by Isaac Hooke
The advance group crawled across the floor in random locations, heading toward the far side of the stone hall. There weren’t so many that the entire surface was packed end to end with them, but there were enough that several spiders would die if an animal or human padded through their midst. He wasn’t overly concerned about the latter occurring—he could hop from viewpoint to viewpoint if his selected spider died.
The arachnids ahead of Malem’s unit began to round the bend—stalwart soldiers marching unwaveringly to potential doom. Then his own spider turned the corner, and he saw his robins and blue jays. They had turned to stone and fallen to the floor: their wings were extended as if in mid-flight, but had broken away from the bodies on impact with the hard surface.
Beyond the birds stood eight robed figures, clad in black, vaguely human. Their faces were shriveled and bloodless, including the lips, and their eyes were all sclera. Their pale hands were exposed, revealing long, pale fingers that hung like icicles. They were surrounded by auras of greenish-gray magic, with swirls of that magic circling around their right hands, as if waiting to strike.
In the center behind them stood a figure in a white dress. It had been a woman once, but her exposed skin was now grayish green, alternating between reptilian scales and stone. Her eyes were black, with green slits, and her hair was made entirely of slithering snakes.
That he was able to see her at all told him the tiny arachnids were immune to her transmogrification magic, as expected.
“I believe I’ve found Euryale,” Malem announced to his companions. “She’s waiting with eight of her minions around that bend.”
“How are you able to see her?” Wendolin asked. “Your mob spider is immune? Or you Broke some small animal?”
“Not an animal,” Malem said. “I’m viewing the world through the eyes of one of the arachnids.”
“I thought you couldn’t Break insects and other tiny creatures?” Gwen asked.
“I can’t,” he agreed. “But the mob spider has some kind of mental link with its brethren.”
“Care to share its vision with us?” Sylfi asked.
Malem did so.
“Whoa,” Gwen said, losing her balance. She rested one arm on Xaxia. “It’s like looking through a kaleidoscope.”
“I’m sending the spiders in,” Malem said. “Let’s see how well the Gorgon and her minions take to venom.”
He instructed the mob spider to deploy its brethren, and the monster obeyed.
The spiders moved across the floor, toward the robed figures, and the Gorgon. In moments, they were crawling underneath those robes, and up the legs of their foes.
Malem’s particular spider was near the rear, so he watched as the minions began to stamp their feet. One of them unleashed its magic, throwing a greenish gray vortex at the flagstones. The impacted spiders dissolved, while those nearby were thrown back.
The minions dashed forward, and Malem’s viewpoint arachnid was crushed beneath the heel of one of them.
“They’re coming!” he said. “Get away from the entrance.”
He and the others backed away. He ordered the mob spider to retreat as well.
He hopped to the viewpoint of another arachnid that had survived the initial attack, and used its eyes to watch the minions approach, just in case the Gorgon resided among them. She did not. Only four minions came forward, while the remaining four had stayed behind with Euryale around the corner. Their legs did not move—they hovered an inch off the ground, the tattered hems of their robes gliding over the stone floor.
The mob spider reached the entrance and dashed outside.
“Someone has to test that the debuff is working,” Xaxia said. “I could look…”
“Actually, you don’t have to,” Malem said. He switched to the viewpoint of one of the arachnids on the mob spider’s back and shared it with those bound to him. “I hope you’ve accustomed yourselves to spider vision.”
“What about those of us who aren’t bound to you?” Timlir asked.
“You won’t be participating in this battle,” Malem replied.
He hopped between arachnid viewpoints until he found one with a view of the main hallway, and watched the robed figures rapidly approach the entrance. The four minions dropped to the floor as soon as they hit the fringe of the debuff zone. They paused, looking at each other in confusion. The aura around them had faded, as had the magical swirls around their right hands. One of them threw its arm forward, in the direction of the mob spider. Nothing happened.
They turned around to flee.
“Oh no you don’t!” Gwen rushed the entrance, and began opening fire with her bow. She was using her own eyes, and gazing directly down the hall.
“Gwen, no!” Malem said.
But she let loose several arrows, striking the fleeing minions in the back. In moments, all four lay on the ground, their backs riddled with fletchings; pools of black blood flowed onto the stone around them.
Gwen retreated from the entrance, joining him. “I was never in any danger. The debuff zone protected me.”
Malem shook his head. “That was a risk. If the Gorgon had appeared, you don’t know if the zone would have saved you from her deadly magic.”
She shrugged. “I was willing to take the risk.”
“They’re not getting up,” Wendolin said, still observing the scene through the arachnid’s vision Malem shared. “Your arrows passed outside of the debuff zone, so they packed their full punch.”
“Yes,” Gwen said. “I figured that. Seeing as it didn’t take all that many arrows to destroy them.”
Malem waited, watching the hall via the arachnid. The Gorgon and the other minions did not appear.
He hopped viewpoints until he found an arachnid lingering past the bend at the end of the hall. There was no sign of the Gorgon and her minions. “She’s retreated.”
Malem instructed the mob spider to remain by the entrance this time. He wasn’t sure about the range of the spider’s mental link to its brethren, but he instructed the monster to dispatch arachnids throughout the keep anyway, and told it to alert him if any of them discovered a portal, or Euryale. He also ordered the mob spider to deploy some of its brethren to various spots around the perimeter of the courtyard, to stand guard.
Meanwhile, he watched his current viewpoint arachnid continue down the hallway past the bend. The spider and its brethren moved so very slowly, which only drew out the tension. He kept expecting to discover Euryale or one of her minions with each room the spider gazed into, or with each bend it rounded, but always the arachnid’s eyes were met only by cold stone.
Finally, he had to stop watching, and instead instructed the mob spider to inform him if the arachnids found anything. Or if they traveled out of range. Whichever came first.
Meanwhile, he retreated to the center of the courtyard with the others. He navigated between the stone bodies of the fallen, and sat next to the fountain where Zach lounged. The dragon had crushed several of the surrounding rock corpses, and no doubt pulverized many more underneath it.
“How long will your debuff zone last?” Malem asked.
“About half an hour,” Zach replied. “At which point I’ll simply renew it.”
“Good,” Malem said.
“We should be in there,” Gwen said. “Following behind those spiders.” She gazed longing at the keep.
“You are so eager to die?” Aurora said.
“No,” she said. “Of course not. I just hate waiting around when there’s a fight to be had. I did it once before. I waited. I hid. When my village folk died. And I swore never to do it again.”
“You hid?” Sylfi said. “But you’re the most courageous among us!”
“I wasn’t always this way,” Gwen said. “That day changed me.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard this story,” Sylfi said.
“Neither have I,” Wendolin added.
Gwen closed her eyes. “Even though it’s been so many months. I can still hear their scre
ams.” She shook her head, and a tear trickled down her cheek, overflowing from the closed eyelid. “I’ve heard so many screams since then, on the front lines of the war against Vorgon, and in the many battles since. And yet the screams I hear the most clearly are those of the villagers.” The tears flowed easily then, but she kept her eyes closed, not daring to look at anyone else. Her voice became angry. “I was a fucking coward. I hid in the forest while the oraks butchered those I loved like cattle. I’ll never escape it. I’ll never forget it.” She sniffled, wiped the tears from her cheeks, and rubbed her eyes. She gazed directly at Malem. “I’ll never forgive the oraks for what they did that day. I’ll tolerate the oraks in your army who will fight for you and defend you, yes, but forgive them, no. If any of them ever step out of line, or if ever I see an orak in the wild, I’m going to slay it, I swear I will.”
“And no one would blame you for doing so,” Malem said. “Least of all me.”
She nodded. “Good.”
A feeling of urgency emitted from the mob spider, and Malem sat up straighter. “The arachnids have found something.”
16
Malem allowed the mob spider to guide him to the appropriate arachnid, which lurked on the floor before a glowing portal of light. The monster was able to provide a mental path of the route the arachnid had taken to reach that portal, so that Malem was confident he could lead his companions to the appropriate chamber.
“Okay, it’s the portal,” Malem said.
“Any sign of Euryale or her minions yet?” Grendel asked.
“No,” Malem said. “Though I’m sure she’s lurking in hiding somewhere along the way.”
“So, the question is, do we make a run for it?” Timlir said.
Malem frowned. “Too risky. I have no doubt she’ll emerge somewhere along the way. Without Zach’s debuff to protect us, we’re all doomed. No. We have to draw her out somehow.”
“She was proud,” Grendel said. “If you taunt her, or her former lover, it’s possible you could illicit some sort of reaction.”
Malem chuckled. “So you want me to piss her off, do you? I’m not sure I want an angry Gorgon after me. But then again, we don’t really have much choice, do we?”
“Unless you want to journey inside the keep…” Xaxia said. “And into her waiting trap.”
“No.” Malem gazed up at the stone-walled building, and at those gaps where balconies once resided before crumbling away. He realized what he was doing, and quickly averted his eyes.
“You don’t trust the debuff?” Gwen asked.
Malem shook his head, and said, sarcastically: “Is it that obvious?”
“Pretty much,” she replied.
He raised his voice, and shouted. “Hey, Euryale. Come get me, you ugly bitch! I’m the descendent of the man who killed Mephiticus!”
“The rival was a woman,” Grendel said softly. “Not a man.”
“I’m the descendent of the woman who killed Mephiticus!” Malem called. “Come get me, Euryale!” He drew Balethorn. The blade hummed hungrily for Zach. Malem clamped his will down upon the sword, and the droning stopped. “Come get me!”
Nothing. He hopped to the viewpoints of different arachnids the mob spider had deployed around the courtyard, but saw nothing out there.
“Don’t think it’s working,” Aurora said.
“You think?” Xaxia commented.
Malem felt a sudden inrush of air, headed toward the dragon, like some implosion. “What was that?”
“The debuff zone just expired,” Zach said. “I’ll go ahead recreate it.”
But then the dragon’s body began to solidify. From the tail forward, living scales became dead stone.
“Oh,” Zach said. “Shit.” The transformation accelerated, and in seconds the stone reached its lips, and the dragon froze completely.
Malem slumped, gasping from the drain caused by the boomerang effect. He rolled behind the dragon’s body for cover.
“We’re under attack!” Malem said. “Take cover! Eyes shut! Rely upon the arachnids!”
The mob spider was still next to the main entrance to the keep, so it clambered inside and hid in the hall, which was apparently clear; meanwhile, Wendolin, Aurora, Gwen and Xaxia dove in beside Malem next to the remains of the dragon.
Malem hopped his mental viewpoint between the spiders deployed along the perimeter of the courtyard, until he spotted the Gorgon and her four minions. They were approaching from the west, upon the outskirts of the courtyard, from a pair of doors that had been opened in the ground. They moved between the stone bodies; sometimes, the floating, dark-robed minions unleashed their magic at the dead in their path, and caused their rock forms to crumble, clearing a path for their queen.
Malem shared the feed from the arachnid to the others.
Should we transform? Weyanna asked.
No! he sent. It will just make you a bigger target for her magic! Stay behind cover!
A hawk—not bound to him—darted past overhead. Euryale glanced up, and a ribbon of greenish-black magic spiraled upward, and struck the bird. Even though it wasn’t looking at her—the hawk was facing away—the magic caused the bird to turn to stone. Its forward motion carried it a few yards, until it crashed to the ground, and its body crumbled.
There was no nearby wood for Wendolin to use for her magic. And Grendel would reveal her position if she struck, or attempted to bestow the others with a speed buff. Weyanna faced a similar predicament with her ice magic. Unless…
Weyanna, can you create a hail of ice shards without revealing your position? he asked.
I think so, she replied.
Do it, he sent.
Using the eyes of the arachnid to target her magic, Weyanna caused large ice fragments to rain from the sky.
But the four minions with Euryale merely unleashed their own swirling magic in rapid succession, clearing the fragments from the sky before any of them could hit the Gorgon. One of the minions took a good chunk of ice in the face, and that seemed to stun the creature—it stopped defending Euryale, and merely hovered in place.
Wendolin tried to concentrate her attack on that one, but the others picked up the slack, and defended their companion, until Wendolin gave up.
I can’t get through, Wendolin said.
Save your strength, he told her. We’ll use your magic as a diversion, at some point. Wait for my word.
Remove my collar, Aurora sent. I can help you.
Malem hesitated, then retrieved the icepick-like key from his pack.
Are you sure that’s a good idea? Gwen asked.
I’m not sure we have a choice, he replied. We need all the help we can get right now.
He slid the icepick into her collar, and released the device. He pulled it free, and stowed both into his backpack.
Before he could give her the sword, Aurora was already raising her arms. She was finally going to reveal her power, then.
Beyond the dragon, past the rim of the fountain, the ground split open, and three mini-Balors emerged. They looked like their larger namesakes, except they were only twice the size of a man. Made of shadow and fire, with horns on their heads and vestigial wings on their backs, they wielded different weapons: an ax, a hammer, and a sword.
“Well now!” Xaxia said. “That’s handy. You’re a summoner.”
Through the arachnid’s vision, Malem watched the three demons rush the Gorgon and her minions. They used their weapons to destroy any stone bodies in their path.
The servants of Euryale unleashed their swirls of green and gray magic, but the mini-Balors were unaffected. The Gorgon’s gaze did work, however, albeit much more slowly than Malem had seen so far: the bodies of the mini-Balors very gradually lightened in color, turning gray.
The demons were still able to fight, and launched themselves at their attackers. Euryale retreated while her minions rushed forward to intercept the mini-Balors. With their magic being useless, and without weapons of any kind to defend themselves, the four minions fel
l quickly to the blades and hammers of their opponents.
Euryale, meanwhile, turned around and fled back toward the entrance in the ground.
The mini-Balors at last succumbed to the transformation, and they solidified in place, bodies freezing in mid-stride.
That was when Gwen got cocky. She leaped to her feet, and ran to the far side of the fountain.
“Gwen, no!” Malem said.
Her eyes were closed, he noticed—she was using the arachnid to guide her. She leaped onto the edge of the fountain, and aimed her bow at the retreating Gorgon.
Gwen fired several test shots to line up her aim, and then found her target. Euryale screamed as three arrows pincushioned her back. The Gorgon flung an arm backward, releasing a wall of that deadly swirling magic.
Gwen leaped down, and tried to duck beneath the fountain edge, but the magic struck her. Though her eyes were closed, she began to transform.
Panic filled her energy bundle.
Gwen! Malem sent.
Forgive me, she returned.
His connection to her severed, and Malem slumped from the boomerang effect. His mental space shrunk as his maximum number of slots became reduced.
“Gwen!” Malem said. He started to rise, wanting to run to her.
“She’s gone,” Xaxia said, grabbing onto his shoulders. “You go out there, you’ll die, too!”
He allowed Xaxia to pull him back down.
Euryale reached the stone doors of the secret entrance.
Malem was still observing the scene through the arachnid, and saw the fletchings protruding from the Gorgon’s back rapidly sprout branches. They formed a barrier around the creature; Euryale turned them to stone, but it was too late, she only further encaged herself, forming a barrier of stone instead of wood. She was trapped.
“I got her,” Wendolin said.
Malem sat back against the stone body of Zach, barely hearing. He dismissed the arachnid’s viewpoint. Shock emanated from the other energy bundles. None of those bound to him could believe what had happened.
Gwen was gone. The very first person he had Broken. The first person he had fallen in love with.
“It’s my fault,” Malem said. “I shouldn’t have shouted her name. I drew the Gorgon’s attention.”