Alchymist

'Last night. She planned to take a construct from Gospett and meet those returning from Tirthrax. Word came yesterday afternoon that they were on their way, I'm told.'

Tiaan went rigid under the covers. She could only hope the seed she had planted in Vithis would germinate before Urien got back.

'Why did she conceal this from me?' he said fretfully. 'How far away are they?'

'Near a place called saludith, south-east of here' said Thyzzea. 'Two days, if they travel hard'

'How may I help you, Lord Vithis?' The speaker was an extremely burly man, thick of arm and leg, with a bald head and a short, dense beard quite as black as coal.

The artisan has had a vision – at least, I hope it's a vision, and not an hallucination – about lost First Clan. She saw people in blue metal constructs, in a barren land that was all white, with a purple sky. Not covered in snow, but possibly ice. That's all you saw, Tiaan?'

'Yes,' she said faintly.

Where could they be, Mapmaker?'

'If not for the sky I would have said somewhere on this world, in the frigid south, or the doubtless equally frozen north. But a purple sky? Can it be the void?'

'Surely you know your trade, Mapmaker!' Vithis said imperiously.

'None of us has ever ventured into the void, Lord Vithis.'

'Then consult the archives!'

'Such records would be from the ancient past. We don't have them.'

'Why not?'

'Our libraries had to be left behind on Aachan, including most of what we know about the void.'

'So you can't tell where this place is,' Vithis said furiously.

'My construct is packed with maps and charts, but none are of the void.'

'What if we had ended up there?'

'We would have died, with or without my maps. Others may have the information you are seeking, but I do not.'

'Do you know anything about seeking out the lost, Mapmaker?'

'I am not a mancer, Lord Vithis.'

'You're dismissed. I'll go after Urien. If anyone can find them, she can.' He turned to the door.

Larniz followed him out, calling, 'Lord Vithis?'

'What is it?' Vithis cried. 'I can't wait for any man.' 'It may be more fruitful to mind-search the artisan-'

Vithis returned. 'You're right. I must not favour one approach over another. Once I come back, we will attempt a dream-forcing. Larniz, run and find Minis for me. I'll put her under his personal guard. I can't trust treacherous Clan Elienor if I'm not here to watch over them. Tiaan must complete the recovery of the constructs. When that's done,' he gave Larniz a meaningful look, 'we shall see.'

Shortly, Minis appeared and formally took custody of Tiaan. They went straight to work. The day was hard, and the work slower than before, so by the time exhaustion put an end to it in the mid-afternoon, Tiaan had only done two trips. Eighty-nine constructs still remained to be moved. Another day's grace though, by the end of it, Vithis and Urien would be back.

Minis had stood in the shooter's turret all day, with another Aachim, and there had been no chance to talk to him alone, much less implement Tiaan's plan. She had to gain his cooperation. There was no possibility of escaping without it.

On the way home Minis got in beside her, but did not speak. Vithis must have ordered him to keep his distance.

'What does dream-forcing mean?' Tiaan asked when they were approaching the camp, now shrunken to barely a few hundred tents. Everyone was gone but the last of Clan Elienor, Minis and a few of Vifhis's guards. In the distance she could see a towering pavilion, the temporary monument erected to the Aachim dead.

'It's a form of truth-reading, whereby knowledge, or secrets, hidden deep in the subconscious mind can be drawn to the surface…'

'Is it painful?' she asked, imagining what it would be like to have Vithis rummaging through her mind, not to mention having all the lies she'd told him exposed.

'Not physically…' He trailed off, looking over the side at the withered grass.

'But what?' she persisted.

'It reveals everything, including what has been mercifully forgotten. Nothing can be held back. Dream-forcing is always traumatic for it can reveal truths hidden even from oneself. Especially from oneself,' he said softly. 'It's rarely used – it hurts the forcer just as much, and can drive them insane.'

Can anyone do it?'

'Only a handful of us, for it requires a powerful comprehension of the Art. Foster-father is able to dream-force, though, in your case, he would not.'

She relaxed. 'Why not?'

'He desperately wants to know the fate of our clan, so dream-forcing you would be particularly hazardous for him. I expect Urien will do it, when she returns tomorrow, but take no comfort from that. She's a hard woman.'

Tiaan pressed her hands to her head, which was still ringing from the day's exertions. All the more urgent that she go on with her plan. Minis must come to her tonight. He lifted her onto the side, looking around for the guard, but the man had already gone. Minis sprang down, reached up his arms and she slid into them. He turned in the direction of Thyzzea's tent. Tiaan had to distract him. She'd have no chance to subvert him there.

As they passed the large tent house he shared with his foster-father, she made a gagging sound and sagged in his arms. 'Minis, my head is spinning.'

'It's not far now.'

'Could I have a drink of water, please?' she said hoarsely, plucking fretfully at his sleeve. He carried her to his tent, settling her in a round chair just inside the door.

'I'll call the healer. I-'

'No need,' she said hastily. 'It's from using the amplimet. It happens every night.'

He frowned. 'I've never seen you like this before.'

'It usually comes on after I finish work. I'll be all right in a while.'

He fetched her a container of water. She drank the lot and had her head on the edge of the chair. 'The light hurts my eyes. I need to lie down somewhere dark for a few minutes.'

Again that troubled look. 'You.., could go in my chamber.'

'Please,' she said.

He picked her up, torn between anxiety and longing. Tiaan hooked one arm around his neck. She felt bad about using him but there was no alternative.

Minis laid her on the bed, and the look in his eyes burned her. She turned away, too exhausted to deal with him. The work took so much out of her. Sleep, and the crystal dreams that came with it, were the only remedy, but that was not what she had in mind.

The room was plain, being just a walled section of a tent, though the fabric was woven like a costly tapestry. The only furnishings were an intricately patterned rug on the floor and two carved wooden chests. Both were of the finest quality and beautifully decorated, and the lids of both were up. The larger held folded clothes and other personal items. The smaller contained half a dozen books bound with covers of chased metal, a crystal seeing-globe and several mechanical devices whose purpose was not readily apparent. Another book lay on the chair beside the bed. It was also beautiful but, being in the Aachim script, she could not read it. What must his home have been like; his foster-father's mansion?

She felt a pang for their art, craft and civilisation, lost in the volcanic fury Aachan had become…

Tiaan woke to discover that it was dark outside. She'd slept after all and her headache was gone. Better get on with it. She looked out. Minis sat at a folding table, writing in a journal. A candle cast a pool of yellow light in front of him. He looked young and, for the first time, carefree. Her heart lurched, but she fought it.

'Minis?'

He came at once.

'Thank you,' she said. 'I feel better now.'

He smiled, though it faded at once, as if he'd caught himself imagining what he had no right to. 'I'll take you home.'

Could I.., have something to eat? I'm famished.'

'Of course. I was about to have my dinner.'

He brought her a platter on which sat a spherical knob of the spicy red sausage she'd grown accustomed to eating, as well as sticks of cheese, bread, pickled vegetables and wine. It was all very fine but she did not take much. Tiaan had never felt so nervous, not even on that fateful day when the Aachim had come through the gate and she had first seen Minis in the flesh. How different it could have been. This cosy domestic scene could have been real. And, Tiaan was shocked to realise, a part of her still wanted it.