by Alicia Fabel
I could, you know. He flexed to let Vera know just how powerless she’d be against him. But I won’t. I do not want to be sent back as spider food in my next life. In a rush, he flowed away, leaving Vera feeling half-hollow. The body with saggy eyes blinked before climbing to its feet. “I was enjoying a moment of not wearing a dead corpse. It grows heavy after a while.”
“Grandfather, you should rest,” said one of the Vadik’s son’s.
“Yes, I think I will.” He turned to Vera before leaving. “Did you get anything from that woman to help you?”
“Just by process of elimination. Suzie was not an oracle, but possibly a daayan.” And someone once unbound an unnatural.
“What else could this Suzie woman do?” he asked.
“She could see all futures. And someone told me that she put thoughts into their mind—something they couldn’t ignore.”
“The wizards of Nibiru gather their magic from words and thoughts. Have you
asked them?”
“No. But it’s a place to go next, I guess. Plus, I just met a wizard recently.”
When Vera showed up in one piece, Kale could’ve sagged to the ground with relief. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Had a little trouble with a soul.”
“Did they hurt you?” he asked. “What aren’t you telling me?” He eyed the deception lines creeping up her arms.
“It was Talia,” Vera admitted.
Kale froze. “Are you okay?”
“She tried to make me into a flesh onesie, but that didn’t work out for her. Don’t worry, she’s on her way back to Dubnos, with a double-tiger escort.”
“Two tigers?” Kale looked at the solemn assembly behind Vera.
“My son did not survive,” confirmed Vadik’s father. “My grandsons will lead Tiger’s Nest together.”
“I am sorry that my past came here and brought your family grief,” said Kale.
“As am I, but I understand even more how important your mission is. If Suzie and Talia are on the same side, our world is in trouble. And as much as I regret the actions and choices of my ancestors, I do not wish to see my great-grandchildren punished for them.” He spotted young Obasi above and winked. “So find Suzie’s accomplices, and when you do, you’ll have the whole of Tiger’s Nest to help you stop her.”
“Thank you.”
“I wish we could be more hospitable, but I have sent for your guides to take you back to the world-gate. Our people need to mourn and prepare.” He did not wait for a reply. He simply turned and climbed back toward his family.
Before the dwarves showed up, Kale leaned close and whispered, “Do not call them Sasquatch unless you want them to feed us to a tree.”
“That’s a thing?”
“Man-eating trees? Yes.”
“Good to know.” A crease appeared between her brows. “I need to tell you something.” She gestured with a finger for him to come closer.
He leaned in.
Vera grabbed a fist of his shirt and kissed him on the lips. Shocked, he didn’t move away.
She pulled back. “Thank you for being here.”
“That’s what you needed to tell me?”
“Nah, I just wanted to kiss you.” To make her point, she did it again.
Kale savored it and then stood upright, brushing a lock of glowing hair behind her ear.
“Oh, and Talia is a bitch, but she did say something that got me thinking. She said unnaturals couldn’t be unmade because it took what made them to unmake them. Which would make them unnatural again.”
“I told you I couldn’t be unmade.” Although I still managed to hope like a moron.
“And I told you that I’m going to find a way,” she said stubbornly. “Don’t you get it? This means it’s possible.”
“Think about it, Vera. A sacrifice of innocent life is what bound the unnatural magic.”
“And now we just have to get the magic out of you,” she said as if it were simple.
“And then kill an innocent to keep it out?”
Vera scowled. “Obviously not. That would rebind the magic to you, as Talia said. But we’re closer to a solution than we were this morning.”
Kale disagreed. What it meant was there was no solution to be found. And while she tried to figure out the impossible, Kale was going to make sure he had a contingency plan in place. If he ever got to the point where Vera couldn’t call him back, he needed someone who could take him out. Because Marianna was right—Vera would never let him go any other way.
Movement in the trees caught his attention. He wondered how long the dwarves had been watching before making their presence known. The one from earlier slunk through the brush. He looked Vera up and down before holding out a hand for payment. Kale opened his pouch and offered twice the agreed upon amount for the return trip. With a nod, the creature squirreled the coins away in his tunic. Then turned on his heel. Kale hoped that meant they wouldn’t cause trouble for him and the girl from Earth.
13
How much farther is it? Vera needed a bathroom. Desperately.
“It can’t be much farther,” Kale replied.
Vera jerked at the lie.
Kale shook his head when she opened her mouth to berate him, and she snapped it closed. “We can trust the dwarves to get us there,” he lied again. “They know this jungle better than anyone.”
Well, that part was the truth. If Vera was piecing it all together correctly, she figured that meant the dwarves knew exactly where they were taking them. It just wasn’t to the world-gate. Crap on a Bigfoot cracker. Vera half expected Ferrox to give her a hard time the second the thought crossed her mind. He’d taken it upon himself to listen in on her thoughts while Kale was gone, making sure to comment on the absurd nonsense things that went through her head. That’s when she’d learned to shield her mind. However, after Talia, her shields were frayed. Ferrox didn’t say a word, though. Which meant he really had walled himself off from the world.
“Are you getting tired?” Kale asked her.
Of course I’m getting tired. She’d already made that clear. But she didn’t say anything because she wasn’t sure where he was going with that line of questioning.
“Want to ride?”
Oh. That’s where. A ride was something he only offered under dire circumstances. Like having to walk through an entire night, or injury, or post-battle shock. The fact that he was offering meant they were in a desperate situation. She didn’t dare argue. If they needed to run, it would be the best option. She turned toward him when the trill of a bird cut through the air.
“Don’t move, Vera,” Kale warned.
She halted.
“Turn around and keep moving,” he instructed.
“Why?” Vera was scared to move a muscle.
“That was not a bird call. It was a dwarf asking permission to shoot.”
“Which means we have to follow them to whatever trap they have laid ahead,” she concluded.
“Yes.”
Since it was obvious that she and Kale knew something was up, the dwarves stopped bothering to hide. There were dozens of them. Each brandished an ax or aimed a crossbow at her. The dwarf that had been leading them gave a vicious smile and beckoned them on. Like they had a flipping choice.
“Kale?”
“I’m working on it.”
“On what?” she asked.
But Kale didn’t explain. A dwarf with an arrow pointed at her head motioned with a nod for her to keep walking, so she did. Less than two minutes later, they entered a small clearing with a giant tree growing in the center. Some type of mushroom grew along the sides of the mottled red bark. Their guide walked up and ran a hand along a low branch. The tree shook. Then the trunk split. Long limbs curved down toward the ground, revealing a mouth facing the sky—rows of shark-like teeth and all.
Holy heck. It’s a man-eating tree.
The trill from before pierced the air. The dwarves closed in, corralling the two of them toward the t
ree.
Pretend to obey, Ferrox said.
Ferrox? Is Kale gone?
I’m here, Kale said. Just woke Ferrox for the party.
Why? she asked.
Thanks, Ferrox said dryly.
I didn’t mean it like that, she clarified. I’m glad you’re awake, but how does that help us?
We fight better as one.
Kale and Ferrox turned to face their attackers. Only, the fight never got started because a giant hand descended from the sky and knocked the dwarves aside with a single swipe. A couple of arrows they’d released at Kale hung from the hand like thorns. The giant cried out, and the dwarves turned tail and scrambled into the trees. Even the man-eating tree sealed closed. Vera thought it would sink into the ground to disappear if it could. That cannot be good.
You don’t say, Ferrox retorted.
I wasn’t talking to you.
The giant grabbed Kale and Ferrox by the legs, like a trapper holding a rabbit. Kale struggled, and the giant bashed him into a tree. Vera’s heart leaped into her throat when they hung limply from the dark hand. She made the mistake of looking up and was blinded. Instead of eyes, it had two suns shining from a face that she couldn’t make out. While she blinked, it grabbed her with its empty hand. The monstrosity held tightly enough that she could not escape, but not so tight that she couldn’t breathe. And then it began carrying them to who-knows-where. Each step jarred Vera.
She wasn’t sure how far he walked. Considering how long his legs were, there was no way to know. When they finally stopped, he tossed her into a spider web. Not a delicate web. The white cords were as thick as her wrist. Kale’s head rolled to the side until his hair caught on the sticky coating that held him in place. No, no, no. This is not happening.
“Kale?” she whisper-yelled. “Kale, wake up.”
He didn’t react. She knew if she couldn’t get him awake, they would end up the next husk corpses stumbling through the jungle toward Tiger’s Nest.
“Kale. Ferrox.” The web vibrated beneath her. Guys! Come on. You have to wake up!
What happened? asked a groggy Ferrox.
We are going to die, she informed him.
Die?
Vera screamed, eyes trained on a spider with the face of a woman approaching from the side. She was the size of a small car.
Kale’s eyes flew open.
“Is that the Guardian in my web?” asked a lilting voice.
“Who are you?” Kale blinked to clear his vision.
That’s a spider queen, Ferrox informed them. Rhena, to be exact. Bet she won’t like that you didn’t recognize her.
Lovely, Kale grumbled.
Why does neither of you seem overly concerned about Miss Spider?
“You do not recognize me?” The spider crouched, watching.
“Apologies, Highness,” said Kale. “My head is a little scrambled.”
“Yousef was worried you wouldn’t recognize him. Again. He decided he was only safe if you were unconscious.”
You know her? And her giant?
Yousef should wear bells around his ankles, Ferrox pronounce. If we could tell him apart from the others, then we could avoid little mishaps.
Rhena stalked closer, but neither Kale nor Ferrox noticed. They were too busy replaying the mishap where Yousef lost a mouth-size chunk of flesh while Ferrox escaped a city made out of spider webs.
Guys! Vera called with exasperation.
What? asked Ferrox, turning his attention to her. Oh, don’t worry. She probably won’t drink us for dinner.
Probably?
Well, if she realizes I’m part of Kale, those odds go up considerably. So maybe stop talking to me.
“Vera,” Kale said aloud. “This is Rhena. Second Queen of the White City.”
“Nice to meet you,” Vera said shakily.
“Rhena, my charge, Vera,” Kale introduced.
“Your charge? Really?” Rhena had a beautiful face, despite the second set of eyes near her temples. Her inky hair almost matched her skin. Her lips were deep red. The same shade as the marking on her spider back. While her face was stunning, the rest of her was terrifying. Including the fangs, which were shiny and much too close for comfort. One spindly leg passed inches from Vera’s face. It had a single claw on the tip, which cut through the webbing like a blade. Rhena made quick work of severing the webbing around Vera. Before Vera could brace herself, she fell backward and landed on a hard-packed jungle ground. Rhena was on her before she crawled to her feet.
“You know, I owe the Guardian for what his companion once did,” said Rhena. The hardness in her tone was not reassuring
“To be fair, that was not Ferrox’s fault,” said Kale. “That was your broth—” A piece of webbing landed on Kale’s face. All Vera could see of Kale’s face was one eye and half a nose. At least he wouldn’t suffocate.
“I had a charge once too,” continued Rhena, without giving Kale another look. “A lightning bird. He flew into my web when he just a chick, and I freed him. Raised him. Then that horse came and chased my bird into the wrong web. My brother doesn’t let anything escape his web. Not even my sweet bird. When I tried to steal him back, my brother did this.” Rhena turned. Where there should have been an eighth leg was only a stump. “Do you know how hard it is to weave with only seven legs?”
“No,” admitted Vera. “I can’t imagine.”
“I live out here so my siblings can’t take any more of my legs. I’m too weak to fight them off now.” Rhena sighed. “I only get to eat what falls into my web, and it’s never anything tasty like what I got back home.”
Vera cleared her throat. “Is there anything we can do to make it up to you?”
“The only thing I need is dinner. And I think I would be very happy to see the Guardian lose his charge like I lost mine.”
“I’m actually not his charge,” Vera protested.
“Nice try,” said Rhena
“It’s true,” she said. “He just likes to boss me around.”
“He does like to be in control, doesn’t he?”
“Yeah, it’s a problem.” Vera debated and then decided to go for it. “How long ago did your brother take off your leg?”
“Three hundred years ago.”
“It looks like it just happened.”
“That’s because spider wounds need to be webbed to heal, but my webbing will not adhere to my own body. It is a way to assure that our kind does not kill each other off. We need each other. Except my brother forbade anyone from helping me—he said it was for trying to steal from his web.”
“That’s a little excessive for trying to rescue your pet.”
“He made an example of me. We can’t afford people to believe they can take from us.”
“I think I can help you,” said Vera.
“By filling my stomach,” finished Rhena.
“I was thinking I could heal your leg.”
Rhena stilled. “If you could do that, I would owe you a great debt.”
“How about you promise not to eat Kale or me?”
“If you can do what you say, I give you my word.”
Now to see if I can. “I need your help with a little something first.”
“If you plan to trick me, I do not recommend it,” warned Rhena. She glanced at Yousef, who sat against a tree with his knees raised to his chest and his eyes closed. Vera assumed he was not actually asleep.
“I won’t. I just….” Vera took a steadying breath, not believing she was about to ask this. “Can I touch you?”
Rhena frowned.
“I promise I will not do anything to hurt you.”
“I’m not worried about that. It would take something like my siblings or a dragon to kill me. It’s just that no one has ever asked to touch me before.”
Yousef shifted. Vera closed her eyes when he opened his and sent a beam blaring in their direction. Rhena hissed, and the giant closed them again. As big as he was, it was impressive how he managed to blend in with the othe
r outlines of massive dark trees—as long as he kept his eyes closed. There was a gentle trill of notes. They were sad somehow, and Vera was surprised that something so gentle came from the giant.
“You do not count, Yousef,” said the spider. “You are my jailer.”
“Your jailer?”
“Giants don’t guard the White City for us. They guard the rest of this realm against us. Yousef is my jailer. He took pity on me and smuggled me out of the city when my siblings cruelty became too much. He brought me out here. Only he won’t fail in his duty to protect the realm from my appetite, and so he stayed with me to keep me in line.”
“And he brings you dinner.”
“I haven’t eaten in a while,” Rhena admitted. “He was worried.”
“How do your siblings eat if they are trapped in the White City?”
“Those who break the law are sent there,” Rhena said without hesitation. “And when criminals are in short supply, there are always humans.”
Vera made a face.
“I assure you that they taste terrible, in case you were wondering.”
“I wasn’t wondering.” But she was second-guessing her offer to help the spider.
“They guard the gates of hell here,” Kale called out. Somehow, he’d gotten the webbing off his mouth—with only his teeth. “Without the spiders, kishi demons would rise and raze this realm before finding a way to move onto the next. Rhena and her sister are the last ones to oppose using the kishi in a war against Earth. It takes all seven royalty to open the gates.”
“My sister has decided she agrees with the rest,” corrected Rhena. “I am the last holdout. Which is why things became so bad that Yousef had to sneak me away.”
“They don’t know where you are?” asked Kale.
“One day they will find me, but for now Yousef protects me.” Rhena’s legs shifted. “After all this time, I wonder if they aren’t right to destroy that realm. Our forests are nearly hunted out. People are scarce. My brothers and sisters slept an extra year this cycle because of the depleted resources. They are tired of sleeping their lives away, and in the state I am in now, sleep does not come easily for me. If I agreed to help them, they would heal me.”