Tetrarch (Well of Echoes) Read Online Free PDF

across the hemispherical chamber. ‘How came you here?’ She addressed the question to Tiaan.
    ‘I walked from Itsipitsi,’ Tiaan replied. ‘Before that, I sailed by iceboat upriver from the sea.’
    ‘And you, artificer?’ said the Matah.
    ‘By
balloon
,’ he said proudly. ‘All the way from the manufactory near Tiksi. And it was my idea.’
    ‘Balloon?’
    ‘A gasbag ten spans high, filled with hot air from a stove.’
    ‘Do you still have it?’
    ‘It lies on the slope of the mountain, directly below us.’
    ‘Take it back to warn your people.’
    ‘I sent a skeet the day before yesterday.’
    ‘It may not get there. Hurry! This is urgent, artificer.’
    ‘I can’t find the way out.’
    Taking a piece of paper from her pocket, the Matah sketched swiftly. ‘This point, here, is the stair behind you.’
    ‘First I have to gather fuel,’ said Nish. ‘There are no trees where the balloon is hidden, only bushes. And the winds –’
    ‘I’m sure you’ll find a way. After all,
it was your idea
. Go at once!’
    He did not move. He was still looking for a way to get Tiaan away. ‘But –’
    ‘Begone!’ roared the Matah, ‘or you shall feel real power.’ She swept her hands together and more of those golden bubbles quivered there.
    Nish held his ground. He was brave enough, Tiaan thought grudgingly.
    ‘Take food from the lower storerooms, should you require it,’ said the Matah.
    ‘I –’
    ‘
Now!
’ She hurled the bubbles at him.
    One struck his cheek and a yellow blister swelled there. Nish cried out, dashed the bubble away and bolted down the stairs.
    ‘And you?’ the Matah said to Ullii. ‘What will you do, little seeker?’
    Ullii came to her. The Matah put her fingers around the small woman’s head. A golden nimbus shimmered like a halo, lifting her colourless hair into drifting tendrils.
    ‘Go, child,’ said the Matah. ‘Follow your mate, and beware.’
    ‘Nish will never hurt me,’ Ullii said serenely.
    The Matah searched her face, then touched her on the shoulder. ‘I pray that you are right, though I fear otherwise.’
    Ullii went after Nish. The Matah turned back to Tiaan. ‘What will you do with your life?’
    ‘I ought to end it, to make up for all the evil I have done.’
    ‘You know nothing about evil, Tiaan. I pray you never will.’ The Matah held her gaze until Tiaan looked down.
    Pressing her palm to the wall, the Matah went outside to stand at the edge of the platform. Tiaan followed, shuddering in the cold. Her bare toes began to ache. The mountain towered above them, for they were barely a third of the way up it. Ahead and to either side stood peaks and glaciers as far as the eye could see, and that was very far in the crystalline air. Below lay a vast ice sheet, breaking away into glaciers all along one side.
    ‘It’s lovely,’ she sighed.
    The Matah glanced at her. ‘I never tire of it. I come here every day that the weather permits. But you are cold.’ Taking the coat from her shoulders, she wrapped Tiaan in it.
    Tiaan took it gratefully and shuffled to the edge, looking down on a sheer drop of at least a thousand spans. The great horn of Tirthrax hung directly above her. She had never been this high before, and her lungs strained at the thin air. ‘It would be so easy,’ she said aloud.
    Tiaan expected the Matah to talk her out of it, but she sat on the stone seat, saying nothing. The eyes were penetrating, though Tiaan could read nothing in them.
    ‘Do you not care if I live or die?’ Tiaan asked, trying to provoke a reaction. Why had the Matah saved her from Nish, only to ignore her now?
    ‘I care,’ said the Matah, ‘for I see you have much to offer. But if you really did plan to take your life, and I convinced you not to, you would do it as soon as my back was turned.’ She stared at the ice cap. The wind whistled around the edge of the platform.
    Tiaan regarded her blue, throbbing toes. Better get inside before she got frostbite. She was