Inyx shivered. Lan had to admit this was less than toothsome commentary.

" But the box?" asked Krek, seemingly unaffected by the gruesomeness of the description. " How did your head come to remain in it while your body was elsewhere?"

" Waldron attempted to bury my body to create the strains in the universal fabric necessary for a permanent gate. He failed. But a sorcerer as powerful as I hangs tenaciously to life. My head lived onif this can be called living."

" What of the beams of destruction?" asked Lan, realizing Claybore held back more than he revealed.

" They tr-" The sorcerer cut off in midword. " They are manifestations of my power, the only power I retain."

" Living imprisoned thus in a box," mused Inyx. " A horrible fate."

" It is better than wandering the cosmos as a totally disembodied spirit," answered Claybore. " I live, after a fashion. I am content."

Again Lan sensed the untruth. Uneasily, he shifted around and asked Inyx, " What did you find?"

She smiled and breathlessly told him, " A caravan! People, Lan, people! And from the richness of their dress, this is a most prosperous world."

" Good. I just wish we were as prosperous. Looting Waldron' s vaults would have improved our position enormously."

" We have the Kinetic Sphere," she said, patting the crystalline globe. " This is worth more than a ton of jewels. And we have one another." She looked up and locked gazes with Lan. No true telepathy existed between them, but a definite communication without words developed. He reached out and took her hand in his.

" How far are these other humans?" asked Krek. " While I do not seek out humans, I feel that:" The spider talked on, unaware of Lan and Inyx rising and moving away from him and Claybore. When they were far enough distant, Lan pulled Inyx close, her lips first brushing his, then crushing down hard.

" Sure enough, there is the caravan you saw yesterday, Inyx," said Lan, his arm flush with the woman' s. She turned and smiled at him. He returned a grin; then they swung off together down the hill.

" Friend Lan Martak, carefully study the scene ahead, and you will notice the reason the merchants are not moving along their highway."

" What? I don' t see anything."

" They are under attack," came Claybore' s cold words.

" Yes," clacked Krek, his mandibles snapping together. " And I see my first good meal in more weeks than I can remember." The spider lumbered down the hill in full charge. Lan pulled at Inyx' s arm, urging her to more speed. He felt an obligation to fight alongside the spider.

" Fear not," said Claybore. " The spider is capable of defeating them."

" We' ll help him, nonetheless," panted Lan, increasing his speed. Comrades fought together.

The guards from the caravan battled valiantly against the dogsized grasshopper creatures, but the droves of insects washed over them like an ocean' s tide covering a beach. Lan and Inyx swung swords and killed several of the grasshopper- things with each stroke, but sheer numbers would soon tire them out. Judging by the partially devoured corpses on the ground, the insects had a taste for human flesh.

But it was Krek who proved the most effective. He gobbled and gorged and fought with the ferocity of a hundred men. And somehow, this communicated to the grasshopper- things. Perhaps the spider was a potent natural enemy on this world, or they might have been intelligent enough to realize their potential meal dined off them. However it was, the grasshoppers began retreating with oversized froglike hind legs propelling them in immense jumps.

Krek finished his meal and looked up, belly full and now content in other ways. The way Lan' s arm circled Inyx' s shoulders, and her arm his waist, convinced the giant spider that all was as it should be. Even the mocking smile on Claybore' s bony mouth didn' t bother him.

Krek settled down and watched Lan and Inyx go to the merchant leading the caravan and begin the endless dickering over the value of their services. But Krek did wish the merchants would be more careful with their torches. One tiny spark and his furry legs would be ablaze. Humans could be so vexing at times.

Scanning, formatting and basic proofing by Undead.