Identity Revealed: The Tue-Rah Chronicles

by Butler, J. M.

  Hook-fanged spiders crawled along the floor and walls. Each one was at least the size of a wolf, if not larger. Amelia's body went rigid, screaming at her to run. The cat crouched in the middle of the floor, hissing and snarling at the spiders.

  "Those fear imprints that the Neyeb used had a number of unintended side effects, as I mentioned," Naatos said. He started back toward her, his pace deliberate. "Did you know that a Neyeb man saw a hook-fanged spider once after this imprinting, and he suffered heart failure? After all the gall you've shown though, I knew you wouldn't be that weak." He held up his finger, smiling slightly. "Of course, there was one particularly bad side effect. See…hook fanged spiders aren't the same as other spiders. They like to terrify their prey. They put the fear in their prey because fear makes the meat sweeter to their taste." He nodded toward the pit.

  The puma recovered itself, but the spiders had not attacked. They circled it, tasting the air with their thick purple tongues as they weaved back and forth.

  "Delorme, spiders," Naatos said. "Attack."

  The largest spider jumped on the cat. The puma slashed with its claws. But just as the puma did, another spider attacked from the side. The two didn't take it down right away, even though they could have. Instead, they tormented it. They alternated attacking and falling back, stabbing at it with their long legs, nipping with their hooked mouths.

  Amelia clasped her manacled hands over her mouth. The puma's yowls and shrieks of pain filled her ears.

  "Hook-fanged spiders love their play," Naatos said. "They will do this for another hour or five. Perhaps longer. Who knows? But I do not have time for that." He shouted another command at the spiders.

  The spiders at once changed tactics, taking the cat down with thick strands. Instead of engulfing it, they strapped it down with thick wire webbing, leaving large gaps, biting and stinging as they went.

  "Everything they do is intended to increase the fear. They'll torment it for a long while after this. As you can see, they keep those webs loose enough so that the creature will continue to fight, struggling to get away. And those webs aren't sticky. They do sting if they make contact with your flesh. Even so…nothing escapes without help. A creature might manage to avoid some of the bites or stings. But without food or water, it's only a matter of time before the victim is exhausted, lying there, heart racing, thoroughly terrified and completely spent. And that is when the spiders feast."

  Amelia couldn't take her eyes off the puma. The prayers in her mind now circled through, desperate and terrified.

  Naatos tried to grab her arm, but Amelia pulled back in time.

  "It wouldn't take long on you, would it?" The faint light made Naatos's eyes gleam. "You're so terrified already you might make it an hour before they strapped you down. Maybe two."

  Amelia fought to stop the shaking. The ingress at the top of the staircase looked to be the only entrance or exit. She knew what was going to happen. Unless there was an incredible miracle in the next few minutes, he was going to push her in there. Her heart thundered within her chest, each beat painful. Maybe she should tell him. "What's your point?" she demanded.

  "I'm not entirely without mercy. You are still a Neyeb. You have annoyed me. You have frustrated me. You have even angered me. But, despite it all, you are a Neyeb, and I am not against such spirit as you have. Not when it is turned toward my purposes." He stared at her, unblinking. "If you're going to live though, you will do what I say. And the first thing you will do is tell me where I can find Inale."

  Amelia's resolve wavered. The poor creature's yowls and shrieks punctuated her mind. She could almost feel their spines and stingers puncturing her. Though her voice shook, she forced herself to speak. "You will use Inale to restore the Tue-Rah and then conquer it and all the worlds." This wasn't new information, but she had to say it out loud to remind herself. "You will gain certain mindreading abilities for yourself, and you will take over everything. In finding her, you will become more powerful than before."

  "More or less. It will be bigger than that eventually."

  Amelia drew in a shuddering breath. It would be so easy right now to just tell him that she was Inale. But if she did…that would mean he had broken her. Elonumato wouldn't let her die. She was necessary for the Tue-Rah's restoration. He would protect her. If she gave in to Naatos now, he would always win over her. Yet when she closed her eyes, all she saw were those horrible spiders.

  "It'd be such a shame for you to die, Amelia," Naatos said. He telescoped his spear back in and then hung it back at his belt. "Particularly when you're just falling in love."

  "Shon and I—" Amelia stopped herself, but it was too late.

  "Shon," Naatos echoed. His manner had changed, becoming less aggressive and yet more confident. "He was one of those fine Ayamin who interrupted us on Valne's Peak, wasn't he? You called out his name. Good. I have only shown you such leniency in our encounters because you are a Neyeb. I don't need you, Amelia. You are irrelevant. But I will let you have a life with this Shon, and with mine and my brothers' blessing."

  "How long would it take for the spiders to kill me?" Amelia asked. Shon and Matthu were still out there. But could they get to her in time?

  "Eight hours of excruciating pain, at a minimum, even if they strap you down immediately." Naatos's eyes sliced through her as if he was a mindreader. "There's nothing for you to gain in dying. And you and Inale are the last of your kind."

  Amelia swallowed, hating herself for her doubt.

  Naatos seized her by the arms and swung her out over the pit. "This is your last chance."

  "No!" Amelia cried. She tried to grab at his hands, but the manacles kept her from getting a grip.

  "If you do not agree, I will drop you into this pit and leave you here to be eaten alive," Naatos said.

  The cold air struck Amelia on the back of the head. She'd only barely managed to keep the tips of her boots on the floor's lip. Down below her, the spiders crawled. She heard their legs scratching and scraping on the stone. She sucked in a deep breath, forcing the words out before she changed her mind. "Go to hell."

  Naatos released her.

  Amelia screamed. Her voice broke when she hit the soft ground. As soon as she sat up, the large spiders circled. Their multi-layered milky eyes glistened in the dim light. They chattered and hissed, their fangs clacking together. The puma continued to yowl and snarl from under the webs.

  Eight hours.

  "Wait." Amelia stood.

  Naatos had already reached the staircase. He cast her a disparaging look. "You repent now?"

  "No. I just have one last request. Announce that the female prisoner has been fed to the spiders."

  "Enjoy the spiders, Amelia," Naatos said, climbing the staircase. "I'm sure they'll enjoy you."

  25

  A Matter of Pronunciation

  Naatos strode into the common room where his brothers waited. The kolagro sat in the middle of the second table.

  WroOth was stretched out on one of the dark overstuffed couches, his hand over his eyes as he fumbled with the puzzle box. AaQar sat at the end of the coarse hewn table, scribbling something out on pressed paper. He had Amelia's satchel on the table in front of him, the tablet turned on and resting on its side. The bloodied bandage from her arm was next to it. "She didn't have anything useful to say, did she?"

  "No, and she couldn't be reasoned with." Naatos poured himself a glass of wine. The liquid sloshed out onto the wood.

  "What a waste," WroOth said. The tines of the puzzle box clacked together with an off-note rhythm. "It's a shame you had to kill her. There was something about her I liked."

  "It's because she reminds you of you." Naatos drained the wine glass.

  "Yes." WroOth smiled. "I am better at lying though. And better at keeping people from realizing I'm lying."

  "That would be the point of lying," Naatos said.

  "More passages have been uncovered," AaQar said from the table. "Inale still has yet to be found. I know you w
on't like this, but you should retrieve Amelia or, at the very least order, the spiders not to kill her. I would like to speak with her again, especially after the spiders have softened her."

  "No. Inale will be found. I've had enough with this Amelia. She will be dead none too soon for my liking."

  "I realize how much she has annoyed you, but there are many things that do not yet make sense." AaQar held up the tablet. "This is from Eiram, not Ecekom. But it doesn't match the other items we've found. Additionally, these dates are much later than on our more recent visits. This bandage, likewise, is not from the time we visited. It is lighter and thinner with more layers and better function, but very similar to what we saw when we were there the last time."

  "What is the gap between the years?" Naatos asked, frowning.

  "Fifty years, then thirty-five, then six from our last visit. Amelia deleted her files off this. And that troubles me. Why? If she is simply a Neyeb and her life is as mundane as it appeared, why delete it? And why did the Tue-Rah bring her here?"

  "Obviously to protect Inale," WroOth said.

  "Perhaps." AaQar did not appear convinced, his brow furrowed. "But this does not feel right. We have encountered other travelers before. Pulled from numerous periods and places. But ever since I've seen that woman, I have felt there is something quite important we have missed." He turned his gaze to Naatos. "You've moved too quickly, brother. We need to know her interactions with the Tue-Rah precisely as well as how long she has been here, whether she grew up among Awdawms from Eiram or Reltux, when it was she went to Eiram, and so forth. We cannot continue on the assumptions we have."

  "Yes, we can," Naatos said, his voice becoming sterner. The greater risk was that Amelia would tell Inale what he had done. Casting a fellow Neyeb into a pit of spiders to be eaten alive would hardly endear him to her. "Inale is the only Neyeb who matters, and we will find her. Amelia had her chance to cooperate. More than once, in truth. She refused. Now she’s paying the price. The Tue-Rah has done this before for less reason. It's becoming wild and unmanaged as of late. The calculations about the passage of time in the other worlds is fascinating but not essential."

  "Besides, you have bigger problems." WroOth sat up. "Your crudons have lost their edge."

  "They are crudons. How do they lose their edge?" Naatos poured another glass, giving his brother an amused smile. "Did their teeth fall out or did their claws go blunt?"

  "No. I commanded them to take her legs, and they did not."

  "Perhaps you didn't command them properly. You do rush your words sometimes." Naatos cut off two slices of bread from the loaf and fashioned a sandwich.

  "I told them to take her legs. What else could they have taken that to mean?" WroOth demanded. He stood beside Naatos and made his own sandwich. "What else could it have been?"

  "Take her eggs. Her negs. Her segs."

  "I also told them to bite her. Shouldn't that be the default anyway? If they don't understand a command, they bite?"

  "There is nothing wrong with the crudons." Naatos took a bite of his sandwich. "You just weren't clear enough."

  "She was with Inale and has likely held her," AaQar said, looking up from his papers. He set the quill aside. "They aren't to attack you, me, WroOth, or Inale. Perhaps that contact was enough to create a scent marker. I am curious though…how did you manage that, Naatos?"

  The door opened, and two attendants entered, bearing trays of food to replenish the table.

  WroOth laughed, sitting on the table. "The same way Naatos manages everything. He sits them down and says, 'Listen to me, crudon. Either you do what I want or I will kill you. It's not a question of whether you die. It's how you'll die. Quickly or slowly. Painfully or more painfully. So, if you find a precocious Neyeb child, you will not eat her, or I will eat you.'" He mimicked Naatos's voice, grinning at him. "That's the way it works, isn't it?"

  Naatos took another bite of his sandwich. "Has your mimicking me ever put me in a better mood, WroOth?"

  "I wasn't trying to put you in a better mood." WroOth patted his brother's shoulder. "This is all for me. Just like your sandwich."

  Naatos stepped away from WroOth, avoiding his half-hearted attempt at grabbing his sandwich. "How ever will you manage a third of creation?"

  "Better than you could ever dream. Provided there are sandwiches and games." WroOth picked up another piece of bread and used it as a pointer. "But your crudons are ineffective. They should have had her arms off before she even got her hands on that kolagro, particularly with it not being properly secured to its stand."

  "If you had secured it properly, she couldn't have taken it," Naatos said. "Once again, this goes back to your carelessness and immaturity."

  "You were the last one to use it. I was just going in to make my observations when I found Amelia there," WroOth said. "Apparently you didn't fasten it. Also, nothing I have yet done is immature." WroOth threw a piece of bread at Naatos's face. "That was immature."

  "On that we agree." Naatos resisted the urge to throw it back. "And I did fasten it. I would not have left the door unlocked for you if I had not fastened it."

  "There's no other way she could have gotten it off unless she had Inale with her, and there is no way she had both Inale and the kolagro with her. Therefore, you were the one who was careless," WroOth said.

  AaQar frowned. He drummed his fingers on the table. "When it comes to matters of the Tue-Rah, that would be a first. How exactly did you convince the crudons not to harm Inale? Was it more than basic scent commands?"

  "No." The more Naatos thought about it, the more it troubled him. It made little sense. "It is possible—" One of the attendants bumped into him. The other was adjusting items on the sideboard. "Do you need something?" he demanded.

  "My apologies," the offending attendant said, keeping his head down. "Do you require anything else, Lord Para?"

  "No." Naatos resumed his contemplation. AaQar was right. Something was wrong with this.

  "There are too many unanswered questions," AaQar said. "We need to retrieve the Neyeb."

  "If the guards have not found Inale by nightfall, then we will bring her back," Naatos said. "Until then the chamber remains locked."

  "If she survives that long," AaQar said. "But if one of the females decides to lay eggs in her, then the only thing we will get out of that woman is more spiders."

  The attendant at the sideboard knocked the wine carafe over. He picked it up again, sopping up the wine as fast as he could. Some spilled onto WroOth. He frowned. "Who are you?" WroOth demanded.

  The taller attendant stepped between WroOth and the other before WroOth could move closer. "Forgive us, Lord…" The man hesitated. "Lord Ruth."

  "What?" WroOth grabbed the hood and snapped it back. "Oh. It's one of you. Why can you people never remember how to pronounce my name? It's not that difficult."

  Naatos seized the other by the shoulder and pulled back his hood. "And another one."

  "That one I know," WroOth said, pointing to Matthu. "He was with her earlier. That one as well later."

  AaQar stood slowly, pushing back from the table. "And who are they?"

  "That one is the Ignorant Guard. Apparently he taught this one how to speak."

  "We are the sons of Linufe," the taller of the two said. He shoved WroOth back, but couldn't quite shake his grip. "I am Shon. That is my brother, Matthu." He ripped a charm from the inside of his outer garment, holding it up. Matthu did the same. "We command that you let us go free and that you release Amelia."

  Naatos snatched the leather strap and charm from Matthu's hand. A chill cut through him. He released Matthu and then grabbed the other from Shon. Shon continued to speak, the horror growing within him as he felt the energy coming from the stone now that he physically touched it. He knew these symbols, he knew the energy. "What are you doing with this?"

  "You have to do what we say." Matthu unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Naatos. "Amelia said that you told her when she was a little girl that Vawt
rians have to listen to you if you have it, and we have it." He shook his head, blinking as if something buzzed in his head. "Or we did."

  "We aren't leaving without Amelia," Shon said, his expression grim.

  WroOth released Shon, perplexed. "We weren't even conscious when Amelia was a child."

  AaQar turned his gaze toward Naatos. "One coincidence too many, I think…"

  WroOth's eyes widened. "Oh, son of a marskelpt."

  Naatos's head spun. It was possible that Amelia had taken this necklace from Inale. And it was possible Inale had told Amelia that so long as she had the necklace, no Vawtrian would harm her. But why had the Ayamin mentioned only Amelia and not Inale…

  The Tue-Rah was capable of such treachery, but he hadn't considered it. Time wasn't supposed to freeze like that. Not with Amelia's perpetual insistence that she had Inale tucked somewhere else. Why hadn't she admitted it? Naatos clenched the necklace in his hand. "There is no god of mercy," he muttered.

  Matthu lunged at him, and Shon attacked WroOth. But the great battle the two Ayamin had in mind was not to be. Naatos wasn't even in the mood to toy with them. He knocked Matthu unconscious with a simple blow. WroOth swiftly incapacitated Shon.

  "How much time is left?" AaQar demanded, his voice stern.

  "Prepare the medicines, AaQar." Naatos thrust the Neyeb necklace back into his pocket and headed toward the door. "WroOth, get those two in cells."

  "This could not have gone more badly if we tried," AaQar muttered, clearing the table.

  Naatos slammed the door open and left. He couldn't agree more.

  26

  Wounded

  Adrenaline and terror pounded through Amelia. The six spiders surrounded her, one crawling down the wall, one in front of her, two to the side, two creeping toward her on the other side. The dim torchlight revealed nothing on the floor except dirt.