Fire and Fog

CHAPTER SEVEN

" That' s not possible," Inyx said forcefully. Her words stung the spider more than she intended. Even larger tears beaded at the corners of the huge dun- colored eyes before spilling over to drip onto the floor. Inyx went to Krek and put her arms around his chitinous thorax. He shook her off.

" Friend Inyx, this is the end for me. I have endured so much in my life, but always have I thought Lan Martak' s allegiance to me a permanent one. I was wrong! I have been wrong about so many things. Why did I ever stray from my web? Why, oh why?"

Ducasien shuffled nervously nearby, his hand rubbing over sword hilt. He appeared unsure whether to draw and hack at the giant arachnid, run, or stay and listen.

Inyx left Krek momentarily and whispered to the man from her own home world.

" He is distraught. Lan has done something to him. A spell, perhaps. I don' t know why he' d do such a thing, but we have to find out. The two of them have been fast friends for longer than I have known Lan."

" He is rather large, isn' t he?" Ducasien said, eyeing the spider. Krek shivered and collapsed into an even smaller bundle on the floor. His long legs sprawled gracelessly, making him look like a felled tree with its roots pulled from the ground.

" You' ve never been on a world with the mountain spiders?" Inyx raised one eyebrow in surprise, then remembered how few worlds she' d seen with the spiders. Without Krek and Lan accompanying her, she might never have found even a single valley filled with the monstrous webs and the incredibly fragile- appearing aerial walkways traveled by the beasts.

" I' ve seen some odd things, but nothing to compare."

" He' s not odd," she snapped. " Sorry," Inyx said in a softer tone. " This is making me edgy. I can understand swordplay. I can even understand courtly intrigues and the backstabbing of politics, but dealing with Krek is different." She turned toward Ducasien and almost whispered, " He' s my friend."

" You don' t want to see him hurt. I understand that," said Ducasien. " How can I help?"

" What? You don' t have to. This isn' t your fight."

" I want to make it my fight," he said, looking directly into her vivid blue eyes. Inyx felt the current of emotion flowing between them and fought it. She didn' t want it. Not like this. She had other battles to fight, other loves to win- loves that had been won. Lan wandered inside this hollowed mountain, needing her. That he had dismissed Krek in such a cavalier fashion indicated that.

Not for a moment did Inyx believe Lan had abandoned Krek. Put a geas on him to save him, yes. That was fully within her powers to understand. Lan might even have said something in the heat of battle that the spider had misinterpreted. Krek' s mind was not human; his thoughts followed devious paths not shared by nonarachnids.

" Krek," she said, " tell me everything that happened."

The spider lamented a bit further, then finally unraveled the tale of battle at the rim of the pit.

": the ledge crumbled away so I swung out on a strand of web and dangled over the pit waiting for him. When I called, he: he dismissed me."

" Do you remember his exact words?" asked Ducasien.

Krek turned one eye toward the man and said, " I do not know you."

Inyx spoke quickly to introduce them. Krek remained in his despondent state.

" I ask only to help you," said Ducasien. " There might be a clue in the manner of his speech, the way he said the words. After all, you were in mortal combat. The slightest of mistakes might have meant both your deaths."

" That is the odd thing," said Krek. " Claybore said that Lan Martak could never die. It: it affected him so strangely. He both grew in stature and shrank."

" Shrank?" asked Inyx, puzzled.

" He took on greater magical abilities. I felt the ebb and flow of his power as if it were some palpable force. But something fled from within him, too. He became diminished from what he had been."

" That' s the answer," said Inyx. " Claybore cast a spell on him."

" I sense magic. The tide of battle did not go in that direction. This was something within Lan Martak. And that was when he tossed me aside like a well- gnawed insect carcass." Krek pulled in his long legs until he occupied a space hardly larger than the length of Inyx' s sword. Anyone passing by in the corridor might even mistake Krek for a coppery colored boulder.

" What do you think?" Inyx asked of Ducasien.

" Magic is alien to me. I know only what I have overheard and most of that is boast or outright lie. Never have I actually confronted a sorcerer."

" You are new along the Road," said Inyx. " In spite of what Krek says, I don' t think Lan willingly chased him off. To protect him, yes. To warn us, yes. But I know Lan. He would never ignore a friend in need."

" People change," said Ducasien.

Inyx turned and her eyes flashed angrily.

" Lan did it to protect him. I know it."

Ducasien fell silent and Inyx' s anger cooled. She worked over the events in her mind and came to an uneasy realization. Lan Martak had changed since she' d met him. While their love had deepened and taken on an intimacy she had never dreamed of- the mental link between them when they were together revealed both their most intimate thoughtsLan was not the man she had met so long ago. He had grown and in that growth had changed. His magical powers demanded more of him than she' d thought any human could deliver. He had delivered and kept on growing in ability. Had he reached the point where he no longer controlled the forces flowing about him? Did the magics now control him?

" Could he truly be immortal?" asked Ducasien, breaking the woman' s train of thought. " I have heard of such but, well, I believed those to be wild tales told over a mug of wine."

" Immortal? Lan? Hardly," she said, but the words rang hollow and she felt fear gripping at her belly. The cold within refused to go away because Inyx worried that Lan might have become more than mortal. Immortal? If so, he was lost to her forever. She would be only an ephemera in his life, a moment' s diversion in an eternity of experience. Would he even remember her name in a thousand years? In a hundred?

She shook off such nonsense. Lan was not immortal.

" There are-" began Ducasien, but his words were cut off by a wild cry echoing down the stony corridor. The sound of heavy boots clattered and scraped against rock and soon enough Broit Heresler stumbled into view.

" Help," he gasped out. " We have been attacked. The Tefize clan invaded our territory. They try to kill us all!"

The gnome had been battered almost beyond recognition. Crimson flowed in spurting streams over his face and soaked his collar and shoulders. His right hand rested limply within his tunic and his left arm carried a deep cut caked over with dried blood.

" You know this one?" asked Ducasien, his sword out and pointed at Broit.

" Yes, he befriended us outside. We fought together and then got separated within the mountain."

" Which clan is he?" asked Ducasien.

" Heresler. The gravediggers." Inyx saw the tall man relax a bit, his sword point dropping from target. " What do you know of them?"

" They are friendly enough," Ducasien answered, " and have helped me a time or two. The Tefize kill any who stray into their corridors. The Nichi are little better."

" You' ll come to our assistance?" asked Broit Heresler, falling to his knees and almost fainting from the pain caused by his wounds.

" Inyx?" The man looked at the dark- haired woman for her response.

" We' ll help. What else can we do? We need friends inside Yerrary and the Hereslers are our best bet."

" The Heresler clan will not forget this. We will give you the finest funeral, the best grave site, the most pallbearers of any of those whom we have buried. I promise it!"

" How touching," Ducasien said dryly.

" It' s their life," said Inyx, cautioning the man not to make further comment on this. " Where is the fighting?"

Broit Heresler pointed in the direction he had come.

" Krek? Will you aid us? Our friends need us."

" Lan Martak does not need us. He does not need me. He told me to go away as if I were a mere spider, a servant; worse!"

" I need you. The Heresler clan needs you. And we' ll find Lan and get this straightened out."

" There is nothing to straighten out, friend Inyx." Krek heaved himself to his feet and shook like a dog just out of a pond. " Of course I will fight alongside you. You are all that I have left."

Inyx didn' t want to argue with the spider. She patted him on one nearby leg and then helped Broit Heresler to his feet. The gnome tottered precariously but showed more strength in walking than she' d given him credit for. The rolling gait reminded her of a sailor long at sea finally come ashore, but Broit managed to make good time in spite of his unsteadiness caused by his wounds. Within minutes she heard the first sounds of battle.

A surge of anticipation seized the woman. She had been raised for combat. Her hand tightened on the hilt of her sword, then she took a deep breath. Inyx let out a bloodcurdling yowl of attack, then rushed forward.

Her frontal attack momentarily scattered the Tefize and gave Broit a chance to regroup his beleaguered grave- diggers. Inyx swung her sword in a smooth, economical arc, cutting at wrists and necks, lunging for exposed throats and groins, and even occasionally lancing through to an eyeball. In minutes her blade dripped gore.

Ducasien came to stand beside her, guarding her left, giving her encouragement.

" You fight like a legion. There is no way they can defeat us if you keep up this pace!"

Inyx flashed him a smile, then said, " Shut up and fight, dammit. They' ll swarm over us like locusts if we don' t account for more of them soon." Inyx disengaged her blade from a probing broom handle, cut over, and lunged. The Tefize gnome let out a gusty sigh as he diedbut another rushed forward to take his place. And another and another.

Even with Ducasien helping, Inyx found herself being beaten back. The crush of numbers overwhelmed them and their position.

Inyx shouted out to Broit Heresler, " We need to retreat. Lead the way to a safer spot where we can make a stand."

" There is no safer spot," the gravedigger moaned out, clutching his injured right arm. " This is the heart of Heresler territory."

Inyx took the opportunity to glance about her. If this was the Heresler stronghold, they were indeed in serious trouble. Everywhere she looked lay dead gnomes- all diggers- and the phosphorescent moss growing on ceilings and walls had been ripped off in many spots, giving an eerie cast to all that happened within the chamber.

Death moved in green- glowing shadows.

The Tefize launched a redoubled attack that bowled Inyx over. She lost her sword and pulled forth her dagger to hamstring and jab at muscular bodies washing over her- but the woman knew it was all in vain. They had her and would quickly destroy her.

" Aieeee!" came the shrill cry. Inyx' s head almost split from the reverberation in the closed chamber, but her heart beat so hard it almost exploded in her chest.

" Krek!" she called. " Here!"

The mountain arachnid lumbered forward, mandibles clacking like a scythe against grain. Gnome after gnome perished. Krek cared little whether they were Tefize or Heresler; if they stood in his way, they died, but for the most part they were Tefize.

" I' ve never seen a fighting machine like that," muttered Ducasien, stopping to stare as Krek slashed his bloody way into the center of the room. Even though the spider stood hunched over, he managed to reach out with his legs and rake talons over exposed bodies. Gnomes by the score died before they could flee.

Within the span of another frenzied heartbeat, the Tefize clan fell into disordered retreat, shrieking and pointing, dropping their crude weapons, and disappearing into minor corridors too small for Krek to follow.

Looking aloof, the spider simply stood in the center of the chamber as if nothing had happened and shook off the sanguinary gore.

" You are the mightiest warrior I have ever seen," complimented Ducasien. " May I shake your hand?"

Krek canted his head to one side and studied the man with a saucer- sized eye.

" You are another of those silly humans unable to perceive I have no hands. But if you want to take my right front leg, you may do so. I feel it is a strange custom, but one with which I am not unacquainted, after enduring it on other worlds."

Krek lifted the indicated leg and held it out for Ducasien. The man took hold and shook solemnly.

" It is my privilege to name you my friend," the man said.

" You defended friend Inyx quite well, from all appearances," Krek said, looking over Ducasien' s shoulder at the pile of dead. " If for nothing else, that elevates you to the exalted position of my friend." The spider bobbed up and down, then said, " Friend Ducasien, is she well? She still lies on the floor in a most unflattering pose."

" Inyx!" the man cried.

" I' m all right," Inyx said, struggling to sit up. Bodies piled across her held her until she managed to wiggle free. " I' m a little bruised, nothing more."

" Are you sure?"

For an instant their eyes locked. Inyx uncomfortably broke off the gaze. It spoke too much of things she did not wish to pursue.

" Of course I' m sure. Help me to my feet." Inyx staggered slightly, then saw the cut along her upper thigh. " I need some help binding that, but otherwise I' m still in fighting trim."

" I' ll tend the wound," said Ducasien, but before the man took a single step forward Krek pushed between the pair.

" One moment. A bandage is required. I am most expert at such matters."

" I' ll:" started Ducasien, then fell silent. In fascination he watched as Krek reached out with surprisingly gentle strokes and cut away the cloth around Inyx' s wound. Inyx cleansed her own wound and then Krek spat forth sticky webstuff that pulled the jagged edges of the gaping cut together. The flesh held in place, the spider spun forth a cocoon of the finest silk. Inyx' s leg was neatly bandaged in less than a minute.

" The silk will decay soon and fall off within a week. By then you should be well healed."

" That' s amazing," said Ducasien. " How do you do it?"

" I' m a spider," Krek said indignantly. " The silk is meant to fall apart within a week so my hatchlings can get at the cocooned food, not that I consider friend Inyx in such a light, mind you. This is merely an application that occurred to me some time ago when I noted how often you humans damaged yourselves."

" Lan doesn' t need such bandagings," spoke up Inyx. " He can heal himself- and us, too- magically." Even as she said the words, the woman knew she' d made a grave error reminding Krek of how little Lan needed him, even for menial tasks like this. She reached out and laid a gentle hand on the spider' s nearest leg and said, " Krek, I need you. And I' m sure Lan does, also."

The spider turned away. Every footstep left a bloodied mark to show his passage down a side corridor.

" Where' s he going?" piped up Broit Heresler. " We want to have a celebration. For all of you. You' ve saved our homeland. And look at the work you give us," the gnome declared, looking at the bodies stacked about the chamber. " No shirking our jobs now!"

" The victory won' t last for long," said Ducasien, " unless we can build some barricades to hold them back. With your depleted numbers another attack might be the last."

" We' re getting even with them," the gnome said defiantly. " We' re not going to bury any of their bodies. See how that sits with Lirory Tefize! This' ll be ample warning to the other clans, too, that we Heresler don' t fool around. We mean business."

" What Ducasien means is that you' re the ones going to be buried if the Tefize attack again. There' re only a few of you left."

" Us buried? Don' t be ridiculous. If all the Heresler are dead, there won' t be any more gravediggers." As if this thought hadn' t occurred to the gnome before, he turned pale at the idea. " Great Yerrary, that' d mean chaos. Disaster. Dead bodies everywhere."

" Someone else would take over the job," said Ducasien.

" They can' t. Each chore is specialized, hereditary. Only Heresler bury. This might be the demise of Yerrary if they kill us all off. Oh, no!"

Broit gathered the pitiful few survivors around him and they spoke hurriedly, gesticulating wildly. Fear began to show on their wrinkled faces as the full impact of what defeat meant penetrated.

Ducasien and Inyx walked around the chamber and saw sleeping pallets placed in shallow depressions in the rock walls, a few possessions, odds and ends indicating living quarters rather than simply another corridor. They exchanged sad glances and walked on. This was no fit way to live, hidden under tons of rock and never seeing the sky. On their home world it had been different. The seasons were kind, game was plentiful, and all were able to live as they chose, free and in the soft lemon sunlight.

The gnomes in Yerrary existed in conditions totally alien to Inyx and Ducasien.

" We could block off this passage," Ducasien said. " That leaves only those four ways in. A waist- high barricade would slow down a full- force attack."

" Better to string fang- wire and let the bastards cut themselves to ribbons if they attack."

" I didn' t see much evidence of metalworking," said Ducasien. " Fang- wire requires at least low- grade steel to do any good."

" They must have wire around. When I found the source of their drinking water, the entire chamber was filled with glass and metal vats, tubes and pipes. I don' t remember seeing wire, but Eckalt must use it somewhere."

" Eckalt?"

Inyx explained to Ducasien about the toad- being and his distillation plant. Ducasien shook his head in puzzlement.

" This is a strange world, unlike any I have seen along the Road. I think I have seen enough of it."

" You' d move on?" Inyx asked, sudden fear clutching at her throat.

" You want me to stay? For a while?"

Again Inyx averted her eyes from his. She didn' t trust herself to speak. She only nodded.

" Then I' ll stay. For a while. And to make that stay safer, we' d best get to work. Do you think the gnomes would take kindly to a few suggestions about defending their pitiful little fortress?"

" Let' s see."

Inyx went and spoke at length with Broit Heresler and several of the surviving clan leaders. In time she convinced them to erect barricades as Ducasien had suggested. While they had no fang- wire or anything similar to it, Broit did show Inyx how razor- edged digging implements could be placed in traps along the corridors. The unwary might set off these devices and end up minus a hand or head.

" Confusing," admitted Ducasien. " No wire to speak of, but they use the best of steel for cutting edges. Drawing wire wouldn' t be hard and weaving it with the barbed points would be simplicity in itself."

" I doubt that," said Inyx. " These folk have existed for centuries like this. Their culture is stable and any intrusion is looked upon as a catastrophe. That' s why this civil war is so upsetting to them. Lirory Tefize has been bitten by the worst bug of all- he seeks power."

" As I said before, I' ve had little contact with mages. It strikes me as peculiar a mage of such power would be found among them."

Inyx watched as Broit and the others bustled about dragging stones and digging pits. These were a people of physical attributes, not magical ones.

" I agree, but magic stretches between the worlds. Perhaps Lirory Tefize tasted it on some other world."

" They don' t strike me as travelers, either."

" One walks the Road for many reasons."

" There is glory," the man said.

" Adventure is more like it. Who can know of your triumphs if you only pass through on your way to another world?"

" Knowledge," said Ducasien. " It' s a portable wealth far transcending gold and jewels."

" Knowledge is two- edged and cuts the unwary. A better reason is curiosity. What lies beyond the next cenotaph? A better world? A world of jest or sorrow? One covered with oceans or deserts or mountains and paradise?"

" You' ve seen them all, haven' t you?" Ducasien asked.

They sat on a small ledge cut into the wall and leaned back, the green glowing moss soft against their tired backs.

" I' ve seen more than my share. Ever since I met Krek and Lan, the worlds have become more deadly. Claybore' s influence stretches over most of them."

" But you fight well against the sorcerer," insisted Ducasien. " You are the mightiest warrior I have ever seen. Your blade work is superb and your sense of tactic unparalleled."

" You' re just saying that," Inyx said, feeling a blush rising.

" I say it because it is the truth. You are a remarkable woman. That you are from my own world is all the more delightful."

Inyx swallowed hard when Ducasien reached out and placed his finger under her chin and turned her face to his. She felt as if her heart would burst from her chest. Hands shaking, she tried to push away. Ducasien held her firmly and moved closer. Their lips brushed in a kiss both gentle and electric. Inyx melted within and then remembered.

Lan Martak. Somewhere in the bowels of this mountain her lover battled Claybore. He might be close to death; he might desperately need her fighting prowess of which Ducasien boasted.

Inyx pulled away and stood, face flushed.

" I' d best find Krek and make certain he is all right. The spider tends to mope." She didn' t wait for the man' s reply. She almost ran away. But she couldn' t flee her innermost emotions.