by John Corwin
"Yes." Ambria put a hand to her chest. "We are friends with Shushiel. I didn't realize there were blue ruby spiders."
The spider's eyes blinked several times. "Yes, come." It rotated away from us and trundled forward.
"Oh, thank goodness." Ambria released a sigh of relief. "Let's go."
I'd never met a blue spider, but something about the color nagged at the back of my mind. It seemed as if I'd met one before. Where have I seen a blue spider before? I tried to meditate and recall a memory, but kept tripping over my own two feet. Meditating and walking didn't go well together.
A webbed fortress rose in the gloom before us. Dozens of eight-legged forms hung from the trees, shadows against the glow of fungus.
"Is that your home?" Ambria asked.
The spider bobbed once, but its whispery reply was too faint to hear.
The sight of the webbed castle sent a thrill of pride through me. But it wasn't because I felt proud. It was because Victus had felt proud of this place, and the memory lingered somewhere in my subconscious. My steps slowed, mired in dread. I saw the blue spider in Victus's memory. Watched the conversation in my mind's eye.
Victus lays a hand on the spider's bright blue foreleg. "The rubies betrayed me, and for that, they must pay."
The blue spider bobbed. "What would you have of us, master?"
"The cobalts are my chosen. You will be my assassins. Kill the rubies until there are no more."
I snapped from the memory, legs frozen in place.
I grabbed Kanaan and Ambria by their arms and held them back. "These aren't the ruby spiders at all," I hissed. "Victus bred cobalt spiders to kill the ruby spiders after they abandoned him."
Ambria gasped. "You mean—"
Kanaan drew his wand. "This arachnid leads us to our doom."
Chapter 26
The spider apparently heard me.
The cobalt leapt and spun around in mid-flight. Dozens of his comrades skittered down the trees all around us. Kanaan set the fallen leaves in front of us on fire and bolted back the way we'd come. We sprinted after him before the cobalts closed off our escape.
Leaves rustled behind. Branches creaked overhead. The spiders darted after us at a terrifying pace, some of them leaping from tree to tree, others pouncing from webs, legs spread open to strike. A susurrus of whispery voices echoed behind us like ghosts.
The only things that kept us ahead was our physical conditioning and the random spells we threw behind us to keep the spiders from closing in.
"They're too fast," Ambria gasped. "There's nowhere to hide!"
A cluster of eight-legged silhouettes dropped from the trees ahead. "And now there is nowhere to run." Kanaan drew his second wand and braced himself for combat.
I resisted the urge to cast Fireblade, for fear I'd exhaust myself too quickly to be of any use. Instead, I readied the strongest shield spells programmed in my arcwand.
Ambria fired a brilliant glowball overhead, lighting the vicinity in a wide radius. The trees behind us literally crawled with brilliant blue monsters. And ahead of us—my heart skipped a beat. The arachnids ahead of us were bright red!
"Rubies!" I shouted.
A familiar shape raced up to us, her eyes blinking in unison. "Conrad, Ambria, Kanaan! I am so happy to see you."
"Shushiel!" I resisted the urge to hug her due to the enormous wave of enemy spiders rushing behind us.
A line of red spiders big as horses trundled past and formed a front line, forelegs raised. Dozens of smaller blue spiders, no larger than Great Danes, formed the opposing spearhead, mandibles twitching furiously as they rushed our giant allies.
A loud hiss from the lead cobalt broke the eerie silence. "The traitors have come from hiding. Now we will end you for the master."
One of the large rubies spoke. "You are our people. Pawns of the evil one. Forsake your alliance with Victus and join us."
"Never," the cobalt replied.
"Never!" The hiss picked up like a rallying cry and spread across the army of cobalts until it sounded like a den of snakes.
Ambria shrank behind Shushiel. "Why didn't you tell us about the cobalt spiders?"
"I did tell you of them before I came here." Her mandibles twitched. "Perhaps I should have gone into detail."
"What now?" I asked. "Do we fight?"
Shushiel swayed back and forth—her way of shaking her head. "No. We do not have enough soldiers. We are a small scouting group tasked with spying on the movements of the enemy army. One of our scouts saw you following the cobalt spider and told us. We came at once."
The line of giant rubies spun around and fired huge webs from their spinnerets, covering the ground and trees between us and the cobalts. The lead cobalt tried to dart across the web, but the silk clung to its legs, binding it in place.
A ruby spider Shushiel's size, but with a black stripe down the middle of its abdomen, struck crystal bangles on its forelegs together three times. Without hesitation, the small force of rubies retreated toward the trees behind us, leaving the frustrated cobalts to circumvent the web traps behind.
Every so often, the giant soldier spiders fired more webs to foil any attempt to follow. A tiny ruby only half the size of Shushiel occasionally stopped to rub its abdomen against a tree.
"What is he or she doing?" Ambria asked.
"Despite our different colors, the cobalts are genetically similar to rubies." Shushiel pointed a foreleg at the blue streaks in the other spider's fur. "Some of us even have bits of blue. Ishlish can mimic cobalt pheromones."
"Putting her scent on the trees." Kanaan raised an eyebrow. "Would this not attract more spiders?"
"Yes. She is leaving a tracking scent used by cobalt scouts and will soon split away from us to lead them in the wrong direction." Shushiel's mandibles twitched with amusement. "Ishlish is very good at her job."
"Thank you, cousin." The tiny spider's whisper was barely audible.
"What about the spider with the black stripe?" Ambria asked.
"Ush is our commander." Shushiel pointed a foreleg to the giant spiders. "Those are our soldiers."
I watched Ishlish steadily angle away from us, rubbing her abdomen on trees as she went. The soldiers stopped spraying the ground with webs and Ush led us up a steep rise. "Shushiel, can any of the others camouflage like you?"
She shook her body. "Few of my kind are capable of perfect camouflage. That is why I was chosen to be a scout."
"Do your people always spy on the cobalts?" I asked.
"Yes. They wish to destroy us, so we can never let our guard down." Shushiel's eyes looked sad. "My people were happy to have me back because this group's last scout was killed by the army."
"The cobalt army?" Ambria asked.
"There is much to discuss." Shushiel pointed up the hill. "I will tell you more when we reach the safety of the outpost. For now, we should be quiet. The cobalts have excellent hearing."
Ambria's eyes flared. "Will we be safe there?" she whispered.
"The enemy has not found us yet." Shushiel crawled over a small boulder as easily as walking on flat ground while we humans had to walk around it.
The hill grew steeper. Leaves and gravel hindered me and Ambria, though Kanaan seemed unperturbed by the terrain. At last we reached the top. It wasn't as high as the mountain in the center of the forest, but it offered a clear line of sight down through the trees in all directions.
At the top of the hill, Ush tapped his bangled forelegs against a rock face. The wall shimmered and vanished to reveal a tunnel.
"Wait, isn't that illusion?" Ambria said. "I didn't think spiders could do magic."
"Galfandor gave us enchanted objects long ago." Shushiel followed the others inside. "This is how we keep our outposts and home web hidden."
Ambria stepped into the wide tunnel after her. "How far away is the home web?"
"On the other side of the mountain, far from our enemies." Shushiel stopped and turned toward us while the other rubies continued o
n around a bend.
Small glowballs embedded in the stone emitted soft yellowish light. It was the closest thing to sunlight I'd seen since entering the forest and filled me with relief despite the irony of being underground.
Kanaan leaned against the rough-hewn rock. "Explain the situation."
"The monster army grows larger every day." Shushiel's mandibles twitched. "Frogres, viper wolves, giant crows, and more gather to the south."
"It's even bigger than the last time?" I asked.
"Much larger." Shushiel shivered. "Mages placed enchanted totems around the forest to draw out the creatures Victus made. They do not seem to attract drakes, spider bats, or other native beasts."
"What about bistaurs and dragophants?" Kanaan asked.
"Yes, there are some," she replied.
Ambria's breath hitched in her throat. "What about the tragon?"
Shushiel shook her abdomen. "I have not seen him. As one of Victus's first creatures, perhaps he cannot be controlled."
"An army of Overlord minions." I sucked in a breath. "How large is it?"
"Even with all of our eyes, we could not count them." Shushiel sank as if deflating. "Most of the creatures are unintelligent. The cobalt spiders are among the few self-aware species."
Ambria grimaced. "Dare I even ask what a bistaur or a dragophant is?"
"Bistaurs are part human, part bison," Shushiel said. "Dragophants are fire-breathing elephants with reptile scales."
"This is even worse than we thought." I sank to the tunnel floor, completely defeated. "I didn't expect the monster army to be so large. How many monsters did Victus create?"
"Not this many," Kanaan said. "I suspect they have reproduced since their introduction into the wild."
Ambria frowned. "If Victus has such a huge army, why hasn't he taken control of the Overworld yet?"
"Would I use a cannon to kill a fly?" Kanaan didn't wait for an answer. "Victus has overwhelming power to crush his enemies, but he has no need. Subterfuge and the infernus grant him control of the government. And yet, he has an even more insidious way to control public opinion."
Ambria's eyebrows rose. "And that is?"
Kanaan's lips formed a grim line. "Propaganda."
"As in rewriting history to make Justin Slade the bad guy?" Ambria's lips peeled into a scowl. "My god, he's covered every angle."
"Victus uses the poor economy and plight of the average Arcane as the vehicle of hate." Kanaan folded his arms across his chest. "The monster army is most likely a last resort—a looming threat for those who withhold support for the Overlord."
"If we come out against him, he could destroy us in a heartbeat." I stood and paced. "We need our own monster army, and I know just where to find one."
"You want the monsters from the Glimmer, don't you?" Ambria's forehead pinched. "How are we supposed to get there?"
I touched my throat where the anchor stone fragment used to hang on its necklace. "I don't know how, but there must be a way into the Glimmer."
"What makes you think Cora will help us?" Ambria said. "After you resurrected her, she barely remembered you. Then she closed off the Glimmer to repair all the damage done by Naeve and we haven't heard from her since."
"I don't know, but I have to ask her. I have to try." Why did you shut me out, Cora?
"I am sorry, Conrad." Shushiel rubbed a furry foreleg on my shoulder. "Is there no way inside the Glimmer at all?"
"The rift guardians will kill anyone who tries to cross through the crack in the world, and I don't have an anchor stone fragment to sneak through the reflected world." I rubbed my eyes. "There's no other way inside that I know of. And once I get there, what guarantee do I have that Cora will even listen to me?"
"Because she loves you." Ambria gripped my hand. "I hope she still remembers that."
"If the anchor stone hasn't drained her of all emotions." I hoped that wasn't the case.
Shushiel bobbed up and down. "The question remains—how will you get past the rift guardians?"
"Your camouflage won't work, and none of us can cast a shield strong enough to withstand their attacks." Ambria looked at me. "Our only hope is if the first power protects you."
"We have to find out." I turned to Kanaan. "Right?"
"You cannot touch the first power yet." He tapped a finger on my chest. "I do not normally advise this, but you must strain yourself to exhaustion to expand your well and strengthen your psyche to withstand the concentrated power of the primal fount."
Shushiel's eyes blinked. "What is the primal fount?"
Ambria chuckled. "We've got a lot of catching up to do, but I'd rather do it someplace more comfortable."
"Perhaps you should eat and rest." Shushiel motioned us on with a mandible. "You can tell me over dinner."
Ambria walked alongside her. "What do you eat?"
Shushiel blinked. "Mostly spider bat blood."
Ambria grimaced. "Gross. Is that what we have to eat too?"
"Only if you wish to."
Ambria gagged. "Just for the record, I don't wish to at all."
Shushiel's mandibles twitched with amusement. "Come with me." She led us down the tunnel and into a wide cavern. Huge crystals on the ceiling sparkled with the light of glowballs. A blue lake spanned several hundred yards into the distance, its clear waters lit by fungus on the rocky bed. A school of bright green fish leapt over the bowl-shaped edge of the lake and vanished over the side.
"Where did they go?" I asked.
Shushiel took us to the edge of the shore where the cave floor met a dark abyss. A pinpoint of light shone from far below. "They go to the underground," she said. "Another stream feeds back up from below to this lake."
"It's so beautiful!" Ambria splashed a bit of water over the side.
Her smile warmed my heart. I put my hand in the water and was surprised by its temperature. "How is the water so warm?"
"Underground springs," Shushiel said.
Ambria took out her arcphone and took some pictures, using the brilliant flash on the device to peer far down into the chasm. I leaned over the side to see how far down it went, but it was hundreds of meters deep. I cast a glowball spell and sent it hovering over the middle.
"Conrad, you should not do that," Shushiel said. "It is dangerous."
"It's just a glowball." I frowned. "What's dangerous about that?"
The air thrummed. Something huge buzzed up from the chasm, and struck at the glowball. I snuffed it immediately.
Ambria shrieked and rolled backward, dropping her phone in the process. I grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet as a cricket the size of a horse splashed into the edge of the lake. Giant hind legs rubbed together. The deafening chirp sawed at my eardrums. The next instant, it lunged for us, mandibles flashing.
Chapter 27
Ambria dove and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the crushing grip of the cricket's mandibles. "It's a giant bug!" She drew her wand and cast a shield to block another attack, but the cricket ignored her and struck at her phone where it lay, casting its bright light upward.
Soldier spiders skittered across the cave floor and lunged at the cricket. The creature thrashed, but webs tangled its legs and it went down. Tiny Ishlish raced up the side of the bug and bit it on the abdomen. Within seconds, its thrashing ceased and the spiders dragged it away.
Shushiel touched Ambria. "Are you okay?"
Ambria put a hand on her chest. "W-what was that thing?"
"A deep dweller." Shushiel pointed a mandible at the phone. "The bright light from the glowball drew this one from the depths." She faced the direction the soldiers took the giant insect. "On the other hand, this will be quite a treat for dinner."
Ambria rubbed goosebumps on her arms. "Are there are more of those things?"
"Oh, yes." Shushiel bobbed up and down. "If you go to the underground, there is a cave so large you cannot see one end from the other. The fungus glows bright as a full moon, and forests and meadows span for miles."
/> "An underground forest?" I scooped up Ambria's phone and was relieved to find it still intact. "That's unbelievable."
"It is beautiful, but dangerous even for us." Shushiel trembled. "We once thought the underground forest would provide a secret home for us, but the deep dwellers are numerous and deadly. Even the Dark Forest with all its monsters is safer."
"How terrifying!" Ambria took her phone from me and deactivated the flashlight app. "Are there giant roaches, centipedes, and scorpions?"
"Oh yes." Shushiel's mandibles twitched. "They are delicious, but few wander up here."
"Unless drawn like moths to a flame." Kanaan walked over from the lake. "The glowball lured it."
I waved a hand at the glowing fungus. "But there's light everywhere."
"The light from the glowball is far brighter." Kanaan lit the tip of his wand until it shined bright enough to hurt my eyes. "The fungus is not bright enough to attract it."
"It's a good thing only one came," I said.
"Yeah, you don't want a whole fleet of those crickets swarming you." Ambria shivered. "How awful would that be?"
We walked past the lake and into a smaller cave that branched off into chambers. The tunnels seemed to go on forever in all directions. A small group of humans clustered around a fire in the center of this one. I recognized our history professor, Eleanor Beetle right away. She huddled in blankets, face miserable.
Ambria gasped. "Professor Trask?"
An older woman in gray robes stalked toward us, expression stiff. "Conrad Edison and Ambria Rax? What in the world are you doing here?"
"Well, the party keeps growing," a deep voice boomed. Minister of Wildlife, Horace Moon strode over. His thick beard and mustache were gone, but his burly stature gave him away.
"More refugees?" A thin, weasel-faced man came up behind Moon. "I'm surprised children made it this far."
"No ordinary children." Kanaan seemed to melt from the shadows. "Apprentices."
Trask's eyes widened. "Oh, Master Kanaan." She bowed slightly. "An honor to see you."
"Well, that's a bloody pleasant surprise!" Moon boomed a laugh. "We might survive this insurrection after all."