*See if that one is quiescent,* Salt said, to Forge, and the cleverman moved cautiously toward the source of that nearby rustle. After a moment’s search, he found a long stick, and used it to flip back the blanket of leaves. An iratus lay revealed, black carapace gleaming, six clawed legs and the long clawed tail, but it did not move.
“Kill it,” Sheppard said, from down the slope.
Forge flinched, but the iratus did not move. *With what?* he began, and switched to speech. “I cannot. I must retrieve this one.”
As he spoke, he stooped to take the unconscious blade by the shoulders, and heaved him back onto the bare rock. Everlasting could see that the front of the blade’s coat and the shirt beneath it were both cut to ribbons, revealing patches of newly healed skin. Forge laid his feeding hand against the blade’s throat, testing warily.
*He will revive soon, but he will need to feed.*
That was no surprise: to have healed those injuries would have taken most of his strength. *Keep him away from the Lanteans, then,* Everlasting said, and felt the prick of Forge’s amusement.
*Our queen,* Blaze said again.
*Give me just a moment longer,* Salt said. His thought was as languid as his illusion, barely distinguishable from the urge to rest, to give in to the coming night. Night, and winter, too, Everlasting thought, dragging himself out of the spell. The mist had taken on an edge of ice, of long nights under a flickering sky: Wraith and iratus alike felt the pull of hibernation, heartbeat slowing, the blood retreating from fingers and toes. Everlasting gave a silent snarl and shook himself, deliberately rejecting the illusion, and focused on the bodies by the door. All were blades, presumably all part of Moonwhite’s crew, and — though he thought the one on the bottom of the pile bore the mark of an iratus bite — all were drained, dead at another Wraith’s hand. The queen herself, probably, drawing on their strength to keep herself alive long enough to enter the nest alive, which meant she had been desperate indeed… He saw the same thought, the same fear, in Blaze’s face, and made himself project more confidence than he felt.
*She reached here alive. We will find her in the cave.*
He felt the flicker of doubt, of fear, and Blaze turned his attention to Salt. *Well?*
The storymaker’s eyes were closed, and his outstretched hands had begun to tremble, but the illusion was still strong around them. *Try and see.*
That was not as reassuring an answer as Everlasting had hoped for. He slew that thought, and considered the opening. The iratus were silent, stunned by Salt’s illusion, but he could still see nothing beyond the first layer of webbing. *We’ll have to get closer.*
*Yes.* Blaze took a step forward and then another, careful to step only on bare ground.
“Be ready,” Everlasting said aloud, to the waiting Lanteans, and followed Blaze. Two steps and a pause, then another step, then three, and at last they were at the edge of the opening, close enough at last to see through the draped webs. More egg sacs hung from the ceiling, enormous ovoids half as tall as a blade, and three times as wide: the hive was preparing to spawn. A few iratus clung to the sides or dangled from the cords that held the sacs to the ceiling, but most of them were on the cave floor, gathered in clumps and piles as the illusion triggered the instinct to hibernate. Further in, past the first webs, where the stones rose slightly, there was a humped shape that resolved as he stared harder to a queen lying half on her side, half on her back, her Night-black hair in tangles around her as though she had fallen haphazard, rather than laid herself down to await healing or death. An iratus queen clung to her chest like a sinister jewel, its scarlet belly pulsing softly.
*Moonwhite,* Blaze whispered again, and Everlasting winced at his pain.
The webs that covered the opening were as tattered as the ones they had seen further down the slope, and there were fewer messenger lines. Everlasting let the knife he carried in his sleeve slide down into his hand. *If we remove the center of the web, the messengers will remain untouched.*
Blaze nodded. *We can reach the queen, I see a path.*
Everlasting brought the knife to his lips, breathed on it to fog the surface so that the traces of moisture would help the metal pass through the clinging silk. He made one cut, withdrawing the knife as soon as he felt the silk begin to pull, and froze as several of the iratus rattled softly. He was close enough that he could see the plates of their carapaces shifting, chiton whispering against chiton — close enough that it would be hard enough to fend off even one, never mind six or seven. He felt the illusion strengthen, a gust of imaginary snow wafting across the opening, and the iratus stilled again.
He breathed on the knife again, cut another swath — the iratus were quiet this time — and then another, until there was a gap large enough for a blade to slip through. He slid the knife back into his sleeve, and Blaze shook his head.
*I’ll go.*
She was his queen; it was his right. Everlasting dipped his head, agreement and acknowledgement, wishing he had better weapons to hand. If the iratus woke, there was little he could do with only a pair of knives — give Blaze a clean death, perhaps, but even that was hardly guaranteed.
*Go.*
Blaze bent and slipped sideways through the gap in the web. The corners quivered, the messenger lines trembling, but the iratus did not move, held by Salt’s vision. Blaze stepped between the next pair of webs, ducking beneath one of the hanging sacs, then threaded his way through the piles of iratus until he was within reach of Moonwhite’s body. The other iratus had withdrawn from their queen, leaving a narrow cleared circle around the linked bodies, and Blaze stooped, gathering Moonwhite into his arms. The iratus queen’s legs twitched, drawing new blood, dark against Moonwhite’s skin, and there was another soft sussurent murmur from the iratus around her. Blaze froze, Moonwhite balanced awkwardly against his chest, and the iratus subsided again.
Blaze picked his way between the webs again, dodging the egg sacs, and came to a halt in front of the slit-open web. *You’ll need to take her.*
Everlasting could feel Blaze’s reluctance. He was no more eager himself, though for different reasons. If the iratus queen were jogged awake, if she turned on him… He pushed that thought away, and reached carefully through the web, using his elbows to spread the opening as wide as possible. Blaze laid her in his arms, and Everlasting braced himself to take her weight. She was utterly limp, and in spite of his best efforts, the iratus queen stirred again, carapace flaring. Fresh blood trickled from the wounds in Moonwhite’s neck.
*Easy,* Blaze said, and Everlasting suppressed the urge to snarl at him. The iratus queen was practically against his chest, its scarlet belly pulsing slowly as it resettled itself on Moonwhite. Her face was starting to show the sharpness that went with hunger and injury: she, too, would need to feed once they had freed her from the iratus queen. At least Salt seemed to have it well under control, caught in his illusion of winter and fog and sleep. He turned his shoulders as Blaze held the web open and carefully drew Moonwhite out with him, back through the web and into the open space in front of the nest. Blaze followed, and in spite of his care, the web shivered and the iratus rustled again.
Outside, Salt stood like a stone, but his hands were shaking visibly now. Forge had dragged the surviving blade into a sitting position, but his eyes were still closed, the lids barely fluttering. They needed to get away before Salt lost control — needed to free Moonwhite from the thing still clamped to her neck.
*I’ll take her,* Blaze said.
Everlasting started to object — surely it was better not to risk disturbing the iratus queen — but the fear and sorrow in Blaze’s thought silenced him. He let Blaze take the queen’s body, and turned to Salt. *How much longer?*
*Not so very much,* Salt answered, his voice slow, and in the nest more of the iratus stirred.
That answered one question, Everlasting thought. They would not be trying to remove the iratus queen here. *Go,* he said, to Forge and Blaze, and stooped himself to lift the in
jured blade. He was light with hunger, and it was less of a burden than he had feared to balance him over one shoulder. *Salt. Can you walk with me, and hold them just a little longer?*
*I…* There was a pause, long enough that Everlasting feared the worst, and then Salt nodded. *Yes. I can.*
*Come with me, then.*
*Yes,* Salt said again, and finally began to move, putting one foot in front of the other as though he walked in his sleep.
Everlasting picked his way down the slope, the strange blade balanced on his shoulder, following Blaze and Forge. Behind him, he could feel the illusion beginning to fray, and heard a scrape of stones as Salt stumbled and caught himself. The air was warmer, the mist fading; he quickened his step and saw the Lanteans falling back to the edge of the clearing as Blaze approached. He thought he heard a musing from the nest, and glanced over his shoulder to see Salt stumble again.
*Focus on the queen,* he said. *Keep her still, that will confuse the others —*
He felt Salt agree, and focused his own attention on the last stretch of ground. Surely there were no more iratus there, the Lanteans had killed them all, and he risked crossing the easier ground beside the damaged webs. Blaze laid Moonwhite gently on the ground, and Salt went to one knee beside her, his eyes closing as he concentrated on rebuilding his illusion.
“Shouldn’t we be moving on?” McKay asked, looking past them up the hill. “I think I hear those things coming —”
Everlasting whipped around, but there was no sign of a swarm emerging from the nest. “We have crossed the edges of their territory,” he said, with more confidence than he entirely felt. “Without the queen to goad them on, they will not pursue us.”
“That’s great,” Sheppard said, from a safe distance, his hands ready on his weapon, “but how are you going to get that thing off her?”
Everlasting looked at Forge, who went to his knees beside Salt.
*Can you persuade it to release her?*
Salt showed teeth. *It’s all I can do to keep it quiescent.*
“In our earlier encounter with the iratus bugs,” the Young Queen said, “we were able to persuade it to release its victim by stopping the victim’s heart.”
“Except we don’t have a defibrillator,” McKay pointed out. “Not to mention that we don’t know what a defibrillator would do to a Wraith anyway.”
*The Lanteans are right,* Forge said. He laid his feeding hand carefully against Moonwhite’s bared wrist, cocking his head as he tasted her condition. *And we cannot wait, both for Salt’s sake and for hers.*
Everlasting let the blade he had been carrying slide to the ground. He knew what was required, though the risks were terrible — if they sapped Moonwhite’s life too far, or did not restore it quickly enough, their attempt might well kill the queen. And if they didn’t take enough, the iratus queen would keep its hold, and drain what was left of Moonwhite’s life in an instant.
*I can do it,* Forge said, his tone reluctant, and Blaze shook his head.
*No. That is my right, as consort. No one else shall touch her.*
*Fair enough.* Everlasting dipped his head. *But wait a moment.* He switched to speech. “We are going to attempt to remove the queen, but I will need your help to incapacitate it. Do you have any of your smaller weapons?”
“What do you mean?” Sheppard asked.
“I think our safest choice is to shoot it as soon as it releases its claws,” Everlasting said. “But not with those.” He gestured to the weapon hanging from Sheppard’s chest. “I have seen smaller weapons — pistols? If it is shot with that first, then it cannot attack, and we can knock it away so that it can be finished safely with those fast-fire weapons.”
Sheppard nodded slowly. “Ok, yeah, I see what you’re saying. Knock it out and then kill it. Except — can’t he make it let go?”
“I cannot,” Salt answered, not opening his eyes. “The iratus queen is too closely attached to her system.”
“Damn.” Sheppard gnawed at his underlip. “So you want — what? Me to put my pistol up against that thing and shoot it the minute it lets go?”
Everlasting nodded. “Or let me use your pistol, if you are unsure.”
Sheppard gave a mirthless smile. “Yeah, no. I don’t think so.”
“Then you must do it,” Everlasting said.
For an instant, he thought Sheppard would refuse, but then the human’s mouth twisted, and he looked at the Young Queen. “Ok. Everybody off to the side. Casey, you’ll do the honors once we get that thing loose.” He turned back to Forge and Salt. “You’ll have to give me room.”
“Yes,” Forge said, and rose gracefully to his feet. Salt backed away more slowly, and Sheppard went reluctantly to one knee, drawing his pistol and cocking it with a sharp sound that was echoed from among the Lanteans. Everlasting looked back sharply to see both Ronon and the second Marine with weapons leveled.
“We don’t want you getting any ideas,” the Satedan said.
Everlasting suppressed a snarl, and motioned to Blaze. *Begin, if you’re ready.*
Blaze took a deep breath and knelt beside Sheppard, laying his feeding hand lightly on Moonwhite’s belly, well below where the iratus queen gripped her. And that was another danger, Everlasing thought, feeding from an imperfect spot, but there were no better alternatives.
“Hang on,” Sheppard said. He was pale and sweating lightly, but he edged his pistol forward until the muzzle very nearly touched the iratus queen’s pulsing underbelly. “Ok. Ready when you are.”
“I am ready,” Blaze said. He closed his eyes for an instant, and set his claws. Moonwhite’s body twitched, her head lolling to one side, but she made no sound. Blaze drank deeply, drawing the life-force from her so that her skin went pale and the bones showed stark under her skin. Everlasting flinched, unable not to see his own queen in that ravaged face, and still Blaze drank, while her hair faded from black to gray to white and her skin wrinkled like crumpled paper. Salt leaned forward, easing his illusion while emphasizing the withering husk, and Everlasting caught his breath. Had the iratus queen moved? Surely it would release her soon, any minute now. Moonwhite looked dead, eaten, withered to nothing as one never saw a queen, and still Blaze drank, though his teeth were bared in fear and sorrow.
And then at last the iratus queen moved, withdrawing its claws with an angry rattle of carapace plates. Sheppard shoved his pistol forward and fired, and the iratus queen flipped off and away from Moonwhite. Forge struck out at it, knocking it further away, and the Marine Casey fired a long burst into it at point-blank range. The iratus queen disintegrated into a mess of chitin and ichored flesh, and Blaze flung himself forward, feeding the life back to his queen. Everlasting gave a gasp of relief, seeing her features plump and swell, and Sheppard pushed himself to his feet.
“That was well done,” the Young Queen said, and he managed a wry smile.
“Let’s hope it was worth it.”
Blaze sat back on his heels, tears tracking his face beside the sensor pits. Before him, Moonwhite lay restored, even the gashes where the iratus queen had gripped her healed to faint and fading marks. But her eyes were still closed, though she seemed to be breathing normally enough.
*Forge,* Everlasting said.
The cleverman stooped beside her, first his off hand and then his feeding hand fluttering over her vital points. *She is alive and as far as I can tell unharmed,* he said at last.
*So why doesn’t she wake?* Blaze demanded.
*I don’t know,* Forge answered. “But I think we should move on — find shelter if we can, and then see what we can do for her. And for him.” He nodded to the semi-conscious blade.
“Your queen,” the Young Queen said. “She is not recovered?”
“She needs more rest,” Everlasting answered, and hoped it was true. “In the meantime, we would be wise to get away from here.”
“And that,” McKay said, “is the most sensible thing anyone has said all day.”
They made their way bac
k down the mountain toward the wrecked scout, Blaze carrying Moonwhite, Everlasting and Forge taking turns to carry the blade. He was starting to show signs of consciousness, soft protests when he was carried awkwardly and fluttering eyelids that gave Forge hope that he would come to himself soon enough. They made camp on the ledge above the wreck, upwind of any smells, and Salt and Everlasting climbed down and came back with emergency shelters undamaged by the crash. It was the work of an hour to cut poles to stretch the swaths of fabric into a low tent where Moonwhite could rest on a bed of soft branches, and Forge sat with her while the others built a fire. He could feel her pulse steady and slow under his thumb, could feel the life circulating in her veins, but her eyes were still closed, and even when he pressed cautiously at her mind, she showed no signs of waking. The ravages of the fever combined with the stress of its cure was surely to blame, he thought. There was a good reason that the iratus bugs were a last resort.
“Your queen.”
He looked up to see the Lanteans’ Young Queen standing outside the shelter’s opening, politely out of reach.
“How is she?”
Forge hesitated, but there was little point in lying when the Young Queen could see for herself that Moonwhite was still unconscious. “She has not awakened, and I do not wish to push any harder, for fear I’ll do more harm than good. We need to get her back to the hive as soon as possible.”
“There will be a delay in that,” the Young Queen said. “Our jumper is in use, ferrying patients from that village to Dr. Beckett’s infirmary. They will not be able to come for us until morning, and possibly not then.”
Forge suppressed a hiss, and Blaze loomed behind the Young Queen, scowling.
“We cannot wait that long.”
To her credit, the Young Queen did not move away, just turned her head to look at him. “Can you say she is dying? The villagers are, and have no chance at all without our help.”
STARGATE ATLANTIS: Lost Queen (SGX-04) Page 8