Thirty-seven

'You say you love me, Minis, but after what you've done, I need more than oaths. If you do love me, prove it with action not with words!'

Hope flared in his brown eyes and she felt guilty. There was no hope for him.

'I will', said Minis, 'as long as you don't ask me to betray foster-father, or my own kind.'

Yet again he equivocated — anything that helped her could be seen as a betrayal of the Aachim. 'What's going to happen to me once Urien comes back?'

'Vithis will release you, I suppose.'

Clearly he'd not thought about it. 'He'll never release me, Minis. I must remain a prisoner of the Aachim all my life, and be watched night and day lest I smuggle out a message. Or...?' She left it hanging. 'Foster-father is an honourable man.'

'Vithis is not an honourable man; he's shown that many times. Besides, he doesn't have to kill me with his own hands. All he need do is indicate that I'm a problem, and plenty of Aachim would dispose of me, just to gain his favour. To your kind we old humans are little better than vermin, for all that I saved your lives.' 'It's not so,' he whispered.

'Once Urien returns, I'll be under a death sentence. No one will be able to save me then. But you can save me now.’

'At the price of betraying Foster-father,' he said bitterly. 'I will be ruined in his eyes.'

He'll get over, it. You're all he has. You must stand up to him, Minis. He'll think more of you for it.'

'You don't know him.'

'You say you love me, you've sworn to save me, but you qualify it every time. Prove your love — help me to escape. If you do I'll give myself to you, soul and body. Fail me and you collude in my death sentence.'

Minis could not meet her eyes. He marched up and down the tent, casting glances just shy of her direction. 'You do not, you cannot know what you are asking.'

She allowed him no respite. 'All I'm asking for,' Tiaan said sweetly, 'is my life.'

'At the price of my honour.’

'How will your honour withstand my execution?' she snapped.

'Please, Tiaan. It hurts to hear you speak that way.'

'How else should I speak to a man who professes love but won't lift a finger to save my life. You're pathetic, Minis. You're not a man at all — you're a snivelling child.'

'That's not true, Tiaan' he wept. 'I do love you.'

'Then save me.'

His face became dark, congested. The veins in his neck throbbed. 'Ah, Foster-father, what am I to do?'

'Run away with me. Now!'

'I can't get you out of the camp. Every construct must have a pass, and every person in it.'

'But surely, as Vithis's son . . .?'

'He doesn't trust me with you. But maybe, in a few days' time—'

'Tomorrow will be our last day, as you know very well. The camp is nearly empty. There are only eighty-nine constructs to go. After tomorrow we'll be in the main camp and they won't let me near one. You can't put it off, Minis. Once Vithis comes back, it'll be too late.'

'But what can I do?' he wailed.

Tiaan wanted to hit him. It's my life! Doesn't that mean anything to you? She closed her eyes, thinking desperately. She'd tried everything with Minis, but he was too cowed by Vithis. There was only one option left, though it went utterly against her nature. She'd have to really hurt him. 'Nothing!' she said with all the sarcasm she could muster. It was not strong enough. She had to shake him to his toes. 'You can't save me because you don't have the balls, Minis. You're a boy trying to fit into your foster-father's pants, but you don't have what it takes to fill them. No wonder Vithis holds you in such contempt.'

He reeled. 'You are cruel, Tiaan.' She stared him down. The time for words was over. 'I.. , may be able to do something,' he said. 'Tomorrow, when you're towing the last of the constructs. I'll try then.' 'Try what?' She did not allow herself to hope — Minis had let her down too many times.

We'll stop midway. I'll find a way to distract the guards. I'll unfasten the tether, as if to check something. We'll have to be quick, but we can do it.'

Tiaan hadn't thought that she would ever convince him. 'You're sure?' 'Yes. My mind is made up.'

'Oh. Minis.' Pushing herself up in bed, she reached out to him.

He threw his arms around her and wept, which made her feel even more guilty.

'I'm sorry for doubting you, Minis,' she said. 'I was so afraid.' Tiaan looked up at him and, acting purely on impulse, pressed her lips to his.

She'd not kissed a man before and did not expect anything of it. The kiss was like touching an electric eel. It sensitised her whole body and, when they parted, her lips felt swollen to three times their normal size. She saw the desire in his eyes and for an instant Tiaan was tempted, but only ill could come of that. 'Take me home, please,' she said. 'First the proof.'

Tiaan was woken at dawn by an Aachim she did not recognise. 'Where's Minis?' she said.

He has other business to attend to.'

Tiaan took that as a sign that Minis had taken the coward's way out after all. By the time the sun rose she was getting ready to haul the chain of sixty constructs to safety, the second-last trip. The crystals of her helm had been freshly charged in the black tesseract. The Aachim guard carried her to the construct, lifted her in and after that never moved from her side. Minis must have betrayed her plan.

Two hours later, the sixty constructs had been delivered safely to the southern camp and the Aachim there were all smiles. The rescue, which few had ever believed possible, was almost complete. Only twenty-nine machines to go. She returned to Snizort. The tents had been packed and the remaining Aachim, all but her two guards being from Clan Elienor, were waiting in their constructs. The war camp had disappeared, the only evidence of it the flattened grass, the humps of the infilled latrine trenches and, in the distance, the memorial pavilion beside the battlefield.

It was past lunchtime. As the constructs were being cabled up, Minis appeared.

'I'll take the last set,' he said to Tiaan's guard. 'It'll give you the chance to ready your own gear.' The fellow nodded and sprang down.

Tiaan sat in the machine, eating bread and sausage. 'I've nothing to say to you, Minis,' she said as he climbed up.

'I've found a way to save you. It's all planned.'

She was unable to believe, unable to trust. 'How?'

'We'll take the constructs halfway, then stop as if there's a problem. I'll call to the first construct to check the cable. As soon as he unfastens it, we'll flee.'

Tiaan had had time to anticipate all the problems. 'It's not much of a plan. If the constructs fire before we're out of range, we won't have a chance.' They didn't need the field for that, their catapults and spear-throwers being mechanically operated. But she hadn't come up with anything better, and once she towed the last set of constructs to the southern field it would be too late.

He stared into her eyes, quivering with emotion. 'You must trust me, Tiaan. I'm prepared to renounce my birthright for you.'

The declaration failed to comfort her as he'd hoped. It was to for Minis. Whatever he did, she would find fault with it. I've become a monster, she thought. There's no way back now.

'Very, well,' she said. 'We'll do it.'

The cable was attached to the first construct, and from it to the two lines of the others. 'Wait one moment,' said Minis.

'What is it?' 'You'll see.'

The Aachim were calling to one another and two of them began walking, five or six paces apart, in the direction of the distant pavilion. Both wore helms not unlike the one Tiaan used, and the woman on the right held out a rod-like object, which she pointed towards the pavilion. The man on her left did the same.

Someone behind them called a series of Aachim words that she did not recognise, followed by one she did. 'Now!'

A blue ray shot out from the woman's rod and a green ray from the man's. Where they intersected, above the pavilion, the air shimmered. There came a distant sound of thunder and a glimmering dome formed, swelling until it covered a good part of the battlefield where the Aachim had fought. Coloured lines writhed across it, like tamed lightning. 'It's beautiful,' said Tiaan, 'but what is it?'

'Let me see.' Minis lifted the helm off her head and put it on his own. 'Ah, what a marvel they've built!' He passed the helm back to her. 'It's a kind of protection — to keep out intruders and scavengers until we find a way to retrieve our dead, and our constructs. Now we can go.'

The protection had vanished as soon as the helm was taken off Tiaan's head. She put it on, took one last look at the shimmering luminescence of the dome, and reached for the controls. Tiaan eased her machine into motion, uncomfortable about placing her life in Minis's unreliable hands. What if this passion wore off, or he got cold feet again? She must be prepared to act on her own, the instant an opportunity came.

Within minutes her head was throbbing, for she wasn't able to give her full attention to the task. Tiaan rubbed her temples and allowed the fields to fade from her mind. The relief was almost painful. In spite of the helm and the techniques she'd been taught, holding five fields at once was a killing strain.

'What is it?' Minis said, looking anxious as the note of the construct faded.

'It's hurting today.' That was true enough. 'It seems harder than before. Maybe the helm didn't charge fully this morning.'

They drifted to a stop. Heads appeared at the hatch of the next construct. The two armed guards in the turret were on alert, their crossbows at the ready. 'Give me the helm,' he said. 'I'll charge it again.'

She was reluctant to let it go. 'Why don't you bring the tesseract here?'

'All right.'

He signalled for the tesseract, placed the helm inside for the required time, then withdrew it.

Tiaan put it on her head. 'That's better,' she said, though it felt the same as before. 'Is this the time, Minis?''

'Not yet,' he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. He was sweating so profusely that the whole front of his shirt was wet -another bad sign. He simply couldn't find the courage to defy his own people.

The whine resumed and the construct rose in the air. Behind her she heard the other machines doing the same. They went another half-league or so. Time was running out. She must save herself and she had to do it now.

Tiaan caused the flow of power to rise and fall rapidly, making the constructs jerk wildly. Behind them, someone roared out a warning in the Aachim tongue.

'Stop!' cried Minis.

She pretended to, while making the construct jolt harder. A

loud crash came from behind. Two machines further back in the line had collided at high speed. 'What is it?' Tiaan said, cutting off the field, though she knew full well what had happened.

'I don't know. I'll have to see what the matter is.'

'This our chance, Minis.' 'Just a bit further.' He flushed; again he could not meet her eyes.

It was over. He was too weak. She had to get him out of the construct, then make her break, as fast as she could. 'You'd better see how long it'll take to fix that.' She jerked a thumb at the two constructs, locked together by the impact. As soon as his feet touched the ground, she would do it. If she ducked down, they might not get a clean shot. It was a slim hope but it was all she had.

He began to climb down but the guards shouted and pointed at Tiaan. They weren't going to leave her by herself in the construct for a second. She cursed as Minis came back and carried her down to the ground. Another chance gone.

The Aachim were already gathering around the two con-structs, assessing the damage. It did not look severe, though it was going to take time to prise them apart. 'Could you put me down in the shade,' said Tiaan. 'It's hot out here; I feel a little faint.'

Minis saw no harm in that, since he believed she was unable to walk. He sat her under a spindly tree about fifteen paces from her construct, and went down the line to the site of the accident.

Tiaan flexed her leg muscles. It would be difficult to escape from here, for she was in full view of the guards in the leading construct, but if they gave her the slightest chance she was ready.

The Aachim had brought up metal bars and half a dozen of their strongest were attempting to pry the two constructs apart. The others, after watching for a while, went back to their own machines and began spreading cloths on the ground for lunch. Thyzzea and her family were among them.

The two guards came down from their turret.. It would have been sweltering up there, for it was a baking hot day with not a breath of wind. No one was looking her way. Since they knew she could not walk, there was no chance of her escaping from where she was. Tiaan was about to get up when one of the guards checked over his shoulder. Seeing nothing to bother him, he went down to watch the prising operation.

Tiaan saw Thyzzea moving in and out between the constructs, coming to carry Tiaan down to share lunch with the family. She had to go now!

Thyzzea disappeared between the constructs and Tiaan stood up. Her throat was dry, her palms damp. She dared not run — the movement would attract attention. She simply walked casually to her construct and ducked behind it, out of sight.

There was no outcry. She climbed the side, her hands slipping on the metal rungs, which were almost too hot to' hold, then went over the top and in.

Tiaan put on her belt, but as she eased the helm over her head it clinked against the metal hatch, a noise that would carry a long way. She looked over her shoulder. Minis's head whipped around but he did not give the alarm. Perhaps he hadn't seen her. She felt sick. It was now or not at all.

Thyzzea came out from between the lines of constructs, looking for Tiaan, and saw her in the construct. She looked distressed, but loyalty to her family and her kind came first.

'Hoy!' she roared.

One of the guards sprang up and, following her outflung arm, sighted with the crossbow. He lowered it again. Unable to get a clear shot at Tiaan from the ground, he was running towards the leading construct and his shooter's turret.

'Tiaan, wait for me,' cried Minis, throwing out his arms like a lover betrayed, as if he'd planned to save her after all. Had he? She'd never know and could not stop to find out. If she did, she'd be taken or killed.

Pressing the helm tightly on her head, Tiaan drew power and directed it all into her machine. The whine rose to a shriek and the construct surged forward.

'Look out!' she heard someone cry. There was a momentary resistance as the cable went taut. She applied more power but it did not pull free as she'd expected. The construct shuddered, then the amplimet took over, sucking a torrent of power from the field. She tried to stop it but it was out of control. Never swear on the amplimet! The construct took off, the cable thrummed then snapped just behind her, the free end whipping back the other way.

Over the roar of the mechanism she heard an agonised cry. Turning in a shallow curve, Tiaan looked back. The flailing cable had caught Minis about the waist and hip, snatching him off his feet. It whirled him sideways across the rock-strewn ground, thumping him into one boulder, then another.

Tiaan gasped and popped the crystal to slow the machine.

Minis lay unmoving, blood drenching him from the hip down. Even from here she could see the bone sticking out of his leg.

Had she killed him? What was she to do?

 Aachim were running everywhere, shouting. Thyzzea and her father reached Minis, lifted him to a sitting position, then hastily laid him down again. Thyzzea stood up and shouted something at her, a cry of rage and betrayal. She, Tiaan, had repaid their kindness by maiming Minis, and Clan Elienor would be condemned for it.

If Minis was not dead already, he was surely dying.

Soldiers raced towards her. A crossbow bolt sang off the hatch just a hand's breadth from her ear. From the corner of her eye she saw Aachim scrambling into the weapons turrets. If she was to save herself, she must run for her life and leave Minis lying on the bloody ground. The thought of Vithis's rage was terrifying. There was only one thing to do. She slammed the amplimet into its cavity. Pulling so much power from the nodes that her hair smoked, Tiaan fled south towards the wilderness.