" How goes the search for your tongue?" asked Silvain, obviously desiring a change of topic.
" It is difficult. The village chieftains require much persuasion, but I am hopeful that the information I require will soon be given. With my tongue once again in my head:"
" You will be invincible," finished Silvain.
The cold chuckle Lan remembered all too well filled the room, echoing, reverberating, building to a horrific pitch. The wavering blue mirage inside the box shook from side to side in negation.
" Not invincible. But certainly more powerful. To again be able to enunciate certain spells. That will speed the conquest. I need the freedom of a tongue to chant those spells most desired."
" May your quest be successful," Silvain said earnestly.
" And yours, Alberto, may it also be successful. I want that part of me returned. Also remember that the woman must die, as must the man and the bug."
Lan placed a restraining hand on Krek' s nearest leg.
" It will be done."
" I am sure it will. I place complete trust in you, Alberto." The dancing ghost- image inside the box crumbled into nothingness. Alberto Silvain leaned back and wiped sweat from his forehead.
Ducking down, Lan said softly, " Claybore is already at work in another world. Whatever it is of his body left on this planet can' t be too important, not if he is leaving it to a subordinate."
" Silvain appears competent enough."
" Claybore doesn' t take chances," Lan said. " I got the feeling that whatever they want is: Krek, run for it!"
Lan Martak spotted a patrol of grey- clad soldiers marching in precise step. Their officer had already located them before Lan shoved Krek in the opposite direction and shouted his order.
The soldiers had been trained well. Their death tubes sprang to hand. Lightning bolts slashed through the air in front of the fleeing pair, bringing them to a complete halt. Lan' s mind raced as he tried to figure out what had gone wrong. Getting into the palace undetected had been easy. How had they been detected?
Krek silently lifted a leg and pointed toward the sky.
Fluttercraft circled above, far enough away so that the sound of their rapidly spinning blades didn' t reach the ground but not so far away they couldn' t spy on every square inch of the palace grounds.
Lan' s mind tumbled and churned in agitation, preventing him from attaining the concentration required for casting any of the spells he knew. Even if he had been able to divert the death beams from himself, there wasn' t any way he could protect Krek, too.
The soldiers maintained position, cylinders pointing directly at their targets. Striding through their rank came their captain, smiling broadly. Lan knew he had reason to be happy: he' d just fulfilled Claybore' s command to capture the " man and the bug."
" The commandant has been expecting you," said the officer. He bowed and indicated Lan and Krek should precede him.
Lan walked off. To face death.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sensation of falling through infinity vanished, only to be replaced by one of spinning. Inyx staggered like a drunk, reaching out for support and finding nothing. Colors flared and odd odors assailed her nostrils. Whining deafened her, and her skin dripped ichorous fluids that made Inyx nauseated simply from the feel.
The assault on her brain ended as quickly as it had begun. Inyx stood in a hallway. Behind her was nothing. Ahead, the same. Which way had she come? No indication of passage told the tale. She dropped to hands and knees and began checking the floor in both directions.
Nothing.
An examination of the walls failed to disclose any hidden doorways. The floor appeared substantial, and the ceiling, while peeling yellowed paint, looked solid.
For all intents and purposes, she had entered a bare room, turned, and ended up in the middle of a very, very long hallway with no obvious entry point.
" Well, I' m alive. I' ve been in worse places." She tried not to think of the almost- dead quality between worlds. Inyx looked left, then right. " Which shall it be? To the left." It mattered little since no differentiation was possible.
Inyx walked. And walked and walked. For hours she walked. No doors. No cross- corridors. No one.
" So this is the horrific Twistings," she muttered. " The Lord bores his victims to death with the sameness of it all." Her words echoed slightly, then died. Coming in on top of the echo, however, her sensitive ears detected a: chomping.
Inyx looked behind her. A light blue bulbous creature, more teeth than body, waddled along, filling up the entire corridor. Its massive jaws swung open, revealing an impossibly large mouth. The jaws closed with a bone- jarring crunch. It advanced. The jaws opened.
Inyx ran.
The beast whined in triumph and speeded up. She stumbled, braced herself against the wall, and kept running. Her fastest was barely enough to stay in front of the opening and closing mouth. Once, when she slowed down the tiniest fraction, hot breath gusted along her neck and the chomping sound came too close for safety. Tiny bits of skin stayed on the teeth; Inyx picked up the pace.
She came to a branching in the corridor. To the left, she noticed the floor had been littered with small yellow globules. Trying to hurdle them and stay ahead of the blue gobbling creature didn' t seem too conducive to long life. If she remained in the same corridor, the path was clear. Inyx kept on the straight and narrow.
Only when she' d gone another twenty paces down the hall did she venture a look behind. The hungry beast stood at the junction, turning to face the perpendicular corridor, then back toward Inyx. It made a decision and walked off on tiny legs toward the yellow globes. It vanished from sight.
The woman gasped and leaned against the wall, arms around her own body. Safe. For the moment.
" I was wrong about you, Lord," she said when she regained her wind. " You' re not the kind to be content boring me to death. You' re trying to run me to death." And, she silently added, scare me until my heart explodes from the fright.
The paths open to her didn' t seem too appealing. To continue meant more of the same. Going back only covered terrain she' d already seen, even if it had been at a dead run. Curiosity enticed her to the juncture. Peering around the corner, she saw the blue monster gulping up the yellow globules. The sight of the creature feasting set her own stomach to rumbling. She couldn' t remember how long it had been since she' d eaten. From Alberto Silvain she had gotten nothing. Her last real meal had been a drugged one given her by Luister len- Larrotti.
If the blue beast ate and survived on the globular fruits, so could she. The only problem was stealing one away from the creature. It had picked the hallway clean and made a right- angle turn some distance away to vanish from sight.
Cautiously, Inyx followed.
Her careful advance saved her life. She heard the gulping, snuffling sounds in time to turn and run. The round blue appetite had doubled back and now pursued her. Inyx ran, skidded around the bend in the tunnel, and stopped. Coming toward her were wraithlike creatures. The lead one glowed an incandescent red. Behind came one of a more subdued sea- green. Eyes burned like insanity and tiny hands groped in front. To her left came the blue glob. She had only one way to flee.
Inyx took it.
Unholy screeching noises echoed past her as she ran. She turned and saw the blue spheroid attacked by the leading wraith. To her surprise, the contest was one- sided. In spite of the teeth and voracity, the blue ball had no chance.
Inyx slowly learned the hierarchy in the Twistings. And she had to class herself as being at the bottom.