Fire and Fog

" There are things worse than being conquered by Claybore," said Krek. " Loss of your own self- esteem is one."

" Get out of here. Let me alone!"

Krek saw that Lan' s temper rose to a dangerous level. The mage' s fingers twitched and fat blue sparks jumped from one tip to the other. A fiery blast and Krek would be set afire. Krek didn' t know if there was any fate he feared more, unless it was drowning- or losing the friend who had been Lan Martak.

" When you need help, you can find me with friends Inyx and Ducasien."

Krek lumbered out of the chamber, leaving Lan and Kiska to their work poring over the grimoires left by Lirory Tefize. Krek had no doubt that, locked within one of those magical tomes, lay the secret of how to use Claybore' s legs against him. He also knew that the mere act of allowing Kiska k' Adesina to watch the search provided Claybore with inestimable advantage. She still worked for the disembodied sorcerer.

In the hallway Krek overtook Inyx and Ducasien.

" Where do you go, friend Inyx?" the spider asked.

" I don' t know," she said, close to tears. " He' s never been this way before. I' ve been with him when he' s bone- tired, halfdead, pushed far beyond the limits of human endurance, and never has Lan acted that way toward me."

" Forget him, Inyx. Come with me. We can walk the Road together. This isn' t the life for you," Ducasien said earnestly. " What does it matter if Claybore conquers or not? Will things change so much? We can find a backwater world, peaceful, away from the centers of power. He' d never bother us there."

Krek saw Inyx wavering. The offer tempted her greatly. And it appealed to the spider, also. This continual battling across worlds took its toll on him. He wanted nothing more than to return to his web and his mate, even if dear Klawn might try to eat him.

" I feel friend Ducasien has made a good case for our doing just as he recommends," said Krek. " Lan Martak is obsessed with victory over Claybore. Is victory such a needful thing?"

Inyx stared at the spider and slowly shook her head.

" Lan knows more than we do. He senses the evil Claybore brings more clearly than anyone else can. And we' ve got to support him. I don' t know what' s gotten into him, but we can' t just walk out on him. Not when he needs us more than ever."

" We have been through much with him," agreed Krek. " The war for the iron tongue resting within his mouth was a costly one." The arachnid stopped speaking for a moment, then added, " Is it possible he is infected by Claybore' s spirit through that tongue?"

" Who can say? When Lan first used it, he claimed he was more powerful. I think his behavior is sparked by something more than his own abilities. Perhaps it is the tongue' s doing."

" He certainly isn' t doing it to protect you," said Ducasien.

" Danger has been at our side ever since we' ve been together," Inyx said. She smiled up at Krek. " He rescued me from the whiteness between worlds. Another would have left me."

" I wouldn' t have," said Ducasien.

" Friend Ducasien, you would have been unable to reach her," said Krek. " The magics involved were the most complex Claybore was capable of invoking. Only a mage of Lan Martak' s caliber could have been successful."

" I' d have died trying," Ducasien maintained.

" Thank you," said Inyx. " I appreciate that. But Lan did rescue me. And not just that one time. We' ve been through much. Turning away now is difficult, no matter how he acts."

" Let us go and ponder this further," suggested Krek. " Another course of action might suggest itself." The spider and Inyx started off, Ducasien remaining behind. Krek stopped and twisted in an inhuman fashion to look under and behind his huge body. " Please come with us, friend Ducasien. Your experience will be most valuable."

Ducasien hesitated, then joined the pair. This time Inyx did not flinch away when Ducasien put his arm around her shoulders. Her own arm circled his waist and off they went, talking in low, confidential tones of what their best strategy might be.

" It' s got to be here. It must be!" raged Lan Martak. Anger rose and he clapped hands together to form a thunderbolt that almost deafened Kiska k' Adesina. She kept her hands over ears until it was obvious the mage' s wrath had abated slightly.

" Lirory kept his diaries in code," she said. " The code might take months to decipher."

" I' ve read his books," said Lan in disgust. " The code depended on a simple magical combination obvious to even an apprentice. The information is not written down."

" Perhaps he carried it within his head," she said.

" I can' t dismiss that as a possibility," Lan said. He stalked back and forth across the room, eyes fixed on the floor in front of him. " The legs are near but I won' t go after them until I have a way of using them. What did Lirory have in mind for them?"

" If Claybore knows where his legs are, also, why hasn' t he already tried to retrieve them?" The brunette gingerly sat on the single block remaining of Lirory Tefize' s throne. The power that had welled up and bathed both the gnome and Lan Martak did not come to her. She didn' t know whether to be miffed or relieved.

" Lirory protected them, of that I' m sure. Claybore is cautious. I have already robbed him of his skin and his tongue. To lose his legs would be a blow second to none. He dares not make a mistake now."

" He is close to dominance on all the worlds along the Road," said Kiska.

" Claybore is far from it," Lan contradicted. " The last encounter proves that. I am the stumbling block on his path. His grey legions might swarm and physically seize world after world, but without his magic to back them, they are nothing. I can defeat them all with a wave of my hand."

To demonstrate Lan lifted his arm and fire flickered from his fingertips. Then alternate fingertips froze solid while the others blazed with wild witchfire. He jerked his hand in a small circle and sent a ball of light burning through the rock vault of Lirory' s chamber and up through the mountain until it ripped apart the sky itself.

" You are a mighty mage," said Kiska. Even as she spoke, the loathing for what she did built within her. The woman struggled to keep from puking. In a dim fashion she understood Claybore used her against Martak, but this role did not suit her well. Playing the toady to the man who had killed her husband revolted her. She would be more at home driving a barbed shaft into Martak' s guts, then twisting until the entrails billowed forth.

How long would they be, she wondered. Long enough to string around the room? Would this appease her intense hatred for the man? Kiska k' Adesina wanted to find out. It might even be possible to rip his intestines from his belly and let him linger.

Martak had killed her husband with a single sword thrust. His own death would not be so easy.

Damn Claybore for what he did to her! The geas binding Martak bound her, as well.

Lan turned and looked at her, his expression softening. She made a small gesture beckoning him to her side. To her disgust he came like a lovesick puppy dog.

" I need you so," Lan said. " To think I tried to kill you so many times. That' s all so unreal to me. A nightmare."

" You are the greatest man in all the universe," she whispered. Kiska longed for him to be closer, to take her in his arms, to make love to her. And then, at the precise moment of climax, she would drive a dagger into his back. Then would her revenge be sweet.

" The others don' t understand the strain I am under. Krek demands attention all the time. He: he' s not human. He can' t understand what it' s like seeing evil such as Claybore' s loose in the world."

" And your Inyx?" Kiska almost hissed. What she' d do to that bitch made her revenge on Lan Martak seem pale in comparison. There would be mismatings with a dozen ferocious animals on a hundred barbaric worlds before she allowed Inyx to die.