World of Mazes

" He knows it better than we do, that' s for certain. This attack proves it. Still, he needs somewhere to repair his troops. I can' t believe he doesn' t have some fixed point for a base." Inyx had become the leader of the nest more by default than anything she' d actually done so far. She had carefully mapped out all entrances to the large room and had the more sane of her followers guard them. And still the mech leader had infiltrated at least one- the deactivated one at her feet- through their lines. Knoton had either discovered a hidden passage or burrowed through lines, silently killing more than a dozen human and near- human hybrid guards.

" He might not have the need for rest that we do," said the man. " To constantly explore increases his chances for survival."

" He has a base," she said firmly. " And find out how this one got into the nest. That worries me. Our security is worthless unless we discover his route in."

The man began probing the walls nearby while Inyx searched the fallen mech for any bit of information it might yield. She found nothing, but Fredek did.

" The illusions we encounter from time to time aren' t as vivid for the mechs," said Fredek. " See this wall?" He placed his hands flat against blank expanse.

" So?"

" Watch." Fredek' s hands vanished to the wrists, to the elbows. Curious, Inyx came to examine the section. Her questing hand vanished, too. While it appeared substantial enough, the wall wasn' t actually there at all.

" Illusion," she said glumly.

" I' ve heard it said that the Twistings know if you are a sorcerer. If so, the illusions are more real, more numerous. Others, like me, see very few, and those are only basic images. Walls." Fredek Fynn' s hand disappeared all the way to his wrist again.

" Does the Lord look into the Twistings?" she asked. " Perhaps that is the real source for the illusions."

Fredek shrugged.

" He," Inyx went on, " can meddle to his heart' s content with those able to appreciate his illusions. The others he couldn' t care less about. But this wall mirage is more basic than seeing monsters. It' s been here since I entered the nest."

" No one has found it before."

" How can you tell?" she asked bitterly, looking around the nest. The human and hybrid food- gathering party had returned and were again engaging in their own personal madnesses. Some sang to themselves, others argued with thin air, and still others descended into catatonia. It wasn' t a prepossessing army she led.

Fredek' s hand rested lightly on her shoulder.

" If anyone can escape the Twistings, you are the one. There' s something about you, Inyx, that won' t let you stop. No matter what the Lord does, you' ll escape.”

" It' s not the Lord I' m worried about at the moment. It' s Knoton. The mechs have a much more organized band. Why haven' t they killed all the humans by now?"

" We' re tougher than we look. You might say some of us fight with insane fury."

" Where' s the scouting party now? I' d like to know if they' ve located Knoton. This attack inside the nest means he' s become bolder and may be ready to launch a big attack against us."

" Let' s do some exploring on our own," said Fredek. He glanced at the spot in the wall where illusion plastered over the corridor.

" Just the two of us? That' s risky." She wanted more than just Fredek to back her up before following this path. Knoton had known of it; an ambush might lay ahead. But Inyx was a realist. There weren' t any humans or hybrids left in the nest she' d trust. Her ablest troops were scouting for the exit from the Twistings, for Knoton, for anything that might aid them. Inyx heaved a sigh and picked up her knife. " All right. Let' s explore."

She closed her eyes and stepped forward. If she' d watched, there wasn' t any way she could have walked so boldly through what appeared to be solid wall. As it was, she felt a light tingle on her face and then only cool air. She walked forward, knife point leading the way. The darkness enveloped her and forced the woman to rely on other senses she' d sharpened since entering the Twistings.

Inyx heard Fredek behind. To either side came the soft susurration of air caressing solid. Ahead- nothing. She advanced with a step, test, full- weight stride. While skirmishing with Knoton, she' d seen several of the mech' s bodyguards vanish through the floor. The trap led downward. She' d tried to find the spot again after the fight but had failed. Either it had vanished or she' d gotten turned around in the maze and had not found the proper spot again.

In the Twistings, either was possible.

A rectangle of dim light showed ahead. She slowed her snail' s pace even more and held out her arm to stop Fredek. Inyx spoke to him in a low voice.

" Back me up. I' m going to look. If anything happens, run for the nest and don' t try to rescue me."

" Knoton' s ahead, isn' t he?"

" I can feel him," she said.

Inyx advanced, eyes fixed on the light. When she was twenty yards away from the doorway, she dropped to her belly and began crawling. She' d learned that the mechs' vision often failed to pick up slowmoving objects at floor level. Inyx vowed to be very slow- moving.

Rusty clanking noises greeted her. The voices of arguing mechanicals soon drowned out that sound. When she peeked around the door frame, she saw what she' d suspected existed and what no human had found. Knoton did have a base. He fostered the myth of constantly being on the move to give added protection. Dozens of mechs were in various stages of disassembly. This corresponded to a mechanical hospital where technicians worked to restore limbs and sight and mobility.

" Kill them. Kill them all!" raged Knoton.

Inyx sought out a pile of discarded metal parts and hid behind it. She then watched, unobserved.

" I counsel caution. This new human, this Inyx. We can deal with her."

" You' re wrong, Kolommo. She is like the rest. The Lord is human; he casts us into this foul, deadly place. She is human. We can kill her in revenge."

" You," accused Kolommo, " seek only revenge. Knoton, she is right when she says we are all exiles together now with the same common enemy. If we worked as a single unit-"

" No!"

Knoton' s vehemence made Inyx cringe. This Kolommo appeared to be the second in command. Ideas formed in Inyx' s brain. Remove Knoton and deal with a more rational mechanical. It could be done. It had to be done, if any of them were to escape the Twistings.

She duck- walked: back to the darkened corridor. On silent feet she rejoined Fredek. Motioning him back toward the nest, she hiked in silence until they emerged again in familiar territory.

" They have a base, don' t they?" he demanded.

" They do. And I see a way to carry this fight to them. Whatever happens, we' ve got to take out Knoton. From then on- it might be easier for all of us."

Inyx went to plot strategy.

" The scouts are back," shouted Fredek. Inyx saw a small bandfewer in number than when it had left- tiredly walking down the main corridor leading into the nest. She rose and went to stand beside Fredek.

" What did you find?" she demanded of the party leader.

The smile greeting her made her wince. Three teeth had been knocked out recently, leaving bloody spaces in his mouth. But the smile was one of triumph.

" A room, some distance away, guarded by every maze creature we' ve ever seen and a few that are new to us."

" A guarded room? In the Twistings?" That by itself was curious. The entire maze was one giant locked room.

" We couldn' t make much headway, but we did find the spot where the blue creatures are spawned."

He gestured to a woman lugging a large pack. Inside were dozens of small yellow fruits.

" They' re cannibals," he explained with some distaste. " These are their eggs- or whatever you' d call them. Eventually they hatch into blue globs."