" Enough for the day. Got to go." Broit rose and stalked off, the acid rain hardly bothering him, even though tiny pieces of his shirt burned away as he went.
" A moment, Broit," called Lan. " Might we accompany you?"
" Why?"
" We' d like to see Yerrary- Home."
" Do as you please."
" And we' d like to align ourselves in support of your fight against the Tefize. Claybore is our enemy, also."
" That doesn' t mean the Tefize necessarily are. The enemy of my enemy isn' t always my friend."
Lan wondered at the society forming such an obdurate philosophy, but he pressed onward. He needed to gain entry into Yerrary with the least possible disturbance. He had no doubt that k' Adesina already had posted guards on the entry points to prevent easy access. And once inside, the mountain passages probably went for miles- hundreds of miles. A sympathetic guide would aid them considerably.
" It is true this time. I would destroy every member of the Tefize to stop Claybore."
" Bloodthirsty bugger, aren' t you? Well, come along. I' ll think on it as we go." Broit nervously glanced around, checking the clouds, then studying a timepiece fastened to his wrist. " Time' s a' wasting. Hurry it up."
The three gnomes set out at a pace belying their short legs. Lan and Inyx found it difficult to keep up with them and even Krek once muttered a spiderish curse about the poor footing.
" Why hurry so?" Lan asked Broit.
" Fog' s coming in. Want to be inside the mountain before sundown."
" You mean this isn' t nighttime?"
" Bright as day," he was assured by the gnome. " At sunset' s when the fog rolls in. Damn stuff."
Lan maintained the umbrella overhead although he worried about its being detected as they neared the mountain. Yerrary rose up from the plain a full mile or more, its sides deeply eroded and here and there sporting jagged prominences showing where the gnomes had placed structures of their own. As he neared, the young mage saw tiny windows glowing with warm yellow light. Doorways dotted the entire mountainside and he knew there would be no way for k' Adesina to guard every one of them.
She would have to rely on the Tefize spy network for informationand that might take long hours to filter up to her. And if the Tefize were as uncooperative as the Hereslers appeared, she might never hear of his entry. Lan felt hope flaring. A quick entry, an even quicker attack, and victory was his!
" Even the mountain burns," grumbled Krek. " Look at it!"
As the rains cascaded over the rocky slopes and ran down gulleys, ten- foot- thick pillars of fire rose to gut the sky.
" There," said Broit, pointing with his stubby arm. " There' s our way in."
A single door stood ajar at the base of the mountain. Lan collapsed his magical umbrella and sent the dancing mote of light forward to reconnoiter. It spun crazily and obediently whirled back to him, reporting no traps.
" Lan," said Inyx, her voice oddly pitched. " The fog. Look how it rolls down the side of the mountain. I' ve never seen anything like it before."
The fog formed claws and scratched at bare rock. Flaming paths were left behind as the fog crept ever downward.
Seeing this caused Broit and the other gnomes to break into a dead run.
" Why do they fear the fog?" Lan wondered aloud. " They certainly didn' t seem to mind the rain burning away their clothing and flesh."
The fog billowed and roiled as if it had a life of its own. Lan and Inyx reached the doorway and turned to see Krek struggling to join them. A single feathery digit of fog cut the spider off from the doorway, almost as if the mist had a mind of its own.
" Krek?" called Lan. Something snapped inside the man. His tone changed and he used the Voice. " Krek! Come here immediately! Follow my voice. Now!"
" Lan, what' s wrong?" Inyx asked anxiously.
Krek came through the fog, mandibles clacking. He roared a battle cry and charged them, intent on destruction. From the way his duncolored eyes glazed over, it was obvious that he had gone berserk.
" Kill everyone!" screeched the giant spider as he bore down on Lan and Inyx.
CHAPTER THREE
" Stop him, Lan! He' s gone crazy!" Inyx barely dodged the rampaging spider. Krek' s mandibles clacked savagely just over her head. A lock of her lustrous dark hair went flying. Inyx dived forward and tried to stop him, but the spider' s ponderous bulk proved too much for her. Inyx was dragged along and then tossed off as easily as Krek might rid himself of a small mite crawling on his leg.
" Krek, stop," said Lan Martak. He used the Voice, putting full magical power behind it. To his surprise, Krek didn' t even slow. It was as if the spider hadn' t heard.
" STOP!" he roared. The very slopes of the mountain behind rumbled with the command. The three gnomes who had preceded them into Yerrary spun and froze to the spot. The Voice, backed by all of Lan' s magical skills, worked to perfection with them.
Krek continued to hack and slash and menace anyone drawing close to him. The arachnid was totally out of control.
" What' s happened to him?" cried Inyx. She wiped a bloody smear off her cheek where she' d been scratched during her brief attempt to slow Krek.
" The fog," muttered Broit Heresler, pointing. Lan saw tendrils of the fog billowing about, forming an almost solid figure, then seeping upward, seductively, slowly, inexorably toward them.
" What about it?" he demanded.
" The fog is a killer. You' ve no wish to be in it. Look what it did to the long- legged one."
Lan formed his protective barrier, again using the light mote familiar. But again to his surprise, the barrier presented no hindrance at all to the fog. It came on, oozing around and even through. He took a moment to check the fog' s composition, hoping to find this was only an illusion sent by Claybore to confound and harass.
The fog was real, nothing more than water droplets held in a fine cloud.
" Has the acid burned through his fur and driven him insane?" asked Inyx, huddling close to Lan. She feared nothing, but knew from her futile attempt to stop Krek that there was no more she could do. The mage had to perform what, to her, looked like a miracle.
" The rain has stopped. There' s only the fog," said Lan, trying to figure out what was happening. Claybore was innocent of this. There was no acid sear to drive Krek wild. What was it?
" The fog' s a killer, it is," said Broit. " Get in out of it. You' ll never rescue the big one. Righto?" he said, turning to the other two gnomes. Their gnarly hands tried to hide their faces; they succeeded so well all Lan saw was their abused vegetable ears sticking out on either side. He realized they were still under his command to stop. He freed them with a single pass. The pair ran off into the bowels of the mountain, safely Home.
Broit remained behind.
" Go, too," urged Lan. " This is our problem."
" It' ll be mine if you don' t cut him down. Think how many corpses that one can create if left alone. You' ll need someone to tag the bodies properly and make sure they get the right grave site."
" What is it about the fog?" asked Lan, even as he performed another, more intricate spell to slow Krek' s berserker rage. The spell failed, also.
" Doesn' t look to be much, does it? The fog' s got things in it.”
" What sort of things? Living?"
Broit Heresler shrugged his hunched shoulders. Licking his lips nervously, he began pointing outward.
" See there and there? The fog comes on like it has a mind of its own. Who knows why it seeks out people, but it does. Then it drives them bonko, right out of their wits."