" Inyx, help me. I can' t hang on much longer. He' s heavy!"
Whirring sounds from above told Lan everything was going to be all right. Krek spun a hunting web. It rocketed down and stuck to the mechanical' s body. But when the spider began pulling up, the webstuff slid free of Knoton' s body.
" The acid prevents a good hold. The mist from the boiling vat wets Knoton all over."
" Can' t hang on much longer," grunted Lan. His muscles knotted painfully from the strain. The droplets of acid billowing up in a misty cloud stung his hands, his arms, threatened his face and eyes. He heaved, jockeyed for position, felt himself slipping.
" Let go," said the mechanical. " Save yourself."
" We' re in this together, dammit," muttered Lan. He started chanting the revitalization spell, even though its success now would prevent him from being very effective later.
Krek bobbed past him. All eight legs gripped the mech' s head. Through some spiderish lore Lan knew nothing about, Krek went back up the strand, lugging Knoton behind. Only when Lan heard a heavy metallic thud signalling the mech' s safety did he relax.
His wrist muscles knotted on him, half- closing his hand with reaction. He sat and chanted a minor healing spell.
The muscles relaxed. He hadn' t used much of his reservoir of strength.
" How' d you do that, Krek?" he asked. " You said the acid made it impossible to pull Knoton up."
" My hunting web refused to stick. I held him in my talons."
" He dented the sides," said the mech, sitting across the trap door and shaking his battered, talon- marked head. " And I want to thank you all for saving me."
" Next time believe me when I say there' s trouble ahead."
" Lan, hurry. The maze creatures are forming." Inyx clubbed at one with the blunted tip of her sword. The capper recoiled, hands grabbing for her blade. She kicked at precisely the right instant to send it stumbling back into the pack of its allies.
" Drop a plank across this trap," Knoton ordered one of his lieutenants. " Then give us protection when we reach the room." The mechanical snapped a salute and hurried off to obey.
Lan jumped over the opened trap and joined Inyx and Krek in stabbing and slashing at a few of the cappers. When one of the blue monsters blundered into the same corridor, the cappers turned their attention to it and vanished, almost as if they had been real ghosts. For once, the avariciousness of the maze creatures aided Lan and the others.
" Disabling trap here, no way of telling what that one is over there," he said as he walked. The glowing squares had tripled in number, and the colors were subtly altered. Once, a mechanical blundered across a patch Lan saw as light green. The concussion from the explosion knocked them to their knees. Knoton received another heavy dent in his head when flying debris from the destroyed mech rebounded with a loud twang.
" The Lord has certainly prepared the way for us," said Inyx. " It' s a good thing you' re able to see them, Lan. No one could possibly get in, otherwise."
" I' m afraid we may have some trouble of our own," he replied. The maze creatures blocked their path- and the beasts weren' t hindered by triggering the traps.
" Stay still for a moment," said Lan. He concentrated, trying to figure out the difference between the maze monsters and the humans: why should one trigger the traps while the other did not?
The creatures attacked. Lan raised his hand and a blinding sheet of fire swept forth. The reaction startled all of them. The traps in the floor erupted with a cornucopia of violences. Sonic waves, metallic spear points, spells that ruptured the cells of the body, spells turning bone to ash, all these decimated the attacking monsters. For a moment, the surviving beasts stood, as if confused, then turned and fled. Lan shot forth another radiant plane of energy; again came the virulent destruction.
" What did you do?" asked Knoton, astounded.
" Most of those traps are triggered by body heat. Krek doesn' t trip them because his body is too far off the ground. Those creatures must have slower metabolisms than humans."
" But I triggered the trap back in the other corridor," protested Knoton. " My body temperature is very low."
" That was a mechanical trap," pointed out Lan. " Your weight set it off. I told you it ' looked' different. Somehow, the Lord has used magics to create these traps. Different ones give off different colors. What I see as amber must be purely physical nastiness. The other colors represent a coding of magical spells. Even some of them must be physically activated." All too well he remembered the sight of the mech being blown apart.
" Friend Lan Martak, what you say is probably true. It is not good policy to stand about idly talking it over, especially if the Lord of the Twistings listens in."
" You' re right, Krek. Quick, time it now. We' re almost to the doorway."
The small group stopped in front of the room. Lan hurriedly scanned it and felt mounting disappointment.
The spells guarding the door had been strengthened- doubled. The thought of again going down that gauntlet behind the false panel in the wall made him sick to his stomach. The faces embedded in the walls, the tiny groping hands, the teeth, always the teeth:
To enter the room required that they again reach the relatively safe anteroom at the end of the hidden corridor.
" No way in here. To go through that door is instant death."
" There' s nothing to worry about," said Knoton. " In," he commanded one of his troops. The mechanical bravely walked forward. Lan had to reach out and restrain Inyx to keep her from following and attempting to stop the mech.
" See?" said Knoton proudly when his mechanical had entered the room. " There' s nothing to worry over. You live too much in magics, human. You see them everywhere, even where they are not. I can:"
Knoton' s words trailed off when he saw the delayed reaction inside the room. The mechanical he' d sent in slowly wavered, as if seen through intense heat. Losing all rigidity, the doomed mech began to puddle and flow. When only a pool remained on the floor, a dull pop sounded. Steam clouded the scene for a moment, then those still outside could again see into the room.
" He' s gone," said Knoton in a low voice. " He melted down into slag and vanished."
" The spells aren' t obvious ones," said Lan. " I have no idea what most of them do, but that' s only a start. The reaction is postponed long enough to lure in others. It' s a wonder this single trap hasn' t eradicated all the maze monsters."
" He' s gone," repeated Knoton, staring into the space where he' d sent the mech to its destruction. " Again, I misjudged you, human. You do care about our safety."
" And you' re misjudging me now," said Lan. " I' m going to ask you to follow your friend in."
" What? And perish in such a fashion as that?" Knoton' s eyes flared red and green and amber in his fury.
" Maybe. It' s a distinct possibility, one that can' t be discounted totally. I hope it won' t come to that, but we' ve got to go in. Krek' s too big. Besides, we need him outside to stand off the maze creatures. You and Inyx and me- we go in."
" What of my troops?"
" I need help, not an entire army. Too many will distract me and increase the danger. I can warn you and Inyx in time. To relay that along a line:" Lan shrugged.
" I see. What am I to do?"
" Follow us," spoke up Inyx. " We' ve been down this corridor before, but couldn' t get all the way in. This time we have to. I doubt the Lord will give us a third chance."
Lan located the illusory wall panel. He took several deep breaths to calm himself. Walking the path between the inner walls took all of his courage when he knew what awaited him if he stepped too far either left or right. Hands. Teeth. Pain, intense pain, pain so excruciating he almost felt it before it began.
" Don' t look to either side," he cautioned, then went forward. Lan fancied grabbing hands missed him by fractions of an inch. He moved slowly, studying their footing, finding a few new traps. Once he even " felt" an overhead trap. Knoton disabled the trigger device, showing exceptional dexterity in the cramped quarters. Finally the trio reached the " safe" spot attained on the last excursion.