to be liquid, and the only liquid metal is quicksilver.’
They were all staring at her now. Tiaan could feel a hot flush rising up her throat. ’But there was one last problem to be solved. The globe contains everything needed to act as a farspeaker, but how was it powered? There had to be a crystal at its core, in the quicksilver. What sort of a crystal? I could see nothing through the liquid metal.
‘I channelled power into the globe – so much power that even a dead crystal would have to respond. But this crystal wasn’t dead, and it gave forth such a strong aura that I could read it with my pliance. That told me what kind of crystal it had to be. It’s monazite.’
‘What’s monazite?’ said Irisis.
‘A stubby, hard yellow mineral Gilhaelith showed me once.’
‘It’s the first time I’ve heard of any mancer using monazite,’ said Flydd sceptically. ‘It doesn’t hold power at all.’
‘It doesn’t need to. Monazite has a particular and unique virtue,’ Tiaan said. ‘It generates power from within itself. Not much, but enough to power a farspeaker, and it lasts forever.’
‘Forever?’ said Malien.
‘Thousands of years, at any rate.’
‘But no one has ever been able to use the globe,’ said Flydd. ‘Some of the best mancers in the world have wasted their lives trying to.’
‘I read some of their writings in Gilhaelith’s library,’ Tiaan replied. ‘In ancient times, mancers tried to recharge the globe, but the power was dispersed by the liquid metal. Besides, monazite can’t hold a charge.’
‘And recent mancers, such as my humble self?’ said Yggur. ‘Why did they not discover the answer?’
‘You know as well as I do, surr.’ The flush now covered her face up to the roots of her hair. Tiaan just wanted to get away.
‘Indulge me, artisan.’
‘Since fields were discovered a century ago, mancers seldom think of any other kinds of power. Malien and yourself are the only ones who still use the old ways. But the globe employs an entirely different force, forgotten aeons ago.’
‘Then why doesn’t it work?’ cried Yggur in frustration.
‘It’s a puzzle.’
‘A puzzle?’ he echoed.
‘No one else knew how to solve it because no one else could see all the layers at once, or understand how they worked together to create a farspeaker.’ She squeezed the top and bottom of Golias’s globe, then flicked her hand. The eight layers revolved. Tiaan stood with her eyes closed, visualising the moving layers, squeezed again, and all froze into place. ‘There.’ She held the globe out to Yggur but he did not take it, so she went on.
‘I work out the required alignment in my mind, spin the globe and, when the layers come to the right alignment, I stop them in place. The globe is ready to be used.’
‘So you say,’ said Malien. ‘But how can you prove it?’
From her other pocket, Tiaan took a small piece of crystal wrapped around with fine wires in intricate patterns. She carried it to the back of the room, sat it on a chair and returned to the front. Holding Golias’s globe close to her mouth, she said, ‘How can I prove it?’
A hollow, scratchy voice came from the crystal at the back of the room, fractionally delayed, ‘How can I prove it?’
Yggur’s eyes shone. ‘Oh, this is glorious! How far can you separate them, Tiaan?’
‘I don’t know. This is the first test.’
‘How did you know it would work?’ he exclaimed.
‘I didn’t. I almost didn’t mention it, I was so afraid of looking a fool.’
‘Let’s try it now, at once. This is marvellous, marvellous.’ Yggur leapt up and began striding back and forth in his excitement. ‘Tiaan, write something on a piece of paper and give it to Nish. Don’t tell us what it says.’ Yggur took up the wire-wrapped crystal. ‘Come on, everyone. We’ll go right to the other end of the fortress.’
Tiaan scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to Nish. Everyone else trooped out after Yggur. Nish remained in his chair.
Tiaan wished he had gone too, but he didn’t budge. She gave them ten minutes to get to the other end of the building, then said, slowly and carefully, ‘I just want to go to bed.’
Five minutes later Yggur reappeared, panting. He’d run all the way. ‘ “I just want to go to bed”,’ he quoted.
‘That’s correct,’ said Nish, showing him the paper.
‘And as strongly as if you had spoken in my ear.’ Yggur came across and