Lan smiled without humor. That image had been used to imprison the woman before, on another world, by a human mage without a shred of conscience or decency. Inyx had remembered and had used it to counter the fog' s insidious effects long enough for Lan to recover and act.
He stroked over Inyx' s raven hair, noting the spot where Krek' s mandibles had cut a lock free. She no longer fought. He hummed quietly, soothingly. Of all the people he had met along the Cenotaph Road, of all the friends he had made, she was truly special.
Inyx was more than a friend to him. Much more.
Lan closed his eyes and sent forth his dancing light mote to scout through Yerrary. There was no need to play coy now. Claybore had to have sensed the prodigious powers released by the air elemental as it sucked up all the fog in its wild bid for freedom. The magical battle would soon be joined and he might as well know Claybore' s location.
To his surprise, Lan found not only evidence of Claybore, but also of another mage, one nearly as powerful.
His eyes flashed open and focused on Broit.
" Are there other mages in Yerrary?" he asked.
" None left in the sorcerer' s clan," said Broit. " Damn Lirory Tefize. When the sorcerers wiped themselves out almost to the man, the handful left petitioned other clans for membership. The Tefize were dumb enough to take Lirory."
" And he took over," finished Lan.
" Hard to believe a bunch of shit- movers would even think about having a sneaky mage in their ranks, and now they' ve got one running their clan business."
It was always this way, Lan mused. A powerful enough sorcerer had advantages over everyone else. Mostly the mages were reclusive and desired nothing but their own solitude. Occasionally, with ones like Claybore and this Lirory Tefize, they nurtured ambitions spanning worlds. They were the dangerous ones. They were the ones Lan had to fight.
" I sense Lirory," he said. " And Claybore. He shines like a black flame. But there is another presence, one I can' t penetrate."
" Those are the real corpse- makers around here," said Broit. " The pair of them keeps us dragging, it does."
" Lan?" came a soft voice. " Are you all right?"
" Are you?" he asked Inyx.
" If we' re inside the mountain and together, the answer' s ' yes.' "
" I must have alerted Claybore to our presence," he told her. " The air elemental was like a finger pointing us out to him."
" We survived the fog. We can survive Claybore."
" I hope so, but there are things within this mountain I don' t understand." He told her of Lirory Tefize and the powerful emanations he felt from the gnome clan leader and of the undecipherable radiations from still another mage. " Worst of all, I feel a very strong force within Yerrary. Claybore might be able to recover more than just one bodily part."
" How many are here?" she asked.
" Four, They might be his arms and legs."
" Why are all four here?"
" Lirory," broke in Broit Heresler. " He walks the Road and he' s been collecting dead parts from all over. Why, nobody can say. We wanted to bury them, but he got huffy about it."
" Lirory' s been accumulating them. For Claybore? Or for his own ends?"
" Any Tefize is a slippery character," said Broit. " Who can say?"
" He might be bartering the parts for concessions from Claybore," said Inyx. " Such a trade would appeal to Clay- bore. He wouldn' t have to scour the worlds on his own to regain much of his power."
" Broit said there weren' t any grey- clads on this world. This might be because of Lirory Tefize. He holds Claybore' s legions at bay with the threat of destroying the body parts he controls."
" Claybore would make him ruler of the entire planet if he turned over the parts," said Inyx. " Why hasn' t he already done so?"
" Lirory is ambitious. He holds out for more, if I know that bugger," said Broit.
" What more can there be?" asked Krek, finally shaking off his depression. " A world? A hundred worlds? What price is too high for Claybore to pay?"
Lan thought it over and finally said, " I don' t know, but it might have something to do with the other presence I feel. Potent magics not of Claybore' s doing are present. Perhaps Lirory bargains with two parties."
" Another Claybore?" groaned Krek. " Is not one ample for our feeble efforts?"
" I don' t know what' s going on. We' ll have to check it out personally and see. Broit, lead on."
" You certain you want to ally with the Heresler?" the gnome asked. " These other clans have some high- class talent aiding them, damn them all. So why us?"
" We like you," said Inyx, laying her hand on the gnome' s shoulder. Broit looked confused. Perhaps it was the first time anyone had ever told him he was likable.
" I only asked because it' s taken us so long getting inside. We' re going to have to cross Nichi territory to get safe."
" Who are they?"
" Sweepers," the gnome said with some disgust. " All they do is push their filthy brooms around the corridors, stirring up dust and dissension. Awful people. And ugly! They are enough to make you die just looking at them."
Lan said nothing. Broit Heresler hardly appeared to be the height of beauty, but different worlds had different standards. He looked at Krek and had to smile. The spider always chided him on not having enough legs. And Krek' s bride Klawn- Lan had seen her. The spider' s description of her hardly jibed with reality. Larger even than Krek, she had tried to devour him on their wedding night and still Krek described her as loving and petite and the epitome of spiderish pulchritude.
" Are you going to take root or come along?" Broit asked snappishly.
" You lead, we follow. I' ll keep a lookout for Claybore."
Inyx shot Lan a quick, anxious look and he shook his head to reassure her that Claybore was not near.
" This is a claustrophobic place," muttered Krek. " Look at the terribly constricted halls. Not like a good web spun across a mountain valley. Imagine living inside the mountain, rather than dangling from the outer slopes."
" Remember the rain and the fog," said Inyx. " And you saw how the rock burned when the rain hit it. Would you want a web exposed to those conditions?"
" It is as I said. This is a terrible place. Friend Lan Martak, let us hasten off this world and onto another, more bucolic one."
" We' ve work to do here, Krek. But don' t worry. I don' t want to stay here any more than you do."
" What' s wrong with Home?" shouted Broit Heresler. " Isn' t this good enough for you buggers? Looks great to me. Fine place. Fine."
" I' m sure," said Inyx, trying to soothe the gnome' s anger, " Yerrary will grow on us."
" You make it sound like a fungus. This is a great place to live. Wait ' til you see our clan territory. Best in all of the mountain. You' ll like it- you' ll see."
Lan held up his hand cautioning Inyx and Krek. His light mote familiar bobbed about and returned. On its rippling surface he " read" what lay ahead of them in the hewn- rock tunnel.
For almost a hundred yards there were no cross- corridors. The rock itself was firm and virtually impenetrable, the tunnel being lit by phosphorescent moss growing on the roof and walls, casting a glow in such a way that there were no shadows anywhere. This all- pervading light erased shadows caused by contours and gave an odd appearance to both clothing and people. But beyond that was a chamber holding no fewer than twenty gnomes.
" Broit, is this way safe? There are many of your people ahead and waiting." Lan couldn' t interpret whether or not those ahead were of the Heresler clan or another. From all Broit had said, he doubted they were friendly.