Revenge of the Skull Spiders

by Ryder Windham

  Nilkuu saw the opening of the lava tube and shifted his weight to the right. The snake swerved into the lava tube. Nilkuu said, “I think I’m getting the hang of this!”

  The snake hurtled up through the lava tube but slowed down as it neared the tube’s exit, a wide hole that emptied into a wide cave. Slithering into the cave, the snake came to a stop alongside a rock wall, then twisted its head back to look at Nilkuu. Nilkuu said, “Why’d you stop? Are you tired?”

  Harvali eased herself down to the ground. “I’m guessing the snake senses we’re close to the Lord of Skull Spiders’s lair, and doesn’t want to go farther. Come on. We’ll proceed on foot.”

  The Protectors climbed off the snake. Nilkuu gave the snake one more pat and said, “Thanks for the ride, pal. If you ever get tired of these caves, you should visit me in the Region of Stone.”

  Leaving the snake, Harvali led the Protectors up a series of staggered boulders. When they reached the top, they stood before the mouth of another tunnel. A strange scraping noise echoed down the length of the tunnel. Turning to face Vizuna, Harvali whispered, “You’re absolutely certain you saw the Lord of Skull Spiders plunge into the chasm?”

  “Yes,” Vizuna said, “but my sensor tail is telling me there’s danger ahead.” He looked to his fellow Protectors. “We should stick together. Korgot, you’ll lead and serve as lookout. The rest of us will stay close, and watch one another’s backs.” Returning his attention to Harvali, he continued, “I hope you’re still wanting to come with us, because even though we don’t know what’s ahead, I’m not about to leave you here alone.”

  “Oh, I’m coming with you, all right,” said Harvali as she adjusted her grip on her spear.

  Walking as quietly as possible, they entered the dark tunnel. They hadn’t walked far when they heard a dripping noise. Korgot whispered, “I see water dripping from the ceiling. And a puddle on the ground up ahead. But just keep walking. No sign of any spiders.”

  Keeping his voice low, Kivoda said, “Where’s that water coming from?”

  Harvali replied, “Underground reservoirs that collect rainwater below the city. They’ve been crumbling and falling apart for centuries.”

  The scraping noise echoed through the tunnel again, only slightly louder. Izotor whispered, “We must be getting closer to whatever’s making that sound.”

  The tunnel floor began to incline upward. The Protectors and Harvali stealthily plodded on gravelly stones through the darkness. Korgot guided them around a bend in the tunnel, and they all saw a dim light in the distance. They proceeded toward the light, which appeared to glow brighter as they advanced toward it, until they were close enough to see they were approaching the end of the tunnel, and that the light emanated from beyond.

  They heard the scraping noise again, only it sounded longer and louder. Staying close to the tunnel’s shadowy walls, they crept up to the tunnel’s exit. Korgot was first to peek outside. She quickly drew her head back to the shadows, turned to face her allies, and said, “I hope you’re all feeling braver than usual right now.”

  “Why?” said Narmoto.

  “Because that scraping noise is the sound of hundreds of skull spiders hauling their master into the cave just outside this tunnel.”

  “What?” said Izotor. He peeked into the cave, then ducked back into the tunnel and said, “Korgot, I don’t mean to quibble, but I believe it would be more accurate to say ‘over a thousand skull spiders.’”

  Vizuna and Harvali stole a glance into the cave. They saw the Lord of Skull Spiders wrapped in thread spun by the skull spiders. The spiders were tugging at the threads to draw their master deeper into the cave, away from the cave’s mouth, which opened onto the chasm that surrounded the City of the Mask Makers. They also saw fine streams of water trickling down from the cave’s ceiling. Harvali pointed to the dark entrance of a passage on the far side of the cave, and whispered, “That’s the way back up to the city.”

  They ducked back into the tunnel. Vizuna said, “The Lord of Skull Spiders appears to be unconscious.”

  Harvali said, “But we’ll never make it to the next passage, not with thousands of skull spiders in the way!”

  “Not ‘thousands,’” Izotor corrected, “but definitely over a thousand.”

  “What’s the difference?!” Harvali said. “We’re beyond greatly outnumbered!”

  Narmoto peeked into the cave. “I’ve never seen so many spiders in one place before. They must have come from all over the Jungle Region to … to mobilize! That must be the reason. They’re grouping here because they’re preparing for war!”

  Vizuna said, “They’ll likely be seeking revenge. They’ll go after the Toa and also us. We can’t let them do that, especially if the Toa are already busy dealing with other monsters in the city.”

  Harvali said, “What can we do? There are only seven of us!”

  Turning to face Harvali, Nilkuu said, “When you studied the reliefs, didn’t you see the bit that showed the Protectors meeting Ekimu after the Toa arrive?”

  Harvali gave Nilkuu a blank stare. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Well,” said Nilkuu, “we, the Protectors, have yet to meet Ekimu, but we will, because the reliefs said so. It’s in our future. So relax. We’ll all live. There’s nothing to worry about!”

  Korgot punched Nilkuu in the arm. “You told us that you’d stop saying that!”

  “Oops,” said Nilkuu. “I forgot.”

  Harvali returned her gaze to Vizuna. “We can’t possibly sneak past that many spiders.”

  “Which is why we’re not going to sneak past them,” said Vizuna. “Here’s the plan.”

  Vizuna told the group his plan. When he was finished, Kivoda said, “Yeah, that should do the trick.”

  Harvali shook her head and said, “You’re all bonkers.”

  The Protectors ran out of the tunnel and into the cave. All the skull spiders stopped what they were doing and turned their evil gazes toward the Protectors. And then the Protectors opened fire.

  Seeing the Protectors invade their master’s lair, over a thousand skull spiders screeched angrily. The spiders that had been hauling the unconscious Lord of Skull Spiders deeper into the cave released their threads, and joined the vicious mob that skittered fast toward the entrance to the tunnel, where the Protectors stood, firing their weapons.

  But then the spiders noticed that the Protectors weren’t shooting directly at them, but were instead shooting over their heads. The spiders collectively paused, glanced upward, and saw that the Protectors were concentrating their firepower on a long, leaking crack in the cave’s ceiling.

  The crack was directly above the Lord of Skull Spiders’s body.

  The Protectors continued to bombard the ceiling. The crack began to expand, and then water exploded out from the center of the crack, bringing large, wet chunks of broken stone crashing down upon the Lord of Skull Spiders. The spiders closest to their master screeched as they tried to dodge the falling rubble. Not all of them succeeded.

  The crack in the cave’s ceiling expanded even more, and then it fractured loudly. Water sprayed out and cascaded across the cave, and larger segments of the ceiling broke away. The spiders didn’t know which way to run. Some skittered back to the threads that secured their master, and tried to pull him away from the falling rubble. Others simply tried to dodge the rocks. Hundreds of spiders stumbled and tripped over one another in their haste to reach safety.

  The remaining spiders narrowed their gazes on the Protectors, and advanced toward them. Behind the Protectors, standing just outside the tunnel, Harvali shouted, “Look out! A group of spiders is coming straight for you!”

  The Protectors knew exactly what to do. Nilkuu lowered his sandstone blaster and fired at the approaching spiders, knocking the nearest spiders off their spindly legs, and causing them to trip the spiders directly behind them. Kivoda launched a wide spray of water from his torpedo blaster, thoroughly drenching the wretched creatures,
before Izotor used his ice blaster to freeze the soaked spiders. The Protectors’ teamwork resulted in a broad pile of frozen spiders that served as a wall between them and the still-active spiders.

  But a second wave of spiders began furiously scrambling over their frozen comrades. To avoid slipping on the icy figures, the spiders dug their sharp-tipped legs into the ice as they surged toward the Protectors.

  Nilkuu, Kivoda, and Izotor had already raised their weapons and resumed blasting at the cave’s ceiling as the second wave of spiders approached. Vizuna increased power to his elemental flame bow and released a wide burst of bright green projectiles at the spiders, stunning many of them while temporarily blinding the others. Narmoto followed with his elemental fire blaster, spraying the frozen spiders with a blast of heat that sent them reeling backward. As for the spiders that had endured the attack, they were unprepared for when Korgot opened fire with her rapid shooter, blasting several stalactites that dangled overhead. The stalactites fell like massive projectiles from the ceiling and landed on the spiders.

  The Protectors and Harvali took a step back as the fallen stalactites threw up clouds of dust. The air in the cave had also become thick with rising steam as water continued to stream down from the ruined ceiling. Although the Protectors had subdued many skull spiders, many still chittered and screeched to one another throughout the cave.

  Korgot felt a tremor in the ground. Thudding and crunching noises followed the tremor. Korgot gazed through the dusty haze and focused on the layers of rocks and dirt that covered the Lord of Skull Spiders.

  The rocks and dirt were shifting and sliding away from the monster’s body.

  “The Lord of Skull Spiders is waking up!” Korgot said. Her allies looked at the monster. Although the Lord of Skull Spiders was still bound by the strong threads that his minions had spun, his evil red eyes glowed brightly, and he was obviously straining against the threads.

  “We have to get past the Lord of Skull Spiders to reach the passage,” said Izotor.

  “Uh-oh,” said Narmoto. “More spiders are coming in through the cave’s mouth!”

  “We can’t just stand here,” Harvali said. “Should we retreat?”

  Before any of the Protectors could answer, they heard a loud hiss from behind. Glancing back, they saw the giant snake slither out from the tunnel that had brought them to the Lord of Skull Spiders’s lair. Surprised, Nilkuu said, “Well, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon!”

  A loud snap came from across the cave. The Protectors saw that one of the Lord of Skull Spiders’s legs had just broken through several thick strands of spider thread. The monster’s leg flexed and twitched, then started to tug at the other strands that bound his body.

  The giant snake moved up next to Nilkuu and licked the side of his mask. Nilkuu said, “I think the snake wants to get out of here just as much as we do.” He pointed to the passage on the other side of the cave as he faced the snake and said, “If I keep the spiders off you, can you get all of us over there?”

  The snake’s head bobbed up and down. Nilkuu hopped up onto the snake’s back and said, “Climb on, everyone!”

  The other Protectors and Harvali climbed quickly onto the snake and grabbed hold of its scales. Nilkuu braced his sandstone blaster so it extended over the top of the snake’s head, then said, “Let’s go!”

  Moving even faster than it had earlier, the snake sped forward, plowing over and through the wall of frozen spiders. A large cluster of spiders saw the snake coming but wasn’t fast enough to assume an attack formation or get out of the way. The snake’s armored belly smashed into the spiders, knocking them aside.

  Another loud snapping noise came from the Lord of Skull Spiders as he managed to release two more legs from the binding threads. The monster extended his legs to kick at the ground and upended his body so he could more easily start tearing at the threads that bound his remaining legs.

  As the snake hurtled across the cave, Kivoda and Narmoto blasted at the ceiling overhead, shattering it to bring down more rocks and water onto the surrounding spiders. Nilkuu made sure the snake stayed on course, heading for the passage. But as the snake sped past the Lord of Skull Spiders, the Protectors heard the evil monster roar as his legs broke free from the threads. The monster moved fast, skittering after the snake with alarming speed.

  A group of about thirty spiders near the passage realized the snake was coming straight toward them. They scurried in front of the passage, climbed on top of one another, and rapidly arranged themselves into a pyramid formation to block the snake’s path. Nilkuu realized the spiders were poised to give at least one of them a good chance of latching on to the snake’s head when it came into contact with them. They were also poised to latch on to the snake’s riders.

  Nilkuu wasn’t going to let that happen. He fired his blaster five times in quick succession. The spiders shrieked as the blasts struck them, causing them to release one another and making their pyramid fall apart. The rattled spiders shrieked again as the snake, still carrying its seven passengers, sped into the passage.

  The Lord of Skull Spiders was right behind the snake and about to snare its tail when the cave’s entire ceiling collapsed with a thunderous crash. Kivoda and Narmoto glanced back just in time to see the monster and his remaining minions buried by the rubble. Dust and dirt sprayed after the fleeing heroes, but the snake managed to carry its passengers into the passage unharmed.

  “That was too close!” said Narmoto.

  The snake sped forward. The passage led directly to a series of broad stone steps in a circular stairwell. With its seven riders still clinging to its back, the snake traveled swiftly up the stairwell, its armored belly clacking against the stones as it climbed higher and higher. The top of the stairwell ended at an open circular doorway. The snake ejected through the doorway and came to a skidding stop in an outdoor field that was filled with weeds and high grass.

  “We made it!” Nilkuu said, jumping down from the snake’s back. As the other Protectors climbed down to the ground, he patted the snake’s head and said, “Thanks again, pal!”

  “Daylight!” said Harvali, squinting as she joined the Protectors. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen it, so very long since I’ve breathed fresh air.”

  The Protectors looked around, and saw that the grassy field was enclosed by a high stone wall. Dozens of stone obelisks and statues loomed throughout the field, and most of the monuments were choked with thick vines. Narmoto said, “Check out all the tombstones.”

  Nilkuu said, “That explains why this place gives me the creeps!”

  “I believe we’re in one of the older graveyards,” Harvali said, “along the city’s outskirts. I’ve never been here before, but I did study ancient maps of the city.” As she pushed through the high grass to take a closer look at a monument, she felt something brush against her left foot. She was still moving toward the monument when she felt cold, bony fingers grab her ankle.

  Harvali screamed. Korgot leaped beside Harvali and brought her own foot down hard, stomping on the skeletal arm that had seized her. The bony fingers popped open, releasing their grip.

  Korgot picked up the skeletal arm and inspected it carefully. “No doubt about it. This came from a skull warrior.” She tossed the arm aside, letting it crash against the base of a monument. Facing Harvali, she said, “We’d best watch our step. There may be more underfoot.”

  A wide area of ground erupted beside the giant snake, shoving it backward against a long wall, and then dozens of skull warriors pushed their way up through the soil and dirt. Most of the skeletal creatures carried swords and shields, but some were armed with bows and arrows. Using their glowing red eyes to select their targets, the archers drew their arrows and released them at the Protectors.

  “Take cover!” Narmoto shouted.

  Korgot grabbed Harvali and dived behind a monument a split second before deadly arrows whizzed over the grass where they’d just been standing. Korgot darted around the monumen
t and opened fire with her rapid shooter, mowing down the nearest archers.

  Several skull warriors jumped on top of the giant snake, which had become pinned between the upended ground and the wall. The warriors swung their swords down on the snake’s scales hard enough to make the snake release a pained hiss. Nilkuu and Izotor blasted at the snake’s attackers, smashing the skull warriors against the wall. The brittle bones broke upon impact, just as the snake wrenched itself from the ground.

  Three arrows whizzed past Vizuna. The Protector of Jungle ducked behind a tree and came up fast, bracing his flame bow against a branch before releasing a barrage of projectiles at the remaining archers. The projectiles struck the archers and snapped their bones, causing them to collapse. Vizuna turned his attention to his allies, and saw three skull warriors sneaking up behind the Protector of Water. He shouted, “Kivoda, behind you!”

  Kivoda instinctively ducked and tumbled sideways, just as the three skull warriors swung their swords. The blades narrowly missed Kivoda as he rolled across the grass. When he came to stop, all three warriors were within the sights of his torpedo blaster. The watery blast knocked the skeletons off their leg bones, and their other bones clattered against one another before they hit the ground and separated into hundreds of bits.

  Two more sword-bearing skull warriors moved fast for Narmoto. The Protector of Fire drew his flame swords as he leaped over both warriors. He landed behind them, and as they spun around to confront him, both fell upon his swords, crumpling to the ground.

  More than a dozen skull warriors still lurched across the graveyard that had been transformed into a battlefield. The Protectors were bracing themselves to attack the rest when the giant snake swept forward across the grass. The skull warriors stopped and turned to face the snake, just before it lifted the front of its long body and brought it down with a loud belly flop against the ground. To make sure the warriors wouldn’t get up again, the snake rolled back and forth, driving the broken skeletons deeper into the earth.