by Skyler Grant
The blade met resistance as if hacking into something more physical and I pulled it back to lash out again, thrusting blindly into the fiery form. It was a slugfest that was going my way, my fire resistance proving to be an edge. In the distance I saw another Guardian channeling as it prepared another fireball.
Backstab
The spell stopped halfway through as again Ashley delivered a perfect blow.
Tangleweb
“Vintus Optoro,” Walt called out, gesturing sharply. One of the Guardians engaged with me was engulfed in some kind of fishing net made of brightly colored, magical threads. Walt must have picked up a new spell, one that hampered movement and stunned the Guardian for a time.
With another stab an elemental exploded into a puff of flame, leaving just one remaining. I stabbed and Ashley joined in as it fought to break free of the magical net. With burst of dying flame we were left alone in the chamber.
Even with my resistance I was something of a wreck. The damage over time really did have an impact and the burns were painful. Again, not like being set on fire in the real world, but maybe equivalent to really nasty sunburn. I decided to try my meditation skill. I focused and suddenly my thoughts were of Yvera—incredibly filthy thoughts of Yvera. Impassioned thoughts of a fiery Goddess shouldn't be a balm to burned flesh, yet it was. I was scarcely even aware as my health bar began to replenish fast.
It was one part creepy, one part nice, and two parts distracting. At least I wasn't on the verge of death anymore.
The others were already about the now-familiar tasks, Ashley looting away and Walt fiddling around the central fire column. The fire slowly receded from the crystal in the ceiling and Walt came over. He'd picked up a new staff, the head composed of four brightly gleaming crystals.
Walt explained, “Class Quest to inspect the labs. Remember? Each of the elemental cores combined. It lets me do a basic, ranged attack using any element I choose.”
“Useful,” I said. “It's about time you got something good. So far almost everything we’ve found has been favoring me and Ashley. What about the shield all these things were powering?”
“Turned off,” Walt said. “And I hope we won't need it, because it’s not going back up. It's run far longer than ever intended. The cores aren’t quite dead, but they don’t have the charge right now to pull that off again.”
I winced. It already felt like it might have been a mistake to turn off whatever had been guarding this place, but then the decision to avoid being trapped inside felt right, too. I supposed that sometimes you had to make a choice and be prepared for what might come of it.
This part of the castle had been a delight, getting me shocked, burned and generally maimed. I reassured myself that the next floor up would be the store rooms. Whatever else they might have, at least there would be no magical defenders.
At worst, I reasoned there might be just rats.
Chapter 13
We returned to the stairs and made our way up another flight. As soon as the next floor came into sight we immediately noticed the difference. The torches were lit, the flickering light illuminating floors free of dust.
Because of the rats.
A multitude of plump rodents scurrying about, although they all came to a stop when they saw us. After our encounters below I expected to come immediately under attack, but instead most scurried away except for one. It stood up on its hind legs, as if seeking attention, then slowly began to move down the center of the hall at a determined pace.
“I think it wants us to follow,” Ashley said.
“You think the rat wants us to follow it?” Walt said disbelievingly.
Ashley shrugged.
“Should we?” I asked.
“It’s the best invitation we’ve gotten since we came here. I say we give the rat a chance,” Walt said.
He had a point and with Ashley voicing no objection, I moved off to follow the rat with the others coming behind me. We were led through winding halls and eventually into a large chamber that might have once been some sort of pantry, but was now a makeshift throne room.
The throne was constructed of various pieces of colored scrap and occupied the center of one wall. Seated on it was a robed figure. A closer inspection showed the shape was more of a conglomeration, the entire body composed of writhing, running rats forever in motion. You wouldn't expect such a construct to speak, but it did.
“Welcome!” The figure boomed out. “Welcome visitors from down below to the Court of the Rat King.”
I supposed I was the one with Persuasion and a Charisma score of note, so perhaps it fell on me to talk in such situations. “Thank you, Your Majesty. Your kingdom is very well-lit.”
All right, clever diplomatic words aren’t my thing. However, perhaps Charisma makes a difference since the King did seem pleased.
“Order! The mark of any great and well-run society. Order to keep the lights on and the people fed!” The Rat King boomed with more enthusiasm than the concept seemed to warrant. “What brings you to my Kingdom, travelers.”
“We are simply passing through, Your Majesty, to the floors above. We didn't know of your Kingdom.” I tried to choose my words carefully.
“Did not know? But isn't it the greatest Kingdom in all the underfloors?” The King said, astonished. “Is there any other floor so well lit? Any other so well fed?”
“Er... Not that we have encountered, Your Majesty.” That much was true.
We were inspected for several long moments and the King seemed mollified as he said, “Good. Good. And is that the blood of traitors I smell on you?”
“What traitors would those be?”
“Those who rejected my rule, of course. Those starving rejects at the fringes of our society who plot my downfall.”
Oh. Right. Those rats. We did kill a lot of those rats.
“We’ve all but bathed in the blood of traitors, Your Majesty, wreaking terrible destruction upon them and the lands they hold,” I said, running with it.
“Splendid! Magnificent! I worried we might have to kill you for your trespass, but ones so willing to slaughter the deserving can surely earn their passage to the stairs above, am I right?”
Earn it? Were these rats trying to extort us? Yes, I was fairly sure they were. My gaze carefully drifted about the room and an alarming number of the creatures surrounding us on all sides. We might win such a fight, but I’d rather not chance it.
“We are pleased to have been of service so far, and are certain we might continue to be of some further service to each other. I take it that you need more slaughter to be done, are there other traitors?” I said.
The figure in the throne seemed to slouch for a moment and it muttered, “Not traitors. An enemy. The Queen. I want you to kill the Queen of Spiders. She who skitters, she who broods. She of webs that stick with a poisoned touch. Kill her and you have right of passage to the floors above.”
Definitely extortion. Two can play at that game.
“We are capable, Your Majesty, as we have shown with the traitors. Surely as capable as you are generous…”
The silence became uncomfortable as the rats that made the King chittered amongst themselves.
“We are generous,” The King finally declared. “Slay the Queen and we will gift some of what has been found in our kingdom that might aid giants like yourselves.”
Quest Granted
Slay the Queen
The Rat King has contracted you to slay the Queen of Spiders in exchange for safe passage from his realm and items scavenged from the supply rooms.
It was the only way we were likely to get out of here alive.
Our guide of earlier returned, nose twitching vigorously for a moment before it made its way out once more into the hall. Clearly we were to follow. Winding corridors filled with rats slowly gave way to ones in shadows, then finally darkness. Our guide rat jerked its head towards the dark and scurried off.
Drawing my sword and holding my shield out before me I led th
e way, once again the only illumination coming from Walt’s light spell. After a short distance webbing was on the walls, and I skirted several patches of white on the ground.
Eerie clicking sounds began to grow louder, an ominous melody, then red eyes began to glimmer in the darkness. We were surrounded by spiders.
None moved to attack. Rather, the swarm parted to reveal a figure that by all appearances seemed to be human. She was around our age with raven hair and a complexion so pale she might never have seen the sun in her life.
All over her flesh tiny spiders crawled—they were all that she wore. Still, there were so many and they were so active that they allowed nothing more than teasing glimpses of skin. It was both incredibly creepy and strangely captivating.
When she spoke her tone was cultured, imperious but curiously flat of all human inflection. “Humans and an elf. Interesting. Intruders to our floor yet surely travelers from afar. Why do you come here?”
That is an awkward question when you’ve been sent to assassinate or murder whoever's asking, even if you're suddenly having second thoughts about that. She seemed to be human, and while a spooky and weird one, I still found myself inclined to prefer her company over that of the Rat King. I had little desire to kill her.
“Yes, travelers,” I said. “We're seeking to pass through from the floors below to the floors above.”
“I like your dress,” Ashley said brightly. To my surprise it earned her the ghost of a smile from the Queen and a tilt of her head.
“The young ones like the warmth, and I enjoy the feeling upon my skin,” the Queen replied.
“But spiders are cold-blooded,” Walt said.
Walt got a rather less fond look from her. Her gaze shifted back to mine. The Queen’s eyes were an astonishingly brilliant blue and incredibly alert. And somehow old. “Were you sent to kill me?”
With that intense scrutiny upon me I somehow felt she might see through any attempts at dissembling. “Yes, when we entered this level we were led to the Rat King who insisted that we kill you for safe passage. It seemed a fair trade at the time, but having met you I'm having second thoughts.”
The Queen began to pace and I stole glances at those brief hints of flesh while spiders shifted and scurried about. “The rats have always been an irritant. Always hoarding, always tucking things away. They were tolerable before they made themselves into a King, now they are filled with pretensions. Idiots.”
“You sound like you’ve been dealing with them a long time. Yet you look so young,” I said.
The Queen gave another smile, a touch sad this time. “Do I? I know little of humans for all that I am one.”
“You are? I thought you some sort of—well, I don’t know. Humanoid spider.”
“Fool. I am the Queen of Spiders, not a Spider Queen. However, I have not made proper introductions. I was once known as Princess Maria Alera Sardonis, youngest daughter of King Leosi Sardonis and Queen Alera.”
I recognized the name, Alera Sardonis. We had a quest from her to shut down the shield. This girl’s mother perhaps?
“We were under the impression that whatever happened to the castle occurred quite a long time ago. How long have you been with the spiders?” Walt asked.
“I do not know. I was but a baby when the spiders first found and adopted me, abandoned or orphaned in whatever catastrophe befell this place. They took me in and cared for me, raised me as their own,” Maria said, looking distant and sad. “It was all a very long time ago.”
“So how do you still live? I mean you appear to be young and beautiful.”
Seduction has increased to 16%
I blinked at the prompt. That isn't where I was going with this—that really wasn't where I was going.
Maria’s ancient eyes looked me over thoughtfully and she said in a monotone, “Thank you, you are beautiful as well.”
“She’s hard up,” Ashley said.
“Spiders are masters of alchemy, although known for their poisons they are capable of so much more when they choose. To call me human now would likely be a falsehood, so altered is my blood,” Maria explained. “So if we have decided not to murder each other, tell me who you are and how you came to this place.”
We introduced ourselves. I left out our origins outside of this world, simply saying that by magic we had been transported to the cells and let the story continue from there. Otherwise, I was as honest as I might be, sharing the various encounters and informing her of my instructions to claim the throne above.
“You think my father may in some way still live and hold the throne above,” Maria mused. “And my mother is somewhere outside the castle and seeking entry. If you are to be believed, I am not the orphan I have always believed. I do not believe you're right, of course, but I am curious.
“What of the throne itself. Do you seek it now that you know it exists?” I asked.
“It has always existed,” The Queen said, waving a hand as if it were of little importance. “I have a throne and a people here. Why seek another when I am pleased with the one I have? But I would like to meet whatever remains of my family, if by some chance you do tell the truth. Now that you have lowered the defenses which protected this place, it seems I may have the opportunity.”
I realized just how the decision to deactivate the crystals on the floor below might impact her, and her people.
“I didn't know there were others in the castle that might be affected.”
“It’s long past time. I have always had questions about what happened, but found life comfortable enough I did not seek answers. Perhaps it is time I do so.”
“It sounds as if you consider going above as well?”
“Indeed. Although the Rat King will need to be butchered to assure my peoples' safety, if I am to spend any time away. I’d like your assistance, of course,” Maria said.
I glanced over at Walt and Ashley, who seemed none too thrilled with the idea. Ashley said, “The King offered us safe passage and loot. You seem cooler and all, and I think you have Liam all hot and bothered, but if you want our help you’re going to have to beat his offer.”
I really shouldn’t strangle her. I shouldn’t.
Maria wasn't perturbed.
“No doubt the rat made a pitiful offer. If Liam wishes to become the King of Castle Sardonis then he shall need allies. In exchange for ridding us of the rats the spiders would become his first. You will find we make better friends than foes. I am curious about my humanity and shall have him as a lover as well, he is an attractive man. For you, Ashley we will offer an assortment of poisons for your blades. For Walt, spider silk is incredibly light and durable and we shall make for you a powerful set of robes.”
“Deal,” Ashley said, far too quickly.
“You can’t just say deal for a deal like that,” I said, outraged. “Do I get a say in this?”
“Like you were going to say no?” Ashley said. “Listen, the less hard you get the next time you talk to the crazy bitch, the better off we’re all going to be. So just agree, have a good time with the nice spider lady who seems kind of into you, and we all win okay?”
“I agree,” Walt added. “For what it’s worth.”
This was the strangest conspiracy ever.
Without much choice I said, “It would be our most sincere pleasure, Your Majesty.”
Quest Granted
Two Faced to a Rat
Despite making a deal with the Rat King, you have struck a deal with his foe, the villainous Queen of Spiders to kill him instead.
Rewards: Poison of Spider’s Kiss, Silken Robe of the Watchful Eye. Alliance: Spiders
Maria nodded. “In that case, please call me Maria. It’s a name little used, but if I am going to go above I should grow used to it once more. Ashley, Walt, I’ll have rooms prepared for you both.”
No mention had been made of preparing a room for me—because I was expected to share with Maria.
Chapter 14
The night was a strange one. Being anci
ent, naked, and covered in spiders made her a bit odd, but still I assumed that in her chambers the spiders would go away and we’d be left to do what a naked man and a naked woman comes naturally to them.
I’m fairly sure her saliva was at least mildly toxic. After making out much of the night everything became a fever-addled blur. I recall at times my hands running along her bare flesh as spiders scurried away from my touch, and swearing I could feel yet more beneath the surface of her skin shifting and skittering. At one point with her legs wrapped around my hips it felt as if there were more of them than there should have been. Fevered hallucinations, surely, giving the hours we spent together a surreal edge. That's even outside of the spiders, of course—and there were spiders. Oh, so many spiders.
That's not to say it wasn't a pleasant night, certainly I woke up the next day feeling more relaxed and spent than I had in a long time. I’d not been with anyone since Amelia. Moving on felt good.
Okay, if I really bothered to think about it, a spider-covered Queen in a virtual world I was being held hostage in probably wasn't actually my life moving in the right direction, but it felt like it. It felt good.
*****
I awoke in total darkness. Maria had already made her departure. It took me some time to find my clothing and make my way to the door and out into the hall. Dim light peeked under the crack of another door and I could hear the voices of Walt and Ashley. I knocked before I stepped inside.
Bedding that must have come from the castle’s stores was laid out on the floor, although the room lacked any other furniture typical of a bedroom. Several large shelves lined one wall. Candles were a pleasant and warm change to Walt’s light spell.