Araneae Nation: The Complete Collection

by Hailey Edwards

  “Give me that,” the first snarled. “All we need is for the maven to come back around.”

  The second grunted. “These won’t last much longer. She’ll need fresh ones soon.”

  “Fresher than what we can catch,” he agreed. “I think those harbinger beasts prefer live meat.”

  “You volunteering for the pen?” The other chuckled. “You’re a sight braver than me if you do.”

  I covered my mouth and backpedaled until my feet sank into sand.

  Maven Sikyakookyang was keeping a stable of risers in the hopes of luring a harbinger.

  “These are the people you risk your life for? Why stay with them when you could be with me?”

  From the guards’ rough accents, I pegged them as Mimetidae. With so few of them in the city, I had to assume Lleu knew what they were hoping to accomplish. That meant Asher might know too.

  Why hadn’t he told me? Had all his concern for me been a lie? Was he luring me into a trap?

  I sank to my knees in the shallows, trembling in the warm water.

  They wanted a harbinger. What would they do if they discovered they already had one?

  “They will kill you. You know I speak the truth.”

  I sank my nails into the sand. “Death is a kinder fate than the one you have in mind for me.”

  “You can take your place, rule as you were meant to.”

  “No.” Hot tears splashed into the current. “You killed my brother.”

  “Did I?” She sounded thoughtful. “He looked well enough the last time I saw him.”

  I froze and sensed her pleasure at my shock.

  “See for yourself.” She cackled with glee. “If you won’t come for your own sake, come for his.”

  Edan. Alive. It was a lie. It had to be.

  I should tell Asher— No. Those risers were penned for a reason. I couldn’t risk that. Not yet.

  Afraid to fly but unable to waste time on foot, I took to the air and flew back to the house.

  Henri would not have sent us into a trap. I knew him well enough to be sure of that.

  Which meant that he had no idea what, besides growing dayflowers for his cure, the Salticidae were doing. Old Father had worried about the sudden interest in their limited dayflower stores. They could hardly tell the Araneidae no. No one could afford to. Yet instead of helping to cure the plague, they sought to capture the creatures responsible for creating it. They could not kill enough risers or harbingers to stop the plague from spreading. It was done, and it could not be undone except through the treatment of those already infected. Were the Salticidae so set to risk their own lives to protect the dayflowers?

  Were they willing to risk mine? Suddenly, I was grateful I would not be here to find out.

  Chapter 11

  What few belongings of mine survived the trip south, I clutched in my arms. I cast a cursory glance in each room, thankful the comfortable quarters meant my examination went quickly. Wishövi had not given me a key, so I stepped outside and locked the door. The Salticidae could handle securing it properly.

  Outside, the wind rustled leaves in the orchard. Asher’s hammock caught the breeze and swung.

  Part of me worried he would be furious when he realized I had left and what I meant to do.

  The other part was more concerned about his reasons for caring what became of me.

  Shaking off those grim ponderings, I set out for the veil with a pack slung over my shoulder.

  The journey would be longer without the ursus, but I felt it best to leave the sow for Asher’s use on his return journey to Erania in case the risers still roamed that side of the veil. Not to mention the extreme cold. I would rest easier knowing he had means of escaping and a shorter trip ahead of him.

  Walking gave me time to formulate my plan. Idra meant to tempt me with Edan, to lure me into her confidence again. What would she do when I arrived? What horrors did she have in store for us?

  Was Edan alive? Of all the questions I had, that answer decided everything.

  I walked through the dregs of morning, through the blistering heat of midday and into afternoon.

  Already the air was cooler. Southland heat was such that the bitter winds could not prevail here, but I sensed beyond the crackling curtain, the brutal heart of winter that pulsed in places like Erania.

  A rhythmic pounding pulled me up short, and I glanced over my shoulder.

  Asher rode our remaining ursus straight for me. There was nothing for it. I stood and waited for him to reach me, braced for his anger to lash me, certain he would try and drag me back to Beltania.

  He reached me, swung his leg over his mount and hit the ground.

  “You left.” His voice hardened. “Without telling me.”

  I held my tongue and counted dots of mud in the sow’s fur.

  “What happened?” He put his hands on my shoulders. “Were you discovered?”

  He glanced behind us, toward Beltania, as if deciding how best to handle a dangerous problem.

  My lips felt numb when I said, “Idra contacted me this morning. She claims Edan is still alive.”

  “She’s lying.” Pity softened his features. “I’m sorry, but you know it’s the truth.”

  “You’re sorry.” How quickly he dashed my hopes. “I’ve lost my brother, the only family I have, and you’re sorry? You of all people? You know what Idra will do to Edan. I won’t let her have him.”

  He pointed at my toes, which hung several inches above the earth. “You’re hovering.”

  I alighted and spun on my heel, heading back toward the veil.

  Strong arms wrapped around my stomach, lifting me while I kicked.

  “Let me go.” I elbowed him in the ribs. “I have to find him.”

  “Then what?” He grunted at my ear. “What are your plans?”

  “I don’t know.” I squirmed in his arms. “But I must find the crossroads again.”

  “I’m sorry for this.” He forced my hands together behind my back and tied them tight.

  I stomped his instep and stumbled out of his reach, but try as I might, the rope would not break.

  With my wings and arms pinned, I was caught. I stopped fighting and faced him.

  “What will you do now?” I seethed. “Turn me over to the maven?”

  “Why would I—?” He scratched his head. “Did she say or do something that caused all this?”

  I snorted. “Are you telling me you don’t know about her plans to capture a harbinger?”

  “Why would the Salticidae maven tell me her plans? I’m not her kin, and I’m not sworn into her service.” His expression darkened. “She would know that if her activities directly conflicted with my paladin’s wishes, then I would tell Paladin Vaughn, or if I returned to Erania instead, I would tell his brother Rhys and she and her clan home would be investigated. Now. Tell me. What has happened?”

  “How can I trust you?” The words came out softer than I meant them to be. All my life I had only ever trusted one person, and he was lost.

  Asher mashed his lips into a firm line. “You can trust that I want to help you.”

  “How can I know that?” For all I knew, he was glad to have Edan out of his way. What rival would want to save his better?

  “I came for you.” He exhaled through his teeth. “I had to come to you.”

  His frustration appeared so genuine I almost believed him. “Why?”

  He fixed me with a searing look that dared me to question his sincerity. “Not knowing where you had gone or if you were in danger made me crazed.”

  Fragile as his admission was, I still had doubts. “Aren’t you afraid it’s the harbinger’s lure?”

  “Yes.” He shook his head. “But if it is a lure, it’s not yours, or you don’t mean it to be.”

  Because he had been honest, I returned the favor. “How can we trust one another then?”

  “Trust takes time we don’t have.” The color drained from his face. “There is another way.”

  I
eyed him warily. “I don’t care for your expression.”

  His chuckle was sharp. “I don’t care for the offer I’m about to make, either.”

  Desperate to be freed, I braced myself. “What did you have in mind?”

  “Lailah could read my mind.” He tore his gaze from me. “Can you? If I consented?”

  I recoiled from him. “No.”

  “The damage has been done.” He offered me a shaky grin. “You won’t hurt me. You need me.”

  “Even if I had that power, I would have to either inject you with venom I don’t have or implant a sigil which I can’t produce. Idra is the only harbinger I know who can tap into the collective minds of all harbingers. The rest of us are bound to our makers.”

  He wiped a hand over his mouth. “I’m ashamed to say I’m relieved to hear that.”

  The tremble in his hand and the catch in his voice were too real to be manufactured.

  Whatever Lailah had done to him, it had left him carved with the same invisible scars as me. He had offered me the one thing he most feared losing again—control of himself. A harbinger could have seized his mind and bent him to her will. She would have had the venom-tipped nails I lacked.

  “What you offered…” I swallowed. “It was more than I could have given you. I would extend my hand so we could shake on our new alliance, but…” I lifted my wrists.

  He circled around behind me. “You won’t flitter off again?”

  Why would I? I had nowhere else to go. Even this scrap of hope must be investigated.

  I glanced over my shoulder. “What happened to trust?”

  A tug on my wrists and he set me free. “I thought we agreed it was a work in progress.”

  After taking a deep breath to settle my nerves, I told Asher what I had found.

  He shook his head. “Lleu didn’t mention such a pen, but if he was under orders from the maven, he couldn’t have. I heard the same rumblings as you did about some disturbance the night before we arrived. No one seemed to know any specifics.” He came around to face me. “If your scent drove the risers to frenzy, could another harbinger’s arrival have gotten them riled up the night before?”

  “Do you think Idra was there?” The idea chilled me.

  “It’s convenient she was there the first time we crossed, but because she was, I’m more inclined to think she sent a scout to survey the area in case you slipped through her fingers.” He paced. “That means she’s been planning for this—whatever this is. She may have sent the risers to rush us along.”

  I rubbed my wrists. “What do we do now?”

  “What you will do with or without me. Go after Edan.” He knotted his mount’s reins around the lone pine growing beside the road then freed a leather satchel. “Let’s head in and take a look around.”

  “Asher, wait.” I braced my palm against his chest to hold him still.

  “I know what it’s like to be taken by a harbinger. If I can help save Edan, then I will.”

  I fingered the button on his shirt. “Why are you doing this?”

  He wrapped one wide palm behind my neck. “For you.”

  Emotion clogged my throat.

  If I weren’t so selfish, so desperate, I would have ordered him to turn back for his own safety. But something had happened when we were together the first time. I could have taken those paths, walked those streets and toured that eerie town. If Asher hadn’t shown up when he did, I might have been lost to that place. I wasn’t sure if he could have followed me, but I knew he had seen the same things as I did. Perhaps together we could find our way there.

  And then find our way back.

  “All right.” I stuck out my hand, expecting him to take it without fuss. “Let’s go.”

  He checked his sword and tied a small water pouch to his belt. “Is that a good idea?”

  “You grounded me. You’re the reason I escaped the first time, so I think it’s an excellent idea.”

  “May I?” He held up the same black rope he had used earlier.

  I nodded, and he tied the end around my wrist and the other around his waist.

  He tested his knot. “This way you might see things clearer.”

  Ah. So his pride still smarted. I was being punished for leaving him. “We can try it your way.”

  As the stinging anticipation of the veil swept over my skin, I was grateful for any anchor.

  After he shrugged into the pack, he let me lead the way. Out of options, I took the road. It was the place where I first saw the crossroads. Its name implied a place where a mortal road might intersect with a celestial one. Mists slinked along the ground, wending through our legs as we forged ahead. I remembered the distance as being a half mile from where the veil started and where it ended as long as you kept straight. We must have walked twice that without gaining new ground before stopping.

  Asher offered me his water. “This is new.”

  “It’s a new trick to me too.” Ahead was blurry and vague, behind us…clarity. “Look there.”

  “I noticed.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “She couldn’t hint much clearer than that.”

  “If she wants us to turn back,” I reasoned, “we must have a chance of finding her.”

  “We can go a while longer.” At my snarl, he amended, “I wouldn’t eat what we found in here. I have some supplies, but it would be easier to leave and eat and then come back once we’ve rested.”

  He made too much sense for me to argue with him, so I didn’t.

  Hours later, a roar set my skin crawling.

  Asher eased beside me. “That sounded like an ursus.”

  “It might be one.” I darted in the direction of the noise, dragging him behind me. “We lost several here.”

  I ran through the mist until a large shape loomed ahead. The ursus snorted when she spotted me and took a few steps closer once I presented my hand.

  “This was Edan’s mount.” The sow sniffed my fingers. When she spotted Asher, her lip curled.

  “What’s wrong with her?” he murmured.

  “The harbinger infected her.” I pointed at the wound the harbinger had inflicted on her. The skin was puffy and red. The worst were the signs of infection already presenting in her. Her disorientation and glazed eyes were both signs the plague had taken root. “She’s a carrier for the plague.”

  He cursed under his breath. “Is she contagious?”

  “Not unless we eat her.” From what Henri had said, “The plague is transmitted primarily through animals. People eat the animals and become infected.” I touched the edge of her wound and felt hard knots. “I wish Henri were here now to explain this to me.” Asher leaned closer. “There are lumps underneath her skin.” I swallowed. “They’re moving. I think—I mean it’s possible… I think they may be sigils.”

  His gaze went to my throat. “Like the one she implanted in you?”

  My hand brushed the scar tissue on my throat. “Yes.”

  Except she had injured the animal with her finger. I assumed that was how she had infected it. Sigils were fist-sized. I would have noticed one of them detaching from her and buzzing the ursus.

  Unless… A horrible thought struck me. What if the sigils were the cause of the plague? It made sense they might be since they also created harbingers. But how had Idra gotten them into the ursus? I had seen with my own eyes the carcasses of infected animals split open, devoured from the inside. I had no trouble imagining the horrid little creatures capable of such carnage, but the how eluded me.

  “What makes you so sure those are sigils?”

  “They’re sentient.” I wet my lips. “I can sense them the same way I sense other harbingers.”

  His gaze softened on the beast. “What should we do with her?”

  “Lead her out if we can.” I grabbed her reins. “We can take what supplies are left and then…”

  One of us needed to show her mercy. Plague deaths were violent and painful. I knew the pain of having a sigil burrowed in me, and she had two. The kind thin
g was to not let her deteriorate that far.

  Asher brushed his hand down my arm until his fingers covered mine. “Let me do this for you.”

  I handed him the reins, squeezing his hand in silent thanks.

  Disorientation made her cautious. We must have spent the better part of the afternoon urging her onto the road and back into the southland heat. Her mood improved once she saw sky and scented air not contaminated by the strange magic of the veil. Asher discovered the skinned and roasted lepus in the pouch where Edan had stored it. Asher fed it to the sow to earn her trust, removed her tack and brushed her down.

  He untied me from his rope, coiled it tight and packed it away for later.

  Grabbing my elbows, he eased me down until I sat on the ground. “Wait here.”

  I pulled my knees into my chest and rested my arms across them then put my head down.

  The sow grunted as Asher led her away. The hopeful sound, like he might have more lepus, sent my heart drumming. This poor creature had deteriorated so far, so fast. I had seen Idra jab Edan with the same poisoned claw. Was he feverish or in pain? Had he been given a bed or cast upon the floor?

  A sharp roar brought me to my feet. Despite Asher’s attempt to spare me, I followed the sound.

  He circled the ursus, who had snapped her reins to escape him, with his sword drawn.

  I edged as close as I dared. “Do you need help?”

  “I can handle it.” He spared me a tired look. “Go rest. I won’t be much longer.”

  The sow swung her head toward me, her glazed eyes shining, and she took a step.

  “Asher.” I held still so as not to tempt her.

  He yelled at the sow to get her attention, but she ignored him. Seeing his opportunity to end this, he eased behind her while her back was to him. He had reached her shoulder, sword lifted, when the beast charged me. Ursus can run fast, faster than he could, but not so fast that I couldn’t outfly her.

  I pushed off the ground and hovered out of reach. “I’ll distract her.”

  Asher nodded and began a slow approach from the rear.

  Any ursus was a lot of animal for one person to dispatch, let alone a half-crazed one.

  The sow snorted at me in disgust, as though I were beyond rude for not letting her catch me. Her attention shifted as Asher came alongside her, and she loosed an earsplitting roar that startled me.