by John Grover
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Nix and the others reached the Orum coast. The waves of the great ocean Tannis swelled and broke over jagged rocks and low cliffs. To their left, the blue-green water stretched as far as the eye could see. Along the grassy lands overlooking the ocean sat the ruins of three great castles. So huge and encompassing, they were more like dead cities than castles.
“I am afraid we must go through the ruins,” Vanare said, floating just above the ground. “The ocean is on one side, and the land is impassible on the other side of these ruins.” His antennae twitched again.
“Aye,” Lianna said. “It is a straight line through.” She bent to the ground and felt the dirt with her hands. “There is a disturbance in the energy here. I wish Juni were with us.”
“Who knows what horrors lie within the ruins,” Vanare added.
“There is only one way to find out,” Nix said. “Our bellies are full. Our thirst is quenched. We carry on.” He drew his sword and headed off.
“So headstrong,” Vanare said.
“He is a natural leader,” Lianna said. “I admire that in him.” She followed.
The group passed through the devastated courtyards. Briar patches, weeds, crab grass, and thorn-laden blood vines choked the pathways and arches. Beyond that Ure Castle waited. They stared at the crumbling watchtowers and spires, unsteady balconies and vacant parapets. Faded white stone and black mortar met in moss-infested walls. The collapsed gates across a drawbridge allowed them an easy if not hesitant entry.
Inside they found a circular-shaped courtyard. A bloodstained fountain that had not seen water in ages sat in its center. Salty ocean breezes blew the scent of decay through the open space. Wooden doors encircled them. Some sat closed, while others yawned wide open, spilling out thick swatches of darkness and shadows.
They decided on a set of double doors ahead of them. The entrance screeched open on ancient hinges, stopping halfway, frozen by rust. The group squeezed through, into a long hall where the light died and the air grew thick. A place where quiet shapes danced and phantoms played in the murk that clung to the vaulted ceilings.
Nix and Vanare grasped for the long abandoned torches on the walls nearest them. They used their flint to bring light into the hall of lost memories and damnation. Flames flickered across cracked walls and the shadows grew longer.
The group moved on, watching their every step, clutching their weapons to the point of pain. At the end of the hall, an archway open to a set of stairs that burrowed deeper into the decayed fortress. A curtain of cobwebs shrouded the arch.
Lianna stepped through the webs first. Armed with a bow, her remaining companion, Myrrh, followed directly behind. Vanare and Nix protected the rear and lit the stairway as the group descended.
Silvery strands glinted in the torchlight. Cocoons hung from the ceilings, suspending plump meals in midair. Nix saw them wriggle gently. He said nothing to the others.
At the bottom of the stairs they entered a network of halls and rooms. Rotting wooden beams supported the low ceilings, but they were collapsed in some places. Something unsettling lingered here, and they could sense it.
Half-eaten corpses littered the floor and walls. Both fairies and elves met their final stand here. They were obviously trailed to their weapons, and fell in a valiant effort to push back the scourge. Fairy wings were torn from bodies. Elfin arms were bitten clean off. Then they were strung up by glossy spider webs. Hollow eyes gawked at the group. Open mouths frozen in eternal screams were stuffed with webbing.
Inside one cocoon, baby spiders fed on an unrecognizable form. Vanare lifted his bare foot and began squashing the vermin with rage. More cocoons lined the halls in the distance. Some had arms protruding from them.
The surrounding rooms contained barracks and armories. Weapons of every caliber had rusted to the walls or were scattered on the floor.
On the wall nearest them, the body of an elf twitched behind a shroud of webs. The movement caught Nix’s attention. He brought his torch up and illuminated the grotesque display. Beneath silken strands, Nix watched something squirm under the victim's translucent skin. Upon closer inspection he discovered it was tiny spiders feeding on the half-alive elf.
Pity filled Nix, but was quickly replaced by rage. He fought back revulsion at the thought of his brothers used as feeding and birthing grounds for the eight-legged abominations.
“Never…rraaaaahhhh!” He slashed his sword across the elf’s body, ending his suffering. But his hacking did not stop. He took out of his frustration, his fear, his doubt on the corpse. The others turned and watched, mute with horror and sympathy. No one moved to stop him—
Until the wall of web cracked and crumbled. A thunderous roar ripped through the quiet as a giant, black spider burst through the wall. It shrieked at the death of its young and lunged for Nix.
Stunned and overcome with emotion, Nix stumbled and fell as the spider came at him. The others leapt into action. Vanare soared through the air, landing behind the spider, slashing his sword across its massive hide. Myrrh shot her arrows true, sinking two into the beast. The spider turned to the fairy and amazon as Lianna dragged Nix out of the fray and helped him to his feet.
The monster rushed Vanare and Myrrh, forcing them into an adjacent hall. It burst through a brick archway, causing a cave-in. A pile of stone and dirt poured across the doorway, sealing the trio within.
Lianna raced to the door, her heart pounding. “No! Myrrh, Vanare!” She pounded on the debris, but it was impenetrable. Nix joined her and swiped his sword against the blockage. Roars and screeches resounded on the other side.
“Come,” he said to her. “We’ll go down the opposite hall and see if it circles back.”
Lianna and Nix rushed down the corridor on the other side of the chamber. Midway they plummeted through the floor, into a pit camouflaged perfectly by black webs. The calling card of the trapdoor spider.
The trapdoor spider dugout pits and covered them with dark webs that blended in with their surroundings. Once the prey fell through the pit and into their web, they would latch themselves onto it and devour at will.
Lianna fell through the web and hit the ground, rolling onto soft dirt and mud. Nix was not so lucky. She glanced up to see him hanging from the rafters, tangled in the spider’s trap. A brown trapdoor spider crawled across the ceiling toward him. He tried to reach his sword, but he was unable to free his arms.
The Amazon Queen could not reach him with her sword. She looked around the room, scanning the skeletal bodies of previous victims. A spear rested in the arms of a rotting elf. Lianna pulled it from his brittle hand, snapping it off, and rushed back to Nix.
The spider crawled onto Nix’s chest and bared its fangs. Lianna took the spear into both hands and thrust it as hard as she could above her head. It plunged through the creature. Black pus dripped to the floor as a squeal, like that of a pig on the farms of Lianna’s homeland, escaped the spider. Lianna hoisted the beast from the ceiling and hurled it across the room, where she finished it off.
Nix hung silently, swaying back and forth. Lianna walked beneath him.
“I suppose you would like to come down now?” She smirked.
“That would be nice.”
“You asked for it.” She swiped the tip of the spear around the thinnest part of the web until the strands ripped.
Nix plummeted to the floor. He tucked and rolled, regaining his footing unharmed. “I thank you for my life, my lady.” He bowed to the Amazon Queen, who smiled almost shyly.
Their eyes met briefly and Lianna began to lean in for a kiss, but Nix noticed more of the dead around him. “I curse these creatures and their young!” He spat as he gave the area the once over.
Lianna came up behind Nix and placed her hand on his shoulder. “They will all perish. I promise you that. Once we destroy the queen, they will all fall to dust…”
“If we ever face her. Each delay costs more lives. We’re running out of time.” Nix sat down on woo
den barrel lined with iron. “Every moment more of our people die. We need to reach her fortress.”
“We will.” Lianna sat on the floor beside him. “She will not escape her crimes. Just as before, our ancestors will destroy her.”
“I always told Edon to have hope. We would win with unity, faith, and courage. “Have I been a fool?”
“Never. Your words are true. We knew this journey would not be easy. As soon as we find Vanare and Myrrh, we will make our way to Sinnia.”
“Aye.” He sighed. “What is this place? Where are we?”
She searched for an answer, but found none.