Fire and Fog

" Away, Krek," came the Voice. " Get away from here!"

The spider' s entire body rippled with pain as Lan gave the command he had delivered before. The overwhelming urge to leave seized Krek, shook him, forced him to move first one leg and then the other. Nothing counted except getting away from Lan Martak.

Lirory began sweating. The emerald glow of his throne took on a deeper hue as power surged through the gnome.

" You can' t best me," said Lan. The mage' s face remained unwrinkled with exertion or doubt. No perspiration ran down his forehead. Lirory' s very fingers dug fiercely into the stone armrests as he fought against Lan' s implacable defenses, his potent offenses.

" I am better," the gnome grated out between clenched teeth. " I am!"

Krek' s pain mounted as he fought to obey Lan' s command in spite of the nerve- numbing spell Lirory cast over him. Krek finally got away, his huge bulk tumbling through the hole in the wall and out into the corridor. Once outside Lirory' s huge stone chamber, all traces of the gnome' s spell vanished.

Inside, however, the magical battle continued to rage in ways Krek would never understand. But what he did understand was that a deadlock was again forming- unless he could somehow divert Lirory' s attention. Lan needed more time to regain his strength; Lirory drew too heavily from the power base in his throne to allow Lan to completely triumph.

Krek spat out a climbing web. The bright silver dot tipping the web arched up and found a protruding stone from the pyramidal apex forming the ceiling. The dot of adhesive hit the stone, spattered across, and firmly held the web strand. Krek squeezed forward, keeping his body as compact as possible, then launched himself. He swung a short distance before scuttling aloft on his thin strand of webstuff. In seconds he dangled over Lirory' s throne, directly under the apex.

The spider' s immense bulk caused the gnome to nervously glance overhead from time to time. This decreased the mage' s ability to continually counter Lan' s magical thrusts effectively. But when Krek came hurtling downward on the end of his web, Lirory Tefize' s nerve broke and he shot from the throne as if propelled by springs.

The instant that contact was lost between his body and the powergiving throne, the gnome knew he had made a fatal error.

" Martak, please, no!" the gnome shrieked.

But it was too late for him.

A fire elemental whooshed into existence around the gnome' s stocky body, whirled twice, and then shrieked in triumph as it leaped upward, trailing flames as it went. Lirory Tefize turned to ash under the intense heat of the salamander. Krek screamed as the flaming mass rocketed upward toward him.

Lan waved his hand almost contemptuously and the elemental vanished inches from the spider and the inflammable webbing.

Krek dropped to the floor and said, " You nearly allowed it to devour me, as it did Lirory."

" I stopped it in time. What are you worrying about?"

Krek crouched down, pulling legs in tightly around him. This was not the response he expected from Lan Martak. It was as if this human creature were another inhabiting Lan Martak' s body.

" You did well, Lan," said Kiska. The woman' s thin fingers stroked his arm and came to rest on his shoulder. He seemed to bathe in the admiration showered upon him by his bitter enemy.

" Thanks. I knew Lirory wasn' t able to stand up to me. Now we go after Claybore."

" No, Lan," said the woman. " You need to rest. Lirory almost killed you."

" Killed me?" Lan' s laugh sounded harsh to Krek. " That' s not possible. I' m immortal." But he did not rush out to seek Claybore. Instead, he sat upon Lirory' s throne. Where the gnome had created a green aura, Lan produced a pale red one. He closed his eyes and soaked in the power being generated from inside the throne.

" Lan Martak, we must go rescue friend Inyx and her companion," said Krek. " If you are not attacking Claybore right away, there is time and need."

" There is no need," Lan contradicted. " When Lirory died, his spell on them vanished. Go get Inyx and that Ducasien fellow out of their prison. It ought to be easy now."

" You will not accompany me?" the spider asked, more surprised than hurt.

" Do it," snapped Lan. The Voice echoed throughout the chamber. Krek felt infinite sorrow as he obeyed the magical command- sorrow that he obeyed because he had to rather than because he wanted to. Lan Martak' s magics took on more and more power and he used them in ways Krek did not approve of.

The spider lumbered out of Lirory' s chamber and down the corridor until he found a trough of acid water seeking a lower level. With care, he skirted the trough and the bubbling liquid it held and spiraled downward to the lowest level of Yerrary. There it took Krek only a few minutes to find the excavations and the cell where Lirory Tefize had left the humans to die.

Krek stood and stared into the cell. Inyx slept, Ducasien' s arm protectively around her shoulder. The man simply stared at a blank wall. Krek worried that Lan Martak might have been wrong, that it wasn' t possible to get the two from within the cell.

" Friend Inyx," the spider said softly. " I have come for you."

Bright blue eyes snapped instantly open. For a fraction of a second, Inyx looked as if she didn' t believe this was happening, that she only dreamed of rescue. Then she shoved herself to her feet and dove forward, arms outstretched. Krek caught her between his two front legs and spun her around clumsily.

" Krek! You did it! You rescued us!" she cried.

" Friend Inyx, I have only come for you. It is Lan Martak who has destroyed Lirory and lifted the spell binding you in the cell."

She frowned slightly and then called to Ducasien, " Come on. We' ve got work to do! Lan' s gotten rid of Lirory Tefize."

Ducasien approached more slowly, as if unsure of the spider' s intentions.

" He' s my friend, Ducasien," Inyx said, laughing and crying at the same time. " I never thought I' d see him again. Oh, do come on! We' ve got to join Lan."

Ducasien trailed behind the woman and the spider, stopping only to retrieve their weapons where Lirory had cast them aside before imprisoning them. He caught up and handed the weapons to Inyx, who strapped on the swordbelt and made sure the sword rested easy in its sheath.

" I knew he could do it. I told you he could!" Inyx kept saying over and over.

" Friend Inyx," began Krek. Then the spider stopped. How did he tell her that Lan had not specifically rescued her? In point of fact, Lan had refused to aid her. The spell was broken only as a result of Lirory Tefize' s defeat, not because Lan had applied himself to the task directly. While the results were the same, Krek' s spiderish mind worried over the motives.

" What' s bothering you?" Inyx asked.

" Nothing."

" I knew Lan wouldn' t let us rot there." Inyx held out her arms and displayed the tiny reddenings from acid water dribbling down onto her flesh. " We weren' t in there long enough to get really hungry or thirsty, but another day of the water coming in on our heads might have finished us off. I' m so glad he succeeded in breaking the ward spell!"

They made their way up through Yerrary and back to Lirory' s chamber. The sight of Kiska k' Adesina brought forth Inyx' s sword in a smooth draw. But before the dark- haired woman could launch a killing attack, Lan stopped her with a single command.

The Voice froze her solid.

" What' s going on, Lan?" Inyx raged. She fought against his spell and lost. " Why do you allow her to roam freely? Kill her!"

" No," the young mage said. " I need her."

" For what?" cried Inyx.

" Hush," cautioned Ducasien from one side. " There is more to this than you can unearth easily."