by Unknown
“How about you all take a look? I’ll disarm and restrain these jerks.” Marilyn suggested, prompting a sigh from James.
“I’ll go first, then. I’ve got the biggest shield, and I don’t think we’re going to be able to see anything before we’re inside,” James said, adjusting his shield again. Even if it had a few holes in it, the shield looked like it was in pretty good shape.
“I’ll be right behind you,” Stella said, straightening and readying her own shield. “If you get shot, it’s best to have a healer on hand.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” James replied dryly, and started toward the cave cautiously, his shield raised and ready to block any attacks. Everyone but Marilyn began following him, though Cora kept well back from him, hoping that would give her time to react if someone attacked.
James stepped through the shadows and vanished, without a sound coming through. A moment later Stella stepped through, followed by Brianna, Joy, and Helen. Cora exchanged looks with Eda and Jean, who waved her forward, so she cautiously stepped through the curtain of shadows.
The interior of the cave was far better-lit than she’d expected, with a large, straw nest that she assumed was for the manticore and what had to have been a guard post. There was a larger cavern with bedrolls and a smokeless fire down a short passage, where she could see the others, their weapons at the ready.
Cora also heard sobbing, and a man’s shaky voice. “Don’t come any closer! If you do, I’ll kill her!”
That made Cora’s stomach sink.
Chapter 18
There wasn’t a smile on Joy’s face anymore. Most of the time she didn’t mind other people attacking them, at least not like they usually did. The nature of the world was that some people had to fight to get territory to survive, and she really didn’t begrudge them that. She’d kill them first if she could, but that was just being fair. This wasn’t like those times, though.
In front of them was another large cavern, in the back of which she could smell a bunch of filth where someone had been defecating. Hammered into the wall were a dozen metal spikes which had chains attached to them, each of which were attached to the manacles of two or three men and women. The men were outnumbered by women about two to one, with twenty-six of them present in all, and they all were wearing clothing that was stained with dirt. Most of them were human, but there was a single half-elf man and two dwarves among them. Her gaze was focused on the man in front of the captives, though.
The man looked a lot like the soldiers outside, except that he was a fair-skinned half-elf with sharper features than she was used to, and his silver eyes were darting between them nervously. He was holding a dagger against the throat of a terrified human woman with brown hair and eyes, and a trickle of blood was beading on either side of the knife. In all, the entire scene made her think of how a spider would cocoon its victims and let them struggle, and that made Joy angry. It was a very unusual feeling, and it fueled her focus as she stared at him.
“Now, don’t be hasty. If you do that—” James began, but the woman yelped and her eyes widened when the man pressed the dagger against her throat a little harder.
“I said not to move! I want all of you out of here!” the man snarled.
“No,” Joy said, her tone flat, and she saw Stella flinch in the corner of her vision.
“What?” Brianna asked, looking at Joy in confusion just as the man snarled.
“You don’t care about her life?” he demanded, glowering at her. “You’re one of those freakish apis, that’s right. You don’t care about anyone but—”
“You can kill her, I’m sure you can. Maybe Stella or Eda can help her in time. If not, hopefully she’ll resurrect, and I can give her the coin before she dies,” Joy said, staring at the man in the eyes and seeing his confusion and terror grow. “You won’t kill more than one of them. But if you hurt her more, I won’t kill you, not right away. I’ll hurt you, then I’ll find a wasp nest, shove your face into it, and hold you there.”
The man went pale with horror at that, while the woman looked at Joy in shock. The others didn’t seem to know what to say, but after a few seconds Stella spoke.
“Joy? Are you feeling okay?” the woman asked cautiously. “Making threats like that…”
“It isn’t a threat. It’s what I’ll do,” Joy replied, glancing at Stella as the anger flowed through her. “He’s acting like a spider. Trapping others, toying with them while they’re going to lose their lives if we leave, and if we don’t he’ll kill her. He might kill her, and I’ll feel terrible for her since that shouldn’t happen to anyone, but I’m not going to let him do this to other people. He stops, or he gets a face full of wasps like he deserves.”
The shock on the faces of her friends was a little surprising, since Joy didn’t understand why they were so surprised.
“You… you…” the man stammered, his knife practically vibrating as he stared at Joy in horror.
“Let the woman go and drop your weapons. If you do, we’ll take you prisoner, and you’ll be well-treated. Better-treated than the captives behind you, anyway,” Cora said from behind Joy, a note of concern in the elf’s voice. “This is the first time I’ve ever heard Joy talk like that, so I think she’s serious.”
“Yeah, she absolutely hates wasps, so you must’ve really pissed her off,” Brianna agreed, lowering her sword slightly.
The man stared at Joy for a few more seconds, then his hand practically convulsed as he let go of the dagger, letting it clatter to the floor as he stumbled backward, releasing the woman as well. The woman began to collapse, sobbing, but Stella rushed forward to support her.
“F-fine, just keep that… that monster away from me!” the man replied, his voice shaking almost as much as his hand had been.
Joy sniffed, her rage subsiding as she smiled broadly back at him. “Says the person who was threatening to kill people who couldn’t even fight back. Coward.”
She was about to start forward when someone stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Joy blinked, looking back to see Cora right there. The elf’s concern was obvious, and Joy tilted her head curiously.
“Don’t go toward them. Not right now, anyway,” Cora said gently, shaking her head. “You scared us with how you were acting, Joy, let alone the prisoners. If you go too close right away, they might panic. Let us reassure them first, please?”
“Oh. I wasn’t angry at them, though,” Joy said, frowning deeply. “He was being mean to them.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that you weren’t scary. When you’re that serious it’s… startling,” Cora said, picking her words carefully, and the look on her face made Joy’s antennae droop slightly.
Ahead of them, Helen was disarming the soldier while James kept watch over both of them, and Stella was healing the woman who’d been taken captive. The woman was sobbing, and Eda and Brianna seemed to be looking for a way to free the captives. Joy hesitated, frowning a little, then nodded reluctantly, depressed that she’d made another mistake.
“Okay, I can do that. What should I do?” Joy asked, feeling a little depressed. She thought she’d been doing the right thing.
“Why don’t you go see what you can get off the manticore? We’ll finish up in here, and come out soon. Promise,” Cora reassured her with a smile, which improved Joy’s mood a little.
“Alright, I’ll do that. See you soon!” Joy said.
“Good,” Cora said, smiling even more.
With that, Joy took a last glance at the captives and turned to leave the room.
Hopefully they wouldn’t hate her. She really didn’t want that.
Sorting out the situation in the cave took longer than Cora liked, though at least the prisoner didn’t give them any more trouble. If anything, the man had practically collapsed in relief after Joy had left, which both amused and concerned Cora.
Joy’s response stuck out in Cora’s memory like it’d been etched there, in part because of how incredibly out of character for the apis it had bee
n. Only a minute or two before, Joy had been laughing as she rode the manticore down out of the sky, her enthusiasm obvious, and then… then there had been no happiness or smile on Joy’s face as she looked at the man. Instead, she’d spoken in a perfectly even tone with her rapier in hand. If there’d been seething rage in her voice it would have been more understandable, but instead the apis’s tone had been… neutral. No rage, sadness, or any other inflection. Just like someone bored commenting about the weather. That was what made it more terrifying than anything else she’d done.
Not that Cora had had much of a chance to dwell on it, with all of the captives they’d freed. Many of the people there were a bit traumatized, particularly the woman who’d had the knife to her throat, but in the process of freeing them, Cora and the others had picked up some information that both frightened and enraged her. She suspected it was even worse for Eda, Jean, Helen, and Marilyn, since they’d been in the same position as the others not long before.
The captives had been taken by soldiers from Skyfish Valley, and they were a mix of adventurers, soldiers, merchants, and townsfolk. The invaders had taken people they thought their lord would find attractive or who would be particularly useful, and Cora thanked the gods that they’d rescued them when they had, since it sounded like they’d have shipped the captives off to Skyfish Valley in the next day or two, once they were sure they didn’t have any others to send with them.
Fortunately, most of the people were in good shape since the soldiers had planned to take them with, even if most of their gear was missing and their clothing was spartan. So, as they started out of the cave, Cora stepped into the open, relatively fresh air with a sigh of relief, and paused on seeing Joy sitting on a rock, humming brightly as she played with a cat’s cradle, giggling as she tangled her fingers in the string.
“Joy, where did you get that?” Cora asked, glancing at the body of the manticore and wincing. The creature was missing the spikes on its tail and a large part of its hide, then its body had been dragged off to where it was mostly out of sight, which was kind of the apis.
“I got it from the worker! She saw some children playing with one in town and thought it was neat, so she bought a bunch to take to her hive. When she saw I was bored, she gave me one,” Joy replied, giggling as she untangled her fingers. “I’m bad at it, though.”
“It’s mostly a matter of practice. I played with those when I was young, too. My mother taught me stories using one,” Cora said, relaxing a little as she saw that Joy looked like she was back to normal. “Did you get anything useful off the manticore?”
“Eight spikes, six claws, and two sections of manticore hide,” Joy replied promptly, wrinkling her nose as she added, “I don’t like harvesting from animals, but I guess I sort of have to, sometimes.”
“I don’t blame you. It doesn’t look pleasant to me, and I’m not the one gathering the items,” Cora agreed, taking a deep breath as she hesitated, then asked cautiously. “Are you alright?”
“Hm? I’m fine, see!” Joy said, quickly standing and pirouetting in place, simultaneously slipping the string into her belt pouch. “I got a couple of bruises from the fall and cuts in the fight, but Eda healed those!”
“That’s good, but it isn’t what I meant,” Cora replied, a hint of frustration rushing through her, though she chided herself a moment later. Joy just didn’t understand other people sometimes; that’s why she had to talk to her. “It’s just… you scared us in there. You scared the captives, too, even if you didn’t mean to. It’s just that you seemed to stop caring at all, instead of being happy, angry, or anything else.”
“But… but I was angry! I was really, really mad at that person making the threats!” Joy protested, a hint of bewilderment on her face as she gestured at the prisoner, who was tied to the archer, with Marilyn watching over the two of them like a hawk.
“It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like you didn’t care,” Cora said, frowning now. “I mean… you’ve heard how we sound when we’re upset, right?”
“Yes, but… but that’s you,” Joy replied, biting her lower lip as she considered, hesitating, then continued cautiously. “I just… when I’m angry, I don’t do what you do. I just… focus on the threat. The other things are just distractions.”
Cora opened her mouth to reply, then paused as what Joy was saying finally clicked into place.Why Joy had sounded so detached was because it was her form of anger, and slowly Cora felt heat rise in her cheeks from embarrassment. She hated the idea that she’d jumped to conclusions, but she had the sinking suspicion that she’d done exactly that. It did bring another question to mind, though.
“I… well, my apologies, Joy. I misunderstood what you were doing,” Cora said, clearing her throat as she looked to the side. “That said… may I ask why you were so angry, then? I know that the situation was terrible, but you’ve never seemed so upset before.”
Joy looked at Cora curiously, then replied simply. “They were helpless.”
“Um… what do you mean?” Cora asked, the response confusing her even more.
“The people in chains. They were trapped, unable to even defend themselves. They may as well have been cocooned by a spider, waiting for them to do what they wanted to them. That makes me mad,” Joy explained, the slight smile on her face incongruous with the content of what she was saying. “I don’t like it, not at all.”
There was a crunch from behind Cora from a boot grinding a stone into the dirt. Before Cora could turn her head, Brianna spoke, allowing Cora to relax a little.
“Interesting, but… why don’t you object to ambushes, if you dislike people being helpless?” the human asked, stepping into sight with Stella beside her.
“People being ambushed aren’t helpless. They have the chance to spot it, to defend themselves. If they fail… that just happens. Sometimes you get the wasp, sometimes the wasp gets you,” Joy explained, shrugging as her smile faded. “Before, I didn’t have to worry about losing my stinger. Oh, I’d die if it lodged too deep, but that was part of life. Now… I didn’t think about it when we rescued the others, but… it bothers me. We should have a chance to fight, even if we die. Maybe not bad people, though…”
Joy frowned, obviously not liking that thought, and Cora couldn’t help relaxing a little more at the apis’s reactions. For all her oddities, Joy was nothing if not honest and willing to accept when she was wrong. That made Cora happier, and she glanced over at Brianna and Stella.
“Well, we’ll just have to tell the others what was going on. That might ease their minds a little, hm?” Cora suggested, prompting a smile from Stella.
“That seems like a good idea to me,” Stella agreed, and Brianna laughed, gently punching Cora in the shoulder, which nearly knocked her over.
“Well, we’ve got a while to do it, since we have to catch up with the caravan,” Brianna said, grinning broadly. “Let’s get going, shall we?”
Cora nodded, reaching up to rub her shoulder as she replied. “Sure, as long as Joy is ready.”
“Whenever you are!” Joy chirped, grinning broadly. “I’m glad we got rid of the Skyfishers! Well, most of this group, anyway!”
Nearby, Cora saw one of the dwarves glance in their direction, the man’s eyes widening as he mouthed ‘Skyfishers’, then a smile began to grow on his face, and that warmed Cora’s heart.
Maybe convincing them that Joy wasn’t that bad wouldn’t be too hard.
Chapter 19
The others didn’t smell the smoke at the same time that Joy did, and she stiffened, sniffing the air as her antennae perked up, and she asked quickly, “Is the caravan under attack?”
“What? If they are—” James began, only to be interrupted.
“Not anymore!” an apis worker replied cheerfully, popping her head out of some nearby bushes. The apis was carrying a bow, and Joy noticed that the quiver on her back was mostly empty. “The attackers retreated a little while ago… um, I don’t remember how you track time, but they aren’t
nearby anymore!”
Joy smiled a little as everyone else relaxed, particularly the former captives. The only exception were the two prisoners, who looked more disappointed than anything else.
“Still, how bad was it? If they attacked the caravan…” Cora’s voice trailed off as she shrugged, looking a little worried.
“They tried to pull people to one side while they hit on the other, but they didn’t succeed! We shot a bunch of them when they tried, and that didn’t go well. I think there were some losses, but I’m on patrol duty. We don’t want them coming back,” the apis reported, grinning broadly. “The worker who was with you already told the attendant about what she saw, so they should be expecting you!”
“Glad to hear it. Thank you for the warning,” James said, bowing his head slightly, and the apis grinned, waving at Joy as she darted off to the next set of bushes, practically vanishing as she did so.
“You know, suddenly I’m wondering if us getting sent off might not have been a good thing. At least we got through the fight with minor injuries, by and large,” Brianna said, frowning as they started forward cautiously. “If anyone attacked the caravan, they’d have to be tough enough to think they had good odds.”
“Maybe so, but that doesn’t mean we’d have been in good shape,” Jean replied, scowling as she added, “That manticore would’ve been a pain if Joy hadn’t taken it out of the air. It was high-level enough that most of our attacks wouldn’t have been able to do much to it.”
“Yep! My rapier bounced off twice after hitting the ground,” Joy confirmed, wrinkling her nose in distaste at the memory. “I wish we wouldn’t run into bad guys so much higher level than us.”
“You aren’t the only one,” Cora said, letting out a sigh as she shook her head. “Hopefully, after this entire war is over we can get back to dealing with more reasonable challenges. I feel like these fights have aged me years.”