" Those are polished power stone. They are used for decoration as well as utility. After it is taken from the ground, I energize it with spells known only to the ruler." Lan knew Iron Tongue idly boasted; the spells to activate the stone seemed quite simple to him, now. But Lan knew that Iron Tongue talked for a reason other than conveying information.
The words boomed forth, resonantly touching the deepest parts of Lan' s being. He wondered if Iron Tongue did it on purpose, whether he controlled the magical organ in his mouth fully. If Iron Tongue allowed anger to intrude, he might prove a more dangerous opponent than even Claybore. Lan couldn' t forget the way Iron Tongue had persuaded Claybore to break off the attack when the other mage had had victory within his grasp. The tongue was a potent weapon, indeed, and one which would make Claybore invincible if he recovered it.
" How did you come to discover the stone?"
" We of Wurnna have always known of it. The mines close at hand petered out."
" And required you to begin mining in the valley of the spiders," Lan finished.
" Just so. By the time we began mining there, we were dependent on the stone to energize our entire civilization. A few of my magical spells is all it takes to provide limitless power from the rock."
" It multiplies your magics?" Lan frowned. He felt it did more than this, but couldn' t say exactly what else.
" Somewhat. My particular use- and it differs for every mage- is to add to my personal force." Iron Tongue held up an arm entirely braceleted in the power stone. The jewelry rippled and danced with coruscating, many- faceted gems. " I draw on their power. With Rugga, she uses them to enhance her beauty." The words carried an insult. When Rugga stiffened, Lan reached under the table and seized a wrist, holding her down, soothing her with his presence. She subsided; Iron Tongue obviously counted this a minor victory in their power struggles.
" I feel more when near the gems," said Lan.
" Each mage draws slightly different powers from them. This is another reason we use slaves to mine the ore."
They didn' t trust any single sorcerer to be near such a vast vein of the power stone. Wurnna lived in turmoil, both internally and externally, Lan surmised.
" Can' t you come to some accord with Bron and the spiders? You don' t need to enslave when you can get them to aid you in return for the objects that only you of Wurnna can offer."
" Why barter when we can take?" snapped Iron Tongue. " They have no sorcerers in their rank. Inferior. They are our inferiors. And the spiders are mere animals."
" Intelligent animals."
" You speak well of them, Lan," said Rugga. " Have you forgotten they tried to feed you to their odious hatchlings?"
Lan said nothing about one of his friends being an arachnid. Nor did he mention Inyx or her trip to Bron. Instead, he replied, " Claybore divides you. You fight Bron and they fight back. You battle the spiders and they eat your slaves. It wouldn' t surprise me if Bron and the spiders were also at war. And you all fight Claybore." He shook his head sadly. It was no wonder that Claybore and his legions had conquered most of this world so easily. The spiders posed no threat to the marauding sorcerer; Claybore had claimed that Bron had fallen; only the organ resting in Iron Tongue' s mouth remained for Claybore' s victory on this planet to be complete.
" We could have eliminated the others long ago. It amuses me to allow them to remain." Iron Tongue sounded diffident, but Lan read the real reason behind the claims. Wurnna depended on Bron for workers and the city' s rulers maintained the spiders' threat as a method of control. Without some menace, Iron Tongue might not remain at the forefront of the city, even with his potent abilities.
Lan changed the course of the conversation abruptly, asking, " How did you come by Claybore' s tongue?"
Iron Tongue stiffened.
" He' s had it for over a decade. His father died and willed it to him. It is the symbol of power for our city- state." Rugga sounded bitter as she told this to Lan. The young mage didn' t have to be told she' d have willingly cut out her own tongue for a chance at the power that the organ afforded her ruler.
" The origin of the tongue is lost in myth," said Iron Tongue. " One of my forefathers forged it magically and has handed it down through the generations."
" It belonged to Claybore," Lan said, more to test reaction than to inform. Rugga looked at him curiously, as if he had struck his head and wasn' t quite sane. She believed in the mythic origins cited by Iron Tongue. But Iron Tongue' s face clouded over with anger; he knew that Lan spoke the truth.
Without a word, Iron Tongue rose and stalked from the room. Other mages hovering around the perimeter of the room talked among themselves in hushed tones, occasionally pointing and sending small, harmless questing spells in his direction. Lan let out a pent- up lungful of air and shoved himself back in his chair. The legs scraped on the power- stone flooring in the room.
" Rugga, my lovely," he said, " show me how the power stone renews strength after strenuous activity."
She smiled wickedly and rose, holding out her hand for him to take. They left, aware of the stares of those in the room. Lan knew he played a dangerous game aligning himself with Rugga, but internal policy in Wurnna interested him far less than triumphing over Claybore. Only by incurring Iron Tongue' s anger did he see a way of winning the worlds- spanning struggle with the dismembered sorcerer.
But Rugga showed him that certain of those steps could be enjoyable. Very enjoyable.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
" We can' t outrun them," Inyx gasped. " They close on us, no matter how we confuse the trail."
" This is my country. They will not find us." Jacy Noratumi sounded more confident than he felt. The soldiers had proved more tenacious than he' d thought. When he and the other pathetic few had fought their way through the defensive wall of what remained of onceproud Bron, he had thought to simply walk away, that Claybore would be content with conquering the city.
Leaving his home to the grey- clads had rankled more than anything else in his life. He felt he had given up too easily, yet he saw that Inyx was right in her advice to abandon the city. To carry on the fight, he had to be free to roam, to chevy, to retaliate in whatever fashion came to his fine brain. Dying with his city was a noble gesture, but one which denied Noratumi' s true duty to its citizens.
Revenge now drove him, and Inyx figured prominently in it.
" There are too many of them. I: I think they use seeking magics on us. Lan told me of his home world where they use sniffer- snakes, magically enhanced creatures to smell out prey. They are almost impossible to elude or defeat."
" These are flesh- and- blood soldiers following us," Noratumi said flatly. " As such, they can be killed with a good sword thrust." He demonstrated by slashing at the air above his mount' s head. The animal whinnied and glared back at its rider as if to protest such cavalier behavior.
" We can' t run from them forever. They will wear us down. We need time to establish a base."
The man knew Inyx was right. Without at least a week to find and establish a secure camp in the mountains, they would be ineffective and kept on the run. Sooner or later they would falter and the grey legions would have them at their mercy. From Claybore, Noratumi expected no mercy at all.
" We can double back and try to regain the city, then. Bron is vulnerable. Claybore would hardly expect such an attack."
" The reason he wouldn' t expect it," Inyx said bitterly, " is that it' d never succeed. We need an army. Look. Do you see an army?"
" I see nobility in these refugees. They will fight, if I so order."
" They' ll fight and die, then," snapped Inyx. " Twenty- fewer!are not enough to lay siege to a city. With Claybore' s mages conjuring constantly, they could wipe us out without endangering the hair on a single soldier' s head."