'Here?' the Matah asked hoarsely.

'Minis told me to give it to your people, but I found Tirthrax abandoned.'

'Not abandoned,' said the Matah. 'My people have gone, en masse, north to our other city, Stassor. The war comes ever closer and they are meeting to see what may be done about it. They won't be back until next year. It is a long and hazardous journey.'

'By the time I arrived,' Tiaan continued, 'the Aachim were too weak to do anything with the crystal.' She glanced at Nish, then away. 'I had to save them. They told me how to assemble a gate-making device, which I called a port-all. I put the amplimet into the core of it, followed their instructions and created a gate.'

'You made a gate, from here to Aachan?' cried the old woman. 'Alone?'

'Yes,' Tiaan said faintly.

'Where is the port-all now?'

Tiaan moved close and whispered in the Matah's ear, watching Nish all the while. 'It is in the hall by the great glass gong.'

'Ah!' said the Matah. 'Continue, if you please.'

'I did all the tests and called Minis. The gate opened but the Aachim began to come through, in constructs.' She described the sleek metal machines and the way they hovered above the ground.

'I know all about constructs,' the Matah interrupted. 'I saw the first one ever built. How many were there?'

'I don't know,' said Tiaan. 'Thousands, certainly, and each contained ten or fifteen people.'

'There were more than eleven thousand constructs,' said Nish. 'I counted the ranks as they passed. They have gone down to the lowlands to wage war against Santhenar. You have betrayed your world, Tiaan.'

The Matah looked wan. 'I must sit down.' She slumped on the floor with her head resting on her knees.

'As I was betrayed,' said Tiaan bitterly. 'They must have been planning this invasion for a long time, for such a fleet of constructs would have taken decades to build. They used me and killed little Haani, who never hurt anyone in her life.' Tears ran down her cheeks. 'Vithis offered money in exchange!' She glared at the old woman. 'That was the grossest insult of all.'