Read Online Geomancer (Well of Echoes) by Ian Irvine - Free Book Online

place!’ Nish burst out. ‘Our artisans are
much
better than others, even when they use inferior, imported crystals. It must be the node here.’
    She resumed her caresses. ‘A lowly prober isn’t sent to solve
those
kinds of problems. That’s mancer’s work.’
    Nish looked chagrined, as if he’d revealed too much already.
    ‘How long have you been a prober, Nish?’
    He flushed. ‘Just since my father’s letter came, a week ago.’
    ‘And perhaps if he knew what you’ve told me, you’d be a prober no longer.’
    He went still. She considered him, head tilted so that the glossy hair stroked his shoulder. Her eyes ran up and down before settling about his middle. ‘I know something else you may like.’ She bent over him.
    Now he moaned when she stopped prematurely. ‘What are you really probing for, my little spy?’
    ‘I can’t tell you,’ he gasped. ‘A prober who talks is no prober at all, and likely to end up a slave. Or dead!’
    ‘Or in the front rank of the army, which amounts to the same thing. Let’s see if I can guess. This place is full of rumours but who can tell truth from falsehood? What does a prober do? He stays alert for people who aren’t doing their job, those who have unfortunate ideas, and those who think someone else could run the world better than our leaders. None of that here, though. This is a well-run, happy manufactory.
    ‘But there’s one other thing that probers do.’ She paused, gave him a long look, then bent her head again. He choked. She looked him fair in the eye. ‘
They hunt spies!
’
    The expression on his face almost made her laugh. He could not think straight. How she loved this power she had over men. Few women did these days.
    ‘Please,’ he whimpered.
    She just stared at him. He put his hands around the back of her head, trying to pull her down. She went with him a little way then stopped, and when he tried to use his strength she bared her teeth. They were alarmingly sharp.
    There was only one way to get what he wanted. Nish licked dry lips. ‘There is a spy, father is sure of it. Twice now, secrets of clankers made here, and only here, have been discovered far away.’
    ‘Who is the spy?’
    ‘We don’t know. Whoever he is, he’s too clever.’
    ‘Or she!’
    ‘Or she,’ he repeated.
    ‘I’ll help you. People will be wary of you, since your father is known to be perquisitor. But why would they suspect me?’
    He looked uncertain.
    ‘You’re worried that I’ll take the credit,’ she said with a lazy smile. ‘You need not – spycatcher is the last thing I want put to my name.’
    ‘What
do
you want, Irisis?’
    ‘What you offered Tiaan. What is mine by right. I want to be crafter, in charge of the entire controller works, and, one day, chanic of the province.’
    ‘But you’re only an artisan, and it’s not long since you were prentice.’
    ‘Crafter!’ she said coldly. ‘Then chanic.’
    ‘Most artisans never become crafter, and few – very few crafters will rise to be chanic.’
    ‘I have the talent for it; and the heritage. My father, my uncle, my grandfather, my great-grandmother and her mother before that, all were crafters or better. For four generations my family has held the position here. I’m going to be the fifth.’
    ‘You’re not old enough.’
    ‘That rule can be broken, in an emergency.’
    ‘Not by me.’
    ‘A chief examiner can. You promised it to Tiaan. I heard you.’
    ‘You didn’t want me at all!’ Nish cried. ‘All you wanted was what you could get out of me.’
    ‘Are you unhappy with what I’ve given you?’
    ‘N-no!’
    ‘Good, because I can’t stand whiners. Were you lying to Tiaan? I hate liars more than anything,
Nish
. I hope you never lie to me.’
    The fury of his thoughts showed on his face. ‘I … I might be able to do something for you. I have … some influence with my father, and more with my mother. I think I can sway them, as long as there is something in it for