Lan closed his eyes and cast forth his magical senses. What he encountered only added to his tiredness. He sank to the floor, sitting cross- legged.
" It' s worse than you think, Knoton," he said. " The Lord has permanently sealed the vault door. The spells operating it have been cancelled and, as if that' s not enough, he has ordered his technicians to weld it shut. Feel the heat seeping through? No amount of work on our part will open this way again."
" Trapped for eternity," wailed the mechanical.
" Perhaps not," spoke up Krek. " The Lord of the Twistings entered once to taunt us. He vanished in a part of the maze some little distance from this point. This might indicate another entrance- and a potential exit. After all, he hardly expected to go to the room containing Claybore' s skin by traversing his own maze."
Lan snapped his head up and around to stare at the spider. His brain refused to think. Exhaustion poured into his body like melted tar. But the spider was right.
" We did think he vanished too quickly to ever reach this room," he said. " And the Lord wouldn' t want to go through so much of the maze to get to his precious skin down in the room where we just were. He' s got an entrance other than this one! He has to!"
" And one leading to his playroom," said Inyx. " I' d bet on it. He dotes on the smaller man- trap mazes he keeps there. He seldom leaves that damned room, but when he does, I' ll bet he comes down into the Twistings to gloat over his fine creations."
" Let' s go do some wall tapping," suggested Lan. He got to his feet, legs almost refusing to support his weight. Going to the forlorn Knoton, he put an arm around the cool metal shoulder and said, " We' re beaten- this round. Next one will be ours."
The pair left the sealed vault door behind, never looking back.
" The scouts have worked the entire area," said Inyx, " and they' ve not found a single hidden corridor or room."
" It' s there," said Lan. " I know it. The Lord isn' t the kind to have only one way out of his hidey- hole."
Knoton clanked in and propped himself against a wall. His left leg still dragged slightly, and there hadn' t been time to fix the dents in his head caused by Krek' s talons. The mechanical had seen better days.
" We found a hidden room," he said without preamble.
" What? Where?" demanded Lan. " Show me."
" A word first with you- and Inyx."
Lan and the woman exchanged quick glances. This was unexpected. They knew the mech wanted out, and this might be the path. Why stand around and discuss anything?
" We are on the brink of escape," said Knoton. " When you destroyed the facial skin of this sorcerer, you told me that we would decide who got to kill the Lord of the Twistings. I want him. That is my condition for aiding you and telling where this room is in the maze."
" Do you hate him so?" asked Lan. " He' s cast you in, yes, but you' d keep us in the Twistings just for revenge?"
" Humans are treacherous," snapped Knoton. Softening his tone a little he said, " I am sorry. You have shown yourselves to be honorable. This is something I do not expect out of nonmechanical life forms."
" Humph," sniffed Krek. The spider turned away, already miffed at the turn the conversation took.
" I have as much claim on him," said Inyx. " What he did to me was insane. He must be punished."
" We all have good claim against him, but you' re forgetting something. Even after we' re out of the Twistings, there' s an entire army to contend with. We have to assume Claybore still supports him. While the skin is gone, the entire world remains a plump- enough prize. Unless I miss my guess, Alberto Silvain is no fool. He' ll defend the Lord ably." Lan sat back, arms crossed on his chest. " When we escape, it must be one convulsive burst outward, with force. We have to convince Silvain that the Lord is no longer in control, that the object he seeks for his master is already destroyed."
" Silvain would never fight for the Lord without the promise of recovering Claybore' s skin," said Inyx, sureness in her voice. " You' re right, Lan. Convince Silvain and he will not fight for the Lord. He' d kill the Lord in an instant. But he' s another one I want: Alberto Silvain."
" Let' s come to a quick agreement that we' d all love to see all these men punished. After we' re out, we might even be in control. If so, we can discuss the matter further, at leisure when we can look at this from many different perspectives. But let' s first get out of the Twistings."
" Agreed," said Inyx. She looked to Knoton. The mechanical hesitated, then gave a quick head nod.
" To this room you' ve found. May it lead us right up into the center of the Lord' s palace!"
" It' s a relatively simple spell," Lan explained. " I' m not going to have any trouble at all with it."
" But?" asked Inyx. " You' re hesitating. That' s not like you, Lan."
" I don' t know what we' ll find on the other side. The grey- clad soldiers still support the Lord. I' d feel better if we had some sort of cat' s- paw to shove through ahead of us."
" Like the maze creatures?" piped up Krek. " I have noticed them following us. Their voracity has not diminished one iota since the geas was lifted. If anything, they become bolder."
" Can you herd them into this room?"
" Of course," answered the spider. He lumbered off to begin assembling the cappers, blue monsters, and others.
" Stand back. This might be dangerous." Lan chanted his spells and felt the wards diminish before him. In less than a minute the last of the spells collapsed.
The way into the Lord of the Twistings' palace opened to them.
" I was right!" exclaimed Inyx. " That' s his playroom." She peered around the edge of the doorway, obviously eager to go through and find the man who had imprisoned them all in the Twistings.
" Hey- yahhhh!" came the cry from the corridor. Knoton, Lan, and Inyx jumped back in time to avoid being crushed under the waddling might of dozens of the blue eating creatures. They yammered, jaws snapping, and charged forth into the Lord' s playroom. Behind came a legion of cappers, drifting along, tiny hands wiggling in front. And behind them, mandibles clashing together in order to keep the herd moving in the proper direction, rolled Krek.
" That ought to soften up the opposition," said Lan. " Knoton, get your troops together. We' ve got a ruler to depose!"
Lan turned to find Inyx, but the dark- haired woman had already left the Twistings. He hurried after, death tube in hand. The device had grown progressively weaker after each usage, and Lan worried that it might fail him now. Still, it provided a better weapon than his dagger.
" Inyx!" he called. " Where are you?" He listened and heard sounds of battle coming from the next room. The man tried to re- create the floor plan of the palace; he thought the noise came from the audience chamber. He hurried to find out.
The enormous room had been filled with the voracious maze creatures. Finding more food than they had had during their entire existence in the Twistings, the beasts devoured unsuspecting soldiers and dismembered slow- moving mechanicals. The soldiers fought halfheartedly, wanting more to run than fight. Lan didn' t blame them. Such carnage wasn' t seen often, even on the most hard- won of human battlefields. After all, humans don' t stop to eat their victims.
" Away!" came a familiar voice. " Away, back to the Twistings!" The words carried more than a demand; magics laced them, as well. Lan even hesitated on hearing the command, feeling the spell' s power, wanting to return. Then he got a better grip on himself. He was exhausted, but he wasn' t beaten into the ground.
Lan homed in on the Lord. The man stood in the center of the large stage, arms upraised, head tossed back, imploring the powers to drive away the hordes wrecking his audience chamber. A quick vault brought Lan onto the stage. The Lord lowered his gaze, staring directly into Lan' s eyes. There was no sign of recognition.