Hesqueezed me tighter, “You’remine,Tori.AndI’llkeep you safe, no matter the cost.”Hisfeet stopped, but allIcould stare at was his eyes, as the golden flecks at the center seemed to grow outwards, glowing like the sun.
Allof a sudden, a small furry bundle landed on my chest, waving his little arms and chittering.Theywere everywhere, hundreds of them.Spidersof all sizes, from small like mine to as wide as three horses.Theydescended from the trees on spindles of silk or crawled around the trunks.
Whereasmy sword had been ineffective, the spiders were able to snatch the shadows in their mandibles, pulling at their essence like some sick taffy.Theystretched and pulled and wrapped them in their webs until they were immobilized.
Mylittle spider waved his arms at me, pride shining in his eyes. “Thankyou, little friend.”Abraxashad regained himself and started running again.Butas we left the fortress behind, a great shadow reared itself in our path.Thisone seemed more solid, andIsaw it form into a shape that could almost be called human, its smoke-like form swelling out into great skirts, and shadows piercing up above its head like a dark pantomime of a crown.
Sheraised her hand, an accusatory point at us, at me, where the diadem lay.Theforest around us swelled, wind picking up and lashing at her, but it had no more effect than a child pulling at his mother’s skirts.Agreat gaping hole opened where her mouth might be, as a shriek that nearly pierced my ears emerged.
Thief!
Abraxassqueezed me close again, but then the shadow was gone, crushed beneath the body of something much larger.Thespider was almost as large as theNallewe had fought, its fangs longer than my arm.Itsank them into the shadow’s neck and curled its legs around her.Hershriek grew even higher, andIcouldn’t understand her words, but it didn’t matter.Abraxasran around the great battle between queens, and we didn’t look back.
Chapter56
Tori
Wemade it back to the site of camp, andIwas relieved to see it empty.Thecohort had followedAbraxas’ orders not to wait for us.
Abraxascontinued to run, but my burns weren’t so severe now, soIforced him to drop me.Hewas panting, but together we kept sprinting along that blue lit path until we reached the edge of the forest.
Whenwe burst from the trees, the shock of the evening sun blinded me.Iblinked and rubbed my eyes untilIcould see beyond that endless white light and found every soldier we had lined up at the edge of the forest.
Theirfaces held a mixture of relief and shock, some held their weapons aloft.Iwas still trying to resolve the faces before me when a tall figure burst forward.
“Youfucking idiots!”Avlynthrew their arms around me andAbraxas, crushing against my still aching skin, “You…absolutely…stupid…assholes….”Theywere sobbing.Tearsstreamed down their cheeks, dripping onto my hair and face.Iwas too stunned to do much, butIfeltAbraxaswrap his arms around them, running his hand over their head.
“Wheredo you think you learned it from,Commander?”Avlynlaughed and sobbed, the sound coming out more of a cough.ButAbraxascontinued to embrace them, and despite their anguish, a smile spread on my face.
Afew moments later, it seemed thatAvlynhad composed themselves, and pulled away, “Don’tyou ever do anything like that again.”
“Wouldn’tdream of it,Avlyn.”Icouldn’t help but smile at them.
Theyshook their head, “Let’sget the hell out of this place, yeah?”
* * *
Ourjourneyback toXyrwas subdued.Ihad finally pried it out ofKaleosandOryxthat what had felt like a few days in the forest had been closer to a month.Ourjourney to theEternalCityhad seemed only a few hours, but three days had passed since the cohort had left the forest.Avlynhad arrived after our group had been gone for two weeks and had been running single-day scouting missions with no success.
Thatmorning, a huge eruption of emerald fire had breached the forest, and they had been prepared to go back in.Luckily, we had come out before they could.
“So, what happened in there?”Kaleoshad asked cautiously near the fire one night.
“Idon’t think you’d believe me ifItold you.”
Hemade to argue with me, when instead he released an extremely high-pitched screech asSpinnerwalked over his leg.
Ihad tried to send the little rascal back into the forest, but he refused, instead settling down on my shoulder asIhelped pack up camp.Hemostly kept near me, away from the others, except forOryx.Hehad taken to bringing the poor male mice wrapped up in silk, like little gifts.Oryxlaughed and patted him on the head, which caused him to perform one of his namesake spins and trot off.Oryxalways managed to stash the dead mice somewhere discreet.
Nowhe curled up in my lap like some sort of eight-legged cat.Kaleosdecided that was quite enough of our conversation and slunk off.Iabsentmindedly strokedSpinner’sback and he chittered, “Don’tmind him.Itseems he has a bit of a phobia.Notyour fault, but maybe you could stop walking over him?”
Spinnerstretched a few legs lazily and settled back down, eyes closing.IfeltAbraxassit down next to me with barely a sound.Hereached over and gave the spider a few strokes, which he leaned into greedily.
“Don’tget too comfortable, little beast,I’mgoing to steal her away from you.”Spinnergave an angry chitter, snapping his fangs atAbraxas.Butwith a small push from me, he stretched his legs again, and then sauntered off into the night.Abraxaschuckled, “Sucha possessive little thing.”
“Ialways did like the males in my life a bit possessive,”Iran my hand over his thigh and leaned into him.Heran his fingers down my back gently, but then whisked me up into his arms.
“Ican walk on my own, you know.”
