From the way they spoke to Ryll, and their body language, Tiaan could see that he was held in low esteem. Was that because he was an unmated male, or was it because of his deformity, his lack of wings? Whatever the reason, the all-competent, all-powerful protector of recent days was revealed to be powerless here. A long debate followed, of which Tiaan understood not a word. After some time she was escorted to a smaller room whose entrance was then blocked with a slab of shaped ice. The room was like an igloo made of compressed snow. She might have cut her way out but Ryll had taken her knife. Nor could she budge the block that plugged the tunnel.
Tiaan paced across and back. The room contained nothing but a skin with long, silky white fur. Too big to be any kind of wildcat, and too coarse for mountain ox, it was probably from a snow bear. She sat on it, considering the possibilities.
Either Ryll would lose his argument, whatever it was, and the lyrinx would eat her, or they would force her to teach them about the amplimet, and the making of controllers, and how best they could be disabled or adapted to their own purposes. And then they would eat her. What would happen to Minis then? Tears welled in her eyes.
Already she felt the first pangs of withdrawal. If they kept the amplimet for long enough Tiaan knew she would do anything, just to hold it again. But how could she? Wrapping the skin tightly about her, she lay down on ice and tried to sleep. The slab ground out of the way and a lyrinx shimmering with purple colours dragged her into the main room. Tiaan's eyes darted around but the grip was unbreakable.
'You will show us the use of your devices,' said Ryll.
Where did the boundaries of treachery lie? Was it betrayal if she revealed what she knew under torture? A true hero would provoke them into killing her, to avoid being forced to betray humanity's secrets. That required more bravery, or gratitude, than Tiaan had in her. Besides, she had given her promise to Minis; and her love.
'At once!' barked the largest lyrinx.
Tiaan was no hero, just very frightened. The helm felt burning cold. She warmed it in her fingers, then placed the amplimet inside the globe. She concentrated hard; her fingers moved the beads, seeking some elusive pattern that might enable her to tune in to the field about the node here. The glimmering of a plan came to her.
Could she tap into the field and direct it against her captors, to disable or kill them all at the same time? Probably not. It was hard to take that kind of power from the weak field. For what she required, only geomancy would do, but Tiaan was afraid of that Art. Her failure in the ice sphere had taught her how little she knew about it, and how deadly it was.
While she was thus preoccupied, her fingers had been working of their own volition, testing patterns and permutations randomly. She began to pick up a field. At least, she thought it was a field, though like none she'd ever seen before. It looked like two red suns whirling around each other in a halo of orange mist, beautiful but alien. Tiaan assessed the mind-image. Was there anything she could do with it? The red orbs looked dangerous; she dared not go near them. What about the mist? There seemed a little power in it.
The mist drifted, spread and closed around her, dark and menacing. Tiaan was trapped in orange fog. A hot surge went through her and the amplimet let out a brilliant violet flare. One of the lyrinx yelped. The others shielded their eyes. Her head was reverberating. She slid sideways to the floor, hands over her ears, trying to block out the sound. Her head hit the ice, the helm flew off and the flare went out.
Ryll picked her up. Water was dripping from the roof. As Tiaan took her hands away from her ears, her sight came back. The lyrinx, eyes watering, looked around in confusion. Tiaan made a mental note of that weakness. The amplimet was gently glowing as before. Tiaan had no idea what force she had tapped.
'Well, Besant,' said Ryll. 'Do you believe me now?'
Besant, the large female with the scarred crest, twitched her face muscles. Was she reluctant to make the concession to a deformed, unmated male?
'You have done well, Ryll,' she said in a deep voice. It took some time for Tiaan to recognise it as the common speech, so thick was her accent. 'The device has tapped an unknown source of power. The human may teach us much. I will send her to Kalissin.'
'And me?' Ryll said, too eagerly. 'Is this my chance? Shall I be mated now?'
'This could improve your desirability. I give you leave to seek a mate, though I doubt very much if a mate would chose you.'
They allowed Tiaan back her possessions, except for the amplimet, knife and crossbow. She was returned to her room, fed several times on charred strips of bear meat and water, and taken outside occasionally by Ryll to use a pit dug in the snow. Once she went by a pair of lyrinx squatting over a small, mushroom-shaped object, their hands shaping the air around it.
'What are they doing?' she asked.
'Watching,' said Ryll, and would say no more.
Tiaan expected crystal dreams that first night, and hoped they might be of her lost lover. Her dreams turned out to be horrors unlike anything she had ever imagined. She dreamed that her room was full of cages, each containing a warped travesty of the wild creatures she knew.
A misty orange field swirled around the cages, squeezing the creatures in whirlpool coils. They shrieked in agony, blood dripped from mouths and other orifices, and one by one they began to change. Flesh and bones deformed, skin and sinews stretched and crackled. Teeth shattered and fell from gaping mouths, to be replaced by new ones as sharp as the teeth of sharks.
Soon those creatures that survived were transformed into staring monsters. Their eyes were fixed on her. Tiaan paced back and forth all night to keep the dreams away.
The following night she also dreamed, but these were withdrawal dreams, a desperate craving that grew worse with every hour she was parted from the amplimet. Her body was wracked with aches and longings. She thought of nothing all day but how she might recover the crystal, and dreamed of nothing all night. That was the worst thing about withdrawal – it took so long to get over. Some people never did.
'What is the matter?' Ryll asked her on the second afternoon, when she lay shaking on her skin, tormented by her longing. 'Are you ill?'
Tiaan was in no state to think up a cover story. 'I must have the crystal,' she whispered. 'Please. I cannot bear to be without it.'
'Ah!' he said, and went out.
Only later did Tiaan realise that she had given him the perfect hold over her.
T HIRTY – F IVE
Following Ullii's directions the searchers went straight to the last of the caves. Irisis was at their head. A pair of soldiers approached the bearskin door, spears at the ready. Irisis, with recklessness born of despair, thrust past, tore down the skin and leapt inside. The cave was empty.
'She's gone!' Irisis said bitterly.
'And within hours.' Arple had uncovered red coals from the ashes.
'Now do you see the worth of your seeker,' said Nish from the entrance, 'and give her credit for what she's done?'
'Indeed,' replied the perquisitor. 'She's proven her worth. We'll find many uses for her in the war, I'll be bound.'
As Irisis came out, Ullii shivered and drew closer to her friends. With a harsh laugh Jal-Nish turned away, ordering a search of all the caves and signalling down to the clankers to recall the other squads.
Fresh prints led up the mountain. The climbers followed them, while far below the clankers headed up the valley. The forces rejoined late in the afternoon.
It began to snow that evening. They tried to follow the tracks with flares, but after dark lost them in the deepening snow. Making camp in the shelter of a bluff, they had a full night's sleep for the first time in many days. In the morning Ullii was again called upon. She pointed more south now, and was required to show the way many times in the next days, for they saw not a single track in that time.