by Joshua Khan
“Peasant boy!” yelled Gabriel.
“All right! Calm down! Just give me another couple of minutes!”
Then the web vibrated again. Thorn heard the ominous music of jewel spiders.
Thorn searched around him. Where were they?
Then, through the unraveling mist, he saw and understood what had made this web.
“By the Six…”
It hadn’t been thousands of jewel spiders after all. Quite the opposite.
It had been one.
Thorn sawed faster.
Each of its eight legs was twenty feet long and tipped with a sickle-curved talon. The body was bigger than a cart horse, and its head was encrusted with malformed blinking silvery lumps. The fangs clicked together, oily with yellowish venom and as long as Hades’s own deadly canines.
“Forget the bat!” shouted Gabriel. “Save me first!”
“That ain’t never gonna happen,” swore Thorn.
He stopped sawing and started hacking.
Hades glared at the spider and hissed. He jerked, and there was a loud ripping noise as his left wing began to break free.
“This is so bad….” The sword was going blunt, as it was now covered with sticky webbing. He swapped to his left hand to rest his aching right.
The spider, sensing that its prey was escaping, slid down its own line, turning itself elegantly and opening its mouth, revealing rows of needle-thin glass shards.
“Now that’s just not fair….”
The spider was less than ten feet away.
Hades screeched as Thorn finally sliced through. The bat flipped, tearing himself free of the few remaining strands.
The spider swung its front pair of legs at Thorn, but he simply let go and tumbled after his bat.
Hades flicked his wings half-open and caught Thorn neatly between his shoulders. Thorn automatically locked his legs over the shoulder joints, his balance instinctively responding to the changes in direction. The wind howled in his ears as Hades arced wide around the web.
The spider, having lost them, turned to the nearest person still awake on the web.
Gabriel.
“Help me!” screamed Gabriel. He waved frantically at the gigantic monster. “Shoo! Shoo, I say, shoo!”
“You sure about this?” Thorn asked, wiping his sweaty hands before settling the sword back into his grip.
Hades growled, fanged and furious. He was so very sure.
“Let’s go save Gabriel.” Thorn grinned. “Now that’s something I never thought I’d ever say.”
They swooped down to battle the mother of all jewel spiders.
A howling blizzard raged, throwing gigantic waves of snow against the walls of Castle Gloom. Lily stumbled back from the onslaught, holding on to Dott to stop herself from being blown over. Everything beyond a few yards was white.
Her surviving Black Guard galloped out of the swirling snow, then just as swiftly vanished back into it. Fiery arrows arced overhead, to be extinguished before they even hit the ground.
And then, falling out of the sky, spinning and dancing in the wind, came the jewel spiders.
Lily had read about battles, of neatly lined cavalry, ranks of archers, and tight battalions of spearmen, all part of one orchestrated whole, controlled by a commander on a high horse, accompanied by flag bearers and trumpeters.
This was nothing like that. This was chaos; the soldiers had no more order than the falling snowflakes. How could they? It was hard to see the man next to you, much less one on the other side of the battlefield.
The jewel spiders needed no instructions. They leaped and scuttled, and Lily watched as they piled over a squad of soldiers, biting and stabbing until the troops sank under a glistening mound of crystal.
Spiders were already climbing up the outer walls, having crossed the frozen surface of the moat. Archers along the battlements loosed arrows, but the winds blew them off course, and those that did strike bounced harmlessly off the hard, smooth carapace that protected each spider. Other fighters dropped rocks and pieces of slate to better effect.
“M’lady!”
Wade ran over to her, waving a large iron hammer. “You must go inside!”
“Look out!” Lily yelled.
Wade gripped the hammer with both hands and swung it as a jewel spider, as big as a wolf, leaped out of the blizzard. Legs snapped off with the first blow, and the spider fell. It sprang up onto its remaining limbs, but Wade slammed one foot on it, holding it steady as he smashed its skull.
“Better than a sword,” said Wade. He flipped the hammer in the air.
“There’s so many. We don’t have enough men.”
And just one bite would send each of them to sleep.
She had to stem the tide, even just for a little while. Lily reached up, opened her hands, and spread out her senses, searching for the minute sparks of energy within each spider, the small glow that enabled it to act.
She felt them, small candle flames of life. Then she closed her hands and snuffed them out.
Hundreds of spiders tumbled off their prey like rain. Yet many thousands remained.
Lily groaned. That magic…hurt.
“M’lady!”
“Prin’ess!”
She doubled over as her chest tightened and she struggled to breathe.
Wade put his arms around her shoulders. “Someone help! It’s Lady Shadow!” But his cries were swept away in the wind.
Too much magic. She’d overdone it. By the Six, she couldn’t stop shaking. Tears froze on her cheeks. She clenched her hands to try and control them, and gasped.
“No, no, no…”
Wade stared at her, horrified.
“What?”
Her hands were gnarled, and her black hair, whipping across her face in the wind, was now threaded with white.
It’s temporary. It’s temporary. It has to be.
There were risks for those who went too far.
But she’d had no other choice. She could only fight magic with magic.
Even if it killed her.
No, her magic wouldn’t kill her. Leaning on Wade, Lily got to her feet. She was House Shadow.
She’d live on as one of the undead.
In what form, though? A vampire? There were plenty of those in her family.
Maybe nothing so glamorous. Maybe she’d just become a ghost, or even a zombie. Spend her days being stitched together by Dr. Byle.
Zombies?
Everyone thought they were useless. Old Colm couldn’t get them to march or to fight, and Sable had given up on them. Yet they served Lily. They were more…lively around her. Her father had told her as much the last time they’d spoken.
You are a necromancer. The dead are yours to command.
“Of course!” Lily grabbed Wade. “Gather the zombies. All of them.”
Wade shook his head. “M’lady? The zombies?”
“Do as I say, Wade.”
“But someone needs to guard you. It’s too dangerous.”
With her eyes closed, Lily dug deep. She felt the Mantle of Sorrows caressing her. It was no earthly material. Each Shadow who’d worn it before her had left something, an imprint or outline of their souls, upon it. She needed them now, to add their power to hers. A tremor rose from deep inside her heart.
She opened her eyes and let the darkness pour out.
Dott cried out in fright.
Lily trembled. She couldn’t keep this up for long. “The zombies, Wade…”
Wade stared as the oily blackness spread around them. “The zombies?” He shook himself. “Yes, yes! The zombies!” He ran back into Castle Gloom.
Hades screamed as he dove at the giant spider. The eight-legged horror scuttled across the web, abandoning Gabriel to face them. The icy air bit Thorn’s flesh, but he didn’t feel it; he was too hot with the urge to fight. He leaned right as they tore along the surface of the web. The spider twisted, faster than Thorn thought possible for a beast so huge. It flicked out a net.
&n
bsp; Hades jerked, and the strands passed overhead, missing them only by inches.
Thorn swung mightily as they shot by the spider, the same instant it thrust out his front leg. CLANG! The end, tipped with a wickedly sharp claw, would have parted Thorn’s head from his neck if Thorn hadn’t raised his sword in time.
“Help!” Gabriel cried as the spider scrabbled toward him.
“Turn!” ordered Thorn.
Hades arced back and readied for a second pass.
If only I had my bow!
But what good would an arrow be? A steel-like carapace covered the spider’s body, and bristling spikes protected it in all directions.
Again they struck, but this time Hades slammed into the web, claws out. The whole net quivered as both monsters went at each other. Hades clamped his teeth around one of the legs, and with a sharp twist he broke it off.
That still left seven more.
Thorn slashed and jabbed, searching for gaps between the monster’s armor plating. He wedged the sword tip into a space between the head and torso and thrust with all his might. But the spider flicked its head, and the sword snapped, leaving Thorn just a few inches of blade above the hilt. Thorn ducked as another leg swooped sideways, nicking him on the neck.
This isn’t working.
Gabriel dropped through the web and grabbed hold of Hades’s ear as he fell.
Hades screamed.
“Don’t do that! He doesn’t like it!” Thorn yelled.
“Help meee!” yelled Gabriel.
The long claws at the end of the spider’s legs raked gashes into Hades’s fur. Bright red blood splashed over the spider’s crystal body. Hades grabbed another leg and wrenched it off.
“No you don’t.” Thorn jammed the broken blade into the spider’s mouth as it tried to bite, locking it between the pair of fangs. Thorn gritted his teeth and twisted, pushing with all his strength.
The spider thrashed as the edge of the blade began to tear through the softer material in its mouth.
That’s it! It’s soft on the inside!
The spider venom fell over Thorn’s arm as he sawed at the loosening fang. The spider jerked back, but Thorn grabbed hold of the fang and, grimacing ferociously, gave it an almighty yank.
The spider shrieked as the tooth tore out.
Hades’s claws ripped the web, and it began to sag. It was strong but not that strong. Both bat and spider were shredding it.
The pulsing dream lights were dimming. This time there really was no more dream magic holding the cloud ship together.
The immense walls of cloud began to separate as they transformed back into their natural state of mist. Great crackling spears of lightning tore up the vaulted ceiling.
It won’t hold together for long….
Thorn’s broken sword had fallen. He had nothing else. He dangled off Hades, his legs wrapped around the bat’s shoulders.
He needed to attack the spider from the inside….
Thorn unhooked one leg, grabbed a wing, and swung himself up.
Hades hissed loudly.
“I’m sorry!” shouted Thorn. “Just give me a lift!”
Thorn climbed up Hades, the bat twisting and snarling as Thorn accidently stood on the bat’s nose. “Sorry!”
Thorn fumbled for the tube in his boot.
The spider’s eight gemlike eyes glared at him, and it snapped its jaws. Venom, thick and sticky, hung off its remaining fang in long, bubbled strings.
Hades wasn’t enjoying it. Blood was dripping from half a dozen gashes, and he was shaking his head, trying to fight the poison fouling his veins.
The spider scuttled onto Hades’s back, hooking its legs around his body. It widened its mouth, aiming its one fang at the back of the bat’s skull.
Thorn flung the tube—the tube of Thunderdust—straight into the monster’s mouth.
The spider turned its head, focusing its attention on Thorn. It bore down on him, closer and closer, until its eyes were only inches away. They shone with fiery hate.
“By the Six,” Thorn cursed, “you are real ugly.”
He kicked its jaw hard.
The spider jerked. A flash of soft red light shone from within, and there was a muted thud from within its body. It juddered as more lights burst from inside: greens, yellows, and blues as well as reds, all visible through its semitransparent body. They multiplied, and cracks burst across the spider’s abdomen.
Thorn grabbed the tuft of hair at Hades’s shoulder and centered himself on the bat’s back. “Go!”
Hades released his grip on the spider, and they fell away.
The spider’s body glowed with multiple lights, and it trembled harder and harder as the cracks widened.
The final explosion shook the air, and the spider was obliterated into a million shards. They flew in all directions, and Hades roared in triumph.
Thorn sagged. Countless sparkling diamonds fell around him, some still glowing with the colored heat of the explosions.
“Done it again,” said Thorn, rubbing Hades. “How many times have we saved the kingdom now, eh?”
Shame there was no one nearby to witness the epic battle.
Well, there was…
“Gabriel!” Thorn spun around. Where was the Solar boy? “Oh no…”
He looked down just in time to see Gabriel Solar, the only son of Duke Raphael Solar and heir apparent to the kingdom of Lumina, plummet into the clouds.
“Protect Lady Shadow!” roared Old Colm. His voice carried over the gale. He wore his old, battered breastplate, and his skull-face mask was raised, revealing his even more terrifying real face. His eyes blazed as he snarled, “Form up!”
Soldiers ran out of the snow toward them, quickly setting out a wide circle with Lily and Old Colm in the center. They were a mix of squires and remnants of the Black Guard. Some weren’t even properly armed, having come straight out with shovels, knobbly sticks, and pitchforks. Lacking the ferocious face masks of the Black Guard, the squires had painted their faces, so Lily was surrounded by skeletons, ghouls, and vampires.
Dott carried a huge spade and used it to flatten dozens of spiders with each blow. “Crunchy time!” she bellowed. But for every one she destroyed, there were a hundred more.
Lily was on her knees, exhausted. She’d swept a trench of darkness across them, a bottomless moat that had given her troops time to gather, but the gap was closing now, leaving them on an island of black surrounded by a sea of crawling, sparkling spiders. Too many even for her magic.
Lily pushed herself back onto her feet, moving like she was a hundred years old. Her beautiful black hair had bled color until it was pure white. She’d checked her teeth, worried that she might be growing fangs, but they felt normal. She peered into the blizzard, the vortex of white that seemed to have consumed the whole world. Her eyes hurt, as if pins were being poked into them.
The Shadow magic had changed her. And it wasn’t over yet.
“I don’t know about you all, but I’m having a lovely day!” Old Colm slapped the hilt of his sword against his armored chest. The loud clang raised an uneven cheer from the rest.
They stood there, weapons trembling, legs quaking. A few glanced back at the castle, no doubt wondering if they could make a run for it.
They’re terrified.
And if Lily could see the fear, then so could Old Colm.
The weapons master limped over to one of the squires. “You’re an ugly little one, aren’t you?” He tapped the small boy’s oversized helmet. “You’d be Oskar’s son, am I right?”
“Grandson, Master Colm.”
“Grandson?” Old Colm blinked in surprise. He turned to the ragtag circle of warriors. “Let me tell you about Oskar, a man so ugly that the devil wouldn’t take him! Came back from the dead three times, and that’s no lie! Spear in the chest, ax in the head, and, if I remember, a dagger in the guts?”
The boy nodded, grinning.
“Now you’re at least twice as ugly as he was. I expect great thi
ngs from you.”
Lily watched the boy grow ten feet taller with pride.
Old Colm wasn’t finished. “Your fathers were devils. Your grandfathers demons from the Pit. Your mothers were witches who raised you on the bitterest milk and the meat of the damned. Your blood is black, and each and every one of you is a nightmare born. Stand fast, and let your ancestors hear you in hell! Make them proud!”
The ragged band roared.
“I can’t hear you!”
They roared again.
“Louder!”
They roared and roared. They beat their chests and banged their shields.
Old Colm joined Lily. “We’ll clear a path for you, m’lady. You and your”—he glanced at Dott—“maid will make a run for the castle. We’ll hold them off as long as we can.”
“Did my father ever abandon a fight, Master Colm?”
“No, but you know that.”
“Then neither shall I.”
He laughed. “As you wish.”
One of the squires yelled, “Look! It’s Wade!”
Wade stumbled into the circle. He panted as he spoke. “Found you…at last.”
Lily grabbed him. “Well?”
Wade grinned. “And I got some reinforcements.”
The new arrivals shuffled out of the blizzard, moving awkwardly, but with some strange purpose. First came Tom, then Old Man Husk. Then a few more. Then many more.
“By the Six,” muttered Old Colm. “I didn’t know there were so many….”
A soldier stepped back. “But they’re just zombies.”
“No,” replied Lily. “They’re the Immortals.”
They parted as she stepped in among them. Lily took a deep breath. What should she say? Her father would have prepared a speech. He’d have known the names of his men and the stories of their families. Lily didn’t. She hadn’t been brought up to lead battles.
Lily didn’t say anything at first. She just became part of the crowd. It was as if she were the center of a web, one formed of invisible threads linking her to each and every one of the zombies here. If she concentrated she could feel the strands and make them obey her wishes and needs.
This was true Shadow magic—necromancy—the magic of the undead.