by Неизвестный
Never had Inyx felt more helpless.
Voices. Humans' voices. She debated about seeking them out or fleeing. Then the hard thought came to her; she couldn' t run for the rest of her life. Alone, unable to sleep, she' d soon fall prey to the beasts scouring the Twistings for food.
She squared her shoulders and walked forward. For a moment, she thought she' d been transported to still another world. In a large room- the first she' d seen in the Twistings- sat or lounged at least fifty men and woman.
All were filthy and wore tattered clothes, and not a few were quite insane. Some sat staring into infinity and gently humming to themselves. Others carried on detailed conversations with no one.
": vegetables deserve their freedom," one man was saying. He spun, his voice lifted and he answered himself, " Scallions are vegetables, too. What about them?"
Inyx sidled past this human remnant while he continued the debate with himself. She knew who the loser in that discussion would be. Others rocked to and fro like zoo creatures in a cage, while still others fought with a ferocity that belied their humanity.
" A new one, eh?" came a sober voice from her right. Inyx glanced in that direction. A blonde woman, with arms around drawn- up scratched and bruised knees, peered at her. The blue eyes were a bit wild, but the inflection in her words came out saner than anyone else Inyx saw in the room.
" I was just put into the Twistings today." She stopped, frowned. " I think it was today. I seem to have lost track of time. I got hungry, found this, then I: I spent a lot of time running away."
" The fruits are about all that' s good for eating. With one exception," said the woman. She inclined her head to indicate the far side of the dimly lit room. A fire blazed in the distant corner and two men roasted a haunch of meat. The odor wafting in her direction made Inyx' s mouth water.
" I suppose they want more than to be friends to share," she said.
" You can be their friend- or more- if you like. Not too many want to share their meal."
Suspicion flared. Inyx inhaled more deeply of the odors. For a moment, she didn' t recognize the meat the two men cooked. Then she blanched. Once, when women and children had been trapped in a burning building, the stench of tar and wood had been intermixed with burning human flesh.
This odor was similar. The only difference was in intensity. These men roasted, not burned.
" Don' t want to share their meal anymore?" asked the blonde.
" I think I' m going to lose what little I have eaten."
" Share the fruit?"
The blue eyes fastened hungrily on the fruit Inyx held cradled in her arms like a small babe. Inyx wanted to say no, to keep her hardwon food for herself.
" Fifty- fifty," she said. " If you' ve got a knife to cut through this leather."
" No one' s got a knife, ' cept the mechs. And they cannibalize their own parts for them. Teeth' ll be as good as anything else. Go on, you do the divvying." The blonde watched as Inyx carefully bit through the tough skin. Juices spurted. With great care, she divided the fruit and passed over the larger section to the blonde.
" Thanks," the woman said even as she thrust the savory pulp into her mouth.
All too soon, they' d finished their meal. The blonde sat licking fingers and blouse for the last of the juice.
" How long have you been in the Twistings?" asked Inyx.
" Can' t say. No one knows. We just wander aimlessly."
" Is there a way out? Does the Lord have the entrance blocked with anything other than the vault door?" She tried to remember the door itself. Most vault doors protecting vast caches of money tended to be difficult to open from the outside but relatively simple to burgle from the inside. Inyx hoped this might be the case with the Lord' s door into the Twistings.
" Some have found the room again."
" How' d they get out?"
" Out? They came back. Over there. See that one, the one with the red hair? She sits and cowers if anyone approaches her. She told me that she found the door open. All she had to do was walk out- and she couldn' t do it."
" Why not? I' d be through that door in a flash."
" No, you wouldn' t. I heard that same story million times or more." The blonde played with one of the pink seeds. She stroked it as if doing so gave her some magical power. It was only a nervous gesture.
" I would!" said Inyx with heat. " I want out of here. And when I escape the Twistings, I' m going to kill the son of a bitch who put me in here."
" You won' t care, not after a while. No one does. Only the newcomers try to escape."
" Giving up hope isn' t the answer. If she found the way out, so can we."
" Why bother?" The blonde leaned back, relaxing only slightly. She kept her arms around her knees. The blue eyes looked at Inyx again, hungry once more but this time with a different form of hunger. " We can do other things, you an' me. You' re not wonky yet. Neither am I. We can: do: things together, we can."
" I want to talk with the redhead," Inyx said, uncomfortable now with her nearness to the blonde. " What' s her name?"
" Don' t know. Can' t even remember my own. What' s the difference?"
Inyx rose and walked away from the blonde. The woman called out, " Thanks for the food."
Inyx waved in response and hurried to the redhead.
" You almost escaped," she said without preamble. " How' d you do it?"
The woman gazed up at Inyx, then smiled. Inyx shivered at the insanity she saw in that look.
" Easy. Just followed my nose. But I couldn' t: couldn' t leave. Couldn' t."
" Why not? What kept you in the Twistings?"
" Don' t know. Couldn' t walk out the door. Tried." She began laughing, high- pitched and hysterical. This brought unwanted attention from the two cannibals at the far side of the room. Inyx backed off, wanting to run. She managed to find herself a quiet spot along one wall where no one seemed willing to stay. Hunkering down, she tried to think her dilemma through. Somehow, the more she worked on the immediate problems of getting out of this crazy maze, the more difficult it became for her.
She cried herself to sleep, visions of blue gulping beasts that turned into humans haunting her dreams.
The clatter of steel on steel awoke her. She' d heard enough fighting in her day to know the sounds of battle. One raged very close by. Inyx craned her neck, searching for the source of the noise. Off to one side down a dimly lit corridor seemed the most likely spot. The residents of the room had begun slipping quietly away from that point, not wanting to fight.
Inyx flexed her muscles, winced at the way she' d stiffened during her sleep, then moved forward. Dying in battle was preferable to rotting away physically and mentally.
Even being devoured by a wraith or globuloid had to be a more fitting death for one used to freedom.
" Back," came a warning. " Get back. Knoton' s coming. He' s going to clean out the entire nest."
" Nest?" she asked. The man stumbling along had been bloodied by a dozen cuts, none deep. He had risked much bringing the warning- and he didn' t seem as demented as the others she' d met.
" The room. This place." He staggered forward another few steps, then stared into her deep azure eyes. " You' ve just arrived. Too bad. Knoton' s coming. He' s going to kill all us humans this time. And the hybrids, too."
" What are you talking about?" she demanded.
" Knoton' s a mechanical. He hates all flesh and blood for exiling him to the Twistings."
" But we' re here, too!" she protested. " That' s not fair."
" He' s not quite sane, either. But in this place, who is?" He grabbed Inyx by the shoulders and spun her around. " Now get moving. Knoton' ll be here in another few seconds."
" We should fight."
" With bare hands?"
Inyx peered into the gloom of the corridor the man had just vacated. Shining spots began growing in size. Mechanicals made their way forward, brandishing knives and swords. If any of them had been the shining perfection
she' d seen in Dicca, Inyx would never have risked battle. But these mechanicals were rusty, slow- moving, clanking. Their banishment to the Twistings hadn' t been good for them, either. She waited for the first pair to enter the room- the nest, the man had called it. Then she acted.
She dived forward, dropped to support her weight on one arm, then scissored her legs around the lead mechanical' s. A gyroscope whined, the mechanical struggled for balance, then fell heavily. Inyx quickly recovered the fallen sword. She noted it had been made from another mechanical' s arm.
Even the metal men were cannibals in the Twistings.
" Watch out!"
She heeded the man' s warning by ducking. Just a fraction of an inch over her head slashed the other mech' s long knife. Inyx recovered balance, measured distance, lunged. Her blunted sword point found a spot between spinning cogwheel and shoulder joint. The mechanical whirred in rage, turned, and succeeded in forcing the sword even more deeply into its shoulder workings.
Inyx tried to continue her attack, but the mech held her at bay with its knife. Her human companion aided her now. A swift blow to the mechanical' s back threw it off balance. It sagged, allowing Inyx to wrench free her now bent and dulled sword.
Together the two humans decapitated the mech. It twisted fitfully, struggling to recover its cranium. Inyx let it pick up its head, then scuttle off for repair. The sight of the headless body brought back unpleasant memories.
Claybore. His skull floated without benefit of body.
" Good fighting," complimented the man. " You' re the best warrior I' ve found since the Lord threw me into the Twistings a couple months ago. I' m Fredek Fynn."
" Fredek, the pleasure' s all mine. I' m Inyx."
A metal- on- metal screech deafened Inyx. She threw her hands over her ears to dampen the noise. She succeeded only in part.
" What was that?" she said, louder than she' d intended.
" Knoton' s battle cry. A challenge. Let' s get into the maze, where we have a chance."
Inyx' s reluctance to leave this room and enter the maze almost overwhelmed her. Then the dark- haired woman saw a battle in progress. Down the corridor two shadowy forms locked in mortal combat. One was mechanical- Knoton. The other appeared human until a random flash of light reflected off silvered arms.
" The arms," she muttered, unsure of what she saw.
" A hybrid. Knoton hates them worse than he hates flesh- andbloods like us," said Fredek.
" We should help," Inyx said weakly. A strong hand rested on her upper arm. Fredek Fynn pulled her away.
" There' s nothing we can do. Look at it this way. Whoever that is just gave us a few more minutes of life. Knoton' s on a war- binge. Nothing short of disassembly is going to stop him now."
Inyx curtly nodded. She and Fredek trotted for the far side of the nest. The sword resting firmly in her hand gave the woman a feeling of safety now, even if it was a false one. No sooner had they entered the corridors than they ran afoul of a blue gobbling beast. It waddled forward, snapping, and gnashing its teeth.
" Don' t try to kill it," warned Fredek. " Even with a sword, it' s hard to injure. Make it mad and it' s well- nigh invincible. They don' t ever seem to feel much pain."
" I killed one of the wraiths with my bare hands," said Inyx. " With a sword, I can kill this thing."
" You killed a capper? Great Twistings, I' ve found me a real shedemon!"
Inyx pushed the man out of the way to clear the way for a lunge. She executed the attack perfectly. The blunt tip of the weapon, however, inflicted minimal damage. At the last possible instant, she changed the next lunge into a devastating slash. Ichor flew in all directions as the blue monster chattered in rage and pain. It launched a frontal assault that Inyx simply couldn' t stop.
She and Fredek retreated back into the nest.
From the other side of the room, Knoton shrieked his metallic cry of rage and vengeance. He lumbered forward, swinging a steel rod easily seven feet long.
Inyx and Fredek Fynn were trapped between the injured blue globuloid and an equally blood- crazed mechanical.
" Now!" shouted Inyx. She shoved Fredek one way and dived the other herself. Blue maze monster and mech faced one another. Knoton' s towering hatred drove him forward, metal bar whistling as he swung it in long, angry arcs. The creature had been blinded by its own blood.
It attacked.
Inyx watched in silence as the awesome battle raged. Knoton refused to give ground. His rod battered the tough blue skin repeatedly until Inyx was positive nothing solid could remain inside. But still the blue maze creature fought on, its teeth clattering off the metal rod every time it managed to get a chance to snap. Such stark ferocity couldn' t be maintained long. By the time Inyx circled and met Fredek, the metallic had triumphed over flesh and blood and voracious appetite.
Knoton stood, left arm bitten off, one eye blinking wildly, his right leg bent at an unnatural angle.
" I shall destroy you. I shall destroy all human life in the Twistings for what that madman has done to me!" the mechanical raged.
" Knoton," spoke up Inyx. " Let' s parlay. Let' s declare a truce and talk this out. We' re all here because of the Lord."
" He' s flesh; so are you. You shall die, soft one!"
Knoton wheeled around and limped away, leaving behind miscellaneous nuts and bolts. It would have been ludicrous except that Inyx looked past the hardware to the dead maze creature.
In the distance she heard the wraiths- the cappers, Fredek had called them- coming. Hunger in the Twistings was a way of life and death.
Silently she and Fredek left the nest. There' d be time to return later, after the cappers had fed.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
" So good to see you," Alberto Silvain said, rising from his desk in the cramped office. He extended a hand in friendship toward Lan. Lan refused it. Silvain smiled even more broadly and turned to Krek. " Will you accept my hand?"
" Only as part of dinner," said the spider. " As a rule I am not overly fond of flesh. In your case, I make an exception."
Silvain laughed delightedly.
" Such wit, even in the face of death. I admire that. Yes, I understand why Claybore worries so about the likes of you." He joked and bandied words with them, but all the while Lan Martak felt the cold, calculating stare he' d come to expect from one of Claybore' s ablest, most cunning subordinates. Silvain was no one' s fool. He hadn' t been placed in charge of all the grey- clad soldiers on this world because of his white smile.
" Why has Claybore rushed off to another world, leaving you behind? Is the cause here so hopeless?" asked Lan.
" Attack, never rely on defense. Yes, I like you more and more, Martak."
" He left you to fight a rear- guard action."
" Nothing of the sort, as you probably already know. This world is pleasantly under control. It no longer requires Claybore' s personal attention. I rule in his place."
" This must come as a shock to the Lord of the Twistings," said Krek. " From the intensity of his campaign speeches, he believes he governs this world."
" The Lord is an annoyance we accept, nothing more," said Silvain, his mood darkening to match his swarthy complexion. " He is a fool to be tolerated- for the moment."
" Does he know how you feel?"
" Martak, how the Lord of the Twistings feels is of no real concern. As long as he has his pretty mazes to play with, he is content. The day- to- day rule in Dicca and elsewhere is in the control of my officers. Any decision that is made, we make. Is that clear?"
" What does he have that Claybore wants?" asked Lan.
" Borgo, were they spying when I contacted Claybore?"
" I do not know, Commandant. The fluttercraft patrol spotted them, then alerted me. I captured them near your window."
Silvain turned back to Lan.
" So, you overheard as I spoke with him. Then it' s no secret that Claybore seeks out still more of his body elsewhere." Alberto Silvain studied Lan for a moment
, then added, " The body on this miserable mud ball is of little value."
" That' s why he entrusts you with recovering it?" asked Lan. He felt the soldiers behind him stiffen. One tiny flick on the trigger of their death tubes and he' d be smoking ruin. Still, his position was hopeless unless someone made a mistake. Better to try now than wait for Silvain to be surrounded by hundreds of his grey- clad soldiers.
" Claybore warned me that you have a sharp tongue. And a sharp wit. You shall not anger me so easily. In fact, you shall not anger me at all. Borgo, take them out and kill them both. I want evidence brought back to me that my orders have been successfully: executed."
" At once, Commandant!"
Lan tensed to make an escape. A dive through the window seemed almost suicidal. Any other course definitely had death marked on it. But before he got his legs gathered under him for the attempt, a peremptory shout echoed in the tiny room.
" Halt! The Lord of the Twistings demands their miserable presence immediately."
A mechanical dressed in a pale green tunic and nothing else pushed its way past Silvain' s guards. Lan saw Borgo turn to face the newcomer. Lan kicked out, his boot connecting with the man' s elbow just as he raised the death tube in the mechanical' s direction. The virulent beam tenaciously gnawed its way through plaster, support columns, and part of the bookcase as it fired harmlessly.
" Silvain, put a leash on your man," came the mechanical' s harsh command.
" Borgo, never mind," said Silvain with great reluctance. " You will get your chance later."
For the span of a dozen heartbeats, no one moved. The mechanical eventually faced down Borgo, who slung his tube back onto the carrying ring and shoved his way out of the room.
Only then did Lan breathe any easier.
" Both of them. The human and the spider. Bring them at once to the Lord' s audience chamber. He expects them to be in good operating condition." The mechanical pivoted and walked away on well- oiled bearings.
" You take orders from a pile of iron now?" Lan asked lightly. He still probed for the point where he gained advantage over Silvain. He didn' t find it.
" Take them to the Lord' s audience chamber," Silvain said, disgust dripping from his every word. " I' ll join you there shortly. I must report."