by Rina Heisel
“That’s why!” said Talia, her eyes flashed with understanding. “That’s why you said I couldn’t stay at Hubbart’s. Tobin wanted me to wait with Hubbart, but you said no. You said my place was with you.”
“Yes.” Hess nodded. “You might not believe it, but I only wanted to keep you safe. And what’s more, I have an assignment. I was—am—to escort you three to find the Arakni lair. What other schemes my mother may hatch in the forest are not my concern.”
Talia gripped her tail again. “You mean, you still plan on helping us?”
“All the way,” Hess answered, then looked to Tobin, waiting for his response.
About a dozen questions and accusations bounced around Tobin’s brain, but one seemed particularly important. “What happens when your mother shows up?”
“Yeah.” Wiley nodded. “If your mom comes along and decides we should be snake chow, will you turn us over?”
Hess flinched. “I can’t believe you’d ask that.”
Talia stared at him, unrelenting. “Why are you still here?”
Hess tilted his head. “When we began our journey, it was because my mother ordered it. But now I’m here because I know you need my help. And I want to give it. I admire what you’re doing, and I want you to succeed. I want to find the pinkling and bring it home.”
Tobin sat back, his left hind leg tapping. Hess left Hubbart to deal with the snakes. Hess didn’t tell them they were being followed. Hess wasn’t acting like a real teammate; but, it’s not exactly like they were at home playing capture-the-berry.
Tobin exhaled sharply. He had one last question for Hess. “Why didn’t your mom just ask the owls to carry the snakes across the gorge?”
“It’s too dangerous for the snakes,” Hess said matter-of-factly. “The risks of puncture wounds from talons, injury upon landing—or dropping—all combined with asking each snake to trust that its owl courier won’t decide to just make a meal of its passenger, no, it’s too much.”
Tobin nodded, letting this last bit of info swirl around in his brain. Was Hess a friend or a swindler?
Honestly, it didn’t matter. Not at this point. Tobin cleared his throat. “We can sort all this ‘who knew what’ out later. In front of us is the Arakni colony. Behind us, an army of predators is coming for the spiders. We need to keep moving, and we need to save our pinkling.”
Wiley scratched his head. “So, when the snakes and owls show up, we just hope no one tries to make a meal out of us?”
“I should think that when the snakes and owls storm the Arakni lair, they’ll be rather busy,” answered Hess.
Sure, Tobin thought. They won’t give much thought to a snake slithering off with three mice and a pinkling riding on its back.
Talia folded her paws across her chest. “But what if they decide they aren’t too busy for a quick bite?”
A menacing look flickered across Hess’s gold eyes. “I’ll encourage them to reconsider.”
Nineteen
TOBIN’S NOSE TWITCHED AS Talia peered outside their hiding place. Her ears pricked high as she sniffed for any signs of trouble. After what seemed like enough time to chew through five walnuts, she finally ducked back in. “Good news: I think most of the spiders must have returned to the lair. I’ve only seen one scuttle past.”
“That is good news,” Wiley said.
“Yeah.” Talia scratched her cheek. “But, here’s the bad news. There is definitely a big brown owl with a cranky face in a pine tree staring at us. Is that Swallfyce?”
“Ugh.” Tobin swiped at the dirt with his paw. “Hess, we don’t have time for this.”
Hess raised his head, his lip curling.
“Let me see what the old crank has to say.” Hess slithered from their shelter.
The owl’s head bobbed to the side as it watched Hess slither into the open. Hess raised his head, calling to the big bird. “Come on down,” he said, adding more quietly, “you cantankerous coot.”
Swallfyce jumped off his perch and swooped down, his wing-flapping landing procedure sending a cloud of dust in the direction of Tobin and his crew.
Hess coughed then shook the dust off his snout. “Hello, Swallfyce. It’s been a while.”
“I’d say.” The owl’s voice was a strange mixture of squawky and gravelly, and he regarded Hess with his giant yellow eyes. “You were no more than an oversize night crawler last I saw you.”
Hess smirked at the comment. “I don’t know about that.”
Swallfyce cocked his large head to the side, his ear feathers nearly touching his shoulder. “So, what are you still doing here, boy?”
“Boy?” Hess straightened back up.
“Shouldn’t you be heading back to meet yer mother? You found the location of the spider lair.” Swallfyce snapped his head back up and glared at Hess. The big owl puffed out his feathers, transforming into quite an imposing figure.
“That wasn’t the deal.” Talia jumped from the shelter and stepped forward; Hess immediately swerved between her and the owl.
“And who are you?” Swallfyce bent forward, almost comically low. Tobin couldn’t help but feel like something was off about this owl.
“I’m Talia, and Queen Hesthpa herself ordered Hess to be our escort, and we still need him.”
“Is that right?” Swallfyce chuckled, then began to pace back and forth, keeping his stare on Talia, his head pivoting with each step.
“I’m accompanying the mice, Swallfyce. I’m sure you, my mother, the whole army—have things well under control.”
“There’s the problem.” The owl pointed his wing feathers directly at Hess. “You, boy. She wants you to turn around and rejoin the snakes. I think it’s rubbing her scales the wrong way not having you on the front line with her. So head on back down this hill a ways and check in. Maybe she’ll even let you rejoin your little posse here.”
Hess snorted. “We both know that won’t happen. She doesn’t need me. These mice, they do. They fulfilled what my mother wanted of them—they found a route for the snakes to cross the gorge. So, I’ll stay and help them.”
Swallfyce’s cheeks puffed up, almost looking like the owl was snickering. “Then allow me to relay your mother’s command.” The owl cleared his throat and recited his memorized message: “Dear Son, if you want to remain one of my Favored Children, you will return and fight this battle by my side. If you abandon me now, know that your status will be stripped from you upon your disgraceful return home.”
When he finished his message, Swallfyce narrowed his eyes, glaring at Hess. “So, favored child, what will you do?”
Hess’s upper lip raised, showing his sharp bone-white teeth. “Leave, Swallfyce. Now.”
Though Hess spoke evenly, Tobin heard a strain in his voice and thought the snake might have actually shaken with anger.
“Fool.” Swallfyce shook his head. “All for what? Dinner?”
Swallfyce lunged, and Hess slid in front of the mice.
He hissed, a low, terrible rumble. “I’ll snap your ancient bones like dead twigs, you old lice bag.”
Swallfyce froze, then began to shake. Then began to laugh. “Ah, you unpredictable serpents.” The owl stretched his wings, preparing to depart. “You know, this is a more entertaining outcome for me anyway. I can’t wait to see the look on your mother’s face.” The owl’s voice dripped with disdain. “Farewell, former favorite.”
Swallfyce leaped into the air, flapping his sizable wings, leaving them in the dust. The four sat in silence for a few moments, the enormity of the conversation weighing on them.
“Hess, I’m sorry,” Wiley finally said. “I believe your mother used you, too, not just us.”
“Me too,” Tobin agreed. “You’re giving up an awful lot to help us.”
“You three are the ones risking everything to be here,” Hess said softly. “Besides, being a Favored Child is not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“I’m sure your mother doesn’t even mean all that,” Talia said, patting Hess
on the side.
Hess drew a deep breath. “I’ll find out soon enough, I suppose. Now, there’s a pinkling who needs us. Immediately, if Swallfyce was right and the snakes are converging just down the hill.”
“Then it’s time to check out the Arakni’s food storage,” said Tobin.
“I can carry you over,” said Hess. “If you’re on my back, I know you’re safe. Tobin, you had a good look at the layout. You can direct me where to go.”
Three pairs of eyes veered in his direction.
This was it. The last push.
Tobin shifted on his paws. Uncomfortable waves of nerves swirled through his insides, ebbing and flowing all at once. If this rescue mission fell apart, Hess could always carry Talia away from this place.
Tobin nodded. “Before we go, let’s agree that if it gets too dangerous out there, we run.” He looked to Hess. “The Arakni are storing all those websacks in a rotted-out tree trunk on the back of the hilltop. If Wiley and I get inside that tree trunk and you and Talia get in trouble, get away. We can all meet up at the ridge near Hubbart’s. Sound good?”
Talia’s face scrunched with despair, the fur on her forehead crinkling. “Why can’t I come along and help inside the log?”
Tobin took steadying breaths, trying to say the right words without thinking too much about their meaning and the place he was going. “Because only mice who are big enough to carry a pinkling out of the log need to risk going inside the log.”
Talia scowled. “I am big enough.”
“Another thought I had,” Hess interrupted. “We may have the element of surprise on our side. We may be the first to ever try taking anything back from the Arakni, so hopefully there are no guards to watch out for.”
Wiley nodded in agreement. “All the more reason to hurry, before the snakes and owls get the spiders on full alert.”
“Right.” Tobin climbed onto Hess’s back, sitting behind the snake’s head. He supposed that’s where Hess’s inner ear was, because of how the snake sometimes tilted his head to listen, and Tobin planned on whispering his directions.
Once all three mice perched aboard, Tobin gave his first direction. “Slide left out of here. The back side of the hill has a steep drop-off. I didn’t see any Arakni activity back there. If we can climb it, we can get ourselves closer.”
Hess cocked his head slightly, and Tobin guessed the concern. “Don’t worry, Hess. It’s not as steep as Hubbart’s gorge.”
Reassured, Hess nodded. “All right, let’s move.”
After a quick check for spiders, owls, snakes—or anything else that could cause a problem—they slithered out.
The reek became as much a foe as the Arakni themselves; it burned their eyes and clogged their throats. The mice buried their noses into the crooks of their elbows, but Tobin saw Hess’s tongue still dutifully flicking, detecting. He couldn’t imagine the odorous assault on the snake’s senses, and it wasn’t until Tobin felt Hess’s back muscles quiver beneath him that he knew it was affecting the serpent. Mercifully, the ridge finally curved around to the far side of the hill, and the breeze lessened the stench of the spiders’ lair.
Tobin blinked in surprise as he glanced around the landscape; looking from below, not above, offered a much different perspective. The back of the hillside was steep, and the reason was clear—a giant boulder rested at the base of the hill. Tobin could see where the dislodged boulder left an open wound near the top of the hillside. Nature tried to patch it, sending running clumps of mud and dustings of debris into the gaping hollow, but it was clear where the boulder had been.
“I can skirt around the indent and make it up.” Hess answered the question Tobin had been thinking.
“Sounds good,” Tobin said, sliding off Hess’s back. “Probably easier if we all climb on our own.”
Talia and Wiley nodded, hopping down.
Tobin ran up beside the boulder and waved for them to follow. Once he felt them fall in line behind him, he crept ahead. He spied a route up that Hess should have no trouble following. He glanced right, inched forward, glanced left, and then froze. Except for his eyes. He couldn’t open them wide enough.
Between the boulder and the hill sat a pile. A horrid, twisted pile of body parts. It took a few heartbeats for Tobin’s brain to place the parts. Arakni parts. Corpses. Some broken, most hollowed out into a husk of the former spider. Crisp exoskeletons, waiting for nature to wear them down to dust.
Knowing he was rattled, Tobin took a step back. Immediately he felt his companions tense, shifting and pressing against the boulder.
He turned to face them. “The dead ones,” Tobin croaked, realizing his throat was totally dry. He tried swallowing what little moisture was in his mouth.
“The what?” Wiley whispered.
Attempting another swallow, Tobin tried again. “There’s a groove, in the ground right in front of the boulder, about two hare-leaps long.” Tobin paused, forcing the shakiness from his voice. “And it is full of dead Arakni. And pieces of dead Arakni.”
“Ah, a purging pit.” Hess spoke as if he’d seen a hundred of these.
Talia looked at Hess, her nose wriggling in disgust. “Purging pit?”
“It’s fairly common among arthropods.” Hess looked between them, like he was waiting for this fun fact to register. “Like den cleaning. But for bugs.”
“Okay.” Wiley nodded, his brows furrowed. “We don’t just chuck our deceased in a pit out back, but I get what you’re saying.”
Tobin shimmied as a chill ran down his spine. “Yuck. So now we all know what to expect, right? Brace yourselves, stay focused on the path.”
With that, Tobin turned and faced the steep hillside. Up and over. Ignore the pit.
He chose three points of cover; a shrub, a pile of ground vines, and finally, a log resting on the hilltop.
He ran. Sprinting up to the shrub, he heard his companions behind him. Tobin paused, briefly, just enough to check their surroundings. All clear. He burst again, darting to the ground vines and plunging between the tangles, feeling the vibrations of his friends joining him. Just as he prepped for their last burst, a scraping, scuttling sound came from above. Tobin flicked his tail. Freeze!
They sat as still as stones. Tobin dared to glance upward, wondering what was happening over the ridge. He didn’t have to wait long.
Like a squirrel might toss an empty nutshell, two smaller worker Arakni pitched the large body of a hunting Arakni over the ledge. Tobin couldn’t help but watch as it soared for a moment, before quite unceremoniously landing in the rotting pile of its brethren. Tobin’s ear twitched: Did Wiley just gag?
Not that it mattered, it’s not as if any of the spiders on this hillside could harm them. Tobin looked at the pile of corpses one last time, and a horribly disgusting idea popped into his head.
He turned back to his crew. “I know how we can sneak into the food log.”
Talia turned her head, eyes peering suspiciously at Tobin. “I’m not sure I’m going to like any ideas inspired by this place.”
“Probably not,” Tobin admitted. Then he looked toward Hess. “You see any worker spiders in that pile? Preferably two that have been there for a while? You know—just the shell? No gooey bits still stuck inside.”
“Ahh.” Comprehension filled Hess’s voice. “Stay here.”
“Oh, Tobin,” said Wiley. “No way. Just, no.” Wiley’s jaw dropped, and he gagged at the thought.
Tobin placed a steadying paw on Wiley’s shoulder. “It’s just a shell, Wiley. If Hess can find a pair of worker exoskeletons for us, we’ll be able to slip right into that food log.”
Talia nodded grimly. “It would be the perfect disguise.”
Wiley looked helplessly from Talia to Tobin. “Sludge. Of course it’s a good idea, it’s just also a nasty, terrible, disgusting idea. And I’m usually all for those, but this? Ugh.”
“I know, you’ll feel better when we get off this hill,” said Tobin. “And look, here comes Hess—oh.” Tobi
n cringed. “He’s actually carrying the exoskeletons in his mouth, so I think he got the worst of this.”
All the color drained from Wiley’s ears as he turned to see the awful sight. The remains of two worker spiders, pinched in Hess’s mouth, their legs swaying back and forth with the snake’s movement.
Hess set the two spider shells down beside them, spitting out the taste before speaking. “These were the best available. They’re both missing a leg here and there, but the size is right. Slip under these and you should be able to scurry right in and out.”
“Thanks, Hess.” Tobin said. “I know this isn’t very pleasant.”
“We’re all in this together, right?” said Hess. “I think these exoskeletons might crumble apart if you try climbing up in them, so I’ll carry them up to the ridge. Then you can slip them on.”
The mice followed Hess to the log at the top of the hill. From there, Hess slid them into a tangle of ferns, about two hare-leaps down from the toppled tree. “Wait here, I’ll take a closer look.” Hess spoke the words so softly the vocal vibration tickled Tobin’s ears. The snake set the exoskeletons down before slithering halfway to the hollowed-out tree trunk.
Tobin looked to Wiley, whose ears were pricked high and cupped forward. Talia’s nose crinkled with concern. Motion caught his eye as Hess rejoined them in the thicket.
“Did you see many spiders?” Tobin asked.
Hess shook his head. “Not many. They appear to enter the log at one end, near the base of the tree. The spiders enter and exit from that opening. And I only saw one straggler.” Hess jerked his chin toward the crest of the hill. “Once the hunter spiders deposit their prey, they head back to the main lair. I believe that’s what you saw from up in the tree.”
“Then we have a chance,” Wiley noted.
Tobin looked at Wiley, and his eyes lingered for a moment. Not used to seeing such a serious expression on his friend, he knew they were embarking on something far more daring than stealing an acorn from a blue jay, or pulling a prank on his brother. No, this next stunt had greater stakes than any they’d ever tried before.
Tobin leaned in close to his friend. “I can’t imagine going in there with anyone else.”