Tetrarch

The Matah turned to Ullii, reached out with an open hand, and smiled. 'I will not harm him, little seeker.'

Ullii went still, confused. She looked from the Matah to Nish, to the Matah again.

'Ullii, help me,' he gasped.

'Give me your hand,' said the Matah.

Ullii was a mixture of emotions: delight and terror. She slowly extended her tiny hand. The Matah's fingers wrapped all the way around it, holding the grip for a long interval. Ullii let out an extended sigh and bowed her head, smiling enigmatically.

'Ullii!' Nish wailed, but she paid him no heed. He strained against bonds he could neither see nor feel.

The Matah flicked those long fingers and Nish was himself again. She inclined her head towards Tiaan. Moving as if he ached in every bone, he untied Tiaan's ropes. He looked frightened and she took fleeting pleasure from it.

'What is this talk of betrayal?' the Matah asked.

'Ask her!' Nish spat. 'She sold our world. Tiaan brought an army of constructs here through a gate.'

For an instant the Matah's self-possession left her. She clutched at the glass to support herself.

'Constructs? Through a gate? Is that why the mountain shook yesterday? Explain, humans! Who are you and where did you come from?'

Tiaan gave their names, then began on a halting explanation. 'I was an artisan at the manufactory near Tiksi -'

'You're a long way from home, artisan.'

Tiaan acknowledged that. 'I made controllers for battle clankers, which are armoured war carts driven by eight iron legs -'

'I know what clankers are. What about your controllers?'

'Mine were the best.' Tiaan said it without pride. 'I could see the field more clearly than anyone, and I was better at tuning the hedrons. I began to have strange crystal dreams. I dreamed that a young man cried out for help, because his world was exploding with volcanic fire. His name was Minis.'

'Minis!' the Matah said sharply. 'That is an Aachim name. An ancient one.'

'Aachan was dying,' Tiaan said, 'and Minis with it.'

'And so will we because of your folly,' said Nish. 'Why could you not do your duty like everyone else?'

'I was doing my duty,' she replied coldly, 'until you and your slut Irisis had me thrown out of the manufactory, and all because I refused to bed you.'

Again the Matah turned those glacier eyes on Nish, who tried to stare her down, flushed and had to look away.

'It is the duty of every one of us to mate,' he recited, 'to replace those who give their lives in the war.'

'Not against her will, surely?' The Matah's voice was frosty.

'The population is falling,' said Nish. 'Will has nothing to do with it.'

'In the breeding factory they kept a bloodline register,' cried Tiaan. 'A stud book!'

'Is this what the world has come to?' said the Matah. 'What happened to the great romance?'

'Romance has nothing to do with mating,' Nish said loftily. 'Mating is duty, love mere unruly passion.'

'And you had a passion for Tiaan, or was your lust mere duty? Go on with your tale, Tiaan.'

Tiaan explained how Joeyn had found that strangely glowing crystal in the mine, one that had seemed to be drawing power from the field all by itself, without ever needing to be woken. And she told how she had fled with it.

'Minis called to me,' said Tiaan, 'when I was trapped in a blizzard, dying of cold. He taught me about geomancy, the greatest magic of all.'

'A most foolhardy young man,' said the Matah. 'A wonder it did not kill you.'

'He taught me just enough to draw power into the crystal and save my life. The Aachim called it an amplimet and -'

'An amplimet?' The Matah gripped the edge of the glass.

Tiaan nodded. 'In return for my own life, I promised to help the Aachim. They asked me to bring the amplimet here to Tirthrax. After many trials, including being captured by the lyrinx and forced to help them with…' Her voice cracked. She shuddered. 'I suffer dreadfully from withdrawal when the crystal is taken away. At least, I used to before the gate was made. Using that weakness, the enemy forced me to channel power for their flesh-forming.' She told that story, including the tale of the nylatl. 'Eventually I managed to escape, using the crystal, and brought it here.'

'Here?' the Matah asked hoarsely.

'Minis told me to give it to your people, but I found Tirthrax abandoned.'

'Not abandoned,' said the Matah. 'My people have gone, en masse, north to our other city, Stassor. The war comes ever closer and they are meeting to see what may be done about it. They won't be back until next year. It is a long and hazardous journey.'

'By the time I arrived,' Tiaan continued, 'the Aachim were too weak to do anything with the crystal.' She glanced at Nish, then away. 'I had to save them. They told me how to assemble a gate-making device, which I called a port-all. I put the amplimet into the core of it, followed their instructions and created a gate.'

'You made a gate, from here to Aachan?' cried the old woman. 'Alone?'

'Yes,' Tiaan said faintly.

'Where is the port-all now?'

Tiaan moved close and whispered in the Matah's ear, watching Nish all the while. 'It is in the hall by the great glass gong.'

'Ah!' said the Matah. 'Continue, if you please.'

'I did all the tests and called Minis. The gate opened but the Aachim began to come through, in constructs.' She described the sleek metal machines and the way they hovered above the ground.

'I know all about constructs,' the Matah interrupted. 'I saw the first one ever built. How many were there?'

'I don't know,' said Tiaan. 'Thousands, certainly, and each contained ten or fifteen people.'

'There were more than eleven thousand constructs,' said Nish. 'I counted the ranks as they passed. They have gone down to the lowlands to wage war against Santhenar. You have betrayed your world, Tiaan.'

The Matah looked wan. 'I must sit down.' She slumped on the floor with her head resting on her knees.

'As I was betrayed,' said Tiaan bitterly. 'They must have been planning this invasion for a long time, for such a fleet of constructs would have taken decades to build. They used me and killed little Haani, who never hurt anyone in her life.' Tears ran down her cheeks. 'Vithis offered money in exchange!' She glared at the old woman. 'That was the grossest insult of all.'

'Reparation must be paid,' the Matah replied. 'How did it happen? Did you threaten them?'

'How could I threaten eleven thousand constructs?' Tiaan raged. 'She died because they were afraid. The Aachim are liars and cheats, and as timid as rabbits.'

The Matah tightened her lips. 'You may call them cowards if you dare, though it sounds like an accident to me. But know this, Tiaan: to impugn our honesty is a mortal insult that every Aachim will fight to avenge.'

'They callously and deliberately deceived me about their intentions, and about the gate. They said they were just a few thousand. A lie. They said -'

'I will leave it to them,' said the Matah hastily. 'But tell me – have they mastered all the secrets of Rulke's lost construct? Did the machines fly?'

'Not that I saw.' Tiaan dashed her tears away. 'They just hovered above the floor. Vithis called me an incompetent fool, after all I had done for him. Minis turned his cheek to me, and then they went away.'

'We can be arrogant,' said the Matah, 'but Aachim are rarely rude, unless unbearably provoked. Who were the leaders?'

'I met three,' said Tiaan. 'Tirior of Clan Nataz, Luxor of Clan Izmak, and Vithis. Are you related?'

'We Aachim of Santhenar broke the clan allegiances long ago. My house was Elienor, named for our most famous ancestor, though it was always the least of the clans. Many of Clan Elienor have red hair, as I did once.'

'I did see people with red hair,' said Tiaan.

'That is good. I would see my lost house again. What of Vithis? Did he name his clan?' The Matah looked as if she already knew.

'He named it Inthis – First Clan,' said Tiaan.