Iron Tongue

Lan dropped his sword as he fought against the spell conjured by Iron Tongue. He robbed it of all its power- but in time? Was Claybore alert enough to have detected the leakings of such magical power?

Iron Tongue snorted in disgust, then used his voice.

His Voice, Lan mentally corrected. When Iron Tongue spoke, all listened.

" Cease fighting." The greys obeyed, confusion running riot in their expressions. They had been in full battle. Why stop? Their enemy bled and died. They outnumbered them ten to one. Victory was within their grasp! They stopped.

" Have them drop their weapons and forget this even happened," Lan said.

Iron Tongue laughed harshly. His words did not reflect what Lan had asked for.

" Fall on your sword points." One after another of the soldiers impaled himself on his sword. In less than a minute, all lay dead by their own hand.

" That wasn' t what I wanted," Lan raged.

" Perhaps not," said Noratumi, " but for once I side with the sorcerer. I only wish I had such power. All those scum would die by their own blade, if I could do such magic."

" More guards on the way," Inyx said softly. " The trail up the cliff' s face is all that' s open to us. Unless we return to Wurnna."

Lan glanced up the treacherous path. He hadn' t intended for them to traverse this narrow, rocky, exposed route, but there could be no retreat now. He sheathed his bloodied sword, vowing to clean it later; then he started up the trail without a backward look. Let them follow or not. He had a mission to accomplish.

Lan Martak sat on the rounded boulder and stared down into the valley of spiders. The path to this point hadn' t been as dangerous as their start had suggested it might be, but it had been no summer idyll, either. They had avoided a half- dozen patrols and killed only three more of Claybore' s soldiers. How long it would take for news of those deaths to get back to the dismembered mage, Lan couldn' t guess. The pressure of time mounted on him, however. Holding Iron Tongue and Noratumi together was a problem, but holding the spiders' Webmaster and the other two as well posed an almost insurmountable task.

And that was just the beginning. After the treaty came dangerous mining operations continuously vulnerable to Claybore. Lan would have to launch an attack to distract the sorcerer from the power- stone mines; that meant a major battle he wasn' t sure he was up to waging.

" First things first," he said under his breath. A hand rested on his shoulder, squeezed comfortingly. His hand covered Inyx' s to acknowledge her support.

" Can you do it?" she asked.

" I' m counting on Iron Tongue' s histrionic powers to sway the spiders," he admitted. " If that fails:" He shrugged. Planning everything to the most minute detail wasn' t possible. The best he could do now was to try, then change tactics if the situation demanded it.

" They' ve spotted us. An efficient warning system." Inyx pointed to the webs strung across the mouth of the canyon, webs that had been added since Lan' s escape.

Lan heaved himself to his feet and said, " Stay here with the others. I' ll try to get the Webmaster' s attention for a parley."

" No. We all go."

He started to object, then nodded. What she said made sense. Give the opening parley the best shot possible. If they failed, no amount of talk would have sufficed. Allowing the spiders to eliminate them one at a time struck him as ridiculous now.

Together, the four humans marched down until they stood under the swaying web across the valley mouth. Lan swallowed and tried to force spit into his cottony mouth. While a single spell on his part could destroy all the spiders, he dared not use it. Not only did it go against his principles to wantonly destroy so many intelligent beings, such a spell would bring down Claybore on them.

" We desire an audience with Webmaster Murrk," he called out to the black speck high above in the web. The spot darkened, became larger. The arachnid dropped like a stone from space.

" Lan!" Inyx drew her sword, her fingers nervously drumming on the hilt.

" Careful," he said. " Do nothing to anger them."

" It doesn' t matter. Look! They' re going to eat us!"

Lan hated to admit that Jacy Noratumi could be so right. Other spiders dropped from the web, their intent clear. One swung in a long arc past them, mandibles clacking ferociously. Noratumi thrust, only to have the steel blade severed by a spiderish snap.

" Iron Tongue," he called. " Speak to them. Tell them to stop."

" It' ll do no good. I have tried persuasion on them before. They don' t- or can' t- listen."

" Try it, damn you. We can' t fight them."

" A pretty fix you' ve got us into," complained Noratumi, throwing aside his broken sword and pulling out a small dirk. He fought to the death, no matter how ludicrous it seemed to fight such overwhelming forces.

" We come under the banner of truce," said Iron Tongue. The words caused shivers to pass up and down Lan' s spine. He heard the words and he believed. Everything Iron Tongue said now, he knew was the absolute truth. " Do not harm us. We come in peace to negotiate."

Iron Tongue heaved a disgusted sigh.

" See? They pay me no heed. Spiders, ha!"

" No spells. Not yet," said Lan, menace in his voice. While he lacked the sting of authority Iron Tongue possessed by virtue of the oral organ taken from Claybore, he had learned much about commands. Iron Tongue allowed a burgeoning spell to die on his lips.

Lan faced the one spider on the ground, sword sheathed. " We mean no harm. We want to speak with Murrk."

The mountain arachnid advanced, a flesh- and- blood killing machine bent on destruction.

" Oh, do stop this silly posturing, Kingo. I am ever so positive Webmaster Murrk desires to speak with them." The voice came from the aerial walkway. Lan recognized it immediately.

" Krek! You' re still alive!"

" Of course I am, you silly human. I am much too valuable to the web for them to eat me or chase me out. I have been attempting to reason with Murrk. Your presence at this time is most fortunate. I believe he is slowly coming to see there is another way of dealing with you humans, other than devouring you, that is."

" That' s Krek," said Inyx, slumping forward and gripping Lan' s arm. " And am I ever glad to see him."

" And I you, friend Inyx. Now please wait until I contact the Webmaster and arrange for a proper meeting. Whatever you do, do not disgrace me with your impetuous ill manners."

" Anything you say, Krek, anything you say."

Both Iron Tongue and Noratumi scowled at Lan. They hadn' t considered him having an ally in the spiders' camp.

" No fire spells. I will grant you that much of a concession." Iron Tongue stood with arms crossed, a glum expression on his face. Lan Martak sensed how closely the man held himself in check, wanting to rage out and destroy Murrk. The giant spider hung upside down from a web strand; his expression was unreadable by any human.

" That is as much as we might expect from you deceitful humans. My good friend Krek assures me that one of you is honest. Which one, I cannot say since you all look alike."

" While they are lacking in the proper number of legs, that one is my friend and ally." Krek poked a leg in Lan' s general direction. " And that one," he continued, indicating Inyx, " is also of a noble bent. More so than the other, I do believe. In fact-"

" Krek, never mind the lengthy explanations. Murrk wants to be sure Iron Tongue won' t use the fire spells against your webs. I guarantee that he won' t."

" Very well, friend Lan Martak." Krek rubbed legs together and let out a shrill screeching noise as he spoke with the Webmaster. Murrk bobbed on his strand but said nothing else.

" There won' t be any trouble mining the power stone?" asked Jacy Noratumi. " We' re not doing this for our health, you know."