Cenotaph Road

The worlds spun by in a crazy kaleidoscope until Lan felt dizzy. But he managed to watch and listen carefully. Before the glittering sheet of pure energy formed, dotted with its dancing motes of rainbow hues, the scene in the Sphere had shifted more slowly, one world at a time parading by until one was chosen like a single specific card being plucked from a deck. Claybore had selected a world, and not at random.

" She actually followed him. I can' t believe she did it," a distracted Lan said sadly.

" She did it," said Inyx. " Now hurry before those grey- clad soldiers break through the door and find us. We can' t fight them across all eternity, but without Waldron, their empire will soon collapse in petty squabbles."

" Velika chose him over me. Why?"

" Come, Lan," insisted Inyx. " We have the universe in the palm of our hand!"

" But she didn' t willingly follow him," spoke up Krek. " Friend Inyx, you pu-" Krek howled in pain as Inyx ground the point of her knife into his leg. Krek subsided, muttering to himself. " Strange mating rituals, these humans have. And they express amazement at the civilized behavior of us arachnids."

The world shattered around all of them as the Road opened onto a new world, and again they followed it.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

" My legs ache so," complained Krek. " Must we carry that useless box with us?"

" I' d walk if I had legs. Lend me a pair of yours," snapped Claybore from the inside of his wooden box. " Or perhaps I can conjure enough to take them from you."

" Enough of that," cut in Lan. " We' re in this together. No squabbling." For a moment he feared that the sorcerer could do exactly as he threatened. He remained in awe of the talking skull, and mingled with that awe came a touch of fear. Claybore' s power had been severely limited when his skull had been imprisoned in the wooden box by Waldron, but Lan couldn' t erase from his mind the memory of the twin beams of ruby destruction.

" Wherever this is," added Krek.

Lan sighed and sank to the ground under a convenient tree. He rested his tired back and felt the weight of the world descend on him. He' d lost Velika. She had chosen Waldron over him. And all he had to show for the emotional pain was a crystal globe capable of moving between worlds- and the head of the sorcerer who had originally conjured it into existence.

Sorry fare in exchange for one he' d loved so.

Inyx came up and laid a surprisingly gentle hand on his shoulder and said, " Be glad for her. She is with the one she truly loves."

Lan didn' t hear Krek mumble, " Yes, herself."

" You might be right," Lan said, " but that doesn' t make the ache any less real."

She squeezed his shoulder in a way that was more than comradely, then told him, " We have all we need from Waldron. We have the Kinetic Sphere, We can walk the Road and find treasures undreamed of, even in our wildest imaginings."

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He might have lost Velika, but the Siren' s call of unknown worlds still tugged mightily at his sleeve, urging him onward.

" Which of those worlds do we choose?"

" Any- all!" cried Inyx. " What does it matter? Aren' t we free to venture where we please?"

" Yes," cut in Claybore. " Take this world for example. A lovely world simply waiting for your presence. Explore it! Experience it!"

Lan Martak remembered how Claybore had spun the worlds by in the Kinetic Sphere, then slowed and appeared to seek out this particular one. But he pushed the thought from his mind. Too many other things rushed in to confuse him. Velika. Inyx. The Kinetic Sphere. Krek. The jumble was too great to worry what it was about this particular world that Claybore specifically sought.

" This does appear to be a kindly world for one as old and infirm as myself," said Krek. The trilling words came with a modicum of animation now. The spider rejoiced in his own way of being free of his home world and his overamorous bride, Klawn- rik' wiktorn- kyt.

And Lan rejoiced, too, for him, for himself. What the old sheriff said to him so long ago about Zarella came back. He belonged in the country, not locked in the city. This countryside stretching off as far as the eye could see was for him. He didn' t believe ZarellaVelika- would ever have appreciated the sylvan beauty, the simplicity, the intricacy, the life- giving feelings he now felt.

" I' ll explore ahead. Any direction pleasure you more than that one?" asked Inyx, pointing into the setting sun.

" That' s fine," said Lan. He glanced into the box containing the sorcerer' s skull and saw an eerie caricature of a smile form on the exposed teeth. He started to ask Inyx to scout elsewhere, then thought better of it. Better to see where Claybore wanted to go than to blunder unsuspectingly on it.

A sorcerer' s surprises were often fatal.

As Inyx walked off, almost strutting, Krek came to Lan and said, " A brief discussion with you, friend Lan Martak. I am still woefully ignorant of human customs."

" What is it, old spider?"

" Why do you moon over Velika? That human female appeared far less desirable than Inyx."

" So what do you know of human tastes?" Lan shifted uneasily, not liking the way the conversation turned. He didn' t know if he was up to exposing the emotional wounds yet or not.

" Nothing, and that is why I request information. Maybe I am stupid as well as ignorant, but I must try to sift these things out in my enfeebled brain. Velika was headstrong, greedy, and ambitious and obviously cared for no one but herself. Where lay the power, so did she. You were only momentarily in such a position, whereas Waldron commanded vast legions."

" You don' t know a thing about love."

Krek thought for a minute, then jerked his head around in a tight circle. " I fear you are right. We spiders are civilized."

" But Klawn tried to eat you!"

" Of course, what is more civilized than that? It is I who am the barbarian. I am, of course, disgraced, but in my current state of debility, I ca

" Thanks, but it isn' t necessary."

" Could Velika fight as nobly as Inyx? Could she provide you better companionship? I see an active, noble human female in Inyx."

" You and she get along well together. You never cared for Velika."

" True, but this does nothing to detract from Inyx' s charms."

" I don' t want to talk about it, Krek. Besides, the wound in my leg is begi

" I feared you would say that because of the stream of ru

" Your wounds are minor," piped up Claybore. " A simple spell will heal them. Allow me."

" No!"

But Lan didn' t voice his objections quickly enough. He felt the familiar lethargy of a potent healing spell stalking his senses. His own brand of magic was puny in comparison; he feared Claybore' s power even as he felt the positive effects of the spell begi

" You' re healed!" she exclaimed, examining the once- wicked wound on his leg. " Claybore?"

" Your humble, obedient- servant," spoke up the skull. " I am pleased to be of assistance to those who rescued me from that tyrant."

" How did Waldron ever get you: I mean, how:?" Inyx was momentarily flustered.

" How did he come to decapitate me and place me in this wooden prison?" the sorcerer finished for her. " I hardly expected a primitive from a world such as Waldron' s dismal mudball to strike so cu