door. Tiaan did not expect him to be there – he usually went to the mine at dawn. However, the door opened and Joeyn stood in the opening, blinking.

'Yes?' he said.

She smiled uncertainly. He did not seem pleased to see her. Then she realised that his old eyes were slow to adjust to the light.

'It's me, Tiaan.'

'What are you doing here? Get inside, quick!' Jerking her in by the wrist, he banged the door closed.

'I escaped,' she said softly. 'I was afraid you wouldn't be here.'

'I haven't been out for days. Didn't have the heart for it.'

Now he smiled, hugged her and stirred up the fire. 'What on earth are you wearing?'

'Half the dirty laundry. It was all I could find.'

'I suppose you're hungry.'

'Starving. And freezing.'

He pulled up a stool by the fire. 'Sit here. Take those rags off and put your feet on the hob.' He busied himself, carving slices of corned goat leg onto a wooden platter, adding a wrinkled apple and a large sweet rice ball. While she began on that he put the pot on the coals. 'You can't stay here. They'll come looking for you.'

'I don't think they'll be here for a while.' She told him about the lyrinx attack. 'No one will be walking the road now without a small army.'

'Lyrinx, here?' He paced across the hut and back.

'Perhaps something has drawn them to the manufactory; or the mine.'

'Who knows? What are you going to do now, Tiaan?'

She didn't answer at once. Tiaan was wondering if the manufactory might take her back, after this dreadful news. 'Do you think there's a chance for me?' she said wistfully. 'To work as an artisan again?'

'I suppose it might be possible… I've known Gi-Had since he was a little boy. His father was my younger sister's second husband. Would you like me to speak to him? In a roundabout sort of a way?'

She hesitated. The memories of her treatment, and the horror of the breeding factory, were strong. 'I'm afraid. I'll die before I go back down there.' She shivered.

He went to the fire, made mint tea with a sprig of dried herb from a hanging bunch, sweetened it with honey, and handed it to her.

'Thank you! Did you manage to get back my… things?'

'I picked them up on the way back from Tiksi. All except your journal. The new crafter has it.'

'Thank you. If you could see what I'm wearing under this.' She held up the muddy sheets at the back, allowing heat from the fire onto her bare skin.

He laughed. 'I'm too old for that sort of thing.'

Tiaan yawned. 'I'm so tired. I think I'll just curl up right here.'

T HIRTEEN

Tiaan slept and did not dream, to be woken after dark by Joeyn carrying wood inside. She yawned, stretched and sat up.

'Going to be a cold night.' He stacked the fire. 'Lucky you're not sleeping out in those rags.'

'Where did you put my clothes?' she asked, warming herself at the blaze.

'They're in the pack under the bed.'

She fell on it, pulling out woollen trousers, shirts, undergarments, socks and boots, a heavy coat of waxed cloth with a fur lining, brushes for teeth and hair, a few other personal items, the copy of Nunar's book, and at the bottom, most precious of all, her artisan's toolkit. She unfolded the canvas with its dozens of pockets, each containing a special tool. Tiaan remembered the day she'd finished making them. It had been the day she graduated from prentice to artisan. Her fingers lingered on the tools of her trade. She might never use them again but there was no way she could leave them behind. All her self-worth was represented by that small roll of canvas.

'Was there anything else?' she asked.

'Oh, yes!' He took a leather bag from behind the door.

She loosened the drawstring and opened the mouth of the bag. Feeling inside, her fingers encountered the helm and she had an instantaneous flash of the young man on the balcony, crying, 'Help me!'

She went still, looked up at Joeyn, began to say something then decided not to. Tiaan laid the helm on her lap, the globe beside it.

'Beautiful work,' said Joeyn. 'What are they for?'

'To sense out what was wrong with the controllers. The crystal we found the other day went in this bracket.' Just the thought of it set off her withdrawal cravings. She had to make another pliance. She was shaking with desire for it.

'There was no crystal in your room,' Joeyn said.

'Irisis would have taken it down to the workshop.'

'I wonder she didn't take these too.'

'They're made for me. She wouldn't want them.'

'There's something else.' Joeyn held a piece of cloth under her nose.

The smell made her step backwards. 'It's my headache balm.'

'Where did you get it?'

'From the apothek. The crystals gave me terrible headaches.'

'Are you sure that's where the headaches came from?'

'Yes. Why?'

'My grandmother used herbs and warned me against this one – calluna root. I could never forget the smell. It causes visions, fits, madness, and if you take enough of it, you can choke to death.'