But if he gave it to Vithis, and he was able to make fliers of all his constructs, the Aachim would be all-powerful. Once the war against the lyrinx was won, he could turn on humanity and take Santhenar for his own. How to decide what to do? The wrong decision might lose the war, and Nish his head. He wished the flier had never been discovered. His mind was whirling, calculating possibilities, scarcely hearing what the Aachim was talking about. Minis shook him by the arm.

'I beg your pardon?' Nish said.

'You have done so much, Nish. If anyone can find Tiaan it is you. Will you take it on?'

'I have had my share of disasters. And of course,' Nish gave a short laugh, 'you must make allowances. I may have exaggerated my tale.'

Minis shrugged. 'Our spies have been busy. I know more about you than you imagine. I also share my father's talent my late father. He was an excellent judge of a man and, so I believe, am I. I will pin my faith in you.' His eyes showed that faith; a new experience for Nish.

Nish was touched. He liked Minis. For all his awkwardness and his silly ways, there was no artifice about him.

'I'll try,' said Nish, 'once I've delivered Yara and the children safely. That duty '

'I understand duty. You do not need to explain.' Minis held out his hand and Nish took it. The wrap-around handshake felt strange, but it also felt right.

'How will I find you again?'

'I will find you, my friend.'

Back at the camp, Nish joined Yara, who sat warily with Tyara and Vunio. She held herself erect and her hand was never far from the knife on her belt. Nish sat down. Minis shook Yara's hand, and the hands of the twins, to their giggly amus.e.m.e.nt.

'I must go,' Minis said. 'I too have my duties and they are pressing.'

He bowed, the other Aachim did too, and they went back to the construct. It whined away. The second machine, which had remained in the trees all this time, followed some distance behind.

'What was that about?' Yara demanded. 'Why did you sneak off with him so I couldn't hear what was going on?'

'I didn't sneak sneak off. He asked to speak to me privately.' off. He asked to speak to me privately.'

'Why?' she said imperiously. 'What did he have to say that could not be said out in the open?'

'The poor fellow is quite besotted with Tiaan,' said Nish, meeting her eye. 'He hoped I might be able to tell him where she was hiding. '

'And could you?' Yara demanded.

'I did not know her that well,' said Nish. 'She loathes me, as it happens.'

'Why is that?' Yara said sharply.

'I did her a bad turn, I'm ashamed to say. The Nish of those times was a callow, selfish youth. I've grown up since then.'

'Really? In that case, your callowness must have been truly prodigious.'

'I'm sorry if you don't find my service satisfactory. I'm doing my best.'

'I have no doubt you are but for whom?'

THIRTY-NINE.

'Tell me about this place,' Nish said to Yara the following day.

They were riding side by side through tall forest. The canopy was so high and dense that there was little undergrowth, and it was easy riding, as well as delightfully cool. They frequently had to cross rivers, the only hazard they had faced in days, though all proved to be sluggish and the horses were adept at swimming them.

Yara had not thawed. She still watched him every minute, as if she thought he was leading them into a trap, though that was absurd. She was the only one who knew where they were going. He hated being mistrusted. He liked Meriwen and Liliwen, and felt a bond with them from the attack on the way to Kundizand, but whenever he was near them he felt Yara's eyes on him.

'The Worm Wood is one of the greatest forests of Lauralin,' Yara said, checking ahead and over her shoulder. 'Perhaps the the greatest. From here it stretches unbroken a hundred and twenty leagues to the edge of the Great Mountains. It runs south and north for as great a distance, save for the bite out of it which is the fertile land of Borgistry. Even that is closing up at the southern end, near Clew's Top. Many civilisations lie within the forest, and many ruins. The south-western part of the forest, the uncanny Borgis Woods, surround a high range of white rock, the Peaks of Borg. Not many days' ride from here lies an even stranger place, Booreah Ngurle, the famous Burning Mountain. It is the greatest of many volcanoes that run along either side of the Great Chain of Lakes.' greatest. From here it stretches unbroken a hundred and twenty leagues to the edge of the Great Mountains. It runs south and north for as great a distance, save for the bite out of it which is the fertile land of Borgistry. Even that is closing up at the southern end, near Clew's Top. Many civilisations lie within the forest, and many ruins. The south-western part of the forest, the uncanny Borgis Woods, surround a high range of white rock, the Peaks of Borg. Not many days' ride from here lies an even stranger place, Booreah Ngurle, the famous Burning Mountain. It is the greatest of many volcanoes that run along either side of the Great Chain of Lakes.'

'I've heard of them,' said Nish.

'The lakes are so long and deep they seem to split the world apart. Warde Yallock is the best part of eighty leagues long, but only five wide. The first city in the world was built there, more than ten thousand years ago, before the Histories began. At the other end of the forest lies Parnggi, almost as long and even deeper, it is said. And certainly stranger it is a dark, wild, haunted place.'

'And the place we are going to?'

'It is called Morgadis.'

'Is it your family home?'

'Morgadis is the home of my sister, Mira, and she is a woman you will not want to offend.'

'I don't want to offend anyone,' said Nish. 'What is her trouble?'

'She lost her man and all three sons to the war. When the conscriptors came for her youngest she refused to give him up, and he was taken with violence. Since his death she has been bile piled on bitterness.'

'Why are you taking your daughters there?'

'She is my sister,' Yara said simply. 'And Morgadis is the safest place I know. Mira can take care of herself. She is ... Well, you will see. Just don't mention the war.'

That night they stopped by the ruins of a great monastery. The gra.s.s was close-cropped inside the walls by grazing deer. Outside, the forest had obliterated all signs of the farms and vineyards that had once flourished here, apart from a broken stone well that Nish, intent on what lay ahead, almost rode into.

Fortunately the horse was watching its step. Nish yelped, and behind him heard Liliwen's tinkling laughter. He smiled. They had left danger well behind and the surroundings could not be bettered.

'What is this place?' he asked Yara as they dismounted and prepared to make camp in a long roofless hall. A grapevine, so old that its trunk was the size of a tree, scrambled over the walls, covered in tiny bunches of grapes which, unfortunately, would not be ripe for months.

'A monastery that belonged to the Thongi sect, a pacifist pastoral order who worshipped their strange G.o.ds here for two thousand years, until not so long ago.'

'Why did they leave?'

'The scrutators burned them out.'

Nish had never heard of such a thing. 'Why?'

'The Thongi questioned the authority of the Council and refused to send their young men to war.'

'That's all?'

'The scrutators like to show their power by making examples. Not a single monk remained. Don't go out of sight, girls,' she called as they wandered in the ruins.

Mounce led the horses down to a rivulet and then on to a river-flat meadow where the gra.s.s would be sweetest. Nish gathered wood for the campfire while Yara set up a tent for herself and the girls. After lighting the fire, he glanced up at the sky, which was clear.

'I think I'll sleep in the open tonight.' He walked down to the rivulet with a bucket in each hand. There was no sign of Mounce or the horses. The sun-warmed water looked so refreshing that he stripped off his sweaty clothes and lay in it, since it was only knee-deep. He'd washed his clothes, put them on and was on his way back when a despairing cry rang out.

'Liliwen, Meriwen!'

He dropped the buckets and ran. Yara was down the far end of the roofless hall, looking around frantically.

'Meriwen sang out, then something fell, like a wall toppling. Oh, I told told them to be careful.' them to be careful.'

'Where did the call come from?'

'Down here somewhere.' She swept her arm around a collection of broken walls, all that remained of a building that once had hundreds of rooms. Yara was shaking.

He offered her his hand and she took it gratefully. She could hardly blame Nish, since she had chosen the campsite.

'If we search through there,' said Nish, 'room by room, we must soon find them. And if something's fallen down we'll see it.'

Yara choked back a sob and nodded stiffly. 'I'll take this row, you do the next.'

Nish was halfway up his row when he heard a thin cry. 'Yara this way!' he yelled. Yara met him down the row. 'It seemed to come from underground.'

They found the place in the next row of ruined rooms paving stones that covered a vaulted ceiling had collapsed, leaving a neat rectangular hole in the gra.s.s. A couple of tall saplings grew in an angle of one wall but the rest of the s.p.a.ce was empty. Nish crept to the edge and looked down, for the remaining stones could be just as unstable. The afternoon light did not penetrate very well but he made out a small pile of rubble some distance below. There was no sign of the girls.

'Meriwen, Liliwen!' Yara screeched.

No reply. She looked on the verge of collapse.

'Run back and get the tent ropes,' he said. 'And see if you can find Mounce. He was down along the stream. I'll keep watch.'

She ran. Nish broke off one of the saplings, which was three or four spans long, and reached down to the rubble. The sapling did not look strong enough to support his weight but might do to slide down on. He went down the spindly trunk, burning his hands, and had a good look around.

He expected to find at least one of the girls buried under the rubble, but saw nothing apart from something white over the other side. He was practically standing on it before he made out what it was a skeleton. He moved smartly away, taking the pole with him. It was an awkward weapon but better than nothing. Nish had a healthy fear of old bones. One of the monks, no doubt. What could have happened to the girls?

The stone was stained with soot from the fire that had destroyed the monastery. Over the other way he saw more bones, the skeletons of at least three people, and two of them were headless. It was too dark to make out tracks. He walked into the gloom, calling the girls' names. Once he pa.s.sed beyond the lighted area his hackles rose, though he could not tell why. It felt like a place he had no right to be in.

Just enough light penetrated to show that he was in a cellar or bas.e.m.e.nt with lots of long, narrow compartments, each containing something white. Here and there, luminous patches could be seen. It was not a cellar but a mausoleum or catacomb. The white objects were bones.

What a hideous place, and it would be worse when night fell, in about half an hour. 'Liliwen!' he roared, 'Meriwen!' When the echoes died away he heard a faint squeak far off to his right.

Nish turned that way and the floor moved under his foot. A loose flagstone, or was the whole floor unstable? He probed with his foot. The stone collapsed under him and Nish had to leap sideways onto the base of a pillar as a section of floor folded with a crash and rumble that shook dust down on his head. The fire must have damaged the lower levels and the entire ruin could come crashing down.

He should have turned back then, but Nish could not bear to leave the girls in such a dangerous and haunted place. How had they run through here and survived? Nor could he bear to think of Yara's reaction if he came back without them.

He crept backwards to a glowing niche. The luminosity was due to a phosph.o.r.escent growth on the bones. Picking up the brightest one, a partly cloven skull, by the eye-holes, he held it high. It gave just enough light to see. Skin-creeping from the look in its empty sockets, he threaded it on a piece of cord around his neck.

Taking the pole in both hands, Nish probed the floor in front of him. It seemed solid. He went forward a couple of steps and probed again. He encountered another unstable section before he got across the chamber, but found a way around it. The floor was most solid next to the pillars. On the far side he came to three pa.s.sages.

'Girls!' he yelled.

There was a rumble in the distance but no reply. He took the left tunnel the earlier response had seemed to come from that direction. Halfway along he came to a shallow pit, also full of bones, some savagely hacked and broken. What barbarity had gone on here?

He made his way carefully through a maze of walls and pillars. There could be pits, wells or lower collapsed floors. Twice more the floor caved in under his probing pole, the second time beneath his feet. Nish spun the pole in his hands and managed to span the gap as he fell, though the shock almost tore his grip free. The flagstones dropped a long way before splashing into water.

Nish hung over the unknown depths, praying that the creaking pole would not break, or slide in as he went hand over hand to the edge. It did not, though he had the devil of a time getting up onto solid floor, and after that he was more careful. He threaded his way around objects lying on the floor thousands of bones and, as far as he could tell, all human. Most bore signs of frenzied sword work.

A long time later, when it must have been dark outside, he found the girls in the middle of a larger catacomb that contained hundreds of burial niches. It was dimly lit by a blue-white phosph.o.r.escent fungus growing on the bones.

Liliwen was sobbing quietly, and Meriwen holding her and trying to be as grown up as she could, though she had bitten through her lip with terror and her eyes were as wide as moons.

'Why didn't you answer?' Nish said gently, giving her his hand. She clung to it as her mother had.

'I tried,' said Meriwen, 'but I was so afraid, Nish. The bones moved as if they were watching us and I was scared that if I made too much noise ...'

Nish looked over his shoulder. The phosph.o.r.escence did shimmer in a way that suggested the bones were moving. He would be glad to get out of here. 'What happened?'

'The ground gave way and we fell down. We weren't hurt but Liliwen saw all those skeletons. Some of them didn't have heads!' she said. 'She ran, and I panicked and ran too. We ended up in here and there were bones everywhere and Liliwen put her foot down on a skull and it rolled under her and she fell and twisted her ankle.' She gasped a breath.

'Calm down,' said Nish. 'Just take it slowly.'

'I could hardly walk,' said Liliwen, snuggling under his arm. 'We tried to find a way back but we were lost. I told Meriwen to go on looking but she wouldn't leave me.'

'Sensible girl,' said Nish. 'I think we'll be right. I'm pretty sure I know how to get back.' He wasn't, but someone had to be the leader.

He picked Liliwen up. A st.u.r.dy girl, she was heavier than she looked. She moaned as her ankle was moved, and put both arms around his neck.

'Don't choke me or we'll never get out,' he joked. He put his shoe on something round and bony that rolled underfoot, and nearly dropped her.

'Careful,' said Meriwen. 'if you break your ankle ...'

'Come close behind,' he said over his shoulder, kicking bones out of the way.

'Don't worry,' Meriwen muttered, taking hold of his belt.

'Is either of you brave enough to hold this skull,' said Nish, 'so we can see?'

Meriwen shuddered, but took it. Nish reached out with his pole and they went forward.

'Hush, I think that's Mother calling,' said Liliwen after a good while.

'She's letting us know the way out.'

They wandered back and forth, Nish probing every ell of the way. If not for Yara calling, he would not have found the exit, for it was dark now. By the time they reached the hole, Mounce was there too. Yara tied the tent ropes together and Mounce pulled the children up.

Nish came up last and he was glad to be out of there, for there were bones everywhere and they had not come from the niches. Either the monks had been ma.s.sacred in the crypt or their bones had been thrown down afterwards. It made him think.