“Well met, welcoming party to a visiting Queen.” Maebe’s voice was friendly, but cold as she greeted the horde before us. “Would that we could have met under better circumstances, but I will happily cede that your city is safe in no small part thanks to myself and my Knights of the Unseelie Fae.”
“Yes, your unneeded aid was much appreciated, and I assume I have the honor of addressing her Grace, the Lady of the Unseelie Darkness and Cold?” The lead woman said, then almost spat. Her features were dark, muscular and covered in fine ceremonial garb. The black silk covering her but clinging to her shapely figure at every curve with every motion of her hands. “I am Felis Sca’Urdentir, highest priestess to our Lady of the Web.”
“Well met.” Maebe nodded once in return.
“What can we do for you?” Felis seemed on edge.
“I came to introduce myself to your Queen and to speak with her regarding a matter of the highest importance.” Maebe raised her head at the taller woman, almost daring her to say something off.
“I am certain that to you, it is, but the Spider Queen has other matters to attend at the moment, so I am afraid that I must bid you return another day.” Felis’ smile was almost weaponized and seething.
“No.” Maebe sighed theatrically. “That will not do. We were beset upon by vampires on our way here and unfortunately, one of your people gravely insulted my husband and me . I will see the Queen. Now.”
Felis looked ready to start a fight she wasn’t sure she could win, and I tried to focus on their levels, but they looked hazy. Unfocused, and that was just way too little to go on if we were going to duke it out with these guys.
“Let them pass, Felis,” A soft voice spoke from behind the large woman.
Her eyes widened as if panicked, and she hurried to the side while taking a knee. The other drow with her took a knee on the side as well.
A small woman, her legs replaced by that of a sedan-sized, spindly-legged spider body scuttled gracefully through the crowd of drow. She was beautiful, in a weird almost-Burtonesque kind of way. Her elven ears peeked up through her closely cut white ringlets on the side of her head. Her button nose drew your gaze to both her bright pink eyes and her artfully thin set of lips that only partially hid dainty fangs. She wore only a set of heavy jewelry with glyphs and runes engraved in them that almost radiated with magic the closer she moved, that covered most of her lithe, athletic humanoid upper body.
“I am she who you seek, I am called many things, but you may call me Lilith.” Her voice was cultured, almost sounded English to me, but it was hard not to stare in horror. “You bring many males with you, where are your protectors, Queen Maebe?”
“I need none—they are with me because I deem their presence worthy for travel.” Not a lie, but ouch. Then again, giving any kind of weakness to a spider was asking for trouble, right? “I have come to speak with you and have found insult, then battle—how is the state of affairs among the drow?”
“Until recently, things were as they ought to be, but there are many who would see our empire fall to nothing but dust and memory.” The Spider Queen’s shoulder lifted and dropped in a demure shrug. “But do tell me, how is it that the Queen of another realm of darkness has come to be among mine and why she has come.”
“Is there a more appropriate place to speak of such matters?” Maebe inquired, a hand slowly motioning to the tense group kneeling nearby.
“There is, please join me, and Felis?” The high priestess lifted her head, adoration, and fear apparent in her gaze. “Come to me, child.”
The drow priestess stood and mechanically made her way over to stand before her goddess and Queen.
“You did well,” I heard Lilith whisper softly, then she raised her voice slightly. “Your post was gained in the fall of another, was it not?”
“Yes, my Lady of the Web.” Felis knelt before her queen and dipped her head. “Marinellith fell some years ago during my training, and I was the strongest of our faith to ascend to your side. Assisting you has given me much.”
“So it seems,” Lilith observed. Her body shifted, the spider portion almost turning back on itself so that it could expel a rope of matte-black silk that hit the woman in the face.
Her front-most legs grasped the struggling high priestess and twisted her until the webbing covered her head and shoulders before lifting her bodily from the ground and twisting her faster. Seconds later, she was a struggling cocoon, gasps, and groans escaped as she fought to escape.
“Let her folly serve as a reminder to the rest of you—you serve beneath me and never at my side.” She didn’t even bother to narrow her eyes or physically show the threat as she raised her voice to carry over the crowd. “I make my own decisions, and for any of you to attempt to decide for me means you do not fear me. Ambition is needed, rewarded, and if left unchecked, a warrant for death. Go. Repair my city and our fortifications. Do not fail me.”
The crowd stood and rushed away, the drow elves carefully avoiding each other as they went to see to the repairs of the city and whatever other goals they thought might assist in their queen’s orders.
“Follow me.” Lilith made to turn, then stopped. “My guard are busy, can I trust your knights to see us to safety should another attack arise?”
“You may,” Maebe replied with a cool, but amicable tone. “What do you intend for her?”
Lilith bared her fangs in a sadistic smile that made the fur on the back of my neck rise.
“She will be a sacrifice to my continued good health and strength.” She blinked, the sickening smile sliding further across her face. “As many have before her.”
“Then, if you would, please allow me to carry her for you,” I offered, thinking to help strengthen her goodwill toward Maebe if I could.
Lilith scuttled closer, her head poking closer to me with an openly curious look on her face. I could see through her glamour this close, her features decidedly more spider-like from a foot or two away. The outline of closed eyes around the two she had open, the slight shift in what looked to be hairs all over her humanoid body that matched the ones on her bulbous spider body.
“I take it this one is your, what was the term you used, ‘husband,’ that you seem to be so proud of?” A thrill screeched through my body as the word evoked a threat of some sort, I wasn’t aware of why. Like the primal fear that some people who hate creepy crawly things get when confronted by one, and here that one was.
“Yes, he is mine.” The inflection on her claim to me did not go unnoticed by the Spider Queen, and her sickening smile lessened slightly. “And I mentioned him only once.”
“You took great umbrage against Zeboya for insulting him.” Our blank looks must have given her more information than we had, as her smile widened again. “I have made it a habit to scry on my hunting parties to ensure their work is up to my standards and that I am aware of the happenings of my realm. It can be dull, at times, but I knew the moment you were within sight of my people who had stepped into my web.”
So, she had seen everything, and as she continued to stare at me, the shadows around us deepened.
“You were well within your rights as Queen, and your contest had been fair,” Lilith stated as she leaned back. “It angers me that one of my own lost to a male, but he seems to be a prize in his own right.”
“Thank you,” I offered, attempting to sound unaffected by her proximity, but my voice wavered a bit.
She capitalized on it, moving closer still, several of her other eyes opening. “It surprises me that you would keep one with the sight as a pet, let alone as your partner, Maebe. Especially based on the stories told of you and your realm.”
“My Zeke is special, what more can I say, other than that he is full of surprises?” Maebe glanced at me, lovingly with a smile and then back at Lilith. “He and his friends have surprised me many times over, and continue to do so. My enemies, as well.”
“Duly noted,” she muttered, her gaze landing on the others, then she turned her
back slowly to make her way into the city, calling over her shoulder, “Welcome to my domain, the city of nightmares and ambition—Milsolinium’achbenir.”
I lifted the now-tame, probably unconscious sacrifice from the ground, and we followed after her.
That had been a mouthful, but then again, the city was a sight to behold. Even as destroyed as it was, the buildings left standing alluded to structures of horrid and strangely beautiful design of palatial proportions. The compounds they were situated in had what looked like some sort of fungal grass of deep brown coloring. The rest of the buildings and walls were designed in ebon stone and metallic swirling patterns.
The dim light above us shifted coloring to a lighter blue, almost like the sky, and I found that a little unsettling despite the familiarity, considering our surroundings. It was an hour walk down the main thoroughfare because people avoided our host like the plague except for the bravest female souls, but even they watched from a respectful distance in silence.
Goblins, hobgoblins, and these tall wooly creatures with long, strong arms lifted rubble searching for what they could. Males in black armor with shaved heads patrolled on lizards almost as large as motorcycles and twice as long snout to tail. They carried multiple weapons, but the most popular one seemed to be the spear. Wicked looking with exaggeratedly long slicing edges that looked sword-like in quality.
They all averted their gaze as Lilith strutted by without so much as a glance.
At the end of our trek, we came to a tall, gated entryway with a gigantic spider-person statue situated over top of it that held a set of swords, one in each hand. The statue looked to be made of black metal that ate the light around it, even with the carved tattoos along the surface that had been filled with crystal that matched the ceiling of the expansive cavern.
Drow guards with bodies similar to their queen’s stood guard at the gate, but they didn’t seem quite so intelligent as their Queen. Muscular and dangerous looking, to be certain, but not as cunning if I had to wager.
I was hoping that I’d wagered correctly because the claim could be our lives if this went poorly.
The gates swung open with a wave of the Spider Queen’s hands, and in we went. The black wrought metal barriers clicking closed softly after the last of us entered the area.
Her compound was gorgeous, if not terrifyingly so. Spun threads of black wire covered the top of it in an almost invisible dome, the light from above passing through despite the blockage. Dozens more of the same kinds of guards crawled over the top of it, as if it were nothing to do so, and regarded the Queen with respectful nods. Large spiders the size of luxury all-terrain vehicles scurried about the grounds like attack dogs that didn’t dare come too close to their master.
“Welcome to my humble home,” Lilith said, in a purring tone. I turned in time to catch her watching our reactions.
Lock it down. I ordered the others, and she smiled even more.
“Please, follow me.” She led us through a set of doors with symbols of spiders, webs, and sacrifices on them, darkened hallways, then onto a set of stairs that led up in a widely turning rise.
As you went up, there was a barred door and a moderately lit interior with some sort of captive creature or person on every landing
“Queen Lilith, your H-Highness,” Bokaj stuttered as he tried to make sense of the creatures we climbed by. “Who or what are all of these things?”
“The creatures and people toward the bottom of the tower are those who displeased me and who might survive long enough to earn their freedom,” Lilith explained as she took the stairs slower and slower so that we could see each of her prizes. “As we climb, the crimes against my people and me grow ever more heinous and unforgivable.” She stopped at one of the barred doors, seeming to relish the creature inside for a moment then spoke again, “Or they just happen to be my favorite toys.”
We stopped by a doorway and inside this one was a small drow boy, a shaggy mop of white hair covered his face where he looked out at us with golden eyes, his body emaciated and scarred from some of the beatings he had likely taken.
Him. A new but familiar voice touched my mind, warmth radiating from it. Light in my mind as the feminine voice of the Light Primordial filled my thoughts with her will, He is mine.
Fuck, I growled to myself, the light recoiling a little bit from my anger. I’m not mad at you, but fuck. This could be bad, trying to get the kid out of here.
He is mine. Do what you must, and your reward will be great. Because there is more than just your life at stake if our power cannot touch this world.
Her presence left me then, and I had to hurry up the stairs after the others, but had I thrown some travel rations into the room with the kid before I did.
Good news and bad news guys, I tried not to sound too cynical as I mentally called to the others.
Let me guess, we gotta spring the kid from his cell? Jaken answered knowingly.
Beat me to it. Yohsuke grumped, speaking with fatigue. I glanced his way, and he was having trouble keeping up with the others, sweating profusely. His body had a small tremor as I grabbed his arm to help him.
And I’m not feeling too fuckin’ hot either, he admitted, the others glancing back to him with worry on their features. Turn around you stupid bastards! You’ll gimme away.
The others did as they were told, and we continued on, passing other abominable and loathsome creatures as we rose. Another ten minutes of upward movement, and we came to a landing with a larger set of bars and sets of glowing eyes glaring out at us. Then we were back on our way up the tower with intermittent landings scattered here and there. Eventually, breathless and irritated, we came to a stopping point.
There was a larger landing with another set of stairs, but there were several barred openings on this one. I was in the back with Yohsuke attempting to keep him good, but it was getting a little worse.
I think I just found another reason how this gets better, and worse, Muu said with a growl. I think I just found Gerty.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sure enough, as we walked by the bars on our way into the room the queen entered, there was a well-muscled dwarven woman who sat at the back of her area with a spiteful, hate-filled glare on her face.
Keep Fainnir away from that door. James ordered as we strode by into the room from the stairs. Muu grasped the dwarfs arm and hauled him bodily into the room as the doors closed behind us.
The room was intimate with gaudy baubles and shiny objects that filled every corner of it like a nest. I set the sacrifice on a table where Lilith motioned and left her there.
“Do you require refreshment, or should we skip straight to business?” She eyed all of us and sighed, “I would offer you time to freshen up, but it seems you have much you wish to discuss and I find my humors less inclined to wait.”
Maebe looked to us as Lilith eyed her morsel on the table, and we all shook our heads.
“Business before pleasure it is.” Lilith turned, strode from her meal and sat on a cushion on a pedestal where she eyed us. “Please, be seated.”
We looked down to find small chairs had appeared behind each of us. Yoh all but fell into his, his eyes unfocused and nearly rolled into the back of his head.
I tried to pump healing energy into him, but it wasn’t taking.
“He was the one bitten?” Lilith asked, her head cocked to the side. “I can save him from the undeath that you have seen for a price.”
“What is your price?” Maebe asked without hesitation.
“I know that you will not abdicate your throne or part with your power, so I will ask a favor.” Lilith steepled her hands in front of her chest, pointing with her eyes narrowed at Yohsuke. “His safety from undead servitude, for a simple favor. I want the Vampire Lord, who I believe has orchestrated these attacks, slain, or brought to me. Do this, and I will save him.”
Maebe raised her chin. “You are right in those things, but it makes no sense for a Vampire Lord to orchestrate a large-sca
le attack like that and not send his children when he has a steady food source.”
White foam flecked with blood formed at the corner of Yohsuke’s mouth and he began convulsing, his whole body fighting whatever took place inside.
“I can concede that notion, but your time is running out—will you kill the Vampire Lord?” Lilith held out a small bottle of red liquid, her pink gaze blazing as she stared at Maebe.
“Yes, anything after that will be negotiated.” Maebe struck the deal, and Lilith tossed the bottle to me as she scurried forward.
“Lift his shirt away,” Lilith ordered, her hand flashed once, and a large, slimy creature appeared in her grasp. She placed it over his heart with a look of disgust on her face and it pulsed wildly. “This will take some time.”
“What is it doing?” I asked cautiously, she did seem to recognize that I was interested, but her kind didn’t care for males.
“Draining his infected blood.” Her eyes never left his body as she watched her work. “The problem with being bitten by the bitten is that the bite infects with the intent to turn one into a servant. If a true vampire is to be created, the trading of blood is required.”
“You seem to know an awful lot about vampirism,” James observed a little more coldly than I would have liked.
Lilith snapped her fingers toward the wall next to her cushioned pedestal, and a large shelf of books appeared. “When one has an enemy, immense study of their biology, creation, and workings within most societies are what lead to well-informed decisions. Some of those being how best to bring on their destruction or manipulation. I am quite adept.”
“As you seem to have no issue letting us know,” Maebe challenged, a knowing tone entering her voice. “You tried to trick us. Me.”
“I did, but you were smart enough to see through the falsehood.” Lilith smiled at Maebe, and it looked to be genuine. “A trait that most of the Fae are well known for.”
“Why would you willingly risk my anger?” Maebe seemed to be genuinely confused as she looked at the other queen in shock.
Into the Darkness: A Fantasy LitRPG Adventure (Axe Druid Book 4) Page 51