" From the forges, man, from the steel mills, from the factories, from every damn thing burning peat. But with the new gas wells capped off and the food and finery from the conquered worlds acoming in, we have hope of surviving."
" So you feel Waldron is truly your Saviour?" asked Inyx.
" Aye, that he is," chimed in the man. " Bless him!"
" Shut up, Gorly," the old woman said tiredly. " Aye, Waldron of Ravensroost brings life to this exhausted world. Without him only misery would be our destiny. He was smart enough, he was, to grab that sorcerer that came awandering through from another world and make him spit up the secret of the other places."
" Sorcerer? You mean Shastry or Claybore?" asked Lan, vainly tying to remember the other names Waldron had so casually mentioned.
" Never heard his name, lad. But he plundered at will, taking even from poor folk like Gorly and me, until Waldron put an end to it. And discovering the Road, he calls it, opened up a source of food and clothing for us."
" Food and clothing not around here. Bless the Saviour. Long live Waldron!"
" Shut up Gorly," the old woman said.
They truly believed Waldron to be their Saviour. No trace of guile existed; both meant the praise they gave for Waldron. Lan prodded the woman by asking, " Do you know Waldron lives lavishly on the other world?"
" Aye, he comes back to speak with us now and again. He' s promised that we will all one day have such finery. Why, he even gave Gorly here a golden ring. Show these couriers, Gorly." She nudged the man in the ribs with a scrawny elbow.
The man fumbled in his pocket until he produced the end of a leather thong. Pulling, he fished out a massive ring inset with a precious stone. He proudly allowed it to spin slowly just below eye level.
" Why don' t you trade that for food? It' s worth a young fortune."
" Trade it? You hear that, Gorly? Trade it, the young one says. You are long away from this world. There is naught to trade for. Our poor farm produced scarcely food for one, much less the pair of usand we were the most successful in the old Thull Valley. Nay, the new settlement is enriched with alien fertilizers and food is abundant, wagons, coming in every day from conquered worlds. And there is even rumor we will no longer burn peat to keep from freezing. Magic from the other worlds will warm us. They even trade the gases from the swamps for other- world goods not sent in proper tribute to our Saviour. Imagine! They use our swamp farts!"
" I see," said Inyx, slowly assimilating the wealth of information she' d received. " I am sure the Saviour will smile on you again. And may you have more children."
" Pah! I am no fool. If we get food enough to fill our bellies, why add to the problem with more mouths? Come, Gorly, let' s be off. If we make Ligginton before sunset, we can feed this day."
The two hefted the sidepoles and began pulling their pathetic cart along the dusty road leading to their chimerical city filled with such unbelievable commodities as food and warm shelter.
When they were out of sight, Krek rose up and stretched cramped legs. He yawned once, clacking his mandibles together, and finally said, " It seems evil Waldron is a saint to his people. I must admit this is a most dismal world. Why, even the mere- spiders spin paltry webs, as if their hearts aren' t in the endeavor."
" This is a tired, overused world," said Inyx. " But it is wrong to loot adjoining worlds along the Road for the betterment of this one." She looked around and shuddered. " But why can' t they add some color other than grey? This is so depressing."
" I agree about that," muttered Lan. " Krek? Find us another cenotaph to get off this world and onto another, more hospitable one."
" You have given up your futile quest to regain the treasure lost and that Velika female?"
" No," Lan said slowly. " But I' ll be in a better position to launch an attack against Waldron after I' ve had some substantial food and a nice bed to catch up on lost sleep. This world cannot furnish those, so I' ll recuperate, then rescue Velika."
" As if she needed rescuing," snorted Inyx. " That' s one bitch who can roll with the punches and come to her feet. Or rather, end up on her back. Never have I seen such selfishness or viciousness."
" In Velika?" asked Lan, startled. " Hardly. She' s quite the opposite, in fact. She can hardly protect herself in the world Waldron' s created. And you are a fine one to talk of bloodthirstiness. I' ve seen you swinging a sword and slaughtering soldiers left and right."
" At least my ruthlessness is open, not under the covers like Velika' s."
" You misjudge her." Lan lapsed into silence, worried at the way both Krek and Inyx felt about Velika. While he had hardly been charmed by her disavowal of them in front of Waldron, he was positive that had been part of an abortive plan on Velika' s part to rescue them all. Something had gone wrong; that was why she had failed to free them from the prison tower before their execution time. Lan felt his innards twisting about in confusion. A burning sensation, more from memory than physical reality, stung his lips, his fingertips. His head ached horribly and threatened to explode like a bomb with his internal emotional conflicts- and he didn' t even know what the opposing sides were, much less what they fought over. He hadn' t the objectivity to study it, nor the time. He had to decide this matter once and for all time.
Velika wasn' t the vicious schemer Inyx pictured her as. Velika' s failure to free them in time proved that. Otherwise she' d have succeeded easily in getting them out of their chains and Waldron' s castle.
" Where' s the cenotaph leading off this world, Krek?" repeated Inyx. " I tire of this dreary world- and the company we' re keeping."
" Everyone tires of my company because I am such a pitiable creature. And I am sure you will heap further indignities on my head when I tell you that there is no cenotaph on this world that opens the Road. Only Waldron' s artificial gateway impinges on my muzzy mind."
" That figures." Inyx sighed. " No one of sufficient bravery has ever existed on this world to create the confined energies needed to open the Road. They' re probably all too busy scuttling out a living from the thin soil to go adventuring."
" That means we' ve got to go back through Waldron' s gate or we' ll be marooned here. That' s why Waldron hasn' t sent his soldiers. He knows we' re trapped on his home world." Lan reached for his sword and found only emptiness. Fighting back to the other world- and Velikaseemed more difficult with each passing second.
" Still another wagon of food and clothing," said Inyx, squinting slightly into the afternoon glare. The grey clouds had lifted a little but not enough to bolster their flagging spirits. The armed guards standing on either side of the shimmering curtain of pure energy effectively barred their return. They might kill one or two of the grey- clad soldiers, but to eliminate all five in such a way that an alarm wasn' t raised appeared impossible. Waldron' s skill as a general showed even in small details such as sentry duty.
Inyx had scouted the countryside while Lan had rested, finding the reason for the gateway' s existence here. The town of Ligginton lay only a few miles down the road. Through the gate passed food to supply the city, such as it was. Inyx reported that the town consisted of little more than hovels pushed together to share common walls.
The idea that this polluted, overcrowded, dirty, ill- supplied city was superior to a farm had revolted her. Yet that seemed to be the case.
" I shall sacrifice myself," announced Krek. " I am too cowardly to kill myself. This will redeem me in your eyes for all my past cowardices. Oh, why am I such a disgrace to all spiderdom?" He wailed like wind curling through an aeolian harp. Lan felt the dejection, too, but didn' t show it. He didn' t want to further depress the spider.