Part 35 (2/2)

'Is that why the amplimet so fascinates you?' she asked shrewdly.

He hesitated long before answering. 'It could help me to scry into secrets that no one has been able to uncover ...' He trailed off, deep in thought.

'But if it is talking to the node '

'That would be something entirely new. Incomprehensible.'

'What if nodes are the key? If a crystal can talk to a node, what would happen if a node talked to another node?'

Gilhaelith leapt up. 'Do you realise what you're saying?'

'I just thought of the question. I don't know the answer.'

'Nor do I, but maybe I've been looking at the problem the wrong way round, all along.' He sat, thinking, and did not move for ages.

Tiaan was still wondering about him. 'You chose to be a celibate?'

Gilhaelith nodded. 'I did.'

'We have something in common. I am also a virgin.'

He rolled the word around in his mouth. 'Virgin seems wrong applied to myself, but that is what I am. I do not regret it. It made an impossible life possible. I've lived a rich life of the mind. I wonder ...' He stared at her.

The admission built him in a new light, not so threatening. 'What are you going to do now?'

'I was wrong about you, and I apologise. Minis told me all you have done.'

So that's why he had changed he wanted to make use of her talents. Tiaan was not upset. Everyone had their place in this world and she needed to be a useful part of it.

'I cannot make you walk again,' he said, 'but if there is anything I can do for you, I will.'

'And, in return, what do you require of me?'

'The amplimet has been overprinted with a new pattern, I think due to you. It's too dangerous for me to use. Or anyone else.'

'Or anyone else,' she repeated. So whoever wanted the amplimet must have her too. A lifetime of being used. Still, it was better than the alternative. Why not cooperate, though she could not see Gilhaelith lasting long. All the more reason to get what she she wanted a working thapter she could take to the scrutators, and finally know that she had done her duty. wanted a working thapter she could take to the scrutators, and finally know that she had done her duty.

Could he be trusted? Tiaan thought so, but she had trusted Minis and would never be so gullible again. 'Can the thapter be repaired?'

He considered the question as he paced. 'My smiths have beaten the metal skin to shape. It's not as fine as before, but it'll fit. I've had them do some repairs to the mechanisms and left others I did not understand. Unless something vital has been broken, I expect it can be put right. I've a good workshop.'

'I'll help you,' she said, 'but I want the thapter.'

He took a long time to answer. 'You may have it, but not the amplimet.'

His eyes met hers but she could not tell what he was thinking. Could the thapter be made to fly without the amplimet? Malien had thought so, though it would not be easy. Still, that was as good as she was going to get.

'Agreed.' She held out her hand.

He took it. 'You shall direct the repairs. I'll have a wheeled chair built for you, which you can move with your arms. Not as good as walking, but better than lying on your back.'

'When can we start?' she asked eagerly. Too eagerly. Control yourself, Tiaan. Don't appear too enthusiastic. Don't trust! Don't trust!

'The sooner the better, if you are strong enough. I'm afraid ' He broke off and went to the window, looking down into the crater.

'Of what?'

'There is no power on Santhenar who will not not want the thapter, once they hear of it, and I am not fool enough to think that it can be kept secret. Even want the thapter, once they hear of it, and I am not fool enough to think that it can be kept secret. Even my my servants can be made to talk, if the reward is great enough. Or the torment! servants can be made to talk, if the reward is great enough. Or the torment!

'And then,' he went on, 'there is you you.'

'What are you talking about?'

'You are a great prize, Tiaan.'

'A cripple who can do nothing for herself?' she said scornfully.

'An artisan with a brilliant mind; one who can solve a problem that has eluded the genius of the Aachim for two hundred years the secret of flight.'

Tiaan did not doubt that she was clever, but she could not consider herself brilliant. Her mother, and her superiors at the manufactory, had always talked her abilities down. Besides, Malien had made the key discovery, not she.

'It was mere luck; I just happened to have an amplimet.'

Having changed his mind about her, Gilhaelith would not be dissuaded. 'And the ability to use it. Tiaan, you made a gate between the worlds. You are a master geomancer.'

'The slightest prentice! I understood nothing.'

'Ah, but when you are trained '

This conversation made no sense. 'I have no one to teach me, even should I want to study the Secret Art.'

'Why do you think I built my home on the edge of this mighty and perilous volcano?'

'I have no idea.' Now she was staring at him.

'I have studied the Geomantic Art all my adult life. I am its greatest master, and it's time I took a prentice.'

This was moving too fast. But suddenly, though Tiaan had never thought about it before, she did want what he was offering. She had felt such fulfilment, using her tiny geomantic skills to save the lives of the Aachim. Using power to do good. Artisans were just craft workers and had to do what they were told, but mancers were a law unto themselves. Geomancy meant freedom and she would seize the offer with both hands.

Out the window, wisps of steam trailed up from a sulphur-crusted fissure. On the terrace, Gurteys was talking to a group of servants. They all turned and stared at her window. Tiaan looked away from their hostile eyes.

'I've always been interested in such things,' she said. 'Since I was little I wondered what forces could be so strong as to cause the earth to tremble, and volcanoes to burst forth flame and liquid rock. Why do do the tides rise and fall? I wonder about that, too.' the tides rise and fall? I wonder about that, too.'

'Then will you become my prentice?' His voice was a trifle unsteady.

Gilhaelith was an enigma, one she was not sure she was capable of dealing with. She had seen him lie to Klarm and Vithis. Why would he not do the same to her? 'I'll think about it tonight. I ... my life is changing so constantly that I can't keep up.'

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