The spider crouched down and came close to looking him in the eye. His only comment was " The coarse weave of the fabric offends my craftsman' s sensibilities."

Lan laughed. That was the best he could expect from the spider. If Krek hadn' t commented in a sarcastic fashion, it would have bordered on a miracle.

" Very well, Krek, your opinion' s duly noted. Now let' s set off and find some that will be less objectionable to you- and less gaudy for me."

Krek let out a screech that made Lan jump. He had anticipated some bit of sarcasm, but not outright fear. He spun to face another arachnid fully half his height taller than Krek. Lan didn' t have to be told that this was " the lovely Klawn." He read it in Krek' s horrified response. Instinct guided him.

His blade flashed wickedly in the sunlight as he drew and slashed at the female spider' s legs.

Agilely, she leaped and avoided his sword. She simply ignored him in her single- minded drive to get to Krek, now cowering beside the road and blubbering incoherently. Lan wished the spider would at least attempt to defend himself, but knew this might be impossible under the circumstances. He didn' t blame his spider friend for not wishing to attack his mate; such behavior was frowned upon in most human cultures, Lan had found, and the consequences in the spider' s culture appeared even more dire.

" Klawn, you are too good for me," whimpered Krek. He might have been a beaten child, so high and thin and tremulous sounded his voice. Lan didn' t hesitate in reinitiating his attack. The sword resheathed, he dived forward and tackled the back two legs, giving impetus to Klawn' s attack. The spider overcompensated and tumbled down in a furry pile of legs and snapping mandibles.

Lan writhed around to avoid the ominous crashing of those serrated death scythes above his head. He knew better than to release his hold on the hind legs. Allowing Klawn mobility meant death. He pulled upward on the legs held tightly in the circle of his brawny arms as he rolled to one side and snared still another leg. With three of the giant spider' s legs under his control, he found it relatively easy to capture a fourth. Klawn kicked and fought but failed to reach and devour Krek, as her mating ritual demanded.

" Get me some rope, dammit!" flared Lan, struggling to maintain his grip. " I' m going to tie her up!"

" Oh, Klawn, my precious darling, please believe I was not in my right mind. I do not know what possessed me to rush from your fond embrace. I-"

" Krek! Get me a rope!"

This shook Krek from his fright long enough to see what his human friend attempted. With ponderous movement, he plucked a lariat from the pile of discarded possessions taken from the merchant and his soldier guard. As if the rope might burn him, Krek gingerly tossed it to Lan. The human continued cursing under his breath, inventing new tortures and destinations as well as finding increasingly improbable conjugal possibilities, while he looped the rope around Klawn' s four back legs. Then he went to work grabbing and securing the front legs. It took him the better part of fifteen minutes, but he finally hogtied Krek' s bride in such a way that she couldn' t easily get those razoredged mandibles back to snip through the rope- or him.

" Let' s race the wind, Krek, before she gets loose."

" Yes, let us make haste," the spider agreed. " And thank you, Lan Martak, for not injuring her." He vented a gusty sigh as he added, " Is she not the most lovely creature in all the world? Such fine legs, such lovely fur adorning them."

" She' s certainly got enough legs," Lan said, remembering the chitinous claws tipping each one.

" That she has," said Krek with a sigh, longingly peering backward at the still- struggling Klawn.

Lan spurred the stolen horse to a full gallop and let Krek try to match the pace as well he could. He had little time for the lovesick spider or the oversized Klawn. All that mattered to him centered on recapturing Velika- and proving to her that he wasn' t the wastrel and fool she had seen in the village and after.

His hand brushed over his lips. The sting of her tears remained.

" I don' t believe it," he said, awestruck. The huge castle battlements reared up two hundred yards before ripping the sky apart with crenelations of obsidian. He dug his heels into his horse' s flanks until he braced himself enough to reach out and touch the wall. Slagged glass slid under his fingers. Using the point of his dagger, he thrust directly against the translucent material. Blue sparks danced away, leaving the stone with only a tiny cicatrice.

" A house adequate for a king," observed Krek, crouching down while Lan continued his explorations at the base of the wall.

" Adequate isn' t the word. This place could withstand a generation- long attack and still remain unscathed. But there has to be a way in. No matter how well contrived a structure, there is always some unforeseen way in."

" Human philosophy?" asked Krek. " I can conceive of structures with but one means of ingress. Why, in the Egrii Mountains, I once spun this fabulously intricate web- trap capable of holding a snow bear. It held so well I failed repeatedly to get the carcass out. The bear finally rotted away in the silken prison."

" How interesting," Lan said dryly. " What' s that have to do with getting inside the castle and rescuing Velika?"

" Nothing," answered the spider.

Irritated, Lan guided the horse around the tower of glass until he found an observation point where he could spy on the people coming and going from the castle. The huge drawbridge lowered to cross a chasm fully fifteen yards wide. The cunning series of switchbacks immediately after crossing the bridge cancelled any plan he might have of charging the gate while it was down and storming the castle before the grey- clad soldiers responded. By the time he' d clear the second inner wall, even their dead could have been summoned to pick him off with their firearms, all of which looked as if they' d been imported from his home world. And none of the soldiers appeared lackluster in performing his duty. They paced their posts with an intentness that made Lan wonder at the punishment for falling asleep on patrol. But there had to be some way of sneaking in, if only he could find it. No amount of wishful thinking discounted the brilliantly colored hot- air balloon tethered just outside the drawbridge, either. An army could be seen, as well as a lone individual, from its dangling basket. Lan cursed the military mind that had invented the aerial spy.

Krek lumbered up beside him and studied the terrain. Finally the giant spider declared, " You might steal the balloon and float into the castle."

Lan' s hope surged anew. Single- handedly attack the balloon and kick open its burners to lift over the walls of the castle? This appeared the only path open to him, dangerous as it was. All other surreptitious or overt routes had been guarded against with the thoughtful cunning of a paranoid mind.

" Do you really think I can sneak under the balloon, crawl up the anchor line, kill the guards, and then float upward and over the wall?" he asked.

" No," was all the answer he got.

He turned bitter.

" Then why did you even mention it?"

" I simply wanted to present yet another method of gaining entry."

" Another method?" Lan cursed the spider' s nonlinear, nonlogical mind.

" Yes. I can spin a silk strand long enough and strong enough to easily scale the walls."

Lan put his head in his cupped hands. He didn' t know whether to cry from relief or frustration.