The Witch; Stronghold; Underworld

by Ky Tyrand

  Thankfully, their vertical jump seemed lacking compared to the great distance they could spring horizontally. But it was enough lift for them to sink their pointed claws into the second floor balcony. And from there, they climbed; with long limbs easily capable of reaching between the railing and the floor above.

  One thing was clear: they weren’t at all interested in Je’nna. The bots were after Ki’ara, and her alone. Je’nna needed to use that to her advantage. She’d never experienced anything that her guns had so little effect on. But there had to be a way…

  “Hurry,” Je’nna’s voice came through Ki’ara’s communicator, with a lot more static than usual. “You’ve got company.”

  Ki’ara looked down; saw the spiders crawling up at them.

  Gaining.

  She did her best to go faster, scrambling up the balconies like a Princess being chased by giant robot spiders. Even with the G.R. it was exhausting. But adrenaline kept her moving. She knew that one slip was all that it would take for the spiders to catch her, or for her and Petch to plummet to the floor and have the spiders pounce on them. Either way, they’d be done for.

  “Pick up the pace, Princess,” warned Je’nna.

  The reply Je’nna got was not at all what she was expecting…

  “Don’t you dare, Petch!”

  Je’nna tried to make sense of that. “Huh?”

  “If you do, I’ll drop you. I swear I will.”

  Ki’ara was acting odd, to say the least. “What is it? What’s going on?” asked Je’nna.

  “Nothing,” said Ki’ara.

  “Doesn’t sound like nothing.”

  “I mean it, Petch. We’re five floors up. You think you can fly?”

  Je’nna paused her own climb to see if she could understand what was happening. They were higher up, but otherwise, no change: The Princess was still climbing, with Petch swaying on her back, and the spiders giving chase. What could all the commotion possibly be about? “Ki’ara, what’s going on???”

  Apart from Ki’ara’s breathing – which was getting heavier with every floor – she was quiet. Until: “Petch says he has to pee.”

  11

  “Holy-crap-it’s-a-long-way-down,” slurred Petch.

  Ki’ara didn’t want to think about it. She wasn’t terribly afraid of heights, but the upper levels of the Library had spooked her since she was a child. The girl had certainly never been on this side of the railings before. She looked for Je’nna, wondering how her friend was doing. Though Je’nna wasn’t fond of showing weakness, she had never been shy about letting Ki’ara know that she did not like heights.

  The pink-haired girl wasn’t where Ki’ara expected her to be.

  That’s weird. Where did she go?

  A jolt of adrenaline shot along the girl’s spine when she considered the possibility that Je’nna may have fallen. But, even with Petch on her back complaining about having to use the little boy’s room, Ki’ara was sure she would have noticed if Je’nna had dropped. Nevertheless, her eyes chanced a peek, just to confirm.

  No Je’nna. But it was a good thing she looked. One of the spiders was upon her, its pointed foot about to drive into her calf. Ki’ara popped it out of the way as the claw speared into the wood beside her ankle.

  Unable to out-climb them, Ki’ara flung herself and Petch over the next railing. They ended up on their sides on the sixth floor landing, face-to-face with the mechanical spiders as the monsters crept over the ledge.

  Ki’ara slashed at the first one she saw, cutting straight through vertical wood spindles that held the platform’s railing, before scrambling to her feet and sprinting around the tall support column.

  The spiders were right behind her, crawling onto the landing and pouncing one after another. She could barely keep ahead of them. The first bot that had attacked – old six-legs – hadn’t been able to jump as far as she could. That was the only hope Ki’ara had as she hopped onto the opposite railing, eyeing the bridge that circled around the second central column.

  It was farther away than the last gap. But with the mechanical arachnids closing, Ki’ara was out of options.

  She jumped for it.

  But just as she was pushing off one of the spiders crashed into the railing under her feet, ruining any chance they had of making it across.

  Ki’ara was going down, and unarmored Petch was going with her.

  12

  After seeing the bridge deck shoot up to the sky, Ki’ara proceeded to watch two more levels chase after it before she was finally able to catch half a grip on something. She didn’t even see what she’d grabbed hold of, but it sent her and Petch crashing onto a table, a chair, and then the wooden deck.

  They were on one of the balconies, but Ki’ara didn’t have a clue what level.

  “You okay?” she asked Petch. The Princess still had a tight bind on his cut, and hoped this crash didn’t put an end to him.

  He didn’t answer at first, causing Ki’ara to fear the worst. But after a moment, he muttered softly into her ear, “Ho-ly-crap, do I ever have to pee!”

  “Don’t you dare,” said Ki’ara, happy to hear his voice. She hopped up, but didn’t get a chance to even determine what floor they were on before it started raining robots.

  “Are you kidding me???” she squawked, as the creatures’ clawed feet caught on the railings and floor above, swinging them onto the landing beside the Princess and her companion. “This is ridiculous!” Ki’ara panted as she darted the other way.

  Through fine tendrils of energy, the Princess located her second Niksuru. By chance, her weapon was on this very level. Which meant they were all the way back down on the third floor.

  Right back where they started.

  Ki’ara cursed as she struggled to outrun the relentless bots. “Je’nna, where are you?”

  All she got back was blaring static. It sounded like Je’nna was trying to tell her something, but there was terrible interference. She was about as easy to understand as someone shouting at her from the bottom of a river.

  “These stupid communicators NEVER freaking work!!!” shouted Ki’ara, as she dodged pouncing spider feet.

  Petch bounced along on her back, oblivious to the danger they were in. “Did I mention that I needed to pee?”

  “Gods, shut up, Petch!” Ki’ara wanted to strangle him. “You’re going to have to hold it!”

  She ran toward her second Niksuru, which was already carving its way through everything in its path as she retracted the threads of energy that bonded it to her. Wood was cut. Books caught fire. Even a support column may have lost some structural integrity. Ki’ara pulled the energy weapon toward her with everything she had.

  In a desperate attempt to gain ground, the Princess knocked over tables and chairs – anything she could quickly pull down that might slow her pursuers.

  The spiders were so agile that it had little effect. Yet, so far, she’d been able to stay ahead.

  Ki’ara spotted the Niksuru shooting toward her. She jumped for it, catching the device while flying through the air. The instant the weapon slapped into her hand, she clicked it together with its mate, unleashing the combined Blue Energy into a single, long blade.

  Without even looking, Ki’ara spun and swiped, cutting three legs off the closest spider in one vicious pass.

  Sparks sprayed the floor in a shower that would most likely set fire to the entire library. The monster face-planted, nearly rolling right over as it slid toward Ki’ara. The Princess put up a foot to stop it from bowling her over, and plunged the Blue Energy sword into the green eye swiveling around to find her.

  The entire bot lit up with flashing light – green this time, like its eye – as the round body exploded with arcs of electricity and more embers than a fireworks display, before it finally fizzled and stopped moving.

  The green light was obliterated, replaced by a plume of smoke and the awful smell of fried robot-spider. Almost instantaneously, the nearly translucent silvery surface darkened, lookin
g more like hardened metal. After Ki’ara withdrew the long plasma blade, and took her foot off its spherical body, the bot shifted ahead until its remaining limp legs prevented it from rolling farther.

  The spider had four friends that Ki’ara was expecting to fight next, but they all came to a halt when their companion died. The green lights that shone on the Princess shifted to their motionless cohort.

  “Yeah,” Ki’ara warned the others as they circled around her. “That just happened.”

  The bots ignored her.

  They began tromping their feet, tapping up and down on their spindly legs, just like the first one had after she’d cut off its leg.

  Ki’ara wasn’t sure what the bots were doing.

  Some kind of mad-spider dance.

  “You look ridiculous,” the girl told them, as she cautiously backed away.

  “Ooh, look at the spiders dance!” murmured Petch. “Why are they doing that?”

  “Dunno,” admitted Ki’ara, taking another step back. “Don’t want to stick around and find out.”

  As she turned to run, the lights on the spiders’ spherical bodies changed color, shifting to orange before falling back onto Ki’ara.

  Their legs stopped dancing, and they charged.

  13

  Shewk!

  The spider closest to the railing suddenly went dark. Its legs buckled and collapsed to the floor before sparks burst from the top and it stopped moving entirely.

  Jenna.

  Ki’ara wasn’t certain what her friend had done differently, but that single shot was more effective than all her others combined.

  Though she suddenly felt a confidence that made her want to stay and finish these creatures off, all Ki’ara could think about was getting Petch to safety. She couldn’t risk fighting these monsters with the boy on her back. So she turned and ran as fast as she could, staying close to the railing in hopes that Je’nna could recreate whatever magic took out that last spider.

  She could tell that Je’nna was trying to tell her something through the communicator in her helmet, but her voice was all messed up. It became worse the closer the spider-bots got to her, which was one way to tell that they were right behind her. The other way was the sound of wood planks being hammered with eight piercing spikes all at once.

  CHONK!

  Ki’ara dodged to the side as Petch swayed and laughed on her back. “Glad you’re having a good time, Petch,” the Princess panted.

  Static blared in her ear again. Je’nna was trying to tell her something and it was making Ki’ara crazy. She knew that it must be important, but had no way of understanding the other girl.

  Distracted by her attempts to translate the crackling noises blasting in her ear, Ki’ara almost didn’t spot a thin horizontal line directly in her path. She caught only a glint, and it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. Not until she closed the gap did Ki’ara realize the streak was in fact a thin strand of… something, so fine that it could only be seen when light reflected at precisely the right angle. The silky filament ran about the height of her chest, and if Ki’ara kept going, she would run straight into it.

  This was where the first spider had originally attacked...

  The line could only be one thing: Spider web.

  Nearly invisible, the dainty draglines had probably been trailing the bots this entire time; No doubt crisscrossing the chamber on every level they pursued her.

  Her plasma blade came up between herself and the thin cord. But, to her surprise, the Blue Energy didn’t slice right through.

  Ki’ara was stunned, and nearly ran the glowing blade into her helmet. It was the first time she’d encountered even the slightest bit of resistance with her weapon so hot. Almost as if she were trying to cut twine with a dull knife.

  Determined to prove to herself that her Niksuru could cut through anything, Ki’ara sped up the energy particles and pushed forward. With a spark and a twang, the silky thread snapped.

  But it had slowed her down, and her mechanized pursuers pounced. The spiders nearly collided with one another as Ki’ara dodged and bolted for the staircase.

  Shewk!

  An explosion of sparks and bot-shrapnel exploded behind Petch and Ki’ara, as Je’nna’s rifle hit another mechanized target, stopping the pursuer in its tracks.

  Ki’ara slid around the corner, catching hold of the handrail to keep from losing control as Petch’s momentum tried to carry her wide. Two remaining spiders were on her heels as she charged up the stairs.

  Even with the boy on her back, the G.R. was giving her enough of a boost to take the stairs three, sometimes four at a time. She felt faster than the spiders here, and was confident she was gaining ground. But she also knew that it wouldn’t last. Though the path was clear ahead, her thighs were burning and her heart pounding. Ki’ara could tell that she wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace.

  She was getting tired. The robots were not.

  Her legs were slowing; her leaps shrinking. Three stairs turned to two.

  With Petch on her back, Ki’ara had managed to make it up another level and a half. Out of breath and exhausted, the girl stopped running when she reached the next landing. She knew that there was no way she would be able to keep ahead of these things. Her only hope was that Je’nna could get an angle on them.

  Ki’ara turned and faced the two bots as they crept up the stairs. She needed to protect Petch at all cost. Her Niksuru was still clipped together; a single blade long enough to keep some distance between herself and the silver monsters.

  Though Ki’ara wanted to crouch and be ready to spring, her legs were too tired to bend low without giving out.

  Instead, she waited on the landing, ready to slice each robot in half when they jumped. But for some reason they weren’t pouncing. Just creeping; edging forward, a single pointed foot at a time.

  “Why aren’t you shooting?!?” Ki’ara called to Je’nna. You won’t get a better chance than this.

  Deafening static in her ear made Ki’ara jump, and warned her something wasn’t right. “I don’t know what you’re trying to tell…!” It suddenly occurred to her that the spiders weren’t in a good spot. The spiraling stairs were probably blocking Je’nna’s line of sight.

  One spider was nearly at the landing. The other was just behind the first, with half its legs up on the railing, the rest on the steps.

  Ki’ara shuffled back to the next flight of stairs and began working her way up.

  The closest bot suddenly lurched, forcing Ki’ara to block.

  Shewwk!!!

  Under a plume of smoke, the monster’s light went dark and its legs collapsed, sending the sphere to a slide and roll that pressed it against the outer railing of the curved stairwell. Its limp legs flailed as the round mass thumped its way down the stairs and out of sight.

  The final bot leapt – not forward, but back.

  At first, Ki’ara thought the spider was dodging its only remaining companion. But it continued onward, away from Ki’ara and Petch.

  The Princess found herself letting out a breath as the robot’s spindly legs carried it off, and the mechanical creature disappeared into the recesses of the library.

  “Uh,” Petch’s head rolled around hers, “What just happened?”

  “Je’nna,” replied Ki’ara, as she tried to catch her breath and gain enough momentum to work her way up the rest of the stairs.

  “Oh,” said the boy. “What’s a Je’nna?

  14

  “…up the stairs,” Je’nna’s voice came through Ki’ara’s communicator, now loud and clear. That was a good thing. It meant the spider wasn’t near any of them.

  Nevertheless, Ki’ara didn’t dare put her Niksuru away as she made her way up, clinging to the railing to help pull her along.

  It wasn’t as fast as the first flights, but she made it to the top with legs trembling and Petch swaying on her back.

  “It’s great to hear your voice, Je’nna,” she admitted.

  Ki’ara spo
tted the girl leaning over a railing, looking through the scope of her rifle while scanning the layers of balconies below.

  “Yeah,” agreed Je’nna. “Of course it is.”

  Ki’ara appreciated her friend’s smug humor. It meant Je’nna was calm and had her head on straight.

  “There’s one more of those things,” Ki’ara panted, hanging onto the railing at the top of the stairs.

  “The light,” said Je’nna. “That’s the target. They’re hard to hit, but it seems to stop them instantly.”

  Ki’ara pushed off the railing, making for one of the aisles of books. “This way,” she said, as she separated her Niksuru and let the Blue Energy go dark. Clipping the cylinders to her wrists, she raced down the aisle with Petch bouncing on her back.

  Unlike the other aisles they’d been down, this one had no door on the wall. Instead, shelves wrapped around the end, capping the aisle with more books. The last time Ki’ara had been through here was the day of the attack, right after she’d snuck out of her room through Panel Eleven.

  “What’s down there?” Je’nna’s voice echoed through the communicator.

  “Our way out,” said Ki’ara, as she selected four books – one near each corner. She needed to put her foot up on the lower shelves to reach the two at the top, but was able to get a finger on each to tip them back.

  There was a clicking noise from within the wall, and suddenly the entire bank of shelves shifted. Ki’ara gave it a push, and the section swung away from her.

  “Whoa,” said Petch in her ear.

  She could hear Je’nna sliding into the aisle behind them. “What the HKSHHISH…”

  15

  Ki’ara’s heart skipped a beat at the sound of Je’nna’s voice being replaced by static. She spun, with her Niksuru lighting up on her wrists, in time to see Je’nna lifted off the ground and pinned to a row of bookshelves by a spider’s pointed leg.