Iron Tongue

CHAPTER TWELVE

" I see no reason to go on this ridiculous journey. You will fail. I know it." Iron Tongue stood with arms crossed tightly and a quizzical expression on his face. Lan Martak had felt the full magical force of the man' s persuasions and had turned them aside like a rich man ignoring the beggings of some street mendicant. Never had a human withstood the awesome power of the tongue resting in his mouth when he had turned it against him- before now.

" I shall not fail. To show good faith to the spiders, the leaders of the groups involved must be in attendance." Lan didn' t add that he wanted them with him to keep from sundering the fragile truce. While it was dangerous concentrating all resistance leadership in one small party away from the safety of Wurnna, Lan had decided that the risk of the alliance failing was greater. He wanted to be close to soothe ruffled egos and tend what might be a full- time job of working negotiated apologies acceptable to all when slights, both real and imagined, occurred.

If they could not persuade the spiders to allow open mining of the power stone, Wurnna was doomed. If they simply remained within the walls of the city- state, Claybore' s attacks would eventually wear them down. The potential for success was greater by taking this desperate gamble.

" He will sense us. Claybore is inhumanly endowed."

" He isn' t endowed at all," said Inyx. " Not physically, at least." She glanced at Lan and smirked.

" I referred to his sorcerous powers. I am fully aware of his bodily dismantling by Terrill," said Iron Tongue. Lan scowled at this. Iron Tongue was quick to cite the mythic origins of the tongue he used, yet he claimed to know about Terrill and the gargantuan struggle across worlds that had resulted in Claybore' s dismemberment.

" I can get us past his soldiers. There are small spells that he won' t bother to check for," Lan responded.

" Small ones are all you can summon," Noratumi said bitterly. " Otherwise, you would end this battle here and now."

Lan ignored the jibe. His reunion with Inyx hadn' t been wellreceived in any quarter of the city. Jacy Noratumi resented him; so did Rugga. He had seen the pair together early this morning, dour expressions and impassioned gestures highlighting their meeting. That made him smile. He had maneuvered them together to discuss their mutual problems and to find that Iron Tongue presented a common barrier to understanding between Wurnna sorcerers and Bron miners. Politics depended mostly on " chance" occurrences being engineered in such a way that the used did not realize it. But an eventual alliance agreed on between Noratumi and Rugga mattered little to him at the moment; a supply of power stone counted for more. Lan didn' t know if an ample supply of it improved their chances or not, but he wasn' t going to attempt a frontal assault on Claybore without it.

" We leave in one hour." He didn' t wait for the protests. Let them cry on each other' s shoulders. That might forge a stronger bond than anything else he could do.

" Sentries," Inyx said quietly, pointing with the tip of her sword. Lan' s fingers moved restlessly in an effort to create the proper spell. He strove to achieve not invisibility, which was a potent enough magic to draw Claybore' s attention, but nonnoticeability such as that used by Rugga on their journey into Wurnna. If properly cast, the sentries would see them but their eyes would report no danger to their brains. Their passing might be reported but it might also be ignored as inconsequential.

" I do not like this," said Jacy Noratumi. " Let' s kill them and make sure they do not report us."

" Silence," snapped Iron Tongue. " The man is creating a delicate spell."

Whether Lan' s concentration flagged for a moment or some other element entered the arena, none can say. The nearest guard noticed them. Even as his frown wrinkled with the effort of recognizing them, Inyx acted. With a perfect fleche, she took four quick steps forward and skewered him. The guard' s death, however, shocked the others into action.

" Escapees! Kill them!" cried the sergeant of the guard from his post higher up on the side of the mountain. Frustration at garrison duty, fights against insubstantial and totally deadly dragons and other illusory beasts, and the deaths of his fellows all powered the attack.

Lan started to conjure up the spell that would bathe the greyclads in flame. He held back at the last possible instant. Such magic would definitely draw Claybore' s attention. Unsheathing his sword, Lan waited for the soldiers to attack. The blade felt odd in his hand; only now did the young mage realize how he had come to depend on his spells. Before he had learned so much, the sword and he had been as one, flowing and thrusting, moving and parrying and lunging.

He again fell into this rhythm of attack, skewering the first soldier to confront him. At his side, Inyx slashed powerfully to sever a wrist. The grey- clad gasped and stared numbly at the spurting stump. Turning pasty white, he pirouetted and slowly sank to his knees, more dead than alive.

" Ha! This is more like it!" came Noratumi' s happy shout. The sounds of metal ringing against metal filled the small draw. Pent- up frustration at the destruction of his city boiled over and caused the man to fight like a small platoon.

Lan' s muscles protested at first, then relaxed as he became used to the movement of his sword. Having Inyx at his side aided him more than he could put into words. A quick disengage drove his point into an exposed throat. The next man tried fancy footwork; an unexpected replacement carried Lan' s tip to its target in the man' s heart.

Even as he fought, he sensed magics building. He turned to warn Iron Tongue, trusting Inyx to protect his flank.

" No magic," he cautioned, but the ruler of Wurnna had already spoken the soft words.

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."

" I thought that was the only reason," Iron Tongue said haughtily. " We get paid for this."

" Paid? Isn' t your continued futile survival worth the risk?"

" Lords, wait," said Lan, intervening before the two came to blows. To Noratumi he said, " The way is clear, assured by our alliance with Webmaster Murrk. You and your crews can mine the stones and transport it unhindered."

" We take all the risk, even with the spiders docile," complained Noratumi. " He sits on his fat ass inside Wurnna' s walls. He waits for the power stone all snug and safe."

" There are risks all around. Claybore must be kept occupied or he' ll attack the mines. We need that ore. Iron Tongue will maintain Wurnna' s defenses and launch occasional forays to divert Claybore' s more magical attentions."

" He can' t enslave any of us anymore. Not ever, after we' re clear of the greys."

" Iron Tongue? That sounds like a fair deal to me. No more slavery. Noratumi' s people will be risking their very lives for you." Lan saw this argument made little impact on Iron Tongue. The mage had slipped over the thin edge of sanity once more; the glazed eyes and exultant expression worried Lan.

" They are doomed. Haven' t they shown their inadequacy by losing their own city? But very well, those who survive this will be forever free citizens," Iron Tongue replied.

" And our children and their children," Noratumi continued.

" Do be serious. Wurnna needs workers. I' m willing to allow a handful of you to run about as if you were free citizens, but let' s not carry this to ridiculous lengths." The man' s voice changed in timbre. Lan' s fingers wove a complicated pattern in the air to defuse the effects of Iron Tongue' s honeyed words. When the mage saw that his usual persuasiveness wasn' t working, the man finally agreed with ill grace.

" They cannot shoot at us while we hang in the webs," said Murrk. He indicated Noratumi and the bow he carried.

" They won' t. If they do, they answer to me personally." Lan felt a wave of relief as all decided this was as good a deal as could be worked. They parted to separate camps, Noratumi to one side of the ravine and Iron Tongue to the other. Above moved Murrk, on his way to more mundane administrative duties.

Krek, Inyx, and Lan remained in the sandy spit. Inyx was the first to break the silence.

" This isn' t going to work. Someone is going to get mad and start the war up again."

" I hate to admit it, but you' re right," said Lan. " About the only thing we' ve got working for us is that the power stone will have to be mined quickly. Maybe we' ll get it back to Wurnna before some hothead breaks the alliance."

" Maybe all the Lower Places will frost over and the demons wear fur parkas," Inyx mumbled.

" Stranger things have happened around Lan Martak," observed Krek. Both humans glared at him and went to soothe whatever injured vanities the meeting had created.

" Claybore attacks more quickly each time after retreating," said Lan, a distant look on his face. " Iron Tongue is holding him back quite well, however. Purely defensive. It won' t be long before Claybore begins to wonder why we don' t launch an attack since that' s the only way to ever win free of Wurnna' s walls."

" The mining is going well enough," said Inyx. " Jacy' s crew opened the old shaft in less than an hour and found a rich vein of the power stone. It amazes me how quickly they work."

" Fear," said Lan. " They' re driven by fear of the spiders dangling above them as if they' re waiting to pounce."

" Why should a friendly spider engender such a response?" asked Krek. " We mountain arachnids are peaceable enough creatures, unless riled."

" Peaceable? You' re bloodthirsty, amoral, and totally without conscience," said Inyx, laughing.

" Why, thank you, friend Inyx. One does try, but it is so difficult at times to live up to the high ideals of one' s culture."

Lan had long since given up trying to fathom the contradictions in the spider' s brain. Sometimes gentle, other times a veritable death machine, Krek ran the gamut of responses to what appeared to Lan the identical situations. To Krek, however, those battles or retreats carried different moral values. About all Lan could be certain of was Krek' s undying friendship. The two had been through a great deal together and had come to depend on one another.

Even then, there were times:.

" Martak!" came the call from the mine. " A word with you."

Lan went to see what bothered Noratumi.

" We' ve got enough of the rock loaded onto the wagons for Iron Tongue. With this much he can move the moons out of the sky."

The three wagons visibly sagged under their load. The power stone left a cloud of dust hanging about that wouldn' t dissipate, even in a moderate breeze.

" Let' s start moving it out. Time is vital. Iron Tongue holds back Claybore' s assaults by a hair' s breadth."

" Not so fast. I' ve been thinking. About them." The man pointed to one of the spiders hanging a hundred feet above. " I might have misjudged the bugs."

" They' re gaining freedom from intrusion. The privacy of their web is important, as is their safety. For all their size, they are fragile enough beings."

Noratumi waved that away with a nervous gesture. " I want to give them something more. For not bothering us."

" What?"

" In the mine we found some cave mites. I know the spiders eat them but don' t like going after them. Well, we thought we might drag some out for the spiders."

" I' ll ask." Lan turned and quickly conversed with Krek. He saw his friend' s dun- colored eyes glow with the news of the cave mites. The young mage didn' t need Krek' s animated bobbing agreement to know the arachnids would be happy to feast on the mites.

Whatever Lan had expected, he didn' t expect to see the eighty pound eyeless larvae that Noratumi and the other miners dragged forth from the bowels of the shaft. The sickly white creatures thrashed weakly, visibly dying from the weak rays of the mid- morning sun. They weren' t allowed to suffer long; Murrk and the others descended from their webs and began devouring the mites.

" Messy," said Noratumi with some distaste, " but I suppose they think the same about the way we eat."

" How long before we can reach the trail leading into Wurnna?" asked Lan, more important things on his mind. The effort required to sneak in such a large quantity appeared to him insurmountable, but Iron Tongue had assured him and Noratumi that Claybore would never find this path- and that he' d be otherwise occupied when they brought their load in.

" Weeks," came the answer. " The loads are too heavy for us to haul, except one wagon at a time."

" Can' t do it that way. One time we might get through Claybore' s troops. He' ll be alert for a second try." Lan toyed with an idea, then pushed it aside. Using magic would only draw Claybore' s attention. But wasn' t the risk they all took equally as great by not employing certain spells?

" What are you thinking, Lan?" Inyx sidled up to him, her arm pressing close.

Excited, he said, " I haven' t had a chance to look through the grimoire, but one spell sticks in my mind. I haven' t dared try it before. There hasn' t been the time- or the need. Noratumi' s miners can' t get the wagons up the steep roads. They aren' t strong enough to do the pushing, and the horses are hardly better off. But a demon turning at the axle could give enough torque to make it possible."

" A demon?" Inyx warmed to the idea. " Yes, one like I found in Dicca. The one turning the rotor on that fluttercraft. It was tiny, but so strong!"

" I' ll need to conjure at least three of them. Holding them bound for a short while might be possible. It just might be." Lan wandered off, deep in thought. Inyx went to talk with Jacy. The two argued but the miner eventually agreed as Lan wandered back, a broad smile crossing his face. " I know exactly how to do it. It: it seems so simple."

" Then do it. The spiders seem sated for the moment, but I have no wish to press my luck." Noratumi tilted his head in the direction of Murrk and several other spiders. Lan had to agree. The alliance worked well at this instant. But the next?

He went to the nearest wagon and crouched by the rear axle, examining it. Running his hand over the work- worn wooden rod sent shivers of anticipation into his body. This was the first chance he had to consciously think about his conjuring before doing it. The black, eerie, empty dragons he had sent against Claybore had come without the slightest thought on his part. But this required effort.

Lan closed his eyes and let the dancing mote deep within him rise up. It bobbed and darted about, grew closer, took on texture. He teased it with his mind, captivated it with chants, bound it with his magic. The almost- alive ball of energy swung to and fro, then vanished from his inner sight. In the span of a heartbeat, it returned, herding a tiny demon with massive arms and wrists. The demon screamed its protests, but the mote suffocated all words.

Silently, Lan pointed. Fire leaked from his fingertips; the demon understood. With a sour expression, the diminutive horror from the Lower Places jumped up to sit, legs swinging, from the axle. It bent its head to keep from bumping against the loaded wagon bed.

The young mage made a turning motion with his hands. The demon squawked loudly enough to be heard over the damping spell cast by the light mote.

" Master, give me a break! That is not possible. My arms will tire. My hands cannot grip without slipping. There' ll be blisters. I' ll hurt myself! I have a hernia!"

" Do it," Lan said coldly.

" Oh, all right. I' ll try. But if this doesn' t work like you think it ought to, don' t say I didn' t tell you so." The demon bent double and wrenched at the axle. The entire wagon creaked and groaned and began to slowly move uphill, even with the brake firmly in place.

" Noratumi, get the team a' pulling. I' ve bound a demon to the back wheels to give you a boost up the hills. Be careful going downhill. The creature is likely to keep twisting." Lan glanced under the wagon and saw that the demon had intended doing just such mischief. Thwarted, it had to think up other misdeeds. Capturing a demon was relatively simple; binding it to exactly his will was another matter.

As soon as Noratumi began the wagon on its trip back to Wurnna, Lan summoned another and still another demon. The last one appeared different. The first two had been purple with distinct red tints in the piglike eyes. Not so this one. Bright green, its eyes glowed a baleful amber that reminded Lan of the mechanicals he had encountered on other worlds. This creature was totally supernatural- but its nature troubled him. Not only did the beast not complain at its imprisonment, it willingly began working, doing twice the work of the other captive demons.

" Inyx," Lan said in a low voice, " be especially watchful of the last wagon. The demon works too hard."

" Without urging? That is something to worry over." She remembered her own brief encounters with motive power demons. All had complained bitterly, begging for release from cruel masters, and all were more than anxious to be slackers at their work.

Lan Martak trudged along with Inyx and Krek, scouting ahead and guarding the flanks as the caravan of wagons lumbered through the mountain passes. The spiders watched them leave their valley without so much as a wave of a hairy leg. Lan fancied that he recognized Webmaster Murrk high in the webs, but Krek informed him he was mistaken.

All day they rattled and rolled along a rocky path scarcely the width of the wagons. Only at the end of the second day did Lan begin to think there might be a chance for success. The secret passageway Iron Tongue had promised turned out to be a tunnel drilled directly through the mountain to the west of Wurnna. Lan sent his energy mote ahead scouting for any sign of Claybore or his troopers. The route remained clear of both physical and magical impediments.

The third wagon rattled into the narrow passage, following the other two. Lan and Inyx brought up the rear.

" We' re so close. I have a premonition of disaster."

" Precognition?" the woman asked.

" Nothing so firm. Just an uneasy feeling. The trip from the mine has been too easy."

" Too easy?" Inyx flared. " We fought for every inch. Even with your demons, getting those tons of power stone ore up the mountains was anything but easy."

" I meant that Claybore hasn' t bothered us. With Bron obliterated, he has troops to spare. He can comb these mountains. If he wants. Why hasn' t there even been a small magical probe?"

" The battle might have drained him more than we thought."

Lan Martak didn' t believe that for an instant. With his newfound energies, he also gained insight into Claybore' s powers. The sorcerer did not share mortals' weaknesses. He had different flaws; tiring easily was not one of them. Like Lan, he drew on powers transcending the ordinary.

" The gap opens!" came the echoing cry from the far end of the tunnel. " We' re almost there. Wurnna is in sight!"

" Now comes the hard part," Lan said. Barely had the words left his mouth when the green demon on the last wagon let out a grunt of supreme exertion.

" Lan?" Inyx wasn' t sure what was happening. The mage knew instantly and began strengthening his binding spells. But the damage had been done. The demon had exerted its full power to send its wagon rocketing ahead. The heavy ore wagon ran over its lead horses, crushing them with wild whinnies of pain, then picked up speed on a slight downhill stretch and smashed full- bore into the second wagon.

The tunnel filled with power stone and choking clouds of dust. All within the tunnel would suffocate before reaching the safety of Wurnna.