inevitable tragedy, it seemed, could bring Erix no further pain, so shattered was her heart and spirit.
'What about Poshtli?' Hal asked hesitantly. 'He must have died on the mountain.'
'No!' she replied, somehow finding strength in her voice. 'That I cannot believe!'
Halloran looked at her in wonder, and then sighed. He wouldn't argue with her, but quietly and privately he grieved for his friend.
'Erixitl? You are Erixitl of Palul?' The soft voice behind them pulled their attention swiftly around. They rose to their feet in alarm at the sight of the tall Jaguar Knight who stood there.
'What do you want?' Hal demanded harshly.
'Forgive me,' replied the warrior, speaking calmly through the open jaws of his helmet. 'I am Gultec.'
'I remember you,' said Erix. Once this knight had helped place her across a sacrificial altar, but strangely now she felt no fear. 'What is it?'
'We must gather these people and lead them,' said the knight. 'They will listen to you. And I know where there is food and water in the desert. Come with me, and I will show you the path to safety.'
They looked at him in surprise for a moment. He waited patiently. Finally he turned, and Halloran and Erixitl started after Gultec as the Jaguar Knight headed toward the rim of the valley.
EPILOGUE
Deep below the bowels of the seething volcano, the surviving Ancient Ones waited out the storm. And while they waited, tormented by hatred and rage, they planned their vengeance — a vengeance that would wrack the world for long ages, until the last of them had outlived their shame and their failure.
The conclave no longer consisted of the sleek, handsome figures of the dark elves. Instead, those who lived now turned in revulsion from each other, but everywhere they looked, their eyes were confronted by the inescapable repulsiveness of their new appearance.
The driders huddled in misery, terrified of the trembling mountain but still mighty, still full of rage. Now the spidery forms began to move, creeping from the tunnels of lava and smoke and ash toward the smoldering surface of the world above. Each of them walked upon eight fur-covered legs. A bloated, heavy abdomen suspended from the torso of each, and only the upper body bore a superficial resemblance to the elves they once had been.
One of these, the one that led the way back to the world, had a spider body of purest white, like a bleached insect that had never known the light of the sun.
