Rod of the Heart

by Cebelius

  Spiders didn't bother her, but a spider big enough to produce silk that thick wouldn't be the sort of thing she'd ever had to deal with in the bottomlands.

  "Okay. Here is the deal," Yuri said, still speaking in that same quiet, soothing tone. "Weavers ... and I am pretty sure that is what we are looking at, are colony nesters. There will not be just one. Beyond this point the ground will be laced with webbing. If you step on a strand, it will grab you. We have two options here. We can set fire to this and wait for the spiders to come to us, or try and sneak past without alerting the colony."

  "Which is the better option?" Laina asked.

  "It is a toss-up really," Yuri admitted. "About the only thing I can say with certainty is that this is new and the actual nests are always on the ceiling, always. There are no corpses, as there would certainly be if this colony had been here a while. The more important information which we do not have is the size of the colony. Once alerted, they come as a horde. Big ones, small ones, it is a mess. If we were in close quarters, I would draw them to us, but this is too open for that. We could be surrounded and overrun. If it is a small colony, we could probably handle it. If it is a big one ... not so much."

  "And if we could tell which is which we wouldn't be having this conversation," Boss said wryly. "Great."

  Yuri nodded. "Exactly."

  The group exchanged glances, then Euryale spoke up from the back, sounding perfectly annoyed.

  "Really? Guys ... REALLY? Come on! Spiders have lots of eyes."

  Boss started chuckling and covered his face with his hand as he said, "Aw shit. Gimmie a break, will you? I'm tired."

  He dropped his hand and smiled at Euryale as he said, "Go for it, love. Have fun. Guys? We're going to wait right here until she comes back. Someone give her a torch. I fuckin' dropped mine back in the crypt and forgot to pick it up again. Stupid."

  "If she has a torch, won't she turn us to stone too?" Laina asked.

  "I'll give master the mask and he can watch," Euryale said. "The rest of you just get behind him and face the other way until I'm done. Master will make sure nothing happens to you."

  Boss nodded as he said, "Yeah, I can do that."

  Laina watched as Euryale came to stand in front of Boss while the rest of the group arrayed themselves in a semicircle facing away. Marcus pulled out a torch, Mila lit it, and he passed it off to Euryale before he too took up position facing away.

  The gorgon looked at Boss for what seemed like a long time, then leaned up and whispered in his ear. He glanced up at Laina and said, "Probably should turn around now, hon."

  Her ears flaming with embarrassment, Laina spun around, twisting her hands around the haft of her ax in frustration.

  I hate feeling useless.

  She heard him say, "Have fun," and then the soft patter of Euryale's bare feet as she padded away.

  For what seemed like an impossibly long time, nothing happened. The tension built up across Laina's shoulders until she just wanted to scream, but before she broke, Euryale did the screaming for her.

  And she was loud.

  There were no words in the scream, but it was a savage, feminine cry of defiance and rage. Immediately following her challenge came the sounds. First, a skittering sound that seemed to come from everywhere behind Laina, and then with startling abruptness, the skittering was replaced by a sound that reminded Laina of nothing so much as pouring a bucket of gravel out over a boulder.

  After a few seconds Laina couldn't help but shake her head as she thought, That's a big damn bucket.

  Eventually, with a final echoing 'pop!' reverberating away, there was stillness, and the waiting began again.

  With her ears quirked backward so intently the tops of them had begun to ache, Laina finally caught the sound of Euryale's pattering feet, and a few seconds later Boss said, "All right. She's wearing the mask. Apparently, it was a big nest. Emphasis on wa—!"

  Turning swiftly around, Laina frowned as she saw Euryale practically hanging from Boss's neck, kissing him for all she was worth.

  Shy sucked her teeth after a moment and asked, "Really? Gonna save some for the rest of us?"

  Euryale broke the kiss and slid down his front, making a great show of readjusting her dress before giving the dryad a proud smirk as she said, "Earn it."

  Laina glanced at Boss in time to see him roll his eyes, and that made her feel better.

  I really wish I could see Euryale's face. Not like she hides how she feels, but still ...

  "Well," Yuri said, clearly a bit taken aback by what had just happened. "I guess that works. Let us go. People are dying, and we do not have time to fuck around if we want to stop this madness. Just be careful where you step. The webs can still be a problem for those with bare feet."

  Stepping carefully, Laina resumed her place on Marcus' right as the group moved. Within about thirty feet they began to pass shattered stone, and by the time the glow from Mila's staff lit the entrance of the cave they were looking for, there were heaping piles of broken and shattered rock all around, and dust hung thick in the air.

  "Holy crap," Boss muttered as he looked around, the unease easy to read on his face.

  "Yeah, Athena didn't fuck around when she cursed someone," Euryale said. The gorgon sounded neither proud, nor particularly bitter.

  "Who was Athena?" Laina asked, more to make conversation than genuine curiosity. She hadn't forgotten Shy's admonition to try and make peace with the gorgon, and since she didn't often offer personal comments, it was as good a time as any to try and learn about her.

  "A stuck-up bitch who wishes she was half as good as I am with a bow!" Euryale said, her voice gaining volume until she was shouting. Laina glanced back to see her blank mask turned up to the ceiling as she cried, "YEAH, I SAID IT! COME GET SOME!"

  While the rest of the group looked around bemused, Boss looked genuinely alarmed and said, "Knock it off! Jesus fuck, woman, do you really want to try picking that fight NOW?"

  "I would pick that fight whenever the opportunity arises," Euryale said, an unnatural rage in her voice despite the fact that she'd lowered it to normal speaking tones again. "That bitch owes me, and if she still lives, one of these days I'm going to find her, and I'm going to eat her. She's the goddess of wisdom though, and she knows she can't handle me or my sister, so don't worry, Master. She's too smart to ever show her face to me again, more's the pity."

  "You honestly think you could take Athena?" Boss asked.

  "The only reason she's called a god and I'm called a monster is because the Olympians won the Titanomachy, and the Titans lost. At the height of her power she had the faith of countless thousands to draw upon. Thanks to you, I know she's now little more than a memory. I don't think I can take her, I know it. I dream of drinking her blood from Zeus' empty skull."

  Boss shook his head and murmured, "Remind me never to piss you off."

  Two things happened before anyone could respond.

  The first was that zone beasts began pouring from the mouth of the tunnel, torches burning away the webs that had blocked their entrance as their howls rose in a horrendous cacophony of evil. The second was that Marcus left the ground with shocking abruptness as the stone underneath his feet literally exploded upward, flinging him off into the darkness.

  "Eye's front!" Yuri screamed. "Stay in close! Back up five feet! LAINA! I NEED YOU NEXT TO ME!"

  Yuri's commanding tone forced her fear into the background of her mind as she swung her ax up to the ready and stepped up to take Marcus' place.

  The horde of beasts charging at them only took up part of her attention though.

  There was a hole where Marcus had stood, and out of it clamored a woman even bigger than she was, and she rode on a spider's legs.

  18

  No Man Left Behind

  There was no hesitation.

  When Marcus left the light, Terry ran after him. He could hear the fight erupting behind him, but he knew that Yuri would adjust and handle whatever came his way. H
e also felt confident the women with him knew enough to listen to him.

  The dark closed in like a fist and he paused, tilting an ear and trying to focus his hearing before remembering that he didn't have that ability anymore.

  "Marcus!" he shouted. "Talk to me, bro!"

  "Help!"

  Terry tried to take a step, but his feet refused to move. He glanced down and saw that he'd been standing on one of the web strands.

  "Oh for the love of .... FUCK!"

  He rocked back and jerked himself forward, but only wound up on his knees with the feeling that his ankles were just about done taking his shit. The laces on his boots were formidable, and he didn't have time to mess around. He pulled his hunting knife and cut the laces on both boots, slipped out of them, and left them behind as he staggered toward where he'd last heard Marcus.

  "Keep fucking talking!" he shouted.

  "Over here, here, here, here ..."

  Following the sounds, Terry blundered in near total darkness until the sound was coming from below him.

  He felt around and found a hand. He grabbed it, and Marcus wrapped his meaty fingers around Terry's wrist. Unfortunately, that jerked them both. Terry hit the stone face-first and slid another foot before he stopped, seeing stars and tasting blood in his mouth from where his teeth had cut his lips. He wound up on his belly with his head hanging out over empty space.

  The crevasse ...

  He tightened his hold on the minotaur's wrist and put his free hand underneath him, but as soon as he tried to press up, he started to slide forward and over.

  Flattening himself to the stone again, he said, "I can't pull you up, bro, you gotta climb!"

  "Too heavy," Marcus muttered. "Lost my shield and mace, but still."

  "Motherfff ... Can you put your feet on the wall and walk up?"

  "If I do, I'll pull you off."

  "Well, I guess we wait then," Terry said through gritted teeth. Supporting an armored minotaur with one hand was no joke, and if he relaxed, his shoulder would dislocate. "I'm sure someone will be along eventually."

  "Can't hold on much longer, Boss."

  "Grab me with your other hand then, fat ass! This shit ain't rocket science!"

  He heard a grunt, then Marcus said, "Arm's shattered. Can't use it."

  Terry winced and gritted his teeth to hold back the groan. His shoulder really wanted to jump out of its socket.

  The sounds of fighting and the clash of arms sounded from the darkness behind him, but Terry didn't dare shift to look. If he did, friction — the only friend he had left in the world at just that moment — would abandon him and he'd go wherever Marcus was headed.

  'Friction is NOT your only friend, Master. I resent being forgotten.'

  Terry groaned and shut his eyes, his suspended limb shivering with tension.

  If I try and put my other hand over the edge to grab him, I'll slip off.

  'You should let him go.'

  "Fuck you, Prada! If he goes it'll be because I'm following him down. So if you're going to talk, say something useful!"

  The voice in his head fell silent for a long moment, then said, 'My contract is to defend you. I'll cut him loose before I let you fall.'

  "I will see to it you die even if I have to suicide to make it happen if you cut Marcus loose," Terry vowed, not having the presence of mind to organize his thoughts well enough to be understood without speaking aloud. "He's my friend! He's saved my life, and I'll be damned if I let him go!"

  Prada said nothing more, and as the seconds passed and the sound of combat behind them continued, Terry's shoulder grew more and more fatigued. His breath was coming out in half-sobs as he struggled to hold himself taut.

  He could feel Marcus' fingers slipping down his forearm, and he thought desperately of some way to keep the big man from falling. Finally, an idea came to him that made him whimper.

  Oh, this is going to SUCK.

  He sent a mental image of what he wanted to Prada, only to have her say, 'I refuse to do this. It is outside the terms of my contract.'

  "Prada, I'm in a tight spot here, so I'm going to give you two choices," Terry grunted. "One, do what I'm telling you and I swear that when this shit is done, I will renegotiate terms with you, and those terms will grow you. Two, refuse me, and no matter how this turns out I will see to it that the only thing left of you on Celestine is a memory. Now think fast mother-fucker."

  'I will do it. Prepare your friend.'

  "Marcus?"

  "Yeah?"

  "This is gonna hurt. Get ready."

  "... Ready."

  As they'd spoken, Prada slid over his back and down his arm. She wrapped herself around both Marcus' arm and his own, then sent spikes through their flesh, effectively tying them together.

  "Ooh hohohoooo ffffffuuck," Terry groaned as tears started in his eyes.

  Marcus' hand spasmed, then tightened around his wrist again. A moment later, he said, "Boss?"

  "Yeah?"

  "You were right. That hurt."

  Terry made sounds somewhere between laughter and sobbing. Then his arm gave out, his shoulder tore from its socket, and he screamed.

  His grip on Marcus failed, but Prada kept them bound together, and Marcus' hand placement never wavered.

  Terry drew breath, then screamed again, tears now streaming freely up into his hair as he sobbed at the pain. All the while he kept his body pressed tight to the stone of the cavern floor, not daring to shift. His head hung in empty space; he didn't have the energy left to hold it up. Blood dripped from his cut lips and he couldn't be bothered to lick it away. It eased down his cheeks and across his scalp along with pain-induced tears. His eyes were wide, but he couldn't see a thing.

  Together they hung there, for how long Terry would never know. Every ounce of will he had was spent staying conscious, because he knew with a deep conviction that if he passed out, Prada would cut Marcus loose and claim rightly that she'd honored their deal.

  Finally, he saw green light, and felt a weight come down on his legs before pressing down on top of him.

  His breath left him in a pitiful groan as someone reached past him, and then the weight on his arm lessened.

  Prada slid away and returned to her place at his waist as Marcus' upper body was dragged over the edge, then away from it.

  He felt someone roll his body over and moaned as every tiny shift sent shards of agony through his shoulder and chest.

  He opened his eyes and blinked away as much water as he could.

  Laina. Thank God ...

  His dislocated arm was laying across his stomach, and his smile wavered as his eyes blurred again. "Good to s-see you ..."

  He might have said more, but she pressed her fingers to the side of his face to force his mouth open, then shoved a bottle in and said, "Drink."

  Yes Ma'am.

  As his throat worked, he felt someone else take his arm gingerly and lay it down, then hold his shoulder tightly. The bones inside ground around, but there was no pain. It felt as though he'd been given a local anesthetic. He had no idea if that was Laina's milk at work or Mila's magic or God Himself having mercy on his dumb ass, but the pain did not return, and a few moments later his fingers twitched and he got feeling back, followed by a flood of pins and needles.

  "That feels much beffMph!"

  ... Man her tits are soft.

  19

  Spider Queen

  Marcus was also given a dose of Laina's milk, though its impact on him was not nearly as drastic as it was for Terry. In the end, Mila spent some time closing the wounds in his hand and healing the bones in his arm and shoulder, many of which had been broken or shattered when he'd landed.

  The milk did seem to kill the pain though, and Marcus was profuse in his gratitude.

  "Thanks."

  Meanwhile, Terry looked over the group and saw most of them had injuries, or evidence of injuries already healed. Laina's were by far the worst. She had cuts all over, and answered Terry's question about drink
ing her own milk with a perfectly articulate raised eyebrow and the words, "Are you serious? Boss, come on."

  He glanced toward the ceiling, then said, "Look, hon. Nothing about this world makes any damn sense to me. At all."

  "I will see to her, do not worry, Boss." Mila said as she finished working on Marcus.

  "So what the hell happened?" he asked, turning his attention to Yuri. He and Euryale were the only members of the group who showed no signs of injury. Shy had chips and chunks cut out of her bark and was leaning heavily on her staff, but she'd waved him away when he'd looked at her.

  "Well," the tiger man said, apparently taking a moment to organize his thoughts, "the spider colony as it turns out just arrived here in response to a horde of zone beasts that had been moving through the tunnels. As the shortest route to the surface and with the crevasse as a natural barrier, the spiders set up here to catch easy prey. Killing them all let the remaining zone beasts still in the tunnel in, and in they came."

  Terry gave him a bemused look and asked, "How exactly do you know all that? Are you some sort of spider whisperer?"

  "I do not know what a 'spider whisperer' is, so I am going to say no. The spider queen over there told me these things once the fight was complete."

  As he spoke, Yuri jerked a thumb over his shoulder, but of course now that Mila was here, there was no light over there to see anything he might have been pointing at.

  He helpfully added, "She is waiting to meet you."

  Terry's bemused expression turned into a frustrated glare as he asked, "Yuri ... why is she waiting to meet me?"

  "Because my stupid brother — Chief Running-Mouth — told her about you," Mila said as she shifted her attention from one of Laina's wounds to the next. "Once we are ready, we will go talk."

  Terry looked askance at Shy, who either intuited his question or simply understood him well enough to know his thoughts. She shrugged and said, "We didn't kill her because she helped us fight the zone beasts, and without her Euryale might well be the only one of us still alive. We owe her."