Cenotaph Road

" Come along," said Lan, nudging Velika toward the corridor leading to the chamber holding the Kinetic Sphere. " The sooner we' re gone, the better I' ll like it." As Lan sheathed the ensorcelled weapon at his side, he heard a thin, reedy voice cry out.

" Take me, too! Take me along with you! I can show you wonders undreamed of in your feeble fantasies."

" Lan," said Inyx softly, her hand on his arm. " The box spoke!"

" Leave it!" snapped Waldron. " It means your death to touch it."

" You' d love to see me dead," said Lan. " The box means something more."

" I created the Kinetic Sphere. He imprisoned me in here. Take me with you!"

Lan hefted the box containing the sorcerer' s skull. Gingerly, he opened the lid, making sure the empty eyesockets were pointed at a distant section of the room. The twin ruby beacons did not shine forth. Instead, the jaw hinge of the skull twitched slightly.

But the words Lan heard were as plain as if spoken by flesh and blood lips.

" I am Claybore. He stole my Kinetic Sphere. I conjured it; he saw and coveted it as I passed through his dismal world. He stole my creation!"

Lan glanced quickly at Waldron, still struggling in his silk coffin. He believed Waldron capable of any deed, including one as perfidious as this. The fallen Saviour- king would have killed off entire worlds to feed his own. The death of a single sorcerer meant nothing to him.

" Claybore, eh? I' ve heard the name. But you' re not from Waldron' s world?"

" No! I am from: a great distance away, even when reckoned by the Sphere. Take me with you and I shall explain the workings of it."

" He lies. His treachery forced me to-"

" Silence!" shouted Lan. He didn' t doubt Waldron was capable of any treachery, but the sight of the virtually fleshless skull u

" We' ll take you along, Claybore," said Lan, snapping the lid closed on the box. " And we' ll talk later."

He heard the words of thanks, although he knew that the throat of the long- dead sorcerer was separated from the skull by an infinity of worlds.

" Tell us about the Kinetic Sphere, Velika," he demanded. " Quickly. The grey- clad soldiers hammer at the doors again." Already, outside the doors barred by Inyx and Krek, more of the grey- clad soldiers hammered to gain entry.

" This way," she said, her voice strained and her eyes downcast. " It is another way into the chamber holding the Sphere. It' s Waldron' s private passage." They raced along a corridor opening into the throne room and soon entered the chamber containing the Kinetic Sphere. It lay like a pink, pulsating pearl in a bed of black velvet. World after world spun by in a never- ending parade inside the crystalline depths, and Lan had to force his attentions back to Velika and this world. It would be difficult abandoning the Road, but for Velika he' d make the sacrifice.

Yet so much lurked just an arm' s length away:.

" Y- you need only allow the worlds to pass in review. When you see one you want, simply say," and she chanted a complex rhyme, mnemonics for the key words needed to freeze the gateway on the desired world. Lan had her repeat the rhyme several times until he was sure he had learned it, then asked of Krek and Inyx, " Sufficient?"

" I can remember," said Inyx simply.

" A child' s verse in its simplicity," Krek assured him. " Why, we spiders carry our entire heritage in vastly more complex word patterns, not being able to write, you see. I can recite-"

" Thanks, Krek, later." Then Lan remembered that there wouldn' t be a later time with the spider. And they' d been through so much together. But he' d not signed any document stating life would be full of simple decisions. Velika, as soon as Waldron' s hold on her diminished, would prove a far more loving companion than the egotistical, weakness- proclaiming spider.

" How is the shimmering curtain of the Road itself summoned?" asked Inyx, eyeing the world chosen in the globe.

" I do not know," said Velika.

" It is merely another chant," came the strong, baritone resonance of Claybore' s voice. " This one."

" And the cancellation?" asked Inyx.

The rhyme Claybore chanted burned in Lan' s mind, and he saw in it a palindrome. The symmetry of the spell fascinated him, gave him clues to the i

" Carry the Sphere with you through the curtain simply by reciting the spell on the far side. It: it slips through," said the decapitated sorcerer.

" Lan," cried Velika, clutching again at his arm.

" He- it- has shown you all you need to know. Now give me my freedom as you promised."

" What?" he said, stu

" Why? To stumble along in the darkness of that cursed Road of yours, to allow the fleas to enjoy gourmet dining on my flesh, to be cold and hungry and miserable? I never loved you, Lan, not the way I love Waldron. He' s kind and-"

" And powerful and rich," interjected Inyx. " It seems the minx worships power more than freedom."

" Yes, yes, that' s true," raged Velika. " I love the power being Waldron' s consort gives me. Why shouldn' t I? A lifetime of deprivation is at an end. He rules seven worlds and will rule a dozen more! Take the Kinetic Sphere and leave us!"

Krek began to point out the logical inconsistency in Velika' s statement, but Inyx cut him short.

" Lan. You heard her wish. Will you join Krek and me now?"

" She' s under a spell. Come, Velika, come with us and away from the evil spell that steals your mind and emotion."

" I will see your liver drying in the sun, animal- lover!" came the snarled threat from Waldron. The strands of silk web- stuff still clung to his arms and sides, but he had done a rough, thorough job of cutting his bindings with a tiny knife.

Lan started to draw his blade, but Velika hung on his arm and prevented him from carrying out his bloody desire. He turned to her and, eyes blazing angrily, spat out, " You' re under no spell, are you? You willingly desire to be with Waldron." It sounded like an insult the way he said it, but Velika took the meaning differently.

" You finally understand, you bumpkin fool! Waldron' s a thousand times the man you claim to be." The triumph in her eyes as she went to Waldron infuriated Lan Martak. Something inside him burst, and he attacked in the worst way he could.

Words flowed from his lips, and the Kinetic Sphere glowed brightly, solidifying the gateway onto Waldron' s grey, dismally appointed world. Lan' s fist smashed hard into Waldron' s face, the nose breaking under the impact. He then threw the man back into his own world, a blaze of light throughout the curtain signalling Waldron' s precipitous return.

" I' ll follow and kill you for this, scum!" screamed Waldron from the other side of the energy curtain, blood spurting over his entire face from the damaged nose. " My entire life has been for the betterment of my world, and you' ve taken away the only chance for our survival."

" Waldron!" cried Velika, who stumbled forward, following the path just taken by the lord of the grey world.

Lan watched, numbed to the core of his being. Velika had actually followed Waldron back to the impoverished world, even knowing what Lan would do next. His lips moved in the patterns necessary to close the gateway. It crackled and collapsed in a fountain of wild color.

" Pick us another world, one far from the greyness," said Inyx, shivering at the fate of Waldron and Velika.

" Allow me to perform the ritual," spoke up Claybore from the security of his box.