Fire and Fog

CHAPTER NINE

Lirory Tefize gazed up into the blackly billowing storm clouds crowning his mountain kingdom. The acids poured forth and flooded through the hole carved by Martak; off to one side the gnome saw the thick gatherings of fog sweeping down the ravine where Lan Martak had taken refuge.

" Good enough," the mage said to himself. " They will trouble me no more. What Claybore failed to do, I have done. Driving Martak outside is sufficient to destroy him in his present condition."

Tefize again checked and saw that magic usage from outside was minimal- not enough to save Martak from the insidious mind- altering effects of the fog. The gnome closed his eyes and built the proper spell. Heat blossomed forth and washed over him. Rock melted and flowed, closing the opening. In minutes no trace of the hole remained. The phosphorescent moss visibly crept back to cover the spot, seeking a source of heat for growth.

The gnome' s attention turned to other matters. Dealing with Claybore proved more and more difficult. The sorcerer' s newfound power on regaining his arms worried Tefize, but not overly. He had taken a chance giving those limbs back, but it had been a calculated risk. Lan Martak' s power had been extraordinary. Only with Claybore augmented by new bodily parts had they managed to triumph.

But would Claybore give him the power he promised? Tefize doubted it possible for the mage to say anything without lying. It came as second nature to him. But using the mage' s legs as a bargaining point had certain advantages. What would Claybore do to regain them? Was control of a dozen worlds too large a price to pay for control of thousands, or even millions?

Lirory Tefize didn' t think so. With proper choosing of those worlds to rule, he decided it would be less than ten years before his own power rivaled Claybore' s. Traveling the Road had shown the gnome much. Careful lists compiled to show each nexus of power would come in handy very, very soon. Control those points, gain strength and knowledge, depose Claybore.

The disembodied sorcerer might be immortal, but Lirory Tefize knew that Claybore had been defeated once. A second time was possible- and this time the victor would not perish as Terrill had.

Tefize smiled and turned; then stopped. A frown wrinkled his forehead and anger welled inside him.

" Master," came a weak voice. " We have been defeated."

Lirory Tefize faced one of his clan. The gnome abasing himself was bloodied and barely able to crawl forward.

" What happened?" Lirory demanded. " How could the Heresler have beaten you? You followed my plan to the letter, did you not?"

" Master, they had help. Two of them with swords. And the spider! Never have we fought so well and died so nobly; but the spider!" The gnome shook all over and buried his face in his gnarled hands.

" Oh, get up. Stop groveling," Lirory said irritably. Dealing with such incompetence was a burden he disliked heartily. Ever since he had killed or exiled the other sorcerers from Yerrary, greater and greater demands of leadership fell upon him. It seemed that no one accomplished anything now without his personal guidance. Would it be like this when Claybore relinquished control of those worlds to him? Lirory Tefize didn' t want to consider that at the moment.

" Where are they? The spider and the others who so ignominiously trounced you?"

" Master, they are in the Heresler territory."

Lirory stalked off, stubby arms crossed over his barrel chest. As he walked he thought and frowned even more. He found no residual effects of magic. However his clansmen had been defeated, it wasn' t through the use of the arcane. In a way, this bothered him more than it should. He expected treachery from Claybore- he didn' t put it past the mage to aid one side over the other to sow discord. To defeat a force undoubtedly without equal in all of Yerrary through purely physical means wrought havoc on the troops and their morale.

Lirory felt control slipping away. He did not like the feeling.

Stopping short of a junction leading into Heresler- controlled corridors, he closed his eyes and listened. In the distance he heard faint scratching noises, rock against rock.

" They put up barricades," he said to his clansman. The battered gnome only bobbed his head, whether from fear or in agreement Lirory couldn' t tell. The mage began tracing patterns in the air before him, lines that first glowed pale blue and finally took on an intensity that caused his clansman to shield his eyes. Lirory Tefize stared directly into the center of the burning rectangle he' d formed.

Swirls of color took on substance, changed, flowed again, and finally came into focus. Lirory muttered a final spell and then watched the small picture and the gnomes busily working within the fiery frame.

" Master, that is Broit!" cried the gnome.

" Silence." Lirory spoke in an offhand manner. He focused all his attention on the picture and had scant time for dealing with subordinates. The barricades being erected by the Heresler clan were adequate to thwart a simple frontal assault. Lirory knew such an attack was out of the question. Using this clansman as a guideline, the mage knew the Tefize would never be whipped into attacking. They were defeated both physically and in morale.

But there were other routes open to him.

" Those large ones. The humans. They were responsible for your defeat?" he asked.

" The spider, also."

" Yes, there is the spider." Lirory repressed a shiver of disgust. The monster crouched to one side of his magical viewing port and slowly masticated a cave roach. Lirory turned his port away from the arachnid and back to Inyx and Ducasien.

" What are you to do, Master? Do: do we attack again?" The obvious fear in the gnome' s voice solidified Lirory' s belief that the Tefize clan would be defeated in any further fight.

" I attack. You and the others need only enter after I am victorious. The Heresler will not trouble you."

" You send demons to them?" The eagerness stemmed more from seeing an enemy vanquished than in releasing such potent magical beings. Lirory wanted to shake the gnome until the broken teeth rattled for even mentioning such a course of action. Elementals, demons, magical beings from other planes were all dangerous conjurations.

He did shudder convulsively as he remembered the shadow hound Claybore had summoned forth with his newly regained arms.

" There are other spells. The large sorcerer is not with them," Lirory said smugly. " I have already taken care of him."

" Master!"

" Do not fear. He has been cast outside Yerrary. The fog has seized his mind. He will never threaten us again."

" Master, you will reign supreme forever! Your power knows no bounds!"

" Of course it doesn' t," Lirory said in distraction. He knew the tales of defeating Lan Martak would spread and grow with each reverently whispered retelling. Good. Before the end of this year the name of Lirory Tefize would linger on everyone' s lips, some speaking in fear, some in awe, and all in total obeisance.

Lirory worked up the power required for the binding spell he would use. To project through the magical window was the only way possible for him. His magics were limited in that he needed to see the object of his spell. Lirory wondered if it were true that Claybore could project spells without seeing his victim. If so, that made the disembodied mage even more dangerous than he appeared- which was deadly, indeed.

Inyx and Ducasien sat close by one another. Good. That made it easier for him to cast a single spell to capture both. While Lirory was certain it lay within his power to form two equally effective spells and direct them to different targets, this made his work all the easier.

" They: they shimmer, Master!" said the watching gnome. Awe tinted his voice, but Lirory was beyond feeling pleased at this. He needed every particle of his being to propel his conjurings now.

" Tangles," he muttered. " Feet numbing. Fingers tingling. Stand, yes, that' s it, stand and try to shake off the effects." Lirory smiled broadly now. Both Inyx and Ducasien played into his hand by fighting the paralyzing spell. If they had stayed quiet he might have failed. Not now, not with them beginning to experience the first feathery touches of his spell.

Inyx opened her mouth and emitted a scream that echoed down the hallway. From the burning framed picture there came no sound. She spun about wildly, slapping her hands against her body. Every turn caused her increasing dizziness until she collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Ducasien tried to kneel beside her, to aid her. He bent forward and kept going. He crashed heavily atop her, unable to do more than feebly twitch.

" The Hereslers will not oppose you now," said Lirory. " Get a small party together. We go in to retrieve our two guests."

The gnome hastened away and returned a few minutes later with a scruffy band more fearful than anxious to serve. Lirory silently motioned them forward. It was a measure of his control that they obeyed. To have refused meant even worse punishment than death at the hands of the large ones allying themselves with the Heresler.

Lirory Tefize moved the viewing port around and found the spider. Spell after spell wove through the air and bound the arachnid' s feet together. When Krek sensed the first of the Tefize clan at the barriers, he attempted to stand. The spells held him firmly.

" But he is so different," muttered Lirory. He tried other spells to render Krek totally unconscious and all failed. Finally he gave up on the attempt. Keeping the spider pinned to the ground, his deadly long talon- tipped legs powerless, was almost as good as being able to kill him magically.

Lirory turned to the Heresler gnomes hacking and cutting at his own clansmen. Pass after pass sent the defending gnomes reeling backwards. Lirory felt drained to the center of his being by the time the Tefize had conquered the Heresler.

On shaking legs, he walked forward, then paused and stiffened his resolve. It did not do to show weakness before an enemy- or an ally. With haughty contempt, he strutted into the center of the Heresler clan territory and slowly turned, looking at the captives.

" Well done, my friends," he complimented.

Even though they had done little, the Tefize clan' s morale rose. They puffed out their chests and bullied their captives.

" This day will long be remembered in our clan tales," Lirory went on. Even though his knees threatened to lock and send him toppling face forward onto the ground, he walked about congratulating the gnomes individually and glaring at Broit Heresler along the way. When he came to Krek, Lirory stopped and stared.

Krek' s legs were still tangled with the numbing spells he had used, but his mandibles clacked ferociously. Lirory made a point of standing well back. One quick snap of those death scythes might sever head from torso. He started a new spell, one workable at close range, and then stopped. Dizziness passed through him and threatened to make the gnome mage fall into a faint.

" Leave the spider," he said, fighting his weariness. Lirory knew it would take hours to regenerate power. How had that large one Lan Martak held off the combined magical attacks of Claybore and himself? It hardly seemed possible in the face of his own exhaustion now. But Martak was long dead. The creatures thriving on the exterior slopes of Yerrary were not gentle. And after breathing the mind- twisting fog and feeling the acid rains burn skin and set fire to the very rock, there was no way Martak could live.

" What of them, Master?"

Lirory looked at Inyx and Ducasien, then allowed himself to slowly smile.

" Bring them. And as for the others of the Heresler clan, they are permitted to live."

Broit Heresler spat at the mage and missed.

Lirory went on as if nothing had happened, saying, " They will be permitted to live as vassals of the Tefize. See to it that they are given appropriate jobs."

" There won' t be any of us who' ll dig your grave, Lirory," cried Broit Heresler. " See how long it takes the cave worms to gnaw your bones. None of us will go outside and give your corpse a proper burial. Wait and see!"

Lirory gestured that the Hereslers be taken away. The giddiness still bothered him. He needed to return to his throne of power and replenish his energy- soon.

" Don' t bother with lifting them. Drag them. It' s easier." He took a perverse glee out of seeing Inyx and Ducasien dragged along the rough rock corridors. This more than anything else kept the mage moving with a sprightly step, his bandy legs pumping along quickly to keep up with his clansmen.

Several turnings later, they entered an area strictly Tefize. Down two levels, past the trough of rainwater pouring in from outside, and to the new excavations they went. Finally Lirory stopped and pointed to a rock cell.

" There. Place them inside."

Inyx and Ducasien were semi- lucid now, moaning and weakly thrashing about. In minutes they would fight off the effects, of his numbing spell. Lirory watched, summoned his modicum of remaining power, then bound them magically to the rock cell. Try as they might now, they would never be able to leave this small, stony enclosure.

" What did you do to us?" asked Ducasien. The man sat up and held his head. Lirory knew it had to be splitting wide open. That was one delightful aftermath of his nerve- numbing spell.

" That is of little concern to you. You should be more worried about what you are to do next. There is no escape from this cell for you. None. You will die within it. No food, no water. Or rather," Lirory said, chuckling evilly, " the water isn' t very good for drinking."

He pointed. High above Ducasien and Inyx the cell roof peaked up and showed a small patch of the cloud- riddled nighttime sky. Rain blew into the opening and dribbled down the walls.

" If a real storm blows up, this cell might fill with water."

" It can' t. It' d go out the doorway," Ducasien said. To human vision there was nothing barring the way. To Lirory' s magical sight, however, a barrier firmly blocked anything material from passing.

" Think, large one. We shout at one another, as if we talk through walls. Is that not so?"

Ducasien shoved himself forward, got his feet under him, and lurched toward Lirory. The gnome simply stood, waiting, watching, smirking. Ducasien let out a scream of infinite agony as his hands touched the magical sheet stretched tightly over the opening.

" It will prevent water from leaving the cell," repeated Lirory. " Rains come, fill up, the acids burn away your flesh. Yes, that is what might happen- if you are lucky."

" And if we' re unlucky," Inyx said, managing to croak out the words.

" Ah, dear lady, if you do not pray for a storm to end your miserable lives you will linger for a long, long time. No food, you know."

" We might die of thirst first."

" So be it," said Lirory, enjoying this.

" What' s to keep us from climbing out?" asked Ducasien.

" Nothing." Lirory smiled wickedly. If they tried that, the water seeping down the rock would surely burn their fingers severely and, if luck rode with them and they reached the top somehow, the opening wasn' t large enough for either to crawl through. The finest mountain climbers had tried to escape this cell and had failed. Neither Ducasien nor Inyx would live for longer than a week- or even through the storm growing outside."

" Lan will save us. He can just wave his hand and make this barrier vanish."

" Yes, dear, dead lady, he might be able to do so. If he lived. He does not."

" You lie! You short, bowlegged, wart- ridden bastard! You' re lying!"

Lirory said nothing more. Let the dark- haired woman rage. It only added to her torture. He now had to return to his throne of power. Without rejuvenation he would keel over all too soon. With as deliberate a move as possible, Lirory Tefize whipped his cloak over one shoulder, spun, and walked off, never looking back at his two prisoners.

The mage felt nothing but satisfaction at this day' s work. With his clan enemies removed, he had only Claybore to contend with. And soon, very soon, Lirory Tefize' s name would be bannered- feared!across a score of worlds.

" How long?" asked Ducasien, pacing to and fro in the cell.

" There' s no way to tell." Inyx nervously looked above to the tiny opening in the rocky ceiling. Wind whirled droplets of the acid into the air and the morning sun caused bright rainbows to form, rainbows of death.

" There' s a way out of this. There has to be."

" Rest. Save your strength. Lan will come for us."

" Your faith in him is so great?" Ducasien stared at her in open wonder.

Inyx didn' t reply. She wondered if Lirory had been right about killing Lan. It hardly seemed likely. Lan Martak had withstood mages hundreds of times more powerful- he had endured the worst Claybore had to give and still lived.

But perhaps the gnome spoke the truth. Perhaps they were doomed.

Inyx tried to shake the feelings of dread mounting within. Lan ought to have found them by now. It had been hours and hours. To give up hope meant Lirory Tefize triumphed all the more.

" We might never leave here alive," said Ducasien in a low voice.

" That worries you?"

" I have regrets," the man said, sitting beside Inyx on the floor.

" What regrets? Things you' ve done?"

" Things I haven' t done."

Their eyes locked again. This time Inyx didn' t turn away. She couldn' t. She held the same fears that Ducasien did. Whether it was because he understood her, being of her own world, or whether the nearness of death drew them together she didn' t know. The attraction was apparent- and mutual.

Ducasien leaned forward and lightly brushed his lips across hers.

" I: I need more," she said in a weak voice.

" Then I will die without any regrets at all," he said.

Arms locked about one another, they embraced and kissed deeply. Their weight shifted and they lay side by side on the hard rock floor. Neither noticed. Fingers explored, probed, stroked, caressed, excited. Clothing slowly opened, exposing new territories for their mutual pleasure. And soon enough their bodies merged into one writhing, undulating mass of desire.

" No more regrets," whispered Ducasien.

" None," answered Inyx. Then words were no longer possible.

Krek tried to stand and fell heavily, only rising to half his full height. The numbness had left his front legs sooner than his rear ones. Twisting his thorax in a painful maneuver, he forced his inner juices to flow into his limbs.

" There," the spider said, heaving himself aloft. While still wobbly, he was able to walk about the chamber that had formerly housed the Heresler clan. All the gnomes had been packed off to servitude under the Tefize now. Why he had been spared, he didn' t know; that he had, only confirmed that humans and near humans were peculiar folk.

" A real spider would have eaten me while I was paralyzed," he said. " So much for their ruthlessness. Now where have Inyx and her new foundling gotten off to?"

Krek regained strength as he walked and by the time he homed in on the magical curtain holding Inyx and Ducasien prisoner, he felt the usual spring returning to his stride. Only the low corridor ceilings prevented him from bouncing along as he' d have liked.

" Friend Inyx," Krek called loudly when he saw her sitting disconsolately within the cell. She did not answer or even give the slightest notice of him. He lumbered to the magical barrier and examined it as well as he could. Krek was no mage, but he sensed magics of a permanent nature.

While this shimmering sheet lacked the potency of a cenotaph, it had a permanence to it that told the spider that waiting for the magics to dissipate was a mistake.

" Inyx!" he called as loudly as he could. She did not move.

Ducasien walked back and forth, hands clasped behind him. The man looked aloft nervously from time to time. Krek bent down and peered upward. The sight of acid rain dripping down the rock caused the arachnid to shudder.

" My friends, you are in a sorry state. Allow me to aid you, if I can." He began digging beside the magical screen in hope of penetrating the rock. Whether Lirory had imbued it with magical toughness or whether the rock was naturally strong, Krek didn' t know. All that mattered was his inability to dig through it.

" Might I swing down through that opening?" he wondered aloud, again looking upward at the tiny vent in the cell' s roof. Krek blinked at that idea. To drop a web down into the cell required him to venture outside. In the rain. With the mind- confusing fog.

" But I cannot allow you to languish in that awful cell. It is nothing but cold rock and that hideous burning water leaks from the very walls. Not even a fit spot to string a web within."

Krek tried futilely to again attract Inyx' s or Ducasien' s attention and then gave up on the effort. Only one course of action suggested itself. He had to locate Lan Martak and bring him down here to rescue Ducasien and Inyx- soon.

Humans were such frail creatures he didn' t know if the two within the cell would survive much longer.

Krek blinked and began turning about, looking for other magical beacons. Faint hints came from above. Krek went up through Yerrary, one level at a time, seeking out Lan Martak. When he finally reached a vaulted chamber with openings along the walls, he stopped. To pass through any of those doors meant he would find himself outside the warm bulk of protecting rock.

" Friend Lan Martak," he said, almost sobbing as he mouthed the name. He remembered how Lan had abandoned him, left him to fend for himself in the middle of battle. How he had used a spell to dismiss him like some lowly servant. To seek out the mage took more courage than Krek thought he possessed. His pride had been damaged- and even worse, his friendship betrayed.

" Friend Inyx needs my help," the spider said. " And without Lan Martak there can be no aid." He blinked again and saw flickers of magic outside. Lan Martak was nearby, out in the rain and fog, his magics intermittently flashing like the lightning arcing through the nighttime sky.

" Water," sobbed Krek. Then the spider plunged through one of the openings and out onto the slopes of Yerrary.

The rains pelted the mountaintop, setting the very rock afire. Krek saw thin streamers of fire rising from every spot where a droplet of rain struck ground- a double horror for him. Water and fire. He rubbed his furred legs together anxiously and then saw real trouble ahead.

Thick banks of fog drifted languidly down the mountainside. And within one of the fog clouds came distinct indication of Lan Martak and his magics.

" The fog affects humans as well as spiders," he told himself. But Krek fought down the need to return to the relative safety of Yerrary. Inyx needed his aid and retrieving Lan Martak was the only way that help could be given. No matter that Lan Martak had betrayed his trust. No matter anything. Krek fought to remain true to his friendship with Inyx.

She needed him. He plunged forth, talons clacking against the hard, acid- pitted stone of the mountain.

" Lan Martak!" the spider called out. The only answer he received was muffled cries from within the fog.

Krek stopped and looked down into a ravine filled with the mindaltering fog. He saw creatures lurking just behind the cloaking veils of mist, creatures so horrific his mind refused to believe in their existence. Krek tried holding his breath in the hope that this would make the beasts go away.

They only moved closer, as the fog rose up along the ravine walls.

" Lan Martak!" he called again. " Can you hear me? Friend Inyx needs your magic." He refrained from adding how much he needed to renew the bonds of their friendship, to find the cause for Lan' s dereliction during battle.

" Krek?" came the faint question. " So many enemies. They' re everywhere. Huge lizards. Fighting them. So tired. Can' t keep going much longer."

" Keep talking," Krek ordered. His sense of hearing was acute, but his sensing of vibration even more acute. Talons dug into the corroded, acid- pitted rock. He turned slowly until he found the source of the words, the bootsteps against rock, the clanging of steel into stone.

" Too many of them. Too tired to use more magic. They' re everywhere. Aieee!" The shriek rose to taunt Krek. The spider used all the sensory information he had and then launched a hunting web into the fog. It missed. He tried again and again.

Finally he caught something.

Krek hesitated to reel in his catch. While he truly thought the mist creatures were products of the fog and not reality, he wasn' t certain. He might be pulling one of those ponderous beasts directly to him.

Krek jerked hard and a thin- and human- body sailed forth to crash into the rock at his feet.

" Kiska k' Adesina!" he cried in surprise.

The woman stared up, dazed and unable to speak. Krek spat forth an amber drop of solvent and freed her from his hunting web. For a second he worried that she might have slain Lan Martak. A new cry of anguish from the man' s throat came to the spider- and a new web rocketed forth to vanish into the grey, swirling depths of the fog.

This time Krek pulled out a weakly struggling Lan Martak.

" Hurry," Krek commanded. " The rains are coming." A single look at the ferocious sky confirmed this. Both Kiska and Lan stumbled and moved like they were possessed by demons. Movement, no matter how clumsy and uncoordinated, toward the entrances to Yerrary soon carried them to safety.

Lan sat wild- eyed and simply stared at Krek.

" Is the fog still upon you?" asked the spider. He dared not name this man friend again. Not yet.

" The visions," Lan said slowly. " They' re fading. They: they were so real!"

" Have you recovered sufficiently?" pressed Krek.

" What' s wrong?"

" Friend Inyx is imprisoned below. Only you have the power to free her."

Lan Martak didn' t reply. He sat and clutched himself, hands convulsively squeezing his upper arms. Looking around, his eyes finally focusing, he stared downward through the rock floor.

" Claybore," he muttered.

" Lan," started Kiska k' Adesina. A slash from Krek' s mandibles forced her against the wall. She paled and licked her lips nervously. But she didn' t speak further.

" Claybore is down there," Lan said. " And I sense more. His legs. Yes, the emanations have to be from his legs. He will regain them if I don' t hurry."

" Lan Martak, Inyx is in desperate need. Free her, then go after Claybore."

Lan Martak turned and stared into the spider' s dun- colored eyes and said, " I can' t help her. Not until I' ve defeated Claybore."

" Without you, she' ll die," pressed the spider.

" Then she must die. I must find Claybore and finish him before he finds his legs. I must." Lan rose and staggered off. Kiska k' Adesina came and supported him.

Krek only stared in disbelief. In his arachnid brain he understood betrayal by one whom he had thought his friend. But now Lan Martak refused even Inyx. Without him she would die and still the mage refused her aid.

Tears welled in Krek' s eyes for lost friends.