What seemed hours later, he began climbing. The pressure around his waist and upper arms from hanging by the rope vanished, and relief came so swiftly he cried out in pain. Blood returned to longforgotten arteries. Clumsy, he almost slipped. He tried to again perform the pyromancy spell, but the toll on his body was too great. Exhausted in mind and body, he could only cling to the ice walls.
" What' s happening?" demanded Ehznoll. The man turned and looked down. " Oh. I thought you' d fallen. Your weight seemed to vanish from the rope."
" What progress on top? Why aren' t they helping us?"
" I don' t even hear them, but the tension remains on the rope."
" Can you climb up now that my weight' s off you?"
" I: I' ll try, the good earth willing."
" Do it!"
Ehznoll kicked toes into the ice and crusted snow, found footing, and began to creep upward. Lan helped as much as he could by continuing to melt handholds for himself and keeping the weight of his body off Ehznoll' s waist and back, but the more he worked, the more tired he became. All too soon, the fire at his fingertips flickered out and refused to return.
" I' m almost at the top. But there' s nothing to hang on to!"
" Call out. Get someone to give you a hand."
" Th- there' s no one up here."
" Damn," Lan muttered under his breath. Cold white plumes gusted out and fogged the air between his face and the ice wall he clung to so precariously. He felt alone in this frozen world, abandoned. And from the sound of Ehznoll' s voice, he did, too. His beloved earth god had betrayed him.
" A rock!" Triumph rang in Ehznoll' s voice. " I' ve got a rock. The good earth rescues me!"
" Hurry. I can' t hold on much longer." Lan Martak' s fingers and toes tingled with frostbite, even after their daring flirtation with fire. His back ached from the unnatural, cramped position, and the constant fear of falling even deeper into the bowels of the miniglacier gnawed at his courage.
A sudden yank pulled him off his carefully formed handholds. He cried out in fear, then felt the rope around him jerk again. Higher and higher he moved, every tug bringing him a few inches closer to the elusive slit above. Iron- grey sky appeared, then white snow banks, then the lofty crag of Mount Tartanius itself. He fell forward, panting, his fingers clawing at the frozen plain. Never had ice felt better.
" Where are the others?" he demanded.
Sitting up, he saw that Abasi- Abi had cut the rope just behind Ehznoll when the pair had fallen into the crevasse. Some magical holding spell had pinioned the rope to the ground. This was all the mage had done. He and the others had then left.
" I' ll kill him, I swear I' ll kill him!" Lan' s hand went to his sword, but reaction made him shake too much to even make the dramatic gesture of drawing and brandishing it.
" Why?" asked Ehznoll. " We are safe."
" He left us to die."
" We didn' t. The good earth saw our need and rescued us."
" If you hadn' t reached that rock, we' d have frozen in the crevice. There isn' t anything else around strong enough to hold your weight."
" The good earth provided."
" Abasi- Abi should have saved us. That' s why we were tied together."
" Friend Lan Martak," came Krek' s greeting. He turned and saw the giant spider trotting across the ice field. The eight legs and wide stance provided enough traction and safety that the arachnid had no problem stepping over the occasional crevasses he encountered. " You are safe. I ranged ahead, scouting your path. Abasi- Abi caught up and told of your plight. I came as quickly as I could, though I see now the effort was wasted. You are safe."
" I' ll kill him," said Lan. " He left us."
" Do not blame him, friend Lan Martak." The spider edged around, large dish- sized brown eyes staring at Ehznoll. " He encountered a small band of grey- clad soldiers. They engaged him."
" And?"
" And he caused them to: vanish."
" Did you see any of this?"
" No, but he told me about when he caught up with me on the upper slopes. I inquired. He said there was no woman among their number. I do not believe it is the same party we left cocooned in the foothills."
Lan sat in the snow, wondering if the sorcerer had lied to Krek. The spider could be very innocent when it came to human duplicity, yet the story had a ring of truth to it. They hadn' t been harassed by the grey- clads since the foothills. It seemed unlikely that the band led by Kiska k' Adesina was the only one- and time enough had passed for her and the other three to get free of Krek' s silken bindings- if not to follow, then to warn other squads.
" If he defeated them, why didn' t he help us afterward?" demanded Lan.
The spider shrugged, shaking all over.
" The man is disagreeable," said Ehznoll. " I find it difficult to believe he is a true believer in the earth."
" How far upslope is he?"
" Less," Krek said, " than an hour' s walk."
" Yours or mine?"
" Mine."
" That makes Abasi- Abi more than three hours away. Let' s camp here for the night, then catch up with him as quickly as we can tomorrow. Krek, will you stay with us? I don' t want to split forces again."
" There is little else to amuse me," the giant spider declared, squatting down and pulling in long legs.
The dying embers of the campfire cast a dull orange pallor over Ehznoll' s face. Lan studied the man, wondering what drove him.
Ehznoll glanced up and seemed to understand.
" I' m a minor noble," he said without preamble. " Born in Melitarsus, grew up there in the court of the Suzerain." Lan listened more attentively now. " The city was different, in the old days. Look, do you know what this signifies?" Ehznoll reached under his robe and pulled forth a battered, dirty grey scarf. For a long moment, Lan studied it, wondering why he should know.
It came to him in a rush.
" The flyers wear white scarves. You were one of the air glider corps?"
" That I was," confirmed the pilgrim, sadly shaking his head. " I sinned constantly. I forsook the sweet earth for the sky. The freedom I felt was illusory. To soar, to catch the thermals and rival the sun itself, those were my sins."
" The glider pilots do necessary work for Melitarsus. While I was there, they scouted for grasshopper incursions into the city."
" They do that still? Good," he said, " because it is their only worthwhile function. On the ground, the nobles treat the pilots with respect, with awe, with more. The glider corps is always invited to Nashua' s parties."
Ehznoll stared into the fire, his eyes no longer fanatical. He was a man remembering. Not all the memories were fond ones.
" I discovered the endless orgies weren' t for me. The more I extended myself trying to tell the others of the errors of their ways, the more they laughed at me. Flying became more than a job for me; it became an obsession. Only in the air could I be free of Nashira and the witch spells she uses."
" What spells?" asked Lan, trying to sound casual.
" Compulsions. She is a wizard." He laughed at his slight pun. " She is extraordinarily adept at making others do as she bids. Nothing overt. Nashira is always subtle."
Lan had learned that the hard way.
" And her unholy tastes," said Ehznoll, the light of a fanatic returning slowly to his eyes. " Her son! Kyle is a monster! He: he does things so unspeakable even I, a holy man, dare not dwell on the description lest I be subverted."
" Is a child so evil?"
" Worse. Nashira is subtle. Kyle' s raw wizardry shakes the foundations of Melitarsus itself. One day, when he deposes his mother, then will be carnage."