Part 50 (1/2)

'That Vithis will come, or the scrutator, and destroy everything to get hold of the thapter. And me.'

'I can't believe my servants would do anything to harm you.'

She took a deep breath. 'Two nights back I heard Gurteys talking about the reward. Ten thousand gold tells for me and as much again for the thapter. Two thousand each, she said to the others.'

That shocked him. 'I knew about the reward, but even so ... Perhaps I expect too much. I must think what to do.' He stood there, eyes closed.

Tiaan wanted to scream at him, that the time for thinking was long past. She restrained herself he was master here. 'If you could just help me to the bath, and then into bed. I'm exhausted.'

Gilhaelith's larynx went up and down. 'But I'm a man man!'

Her tiredness vanished. She had been awkward with men for so long that the idea of one being uncomfortable with her was a revelation. Minis's rejection, then her injury, had devastated her self-worth. Did Gilhaelith see her as a woman first and a cripple second?

'But while I've been away '

'I've slept in the walker. I've not had a bath. No one would attend me in the privy.' She looked away.

'My poor Tiaan,' he said.

'I'm tired and I stink, and I'm bruised all over. I just want to bathe and go to bed.'

'But '

'I would wear a gown in the bath,' she said. 'And you could avert your eyes. Please, Gilhaelith; I can't bear to have them near me.'

'Aren't you ...? The idea ...'

Could he possibly be blus.h.i.+ng? It gave her the strength to go on. 'Customs are different where I come from,' she said. 'It was so hot near the furnaces of the manufactory that women often worked half-naked.' No matter that she she never had. 'It does not bother me.' It did, but not so much as it upset him. 'Besides, you are a celibate. Why should I have any fear of you?' never had. 'It does not bother me.' It did, but not so much as it upset him. 'Besides, you are a celibate. Why should I have any fear of you?'

The look he gave her suggested that Gilhaelith was having trouble with his vow. 'I will do as you ask, just this once. Are you ready?'

Still in the walker, she gathered her nightgown and went to the bathing room. Gilhaelith followed, grim of face.

'Would you close the door, please?' she said.

He did so, then waited until she had unbuckled the straps and pushed them aside. Gilhaelith carried her to the travertine platform at the end of the tub.

As she unb.u.t.toned her blouse he whirled to face the wall. She took a guilty pleasure in her power to disturb him. She was using him. But then, he had been born before her great-grandfather. He'd had plenty of time to master his emotions.

Laying the dirty garments beside her, she pulled the gown over her head. 'You'll have to help me.' She indicated her frozen legs.

He came reluctantly, red in the face. She held on while he unfastened the belt and drew her baggy trousers off, looking everywhere but at her. Tiaan, nearly as embarra.s.sed, jerked her gown down. He deposited her into the water and ran for the door.

Bathing in a gown proved to be more difficult than she had imagined, and less enjoyable. She was glad when he knocked on the door again. 'Come in,' she sang out. 'I'm ready.'

He seemed to have gained control of himself. Gilhaelith knelt by the tub, reached down and lifted her onto the platform. There they both realised what they should have been aware of from the beginning. The wet gown was quite transparent.

He stared at her, unable to help himself. He tore his gaze away a dozen times but it kept coming back. Tiaan was self-conscious, yet pleased. She was not just a crippled blob, as she had thought of herself since the accident. She was was still a woman, and even Gilhaelith the celibate could see it. still a woman, and even Gilhaelith the celibate could see it.

'I should have brought an extra gown,' she said.

'I'll run and fetch another.'

'No matter. It's a warm night.'

'The servants ' he said with a strangled gasp.

'Do you care what they think?'

'I don't care what anyone anyone thinks. But ' He did not go on. thinks. But ' He did not go on.

'But they might think I am your lover?'

'Yes!' he choked.

'Then let them. Would you dry me?'

He did so with such fascinated reluctance that Tiaan was touched. Finally Gilhaelith carried her to her room in her damp gown, studiously avoiding looking down, helped her into a fresh one, then fled.

Tiaan lay awake for hours afterward, amazed by her boldness and thinking about the torment she had put him to. She hardened her heart. He was using her to satisfy his obsession with the great game. Why should she not use him to save her life?

It became a routine after that. He helped her dress and bathe, and took her to the privy. That was even more embarra.s.sing, but better than being waited on by the servants who, even in his presence, could now not conceal their hostility.

Gilhaelith began to teach her the nature of natural fields and the qualities of different kinds of nodes. There was so much to learn, and each day Tiaan realised how little she really knew, and how dangerous her dabblings in geomancy had been. She might have killed herself a dozen times over. Vithis must have known that. And Minis. It made her so angry she could not concentrate. How could could he have pretended to love her, knowing that what he had asked her to do might destroy her? he have pretended to love her, knowing that what he had asked her to do might destroy her?

Gilhaelith also showed her how to draw power from the field into certain crystals and blast it out again, although he had not yet let her try for herself. It could be used as a weapon, albeit a hazardous one.

Only a few more days and the thapter would be ready for testing. She prayed they had that long. And then?

What if Gilhaelith intended to take the thapter for himself? She must have her own plan and, as soon as the thapter was ready, be prepared to implement it. If Gilhaelith was lying, he might take it and cast her out, and she had to be ready to act first. Dare she steal the thapter while testing it? But what if Gilhaelith was telling the truth? She would be no better than the Aachim she so despised.

Tiaan woke in the night, feeling as though she had just heard the peal of a distant bell. Odd. She'd not heard that sound here before. She wriggled in the brace but could not get comfortable. An hour later, still awake, she decided to continue her work on the thapter. Her arms were strong now and she had perfected a technique for getting in and out of the walker by herself.

She was checking the field when she noticed something strange. It seemed much more regular than usual, and was pulsing gently. She c.o.c.ked her head, tracing the patterns in her inner eye. The pulsing faded. She continued, but soon heard that peal of bells again. It seemed to be calling to her.

She spidered along the hall of the lowest floor. Up the far end, where she had never been, a vague pool of light spilled from an open door. The walker's rubber feet made no sound on the stone. She reached the door and looked into a vast cavern of a room filled with organ pipes. She knew about the organ, though Gilhaelith never talked of it.

A lantern glowed among the pipes as the far end. She hesitated in the doorway. The bells hinted at something distant, long forgotten and rather sad. She went in a step or two, thinking to ask Gilhaelith about the sounds.

'Gilhaelith?' she called softly.

There was no answer, but at the distant edge of hearing there came another peal. Again a memory struggled fruitlessly to get free. Perhaps he was among the pipes. There were tens of thousands of them a veritable forest of wood and metal. She edged forward, feeling the thudding of her heart. This was his private place and she should not be here, but the bells called to her and she had to know what they were saying.

The great room was empty, though a two-handled cup of mustard-water steamed on a pedestal next to the organ console, and beside it lay the amplimet. She picked it up. He must have just gone out. She looked around but could not see the bells. Odd. Across the room she made out a great gla.s.s sphere, slowly rotating on its stand as if on a cus.h.i.+on of air.

Even from two steps away she could feel the cold. Patches of feathery frost clung to its northern and southern poles, disappearing and re-forming as it turned. Tendrils of vapour drifted lazily away, rising or falling in the air. It looked like some kind of scrying sphere. Edging closer, she reached out with a fingertip, but drew back as pinpoints of light sparkled on a globe of the world, under the gla.s.s. Some specks were brighter than others and one, at Tirthrax, positively glowed. Perhaps it was a representation of its node.

Curious, she reached out again. Other bright specks were scattered across Lauralin and the surrounding islands. She was able to pick the node at Booreah Ngurle straight away, though it was far from being one of the brightest. She examined the globe. Kalissin was bright but the node at the manufactory was not visible not the least pinp.r.i.c.k. Cold fear settled over her. Had the manufactory been destroyed, its node drained dry? That might mean Tiksi was gone too and her mother.

It probably meant nothing of the sort, Tiaan told herself, and there was no way of telling, so it was foolish to construct worries out of light and shadow on the gla.s.s. As she turned away, she felt a cold ache in the bones of her left hand, which held the amplimet. She almost dropped it. Tiaan threw her hand up to her chest and the amplimet went out.