Ian Irvine - Alchymist

It was nearly as perishing as the sea at Tiksi. Nish, a poor swimmer and prone to panic, thrashed at the water. Something thumped him in the ear. 'Stop, you fool,' screamed the scrutator. 'Hang onto this.'

It was a plank or rib torn from the boat. Nish threw his arms around it. The scrutator turned on his side and kicked. The next wave pulled them out, away from the rocks. Flydd paddled furiously towards a streak of white and caught a current, which carried them through a gap in the reef.

The water was desperately cold — so cold that, no matter how hard Nish fought it, the will to survive began to slip away. Flydd tied him to the beam and kept slapping his face till he roused.

Nish endured as best he could. The rest of the night, long or short, was a daze. Near dawn, he realised that the pounding was not his heart, but surf breaking on a shore. The waves carried them in and dumped them, tearing Nish away from the plank. The water rolled him over and over, before depositing him halfway up a gritty beach.

Flydd got him up, and Nish had enough strength to crawl up out of the surf zone and flop down in the sand. That was all he could do.

'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.