The man was half a head shorter than Lan. This helped him cow the guard with a snapped command from superior height.
" Where is Kyn- alLyk- Surepta? I have an important message."
" Down this corridor and in the commons room with the two wenches. They get all the: what? You' re not a courier. Who are you?"
Lan' s fist punctuated the sentry' s question. As the man doubled over, a sharp knee to the chin put him out. Before he collapsed fully, Lan' s strong hands gripped under the man' s arms and pulled him to a nearby room.
" Krek? Is the room empty?"
The spider' s claws tapped lightly against the door panels.
" Yes, it seems so. No one answers my knock."
Lan sighed at the spider' s tactics but pushed into the deserted room. He dumped his prisoner on the floor and debated slitting the vulnerable throat. The idea didn' t appeal to him. Instead, he bound the man, using strips of material torn from the man' s uniform.
Pinching the unconscious guard' s earlobe until a tiny half- moon of blood appeared forced the man' s senses to return in a rush. The man shook his head, trying to avoid the fingernail gouging into his tender ear.
" St- stop it! Hurts!"
Lan slapped him, the echo of the blow ringing loudly in the empty room. The pain helped to further focus the soldier' s attention. When he saw Krek looming, almost three yards of furry menace, he turned as white as flour.
His words tumbled out, " I: I am a true believer. Why send me to the Lower Places, O Great Minnpolus? I pray every seventy- third day as you decree!"
" Silence," commanded Lan, slapping the sentry again. " You aren' t dead. Not yet. But you will be if you don' t answer my questions. Where is Kyn- alLyk- Surepta?"
" I t- told the truth. In the commons room, not half a hundred paces down the corridor. On the right. A huge door. Red leather with brass studs. A: a hydra knob to open the door. It: O Great One, why me?"
Krek moved closer and towered over the bound man. With a choked, incoherent cry, the man fainted. Krek bounced up and down on his rubbery legs and finally said, " You humans give up your senses so easily. Or did you frighten him too much?"
Lan didn' t bother correcting the spider' s mistaken opinions by telling him that the guard no doubt considered him to be a demon from the lowest levels of Hell. That would only cement the spider' s conviction that humans were frail and silly.
" We' ve got what we need from him. I doubt if he' ll come to soon. And if he does, the fear of eternal damnation will be upon him. But to make sure:" Lan tightly bound the man' s mouth with another strip of cloth from his tunic. " There. Now let' s find Velika."
" Yes, let us do that very thing. Perhaps then you will stop making all those silly noises about her."
The rollicking laughter from inside the commons room told Lan that he was too late. He pushed through the door and peered in at the scene, something out of a demented artist' s mind. Huge flames leaped toward the shadowed ceiling, fed by canisters of bottled gas at each corner of the room. The movements of the men were stroboscopic, jerky, unmistakable.
Velika lay on the central table, her skirts mostly ripped off. From the look on Kyn- alLyk- Surepta' s face and his obvious physical condition, Lan knew he' d arrived too late. The woman struggled weakly to fend off his amorous kisses, but the dishonor had been done.
Again Surepta had shamed Lan Martak.
A noise resembling two cats mating came to Lan' s ears. In the corner of the huge room stood Inyx, a wooden stick in her hand. She swung repeatedly at the general' s head every time he advanced on her. Although her clothing was ripped, Lan didn' t doubt for an instant that her honor remained intact. She jabbed viciously at the soldier' s head, then followed it with a looping kick to his groin. He grunted, taking the brunt of the kick on crossed forearms.
" Damn, but you' re a feisty one," he muttered. " Surepta has already had his pleasure. Why not surrender yourself to me gracefully? You will like it, I promise!"
" The promise of a slime- pig. Kill me or let me go. I accept nothing else!" Inyx kicked out again, this time sweeping the man' s foot from under him. He fell in a pile of thrashing arms and legs. A hard blow from the chair leg she brandished put him out of the fight temporarily. But instead of running, Inyx turned to Velika, still passively accepting Lyk Surepta' s overtures.
" Scum!" Inyx flared. The wooden rod whished through the air and landed on Surepta' s unprotected kidneys. He howled in anguish and turned to face his attacker.
" So he failed with you, eh? A woman such as you needs to be tamed by a real man." Surepta stood and moved lithely to one side, avoiding a second blow from her club. " You' ll be more exciting than this passive lump of flesh." Surepta paused, a look of confusion crossing his sharp features. He looked down at Velika and the tears streaming down her cheeks. His hand worked against his tunic as if he wiped away grime. Only a damp spot from the woman' s tears appeared on the lush fabric. " Still, she had her moments," he said in a choked voice. Then his normal arrogance flared back. " She might have been dead for all the pleasure I got from her!"
Lan and Krek slipped into the room, bolting the door behind them. Lan wanted no outside intervention.
" Behind you!" screeched Krek, his long legs springing straight. The huge arachnid launched through the air like a furry skyrocket. He landed between Inyx and the groggy general.
" Take care of him, Krek. Lyk Surepta is mine!" shouted Lan. But he found himself bowled over by a sudden rush. The attack cost him both his sword and pistol. Rather than attempt to recover either fallen weapon, Lan locked his arms around Surepta' s body. Whatever else the man might have been, he was no weakling. Lan felt the flow and play of powerful muscles. He experienced a curious dйjа vu feeling, remembering the night in the Dancing Serpent so long ago when he and Surepta had fought over Zarella.
Now they fought over Velika.
Lan gritted his teeth and tightened his bear- hug. Doubting he could win with this tactic, but fearful of letting go and allowing Surepta to pick up his own sheathed sword, Lan continued to squeeze with all his might. An adept twist sent him flying across the room.
He landed and rolled to his feet. As he faced Surepta, he saw death advancing on him. The gleaming length of blade between them was both sharp and well used. From the step- glide, step- glide motion, Lan knew Kyn- alLyk- Surepta meant to end this quickly.
" So, Dar- elLan- Martak," snarled Surepta, " we meet again. The sheriff thought you had escaped through the Road, but I never expected to find you here. It' s my pleasure to kill you now as I should have done before!"
Surepta' s first thrust was intended to be the last. Lan' s counterattack only partially succeeded as he avoided the blade and drove his fist toward an unprotected throat.
The sharp, searing pain told him his right side had acquired another scar. But the meaty thunk of his fist drove Surepta to the ground. Lan felt a murderous rage seizing him. Surepta had killed his lover, poisoned the old sheriff against him, driven him from his home world, raped and killed his half- sister, and now he had raped Velika. Lyk Surepta deserved no mercy.
He got none from Lan Martak.
Powerful fingers clamped around the straining throat. Slowly, inexorably, life fled from Kyn- alLyk- Surepta' s body until only a corpse remained behind.
Lan Martak stood and shook in nervous reaction, looking down at the dead body of his adversary. He realized then that the Resident of the Pit had been correct. Surepta had been brought to justice, but Lan' s revenge tasted bitter and dry. There should have been more.
Lan turned in time to see Inyx hit the general over the head with the chair leg while Krek taunted the man. As the soldier fell forward, Krek' s mandibles snapped once. They hardly slowed as they passed entirely through the body. Lan put his hand to his mouth at the gory sight, holding back his gag reflex.
" Well done, spider," Inyx congratulated her bloodstained ally. " A blow worthy of any warrior."
" You fared well alone, friend
Inyx," answered Krek. " A pity you are not a spider."
" If I were, I' d shave my legs," came back Inyx, stroking over the rough bristles on Krek' s front leg. " Still, I prefer this form, thank you."
" Humans are like that," Krek agreed. " Irrational about their frail forms. I must admit, though, there is something to be said about possessing appendages capable of firmly gripping a club." He attempted to pick up Inyx' s fallen chair leg and failed, his chitinous claws not curving properly to hold the small- diameter stick. " I might have more luck with a sword."
The spider hoisted a fallen sword, holding it through the guard. With a quick flinging motion, Krek sent the blade arrowing through space to sink half its length into the wooden door. The giant bobbed up and down, silently congratulating himself on the feat.
Lan turned his attentions from the mutual admiration society forming and went to Velika. She still sprawled gracelessly on the table where she' d been raped, hardly moving during the fight. At the sight of Lan bending over her, she threw strong arms around his neck and pulled his lips to hers. Her tear- dampened cheeks brushed his; electric tingles passed through his body, exploded in his brain, ignited passions he' d never before known.
After a satisfactory kiss, she sighed and said breathlessly, " I knew you would come to save me."
" I was a bit late. Seems the best I did was avenge your lost honor." Lan looked at Surepta and felt the cold rage billowing inside him again. But a broken neck and stilled heart ensured Surepta would never again harass him.
" What honor?" asked Inyx contemptuously. " She spread wantonly for that beast, no doubt thinking to save her precious hide. Honor? She knows nothing of the word."
“ Another few seconds and you’ d have ended up the same as her,” snapped Lan. “ If we hadn’ t come along:"
" I would have died defending myself. I never will give my life but rather will sell it dearly. And with my life goes my honor."
" Humans," shrilled Krek, " please perform your silly ritual of mutual insults at some later time. I feel a company of men marching toward this room. Whether they come to avenge the deaths of their leaders or to partake of the peculiar mating ritual decreed by their king, I cannot say. It seems to me that nothing in this horrid chamber can turn for the good. Those awful leaping flames! I cringe at the thought of them singeing my fur." As the spider rambled on, he shrank down to rock size, all the while detailing how terrible a fate it was being allied with humans.
" The gods protect us," muttered Lan. " All right. We can escape this castle and flee to another world through an artificial gateway constructed by Waldron."
" He need not use a cenotaph?" asked Inyx, her green eyes glowing at the thought. " That secret must be mine! I can then travel to the ends of the universe. I can even return to Klendalu, a conquering explorer of the premier rank."
" All that' s come to my mind, too, Inyx," said Lan. " But of more immediate importance is getting out of here unscathed."
" My lord!" cried Velika. " You bleed from a hideous wound." She hid her eyes in cupped hands and turned away from him. Inyx walked over and pulled away the matted grey cloth with a jerk that made Lan cringe, but her fingers probing the wound were curiously gentle.
" You' ll live, more' s the pity. Such a stupid person would be better off dead, yet I fear you' ll soon fulfill that minor prophecy. I pray you won' t take us with you as you die." All the while she muttered and cursed Lan' s stupidity, she was binding his wound. When she finished tending him, she' d applied a tightly bound bandage. He experienced a twinge of stiffness, but little pain. Inyx had proven herself useful at doctoring wounds.
" Let' s make haste for the new Road," said Lan. " Come, Velika, the blood' s all gone." Her relieved look filled him with warmth that made up for the lack of blood. Her safety was all that mattered to him.
" Leave her, Lan Martak," advised Krek. " She is hardly worth the effort of squiring along with us. Speed and a modicum of ruthlessness are needed to win free from all these cavorting flames." The spider cringed as he looked into the corner containing one of the gas torches. " Such horrid people, having those spider- burning flames open like that. And do try to avoid the awful wetness that continually leaks from her eyes. It seems so: unhealthy."
" I agree with Krek," seconded Inyx. " Leave her. She faints at the sight of blood. If we walk the Road, even one of Waldron' s manufacture, blood and death will be our constant companions."
" No. She comes along. And consider the treasure I' m abandoning. I' m willing to remain a pauper for Velika." His reward was a small frown.
The looks Inyx and Krek exchanged were even less respectful.
CHAPTER NINE
" Are you so greedy that you' d risk our lives in this way?" demanded Inyx. " Never have I heard of such stupidity."
" Dammit," exclaimed Lan. " I' m not going to argue with you. That cask of jewels belonged to me by right, and it was stolen. I' m going to get it back."
" It strikes me, friend Lan Martak, that this sudden desire for wealth instead of life did not take possession of your brain until it was placed there by her." Krek bounced up and down on springy legs and balefully looked at Velika. The blond temptress said nothing, but the way she clutched even harder at Lan' s upper arm supplied all the impetus for his reply.
" We search out the jewels. If you and Inyx wish to try and win through to the Road opened by Waldron, do it!"
" You know we can' t do such a thing, you fool. You saw the guards around that chamber," said Inyx angrily. " This entire place is a maze of twisting corridors. If we don' t all work together to escape this accursed castle, we shall all die within its walls. Treasure hunting will buy us unmarked graves. Is that what you want?"
" We can get the gems back and escape," Lan doggedly told her. " I haven' t come this far to turn back. Look at it my way. You' ve already been liberated from Waldron' s clutches. That' s fine for you, but I want all that' s due me. Waldron' s men stole the jewels, and I demand the right to fight and regain them."
" Isn' t killing Kyn- alLyk- Surepta enough?" the spider asked. " Your mind is fogged by her presence. She bewitches you in some fashion a poor weakling spider such as myself cannot discern. Oh, how I wish I were back in the blessed Egrii Mountains, swinging idly on my noble web, feeling the wind sensuously singing through the fur on my legs. And Klawn, lovely Klawn!"
" May your ' lovely Klawn' burn, damn you," snarled Lan. " And I' m sick of you moaning all the time. Velika hasn' t ensorcelled me. I come from a world where magic is commonplace and can defend myself against all but the most arcane."
Inyx snorted. " There' s none quite so blind as a lovesick jackass. And I wonder about that. She holds a strange power over you that seems more than simple idiotic infatuation. But," she said, holding up her hands in acquiescence, " we cannot escape if we are divided. I shall help you in this idiocy, though it means our death. I will go out fighting, not snivelling." She cast a venomous glare in Velika' s direction.
" I, too, shall add whatever pitiful efforts I can to the quest," said Krek, slumped to the floor in a giant, furry mass. " How I can aid you against that abominable firemonger, I am at a loss to say, but the attempt is the important thing. But a Webmaster deserves a better fate than being roasted."
" I agree," Inyx said, sullen and withdrawn.
" Then if you both agree, let' s be off. Which way did you say the vaults were, Velika?"
" Might have known she' d seek out the riches first," muttered Inyx. Lan ignored her. He thought she was only jealous of Velika' s glossy hair and womanly figure.
" This way, my lord."
" My lord," echoed Inyx sarcastically, then fell silent. She hefted a dagger taken from the dead general' s belt, then tested Surepta' s blade with a few quick lunges. Lan had to admit secretly that she looked as competent a swordsman as he' d ever seen. The test would come later, though, when she faced trained soldiers. Anyone can appear expert waving a blade around in thin air.
" Lead on, Velik
a, and we' ll follow." Lan cast a silencing glance at his two companions to stifle any retort. For his own, he couldn' t have been happier following Velika. The blond woman' s every move showed liquid grace, almost snakelike in its bonelessness, and the tatters of her gown revealed intriguing patches of gloriously bare skin. Lan began idly daydreaming, and only Inyx' s strong hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his reverie.
" Guards. Ahead. Use Velika to decoy them or we' ll never get past."
" Go ahead, Velika. Don' t be afraid. We' ll protect you. Just distract them long enough for us to attack."
The frightened look on her face called for action on Lan' s part. He placed his forefinger under her chin and raised her lips to his own in a soft kiss.
" There, a token of my esteem for your bravery." Her smile was reward enough for any man.
" The female makes an adequate decoy," observed Krek. " I do not understand it, but you humans have such a complex set of behavioral traits. Could you explain this to me, friend Inyx?"
" I won' t lower myself. Besides, I' m not sure I understand, either. Ah, now. Now!"
With a surge of speed, Inyx burst onto the guards, with quick flashes of her sword to the left, right, then a long lunge directly ahead. Three guardsmen died before the first hit the ground. Lan followed suit, slaying two more. The five cooling bodies presented mute evidence of their teamwork.
" Well done, Velika," said Inyx. " We at last find your usefulness lies in deception."
A cold laugh echoed down the length of the corridor.
" It seems you are the deceived one, lady of the sword. Take them alive or take them dead, it matters little to our liege."
Krek backed up and sank to his knees, sobbing loudly.
" Trapped like an insect in my own web. A common bug and no more. Oh, have my brains turned to mush? Why should I be forced to show my stupidity to the world?"
The soldiers advanced in a line, more of them than Lan could count. He motioned to Inyx to cover his left flank and called to Krek, " Guard the back way. It might be our only way out."
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