Power drained more rapidly from his body. Lan had been tired before. Now he approached exhaustion. The more carefully he worked, plying the healings along Krek' s leg, the more energy he used.
Hands shaking, eyes blurring, he refused to stop. The process neared a finish- too near to stop.
" Just a bit more. Oh, just a bit more:"
" My leg comes alive. It hurts, but it is a good hurt. You have done it, friend Lan Martak!"
The enthusiasm and thanks gushing from the spider' s mouth brought Lan out of his trance. Sweat poured from him, drenching his clothes under the cloak. A chill wind blew across the ledge their camp had been on and froze him to the bone. But inside, as tired as he was, he rejoiced.
" It worked," he said in a hushed, unbelieving voice. " I did it!"
" I never doubted you would."
Lan staggered and fell, the spider' s bulk supporting him. A long leg flexed slowly, painfully in front of him.
" I do not think it will be functional for a week, but it seems intact, otherwise."
Abasi- Abi let out a shriek of pure anger, lifted his face to the cold night sky, and shrieked once again.
" You bastard!" he raged. " You inutterable, blundering fool!"
" Claybore?" asked Lan.
" You!"
" What? What' d I do?"
" Your spells. They confused my scrying and allowed Claybore to elude me. I: I almost had him! And that spell blanketed me."
" How could it?" I only used simple healing spells."
" Simple? You wove three of them. That' s not simple. You fool!"
" It' s not?"
" You decry your abilities, yet you fend off Claybore, you employ complex mixings of magic, you cloud the very firmament with your spells. Damn you. I almost had him!"
" It seems your skills grow," said Krek.
" But: I didn' t use any spell I didn' t already know."
" From what Abasi- Abi says, the mingling of those three not only proved potent in healing my precious leg, it also produced potent cloudings to his spells."
" But he' s a full- blown mage. He and Claybore operate on levels I don' t even know exist. How can I foul anything Abasi- Abi does?"
" He thinks you did. I must say, though, that sensation is returning to my leg in peculiar ways. Are you sure you had full control of your spell? I feel a quaking up and down that leg."
" What?"
" In fact," the arachnid went on," I feel it in all my legs. I hardly believe riders approach. We are too high for earthquakes. This feel is materially different from an avalanche. If I did not know better, I might surmise the entire mountain was coming apart."
" The ledge," Lan shouted, even as Krek continued his itemizing. " It' s breaking off. Get inward of the mountain. Get off the ledge!"
He acted even as he spoke. He shoved Ehznoll ahead of him toward the sheer face of the mountain. The vibration under his boots told the story. They wouldn' t make it. The ledge shuddered and sank, even as he herded the pilgrim ahead of him.
" The good earth will not allow us to perish," the man was saying in his solemn, pontifical manner.
" We' re over the edge if we don' t hang on," cried Lan. The world disappeared from under his feet. Frantic fingers clawed at solid rock, seeking purchase, finding nothing. He slipped, his body tumbling over the precipice.
He jerked to a halt and slammed hard against the rock face when Ehznoll caught hold of his cloak. Lan dangled, half- choked. He weakly kicked out and found a foothold for himself. He managed to pulled himself in to the solid rock, fingers and toes momentarily secure.
" Th- thanks," he gasped out. " We' re even now."
" Only the earth keeps score. Humans obey the whims of fate."
" Thanks anyway." But Lan found himself in a predicament. Ehznoll clung above him and had some small chance of working his way parallel to the rock face and reaching a cut in the mountain leading inward and away from the broken ledge. For Lan to reach the spot Ehznoll occupied would require wings. He felt his strength ebbing and flowing; healing Krek had been costly to him. He now lacked strength to do more than cling.
" Krek, where are you?"
No answer.
He hoped the spider had managed to hop away on his seven good legs and find a secure spot from which to launch a rescue. The thought of Krek vanishing over the side of the mountain, to land on the hard ground a mile below, robbed him of both will and more strength.
" Ehznoll, do you see anyone else?"
" I: no. I can climb up and reach a chimney. Shall I leave you?"
" Do it! And get help. Krek, Abasi- Abi, somebody. I don' t know how much longer I can hold on."
He averted his face as Ehznoll began a painstaking traverse on the face. Rocks pelted him; at least these weren' t living and malicious. When the rain stopped, he chanced a look. Ehznoll had gone. Lan Martak had never felt more alone in his life.
He clung with fierce tenacity to the rock, refusing to look below at the impossible miles of openness between him and the ground, yet some perverse impulse forced his head around and his eyes to open. The vertigo assailing him almost caused him to lose his hold and go cartwheeling off into nothingness.
" No," he said, tightly closing his eyes, feeling the sweat pour down his face and being unable to spare a hand to wipe it away. " I won' t look again."
He did.
A dozen feet below him dangled Abasi- Abi. The mage had fallen with the ledge; unlike the tons of rock, the sorcerer hadn' t continued on. He hung by an arm wedged between two upjuts of sharp rock. A few inches in either direction and he wouldn' t have been caught- he' d have been impaled.
His head lolled to one side and blood trickled from cuts on his face. Lan wondered if the mage were even alive, then saw the sporadic rise and fall of his chest. Abasi- Abi lived, but not for long if he remained where he was.
“ I can’ t,” Lan said. He had barely enough strength to hold on himself. Pressing bare forehead against cold, rough rock, he tried to order his thoughts. Yet he knew he had to try. He had to, in spite of Abasi- Abi' s curt manner and abrasive comments.
Lan Martak found an inner reserve of power he hadn' t known he possessed. One small step at a time took him lower and lower on the rock face. He passed a spot sheared off by the falling ledge. The primal energy released in that rock fall astounded him; in a way, it spurred him on. He lived, breathed, thought, dared. He transcended the rock in its mindless power; he directed his waning resources.
" A little more, just a little more," he said to himself. He dropped down to a spot level with the sorcerer. " Wake up, Abasi- Abi. Damn you, I need help. Help me by helping yourself."
The mage' s head rocked slightly, then rose. Blood obscured most of the man' s face. One eye had been matted shut, leaving the other to peer out of the ghastly mask with insane animation.
" I can help," the mage said. " Free me, and I can help."
Lan looked at the twin spires of rock thrusting upward, at the sorcerer' s arm wedged between them. With a single bold step, he twisted and changed positions. One leg remained firm against the mountain. The other found a foothold on the nearest rocky spire. Leaning forward at the waist, Lan grabbed the mage' s sleeve. The heavy cloth ripped under his tugging.
" It' s going to hurt when I pull you free. I might hurt you even worse after you' re free."
" Stop prattling. Do it!" The old man' s querulous words were also reassuring. He knew what lay ahead and didn' t flinch from it. Neither did Lan.
The sorcerer screamed in abject pain as Lan jerked hard, pulling the arm free. Gobbets of flesh remained behind on the rough stone, but Abasi- Abi had been freed. Lan took as much of the dead weight on his legs and hips as possible. He swung from the waist and tossed the mage against the face of Mount Tartanius. Weak fingers scrabbled for a hold on the rock. One arm hung useless. But the old man tried and succeeded.