This formal declaration brought the other mountain spider about to peer eye to eye with Krek.
" The web is my only concern," he responded ritualistically.
" The being you hold for your hatchlings is not as he seems."
" It seems fit fodder. It will not poison my hatchlings?"
" Doubtful," Krek said honestly. " There are other possibilities, however, all of which must be examined. He summons powers he can barely control. If he does so, consciously or unconsciously, all within the web are doomed."
" He is one of those living there?" Murrk twitched his second right leg in the direction of Wurnna. " They prey on us. We eat them when they become careless. But never have they displayed the kind of power you prattle on about."
" Their powers are different. Lan Martak travels the Road and accumulates odd bits and pieces of lore in a distressingly helterskelter fashion." Krek saw this did not impress the Webmaster. He changed his tack. " Those of Wurnna do not command as great a power."
" They do not dangle wrapped in my cocoon, either. Some power. Get on with this." The terseness told Krek his welcome had been overstayed.
" My feeling is that this human is best released. I will guarantee he will never again return to this valley."
" After my hatchlings dine, I will make the same guarantee."
Krek bobbed his head and swung back into the web, tracing through the traverse lines that were not coated with web- glue for trapping prey. He climbed toward the sun, feeling its warmth soaking into his body, giving strength, firming his resolve. Life had become confusing with Lan Martak. Values held for a lifetime sloughed away like a snake' s used skin. To question another Webmaster' s decision was unthinkable- yet Krek thought it.
Murrk did not have the full facts. He ignored Claybore' s obvious menace. Krek realized with a sudden flash of insight how insular most spider colonies were. Their world consisted of the web and the terrain around it. And as long as the arachnids remained on high, this was enough.
It was he who had changed, not the others of his kind.
" Oh, friend Lan Martak, what have you done to me? I question now when before I acted according to instinct." The spider heaved a sigh that sent vibrations throughout the web. Others glanced up and saw him, then went about their own business. Krek bemoaned the insanity that had seized him. The insatiable urge to see new worlds. The shirking of his duty at mating time. The desire to aid the humans in their fight against Claybore and his grey- clad legions. All insanity. And now, all his.
Krek spun about and, head- first, plunged toward the earth. At the last possible instant, he slowed his progress with a few well- chosen gobbets of webstuff. When his talons touched dirt, he felt no shock of the fall at all. He looked neither left nor right. He had decided on the proper course of action.
Above dangled Lan Martak.
" Krek, are they going to release me?" came the plaintive question.
" Webmaster Murrk is intent upon feeding you to his hatchlings. He avoids his husbandly duties in this fashion, an interesting concept: Provide enough for the hatchlings and perhaps full conjugal responsibility can be deferred."
" I don' t care if his mate eats him or not!" bellowed Lan. " I don' t want to be served up as dinner to a wiggling horde of spiders!"
" Do calm yourself, friend Lan Martak. In the course of my conversation with Murrk, he mentioned that Wurnna is a short distance away." Krek lifted a leg indicating the appropriate direction. " Once freed, you can find safety in that city. Those living in this valley are not aggressively inclined towards any but stragglers from Wurnna, Bron and the occasional grey soldier."
" Once I' m free?" asked Lan. " But you said Murrk wasn' t-"
" Please," said Krek, beginning the climb up a canyon wall. " This is difficult for me. I feel as if I betray all my own kind, but it seems necessary, given the problems you have brought down upon your own head." Drops of amber appeared on Krek' s mandibles. The solvent touched strands of Lan' s web. The helpless man shrieked as he plunged headfirst for the hard ground.
Krek neatly snared him with a hunting web inches before he smashed to his death.
" Now for the difficult part. Each spider produces a formula of his own for cocooning. Only familial lines are entitled to know the precise composition of the silk. This prevents the less scrupulous of those in our web from filching food stored away. However, I believe finesse is not required."
Lan shuddered at the nearness of Krek' s mandibles as they slashed and hacked at the tough cocoon. It took almost ten minutes for the last imprisoning strand to be stripped away. Standing shakily, Lan grasped one of Krek' s firmer front legs.
" Thanks, old spider. Lead the way out of here. We can be in Wurnna by nightfall if we hurry- and if Murrk was right about the distance."
" He was right. He is, after all is said and done, a Webmaster. We Webmasters do not make elementary errors like that. However, since this escape is against his wishes, I feel it best for you to press on without me. I shall remain behind to placate Murrk."
" But Krek, he' ll kill you!"
" Why?"
" But you helped me escape. He has to know."
" I didn' t eat you for myself. That is a potent argument I shall use to sway him into a truce. If it is impossible to form an alliance, then nonintervention is the next best course of action."
" Krek, you' ll be killed if you stay behind."
" If you do not begin your own escape immediately, you will once again be cocooned for a spiderling' s late supper. I shall forge the link with Murrk, then join you in Wurnna. As you know, I can traverse the distance much more quickly than you." Krek' s expression didn' t change, but the tone came out as a sneer. " After all, I have an adequate number of legs to carry me."
" Don' t be long," said Lan. He squeezed down on Krek' s leg one last time and began down the path as fast as he could. Krek watched until his friend had vanished from sight, then turned and bounded into the web to once more seek an audience with Webmaster Murrk.
Krek wondered if Murrk would eat him or not. If the situation were reversed, Krek knew what he' d do.
CHAPTER NINE
Exhausted, feet bleeding and hands ripped from the sharp rocks he' d been forced to climb to escape the floor of the valley, Lan Martak almost collapsed when he saw the small hunting party ahead on the narrow trail. He sank to the earth and slumped so that his back was braced on a flat slab of dark red granite, then waited. Sucking in painful chestfuls of air, he scented the pungent mountain juniper and other smells less identifiable. After all, this wasn' t the world of his birth; he moved too quickly between worlds now to fully appreciate the diversity and similarity. Living off the land had been difficult, and if he hadn' t found a large dam holding back the main waters of the river running through the valley of spiders, he would have had almost no food. But watercress failed as important sustenance in his belly and there had been nothing else he didn' t judge as poisonous.
Tightening his hands into fists, he pushed himself upright and listened for the telltale scrapings of feet against rocks. He knew the humans in the hunting party couldn' t miss him; he prayed that they would ask questions first before killing.
They circled him, bows carried with arrows nocked and ready to fly into his body.
" I mean you no harm," Lan said. He blinked in surprise when it occurred to him that his voice came out croaking and weak, barely audible. The flight from the valley of spiders had taken more out of him than he' d thought. " Iron Tongue," he said through cracked lips. " I want to see Iron Tongue."
The men exchanged glances and shook their heads, saying nothing. Lan closed his eyes and leaned back, the cold rock sucking away his body heat. He reached within and found the proper places to touch with his magics. As he had done in the past, he summoned forth extra strength. The penalty later would be greater due to his weakened condition now, but Lan knew he had no choice. If he did not convince these hunters to aid him, he was dead anyway.