“Woo! Damn spider has some skill!”
Gil backed away, even more cautious of the bulbous beast.
“Don’t get your head torn off, darling. I don’t think I can love just your body,” Makenna said as she danced near Misumena as she scurried around.
“Not what you said last night,” Gil replied with a laugh as he twirled his axe to catch Misumena’s gaze.
She flicked her wrist, and four needles flashed in the midday sun as they streaked towards the center of Misumena’s body. They jabbed into the hard carapace with ease, but the tiny poisoned needles weren’t long or sharp enough to go any further.
“Damn it,” Makenna cursed as she took another handful of needles out of her cloak. “I can’t pierce her body, and even if I can, my toxins were designed for humans and normal creatures, not fucking twenty-foot-long giant spiders!”
“Having some trouble?” Reina shouted from the thick tree branch that hung over the battleground. She’d sat down and was dangling her legs over us, a broad smile plastered over her smooth sandstone skin.
“Fuck you, spider lady!” Makenna shouted, her face taut in distress. “Guys, I’m useless here.”
“Calm down, Kenna. Did you forget who we are?” Evelyn asked.
“We’ve got this,” Adam said cheekily and tossed three small black crystals into the center of the field.
The summoning crystals landed and cracked sharply, releasing a small cloud of glass that sparkled like hundreds of small rainbows before falling back to the ground. When they landed, three bane wolves joined us.
Each at least six feet long and rippling with lean muscle, black and silver fur rose as their hackles raised, and they bent low to the ground, growling at the massive crab spider.
“Bane wolves? Really? Why didn’t you summon the void golem?” Evelyn asked, her voice rising as she ran forward and sliced a thin groove across one of Misumena’s legs.
Her sword was unmistakably high quality, and the silver of the blade shone like a mirror, but even it wasn’t enough to do more than scratch the spider.
“Abby’s still on cooldown. I told you this weeks ago!”
“Like I can keep up with every single bit of your nonsense on a daily basis.”
While those two shouted at each other, I had to think of something. Evelyn was the best fighter and strategist here, but even her weapons weren’t strong enough to pierce the hard carapace, which meant her strength alone wouldn’t cut it. C’mon, think, Eris! None of them knows more about Misumena than I do. There has to be something I can do to help!
In the enclosed space, we were basically trapped in a cage. And sooner or later, we’d lose.
One of the bane wolves lunged forward and clawed at Misumena’s bright yellow eyes. Before it could even lay a paw on the crab spider, Misumena surged forward, wrapping her powerful front legs around the entirety of the bane wolf, sinking her fangs deep into the wolf.
Bones snapped as the wolf let out a pained howl before the venom took hold and worked its way to the wolf’s heart.
The bane wolf died a quick and very painful death.
When the life fled from the beast, it dissolved into ash and flowed back to its crystal.
“Shit, that thing’s strong,” Adam said as the crystal returned to his hand.
“She’s a clever hunter, but she relies on deception and camouflage. Misumena’s slow to move, but incredibly strong when she does. We have her out of its element, but that only helps us so much,” I said.
“Dammit!” Gil cursed.
He tried to sneak around behind it, but a leg darted out and left a vicious gash across his arm.
“This thing’s a walking tank,” he said as he retreated.
“I don’t know what that means, but we’ve got to come up with a plan.”
“Fuck this,” he replied and gripped his axe tight.
Gil ran at Misumena, and as he kicked up tufts of dirt and grass, his axe head glowed a bright silver. “How about a taste of Steel-Breaker!”
He swung his axe down at Misumena’s abdomen, and with a sickening crunch, her carapace buckled and cracked under Gil’s attack. Misumena let out an unholy scream as blood oozed from her damaged side.
Having dealt a heavy blow, Gill tried to pull his axe out, but it had gotten stuck inside Misumena, and he couldn’t free it. Misumena lashed out with her leg, catching Gil in the side and sending him flying to the dirt a few feet away.
He groaned as his hand went to his side; the leather and chainmail had been punctured, and a sliver of Gil’s life stained the armor red.
“Are you okay?” I asked, running over to him.
He brushed me off. “Never better,” he said through a pained smile. “I’m a berserker. More damage I take, the more I can dish out. Don’t you worry about me.”
“And you just blew your ace up your sleeve. Save Stun Shout—we might need it soon,” Evelyn snapped.
“I know, but I figure now’s a good time for Bloodletter, don’t you?”
Evelyn nodded and stepped back. Her swords disappeared, and her dragon-horn bow materialized in her hands in their place. “The little queen has the right idea by keeping out of range. If she’s slow, then we can just stay back and pepper her with arrows. The two of us will hold Misumena’s attention while you get ready.”
Adam ordered his remaining wolves to back up. We couldn’t get through her tough carapace, but she did have weak spots.
“Go for her mouth and eyes. Besides the underside, they’re her weakest spots.”
I took my own advice and grabbed another of my chitin arrows. I nocked an arrow as Evelyn did the same. We circled around, and as Misumena eyes flashed to us, I released my arrow. It sunk in just below her eye. Evelyn’s arrow hit dead center in Misumena’s eye and blinded her as a thick trail of blood arced toward us.
Evelyn readied her next shot as I nocked my own, and we fired at the same time. We’d both aimed for its eyes again, but as our arrows sailed towards their target, Misumena shifted.
She ducked her head and snapped her front legs, knocking our arrows out of the air.
“Well, shit. So much for that plan,” Evelyn whispered.
“Like I said, she’s smart.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Makenna said as she ran towards us.
Her hands disappeared inside her cloak. When they reappeared, her fingers were wrapped around two large vials of what could’ve only been poison. The muted brown and gray liquid sloshed inside the glass as she tossed me one of them and Evelyn the other.
I stretched out a hand, but before I could catch it, the vial shattered in midair. Evelyn’s also burst, and she stepped back out of the noxious rain before it could land on her silver hair or armor. We both looked up when Reina laughed.
She kicked her feet languidly and wagged her finger at us. “No potions. I told you the rules.”
“Those were poisons, not potions!” Makenna shouted, her face going as red as her hair.
Reina shrugged, yawning. “Doesn’t matter, same thing. No more cheating, or you’ll fail.”
I stopped myself from yelling in anger, but only just. Can’t get angry, I need to keep a calm head. They’re counting on me!
Our attack had done what we intended and successfully distracted our quarry as Misumena covered her head to avoid more arrows.
I took a quick glance over at Gil and gasped.
Gill had a small dagger in his hand, and he brought it to his exposed skin again and again, slicing large gashes down his arms and his face and neck. A slight red aura pulsed just off his skin, and as the blood flowed across his dark skin, it didn’t drip to the ground. It slithered over his hands and up the axe, defying gravity.
As it covered his axe entirely, Gil let out the most horrifying scream I’d ever heard, and I jolted in pure terror as a wave of fear slammed into me. I wanted to run, to hide myself away and never come out again.
Then the shout faded, and rationality bled through my fear, and I fought to keep my
eyes on Gil as he launched into his attack.
He was ferocious as his blood covered him, and he charged forward as Adam’s bane wolves circled around to flank Misumena. Gil leapt into the air and brought his axe down. A wave of pressure swept over us, kicking up a cloud of dust and tearing grass from the dirt as a thundering crash rang painfully inside my ears.
Misumena’s legs shuddered under the weight of Gil’s attacks, and blood poured freely from her wounds as she howled in agony, but it wasn’t enough for her to go down.
A fact that Gil realized too late.
She reared back with savage speed, and Gil didn’t have the balance to hold on. He sailed through the air and hit one of the stones encircling us with a heavy thud and dropped to the ground, lifeless.
“Gil!” Makenna shouted and ran over to him.
I held my breath as my heart drummed fast in my chest and drowned out any other sounds. Time stretched as I waited for Makenna to tell me he was okay.
She sighed and smiled as Gil spluttered, his eyes shooting open. Thank the gods!
“Guys, we can’t stay here, it’ll just wear us down, and we don’t have the space to stop and think. If we can leave, I say we retreat and come up with a plan!” Makenna shouted as she half-carried Gil.
It was the exact same thing I had been thinking, but she said it faster than I’d thought it and put it into a plan of attack in under two seconds. I was so impressed that I couldn’t even bother to be annoyed that she’d beaten me to what I was going to say.
Whatever. No time for that. We need to get moving—now.
“On me!” Evelyn shouted and sprinted toward the far wall.
Everyone followed Evelyn’s lead and took off towards the rocks that separated us from the greater jungle.
Evelyn gracefully climbed over the rock and balanced atop it before mentioning us to hurry. “Let’s get some distance between us before the giant spider catches up!”
I sped forward as the five of us took off into the woods. Reina and the other Arachne shouted at our backs, but I was too far away to clearly make out what was said, but I was betting it wasn’t something nice. Rough overgrown grass and vines rose from the worn dirt path, and we were in the thick of the forest.
It didn’t seem like Evelyn had a destination in mind as we all ran full sprint through the brush and heavy flora. Monstrous, primeval trees stood like stalwart bastions, watching over the forest which no human had ever trespassed.
We ran for a few miles, and even though it looked like Evelyn wanted to push deeper in, we couldn’t keep running. Misumena was strong and devious, but it wasn’t fast on its feet. We had time to stop and think up an idea or two.
“Guys, we can stop!” I shouted, nearly clothes-lining myself on a low hanging branch as I ran.
The others slowed up, and Evelyn turned back to face me. “Not yet. I haven’t found the perfect spot yet.”
“For what?” I asked, huffing as my heart rate settled.
“For an ambush. Back in the arena, we were playing by its rules, but once we draw it into our desired location, we can trap and kill it.”
I glanced around at the endless sea of trees that stretched skyward with hundreds of thick, gnarled branches and shrugged my shoulders. “What’s wrong with right here?”
Evelyn sighed, pinching her fingers just under the bridge of her nose. “Does someone other than me want to explain to her the basics of tactics and strategy?”
“Easy there, sis. I’ve got this. Don’t have an aneurysm.” Adam ran his hand over her shoulder and smiled widely at me. “She’s really a nice person once you spend a few decades with her.
“But basically, this location is poor because it offers too much cover and open spaces,” he said, motioning around him at the wide-open spaces and lush foliage which obscured anything beyond. “We couldn’t control which area—Misumena, was it?—comes from, and if we can’t control that, our entire ambush fails.”
“So where would be a good place to set up be?” I asked.
“Somewhere with limited access and preferably some high ground,” Adam said.
“Which is what I was searching for before you stopped us,” Evelyn snapped.
I held my hands up in apology. “Let me help,” I replied with a smile, already taking control of all the nearby insects in the forest.
“Do what you gotta do, Eris. But we need to hurry. We’re losing our head start,” Gil said as he struggled to heft his mammoth axe on his shoulder.
“Gil, you need to rest,” Makenna said.
“Don’t think it’s going to let me stop and catch my breath. Don’t worry about me. Once the bleeding debuff fades, I’ll be right as rain.”
I tried to pay attention to the conversation some more, but the magic already flowed through me, and I saw through my little ones’ eyes and tried to find a spot that met Evelyn’s demands.
It took a while, and I had to push the bounds of my consciousness as I pushed further out, but after a few minutes of searching, I found a place that would have to do.
“All right, follow me!”
Without waiting, I took off to my left through the dense foliage.
“Shit, wait for us.”
“Eris, hold up! I’m short, godsdamn it!” Makenna shouted a second later.
I slowed my pace and let them all catch up. From surveying the area, I knew the best route to the location, and we made excellent time as my feet found the exact purchase they needed to keep my pace as I rushed over the roots and vines crawling from the earth.
It took us around fifteen minutes to reach the area, but it was even better than I’d seen through the eyes of my insects.
As we broke through the dense vegetation, the forest opened up around us. The roots and vines fell away to soft grass and then to gray rocks that lined the riverbank. Rushing water roared as the crystal blue waters swept over the large boulders that dotted the low points through the wide river.
The wide river snaked and disappeared behind an outcropping of trees a dozen yards away while the mouth of the river gaped and plunged down a steep drop, falling to crash in a shallow pool far below us.
It was serene, an oasis in an alien place, but I was in love with the beauty of it all.
“Not bad, little queen. It’ll do as an ambush site.”
Right, the fallen god that’s chasing us. With one last forlorn look, I sighed and walked back to the others, who were in the midst of discussing a plan; the details of which were soon lost to me as I struggled to keep up with them.
I wouldn’t add anything to the conversation anyway. I’m a sheltered girl, not a warrior or tactician. Even as the strongest entomancer, why didn’t you ever teach me how to defend myself, Mother? Oh, right, you had such absolute confidence in yourself that you thought I’d never need it. Though even you couldn’t save me in the end. Couldn’t even save yourself.
I shuddered as ice dripped down my back and chilled the sweat from the muggy heat that beat down on us from the blazing sun. “Get out of your head and get to work,” I said, slapping my cheeks and brushing of the phantom chill etched down my spine.
“What can I do to help?” I asked as I approached the huddled group.
They broke apart and looked me over. Four pairs of eyes studied me and assigned me a task instantly. “Wood, lots of it,” Gil said. “Long, thick branches. As many as you can grab.”
Makenna snickered, and everyone tilted their heads in confusion. She blushed and grinned. “It’s nothing, ignore me.”
“Hm,” I muttered and walked back into the forest on a log hunt.
It didn’t take long, as the forest was rife with plenty of wood for me to choose from. It took maybe twenty minutes of ambling about to find about as many logs and branches that I could carry, which turned out to be quite a lot.
Periodically I’d check my surroundings with magic to make sure Misumena hadn’t crept up on us, but it was all clear. She would find us eventually; it was a certainty. She was probably already aware o
f us through our vibrations and smell, but she couldn’t move her lumbering body quickly through the thick forest. We would likely hear her coming, but I wanted to make sure she couldn’t surprise us.
I wobbled a bit as the strain of holding well over a hundred pounds of wood in my arms caught up with me. My muscles burned with fatigue, and my hands started shaking just as I reached the waterfall. I dropped them, and they clattered against each other as they tumbled from my weak grip.
“I need to exercise more,” I said, leaning over, my hands on my knees as I panted, gasping for air.
“You did good, though. And let’s be honest, running for your life is a full-body workout,” Gil said as he came and knelt by me.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
Gil smiled at me. “Better. Washed the worst of the blood off in the river, and the bleeding’s all but stopped. So as long as I’m careful, I’ll be fine.”
He dug through the logs with a craftsman’s eye and selected several of the longest and thickest branches I’d brought back.
“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.
“Well, with the location being what it is, our best bet is to lay a series of traps in an attempt to corral the big bug where we want her to go.”
“Which is?”
“Right over the waterfall and onto some very sharp sticks.”
“Though Misumena’s carapace is thick. Do you think the sticks are sharp enough?”
Gil laughed, placing his very large hand atop my head, which should have been condescending, but it was actually very soothing, and I knew the giant bear only had the best of intentions with the gesture. “Hopefully, it’ll work in our favor. The tensile strength of her carapace has already been weakened by my attacks, and theoretically, the distance of the waterfall should be far enough. That and Misumena’s mass coupled with the speed as she falls should be enough to penetrate its hard shell.”
I didn’t really get what he was saying, and it must’ve shown on my face because he gave me a dopey grin and sighed.
“I don’t have time for a physics lesson, but trust that Evelyn wouldn’t concoct a bad plan.”
I trusted them both implicitly, at least when it came to battle. Trusting Evelyn in other areas, maybe not so much.
Hive Queen Page 25