“How did you know that?” asked Lemnock.
“I learned it back in biology class,” noted Camron. “I have a mind for facts and figures.”
“Biology,” repeated Lemnock. “The word means nothing to me.”
“It’s not important right now,” assured Camron.
The group scanned the vast cavern beyond. They could see the underground lake in the distance, and to its left was the thing they sought. It was like a great white teardrop, over forty stories high and perhaps half that wide. Its surface was smooth and it sat on four enormous legs, each at least forty feet wide and a hundred feet tall. At its bottom were three spheres clustered together, merged into the body of the teardrop.
All present recognized it as the temple, the Koth, but not Camron. To him it was something else.
“A spacecraft,” gasped Camron. “The thing that brought Lilith and Asmodeus to this world was a spaceship that used some sort of warp drive. It’s all starting to make sense to me.”
The others took little note of Camron’s comment. Right now their main focus was getting on the other side of that web. Their swords seemed to have little effect upon it. They might be able to cut through it but it would take a long time.
“If everyone would step well back of the web we will have you through presently,” said a voice from the great cavern.
Looking out they saw Abaddon and Lenar standing there.
The group drew back, and less than a minute later the web was aglow from some sort of a beam emanating from the swords of the two dark beings. When the glow subsided there was an eight-foot-wide gap in the web, the edges of which had been turned black. They passed through easily into the great cavern.
This region of the cavern was not at all like the region that Camron and the others had traversed but a few days ago. Only a hundred yards away, at the edge of the water, a towering pillar joined the ceiling with the floor. At least it appeared to. The fifty-yard-wide pillar vanished into the mists some two hundred yards above their heads. In fact, the whole area was much mistier than the far shore. Camron couldn’t tell how far the rocky beach went in either direction but it seemed to rapidly narrow as it vanished into the mists.
The rocky cliff behind him was covered with a complex network of webs. He scanned the wall carefully but the creatures who had spun these webs were nowhere to be found. He only hoped that it would stay that way.
“We have been waiting for you for some time,” noted Abaddon. “We have determined that the placement of that web and the perilous nature of the sea are not accidental. They are intended to keep both humans and wulvers away from this place, to insure that the secrets of this vessel remained just that.”
“So it is a spacecraft,” said Camron.
“I suppose you could call it that,” said Abaddon. “That description is as good as any other. For the past six millennia or so it has been the heart of the power of the drells. To them it is a temple. I am not so certain that they understand it as being anything beyond that. They are not like your people, Camron. They did not gain the knowledge of the universe through trial and experimentation. They had the culture and much of the knowledge of the elder race handed to them. The technology of the elder race was based upon thought and force of will, not upon instrumentality. That crystal amplified their thoughts and desires, it allowing them to become reality.”
“It’s almost like magic,” noted Camron.
“Exactly,” noted Lenar, “and therein lies the trap. If you have magic who needs technology? Everything you could ever desire is given to you by that crystal and others like it. You learn the mental disciplines required to master its use but nothing else.”
“The drells truly don’t understand the concept of gaining knowledge through their own labors,” said Abaddon. “Consequently their knowledge in so many areas are in a state of decline.”
“It’s hard to believe that such societies exist,” said Kadra. “Our people and the humans live by the sweat of their brows.”
“As it should be,” assured Abaddon. “It has taught you the value of work. But cultures like the drells are not unique. Our society too functions largely without instrumentality. However, we have never forgotten the value of either work or knowledge. We treasure both.”
“I wish I knew more about your culture,” said Camron.
Abaddon actually smiled, though slightly. “That day is coming, young man, I promise you.”
“An interesting history lesson,” noted Satar, who seemed impatient. “So now that we’re here what are we to do?”
“Destroy the crystal,” said Abaddon. “We had already discussed this.”
“And it’s in there,” deduced Satar, pointing toward the craft.
“That is correct,” replied Abaddon.
“It looks like a pretty big place,” noted Marlock, “and we’re a bit short on time. Any idea as to where we should start our search?”
“I have no idea,” said Abaddon.
“Great,” said Marlock, shaking his head.
“I suspect that it won’t be as difficult to find as you might think,” noted Lenar. “The difficult part will be procuring it and destroying it.”
Lenar’s words were interrupted by a loud screeching sound coming from the shoreline some 200 feet away. There the group saw a huge figure moving in the shadows. It was a spider. Only this one was about twice the size of the first. The coal black creature stood better than eight feet high and at least twice that long. It’s myriad of black glistening eyes studied the travelers carefully.
“By the Code of Torin,” gasped Lemnock.
The situation grew rapidly worse as a second and then a third spider joined it. They moved in an almost mechanical fashion in the direction of the adventurers.
The party drew their swords with the exception of Kadra and Satar who drew their bows. Satar’s was truly enormous. He drew a hollow metal arrow with a long serrated head from his quiver and carefully strung it. He turned to Kadra.
“I hope this works,” he said.
“It will,” assured Kadra, who had strung a similar but smaller arrow from her quiver.
The gigantic arachnids had drawn to within a hundred feet when Kadra and Satar let their first arrows fly. Both hit their marks amidst the shimmering eyes of two of the spiders. The spiders advance slowed as two more arrows hit their mark.
Satar dropped his bow and drew his great sword. He moved to the left a bit to avoid being trampled by the spider who had now drawn to within forty feet.
Two bolts of what appeared to be lightning erupted from the swords of Abaddon and Lenar, literally blowing a hole into the flank of the middle spider. Then the battle was one of swords and mandibles.
Abaddon and Lenar fought from the air. Abaddon landed on the back of one of the spiders, driving his sword into the beast all the way to the hilt, then withdrawing it and doing it three times more.
A moment later two of the spiders began to swing about. They seemed to go into convulsions, spinning and twitching wildly. Thirty seconds later they had both fallen silent. The third had literally been hacked to pieces by Abaddon and Lenar. The battle had lasted less than a minute.
“Is everyone alright?” asked Lemnock.
Apparently the answer was yes. The entire group stood before him, the only blood was on their swords and it was dark green.
“That was some poison you tipped those arrows with,” said Satar to Kadra. “Damn near took all of the fun out of the battle.”
“Is that it?” asked Camron. “I mean, wow, that wasn’t so bad.”
“No, that isn’t it,” corrected Abaddon. “It is simply the first battle of many. I seriously doubt that we will get off that easily. Let us make our way to the Koth.”
The group cautiously approached the Koth. Now that they grew closer it didn’t seem quite so pristine. There were telltale cracks in the hull and in places whole segments of the surface had broken away revealing some sort of brown ribbed substructure. The four legs it sat on a
ppeared to be pneumatic cylinders of some sort, wider at the top and narrower at the bottom but these too looked to have suffered the ravages of time.
The purpose of those three spheres at the bottom of the craft remained a mystery. They were indeed perfect spheres but at least one had a large gash in its side. This craft wouldn’t be taking to the sky again, that much was certain. The question was how it had gotten down here into the depths in the first place.
Gaining entrance into the craft appeared not to be a problem. A ramp thirty feet wide and three times that long led into what appeared to be an open door on the left side of the craft. Camron couldn’t get a good look inside from this angle.
It was several minutes of tense walking before they reached the ramp. Spider webs big and small ran from the ramp to the bottom of the curved hull. Beyond he could see what appeared to be a huge level hanger or cargo bay but it was very dark in there. In that darkness something stirred. It was moving toward them. They drew out their crystals so as to see their way. Camron could hear the scraping of something hard and heavy against metal deep within the ship. There were eight glistening points of light reflecting the light of the crystals they held, apparently floating in the darkness. Then he saw the dark outline of a terrible thing just beyond the huge opening in the side of the ship. The points of light he’d seen were the eight large black eyes of a spider that positively dwarfed the ones they had just done battle with.
“The beast,” gasped Kadra. “It is the guardian.”
A loud hiss emanated from the far side of the ship as well as to their left. No fewer than ten of the spiders of the sort they had battled before were advancing upon them, threatening to surround them.
In a few seconds Lemnock had evaluated the situation. “We must withdraw,” he announced. “We cannot fight so many out here in the open, we’re too exposed. We’ve got to retreat to the far side of the web. Try ta make a stand there.”
“We will cover your retreat,” announced Abaddon as he and Lenar spread their wings and took to the sky.
Camron looked back to the web. It was an awful long distance. Could they actually make it back there before the spiders reached them? They had to. Lemnock was right, they couldn’t remain here.
The group broke into an all-out sprint for the web. Abaddon and Lenar split up. One headed for the group approaching them from the left, the other heading for the group on the far side of the ship. There turned out to be more of them than they had anticipated. Each fired several bolts of blinding energy from their swords, doing considerable damage and breaking the ranks of the attackers, buying time for their allies.
Kadra and the rest were only a hundred or so feet from the hole in the web and safety when she spotted two more of the spiders approaching from the left, out of a shadowy corner of the cavern. She doubted that they would make it to the hole in time. She glanced behind her. The other spiders were still some distance away engaged in battle with their black winged allies. They’d have to make a stand here. She drew her bow and went for an arrow.
Apparently Satar had seen them too and come to the same conclusion. He had also drawn his bow.
The spiders took up a position between the hole in the web and the strike team. Things had just become a lot more complicated.
“They’re smarter than they look,” observed Marlock, drawing his sword. “They figured out our plan.”
Both Satar’s and Kadra’s arrows flew at the same time. Kadra again hit the beast on the right in one of its eyes, yet Satar’s shot was wide, deflecting off of the spiny legs of the beast on the left.
Satar seemed ready to take another shot yet drew his huge sword instead, advancing on the beast with Marlock at his side. Kadra took another shot at the spider Satar had missed with his first arrow, but her shot was wide. She moved to the right in an attempt to get off another shot even as Lemnock and Camron tried to cover her.
The spider that Kadra had hit with her first arrow didn’t go down as quickly as she had hoped. It swiftly advanced on Lemnock and Camron.
Any contingency plans the team might have had evaporated. Now they were fighting for their lives. These spiders were terrible adversaries, swift and deadly. Yet one weakness became apparent; even with so many huge eyes their vision seemed to be quite poor. They lunged most often at where their quarry had been a second or two before.
Again Kadra let an arrow fly. This one did hit the second spider in the abdomen, but she wasn’t all that certain that the tip had penetrated far enough to deliver its deadly venom. She turned to see the other spiders bearing down upon them. They didn’t have much time left.
At last the venom overcame the spider Kadra had hit with that first arrow. It spun about wildly and a few seconds later became entangled in the web unable to free itself. The group rushed around the second spider that was by now badly wounded, and passed through the gap in the web. The spider turned but was too large to follow. For the moment they were safe.
Within ten seconds the first of the other spiders had gathered at the web hissing loudly. Satar cautiously approached the web and drew his bow. He shot an arrow through the web to hit the sweet spot amidst the eyes of the hissing spider. It quickly withdrew, only to collapse to the cavern floor a minute later.
Kadra too got off three more shots, hitting her mark with two of them. The poison was indeed effective.
“Like shooting fish in a barrel,” said Camron.
But the barrel shoot didn’t last. After a minute the spiders withdrew out of the range of their arrow.
“They’re smart, a bit too smart,” noted Lemnock. “I’m thinking that they’re all controlled by the big one back in the Koth.”
“I agree,” said Kadra.
“They’re like soldier ants,” said Camron. “They defend and serve their queen, the one back there in the ship.”
“I’m counting eleven of em out there,” noted Satar. “I’ve got eight arrows left.”
“I’ve got seven,” said Kadra.
“The way I’ve got it figured, we’ve got enough for all of them and their momma too,” said Satar.
“No you don’t have enough,” said Abaddon, walking through the gap in the web along with Lenar. “I count another twelve to fifteen that have taken up defensive positions immediately around the ship. We’re going to need another plan.”
“What about that beam your sword gives off?” asked Marlock.
“Its power is not infinite,” interjected Lenar. “We have nearly exhausted the power within it. Two or three more shots each is all we have.”
“This mission can’t fail,” said Lemnock, his voice full of determination. “There must be a way to destroy that crystal.”
The group looked about at one another but no one said anything, at least not at first. Even Abaddon and Lenar seemed at a loss. It was Kadra who finally spoke up.
“I have one more thing,” Kadra said, her words faltering. “I’d brought it along hoping that I wouldn’t have to use it. I only have one.” Kadra drew out a box from her backpack. Within it was felt-like material and resting within it a glassy sphere about the size of a softball. A soft blue glow emanated from its cloudy center. “This contains pure power siphoned from the drells themselves. Don’t ask me how I came by it. If it were to be shattered it would create a most terrible detonation. I know not how great.”
“Great enough to destroy the queen?” asked Lenar.
“As I said, I am not certain,” admitted Kadra. “There is a chance that it might not work at all. It is very old. Then again it might destroy this entire area including the person using it.”
“It looks like one of the crystal balls only smaller,” noted Camron. “From what David said, it was powerful enough to blow up an entire carnival. If this thing is anything like that, you probably couldn’t throw it and then get far away enough not to be killed by the blast. It doesn’t have a timer, a fuse?”
“I don’t understand your words,” admitted Kadra. “A timer?” “Never mind,” replied Camron.
“I understand,” said Abaddon. “Perhaps Lenar or I could drop it from a great height and then fly away to safety.”
“But would the blast be sufficient to destroy the crystal within that Koth?” Lenar asked, looking at it carefully. “There are just too many unknowns for my tastes.”
“Yeah,” said Camron, “we just don’t know.”
“We need a plan,” said Lemnock, “and we need it soon.” He hesitated. “The drells took my nephew. He is going to die in that arena unless we act soon. So are many others. We need to do something. Our lives are not important. It is the lives of our people that concern me.”
“Perhaps I could carry this sphere of yours right to the door of the craft,” suggested. Abaddon. “I could hurl it in and pull up sharply. The hull of that ship might be pretty strong even after all of these years. It might well shield me from the worst of the blast.”
“If there is a blast,” interjected Camron.
“If the crystal is even in there,” said Satar.
“That spider is guarding something,” said Marlock. “I believe it’s there.”
“It is,” confirmed Kadra.
“Perhaps,” replied Satar. “But are you willing to bet the lives of all of your friends and family on that?”
“We might have to,” argued Kadra.
“Abaddon, do you think it’s there?” asked Lemnock.
“It should be,” said Abaddon. “All of the signs point to it.” He hesitated. “However, I too am not certain. It is a difficult call. There are too many unknowns.”
“My friend, it is critical that our council is sound,” cautioned Lenar.
“I am aware,” replied Abaddon, no sign of emotion in his voice.
The debate continued for several more minutes. It was then that Lemnock turned to notice Camron and Satar talking some distance away. The group grew quiet.
The Realm of the Drells Page 35