by Jez Cajiao
Silence reigned as Ashrag and I looked sadly at each other, and we both reflected on the past.
“I don’t know what to say, Ashrag,” I said finally, sighing and sitting forward. “The Legion shouldn’t have abandoned you, and certainly shouldn’t have harmed your princess, but their first duty, as was yours as a citizen of the Empire, was to the Empire. Their Oath meant they had to return to the Capitol, to try to hold the Empire together."
"The citizens, well… they were afraid. I’d imagine the ones who hurt your princess were probably criminals, but when people saw you attacking them, they would have tried to help, and the whole thing boiled out of control.” I shook my head, getting up and walking forward slowly, the spiders all around me clacking their mandibles and fangs warningly. I was acting on instinct entirely now. I didn’t know what else I could do, but I had to try to make this right, or none of us were walking out of here alive. I stopped before Ashrag, and I slowly went down on one knee.
“I’m sorry for the things our people did to you and yours, Queen Ashrag. You deserved better, and you were failed by those you relied on.” I took a deep breath and met her pained gaze. “Your Oath to the Empire states that you have the right to protection from the Legion, the right to hold those who wronged you to justice, and the right to be avenged, if you cannot be saved,” I said, the notification with the Imperial Citizen’s Oath coming to me easily, the words imprinted on my soul. “The Empire failed you twice; the Legion didn’t come to your aid, and you were attacked when seeking justice. I can’t change that. These things happened hundreds of years before I was born, but I can fulfill the third section of the Oath. You have been attacked, your children taken, just like my friend has been. I can avenge and give you what you are owed: a home, food, and my protection.” I lowered my head, exposing the back of my neck, knowing that if she chose to attack now, it was all over. “I offer myself in apology. I give you the chance to strike, to claim my life in redress.”
Silence greeted my offering, before her webs shook again, her enormous bulk shifting as she moved forward.
First one, then another, and gradually all of her legs appeared before and around me, and she towered over me. I could hear the rest of my party shifting uneasily, but they didn’t say anything.
I heard a sword being unsheathed and Lydia’s barked order to sheath it again, then silence.
I felt Ashrag lower her huge head, until it was before me, and I looked up at her, waiting as her eyes searched my own for long seconds.
She said something in a language I didn’t understand, and a soldier scuttled forward, moving with horrific speed as it shot across the floor to me. I forced myself to stay still, my muscles shaking under the strain.
I felt a hot searing pain across my right cheek, and then the spider was crushed by Ashrag, a long leg smashing down with stunning force to pierce its abdomen, killing it instantly. She threw the corpse aside effortlessly, and it fell, twitching, into the darkness of the chasm.
I kept staring at Ashrag, even as I felt hot air entering my face through the slashed cut that separated my cheek into flaps.
“I accept your apology, Lord of the Empire, and I accept my Oath’s renewal, on the conditions offered...” she said eventually, straightening up and returning to her web. “You will destroy the Drow that infest these paths, and then we will accept you as our lord. You will provide safety for my children, food, and the chance for them to grow."
"Do these things, enable us to stand tall and free in the world above again, and we will consider the debt paid, but be warned: do not fail us again, for we will not be taken by surprise a second time.”
You have received a Quest from your Goddess: ‘Keep your Word’
You have given your word to an ancient Cave Spider Queen. Kill her enemies, grant her and her brood safety and food, and she will consider her Broken Oath to be renewed, binding her and all her brood to your orders and laws. You must kill thirty-five (35) Drow and their leader.
Drow Killed: 3/35
Locations Cleared: 0/3
Drow Leader Killed: 0/1
Reward: Oracle’s Freedom, Sworn Allegiance of One (1) Greater Cave Spider and her Brood, access to Cave Spider Silk, Cave Spider Nest Treasury and 50,000xp
I grinned in spite of the pain it caused as I stood up, my legs shaky as I relaxed slightly, knowing that the riskiest part of being here was over. Now all I had to do was what I was going to do anyway: gut the fucking Drow for taking Oracle.
The notification that had popped up let me know that Jenae was watching over me as well, especially with the experience boost her latest quest was offering me. I accepted it and dismissed the screen.
I looked up at Ashrag and her brood, and I knew it was going to give me nightmares every time I remembered how close I’d come to being killed, but I was alive!
Dancing on the edge of the razor still, just like I had been since I’d been picked up by Daphne, and I spared a grin, thinking of how pissed he’d been when I renamed him. I wondered idly if the name had stuck, after all.
“Thank you, Queen Ashrag.” I said formally. “So, is it going to be an issue if I heal myself now? Because this is fucking stinging,” I asked, pointing at my face.
“Do what you wish,” she replied, and I healed myself again, stifling a groan as my skin knit back together. The feeling of veins reaching out and reattaching made me think too much of things burrowing through me after everything had happened so far today.
“So, how far away are we from the Drow?” I asked, resuming my seat and gesturing for my people to come forward. “And why did you kill the spider that cut me?”
“You are an Imperial Citizen, as am I. Harming you would have harmed me, but there are ways around the Oaths; as long as I defended you, it was sufficient. When all is restored, I could not do this, so do not fear,” she rumbled away, and I grimaced.
“Well, there’s a different Oath that my people take, so we will have to talk about that later. It’s simpler, but more personal, based around the one rule of ‘don’t be a dick’, but we can discuss it,” I said.
“We will see. The Imperial Oath was enough for us. As to the Drow, the nearest clutch of them is just over a mile away. It has grown concerning to us how close they are coming.”
“How far is it to the city?”
“Three or four miles from here, or so I think. I remember the measurements, but if an Imperial Mile and your own are the same, I neither know nor care.”
“Fair enough. The Drow, then; if they’re a mile away, can you get us close to them? We sure as shit can’t climb back up without help, after all, and we could use a few of your soldiers, a few scouts, and a princess to communicate between them all.” I asked, trying my luck.
“No. We will return you to a close point to them, and carry you that far, but none of my brood will help further. If you are so weak that you need more, then we are better off without you. If you die, this costs us nothing, yet,” she said, a growl in her voice as though she was getting sick of the conversation.
“Fine.” I snapped back at her, “Carry us up, and we’ll kill them, but you keep one of your princesses close to us, and some of your brood nearby. When I finish the Drow, I don’t expect to have to come back down here to discuss it! I’ll have need of your help, and I’ll not have time to fuck about.”
“Very well. Now go. I have lost enough to your incursion,” She rumbled, spitting out commands as she slowly moved backwards into the outpost, a large building soon swallowing her up.
I looked down and saw a familiar-looking small spider scuttle out of the mass, along with a group of spiders that moved towards each of us, crouching down and waiting.
“Horkesh?” I asked, and the spider bobbed excitedly.
“Yes! You remembered! I am to be your companion, to help you and carry your words to the queen!” I couldn’t help but be freaked out by the jerky sort movements she and her brood made.
I’d never liked spiders before meeting the Spore
Mother, who only slightly resembled one; then meeting a huge freaking brood of them, including a queen that was bigger than a fucking bus, had only cemented that feeling.
I decided that Horkesh was a puppy, that was all, I was going to think of her as a puppy…not a spider that made my skin crawl and I wanted to hit with a hammer. A puppy…a puppy…a… oh, for fuck’s sake!
I gritted my teeth and climbed aboard the nearest spider at her direction, swallowing the bile that rose in my throat when another larger spider, began to web me in place. I held myself upright, and it stopped at my waist instead of trapping me fully, but I fucking hated it.
I could tell by the mutterings and grumblings behind me that nobody else liked it either, except for Arrin, who started petting and talking to his mount immediately, chattering away happily. As we all moved out from the Cavern onto the wall of the chasm, I had to clamp down hard onto my stomach, as I wanted to be sick. At least one sound behind let me know that someone hadn’t managed to hold their bile down, but again, Arrin showed his batshit self, as I heard his voice echoing around from below.
“Whoooo hoo!” he cried out, and I had visions of him being one of those mad fuckers that jumped out of planes for fun back home.
I shook my head and held on tight, the walls of the chasm slowly passing by.
Hour passing hour as we climbed, taking passageways above raging rivers, passing through tunnels that disappeared at crazy angles, and finally passing a section of fallen masonry, faint light from the surface glittering down to land on fast rushing waters that poured over the side of the cliff to disappear into the chasm below.
After endless hours of travel, the spiders stopped on a path that was open to the air on one side, and I tried not to think of how deep the hole below us was.
We dismounted, minor burns covering us again as we were freed from the webbing. The larger mounts scuttled away into the darkness, and a dozen small spiders clambered onto the wall nearby, awaiting my orders, Horkesh taking up station by my feet.
I checked on my crew, healing any injuries, and drew a deep breath, making sure the others were ready.
It was time to hunt the Drow.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I got Horkesh to send a spider ahead, figuring if the Drow saw it, it wouldn’t be an issue. Another trailed behind us, just in case, and I ordered Bane to lead our party, his Worldsense an definite advantage in the tunnels and paths. We traveled for maybe half an hour, before pausing by a small underground pool, letting everyone have a short break, with the magelights illuminating a small space around us.
We’d been passing through a huge underground chamber. Occasional faint light filtered in from high overhead, a slim path winding across crumbled rock, and moss covering the floor all around us. I figured the team deserved the chance now that we were away from Ashrag’s brood. I was enjoying the light filtering down, leaning against a pillar of carved rock, and we’d rested. It was a short break, maybe twenty minutes, just long enough to eat, drink, and give Bane the chance to breathe in a small pool we’d found, when he surfaced, carrying something.
He waded to the edge of the water, passing it up to me as Jian took his wrist and helped him out.
“What is it?” I asked shaking the muck from it, only to see a small skull staring up at me.
“There’s dozens of them down there, maybe hundreds,” he replied, gesturing towards the water, and I frowned. There were clear bite marks on the bones, and they didn’t look that old.
“What were they, and what the fuck killed them?” I wondered aloud, and Horkesh spoke up excitedly.
“They’re gnomes! There was a whole group of them down here,” she said, bouncing excitedly.
“What happened to them?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“They died,” she said simply.
“How?” I asked, and she spun around to look up at me, legs clattering on the stones.
“It was many turns of the Daystar ago. Queen Ashrag said it happened because they were weak. They all died.”
“Did you kill them?” I asked, gritting my teeth.
“No, creatures from above. They followed them down, hunted them, killed them, stole their stuff, and went back up. Left the bodies here. We ate them and put them in the water. I was only a hatchling then.”
“You ate them?” Miren asked, sounding sick.
“Yes, good meat. Why waste it; they didn’t care?” Horkesh replied, and I closed my eyes, fighting down my anger.
It wasn’t their fault, and it made perfect sense from a certain point of view; after all, they were already dead, and the bodies would only be wasted otherwise.
“I…no, Horkesh. To us, it’s not a good thing to eat other sentient creatures.” I said, slowly shaking my head.
I put the small skull down gently, dropping it into the water and watching it sink back down to join other grey piles at the bottom of the pool. The muck stirred up briefly as it landed, before settling slowly again, the skull disappearing from the world once more.
We moved as quickly and quietly as we could, passing collapsed buildings, old camps, the remains of caravans, and occasional piles of bones discarded in the darkness. My people were adjusting as best they could to the oppressive darkness as we left the large cavern, but I knew I’d asked too much of them when I heard a short, quickly stifled sob from behind at one point.
Thankfully, it wasn’t much longer before Horkesh spoke up, a small spider appearing and then scuttling away again.
“The Drow are in the next set of caves; they killed the scout that approached them and are stripping her body now.”
“Motherfuckers,” I muttered, shaking my head in annoyance. “Is there any light in there?” I asked, and to my surprise, Horkesh answered that there was. The Drow were apparently seated around a small fire, their lookout having opted to sit with the others in order to consume the spider’s prized leg meat, while another packed away the more valuable alchemical components.
I gathered my small team around and gave them their orders.
With Bane in the lead, we moved slowly into the next set of caves, creeping along the tunnel, until we could see the light and hear the low sound of melodic voices echoing.
Once we were sure of the layout, I let Stephanos and Miren move forward, their bows already drawn, and arrows nocked.
We crept forward as a group, Bane and I directly behind the archers, ready to take point, with Barrett and Lydia flanking us, and Jian and Arrin bringing up the rear with Cam.
As soon as they could be sure of their targets, both Miren and Stephanos fired, the thrum of the bows echoing, and making heads spin to identify the sound. The four Drow sitting around the fire jerked to their feet, rather than dodging.
For two of them, that was a particularly painful error, as the heavy arrows I’d directed them to use punched through the light armor the Drow wore, sending them crashing to the floor.
One was killed outright as the arrow neatly bisected its heart, while the other took it high in his left lung, the tip exiting through his back, and he staggered back with a pained scream.
Both Miren and Stephanos drew and fired again, before ducking back behind us, as Bane and I ran forward, our party following close behind.
The second volley of arrows made the Drow duck and dive aside, their freakily heightened reflexes allowing them the brief time they needed to dodge.
We closed the distance between us as fast as we could, the sounds of our party running echoing around the chamber. Snarls of anger twisted the faces of the Drow as we closed, and they saw our party.
As the first group had with me, these Drow clearly believed we were their lessers, disgust twisting their faces. The dismissal they showed to their injured and killed brethren made me grin momentarily, as our own people would be concentrating on healing, bringing the injured member back into the fight as soon as possible. The writhing, bleeding out Drow on the floor was getting no help from his friends, though, and I loved it.
The
pair of Drow that were still standing took up positions on either side of the fire, one facing Bane with two swords, while the one I faced held a shortsword and a long dagger in either hand, grinning at me evilly.
A trio of Magic Missiles blurred past me, and my Drow opponent frantically wove its blades in the air, trying to deflect them. He caught two of them, but the third snagged his left ear and exploded, sending him staggering and disoriented.
He lashed out at me with his sword, trying to keep me back, even as he dropped his dagger and clutched at his ruined face, the grey skin and most of his hair blackened and burnt. He screamed in rage; even injured, surprised, and stunned, his blade wove a deadly dance in the air. I caught it on my own, yanking the base on my naginata around, then forced his sword down, grinning at him as an arrow blurred over my right shoulder to bury itself in his eye.
I didn’t waste the time waiting, as the freshly made corpse gave a twitch, collapsing like a puppet with its strings cut.
Instead, I lunged forward. Bane’s opponent was covered in thin cuts as he skillfully deflected its attacks.
The Drow had just dodged another arrow and had been in the middle of some evil villain monologue I’d not even bothered to listen to when the tip of my naginata pierced his side and glanced off his spine. I felt a twang as something under tension gave way, sending the now paralyzed Drow crashing to the floor with a scream of disbelief.
I spun around to search for other enemies, only to see Jian yanking his sword out of the chest of the one with the punctured lung.
The fight was over in seconds, all of us standing around and panting with the sudden exertion. I caught sight of a small spider darting past us into the tunnel leading from the cave, as Horkesh stepped up to dance and skitter alongside me.
“I sent the drones to search for more of them,” she told me matter of factly. “May I eat this?” She climbed onto the dead Drow’s leg.