Cenotaph Road

A beam of light stabbed out abruptly, penetrating the veiling curtain of black. Krek valiantly struggled with a small lantern, his claws and mandibles doing a poor job of controlling the device. Inyx gingerly reached up and took it from the spider.

" This is sufficient light to guide us. But where do we go?" She cast the light in a circle, and Lan felt sudden chills. No sign of the door through which they' d come was visible. Indeed, they might have been standing in the center of a deserted field. The lantern beam, strong and thick, played around, only to be gobbled by immense distance.

When Inyx shone the light onto what Lan thought to be the floor, he experienced a surge of vertigo. No floor existed under him. He hung suspended high above a galaxy of stars, gently spi

A hairy leg pulled him close. Hardened hands gripped his. A resounding, stinging slap made his head ring like a summons bell. His attention was forcibly pulled away from the limitlessness under him and back to his companions. Heart beating fiercely, sweat ru

The woman' s jet- black hair floated in wild disarray as if she had been ru

" I: I don' t know what happened," he confessed. " The sight of nothing under me did something to my head."

" Do not worry, friend Lan Martak," said Krek. " Many hatchlings experience such fears. Even we spiders are not immune to attacks of vertigo."

" Yes," hastily added Inyx, " it takes much exposure before you get used to the sensation. I experienced it many times on many worlds along the Cenotaph Road."

" Then we' re on Waldron' s Road?" he asked weakly. He wished his magic- sense weren' t so confused.

" I fear not, for the energies surrounding us are of a different nature. Rather, it seems to me that we are on a path leading to the Road. And what lies along this path, I am terrified to even guess."

" Thanks, both of you." Lan wiped sweat off his forehead and allowed the smell of fear to vanish from his nostrils before attempting to stand. Shaking, he got to his feet, only to find the floor underneath solid and opaque. The illusion had been good, too good for his liking, and he wondered if more of the same had to be endured before they reached Waldron' s artificial cenotaph.

" Velika!" he called out, suddenly worried for her safety. " Where are you?"

" Here, Lan darling," she said, sidling up to him, her arm snaking around his waist. " I was so frightened when you went stumbling away like that."

" If you' d held on to him, he wouldn' t have experienced the full effect of vertigo," accused Inyx. " Afraid you' d tumble after him?"

" I was afraid," she said. " I don' t want to die."

" That' s all right, Velika," said Lan, holding her close and feeling the heart beat strongly in her breast. " This is strange and frightening- to all of us."

Krek whined a little, and Inyx simply turned her back on Lan. He wondered what it was they both held against Velika, then forgot the little tiff as Inyx said, " This direction appears a likely one." She pointed into the darkness, no discernible reason for it. Lan started to protest, then bit back his argument. He' d follow her for the moment. One direction was as good as another in his present condition.

" Do we have to go with her, Lan? I don' t like her," Velika said softly. " I think she hates me."

" You' re imagining things. Inyx has different customs than those you' re used to, but she doesn' t bear you any malice. And yes, it' s best we stay together. For a while."

" As long as I' m with you, Lan, I know everything will be fine."

Lan puffed with pride at the confidence she showed in him. Taking her hand, he walked off after Krek and Inyx, making certain to keep his eyes fixed straight ahead. He wanted no more vertiginous tumbles into infinity. They were too undignified.

The four trod silently on the substance of the floor for some time without seeming to make progress. Lan lost all track of direction in this nonspace, but trusted Krek' s senses to be sharper than his. But he began to worry when a pungent odor assailed his nostrils. He took a deep breath and almost gagged on it. Sickly sweet, it reminded him of something long dead and now rotting.

" Inyx, hold a minute." The woman turned and cast the beam of light over him. Lan squinted and moved to one side to avoid being blinded. " Do you smell anything unusual?"

" No, nothing. Do you, Krek?"

" You humans are simply inventing this spurious smell- sense you boast about endlessly. I ca

The spider seemed satisfied that nothing alien and evil approached. Even Inyx with her survival- trained senses failed to detect the vile odor. For a moment, Lan wondered if he were imagining this. Then he knew he wasn' t. The lizard- thing slithered up, gobbets of rotting flesh falling from its ponderous bulk. As it surged from the veil of darkness into the tiny circle of light cast by their lantern, Lan pulled his blade from its sheath and drove mercilessly into a blind, atrophied eye, hoping to penetrate all the way into the creature' s brain.

A geyser of pink ichor blasted down the length of his blade and onto his hand as he twisted the sword and lunged again. The sticky, warm blood fountaining from the wound spattered upward into Lan' s face, momentarily blinding him. But still he slashed and lunged, flailing wildly, his gorge rising along with his panic.

The monstrous creature rolled over and twitched feebly. Lan stood, staring at it as a numbness claimed his soul. It had come so close to killing them all, and only he had the nerve to fight it. Even Inyx had denied its existence.

" Are you all right, Lan?" came Inyx' s concerned voice. " What' s wrong?"

" That thing," he said with loathing tingeing his words. " It' s dead now, no thanks to all of you."

" What thing?" asked Krek mildly. " I am feeling poorly and ca

Lan' s jaw dropped in amazement as he went to wipe the gore from his blade. The carbon steel blade gleamed in the lantern light, as clean as the day it came from the forge. And nowhere did he find the carcass of the blind lizard- thing. Not a trace existed on the floor or on his tunic. Even the malodorous taint to the air had mysteriously purified. Whereas the others had shared the vertigo at the begi

" You' re not going mad, are you?" demanded Velika, shrinking from him. " Did you see something or not?"

" Don' t badger him, Velika. I want to hear him out. It might cast some light on the nature of our surroundings." Inyx sat the lantern down and stood, hand on sword, waiting for an explanation. He gave it to her as succinctly as possible.

As he finished, Krek wailed, " Woe! A lizard grown too large for Krek to eat! The world shifts on its axis around me. I am powerless to do a thing. Pull me free of my noble web and I am nothing. Klawn, lovely spi