Everyone cast heals on themselves, and helped to heal others, as they waited for the cure potions to neutralize the poison. A few, who had taken hits on bare arms as well as faces, puked up their lunches. Two went into seizures before the focused heals of several comrades and a second dose of cure potion eased their symptoms. Both bears seemed to have been protected by their fur, though there were some bare spots here and there. Amanda fed them each a potion.
Bjurstrom turned his back on the vomiting and stared at the door. “We can’t burn them with fire. Or lightning, I’m guessing. Andrea could dissolve some, but her cooldown is…” He paused and looked up at her.
“Thirty seconds.” She supplied, looking pale herself.
“Bugnado.” Dawn suggested.
Meg instantly brightened, turning away from Sam. “Yeah! Like you did with those friggin meat bees!”
Allistor nodded. “Logan, get ready.” He turned to the door and cast Barrier yet again. “Okay, now.”
Logan opened the door, and Allistor extended his magical shield to cover the entire opening. Then he and the others who knew the spell commenced casting Vortex into the hall. Winds began to pick up, forming multiple small twisters within the corridor. As the wind speed increased, bits of moss peeled off from the walls and ceilings, along with some of the millipedes that were still dropping from the ceiling.
Allistor noticed that the larger motyxia on the floor were killing and eating their smaller cousins. At least, until one of the vortexes passed over them.
In less than a minute, they could no longer see through Allistor’s barrier, which was now coated with a thick layer of blue slime from millipedes and moss being hurled against it. When the spells all faded, Allistor released the shield, the slime dropping to the floor. Then he recast it, and said, “Again! This time, one at a time. I’ll go first. Form your Vortex right in front of the door, then push it down the hallway. One every ten seconds, please.” He started his own spell, allowing the tornado of bug bits to grow from floor to ceiling before pushing it down the tunnel. Behind him, he heard Bjurstrom coordinating everyone who had the spell, calling them by name when it was their turn. One by one they scoured the long hall as far as they could push their spells.
Ten minutes later, Allistor cast yet another new Barrier above his head, and led three of them with the Vortex spell down to within about fifteen feet of the limit of their castings. When they stopped, Allistor looked up. Not a single one of the millipedes had dropped on them as they walked. Taking a deep breath, he shifted the shield so that it was in front of them, filling the tunnel opening, and cast another Vortex. The others followed behind, a new spell forming every ten seconds, and they cleared the rest of the tunnel. Allistor held the blue-slimed shield for a moment as he pulled up his interface and tried to claim the castle.
“Yessss!” He shouted when he saw the green button, pressing it instantly. There were cheers behind him as the entire area went transparent, all of the raiders having experienced it before, knowing that it meant they’d accomplished their mission.
Allistor quickly chose the usual settings, making Dover Castle a new Citadel. When the golden lights faded, the group returned to retrieve the bodies and carried them upstairs. All except Nancy and a couple of her students, who took some time to scoop up large quantities of millipede goo and moss.
Back up in the main courtyard, Allistor set up one of the teleport pads, and they carried their dead home.
Chapter 19
Allistor and the original group of survivors sent Leila and Scott’s bodies to Invictus City for a memorial service, and took George home for his funeral. It was a solemn affair, with thousands attending from nearly all of Allistor’s properties to pay their respects. George had helped keep many of them alive, put food in their bellies, and given some of them sage advice over the year since the apocalypse. The funeral and wake lasted late into the evening, Allistor and Amanda eventually stumbling exhausted into bed. Amanda cried herself to sleep as Allistor held her, tears in his eyes as well.
Five hours later, they were awakened by Nigel.
“Pardon me for waking you, but you have approximately one hour before the Phoenix must leave for Araneaea. Lady Lilly is insisting on a last minute fitting before you leave.”
Allistor groaned. “Shit, I was supposed to meet her yesterday. Please tell her I’ll be right down, Nigel.”
“She is waiting in your sitting room, sire.”
Allistor and Amanda both crawled out of bed. Lilly greeted them with coffee and pastries on a cart when they emerged from their bedroom. “I know, I’m not feeling so hot, either.” She commiserated. “But we need to suck it up and get you ready to meet the spider queen.” She handed Allistor a suit, and Amanda a dress. “Try these on. I’ll give them one last check, and if any adjustments are needed, we can get them done on the ship.”
They did as they were told, and ten minutes later Lilly pronounced them properly clothed for a formal state meeting. “Try not to get dirty, or tear anything, before you meet the queen.” She admonished them as she stepped onto the elevator.
“You look beautiful.” Allistor gave Amanda his best smile, trying to cheer her up. They had both looked at George as a sort of father figure, and his loss hurt.
She gave him a half smile in return, making an effort. “Thank you, sir prince. You look half decent, yourself.”
He poured her a cup of coffee, mixing in a couple spoons of sugar, because she liked it sweet. Motioning for her to sit on the sofa, he handed her the mug along with an apple turnover on a small plate. Fixing himself the same, they ate their breakfast in silence. When several more minutes had passed, Amanda asked, “Do you think we’ll have to eat some weird spider food while we’re there? Like, fried beetle larvae, or liquified fly guts?”
Allistor grinned. “If we do, I’m totally letting you taste it first. This time you get to be the guinea pig.”
“Speaking of food, do you think Meg will come along?”
Allistor shook his head. “Nope. Especially not after the whole blue bug encounter yesterday.”
“I learned some new words from her. That was impressive.” Amanda tried not to smile. “She really chewed your ass.”
“I’m thinking about bringing her back some pet spiderlings.” Allistor got to his feet. “But before we can bring anything back, we need to actually get there. Ready to fly across the solar system to meet a giant eight-legged monarch?”
Amanda joined him, and they headed for the elevators. “This is so surreal. Giant talking arachnids, monsters, dragons… our world is so completely different now.”
“It’s not all bad.” Allistor took her hand, leading her off the elevator into the ground floor lobby. “I found you. That wouldn’t have happened if the world hadn’t changed.”
She stopped walking, using his hand to pull him back to her, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek. “Keep talking like that, and I might pick you over all those cute cowboys.”
“Allistor!” Harmon called out as he walked into the lobby from the courtyard. “Ready for your first official affair of state?”
“Nope.” Allistor shook his head. “I’m terrified I’ll do or say something wrong.”
“You’ll do fine.” Harmon assured him. “The araneae are not big on formality.”
L’olwyn joined them, along with the other analysts. “Just remember, do not turn your back on the queen until you are at least ten steps away. To do so within that range is both an insult, and invitation to attack.” The old elf warned.
Allistor’s eyes widened. “What? Where… why hasn’t someone mentioned this before now? What else haven’t you told me?” His pulse began to race.
L’olwyn’s stoic face cracked slightly, and the other non-humans lost their battles to keep straight faces. Looking around, Allistor took in the laughter and smiles. Turning back to the elf, he asked, “Did you just make a joke?”
“You did request that I try to… lighten up?” The elf bowed slightly.
Shaking his head, Allistor grinned sheepishly at his analyst. “Well played. Of course, you realize this means I have to get you back, somehow.”
L’olwyn’s face went stoic again. “I shall wait with bated breath as you plot your revenge.”
There was a moment of silent disbelief at the elf’s second volley, before the entire group laughed. Allistor patted his shoulder. “Thank you, my friend.”
Kira walked past them, giving a little wave as she headed for the door along with her bridge crew trainees. “Bus leaves in fifteen!”
The others turned to follow, chatting quietly as they walked the few blocks to the parking garage and the Phoenix. It was a large and varied retinue accompanying Allistor and Amanda. Harmon and the analysts, Gralen and three of his beastkin, who would be guiding the bridge crew on the trip there and back. Logan and the three remaining lead airmen to act as security, Lars, Remy, Andrea, Dean, Ramon, Nancy, Chris, Helen, and both bears.
They boarded the Phoenix and got settled in a guest passenger’s lounge on the upper deck. As Kira lifted off, Harmon produced a shiny metal box about the size of a loaf of bread, and handed it to Allistor.
“You asked about a gift for the queen. I think this would serve.”
Allistor opened the box. Inside was a crimson lining that shone slightly, like some kind of woven metallic fabric, but was soft to the touch like velvet. Cushioned atop the lining was a long string of black pearls. Peering over his shoulder, Amanda reached out and touched it at the same time he did. “Oooh. I like those.” She mumbled.
Allistor looked at Harmon, one eyebrow raised. “Pearls?”
Amanda said, “What? She’s a queen, right? I’m guessing girls are girls no matter the species, and we all like shiny baubles.”
Harmon chuckled. “They are not Earth pearls. These are harvested from a creature similar to your oysters, called incallions. They live in dark, dangerous waters filled with predators. The local divers who harvest them… well, let’s just say they do not often live to retirement age. A string this size likely cost the lives of two or three of divers. This adds greatly to the value.” Harmon paused, holding up a hand when he saw Amanda start to speak.
“I do not encourage this waste of life. This particular strand was harvested before any of us were born. It was a wedding gift to the wife of an emperor who perished after offending my people more than a century ago.” He grinned, his tusks showing to frightening effect.
“In addition, these will be of particular value to the queen of the araneae. They are among the shortest-lived sentient species in the Collective. The queen will live longer than her people, but even she can only expect a life span of about twenty years. These pearls took more than one hundred years to form inside the incallions.”
He looked at Amanda. “Before the acquisition, you could have expected to live maybe a hundred years?” She nodded. “Imagine if I were to present you with a gift that Master Daigath spent five hundred years crafting. What value would it hold for you?”
Amanda whistled. “I see what you mean.” She looked down at the necklace again, a new appreciation in her eyes.
Allistor nodded as well, touching one of the pearls, feeling its smooth surface. “I guess it’s a little like how we value diamonds, since they’re rare and take millions of years to form.”
L’olwyn immediately took the box from him and used some kind of cloth to wipe off any skin cells and DNA he might have just left behind on the necklace, liner, and box. “Indeed. And just as a reminder, you should touch nothing and no one while you are visiting. And do not eat or drink anything offered to you. I do not suspect the araneae of having nefarious intentions, but one can never be too careful.”
Amanda snorted. “No pureed fly milk shakes.”
“Thank you, Harmon. This seems like a very thoughtful gift. Let me know what I owe you, and we’ll settle up as soon as we get back home.” Allistor pulled on a pair of gloves that Lilly had included at L’olwyn’s insistence. Amanda did the same.
“I would have gone with chocolate covered crickets, or something.” McCoy mumbled from his seat near the door.
The rest of the trip was split between discussing potential trade agreement terms, and protocol instruction, like not looking the queen directly in the eyes, not raising one’s hands higher than one’s head in her presence, and one particular bit that made Allistor a little more nervous.
“One or more of her guards, who are all female, may challenge you. This could include verbal insults, a waving about of forearms in a hostile manner, or even a short charge in your direction. You must ignore them all. To do otherwise is a sign of weakness.” Harmon instructed. “Also any one of them may challenge the queen herself, in an attempt to embarrass her in public. Unlike you, she may decide to respond. If she does, well… get out of the way.”
“So, I’m supposed to disregard an eight foot long giant spider guard charging at me with hostile intent?” Allistor leaned back in his chair. “It’s a good thing Meg’s not here.”
Longbeard laughed. “Do no’ worry, Allistor. Any challenge put to you will be just fer show. To actually attack a guest o’ the queen would mean instant death. It simply be a test o’ yer courage, as well as the queen’s patience. Each o’ them guards is also one o’ her offspring, and a potential replacement as queen.”
Amanda sounded worried when she suggested, “Maybe we should leave Fuzzy and Fiona on the ship? I’m not sure either of them would react well even to a fake attack.”
Allistor agreed, and the bears didn’t seem to object.
Kira’s voice came across the intercom a short time later. “We’re approaching the planet, folks.”
Harmon reached over to a control panel, and a section of the lounge’s wall slid open to reveal a twenty-foot wide viewscreen that Allistor initially took to be an actual window looking forward across the ship’s hull. He realized it was a screen when Harmon zoomed in, the view of the small planet in the distance suddenly becoming much larger. It was a dark planet, most of it a very deep shade of green, with black mountain ranges here and there. Huge storm clouds large enough to be seen from space obscured great swathes of the surface, and lightning flashes within the storms were nearly constant.
“Doesn’t look like a real friendly place.” Selby observed. Longbeard grunted his agreement.
Harmon gave some details. “I’ve been here once before. The gravity is slightly lower than Earth’s, and the atmosphere more humid. The storms move quickly, but you don’t want to get caught out in the open when one of them passes. On most of the surface, the trees protect you from lightning strikes. You can’t tell from here, but they’re massive, ancient monsters. I’ve seen some with a trunk diameter of thirty feet, rising as tall as your tower at Invictus. They can withstand the lightning strikes with little damage, and actually convert some of the energy to promote growth. You can tell the trees that have been struck recently, as their trunks glow slightly in the darkness.”
“Cool.” Goodrich leaned closer to the screen and squinted, as if that would allow him to see more detail.
“It has been speculated that the araneae achieved their size and intelligence through some mutation caused by the synergy between storms and trees. That they lived in the trees, and were altered by the converted energy flowing through the trees over thousands of generations.”
“You want mutant spiders? Electricity and tree sap. That’s how you get mutant spiders.” McCoy poked Goodrich’s arm as they all watched the planet grow larger on the screen.
Now they were able to see large structures, or clusters of structures, with lights. Harmon zoomed in on one of them. “This is their queen’s cluster.” Allistor tilted his head slightly sideways, taking in the details as they continued to get closer. Eventually he could make out several individual spires rising up from the surface fog, curving inward toward each other. He blinked a few times. “That… those look like giant spide
r legs. Like, if a dead spider were laying on its back, the legs sticking up into the air.”
“They’re huge. Tell me these creatures don’t live inside the corpse of a giant spider world boss.” Bjurstrom’s voice was barely above a whisper.
Harmon chuckled. “No, they are artificial constructs. Many have made a similar observation. I believe it may have been a joke on their part, the amusement of some araneae architect long ago. Or maybe it is just a shape they admire.”
Andrea shook her head. “Or maybe it’s a giant battle droid that could flip itself over, get up and lay waste to the planet.” For which McCoy gave her a fist bump.
Ramon looked thoughtful. “It’s not that much bigger than the harvester ship. And Harmon said they’re skilled builders. Maybe it is some kind of massive vessel.”
Everyone was silent, taking in that possibility, imagining a spider more than a mile long rising through the sky and into space. Except for Bjurstrom, who was imagining it flipped over, stomping its way through Tokyo.
“Landing in five minutes.” This time it was Gralen’s voice on the intercom. “We’ve been told to land outside.” His voice sounded slightly concerned, and Harmon frowned at the words.
“Was a reason given?”
“None. You’ll need to move inside quickly once we’ve set down. A storm is approaching.”
Amanda looked worried now, as well. “Will the ship be alright in the storm?”
Harmon smiled. “The Phoenix has shields that will absorb and store energy from any lightning strike. Or simply repel the energy if its storage capacity is full. No harm will come to her. The System granted Allistor quite a boon when it selected this ship. It is both powerful and versatile, while also offering luxury and comfort.” The admiration in his voice was clear. “We should prepare to disembark.”
Everyone got to their feet and made their way back down from the topmost deck to the cargo hold. They had just a brief wait before the ship set down, and the ramp lowered. Allistor could see that they’d set down on a large bedrock outcropping situated between two of the leg-like towers. The air was indeed as humid as Harmon had described, and it took them all several steps to adjust to the slightly lighter gravity as they moved down the ramp.
Shadow Sun Progression: Shadow Sun Book Four Page 31