by RJ Metcalf
Weston gave a seated bow, his mind whirling. Now he just needed Perennia to pledge support, and they’d have a chance at survival.
Sichi stood. “At the beginning of the Summit, Lucio was a brief topic. And the thought has occurred to me that perhaps whatever is in Lucio’s home may prove useful in some way for us. I have sent for all his effects to be gathered and brought here.”
“We could use that, thank you.” Weston nodded. Of course, the one who could use it best would be Finn, and they still didn’t know if he’d even survived. Or what was even happening to those at the Hollows. Was it too much to ask for, that they’d send some sort of missive soon?
Waiters brought in platters of food and started serving the deliciously-scented meal. Abigail took that moment to stand and approach Weston, pulling a thick envelope from her robe sleeve. She handed it to him, her lips pressed together.
“What’s this?” Weston hefted the offering, surprised by how heavy it felt. He settled it on his lap and split the gold wax seal, thumbing through the papers with growing puzzlement. He scanned the top line and his mouth went dry. “Are these—”
“Official pardons for your … acquaintance … and all on her airship,” Abigail confirmed, her voice pitched low over the sounds of cutlery and chatter. She tapped her finger against the parchment. “This is my personal gesture of good faith.” She hesitated, a blush darkening her cheeks as she straightened and looked away. “And it’s the rest of my apology about earlier.”
She hustled away and slipped into her seat, leaving Weston to stare after her, only distantly aware of the server settling his plate in front him. He rubbed his index fingers on the smooth paper. He didn’t know what he’d done to change her mind about him, but he was grateful.
Now he just needed to know if his crew had gotten to the Hollows, let alone what condition it, or they, were in.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Raine
Detached amusement lifted Raine’s heart for just a moment, still entertained at the expression of wide-eyed shock and trepidation in Ben’s face when she told him that yes, dragon spiders were a thing here. And yes, they were as terrifying as they sounded. He’d grimaced at that, a muscle in his jaw twitching as he’d nodded to Geist and told him to go ahead and set off the bomb.
The explosive did its job well, splintering the cement enough that they were able to break through the wall with two simple swings of the pickaxe. They’d climbed over the waist-high plug and plunged into the darkness.
“Let me go first,” Raine ordered, glancing over her shoulder at the guys. “I know just a little more about this kind of thing than you two do.”
She could barely see Geist in the diminishing light as they moved into the natural tunnel, but it was easy to imagine him narrowing his eyes at her as he said, “Fine.”
Ben’s agreement came slowly. “Be careful.”
Her skin tingled with the fear of spider dragon webs, and with the warm remembrance of Ben’s hug. It had the feel of everything she’d missed. Human touch given in comfort. Not touch with the motive of hurting her, or the touch of disgust. It was comfort. Respect. It was hard to not shatter into a thousand pieces in his arms, to burrow into the comfort freely offered.
Ben had mentioned Sara before, and it sounded like she’d been through something similar possibly. And he still loved her. But then again, Sara was his sister. But maybe he’d find it in his heart to still be a friend to her while he was here. He’d likely find a way back home soon enough.
Just as well. Then she couldn’t get any more attached than she already was.
“Can you see anything in here, Geist?” Ben’s voice sounded far too loud behind her. She jumped as outstretched fingers grazed her shoulder, and she could almost hear Ben’s wince as he said, “Sorry.”
She huffed a tiny laugh as she used the tip of her sword to reach out low in front of her, feeling for the stick of a web, or the jar from a rock.
“Not really,” Geist muttered. “I need more light than this”
“Right.” Ben sighed and the sound of someone stumbling punctuated his annoyance. “How do they hunt?”
“I have no idea,” Raine whispered. The hairs on her arms stood on end as she took step after cautious step. Her stomach churned at the memory of Liam’s and Carlo’s final screams. She wouldn’t die here. She couldn’t. They were going to escape. They had to. They were so close.
Her sword touched something hard, and she used her blade to carefully feel out the thing. She blinked in the darkness. The end of the man-made adit, where they’d broken into the natural tunnel. She took a steadying breath. Who knew what they’d find from this point on out?
“There’s a bit of a wall here to climb over,” she warned the guys as she swept her sword over the edge, hoping to clear any webs that were newly place down there. She hit nothing with her blade, and so she slid over the dirt, everything in her screaming against this course of action.
Would there be anything left of the other prisoners’ bodies? Would she stumble across them? A whiff of death floated in the air, and her stomach churned, but there was nothing left in it to throw up.
She moved with more caution now, knowing that their first encounter with the dragon spider had been somewhere in this area. The temperature dropped noticeably as she walked, and a shiver ran down her spine. Blind. She was blinder than a mole.
Her boot hit something that rolled, and the scent of rotting meat filled the stale air. She gagged as Ben and Geist made sounds of disgust behind her.
“What is that?” Geist choked out.
Her stomach lodged itself in her throat, and she had to swallow twice before she could answer. “Probably one of my teammates from when we first found this place.”
“You helped find this place?” Incredulity laced Ben’s tone.
“We were supposed to be expanding the mine, but one of the men broke through to here. We thought we could escape this way, and we lost half our team.” She fell quiet, hating the taste of death in the air. “I’m pretty sure this was a nest before we arrived, because there was more than one dragon spider at that time.”
“Whales, that’s terrifying.” Geist muttered. “You all were lucky.”
“Yeah.” Raine swiped at the tears dampening her face. Her, Simon, and Jeff. One who betrayed and used her, and the other who was now blood-bonded. Right. Lucky.
“Hey, Geist,” Ben’s voice echoed lightly in the tunnel, despite his low pitch. “Can you smell or see anything in here?”
Geist hacked a cough. “No, sorry. It reeks too much for me to be able to smell anything besides dragon spider. And it’s too dark for me to make anything out. I actually need a hint of light for that to work.”
“It was worth a shot,” Ben sighed.
Her arm burned from holding the sword extended. After all that she’d asked of her body earlier for the pit fight, she wanted nothing more than to lie down in a corner and sleep.
Something sticky touched her forehead, and she jerked back, the tacky substance following. She flailed her sword, and it jerked with the give of something light but substantial. Almost like finger-thick silk. Strands stuck to her skin, inhibiting her ability to move freely, holding her captive.
Fear sliced through her. “Stay back!”
“Raine?” Alarm rang through Ben’s voice.
Chittering filled the tunnel, and Raine’s fear exploded into full terror. “Get back! Get back!” She swung her sword desperately in the dark, trying to find the web that she struggled to escape. She sliced over her head, her sword grazing the tunnel wall as she aimed for wherever the web was by her face. The tension on the strands eased, and she stumbled back as something clicked audibly in the pitch-black. She flung her free hand up to cover her eyes as the web burst into flame, the sudden heat washing over her face and lightly singeing her skin.
She peeked out from behind her fingers to see the spider dragon of her nightmares. Instead of mandibles, giant pincers clacked at her face, and s
he stabbed at the creature.
It gave off a sound like a scream and it flailed, teeth bared and gnashing at her.
Ben shrieked something in a far-higher pitch than she would’ve thought possible, and Geist swore loudly, his oaths echoing in the tunnel. She absently hoped that they were paying attention and not about to swing their weapons into her because of where she stood between them and the spider.
Black ooze leaked from the dragon spider, and its pincers waved at her in the light of the burning web. She swung, and her sword deflected off the scales on the spider’s back. She added her own choice words to Geist’s steady stream of colorful profanity.
Dragon spider. She couldn’t forget that the reason it was called that was for its natural armor. She had to either get the legs, scare it off, or somehow get its belly. There was no other way to dispatch such a monstrous creature.
Its pincers jabbed at her face, and she parried, sweeping them both to the side. She stabbed at the belly in the dying light, and it backed away with another squeal.
The light from the web flickered out, plunging them all back into the black of the tunnel.
How could any of them find it in the dark? How could they even try to hit it without hitting each other?
Where was the Void-cursed thing now?
Raine’s heart beat an uneven pattern of skin-crawling fear as she held still, trying to listen for the telltale scrabble of feet on the walls or rocky ground. Ben and Geist fell silent behind her, likely doing the same.
“Don’t panic; it’s me,” Ben whispered at the same time as his hand touched her shoulder. His warmth seeped into her as he stood so close to her. The air moved as Ben did something, and she could suddenly hear Geist nearby too. Ben’s breath tickled her cheek. “If it attacks, we’ll have a lock on each other’s positions to try and reduce friendly fire.”
She’d never heard of friendly fire, but his intent was clear enough. She nodded, knowing he’d likely feel her movement with his hand on her shoulder. Why hadn’t it attacked yet? A shiver worked down her spine, and she tried to pull strength from Ben’s touch. She wasn’t in here alone. And they could fight this together. Right?
“Move with me.” She shuffled forward a few steps, waving her sword in front of her again, braced for when the arachnid would knock her sword from her hand. Where was it?
“Had I seen correctly?” Ben’s voice sounded slightly strangled behind her. “Did it have teeth?”
“Fangs,” Raine corrected. “And yes. It uses fire to flash-cook its meal, then rips pieces with its pincers to eat it,” she replied distantly, trying desperately to listen for signs of life in front of her. Ben’s grip tightened on her shoulder, and a dim flicker of amusement rippled through her. “Don’t like spiders?”
Ben words sounded breathy and his fingers twitched. “I prefer the type I can squish with my shoe.”
She smiled grimly. “Agreed. Come on.”
They walked what felt like hours through the darkness, constantly on alert, waiting on edge for the spider dragon to jump out at them and attack. They broke through two webs, each time punctuated with numbing fear, expecting it to come flying out of wherever it was hiding, yet it didn’t show itself.
“It’s following behind us,” Geist stated. He paused, a note of annoyance in his voice. “I can’t tell how far away it is. The acoustics of the tunnel are throwing me off.”
“It’s enough to know that it’s still alive and in here,” Ben replied.
Raine silently agreed. Were there more dragon spiders? When would the tunnel ever end? Ben’s hand hadn’t left her shoulder, yet even with that quiet source of comfort, she still felt the ghostly taunt of the spider dragon’s pincers on her back. It would likely come out of nowhere, and she could be ready for only so long. As it was, her energy was flagging, the constant adrenaline running low, her senses dulling.
They had to find the end. Soon.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Ben
Ben gripped Raine’s shoulder, thankful that she hadn’t shrugged off his hand. He didn’t know what she thought of the closeness, and he wasn’t about to ask. He just needed to know that she was safe, that Geist was behind them, and he really, really, wanted to know where the dragon spider was.
Fresh cool air swirled around them, and he dared to hope that they were almost out. There were few things that could make him lose his cool, but apparently fire-wielding spiders the size of a small pony were enough to do him in. Why did such a thing exist? The fact that it looked like it had claws didn’t help any. Nor did the fangs.
He was going to die of a heart attack before they even got out of the Hollows.
His breathing sounded ragged to his own ears. It was hard enough to keep the high-pitched tone of stress that tightened his throat from his voice. Raine didn’t need to know how much he hated spiders. Her muscles tensed and bunched under his hand as she walked in front of him, and he hated himself for letting her take point. But she’d been right about knowing her way around tunnels in general better than him or Geist, and he couldn’t help feeling like it was important to her, letting her have such a role right now.
He trusted her. And if this helped her to know that, then so be it.
He gripped the hilt of his steam pistol, wishing for light of any kind. A crystal, a candle, anything.
He was as good as unarmed right now.
Raine’s steady steps seemed to ease up, almost staggering as she walked. He pressed his lips together, concern tearing through his quiet fear. When had she last slept? Really slept? He didn’t know how long she’d been up before her pit fight, but that had to have drained her, plus all this now?
“Wait.” She suddenly leaned out of his reach, and he had to resist grabbing for her, desperate to know she was still there. His fingers brushed against her again, and she leaned into his touch. “Geist, I think I see something,” she whispered.
Geist settled his hand on Ben’s shoulder and eased past him. Geist sucked in a sharp breath. “Yes, that’s moonlight!”
Energized, they hurried forward as quickly as possible in the near darkness, Geist’s movements becoming more sure and steady as they got closer tothe opening that Ben could faintly see. There wasn’t much light coming in from the jagged opening to the natural tunnel except the faint glimmer of the autumn moon. Ben’s pulse quickened, and he joined Raine in an unsteady jog toward the entrance.
Geist jerked on Ben’s shoulder at the same time as he reached out and grabbed Raine. “Wait!”
Belatedly, Ben realized what he’d thought was their own noise was actually the clicking of the spider behind them, and his skin crawled, threatening to flee him entirely. Geist spun around. A click, and then the hole in front of them went up in flames. Raine screamed and backpedaled into Ben. He braced her with one hand and turned to face the dragon spider hanging from the ceiling. Dread pooled in his gut.
Geist slashed at the spider’s back, his sword bouncing off the hardened scales. It chittered at him and dropped on the ground, pincer claws clacking ominously. Geist swung again, and the spider dodged his nervous attack and skittered back up the wall, darting toward their heads. Ben yanked on his leather gloves and pulled out his steam pistol.
Four large, glossy black eyes glinted in the light of the fiery web, and Ben had to stiffen his legs to resist stepping back and into Raine. How did these things die if their backs were armored?
Geist’s head snapped to the side, and he swore again. “Raine, you mentioned you thought it was a nest?”
Raine shrieked, her voice echoing down the tunnel. “There are more!”
Ben turned toward the burning web, and his heart stopped for a long moment. Raine stabbed out at a smaller, juvenile-sized spider as big as a large dog. It clacked and waved its legs at Raine and Ben pushed himself back into the wall, giving her what space he could afford.
What was the weak spot? Ben gripped his steam pistol, hands shaking in the face of his worst nightmare.
Something mov
ed by Ben’s leg, and he instinctively kicked at the same time that sharp pain registered on his calf. A smaller dragon-spider flew against the wall from his strike. It waved its legs at Ben, clacking.
Every nerve ending in his leg screamed out, and his pants leg stuck to the injury.
A strangled yell burst out of Geist. Blood that shone black in the moonlight streamed from Geist’s face, and he stumbled, swearing.
Ben loaded his steam pistol blindly, trying to decide what to aim for first. The eyes, maybe? Surely those weren’t somehow armored, too. He glanced to where his smaller nemesis had been, and swore when he saw the empty wall.
Where did it go?
His leg held his weight, but it ached with every pump of blood. He wouldn’t be able to move like he needed for this.
Geist slashed at one of the spider’s legs, severing it. The hairy black appendage fell with a muffled thump next to Ben, and he narrowed his eyes up at the spider. So legs counted as a weakness, did they? Then the eyes had to be a guaranteed target, being theoretically softer than the legs.
He waited for it to stop moving for just a moment, watching the moonlight glint off the glossy eyes. It held still for a brief second, and Ben shot one of the black orbs. It exploded in a burst of gore and ooze, and the spider unleashed a horrible shriek that sent shivers down Ben’s spine. It waved its pincers in agony, and Geist hacked at those with a guttural yell, one eye shut.
Ben spun on his heel and nearly slipped as dirt under him continued moving even when he’d wanted to stop. He braced his hand on the wall.
It was clear that Raine was too tired for this battle. Shreds of shirt fluttered as she moved, and in the fading light of the burning web, he could see the glisten of her blood on the edges of her clothing. One of the spiders lacked a leg, and hung back, but the other still snapped its claws at her as she swayed, swinging her sword without the same gusto as she had previously.