Fire and Fog

" There' s a way out of this. There has to be."

" Rest. Save your strength. Lan will come for us."

" Your faith in him is so great?" Ducasien stared at her in open wonder.

Inyx didn' t reply. She wondered if Lirory had been right about killing Lan. It hardly seemed likely. Lan Martak had withstood mages hundreds of times more powerful- he had endured the worst Claybore had to give and still lived.

But perhaps the gnome spoke the truth. Perhaps they were doomed.

Inyx tried to shake the feelings of dread mounting within. Lan ought to have found them by now. It had been hours and hours. To give up hope meant Lirory Tefize triumphed all the more.

" We might never leave here alive," said Ducasien in a low voice.

" That worries you?"

" I have regrets," the man said, sitting beside Inyx on the floor.

" What regrets? Things you' ve done?"

" Things I haven' t done."

Their eyes locked again. This time Inyx didn' t turn away. She couldn' t. She held the same fears that Ducasien did. Whether it was because he understood her, being of her own world, or whether the nearness of death drew them together she didn' t know. The attraction was apparent- and mutual.

Ducasien leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips across hers.

" I: I need more," she said in a weak voice.

" Then I will die without any regrets at all," he said.

Arms locked about one another, they embraced and kissed deeply. Their weight shifted and they lay side by side on the hard rock floor. Neither noticed. Fingers explored, probed, stroked, caressed, excited. Clothing slowly opened, exposing new territories for their mutual pleasure. And soon enough their bodies merged into one writhing, undulating mass of desire.

" No more regrets," whispered Ducasien.

" None," answered Inyx. Then words were no longer possible.

Krek tried to stand and fell heavily, only rising to half his full height. The numbness had left his front legs sooner than his rear ones. Twisting his thorax in a painful maneuver, he forced his inner juices to flow into his limbs.

" There," the spider said, heaving himself aloft. While still wobbly, he was able to walk about the chamber that had formerly housed the Heresler clan. All the gnomes had been packed off to servitude under the Tefize now. Why he had been spared, he didn' t know; that he had, only confirmed that humans and near humans were peculiar folk.

" A real spider would have eaten me while I was paralyzed," he said. " So much for their ruthlessness. Now where have Inyx and her new foundling gotten off to?"

Krek regained strength as he walked and by the time he homed in on the magical curtain holding Inyx and Ducasien prisoner, he felt the usual spring returning to his stride. Only the low corridor ceilings prevented him from bouncing along as he' d have liked.

" Friend Inyx," Krek called loudly when he saw her sitting disconsolately within the cell. She did not answer or even give the slightest notice of him. He lumbered to the magical barrier and examined it as well as he could. Krek was no mage, but he sensed magics of a permanent nature.

While this shimmering sheet lacked the potency of a cenotaph, it had a permanence to it that told the spider that waiting for the magics to dissipate was a mistake.

" Inyx!" he called as loudly as he could. She did not move.

Ducasien walked back and forth, hands clasped behind him. The man looked aloft nervously from time to time. Krek bent down and peered upward. The sight of acid rain dripping down the rock caused the arachnid to shudder.

" My friends, you are in a sorry state. Allow me to aid you, if I can." He began digging beside the magical screen in hope of penetrating the rock. Whether Lirory had imbued it with magical toughness or whether the rock was naturally strong, Krek didn' t know. All that mattered was his inability to dig through it.

" Might I swing down through that opening?" he wondered aloud, again looking upward at the tiny vent in the cell' s roof. Krek blinked at that idea. To drop a web down into the cell required him to venture outside. In the rain. With the mind- confusing fog.

" But I cannot allow you to languish in that awful cell. It is nothing but cold rock and that hideous burning water leaks from the very walls. Not even a fit spot to string a web within."

Krek tried futilely to again attract Inyx' s or Ducasien' s attention and then gave up on the effort. Only one course of action suggested itself. He had to locate Lan Martak and bring him down here to rescue Ducasien and Inyx- soon.

Humans were such frail creatures he didn' t know if the two within the cell would survive much longer.

Krek blinked and began turning about, looking for other magical beacons. Faint hints came from above. Krek went up through Yerrary, one level at a time, seeking out Lan Martak. When he finally reached a vaulted chamber with openings along the walls, he stopped. To pass through any of those doors meant he would find himself outside the warm bulk of protecting rock.

" Friend Lan Martak," he said, almost sobbing as he mouthed the name. He remembered how Lan had abandoned him, left him to fend for himself in the middle of battle. How he had used a spell to dismiss him like some lowly servant. To seek out the mage took more courage than Krek thought he possessed. His pride had been damaged- and even worse, his friendship betrayed.

" Friend Inyx needs my help," the spider said. " And without Lan Martak there can be no aid." He blinked again and saw flickers of magic outside. Lan Martak was nearby, out in the rain and fog, his magics intermittently flashing like the lightning arcing through the nighttime sky.

" Water," sobbed Krek. Then the spider plunged through one of the openings and out onto the slopes of Yerrary.

The rains pelted the mountaintop, setting the very rock afire. Krek saw thin streamers of fire rising from every spot where a droplet of rain struck ground- a double horror for him. Water and fire. He rubbed his furred legs together anxiously and then saw real trouble ahead.

Thick banks of fog drifted languidly down the mountainside. And within one of the fog clouds came distinct indication of Lan Martak and his magics.

" The fog affects humans as well as spiders," he told himself. But Krek fought down the need to return to the relative safety of Yerrary. Inyx needed his aid and retrieving Lan Martak was the only way that help could be given. No matter that Lan Martak had betrayed his trust. No matter anything. Krek fought to remain true to his friendship with Inyx.

She needed him. He plunged forth, talons clacking against the hard, acid- pitted stone of the mountain.

" Lan Martak!" the spider called out. The only answer he received was muffled cries from within the fog.

Krek stopped and looked down into a ravine filled with the mindaltering fog. He saw creatures lurking just behind the cloaking veils of mist, creatures so horrific his mind refused to believe in their existence. Krek tried holding his breath in the hope that this would make the beasts go away.

They only moved closer, as the fog rose up along the ravine walls.

" Lan Martak!" he called again. " Can you hear me? Friend Inyx needs your magic." He refrained from adding how much he needed to renew the bonds of their friendship, to find the cause for Lan' s dereliction during battle.

" Krek?" came the faint question. " So many enemies. They' re everywhere. Huge lizards. Fighting them. So tired. Can' t keep going much longer."

" Keep talking," Krek ordered. His sense of hearing was acute, but his sensing of vibration even more acute. Talons dug into the corroded, acid- pitted rock. He turned slowly until he found the source of the words, the bootsteps against rock, the clanging of steel into stone.