Iron Tongue

" There' s no chance for attack," said Jacy Noratumi. " Look. They pick us off one by one. We must retreat."

" That' s cut off, too," Inyx pointed out. The tip of her sword indicated the various strategic positions occupied by Silvain' s archers. As long as the greys held the high ground, Inyx and her company could neither attack nor retreat.

Even as she spoke, one of Silvain' s men tried to go up the narrow path leading to the top of the mountain. One of her own archers rose and let fly a deadly shaft. The arrow flew straight and true; the man on the path died- and so did Inyx' s archer. A dozen hidden positions loosed arrows directly into the chest and belly.

" They can afford to trade one for one since they outnumber us," Noratumi said glumly. " And there is scant we can do."

Inyx hated having to agree. They' d be cut down if they attempted to return to Wurnna. A frontal assault was equally as suicidal. And staying only allowed Kiska k' Adesina time to move boulders atop the mountain for Claybore and his mages to scoot over the city and drop, letting gravity do most of the work.

" Keep firing and play it safe," was all she could suggest. The woman studied the situation and, for the greater part of a day, observed no weakness. Near twilight the next day, however, she pointed out certain flaws in the armed array facing them.

" Attack is still out of the question," said Noratumi, " but escape appears more likely. Does Silvain toy with us?"

" I don' t think Silvain is even in camp," she said. " I believe he took another route around the cliff and has rejoined Claybore."

" If that is so, perhaps k' Adesina has also left her post up there." Jacy pointed above to where tiny antlike creatures- workerstoiled to line up heavy boulder after boulder along the rim.

" That can only mean the main attack is imminent." She considered their alternatives and all looked equally bleak. " We go back to Wurnna. Now."

Noratumi silently signaled those near to pass along the order. Smashing repeatedly against the force guarding the path up the mountainside accomplished nothing. Inyx took every step away imagining what an arrow driving into her spine might feel like. While there were short, quick engagements, most of her force succeeded in regaining the trail leading back to Wurnna.

" What if this is another trap?" asked one of the archers.

" We have to take the chance that Silvain is no longer commanding that detachment," said Noratumi. " It' s a better chance than we had."

" But the possibility of traps:."

" Exists," admitted Inyx. " We also know to stay over long means our death." She hit the rocky trail at an easy lope and quickly outdistanced the others. Being alone helped her think of the things that were important; she ignored the possibility of a cleverly laid trap.

Lan. He must have known her mission was a long shot with a onein- a- million chance of succeeding. Was his trip to the valley of spiders any less of a clutching at feeble hope? She doubted it. By dawn Wurnna would again find the rocks descending from on high. In less than a day Claybore would have smashed the city to dust.

What then? Inyx didn' t want to think about it. Claybore' s conquest of still another world would be total.

The diminished band reached Wurnna a half- hour before the pale pinks of dawn lit the horizon. Inyx felt no joy at the sight of a new day, for this one would be filled with death and destruction unlike any she' d witnessed before along the Cenotaph Road.

" Why don' t they use their damned rocks?" Jacy Noratumi paced along the walkway, hands clasped behind his back. Now and then he reared back to study the mountains on either side of the fortress. In plain sight were twin rows of boulders large enough to smash the city to gravel, but Claybore refrained from launching them.

" Perhaps he is occupied elsewhere," suggested Rugga, hovering near Noratumi.

" Or he might be tired. He must tire like other mages. He has so few other sorcerers to aid him that he might require time to rest."

Inyx scoffed at this, saying, " He is immortal. Even Terrill wasn' t able to kill him. His power is limited, true, but there has never been a time when he' s held off attacking through weakness. He plays a war of nerves with us. He lets us see the boulders long enough to anticipate. He breaks our will to defend Wurnna."

" It' s working," was all Noratumi said.

Iron Tongue came striding up, looking as if he had won the war and ruled all the world. Inyx discounted the man totally now; he had lost contact with reality. While his words still carried their magical power, thanks to the tongue resting in his mouth, those words were confused and of little effect now.

" He runs from us. I have won!" the demented mage crowed. He opened his mouth and thrust out his metallic tongue in the direction of Claybore' s encampment at the far end of the canyon. It caught the noonday sun' s rays and transmuted them into dark and sinister light, as that reflected from a polished coffin. Inyx had to look away.

" Look. In the plain." Rugga rushed forward, pointing.

" A trick. Kill the bastard!" roared Noratumi. The archers sprang to their feet and loosed volley after volley of arrows. They turned aside harmlessly before touching either Claybore' s skull or torso or the mechanical carrying them.

" Hold!" boomed the dismembered sorcerer' s voice. " I would parlay."

" See? He surrenders to me. To me, Iron Tongue of Wurnna!" The cackling drowned out Claybore' s next words.

": above you, unused. But at any time they can be brought down. My terms are just and fair. I want my tongue. In exchange I shall grant all within Wurnna their freedom."

" What of the city?" called Rugga.

" It must be destroyed, but all within shall remain alive."

Inyx shook her head vehemently. Noratumi and Rugga were slower to admit that Claybore plotted a trap.

" Why offer us a truce at all?" asked Inyx. " He can crush us with his boulders. He has the power. Claybore is not one to refrain from wanton violence."

" He wants the tongue intact. Using the aerial bombardment might harm it," said Rugga. " That is the only reason I can think of. I say, give it to him. We can fight him another day."

" He won' t keep his word," blazed Inyx. " He will kill us the instant he has the tongue. Its use will make him infinitely stronger. You can imagine how potent will be the spells cast using it. Look at what he does with it." The distaste in her voice brought Iron Tongue' s head swiveling around.

" You speak of me, wench? I am considering Claybore' s offer. There is a certain justice in what he offers."

" Dammit, you just said you' d won. Will you surrender so quickly?" Inyx saw that arguing with a madman accomplished nothing. Iron Tongue' s mood and thought flipped from minute to minute.

" He will beg me for the tongue. Yes, I like that idea. Wurnna will survive, if he begs me for my tongue." He thrust out the parody of a tongue in Claybore' s direction once more, somehow managing to cause a grotesquely unnatural ripple to flow from one metallic end to the other. Tiny blue sparks lapped at the edges before it vanished back into the mage' s mouth.

Inyx leaned forward, hands on the protective stone of the battlement, too angry to speak. It wasn' t her place to decide for those of Wurnna. Iron Tongue was still their leader, demented or not. Rugga might seize power. She turned and looked at the woman, weighing the chance this might happen. A quick assassinating stab with a dagger into Iron Tongue' s kidney would leave the rulership vacant. But Rugga obviously had other goals now. She and Jacy Noratumi stood too close, eyed each other in a way Inyx understood all too well. Rugga wanted nothing more to do with Wurnna and leadership. She wanted only Noratumi.