After a few hours, the trees began to thin slightly, and there was more space to move around as the trail widened and we entered what could only be a city. We broke through the trees, and dozens of buildings rose up from the forest floor.
They were all wooden, but it wasn’t the mechanical, perfectly designed homes of the humans. These buildings had been carved and shaped like sculptures. They were all smooth and circular, with wide, open windows and door frames with no doors. They reminded me of the buildings we’d lived in so long ago. They weren’t nearly as well-crafted and were smaller in comparison, but it was incredibly reminiscent of home.
The rest of the warriors scattered, vanishing into the city like ghosts, and we were left with just the commander. He turned, speaking slowly to me. “We are alerting the guards to your presence, but if you wander off, you will be treated as hostile and will be killed without mercy.” He spoke the language of humans, but it was slow and with a strange inflection.
The others jerked in surprise at his words, but I just nodded for them. “We understand and will obey.”
“Good. The Widow has been made aware of you and will see you.”
He led us through the city as we passed a number of Arachne, each of them staring at us like we’d grown three heads. I guess it is strange to see humans in a forest that forbids entrance to the other races. I just wish they wouldn’t look at me like that, though. I guess I must be the first entomancer they’ve ever seen, and that has to come as a shock to them.
As we rode deeper into the city, we reached our destination. It was a large dwelling that dwarfed the much smaller surroundings by at least double. Though it was larger, it wasn’t designed with any more elegance than the other buildings, but it bore numerous windows as it rose towards the treetops.
“The queen’s palace, eh?”
“Most likely, but please, let me do the talking when we meet the Widow.”
“The Widow?” Evelyn asked.
“Yes, it’s what the monarch of the Arachne is called. You’ll see why when we get inside.”
With further discussion, the commander hissed at us and opened the double doors. It was the only building that actually had doors, and as we went inside, I found out why.
Half a dozen guards stood on the other side of the door, weapons of all types raised menacingly close to our faces. I tried my best to ignore the guards and focus on the room.
It was tall and winding; staircases rose on either side of the room to spiral off higher and higher to the many other floors. The walls were smooth and glossy as if they’d been waxed. As we walked toward the throne, we passed a library. Books written on mashed leaves and bound in tree bark lined the walls on either side of me, rising to the other floors.
I wonder what they say? There’s so much history that’s been lost. I wonder if those books hold the answers.
The throne room was small and thin. It was basically a walkway wide enough to let supplicants come and speak to their queen. Wooden stairs at the end rose up to a dais, and on an elegantly carved wooden throne sat the queen of the Arachne.
She was stunning. So stunning that my breath caught in my chest for a split second before I remembered how to breathe. She wore a similar style of dress as her warriors, a slim fitting black shirt that left most of her upper chest and neck exposed, and pants that hugged her slender body.
Her pure white hair draped like silk over her tawny neck and collarbone. Her skin was rich enough that it looked like it should melt in the sunlight cascading through the windows, and her face was gorgeous, yet softer than I was expecting.
Her ears, like the rest of the Arachne race, were long, but not as long as mine and slightly curved as the tips pulled back toward the base of her head. She had a thin, kind face that should have been laughing with joy but instead stared us down with cool, detached eyes that sent shivers up my spine.
Eyes that marked her as the Widow of the Arachne, their queen.
They were pitch black, almost like mine, but where mine were compounded, hers were smooth. In the center of each eye was a small red hourglass that formed her iris.
She leaned back in her chair, a slender hand under her chin in thought as her unblinking gaze welcomed us to her castle. Her sight flicked over each of us until she finally landed on me.
“An entomancer,” she said, forgoing her native tongue for our benefit.
Her voice was husky and rich as she spoke, holding both bitterness and a subtle sweetness as it slithered into my ears. She had an intoxicating voice.
She clicked her tongue sharply against her teeth. “Just my luck to have to deal with another one in my lifetime.”
Her words shocked me, and whatever else had been running through my mind at the time was blown away as a single thought shattered my world.
Another one? Another one!
Without thinking, I broke free from the group and ran the distance between me and the queen. I hit the steps at a jog and only managed to slow myself as I reached the throne. “There’s another entomancer? Where are they? When did you see them? Please tell me!” I shouted, getting right in her face.
In my excitement and lapse in sanity, I didn’t realize the overwhelming error I’d made, and a dozen Arachne warriors appeared from the shadows and were next us in an instant. The commander held a thin-bladed dagger to my throat, and if I so much as turned my head, I’d likely lose it.
The queen held up her hand. “It’s fine. Thank you, Elra. But I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Elra removed the dagger from my neck and bowed low; immediately, all the warriors vanished as swiftly as they’d arrived.
She smiled at my eagerness and shifted in her chair, crossing her legs and leaning on the armrest. “My name is Reinaera, but I prefer Reina. Now tell me who you are, entomancer.”
I gulped, suddenly nervous as I stared back at Reina. “My name is Eris. I’m the Hive Queen, and up until a few seconds ago, I thought I was the last entomancer left alive on Telae—or Nexus, rather.”
At that, Reina titled her head back and laughed, a throaty laugh that filled the room with music. She came back up still chuckling and smiled at me. “You almost had me there. Eris, was it? But you are not the Hive Queen. I’ve met the queen.”
“What?” I asked aghast, taking a step back. “The other entomancer is a girl?” I shook my head. Doesn’t matter right now, stop fixating on that. “That’s impossible. My mother was the last queen of the Hive, and when she died, the mantle transferred to me. I am the queen.”
Reina stropped smirking and tapped her finger on her chin. “Your words ring of conviction, but I’ve met Aliria, the true queen, and so you must be deluding yourself.”
“Aliria?” I asked.
“Yes. You don’t look all that different to me, but she is the queen, not you.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’ve never heard of her, but I’m not lying.”
“That’s no concern of mine,” Reina said, rising from her throne.
Her attached spider limbs uncoiled themselves from around her waist where they’d been blending in with the dark fabric. Four thin, black limbs protruded from Reina’s spine, each of them five and half feet long, ending in a tapered point which concealed two sharp pincers. Reina used them to push off from the chair as she stood, her spider legs suspended in the air by her waist.
The others recoiled and gasped when they noticed, and I didn’t blame them. They hadn’t seen them before because most of the Arachne kept them concealed or covered. Reina was disregarding tradition by leaving hers out in the open.
She came to stand before me. Reina was taller than me by half a head, and that, coupled with her standing on the wooden steps, put her collarbone at just above eye level. Her revealing shirt gave me a peek at her moderate chest.
I shouldn’t be focusing on that right now! There’re too many other, more important things to worry about right now than how nice her breasts are. Eris, control yourself!
I flick
ed my eyes away from the view and back to Reina, whose own widowed eyes seemed to be taking in me as well. She smiled sweetly at me and leaned in closer. “What to do with you, hmm? I think there’s a lot for us to talk about, and I want you to tell me everything,” she said, her smile not leaving me any room to negotiate as her face crept closer to mine.
I nodded, sweat beading on my forehead. “Let’s start at the beginning.”
And so, I told her everything.
I retold my story from the very start. My life a thousand years ago till that day, and through it all, Reina didn’t say a word until I’d finished my story and sat back up in her throne.
She smirked and turned toward me. “How far the once-mighty entomancers have fallen. Your entire species has been eradicated, just like the rest of the Hive─“
“Really? There’s none left?”
Reina shook her head. “The apocritans and mantearians have been gone for centuries, since long before we settled these woods.”
“What about the scorpius?” I asked, my hands shaking.
“Gone, too. Like us, some survived, but peace couldn’t be had, and they left.”
“When? Surely some must have survived all this time.”
“I don’t know. There isn’t anyone left alive from those times, and our records were destroyed in a fire. We have nothing left of our history, but stories passed from parents to child.”
It wasn’t what I wanted to hear. In fact, it was the exact opposite; the worst thing I could have been told was that the history of the Hive was scattered to the wind.
“Why don’t you consult the Hive Mind, queen? I admittedly don’t know much about your kind, but the old stories told of your abilities. Surely the history is stored somewhere in that head of yours.”
I sighed, resting my palms on my thighs while resisting the urge to drum my fingers. “It’s not that simple. The Hive Mind is complex, mesmerizing in its vastness. If I linger or drift too deep, it becomes harder to pull myself of out. That and my limited magic makes trying incredibly dangerous.”
Throughout our conversation, the others had been very patient, letting me do the talking while they stood and listened, but Gil kept fidgeting, shifting balance from foot to foot, and Makenna had pulled out a book to read and sat cross-legged on the ground. Evelyn and Adam were barely listening; instead, they were absorbed in their own conversation. I was trying to not leave them out of the conversation, but Reina had no interest in them, and I had so many questions to ask that I forgot that they were with us in the room.
“Hey, Reina. Why do you insist on picking on her? You’ve been taking stabs at her this entire time,” Gil said, his deep voice only amplified by the echo in the room.
Reina scowled, her eyes shooting over to glare at Gil. “Human, while I’m thankful for your part in returning Cheira and Tegan to us, it is not enough to allow such insolence. Speak to me like that again, and I will devour you alive.”
The atmosphere in the room changed in an instant. The Gloom Knights shifted from abject boredom to defensive in a heartbeat, and Reina unfolded her limbs and revealed her sharp claws. The tension in the room was palpable, and I had to do something.
“Whoa, we didn’t come here to fight,” I blurted out, standing in a panic. “I came here to return the children and to meet you and the other Arachne. We’re friends.”
“Friends?” Reina asked skeptically. “Hardly. You’re a nuisance who dropped herself on my doorstep and complicated my life more than it already was. We’ve governed ourselves just fine for centuries, and all of a sudden, you entomancers come to fuck everything up.”
“What’s she like?” I asked when we’d all settled down.
“Aliria? She’s strong, capable. She waltzed in and overpowered my best fighters like it was nothing. She and her human lover both were unbelievably powerful.”
“Human lover?”
Reina nodded, grimacing at the thought. “You’re not the only one who’s taken a liking to the humans. But Magnus was something else. I honestly don’t know which was stronger.”
Her words hit me like a lightning bolt. And a collective gasp echoed from our side of the table. Magnus? Again? Who is he? And how does he tie into Aliria? What’s going on?
Reina furrowed her brow and pursed her lips slightly. “I take it you’ve heard of him.”
“He’s made our lives fucking hell for the last few weeks. What do you know about him?” Gil asked abruptly.
“Interesting,” she replied, her eyes lighting up with something I couldn’t place. She smirked and rose from her chair. “Let’s take this conversation outside, shall we?”
Without a word, Reina rose once more and walked past us as she headed toward the door. I gave the others a look. Gil shrugged and nodded, so we all followed after Reina.
She pushed open the doors and turned back to us as warm sunlight lit up her skin and eyes. “They came here around eight years ago now. Offering an alliance of sorts. The way Magnus spoke led me to believe he thinks something is coming—a war, or gods know what—but I refused. I didn’t trust him.”
“Why? What’s coming?” I asked as we shuffled outside.
She didn’t answer at first. Instead, she sauntered over the well-trodden dirt and went around the side of the palace to where a large stable was located. It was just as detailed and elegant as the palace itself. Our horses were hitched inside, and several Arachne men and women tended to them with care.
Reina went over to the first stall and led her horse out, a beautiful brown colt with a chocolate mane. As she mounted her horse, she spoke with a shake of her head. “I don’t know. Magnus wouldn’t say. But he felt off to me. Something about him nagged at me, though he was talkative and charming, for a human. But he never answered my question, and I wasn’t about to drag the last of my race into a war when I didn’t even know who we’d be fighting.”
She motioned for us to do the same and follow her. We all climbed onto our horses, and Reina led us out of the stable and down a long stretch of dirt road that led through the center of the city.
Before we’d gotten a dozen feet, the commander of the guard sidled up to us.
“My Widow, please allow me to accompany you.”
She shook her head and craned her neck. “I’m in no danger from these humans, and is that Foard I see? I’m glad he’s back from the farms. Go and spend time with your bonded, Elra. And please give him my best.”
Elra bowed. “Thank you, Widow. I shall.”
I processed what Reina had told us over the last few minutes. Who are Magnus and Aliria? How did she survive the eradication of our species? It was a thousand years ago, so she couldn’t have been alive back then, so where are her parents? There could be more than just us left. I have to find her.
The commander left, and we continued on, past a number of shops and wooden buildings. Dozens of Arachne went about their day. Most wore green cotton tunics, though more and more had their arachnid limbs bare or visible, wrapped around their waists like belts.
“Why do you leave your limbs uncovered? That was always considered taboo.”
Reina laughed. “That may have been so during the time of the Hive, but the times have changed. It’s far more convenient to leave them uncovered.”
“How strange,” I said, scratching my cheek.
Reina let us take in the sights as we rode. We slipped through the city as so many of the Arachne went about their day. Most manned shops in the city, but the city was small, only a few square miles, and as we got to the outskirts, more and more farms cropped up.
There were so many different kinds that it was a little impressive. Chicken, cattle, and even a few pig ranches. Mixed in between grain and vegetable farms. Dozens of them. The Arachne didn’t want for anything that I’d seen.
“I don’t imagine you using human currency, so how do you pay for things?”
Reina shook her head and slowed her horse so we could ride side by side. “That’s true, we don’t. We barter for thi
ngs we need, trade favors or services in exchange for the things we need. Everyone has something that someone else wants or needs, so it works well for us. Though we only number in the low thousands. I have no idea how it would work if there were more of us.”
I nodded. “It’s the same as the Hive of old. Though do you also barter people?”
Reina’s eyes went wide. “Morrigan’s feathers, no. We would never treat our people in such a way.”
I smiled as relief washed over me. “Good. The old ways were abhorrent. I’m glad to see the Hive can progress unburdened by the past.”
“I don’t mean to interrupt your conversation, Eris. But back on topic, where can we find Magnus and this Aliria? There’s a lot we need to ask them,” Gil said.
“Magnus is owed some retribution from us, and I aim to see it done,” Evelyn said, a grin on her lips.
“I’m afraid it isn’t that simple,” Reina replied. “You and yours did us a favor by returning our spiderlings, but that doesn’t mean we owe you anything. And as I said before, I’m not getting in the middle of whatever Magnus and Aliria are planning.”
“So you’re just going to hide away in your woods like cowards?” Evelyn asked suddenly.
Reina looked over to her and paused for a second or two. “You know, for a human, you’re quite striking.”
Evelyn chuckled. “You threatened to devour my friend earlier, now you want a bite of me? Any other time and I might’ve let you eat me, but business before pleasure.”
“Oh, well,” Reina said with a sigh, speeding up as we took a turn down a wide stretch of dirt. The trees growing thicker as we left the city behind. “You call it cowardice; I call it protecting my species. You want to get involved, fine, but that information isn’t going to come without a price.”
“That’s fine. We’ve got plenty of gold,” Gil said, taking a large bag out of his inventory, and shook it, the coins inside clinking as they shifted.
Reina didn’t even glance at it. “Weren’t you listening? Keep your worthless human money. I have no need of it. No, what I need are assurances.”
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