Cenotaph Road

" Rain! The putrid water!" shrieked Krek. " I drown in this filthy downpour."

Lan clambered to his feet and pulled the spider half- erect. Bending over him, Lan formed a temporary shield from the pelting rain. Then Krek darted for the overhanging limbs of the nearby forest. The distaste for water added speed to his loping gait, and Lan found himself hard- pressed to keep up. He had to laugh aloud at the sight of the wet, furry spider shaking himself like a mongrel dumped into a lake.

And he was safe from the sheriff and the grey- clad soldiers and persecution. Free, free, free!

The heavy rain vanished as if it had never existed, leaving a world scrubbed clean and fresh. Lan inhaled deeply, savoring the crisp scent of the countryside. Myriad odors crowded in on his nose, vying for attention. Flowers in full bloom, all colors of the rainbow, scattered across verdant green fields like droplets from the palette of a drunken painter. Lan stooped and plucked one small golden flower and studied it. Feathery petals as fine as spun glass formed an intricate geometric pattern that gathered the sun' s rays and bent them into new and wonderful hues. The heady aroma reminded Lan of the most expensive perfumes, the texture of warm honey.

Krek stood by, watching his friend in the odd pursuit of sniffing each and every flower. Finally, the spider spoke.

" What is this insane delight you receive from those bits of food?"

" Food? I don' t eat flowers. Rather, I drink in their beauty, I savor their redolence. I:" Lan stopped and smiled. The spider lacked a sense of smell. Perhaps he was also unable to detect the subtle differences in shading among the flowers that so appealed to the man. On impulse, Lan laced the long green stem of a flower through the coppery strands of hair on one of Krek' s front legs.

" Why did you do that? The pollen makes my leg itch." A convulsive shiver dislodged the flower. As it fluttered down, Lan grabbed it with practiced ease.

Holding it aloft, he said, " Beauty, Krek, comes in all forms. You have no appreciation for the finer things the universe has to offer."

" What more would I want than plenty of insects to eat, my mountain web, and, of course, Klawn? You humans complicate your lives to the extent that I fail to see how you can possibly survive."

" Never mind, friend Krek. Let us make haste for your mountain fastness and your mate. I must explore this world further. It appeals greatly to me."

" It does have a certain attractiveness," conceded Krek, " though not in these lower reaches. Wait until we spy the Egrii Mountains. Those are noble peaks."

Lan abruptly stopped in the middle of the road, feeling unreasoned dread. Tense, alert as if a challenge to a duel had been issued him and he was unsure where the first blow would come from, he dropped to one knee and pressed his ear to the hard earth. A distant rumbling sounded loud and clear. From the rhythmic pattern, the man recognized the hoofbeats of many horses galloping toward them.

" Do you feel it, Krek? The vibrations?" He waited until the spider dug hard claws into the dirt. A violent shaking indicated Krek' s assent. " Think it' s likely to be anyone we don' t want to meet?"

" I have no enemies on this world, but it has been many years since my departure. The humans here were always kindly, if a bit distant to the web- born."

Lan felt a growing unease. The paranoia of fleeing the grey- clad soldiers had etched itself firmly into his consciousness. And the flight from his lifelong friend, the sheriff, back on his home world heightened his need to be absolutely certain of the horsemen' s intent before revealing himself to them.

" Down. We hide until they' ve passed by," he commanded. Krek obediently sank into the field of flowers and twitched several times as if sneezing. Then he became indistinguishable from any of the other rocks jutting up amid the flowers. Lan approved of the camouflage, then saw to his own in a narrow ravine. He had barely dropped into it when the leading horseman galloped into view.

Lan sucked in his breath and held it. The rider could have been the twin of the commander left angry and frustrated on the swamp world. Dressed in grey with crimson piping at the collar and cuffs, the horseman spurred his mount down the road with a fury that was an echo from the other world. Lan waited. Soon, trotting at a more leisurely pace came the main body of soldiers.

All were similarly dressed.

Their leader' s voice carried with surprising clarity. " Lord Waldron wishes all the roads patrolled, Sergeant. You and five men patrol the Highlands Pike. I will:" The remainder of the words was swept up in a clatter of hooves and the widening distance. Only when the dust had settled back to the roadbed did Lan poke his head up and study the terrain, as if all the soldiers lay in wait to pounce on him.

Seeing no one, he went to Krek' s side and told the spider, " Your world is overrun by those greys, too. What is this Highlands Pike the sergeant is supposed to guard?"

" Oh, I will never see my dainty bride, never, never, never! Why does such woe befall me? Why did I ever leave my web in the first place?" Again the spider wept large, gelid drops from the corners of his eyes. Lan sank to the ground cross- legged and allowed his churning mind to settle. Becoming as disheartened as Krek accomplished nothing.

" Krek," he said in a voice both measured and calm, " how do we get you back to your web- and Klawn? I don' t even know in which direction the Egrii Mountains are to be found. Please tell me so I can help you." Ru

A shaky leg pointed across the field. Lan squinted and fancied he saw a snowcapped mountain peak. If so, at this distance, that mountain literally gutted the azure sky. Quite a climb lay ahead. Undaunted, he got to his feet and urged the spider on. By the end of the day, he had to fight down the urge to strangle the self- pitying creature with its own hairy legs.

Gasping in the thin mountain air, Lan pointed and said, " There it is, Krek. Your web." He knew with i

" My web, and my mating web! There, high up! Klawn awaits me! Dear little Klawn!"

Lan shuddered involuntarily when he saw " dear little Klawn." Krek' s mate easily massed half again as much as the gigantic spider. Lan vaguely remembered hearing that the female of most arachnid species tended to be larger than the male. He hadn' t believed it possible; now he was forced to reconsider.

" Krek, old friend, it' s been some adventure. I' m almost sorry to be parting company with you." And he was. The spider' s ability in the mountains far exceeded his own rock- climbing skill, and more than once Krek had saved him from tumbling untold thousands of feet to his death. Even the spider' s attitude had changed for the better. Looking at Krek confirmed this. The once bedraggled fur on his legs now bristled and gleamed like copper wire in the sun. The limpid eyes of melted chocolate had firmed and became windows on a warrior' s soul. Powerful snaps of the mandibles would have instantly severed an armored man' s torso. This was a formidable opponent, this Krek.

" I, too, shall miss your quaint views, friend Lan Martak. But so spins the web, so goes life itself. One moment."

The spider leaped and caught a strand of the web with deceptive ease. Faster than any hunting wolf, Krek raced along the great aerial highway. Lan sat on his haunches, back against the stony wall, and vainly tried to force enough oxygen into his protesting lungs. Far above, Krek met Klawn. For a brief instant the pair remained motionless in the web; then the entire valley whistled as the web whipped to and fro with their frenetic movements.