He did not ask why. She was not going to tell him. 'I will require a number of scrying and sensing devices,' he said, praying that she would not call his bluff. It was not really a bluff, for all could be used for that purpose, though not all were necessary for it. There would be plenty to do in Snizort, and when all was done, his devices would permit him to break out again, if he could just keep charge of them.
Gyrull weighed him for a moment. 'Of course. Indicate what you require and we will carry it.'
He marked a number of items, including his great globe. She frowned at that but did not refuse. The items were packed, the boxed globe secured in rope netting, and they prepared to go.
It was a wrench abandoning everything else, especially the carillon of bells and the great organ, but nothing could be done about it. Those secrets would be in the hands of Scrutator Klarm within days. Gilhaelith wondered what he would make of them.
He considered his options on the long trip back to Snizort. The Matriarch knew more than she was saying. Those villagers must have been better at their Art than anyone imagined. To discover what had been lost that day was going to be a prodigious labour, and it must be a powerful secret. Should he give them what they wanted?
On the other hand, something strange had happened out in the Great Seep that day, more than seven thousand years ago, and it had to do with geomancy. It may have been the very foundation of his Art. Gilhaelith's curiosity had been aroused and he had to have it satisfied.
P ART F IVE
Tiaan lay in the crashed walker, watching the lyrinx carry Gilhaelith away. Their wings churned the fog, it enveloped them and he was gone. Why had they taken him? And what had he been about to tell her about her back? She dared not hope for a cure, yet hope could not be restrained.
The walker had not fallen far, fortunately, or she would not have survived. It had slid down a few spans until the rubble stopped it. Tiaan was bruised but nothing seemed to be broken.
She felt for the controller hedron, which had fallen out of its socket. Pressing it into place, she attempted to move one mechanical leg without sending the walker further down the slope. Nothing happened. She tried the other legs, one at a time. They did not work either.
'Help!' The fog suffocated her cry.
'Help, help!' It sounded weak and lost. Gilhaelith's servants were inside. They would not hear her, and if they did, who would care? She had to save herself. Tiaan took up the controller again.
Taking it apart, mindful that if she dropped any piece she would never recover it, Tiaan checked everything. The hedron was undamaged but one of the connecting stubs had bent out of place. She straightened it with her teeth. When she reassembled the device the lower leg moved suddenly, rotating the walker on the rubble. She caught her breath but it did not fall. Could she possibly get it upright on this slope? Or move it if she did? The walker was designed for level ground.
Visualising the field, Tiaan selected a whorl that held just a tiny amount of power, trickled it into the controller and spread the legs as far as they would go. That was easy, but to get it upright would not be. The leg beneath her was the key. She extended it a little, starting a miniature rockslide. A little more and the walker rolled sideways. Now the leg had nothing to push against. She would have to work both lower legs at once.
Flexing them at the middle joints so as to reduce their length, she pushed gently. The walker tilted up, one knobbed foot slipped and the machine fell back, starting another slide.
Tiaan tried again and this time got the walker two-thirds upright, though her weight was near to toppling it. If she tried to go further the walker might fall all the way to the bottom of the crater. It would not survive that, and neither would she.
Extending the upslope legs until they were nearly parallel to the slope, she straightened the other pair. The walker edged towards the vertical. The rubble moved beneath one foot. Now the really difficult part. Ever so carefully she pushed with the downslope legs. The walker moved up a little, then stuck. It was like an animal trying to walk on its back legs. How was she to get up the slope? Straight up looked impossibly steep but, if she angled across, Tiaan thought she might just be able to do it.
She pushed off. The walker teetered and Tiaan was sure it was going to go over. She found a little more extension in the upslope legs. It was just enough. Creeping across the slope like a four-legged crab, she made it to the edge, though she had to go back and forth three times to get up the last bit.
On the rim, bigger challenges awaited her. She did not hold any false hope for Gilhaelith. Few people ever got out of the hands of the lyrinx. She was on her own. Had the thapter been finished she would have fled at once. Since it was not, she must pray for time to complete it.
Tiaan skidded across the terrace and in through the front door. 'Nixx!' she shouted. 'Nixx, quickly.'
The seneschal appeared, quill in one hand, tally sheet in the other. 'What is it? I'm very busy.'
'Gilhaelith has been taken!'
'What?' he cried. 'How?'
'Four lyrinx flew down out of the fog and carried him away. They were so quick he had no chance.'
He dropped the quill. Black ink spattered the tiles. 'When was this?'
'An hour ago.'
'An hour?'
She became aware of her wild hair and dirty face. 'My walker went over the edge a long way from here. I called out but no one heard me. They rose straight up into the fog.'
'Show me the place,' he said grimly.
Tiaan led him to the spot and he examined it while she stood by. Reaction had set in and she was trembling.
'Big lyrinx?' Nixx said doubtfully.
'As big as any I've seen.'
'I don't see any tracks. You say you fell?' He sounded doubtful. Surely he did not think she had killed Gilhaelith?
'Down there?' She pointed.
Nixx studied her skid marks just as carefully. He did suspect her. Tiaan was insulted.
He roused out the household to search the rim in a line that extended down each side for about a hundred paces. Every mark and dislodged pebble was noted. It took most of the morning. They recovered Gilhaelith's crystal rod, which did not seem to be damaged. Finally they came back to where Tiaan sat under the vines on the terrace.
'It is as you say,' Nixx said. 'We found unmistakable footmarks. The lyrinx have taken him.'
'Why?'
'I don't know.'
Nixx sat at the table, staring at his tally sheet. His broad fingers were stained with ink. He seemed not to know what to do. The other servants stood by the door, equally bewildered and fearful. Tiaan could read their faces. Without Gilhaelith, they had nothing. He had always been here – some families had served him for five generations. Now he was gone and Nyriandiol was unprotected.
The crystal rod lay on the table. It was an elongated prism, translucent and heavy, capped at one end with shiny steel, a basket of which enclosed the striated sides. An ironstone rosette was fixed on the open end. Gilhaelith's teaching had barely touched on such devices, though she knew it could be a weapon in the right hands.
She slipped it into her pocket. 'What are you going to do, Nixx?'
'I can't do anything!' he wailed, still wringing his fleshy hands. 'Four lyrinx might have carried him halfway across the continent.' Tiaan was back on the terrace, numbly watching the fog wreathe through the vines, when she heard raised voices at the front door.
'The master is lost,' said someone she did not know. 'We will never see him again. Let us take what we can carry and go.'
'He may come back.' Nixx's voice rose above the others. 'We must maintain Nyriandiol for his return -'
'You old fool!' spat Gurteys. 'It's finished. This place will be plundered within days. We've lost everything.'