Fire and Fog

" The Hereslers will not oppose you now," said Lirory. " Get a small party together. We go in to retrieve our two guests."

The gnome hastened away and returned a few minutes later with a scruffy band more fearful than anxious to serve. Lirory silently motioned them forward. It was a measure of his control that they obeyed. To have refused meant even worse punishment than death at the hands of the large ones allying themselves with the Heresler.

Lirory Tefize moved the viewing port around and found the spider. Spell after spell wove through the air and bound the arachnid' s feet together. When Krek sensed the first of the Tefize clan at the barriers, he attempted to stand. The spells held him firmly.

" But he is so different," muttered Lirory. He tried other spells to render Krek totally unconscious and all failed. Finally he gave up on the attempt. Keeping the spider pinned to the ground, his deadly long talon- tipped legs powerless, was almost as good as being able to kill him magically.

Lirory turned to the Heresler gnomes hacking and cutting at his own clansmen. Pass after pass sent the defending gnomes reeling backwards. Lirory felt drained to the center of his being by the time the Tefize had conquered the Heresler.

On shaking legs, he walked forward, then paused and stiffened his resolve. It did not do to show weakness before an enemy- or an ally. With haughty contempt, he strutted into the center of the Heresler clan territory and slowly turned, looking at the captives.

" Well done, my friends," he complimented.

Even though they had done little, the Tefize clan' s morale rose. They puffed out their chests and bullied their captives.

" This day will long be remembered in our clan tales," Lirory went on. Even though his knees threatened to lock and send him toppling face forward onto the ground, he walked about congratulating the gnomes individually and glaring at Broit Heresler along the way. When he came to Krek, Lirory stopped and stared.

Krek' s legs were still tangled with the numbing spells he had used, but his mandibles clacked ferociously. Lirory made a point of standing well back. One quick snap of those death scythes might sever head from torso. He started a new spell, one workable at close range, and then stopped. Dizziness passed through him and threatened to make the gnome mage fall into a faint.

" Leave the spider," he said, fighting his weariness. Lirory knew it would take hours to regenerate power. How had that large one Lan Martak held off the combined magical attacks of Claybore and himself? It hardly seemed possible in the face of his own exhaustion now. But Martak was long dead. The creatures thriving on the exterior slopes of Yerrary were not gentle. And after breathing the mind- twisting fog and feeling the acid rains burn skin and set fire to the very rock, there was no way Martak could live.

" What of them, Master?"

Lirory looked at Inyx and Ducasien, then allowed himself to slowly smile.

" Bring them. And as for the others of the Heresler clan, they are permitted to live."

Broit Heresler spat at the mage and missed.

Lirory went on as if nothing had happened, saying, " They will be permitted to live as vassals of the Tefize. See to it that they are given appropriate jobs."

" There won' t be any of us who' ll dig your grave, Lirory," cried Broit Heresler. " See how long it takes the cave worms to gnaw your bones. None of us will go outside and give your corpse a proper burial. Wait and see!"

Lirory gestured that the Hereslers be taken away. The giddiness still bothered him. He needed to return to his throne of power and replenish his energy- soon.

" Don' t bother with lifting them. Drag them. It' s easier." He took a perverse glee out of seeing Inyx and Ducasien dragged along the rough rock corridors. This more than anything else kept the mage moving with a sprightly step, his bandy legs pumping along quickly to keep up with his clansmen.

Several turnings later, they entered an area strictly Tefize. Down two levels, past the trough of rainwater pouring in from outside, and to the new excavations they went. Finally Lirory stopped and pointed to a rock cell.

" There. Place them inside."

Inyx and Ducasien were semi- lucid now, moaning and weakly thrashing about. In minutes they would fight off the effects, of his numbing spell. Lirory watched, summoned his modicum of remaining power, then bound them magically to the rock cell. Try as they might now, they would never be able to leave this small, stony enclosure.

" What did you do to us?" asked Ducasien. The man sat up and held his head. Lirory knew it had to be splitting wide open. That was one delightful aftermath of his nerve- numbing spell.

" That is of little concern to you. You should be more worried about what you are to do next. There is no escape from this cell for you. None. You will die within it. No food, no water. Or rather," Lirory said, chuckling evilly, " the water isn' t very good for drinking."

He pointed. High above Ducasien and Inyx the cell roof peaked up and showed a small patch of the cloud- riddled nighttime sky. Rain blew into the opening and dribbled down the walls.

" If a real storm blows up, this cell might fill with water."

" It can' t. It' d go out the doorway," Ducasien said. To human vision there was nothing barring the way. To Lirory' s magical sight, however, a barrier firmly blocked anything material from passing.

" Think, large one. We shout at one another, as if we talk through walls. Is that not so?"

Ducasien shoved himself forward, got his feet under him, and lurched toward Lirory. The gnome simply stood, waiting, watching, smirking. Ducasien let out a scream of infinite agony as his hands touched the magical sheet stretched tightly over the opening.

" It will prevent water from leaving the cell," repeated Lirory. " Rains come, fill up, the acids burn away your flesh. Yes, that is what might happen- if you are lucky."

" And if we' re unlucky," Inyx said, managing to croak out the words.

" Ah, dear lady, if you do not pray for a storm to end your miserable lives you will linger for a long, long time. No food, you know."

" We might die of thirst first."

" So be it," said Lirory, enjoying this.

" What' s to keep us from climbing out?" asked Ducasien.

" Nothing." Lirory smiled wickedly. If they tried that, the water seeping down the rock would surely burn their fingers severely and, if luck rode with them and they reached the top somehow, the opening wasn' t large enough for either to crawl through. The finest mountain climbers had tried to escape this cell and had failed. Neither Ducasien nor Inyx would live for longer than a week- or even through the storm growing outside."

" Lan will save us. He can just wave his hand and make this barrier vanish."

" Yes, dear, dead lady, he might be able to do so. If he lived. He does not."

" You lie! You short, bowlegged, wart- ridden bastard! You' re lying!"

Lirory said nothing more. Let the dark- haired woman rage. It only added to her torture. He now had to return to his throne of power. Without rejuvenation he would keel over all too soon. With as deliberate a move as possible, Lirory Tefize whipped his cloak over one shoulder, spun, and walked off, never looking back at his two prisoners.

The mage felt nothing but satisfaction at this day' s work. With his clan enemies removed, he had only Claybore to contend with. And soon, very soon, Lirory Tefize' s name would be bannered- feared!across a score of worlds.

" How long?" asked Ducasien, pacing to and fro in the cell.

" There' s no way to tell." Inyx nervously looked above to the tiny opening in the rocky ceiling. Wind whirled droplets of the acid into the air and the morning sun caused bright rainbows to form, rainbows of death.