Cenotaph Road

He attacked the burnt rabbit with the ferocity of a man too long gone past his mealtime. The grease only added flavor; it seemed at odds with the blandness of the world. After he and Inyx had shared the meager portion of the brains for dessert, Lan leaned back against the smooth trunk of a tree and picked his teeth with a small bone taken from the rabbit' s leg. In spite of the fact that Waldron probably had droves of grey- clad soldiers on their trail, he felt complacent and even content with his lot in life.

" No reason why not. In point of fact, friend Lan Martak, we might query those starvelings about it."

The roadway rumbled with the sound of a lopsided dogcart with wear- flattened wheels being pulled by two people. Their heads held low, they saw nothing but the dirt in the road bed. Lan called out to them, then waved, saying under his breath, " Vanish for a short while, Krek. We don' t want to scare them too badly."

The spider gusted a sigh. " Even my friends are ashamed of me. Pity that I am such a poor creature, unable to fight the good fight, to maintain myself in the ma

Lan shuddered when the pair drew closer. The only bugs likely to come from these two would be body lice.

" Welcome, fellow travellers," Lan called out in what he hoped was a cheerful tone. The suspicion with which the two viewed him made him think a picture warrant for his arrest had preceded him. Yet the reactions of the two seemed more of inbred rampant paranoia than specific fear.

" Are you from the other side?" asked the woman, taking the initiative while her man stood watch over the pitiful belongings stacked helter- skelter on the dogcart.

" Yes, we both walked the Road," said Inyx, motioning Lan to silence. He propped himself against the tree, hoping to appear at ease and not a threat to these people. Without sword or dagger, his head still ringing like a ceremonial bell, either of these two emaciated grey- worlders might have bested him.

" You look well fed. I suspected that you did," the woman said. Lan tried to figure out if she were old or merely appeared old. It made little difference; life was obviously harsh on this world.

" We have been most recently in King Waldron' s castle on the next world," Inyx said boldly, hoping this would add stature to their position with the couple.

" Aye, and that' s a good thing. The Saviour needs to keep his finger on the world pulse. Are you to report back to him? You have the look of couriers, though you don' t wear the uniform of the Service."

" We are supposed to go among the people and listen to their pleas. Could you tell us yours?"

" That I will," spoke up the man for the first time. " Hail the Saviour! Praise the great Waldron! We are currently making way to the new settlement outside Ligginton. The wealth of other worlds flows into this one, at long last! Bless the day of our Saviour' s birth!"

" And bless the day when we, too, can take part in the Great Migration and leave this miserable world for other, lusher ones," the old woman added.

" You were more poorly off before?" asked Inyx, surprised anyone' s condition could be more miserable than these two now appeared.

" Aye, that we were. Seven sons and a daughter died of starvation, and my very own mother failed of the consumption, spitting out blackened lungs for a solid month before the demons took her. Breathing the foul air did it to her, it did."

" Foul air from what?" broke in Lan, curious.

" From the forges, man, from the steel mills, from the factories, from every damn thing burning peat. But with the new gas wells capped off and the food and finery from the conquered worlds acoming in, we have hope of surviving."

" So you feel Waldron is truly your Saviour?" asked Inyx.

" Aye, that he is," chimed in the man. " Bless him!"

" Shut up, Gorly," the old woman said tiredly. " Aye, Waldron of Ravensroost brings life to this exhausted world. Without him only misery would be our destiny. He was smart enough, he was, to grab that sorcerer that came awandering through from another world and make him spit up the secret of the other places."

" Sorcerer? You mean Shastry or Claybore?" asked Lan, vainly tying to remember the other names Waldron had so casually mentioned.

" Never heard his name, lad. But he plundered at will, taking even from poor folk like Gorly and me, until Waldron put an end to it. And discovering the Road, he calls it, opened up a source of food and clothing for us."

" Food and clothing not around here. Bless the Saviour. Long live Waldron!"

" Shut up Gorly," the old woman said.

They truly believed Waldron to be their Saviour. No trace of guile existed; both meant the praise they gave for Waldron. Lan prodded the woman by asking, " Do you know Waldron lives lavishly on the other world?"

" Aye, he comes back to speak with us now and again. He' s promised that we will all one day have such finery. Why, he even gave Gorly here a golden ring. Show these couriers, Gorly." She nudged the man in the ribs with a scrawny elbow.

The man fumbled in his pocket until he produced the end of a leather thong. Pulling, he fished out a massive ring inset with a precious stone. He proudly allowed it to spin slowly just below eye level.

" Why don' t you trade that for food? It' s worth a young fortune."

" Trade it? You hear that, Gorly? Trade it, the young one says. You are long away from this world. There is naught to trade for. Our poor farm produced scarcely food for one, much less the pair of usand we were the most successful in the old Thull Valley. Nay, the new settlement is enriched with alien fertilizers and food is abundant, wagons, coming in every day from conquered worlds. And there is even rumor we will no longer burn peat to keep from freezing. Magic from the other worlds will warm us. They even trade the gases from the swamps for other- world goods not sent in proper tribute to our Saviour. Imagine! They use our swamp farts!"

" I see," said Inyx, slowly assimilating the wealth of information she' d received. " I am sure the Saviour will smile on you again. And may you have more children."

" Pah! I am no fool. If we get food enough to fill our bellies, why add to the problem with more mouths? Come, Gorly, let' s be off. If we make Ligginton before sunset, we can feed this day."

The two hefted the sidepoles and began pulling their pathetic cart along the dusty road leading to their chimerical city filled with such unbelievable commodities as food and warm shelter.

When they were out of sight, Krek rose up and stretched cramped legs. He yawned once, clacking his mandibles together, and finally said, " It seems evil Waldron is a saint to his people. I must admit this is a most dismal world. Why, even the mere- spiders spin paltry webs, as if their hearts aren' t in the endeavor."

" This is a tired, overused world," said Inyx. " But it is wrong to loot adjoining worlds along the Road for the betterment of this one." She looked around and shuddered. " But why can' t they add some color other than grey? This is so depressing."

" I agree about that," muttered Lan. " Krek? Find us another cenotaph to get off this world and onto another, more hospitable one."

" You have given up your futile quest to regain the treasure lost and that Velika female?"

" No," Lan said slowly. " But I' ll be in a better position to launch an attack against Waldron after I' ve had some substantial food and a nice bed to catch up on lost sleep. This world ca

" As if she needed rescuing," snorted Inyx. " That' s one bitch who can roll with the punches and come to her feet. Or rather, end up on her back. Never have I seen such selfishness or viciousness."