Alchymist

He sipped the scalding liquid. 'Jal-Nish got his army, and the clankers, to a usable node west of Gospett. They tracked the retreating lyrinx towards Gnulp Landing, some twenty leagues south of here, planning to lure them into a trap, but the enemy disappeared.'

'Where to?'

'It was assumed they'd escaped across the sea to Meldorin.'

'But they hadn't?'

'Some thirty thousand lyrinx were enchanted into a field of limestone pinnacles above the valley of Gumby Marth, where the army lay hidden. It was a perfect ambush.'

Her blood ran cold. 'What happened?'

Muss's face showed nothing. "Three things saved them from annihilation, and all down to your friend Nish.' He explained how Nish had led Troist's army to the relief of Jal-Nish's forces, sounded an alert about the stone-formed lyrinx at the last moment, and led the breakout that had saved the survivors.

Irisis's eyes were glowing by the time he finished. 'I always knew Nish was destined for great things. Where are they now?'

'The army took ship from Gnulp Landing, in two merchant fleets, and both landed safely at Hardlar, near the mouth of the River Libbens in Nihilnor. Flydd and Nish were delayed, sailed into a storm and did not reach Hardlar. The Council of Scrutators has put a price of a thousand gold tells on Flydd's head but only if he can be taken alive.'

A thousand gold tells was an immense fortune. 'Why alive?' said Irisis.

The list of allegations is too long to enumerate, but they add up to treachery of the blackest kind. The scrutators don't like to delegate their justice.'

'I see Jal-Nish's hand in this.' Irisis shivered. She had never experienced such utter loathing as he had directed at her, the last few times they'd met. He would not rest until he had destroyed her.

"Not any more. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on your point of view, Jal-Nish was killed in the battle, and eaten.' . She stood up, spilling her tea. 'You're sure of that?'

I've seen the battlefield. He tried to work a great magic against the lyrinx as they attacked. The survivors said he'd lured the enemy into battle for that purpose, to prove his mastery to the Council, but the enemy turned his magic against him and cut his own officers down. It doesn't do to underestimate the lyrinx. The army was routed. About ten thousand got to Gnulp, of the forty that set out from Snizort to pursue the enemy.' He gave the dreadful numbers without regret or compassion.

Thirty thousand dead. Irisis warmed her hands on the mug, then rubbed it over the back of her neck. The chill faded. 'It's hard to believe Jal-Nish is no more. You've no idea how much I wished for it.'

'Anything can happen in battle,' said Muss. 'Though the official story is different.' 'Oh?'

'Xervish Flydd has been accused of murdering him.' 'Can that be possible?'

'No. He was with General Troist, leagues away, when the ambush took place, but the scrutators can make any lie into truth.'

And any truth into a lie,' said Irisis, thinking about the Histories. Do you have any idea where Flydd might be?' 'His ship sailed into the Karama Malama, was driven south by a gale, and there disappeared. He could be anywhere between Fleen Haven and Karints, and there's a hundred leagues of water in between.'

'Or he could be dead,' said Irisis. Nish too. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

'He probably is. I learned yesterday that their ship was wrecked on a reef. A skeet brought the news. A lifeboat got away with the captain and a handful of sailors. Neither Flydd nor Nish was on it. The captain did not think anyone could have survived.' Muss still showed no emotion, though he'd served Flydd for many years.

This time the chill slid all the way down her backbone. Flydd dead? For all their sakes it must not be. And Nish? Yet they were mortal men — they could die, or be killed, as easily as anyone else.

Fyn-Mah shot up in her sleeping pouch, rubbing her eyes. 'Where did this happen?' Her voice went shrill.

'In the middle of the Karama Malama,' said Muss. 'The ship struck a reef 'There are a thousand islands in that part of the Sea of Mists,' said Fyn-Mah hopefully.

She'd served Flydd just as long, but it mattered to her. Irisis wondered if, secretly and hopelessly, she loved him.

'And Flydd is a strong swimmer' Fyn-Mah went on. 'There's a chance he's survived.'

A slim one,' said Muss. A man would soon die of cold in those waters, even at this time of year.’

'Nish isn't a strong swimmer' said Irisis.

'Then he's dead. And Ghorr has sent a fleet to make sure.'

'We must find them first' said Fyn-Mah.

'That's a task beyond our powers' said Muss.

Fyn-Mah began to say something, looked across to where Flangers and Inouye lay sleeping, and said, 'Come outside.'

Irisis followed her and Muss in her bare feet across the round pebbles. It felt as if she were walking on eggs.

The scrutator is a particularly thorough man' Fyn-Mah said obliquely. 'Since he first fled the manufactory after being suspended from the Council, he's tried to anticipate every kind of eventuality.'

I don't see how he could have anticipated this one' said Irisis.

'Of course not. But he took steps to ensure that, if lost in desperate circumstances, or held prisoner in a secret place, he might be found.'

Irisis's heart began to pound. 'What kind of steps?'

'We learned a lot from Ullii. About the traces that the Secret Art leaves in its surroundings. And we've learned about nodes, and flows of power, and crystals too.'

I'm surrounded by people who can never get to the point, thought Irisis. Clenching her toes around a pebble, she tried to be patient, though it was not in her nature.

'In short' Fyn-Mah went on, 'the scrutator had a lodestone implanted in his buttock in case he ended up where there was no field, or his other powers were stripped from him.'

'I wouldn't have thought his bum was big enough to hide one' Irisis muttered.

'You'd know!' Fyn-Mah said spitefully. 'But the stone was quite small.'

'How is that possible?' For all her work with such materials, Irisis couldn't imagine how it could work.

'In ancient times, a mancer called Golias the Mad made a device that had never been made before or since — a farspeaker — a way of speaking across the distances of the world. The secret of the device is long lost, but when Flydd was using Ullii to locate Tiaan and her amplimet, it gave him an idea for tracing the faint emanations emitted by certain objects. Xervish Flydd is cleverer than you know. He was, for some years, scrutator supervising all the mancers and artisans in Nennifer, and they've invented hundreds of devices powered by the Art.'

'I didn't know that' said Irisis. 'How will you look for it?'

I carry the complementary crystal, which is tuned to Flydd's lodestone. If he is still alive, we should be able to find it.'

'What if he's dead?'

The stone requires the warmth of the human body to operate. If he's dead, we'll find no trace of it.'

They went back to the cave and the firelight. From a lined wooden box no bigger than a needle case, Fyn-Mah took a grass-green translucent crystal, the length of a needle and not much thicker. After warming it in her fingers, she set it aside. Filling a beaten gold bowl with water until it reached the very top, she added more, drop by drop, until the surface rose minutely above the sides. With a pair of tweezers, she lowered the crystal to the surface and let it go. It floated.

'Don't move. Don't even breathe in this direction,' Fyn-Mah said softly. 'I must now give it power.'

She made a fist of one hand, wrapped the other around it and closed her eyes. Muss sat watching, motionless. Irisis felt her scalp prickle.