Woad Children (Challenger's Call Book 3)

by Nathan Thompson

  “Who was it caused by?” I asked slowly.

  The arachwoman blinked again. This time I was certain I saw four orbs open and close in rhythm with the eyes below them.

  “You do not know?” the woman asked softly, her voice clicking again. “I would have thought my lord had dealt with him by now.”

  “How would I know whether or not I had dealt with him if you hadn’t revealed his name?” I countered calmly.

  “My lord is wise,” Prodonti nodded, conceding my point. “If my lord will but consider sparing my life and that of my remaining children, I promise to tell you all I know.”

  “I’ll go ahead and entertain the idea,” I granted dryly. “Now tell me who tried to take my world.”

  “Gladly, my lord.” The woman bowed again, placing her chitin-hand over her chest. “I will be forward in acknowledging my knowledge gaps. I pray that my lord not hold them against me.” She shuddered at the end of the last sentence. “Know that the Usurper hid much of his identity from each of the eight armies that served under him.”

  “Eight?” I asked, then frowned as I let my surprise slip. “Continue.”

  “Certainly, my lord.” Prodonti smiled. “But since you were not aware, know that the Usurper brought with him an army of another race, for each of Avalon’s daughter-worlds, including Avalon herself. We were to share the world, form a council of our own under his blessing.”

  “Who was he, and why did you do such a thing?”

  “Because we were desperate, my lord,” the Keeper queen answered simply. “All of us were starving. All of us were struggling to adjust to the new universe the Earthborn were forming. One where having prey was no longer a sign of power, and being a predator was no longer a form of safety. We were hungry and frightened, and the Usurper offered security. Let us take Avalon, he said, and show that the old ways can still work. The Council agreed, though not publicly.”

  “Who was he?” I asked again. “What was his name? His race?”

  “He was frugal with his name, and his race was unknown,” Prodonti continued. “His body was covered with the cold shadows found between stars. I could see him not, save for his mouths and his many limbs. The worlds around him were barren, yet his people did not starve, did not freeze. They drifted in the space between stars, content, but whispering, ever whispering. One sunless moment, while traveling the pathways to find a new home for my children, I heard him. He claimed to have the blessing of the cosmic wyrms. If we would just submit to him, he would show us the way. He was a race the Council had not seen before, found in the far reaches of the lifeless part of the Expanse. He said his race had perfected the method of consuming prey without losing it. He said we could show the Council and the Earthborn another way to live, instead of one where the cravings of the strong must always submit to the desires of the weak.” Her words intensified as she spoke, and she closed her eyes, as if she was still reminiscing of the other’s promise.

  “Why would he need this invasion or your submission, if he was full?” I asked carefully. “And why would he not give you his name or the name of his race if he was truly sincere?”

  “Those are questions the starving and the desperate do not ask, young Earthborn,” the arachwoman said with genuine sadness. “I grasped at his promises because they were my only choice left. And when he said he had the Council’s favor, how could I still doubt him? Back then, I had a great multitude of starving children to feed.”

  “Why?” I asked softly, in spite of myself. Her story was compelling, and it was hard to fault her choices. Now yes, she shouldn’t have gone around eating people, but if she was telling the truth, she had gone out of her way to do as little damage as possible. She kept the woadfolk and trees alive. And as far as I could tell, the venom used sedated the victims and prevented them from feeling any pain. All that together felt like a level of consideration above even making sure that hamburgers came from organic, grass-fed, and free-range cows. The fact that it was done to people was probably a fact that a lot of PETA members back home would actually be happy with.

  “Why what, my lord?” Prodonti sang-clicked, tilting her head in confusion.

  “Why was that your only option?” I asked, as the spiders dragged another stone form to rest behind me. “Do you have to eat other people? Did the Earthborn say you couldn’t get anything you needed to live, ever?”

  “They did not,” the Keeper woman clicked. “What your people asked was even more terrifying.” Her gaze on me intensified. “They asked us to change. They asked the Keepers to give up their ways. No more abductions. No more claiming unwary wanderers. No more taking from worlds without permission.”

  “And in the face of certain starvation, your people still said no?”

  “At the time, we all felt we had too much to lose,” Prodonti said simply, but sadly.

  That, more than anything, made me empathize with her.

  Wes? Breena said in my mind. You can’t save her.

  I know, I sent back, still staring at the fallen queen.

  I mean it, Wes, Breena sent. She’ll trick you into thinking you can change her. They’ve done it before. I know that much of them.

  But that didn’t make sense, because until now Breena hadn’t shown any recognition about the Keepers yet.

  “But now I have no choice,” Prodonti finished. She stepped forward, and I didn’t react. “A Lord has returned to Avalon. My children have fallen like cobwebs before him. And I am trapped down here, with food that is enough to keep me alive, but nothing else.” She looked down. “Your observations were flawless, my lord. The Usurper betrayed us. He promised trees to build our nests and colonies in, and all the different kinds of food we could ever eat. Instead—” she gestured all around her—“I am trapped in what may be the only underground forest in all the Expanse, with trees that can only sustain me if I am careful in extracting from them, and less than a hundred Woadfolk that I must still divide among my children while making sure none of the captured prey dies. For if they do, then I will be forced to slay even more of my children, lest they turn on each other and myself en masse. So I hereby surrender, Lord Wes Malcolm of Earth and Avalon. I have no other recourse. Not in this underground hell.”

  The spiders dragged another form over.

  “Alright,” I said after they scampered back to pick up another body. “So you wish for me to stay my wrath, allow you to leave these caverns you’ve been trapped in, and travel to another world instead of Avalon?”

  I didn’t volunteer any information about our non-functioning portal network, or how I needed to resolve the Rite in this place before any of us could leave, not just her.

  Or the fact that I was trusting a woman with an army of giant spiders to keep her word on her way out of my house.

  Her face fell slightly at my words.

  “I will accept that judgment if my lord wishes. It is generous and I have no right to ask for more.” But I noticed the calculating expression in her almond eyes.

  “Explain your concerns with that ruling,” I demanded as another body was dragged over.

  We were up to four. I was hoping to get the rest over before the pessimist in me proved right.

  Her eyes gleamed as she answered me.

  “My lord, my people have been down here for ages. We would not even know where to go. We do not even know if our homeworld still exists. Furthermore, we have become weak from isolation. We would be prey ourselves if we left, and easy ones at that. Our odds of survival under this ruling are only slightly greater than if we had all died here and now under your own hand.”

  “You’re saying that you wish to remain on Avalon,” I clarified.

  Wes, no! Breena chattered through our link. That’s a terrible idea!

  Easy, Breena, I sent back. Remember the plan?

  I know, Wes! But you can’t listen to her!

  I wasn’t sure where that came from. I couldn’t figure out any reason for Breena to feel this unsettled. I turned my focus back to the Keeper qu
een.

  “My lord has stated the very plea I feared to voice, and I praise him for it.”

  “Your lord happens to remember your earlier insistence on clinging to your predator nature,” I answered dryly, “and has trouble seeing how the act of bringing your brood right to my doorstep would be wise.”

  “Avalon is a large planet, my lord,” Prodonti countered. “You would not even know we were here.”

  “Yes I would,” I replied. “My subjects would remind me every time one of their livestock or children disappeared. My initial answer is ‘no.’” Another body was brought over. “But go ahead and sell me on the idea.”

  Once again, her eyes and four other spots on her face blinked.

  “You would even consider the idea?” she asked, her voice clicking in disbelief.

  Wes! Breena complained again. We’re going off script!

  What? I asked, confused. No we’re not. Stay cool, Breena.

  “You would have to work very, very hard to convince me to let your people be tenants here,” I said as another stone form was dragged over to the Woadfolk behind me. Thankfully, the Gaelguard were all still holding position, and not losing their temper over confronting an ancient enemy.

  “Subjects,” Prodonti corrected fervently. “We would be your subjects. Your soldiers, your servants. Your slaves, even, if you but ask.” A lock of red silken hair danced across her face as she spoke, waving in front of her right eye. She brushed it out of the way. “Are you not mighty enough to merit a Keeper queen as your slave, my powerful Earthborn lord?”

  Wow, Teeth said. That escalated quickly.

  Please tell me you’re not considering this, Wes, Breena begged. I was a little offended that she bothered to even worry about this.

  “Let’s leave the title your people would hypothetically be called for the last part of this discussion,” I replied, trying not to sound too uncomfortable, or God help me, too interested in that last idea.

  Wait, the Freaking New Guy spoke up. Are we interested in having—

  NO, I said firmly. AND BREENA IS PROBABLY LISTENING SO SHUT THE HELP UP.

  “Instead, let’s talk about what benefits your people would bring to Avalon as new inhabitants. Other than unnecessary population control,” I added.

  “We would eat only what food our lord deigns to give us,” the Keeper woman said without missing a beat. “If your lord wishes us to eat only domesticated animals, we would comply. If our lord wishes us to hunt in certain areas, and only those areas, we would comply. We would even comply if our Lord insisted that a part of our diet always stay plant-based. My children can all go weeks without eating meat if they must. We would comply, and I would ensure it. As long as we receive the kind of nutrients we can no longer get down here. In return, we would swear fealty. You would be able to summon our people for war—and we promise to regain our old strength, so that we may be useful in your battles. My people are weavers as well, and we could construct whatever garments you wished. Our silk has been sought by races in the past. We would even surrender the secrets of our chitin-craft, to build you tools and structures the likes of which have not been seen since our people went into decline.”

  “What kept you from building such structures here?” I interrupted calmly. Two more bodies had been brought over.

  “Proper nutrients,” she replied without missing a beat. “Proper materials to help us shape them. Insufficient numbers of true Keepers to produce the required amount of spare chitin. But feed us properly, and all of this is yours, my Lord Earthborn. Let us build you weapons light and strong, buildings sturdy and graceful. Your empire will be a marvel to gaze upon.”

  “I currently do not have a pressing need for weapons and architecture,” I said calmly. And I wasn’t sure my citizens would ever come around to living in buildings made out of bug parts.

  “What of your sick?” Prodonti said quickly. “What of your ill? My people know poison, and because we do, we also know medicine. We have been refining, altering, and countering our own venom for as far back as my people remember. Your healers would have all of our knowledge, all of our oral and genetic records. We would even lend part of ourselves as components for your medicines. In my body alone, I have enough wonders to fill a royal apothecary’s treasure trove. Your doctors would beg for a drop of my blood. Your chemists would wage wars for but a thimbleful of my venom. The wizards of every race would pay a fortune for any part of my body, my lord. But let us survive…” The pitch in her voice became lower, and more dulcet. “And all of this body is yours alone, Lord Earthborn. To do with as you wish.”

  She went there, Teeth spoke up. You caught that, right? Right?

  Breena chimed in through mindlink less than a full second later.

  Oh-my-gosh-I-can’t-believe-she-even-went-there-and-there’s-no-way-you-would-ever-I-can’t-believe-we’re-even-talking-to—

  I agree! I sent back quickly. We should totally change the subject on her.

  I mean, seriously. There were like twelve other people witnessing this. If there was ever time to volunteer herself as a sexy biology experiment, this wasn’t it.

  “Change of plans,” I said firmly. “We’re moving any discussion involving your body to the end of the conversation too. But let’s talk about how we can guarantee your people not rising against everyone else after you’ve been put in charge of all the weapons, buildings, poison, and medicine. That’s still my largest concern.”

  “Our lord would set whatever boundaries on our population that he wished, and we would ensure that we complied with them on that very day. Even if he wished to cut our numbers by half.”

  “That… sounds like a rather drastic decision,” I said carefully. “Are you really sure you’d be okay with waking up one morning and finding out I’ve decided half of your children need to die?”

  “I am a mother,” she answered simply. “I would do anything possible to save a single child of mine. Even if that meant feeding him the rest that were already doomed.”

  Holy shit.

  “But my Lord,” she continued. “Dare I suggest a better way? Would you have my children be bound to you, completely? I swear by my power and soul I can ensure it.”

  I didn’t like the new direction she was taking things. Her comment had ‘bloody pagan sacrifice’ written all over it.

  “Just so we’re clear, we’re done talking about familicide as a means of social compliance? We’re now talking about a better option, one that we didn’t bring up before for some reason?”

  “Yes, my lord Earthborn. I would have proposed this better way sooner, but you commanded we discuss this matter after all else.”

  Oh, I realized. Oh, fuck.

  “You see, my lord,” the alien woman said quickly, misreading my expression. “My lord is wise and has already grasped the matter. Let me assure you, my children will all be completely compliant, if but some of them were also your own.”

  God damn it, I thought as the conversation finally, but inevitably, crossed the line. Every. Fucking. Time.

  A gasp much like the first breath of a once-drowning man came from the tiny body hovering next to me.

  “I can’t believe it,” Breena finally said. “She went there. She full-on went there.”

  I’ll kill her, Breena sent me privately. I mean, never mind. You heard nothing.

  It was still too soon to act, so I had to suffer through another one of these disturbing offers.

  “Just to be clear, your best proposed solution is for me to give you babies,” I sighed, wishing there was an interplanetary diplomat next to me, so that I could just blame everything on him for this, and then stab him. “You’re saying that your people would never betray me if I impregnated you. That doing so would fix everything.”

  “No it wouldn’t,” Breena muttered darkly. “It definitely wouldn’t.”

  “My lord is wise to be cautious,” Prodonti continued. “But let me allay his reasonable fear. For my Lord is Earthborn—” her voice quickened as she spok
e—“your race can link with others and open new bloodlines. In fact, several dying races have been saved just by having a handful of their members seek out compatible Earthborn mates. And the stronger the Earthborn—” her red eyes gleamed—“the greater the benefit his or her genes would provide. You could awaken new variations in my children, my lord. They could inherit your people’s natural strength, ingenuity, and affinity for magic. They would also inherit my lord’s noble spirit. They would be brave, like he is. Noble, like he is. You wish for my people to change? Make it easier for us. I beg you, give us whatever genes made the Earthborn just and great.”

  “No,” Breena answered. Prodonti did that strange blink of hers and turned toward my fairy companion.

  “What?” she asked, the Keeper queen’s expression unreadable as she considered the tiny woman.

  “No, Wes is not going to save your people by banging you,” the little fairy said firmly. “That is not happening. We invite you to offer another solution.”

  Shadows flickered behind the black-and-white woman. She looked back at me.

  “Does she speak for you?” Prodonti whispered. “I am unaware of this one’s role.”

  “‘This one’ happens to be the Earthborn’s bonded familiar,” Breena grated, growing larger in the air as she spoke. “So yes. I help represent his interests. And having children right now with the woman who invaded his territory is definitely not in his interests. Right, Wes?”

  I swore under my breath. This surrender had gotten weird even faster than they usually did.

  “I see,” the woman of chitin, flesh, and shadows replied. “I apologize for wronging you, Lady Sprite. Your words and new size makes your relationship more clear. I amend my offer to submit as a secondary wife or concubine. Let my rights and the rights of my children be less than her and her line. I only wish for my own to survive.”