Inyx whirled and saw the beast slithering up toward her. Tentacles waved in the air, tentacles laden with needle- sharp spines. It wobbled and squished forward. She fired the tube. The creature vanished as if it had never been there. And it hadn' t. It was only illusion.
Inyx heaved a sigh of relief. She faced images.
" They aren' t all illusion," came the Lord' s soft voice. " No, not at all!"
She began working along the outer wall, turning sharp corners until she was positive she had circled back to her starting point. She hadn' t. The dark- haired woman felt a small panic begin. The inside of the maze appeared larger than the outer dimensions. But that wasn' t possible. Or was it?
Inyx stepped forward. Her foot touched a faintly discolored portion of the marble floor. Shock raced along her nerves. Excruciating pain snapped her head back and caused her teeth to rattle. She fell heavily. The death tube clattered across the floor.
" You can pick it up," the Lord said, cavorting about just inches away on the other side of the barrier. " Go on."
She reached out and again felt the pain lash every nerve in her body. This time she hadn' t touched the discoloration on the floor, only invaded the air above it.
" Better hurry, good lady. Look what wants you for dessert."
She screamed. The monster had no distinct form. It shimmered in and out at the limits of visibility, but what Inyx saw horrified her. Teeth: long, sharp, carnivorous. Eyes: small, red, mean. Talons: meant for ripping apart exposed bellies. Worst of all for her was the knobby organ sprouting between the wavering creature' s legs. Tumescent, it thrust forward like a fleshy sword.
" It' s hungry, good lady," came the taunting commentary. " And I just fed it three of my meatiest guards. Now, whatever else can it want? For dessert?"
Inyx felt claws raking her body. She fought back, but her hands discovered nothing to grip, to use for leverage. The woman panicked when the beast bent her forward, its claws cutting through her clothing and leaving her bare and bloody.
" It used to be human," said the Lord. " Well, it used to be close to human. I' ve altered it since I found it in a lower dungeon. We get along quite well, the two of us. I do hope you two will find some enjoyment together."
A needle- sharp talon rested between Inyx' s breasts. The creature guided her so that she faced away from it, using the talon as a goad. She screamed when it probed upward between her legs. Fear took control of her as the woman felt the creature violate her.
Then shock set in. A cold, emotionless calm descended on her. Almost as if she were in a daze, she still knew what to do, how to act. Inyx reached between her legs and found a leathery sac tightened with lust. Grabbing it, she jerked forward. The creature bellowed in rage, tried to withdraw. As it straightened, she hooked her right instep behind its foot. Pulling hard on both foot and scrotum, she twisted the creature around. It fell heavily directly onto the spot in the maze which had induced such pain in her earlier.
It cried out, its shrill scream going beyond the upper limits of human hearing. Then it sizzled, wiggling as if it had fallen onto a hot griddle. Its death throes were relatively peaceful.
Inyx clutched her arms around her body and sobbed. The fugue state had passed totally; she had returned to normal, and the reality didn' t suit her.
" Why, this is astounding. You are the first to ever kill one of my creatures inside a maze. Remarkable! I knew Alberto had found me a choice prospect. But do hurry, good lady. You have only a small fraction of the hour left to find a way out."
Inyx shot the Lord a look of pure hatred. He delighted in it. She picked up the scraps of her clothing and managed to cover enough of herself so that she felt less vulnerable. Then the woman began to think seriously about the maze. It extended further than it should in the small space. While it had to be magically inspired, the clue lay in the apparent size of the homunculus- the former Lord of the Twistings- she' d seen in the other maze. While the current Lord looked full- size to her, a complex magical spell might have reduced her in size. If so, the maze seemed relatively larger to her.
She considered the dimensions. It might be as much as four times as large as she thought, if she' d been diminished in size. Inyx set out with this in mind, following the outer wall. The turns came where she expected. She heaved a sigh of relief at this. Any information had to be useful. The woman rounded a corner, stopped, and irrationally began to weep.
Spinning, she retraced her steps. The tears continued rolling down her cheeks, but the emotion producing them vanished.
" Ah, the Vale of Tears," said the Lord. " That' s one of my better creations. Have you found Laughing Valley yet? Several of my most recent guests have died laughing there."
Inyx didn' t answer. She took a firm control of herself and plunged through the area causing the welling of tears. On the other side, she found her left arm hung limp at her side. No amount of massage convinced it to respond. Inyx felt as if all the nerves had been severed. She kept the general plan of the maze in mind; to blunder around aimlessly meant only death or further misery. She continued walking.
" No more time, good lady. No more. Sorry." She glanced outside. The Lord of the Twistings grew in stature.
Her mind struggled with that. He didn' t grow, he was standing up. He' d been sitting down as he followed her through the maze. She was on a bottom level. She had to be.
Searching overhead produced the answer. A rectangle, edges barely visible, stretched above her. Inyx jumped, caught the edges, and pulled herself up. For a moment, she wondered if she' d bettered her position at all. Huge floating eyes stared at her. Inyx gasped, then realized they were the Lord' s eyes, peering through the side of the maze. Somehow he had blanked out his face, leaving behind only the brown eyes surrounded with oyster- white sclera.
" No!" the Lord of the Twistings cried. And Inyx knew that finding one extra level to the maze had been the secret for escape.
She raced around, hands pressing into the outer barrier. She quickly found an empty spot.
" Got it!" she exulted. Inyx plunged through the opening. Pain ripped through her body, searing every nerve and causing her to twist and jerk in excruciating agony.
The Lord of the Twistings' laughter soon drowned out her own pitiful cries for surcease.
CHAPTER NINE
" Don' t use that," said Lan Martak, holding his hands in front of him, as if to prevent the woman from firing her death tube at him. " This is all a mistake."
" No mistake," the grey officer said. She hadn' t risen to the rank of captain by being stupid. " You and the spider are the ones Silvain ordered arrested." She paused, cocked her head to one side as if appraising Lan and finding him wanting, and finally asked, " How did you escape so easily from Zol and his patrol?"
" Zol?" Lan asked. His fingers tried to tie themselves into knots. He felt power beginning to flow. Gently teasing it, he wanted to delay the woman as long as possible until he got a good grip on his spells. The deflection spell required too much concentration; it welled up from deep in his unconscious mind. He had to employ another spell if he wanted to get away unharmed.
Power surged. He reached, almost controlling it, almost making it his own.
" The leader of the troops at the cenotaph. Zol' s a good man. You hardly appear the sort to get by him."
" He frightened much too easily," said Krek, his voice louder than normal. " All I did was-"