Tetrarch

'Very. It will take much power and the only place I can get it is from the node, which runs the risk of power feeding back on itself. Such things can get out of control very quickly. Just to induce an aura in something so powerful as a node will be hard. There will be barriers to overcome.'

'And other forces?'

'I was coming to that. The field surrounding a node comes from the weak force that Nunar first described a century ago. But we believe, and it is written in Nunar's The Mancer's Art, that stronger forces may also exist. We do not know how to see or draw upon them, though some mancers have accidentally done so. Sadly, none lived to write down what they had discovered.'

'And if you accidentally hit upon one of these forces…'

'I will cease to exist even more gorily than that unfortunate mancer up on the aqueduct. And you too, if you're standing too close.' He chuckled.

'Don't get your hopes up,' Irisis snapped. 'I've gone off you, scrutator, since you took my sight away.'

'I warned you, but you were too much of a stickybeak. You had to look back.'

'I was trying to help you!'

'More fool you,' Flydd said cheerfully.

'Oh, go away. I never want to see you again.' Then, realising what she had said, she began to laugh. It was that or burst into tears. He laughed with her.

Irisis worked the last of the crystals into place and checked the device with her fingers. It felt just like a dragonfly now, but with only a single pair of wings.

'I love watching you work.' His voice was rich with good humour. 'You have such beautiful hands. And they move so cleverly.'

She held them up before her blind eyes. 'You just want more of what I did with them the other night.'

'I confess it. After my torment thirty years ago, I never thought I would feel that kind of pleasure again.'

She looked surprised. 'You fasted for thirty years? Surely even an ugly old coot like you must have his pick of lovers. You are scrutator after all, and a lot of women find power rather… lubricious.'

'And you're one of them.'

'So it would seem.'

'Until you, I lacked the courage to bare myself.'

'Really? Does the great scrutator confess to a weakness.'

'Ex-scrutator, remember, and you are risking your life by being associated with me.'

'I imagine the price on my head is almost the equal of your own.'

'It isn't, but you will die a most miserable death when they catch you.'

'When?' A chill settled over her. She had never heard him talk like that before.

'The scrutators can't afford to be humiliated. They will hunt us down and bring us to justice if it takes the rest of our lives. They never give up.'

'Oh well,' she said casually, 'nothing we can do. Better get on with it. This is ready.'

'I'll call the others.'

She heard him moving away. Irisis began to take deep breaths, calming herself and getting into the right state for sensing. This would be harder than anything she had done before, and she could not afford a mistake. Flydd's life depended on it. She clung to the hope that he could somehow save them, in spite of what he had said. But if he died, they were all doomed.

The party came crunching up the hill, chattering. Flydd gave them their orders. 'Zoyl, I want you to stand here. Oon-Mie, over there. Irisis, stay where you are but get into a comfortable position. This could take a while.'

They moved to their places. 'Shall we begin?' said the scrutator. Despite his demotion, Irisis could not think of Flydd as anything else.

'I'm ready.' Irisis held the reader out.

'I'll take that.' He plucked it from her hands.

'What do you think you're doing?' She felt around in the air for it.

'You know what I'm doing,' he said, 'and why.' He crunched up to the back wall of the cavern. 'Your turn will come.'

'What am I supposed to do?'

'Just keep a close eye on things. In case.'

He tossed the dragonfly into the air. It rotated and when it came down again, Zoyl cried out, 'The eyes are glowing.'

'Pipe down, boy,' snapped Flydd. 'You're not at the circus now. Irisis, find the field.'

Taking her pliance between her palms, she visualised. Sight was not required for that. 'I can see it.'

'Tell me what it looks like.'

'The individual wisps are moving faster than before, and there are more of them. They form an almost complete figure-eight now, like two crowns joined at the side.'

'Better, but a long way to go. Keep hold of that image. Oon-Mie?'

'Ready, willing and able, surr,' she said and Irisis could almost see the grin.

There was no humour in Flydd's voice now. 'You will control the flow of power, very carefully. If it starts to feed back on itself, it will quickly get out of control and there won't be anything I can do about it. Just trickle it to me. If it starts to flood, clamp down hard.'

'I understand, surr.'

'Aarp, you have the most difficult task of all. I hope you're up to it.'

The lad's chest swelled with pride. 'I won't let you down, Mister Scrutator.'

'See that you don't, or I'll feed you to that lyrinx. Balls first!'

Flydd moved around the cavern and, as he went past Irisis, put his lips to her ear. 'Keep an eye on the boy!'

'I would, if you hadn't destroyed them.'

'You know what I mean,' Flydd growled.

'You haven't told me what to do, surr,' piped Zoyl Aarp. Though a big lad, his voice had not yet broken.

'Haven't I? With this reader I will force power back into the node. That will, I hope, create a faint aura. You are to focus on that, for it is the key to the problem of all failed nodes. Begin!'

Irisis heard the faint tinkle of gold and silver foil. The field brightened, though it was not growing stronger. She was just seeing it more clearly.

'Trickle power to me, Oon-Mie.'

Such a simple skill, and vital for an artisan, yet Irisis could not do it. She envied Oon-Mie; perhaps hated her for it at that instant; then the power began to flow and the feeling was gone.

'I can't see anything,' sang out Zoyl. 'Are you sure -?'

'Shut up, boy!' snapped the scrutator. 'We haven't started yet. I'll tell you -'

Zoyl whimpered. Irisis cleared her throat and Flydd broke off. The boy being highly strung, a little criticism went a long way.

'A trace more, Oon-Mie.'

So it went on, the scrutator calling for more power, working his unspecified magic, Zoyl Aarp looking, 'Still no aura,' then trying harder next time.

'I can't do much more,' said Oon-Mie after half an hour. Her voice was tight, strained. 'It's getting harder to control the flow.'

'Another step, Oon-Mie,' said Flydd. 'We're not getting anything at all.'

'Maybe there's nothing to get,' Irisis mumbled. 'Or maybe it will take more power than the node has in it. What will happen then?'

'Don't tell me my job! I'm not a complete idiot.'

Oon-Mie gave the scrutator another increment of power. 'Anything?' she gasped.

'Not a thing. Zoyl?'

'Nothing, surr.'

'I can't increase it,' said Oon-Mie. 'With the very greatest respect, I'm at my limit, surr.'

'Again!' roared the scrutator. 'Remember we're all under a death sentence.'

Zoyl choked.

'What do you mean?' cried Oon-Mie.

'The scrutator is saying,' Irisis said hastily, 'that Jal-Nish is hunting us. If we do this right, he can't touch us. But if we fail, we will all fall with Scrutator Flydd.' She put one hand on the lad's shoulder.

'Let's make sure we don't fail!' said Flydd. 'Can I rely on you or not, Zoyl?'

'Yes, surr.' There was a quaver in the lad's voice.

'Dare you try one last time, Oon-Mie?' said Flydd. 'I should point out that I am the one at most risk.'

'I will try, surr,' she said faintly.

Irisis did not like it. Oon-Mie was her most reliable artisan because she knew her limits and never went beyond them.

'Keep it flowing till I tell you to stop,' said Flydd.

That made Irisis even more uneasy. It was a dangerous escalation of unpredictability.