" There is nothing alive in the fog," said Lan. His magical explorations of the fog turned up nothing. " It must be a chemical, just as the rain was acid."
" Take one sniff of that fog and you' ll be like he is." Broit Heresler backed through the entryway when Krek circled around and again came for them. The giant spider saw nothing. His path was dictated by the terrain and nothing more. He fought unseen enemies and if a friend happened in the way, that friend died.
" He doesn' t have an inkling of what he' s doing," said Lan. " The fog. Does it come off the mountain?"
" Of course it does," said Broit. " The rains set the mountainside on fire, then the fog drifts down, usually reaching its worst at sunset or sunrise."
" Some chemical enters the fog and is carried along on ordinary water drops. If inhaled, it acts as a mind- twisting drug."
" How' s that help Krek, even if it is true?" asked Inyx. Lan held the woman back. She obviously tensed to make another attempt to tackle the eight- legged juggernaut.
" Watch."
Lan closed his eyes and forced his dancing mote of light into another shield. This time he kept it dense enough to prevent even the smallest of air particles from passing the membrane. The sheet of light spun and whirled and dropped like a net over the caroming spider. Krek fought it, slashing helplessly at it. While the scintillant sheet did nothing to stay his reckless running, it completely shut off the air.
" I made a mistake in not knowing the fog' s nature," said Lan. " Remember in the tunnel leading to Wurnna how I prevented the power stone dust from reaching us?"
Inyx nodded but kept a careful eye on Krek. The spider still rolled and clawed and snapped viciously, but those actions were becoming weaker and weaker as oxygen- deprivation began.
" I kept the light shield so that air passed but larger dust particles didn' t. I tried the same thing at first with Krek. Now I shut off all flow either in or out of the shield. I have him encapsulated."
" A bug in amber. How nice," said Broit Heresler. " Can I dig the grave for him when he suffocates? Never had to do one this big. Course, there was the mass burial we Hereslers did about thirty years back. I wasn' t around to personally view it, but the grave was big, and I mean big. Everyone' s still talking about it. The stuff of legends, don' t you know?"
" There won' t be a grave. As soon as he collapses, I' ll release the shield and we can drag him inside. The fog doesn' t enter Yerrary, does it?"
" We have tight doors."
Krek rolled onto his back and all eight legs kicked spastically. Ever weaker, the spider eventually lay without moving.
" Don' t let him die, Lan," said Inyx, her fingers digging into the mage' s arm.
" You know I won' t. I' m going to have to put the shield around us. No air to breathe except what we start with, so move fast. Ready, now!"
Lan and Inyx ran out, hidden behind the impervious shield of light. Each grabbed one of Krek' s thick legs and started to pull. Before they got halfway back to the entrance to the mountain fastness, Lan felt himself growing weaker, lightheaded, almost to the point of passing out.
" You' re doing a better job at this than I am," he told Inyx. " I' ll hold the shield around you alone to give more air. I' ll follow."
" Lan, the fog' s coming back."
" Get Krek inside. Do it!"
Lan rearranged the spell so that only Inyx remained inside the protective bubble of magic. The instant he freed himself, air gusted into his straining lungs. Gratefully, he dropped to his knees and sucked in huge draughts of life- giving oxygen. In the distance he heard Broit Heresler screeching about the fog.
Turning, Lan saw filmy tendrils reaching out for him. He smiled. These weren' t foggy tendrils, these were a woman' s fingers. A lovely woman caressing his face, beckoning him on. He stood and stared into the fog. It parted like a curtain in a theatre, revealing the most gorgeous creature Lan had ever seen.
Not quite human, she possessed a beauty transcending the physical.
" Come to me," she urged. Long fingers reached out to stroke and entice. Lan moved toward her. " I want you for my own. Together we can be invincible. Together, we can be gods."
" I' d like that," said Lan, moving away from the mountain and into the ethereal woman' s embrace. But he did not find it. She danced away lightly, taunting him, leading him on.
" Come," she whispered seductively. " Come and I will grant you all your wishes."
" Stop Claybore," he said.
" That, yes. I can give you that."
" Inyx. Be with Inyx."
" You choose another woman over me? What a man! You can have us both. Come, come!"
He followed. He heard a faint cry from behind, but he ignored it. How could he be burdened with petty conversation when he was being promised universes?
Lan fell heavily onto his face when something smashed into the back of his knees.
" Dammit, Lan, the fog' s got you, too!" came the cry.
Angry at being denied his ultimate fantasies, he kicked out. Inyx hung on with grim tenacity.
" Back, Lan. Fight it. The fog' s burning away your brain. I can' t hold out much longer. Hurry, Lan. Fight it!"
Inyx gasped out the last of her pent- up breath, imploring Lan to action. The sight of the lovely woman clinging to his leg, her face red with exertion, shook him.
" I need you," came the siren' s call from the fog. " Leave her. I can give you anything- everything!"
Lan' s brain churned and felt as if it would rip from his skull.
" Lan," wheezed Inyx, slowly succumbing to the fog' s induced dreams. " It' s Reinhardt. But it can' t be. Vision, image. Not real. I remember being fooled before. Not real."
The mention of Inyx' s dead husband snapped Lan back to a semblance of command over his emotions, his body. Reaching deep within, he summoned the most powerful magics of which he was capable. A small spire rose, spun, turned into a vortex catching the foggy tendrils within. The air elemental boiled about, shrieking with insane joy as Lan released it from eternal bondage.
The elemental spun to the sky and blasted itself free, taking with it most of the fog. Lan stood with the wind whipping around, snapping at his clothes, clawing at his face, and sucking out the moisture. He endured and the fog' s effects faded.
" Come on, Inyx. Summoning the air elemental warned Claybore. It had to. That was potent magic, but nothing else seemed to work."
He half- dragged her back to where Broit Heresler stood in the doorway leading into the mountain. Beside him crouched Krek, shaking and openly crying.
" Why did I ever leave my fair young bride to walk the Road? Oh, Klawn, can you ever forgive me?"
" Shut up, Krek," commanded Lan. The spider' s head snapped around when he saw Lan pulling Inyx inside. Broit slammed and locked the door. Lan noted with some satisfaction the rubber seals all around to prevent the fog from entering Yerrary.
" Give us a few minutes to rest, Broit. Then we can be on our way."
" Never seen anybody get away from the fog before. Don' t know what it does, but it' s a killer. Usually find the bodies miles from here. What a chore, dragging them to the graveyard. Can' t just leave them in a nice pile by the door, no way. Nothing' s ever that easy, even death." Broit cocked his head to one side and peered at Lan. " You' re damn good. Think you can get rid of the Tefize and their pet sorcerer?"
" I' m going to try."
" Don' t know what good that' s going to do me. Just cause more work. Bodies, bodies everywhere! That' s all that happens when we have a couple tame mages to do our fighting for us."
Lan Martak rested and closely watched both Krek and Inyx. The spider threw off the effects of the fog rapidly enough, but Inyx took longer. As she gasped for air, Lan considered the psychic effects he' d felt. Visions weren' t produced by another, as when Claybore sent his nightmares to haunt Lan' s sleep. Rather, these were images generated by the individual. He had no idea what Krek had seen, but it had terrified the spider. His own goals were all promised, if only he follow. And Inyx had again been shown her dead husband Reinhardt.