The spider accomplished the reconnaissance in a few minutes of jumping about. Lan took this to mean approval.
" Let me explore the depths of the cave. Best to stand back," he cautioned. Lan had also learned that fire wasn' t merely something the spider disliked- his fear was a mighty phobia. For a self- proclaimed fearless warrior, Krek exhibited strange weaknesses.
Lan soon found a small opening outlined by the flare of his torch. The valley opening on the other side, of the hill stretched deep, peaceful and deserted. Satisfied he wouldn' t be boxed in, he returned to his spider companion with the good news.
" Looks secure," he said. " Now all we need is some food. Maybe a nice squarrat, basted in its own juices and- Krek! What' s wrong?"
The giant spider hadn' t moved a hair since Lan' s return. All eight legs stretched wide, claws digging into solid rock in a manner Lan had never before witnessed.
" Lan Martak! They come! I can feel the vibrations of many men. They come to kill me for that accident with the commander' s hatchling!"
" What do you mean?"
" The one caught in my hunting web was the hatchling of the greyclad' s commander. Oh, woe! I am to die this day!"
Lan' s mind raced. To be trapped in this small chamber was out of the question. No doubt existed in his mind that these were from the company of grey- clad soldiers Krek had so ably frightened off earlier. If a more bold officer rode with them this time, a second such scare tactic would fail. They had evinced such a proprietary interest in this dismal country that Lan feared they would kill any traveller, not merely him and Krek. If Krek were right about the youth he' d accidentally killed, no escape at all was possible. The commander would track them to the ends of this world.
" Pull in your legs and get that hairy carcass of yours moving. We can be through this passage and down the valley on the other side before they discover us. Hurry, curse you, hurry!"
" It is no use, friend Lan Martak. I am too weak. Once I could have fought them all and laughed while doing it. Now I am nothing. Riven from my web, an outcast, unable to mate, what is left for me? Go. Save yourself from my sorry fate."
Lan surprised himself by going to the prostrate spider and kicking him hard in the spot where a human' s ribs would be.
" On your feet. All eight of them. I' ve nursemaided you this far, and I' ll be dragged naked through all the Lower Places if I' m going to give up on you now. No fatalistic spider is going to keep me from my reward."
" Go to my web," said Krek, " and tell them I grant you your prize. Now, leave me be. My death is imminent. I feel it."
A shuddering sigh wracked the spider' s body. Lan was torn by indecision. He could run and save himself. That was the only sensible thing to do. His life had to be worth more than any stack of gold coins, no matter how high. But something rooted him to the spot. He couldn' t leave Krek to the fate decreed by the soldiers.
More than simple oath backed his resolve. The arrogance of the soldiers and what others of their kind had done back on his home world goaded him.
Grabbing a convenient hairy leg, he began tugging. The spider' s bulkiness surprised him. He' d thought it mostly illusion caused by the eight long legs. For the first time, he realized how massive the creature was.
" Move, you lovelorn pile of legs. Come along or I' ll have to try to hold them off here. That' s a damned messy way of dying, too, since I' ll be outnumbered dozens to one."
" You would do such a thing for me? Oh, well, maybe I should prolong my dreary life a while longer if it means so much to you."
They stumbled along the dark passageway until they burst into the secluded valley, the harsh glare of the overcast causing Lan to squint. Krek hesitated, spreading his legs wide and digging into the soft dirt. Though he lacked a sense of taste or smell, his tactile senses were vastly more refined than those of a human. They had to be, in order to feel the lightest of twitches in a monstrous web.
" They come," was all Krek said.
" So be it. Let' s move before they can close in on us. The only chance I see is that they' ll have to leave their mounts outside the cave. On foot, an armored soldier will be slower than we are."
The words cheered Lan more than Krek. The spider plunged into a fit of depression, and nothing Lan said brought back the bright sunlight of cheerfulness. They hurried along in stoic silence, legs straining to cover as much land as possible with each stride.
When they came to the cul- de- sac, Lan felt his own cheeriness drain. The sheer walls of the canyon rose to a height that would require a half- day' s climb. The only escape was back down the valley in the direction of the pursuing soldiers.
Lan looked at Krek. The spider collapsed into a heap of hairy legs.
" I knew such a thing would happen," he lamented. " My life is fated. Never will I know the loving caresses of my Klawn- rik' wiktorn- kyt. Her mating web will fall to sticky strands and never will our joys be as one. Never!"
Lan had to admit things looked as bleak as his friend predicted. His hand strayed to the dagger at his side. A pitiful weapon against a trained soldier. If only they were in a forest, that dagger would be more effective than a dozen great swords. What he lacked in armament, he made up for in stealth and cunning.
Whether that cunning would aid him now, so far away from a forest, was a question begging for a quick answer.
" Stay well clear, Krek. I' ll try to divert them away from you. If I succeed, we' ll both be on our way soon." He hoped he sounded confident. The way his stomach churned and knotted as hard as a hangman' s noose put the lie to any real feeling of impending success.
" As you say, Lan Martak. It is all hopeless. If only I could move my limbs. The weakness assaults me in waves. I drown in it." A shudder shook his body and made the hair on his long legs bristle. " Such a worthless death mine will be."
" All deaths, when they come too soon, are worthless," Lan told Krek. Then he slithered, snakelike, atop a massive boulder overlooking the path they' d just traversed. Glinting in the distance were soldiers swinging swords. They had shed their heavy armor, but this was only a slight additional factor in Lan' s favor. Their swords had the reach his dagger lacked.
Lan' s nervousness evaporated when the soldiers neared. The hunt always affected him this way. Adrenaline pumped fiercely into his arteries. He came alive, flowing with the invisible force that guided him in the kill.
He was not invincible; he still bled if cut. But he became something more than before. Now he called on all his wit and ability and abandoned himself to the inevitable.
As the first soldier drew abreast of his perch, Lan leaped. His hurtling weight smashed the man to the ground. A quick slash sent a fountain of crimson life spurting from the neck. Lan stood, the fallen soldier' s sword pressing heavily into his hand.
" There! Attack! Fifty crowns to the man slaying him!" echoed the voice of a hidden commander.
Lan savagely slashed the legs out from under the next man presenting himself at the notch in the rock. But swarming over the still- struggling body came another and another and still another.
Lan faced three experienced swordsmen. No novice with the sword, he knew he could never match these grisled veterans if the fight wore on too long.
" Die, lover of animals," snarled the one closest to him.