Part 44 (2/2)

'I think so, but foster-father ...' think so, but foster-father ...'

Nish changed the subject. 'Does he mean war against us?' He broke off. 'I'm sorry, Minis. I should not have asked you that, but you are are a seer.' a seer.'

'Why not? You want to do the best for your own kind. I'm not the most reliable of foretellers, and the near future is particularly cloudy. However, I will answer your question, not as a seer but as a man and, I hope, some day a friend.

'Foster-father feels himself to be the greatest failure of all his line, and that line stretches back ten thousand years. He must make up for it you cannot even imagine how desperately he is driven. There is only one way he can do that. To give the Aachim a new home in replacement of beloved Aachan.'

'Our world,' said Nish. 'He means to take it.'

'If you resist him. Though I am sure, in his heart, he would prefer to negotiate for a part of it.'

'I saw no willingness to negotiate. Only arrogance, and an ultimatum.'

'He is ... not the most flexible of men, I'm sorry to say. I am am sorry, for he has been a father to me, and a mother.' sorry, for he has been a father to me, and a mother.'

'Will he ally with the lyrinx against us, do you think?'

'That would be against his inclination, but Vithis was ever a creature of strange pa.s.sions.'

'I wonder that he has not attacked humanity already.'

'Ah,' began Minis, but did not go on.

'What is it?'

'The clans are jealous of each other, as you saw the other day. They strive constantly for the advantage. That makes it difficult for us to achieve a common goal, unless a mighty leader can command all the clans by sheer force of will.'

'And Vithis is not such a leader.'

'He could be, should our situation become desperate.'

'What can we do to ensure that he does not ally with the lyrinx?'

'I don't know. There is only one thing ...'

'Yes?' cried Nish.

'He wants Tiaan and the flying construct.'

'What is this flying construct I keep hearing about?'

Minis told how Tiaan had appeared out of nowhere, in a construct that did not simply float but flew flew. 'She must have made it in Tirthrax from three that were wrecked there. She solved in a few weeks the puzzle that has eluded our finest thinkers for two hundred years the secret of flight. She flew it right at us, Nish, in the middle of six thousand constructs. A hundred thousand armed Aachim opposed her but she did not care. I could see her staring eyes. She burned for revenge. There is no woman like her in all the Three Worlds.'

No, there is not, Nish realised. Tiaan was unique; a genius. 'That does not seem like the Tiaan I knew. She was never foolhardy.'

Minis looked mortified. 'Once again I am shamed. My people attacked her first, without warning or provocation.'

'Are the Aachim so afraid that a hundred thousand fear one?'

'Perhaps we are. We have everything to lose now.'

The scrutators would want to know this news, Nish thought. If only there were a way of getting to them. 'Does Vithis want Tiaan, or just the flier?'

'He wants it so desperately that all our plans have been put on hold until it is found. Flight would give us the world. Ah, if I could just offer that to foster-father ...'

'And you want something in return?'

'His respect. He demands that I obey him in all things, but when I do he curses me for being a spineless creature who lacks the courage to make my own life. Nothing I do is good enough. It's eating me alive.'

'My father can be like that too. The war has made people hard.'

'But you are so strong.'

'I'm free of him now.'

'How did you break free, Nish?' Minis asked eagerly. 'What should I do?'

That's what your problem is, thought Nish. 'You have to do it yourself, Minis. No one can tell you how.'

'Vithis is sure that Tiaan's construct was damaged in the attack,' Minis mused, 'and could not have gone very far. He would give anything to find it.'

'What do you mean anything anything?'

'Whoever were to find it, and deliver it to him, could name their price.'

Nish sat up. 'What if I I found it? What if I demanded an alliance against the lyrinx?' found it? What if I demanded an alliance against the lyrinx?'

'He would agree,' Minis said without hesitation.

'That would win the war,' Nish ruminated. 'What would I not give for that.'

'Then find the construct!'

'And Tiaan, for you,' said Nish.

'Aye. Foster-father would surely agree to Tiaan then.'

Nish did not reply. He felt sorry for Minis. How could he so delude himself? From what he'd heard, Vithis would never allow him to pair with an old human.

Minis continued, 'Though I am not fool enough to believe that my my problems can be solved so easily. My betrayal was too great to ever expect her forgiveness.' His dark eyes met Nish's. 'Yet I still hope for it.' problems can be solved so easily. My betrayal was too great to ever expect her forgiveness.' His dark eyes met Nish's. 'Yet I still hope for it.'

'I hope you get your heart's desire.' Nish rose, casting anxious glances back at the camp. 'Shall we go? My people must be wondering what has become of me.'

Once again he was being offered the chance of a lifetime, for after Yara and the children were delivered safely he had no given duties. Could he find Tiaan and her construct, where the Aachim had failed? And if he could, should he give it to Vithis? Would it be worth it to win the war? Or would it be better to deliver the construct to his own people?

The risk was that humanity might not be able to duplicate it, whereas the Aachim surely could. And if humanity had it, the Aachim might go to war just to get it, which would make matters far worse.

<script>