" Why do you do this to me?" the ruler asked, his voice hurt and childlike.
" You don' t recognize these creatures? They live in the Twistings. And the humans, the mechanicals, the hybrids? Those are people you exiled."
" I don' t understand."
But Lan did. The man played for time. He felt the stirrings of magical powers all around. He immediately began building counterspells, but the Lord had the edge. Years of practice, years of malevolence, had honed his powers to an edge sharper than Lan' s newly acquired ability. When the Lord unleashed his magics, Lan, staggered under the onslaught- but he held his position.
Fighting a defensive battle, he maintained his composure. The Lord had failed to destroy him or push him back. This added to Lan' s confidence. While the battle of magics tired him quickly, he thought he might soon break down the other' s barriers.
" Die, you scum!" Lan heard from the side. He allowed his eyes to flicker over. Inyx held death tubes in both hands. The weapons flared and smashed into the Lord' s defensive barrier. With this added assault, the man couldn' t continue.
Wordlessly, he spun and vanished behind curtains at the side of the stage. Inyx followed him with her death tubes, setting fire to the curtains. But the Lord of the Twistings had fled.
" Inyx, wait," cried Lan. He stumbled forward. " He knows the palace too well. There are traps everywhere."
" He' s mine, dammit!" the woman flared. " After what he did to me in that damned maze, dammit, he' s mine!"
Lan turned and surveyed the room. The Lord' s mechanicals had put up no resistance whatsoever when they saw Knoton. If anything, the sight had provided a rallying point for them to rebel. Only Claybore' s soldiers fought those pouring out of the maze- and the battle went poorly for them.
Taken by surprise, unable to fight off the blue monsters and cappers, the soldiers quickly retreated. Only one pocket of resistance formed. Lan figured this was commanded by one of the higher- ranking officers, perhaps even Alberto Silvain.
" The Lord' s not going anywhere. He' ll not lose all he' s built here. Let' s eliminate the grey- clads, then go after him. There' s still Silvain to think about."
" But the Lord:" Inyx glared at the spot where the Lord of the Twistings had disappeared, then she slumped. " You' re right. Following him now is too dangerous. Wipe out the others, get control, then root him out like the worm that he is."
Krek tottered up to the edge of the stage and looked Lan squarely in the eye.
The arachnid said, " The maze creatures return to the Twistings. I do not understand it."
" The Lord cast a spell ordering them to go back. I felt it and managed to fight it off before it grew too strong. He underestimated us again. He won' t do it anymore."
" The battle goes against him," observed the spider. " His mechanicals rally to Knoton. The soldiers are all but eliminated. Do you wish to assist removing one last group of them?"
" Let' s go," Lan urged, his arm around Inyx' s waist. He tightened the grip slightly to move her along. He didn' t want her running off alone in search of the Lord. He' d never asked what the man had done to her; it had to be awful. She' d discussed her stay at Luister len- Larrotti' s with him but positively refused to do more than proclaim her hatred for the Lord of the Twistings and vow she' d personally kill him.
He' d touched her in ways too deep for her to speak of.
The man' s evil would end- soon.
" There, over there!" called Knoton. He stood at the front of a tight band of mechs. They held death tubes and other weapons picked up from fallen humans. Lan felt the buzz of concern surge through their ranks as he and Inyx joined the metallic leader. The other mechanicals weren' t sure of any humans. One quick gesture from Knoton quieted them.
" The greys are behind that wall," said Knoton. " A frontal assault will be deadly for us."
" The room is small. There can' t be more than a few dozen inside," said Inyx. " They' ll be in each other' s way constantly."
" Too bad the maze creatures returned," said Knoton. " We could have used them."
Lan said nothing while Inyx and Knoton discussed possible ways of attacking the soldiers' position. He paced and studied, his magical sense probing out. The man hesitated to use a spell against the soldiers for a variety of reasons. It drained him casting even the simplest of spells, but even more to the point was the Lord. Magics turned against their user were more devastating than any other kind; the mage had little in the way of defense against a spell personally conjured. Lan Martak didn' t doubt for an instant that the Lord waited for him to make a mistake using a powerful spell.
He, more than any other single factor, had been responsible for the Lord' s empire crumbling. Without his magical sense Claybore' s body artifact wouldn' t have been destroyed; the geas that formed the Lord' s power core in the Twistings had been permanently removed from the struggle. Oh, yes, definitely, the Lord would be waiting for him to make a mistake.
" Use your cylinders against that part of the wall," Lan ordered. The mechanicals stared at him, then at one another. He was a human, no matter that Knoton tacitly approved of his continued life, and not to be trusted. " Do it. Now!" he roared.
The snap in his voice caused many to lift their weapons and fire. As the lightning cracks of energy smashed into the wall, Lan stepped back and waited. Less than five seconds elapsed before the wall fell in, exposing the soldiers.
" Krek," he said softly. " Ask the soldiers to surrender. Use your loudest voice."
The spider obeyed. His voice thundered forth. The sight of the tall mountain arachnid did much to demoralize the soldiers. Whether this was illusion or reality made no difference.
" Surrender!" Krek bellowed. And the soldiers quietly surrendered.
Inyx came to Lan and put her arm around him. He shook in reaction to the anticlimactic battle. The army of mechanicals surged forward and took prisoners rather than leaving corpses. Their reason for slaughter had been circumvented.
" Knoton?" called Lan. The set of the mech leader' s head told him all he needed to know.
Alberto Silvain had not been in the room. And the Lord of the Twistings remained free in the palace. This battle had been relatively bloodless. The one to come- with Silvain and the Lord- wouldn' t be carried off so easily.
He sagged and let Inyx help him to a chair for some well- deserved rest.
CHAPTER TWENTY
" A cenotaph opens," said Krek. " Very near. I feel it."
" So do I," said Lan. " And it just closed. I don' t think Silvain escaped through it. I didn' t have any ' feel' of it being used to move from this world to another."
" There are others nearby," the spider pointed out. " I cannot tell when they will activate."
" Let' s not worry about that," Inyx said with feeling. " I want Alberto Silvain, but I want the Lord of the Twistings even more."
Lan Martak closed his eyes and let his senses tell him where the Lord was. The grey- clads had mostly surrendered. The few pockets of resistance faded as more and more of the mechanicals and others of the palace staff joined the battle. Word of the revolt would soon spread to the city and bring about unforeseen consequences. Lan had no idea how the populace of Dicca might respond to having their elected leader overthrown. After all, the Lord did deliver first- quality illusions, and the people of this city lived for their fantasy.
Still, a civil war raged outside. He' d seen rebel howlers battling against the greys. That meant support for this palace revolt existed.
" He' s returned to his playroom, as you called it, Inyx. He is working spells I can' t begin to understand, but they are potent ones." Lan opened his eyes and twisted his head so that he could see Krek. Human and spider locked gazes for a moment. Krek finally bobbed his head in silent, reluctant agreement that he would do as Lan wished.