Adele surprised her guards by lurching to her feet as they were watching their Empress and managed to get two steps closer to Natalie before they stopped her again. Adele cast a desperate eye over her daughter and watched for some sign of life. When she saw Natalie’s eyelids flutter, she almost cried out with relief. Rainere hadn’t lied about the Sleeping Curse, at least.
Adele tried to turn and see her men, but they were all on their knees, swords on the ground, with their arms held painfully behind their backs. QG Bear had managed to wrestle his way out of the guards’ grip, but now he had four of them holding him low to the ground. Captain Lucky had chopped the arm off another before they had taken his sword and he was covered in the black blood of the Spider guard who lay on the ground. The guards holding Adele suddenly jerked her hard, pulling her to her feet and face to face with a walking nightmare.
The Spider Empress was truly a monster. Her great black body loomed massively in the dimly lit chamber and the legs that stretched out from her body were muscular and covered in long black hairs. But it was her face, with its gaping maw and heavy white fangs that directed all of Adele’s attention. There were two soft, tubular feelers that uncurled from behind the fangs and scented the air, moving as if of their own accord. Adele was speechless with horror. She could feel her bowels churn and her bladder beg for release, but a whimper near the door snapped her head around.
QG Pepper was pale and close to passing out as his eyes rolled back in his head and he vomited on the dirt in front of him. For some strange reason his show of naked fear helped to galvanize Adele’s trembling bravery.
This was just like the Holy Caves in Sandar. Except this time the monster was seven-foot-tall and had her daughter held hostage.
Adele thought furiously. This was a hideous dark monster before her, a monster who had lived for a thousand years and had only ever dealt with one Human being, Rainere. That told Adele something, it told her that the Empress was frightened of something… something that she needed a Prophecy to solve. If Adele took away the Prophecy, then the Empress would have nothing.
The Empress gasped and croaked in a confusing babble that Adele had no hope of understanding, but she needed to communicate with the monster somehow. Adele noticed lurid pink stripes had been messily painted on the first few legs of the Empress, and that yellow paint dotted the white of her fangs. Was this hideous creature actually - vain?
What was it that Rainere had said? The Empress had wanted the Hidden Child for herself to walk in the light of day. Had Adele been supposed to protect the Spiders from the Wizards of the Golden Palace? If that was so, then the Empress expected to have a relationship with her of some sort.
Adele’s thoughts spun wildly and morphed into a clear plan only when the music began again. The music was beautiful and reminded Adele of the ballets of Earth—if Tchaikovsky was played at double time by ten different orchestras. She felt her blood sing in time to the vigorous beat and had no more time to wonder at it. She reached into herself and grabbed at her Magic that was still vibrating with the strength attacking Rainere had given her. It jumped at her touch, and held firm.
Adele drew herself up to her full height and shouted over the wheezing noises of the monster Empress. “Just who do you think you are? I am here to meet the Empress of the Spider People. Go now and fetch your mistress for me!”
The Empress broke off and trained her thousand eyes directly on Adele. “I am the great Empress Ka-kik, Mother to the Spider People and Leader of Those Who Live in the Shadows.” The Empress spoke slowly this time and her accent clicked and jumped over the syllables of the Human language, as if her mouth wasn’t made to make such sounds.
Adele assumed, what she hoped was a sufficiently arrogant expression. “I have come for my daughter,” she said, enunciating each word clearly.
The Empress was silent finally and her many eyes swiveled from Adele to Rainere and back again. “You are the Hidden Child of the Prophecy of the End of the World…”
“What? What are you saying? I can’t understand any of this,” Adele interrupted the Empress and cast a despairing look about the room, as if anybody else could get it. “Rainere, get off the dirt and come and translate for me.”
Rainere shook off his surprised guards and climbed to his feet, his expression was neutral, but his eyes showed confusion. “The Empress would like to know if you are the Hidden Child of the Prophecy,” Rainere translated politely, giving Adele a subservient bow.
“Oh, that,” Adele waved her hand as if to brush away such nonsense and gave a hollow laugh. “Oh, of course she would think that given the circumstances. Rainere tell her: I – am – not – the – Hidden – Child.” Adele shook her head to labor the point.
Rainere dutifully repeated Adele’s words. He had never seen the Empress so unsure of herself as she watched Adele.
“But the Wizards at the Golden Palace brought you to Unisia, did they not?” asked the Empress.
“Is she talking about the Wizards?” snapped Adele at Rainere. Rainere nodded and gave Adele a warning look that she ignored.
“The Wizards made a mistake. I am not their Hidden Child. I’m not even a St. Lucidis,” Adele flicked her dark braid over her shoulder. “I am Marchant.”
Adele tried to ignore the gasps of her men as they all watched her performance before the Empress. “But!” she raised her finger imperiously. “I am the Queen of all Unisia and you have stolen my daughter, Empress of the Shadows, and I have come to take her back.”
“You killed my favored son, Oki,” spluttered the Empress. “And for that I require vengeance.”
The Empress was plainly angry, but she still waited a moment for Rainere to translate her words to Adele despite everyone understanding them as the Empress spoke more and more clearly.
“What? The thing who invaded my bedroom in the night was your son!” Adele raised her voice and shook her finger at the Empress. “Perhaps you should have taught him better manners. He had no right to be in my private chambers!”
“My son,” wheezed the Empress, gnashing her great fangs. “He will be avenged!”
Adele felt herself losing ground as the monster shuddered and rose up on its back legs to hover over her.
“If it is revenge you require, you cannot have my child, but I will give you my Royal Escort in recompense,” said Adele quickly, as she pushed Rainere toward the Empress. She ignored his shocked glance. “I could never marry him. The union would never be allowed by those Wizards at the Golden Palace. Take him. He is yours.”
The Empress stretched even higher, resting only on her four back legs. Her shock at Adele was wearing off and she was now becoming irritated.
“He is mine anyway, little Queen. The boy Prince made a vow that binds his soul to my will. If he should forswear his promise to serve me then he shall become my slave in body, and soul.”
Adele frowned darkly. “But I have Marked him for my own. Look!” She snatched at Rainere’s shirt and pulled it up for all to see the silvery Mark tattooed to his side. Her Royal insignia was clear even in the dim light of the cavern.
“He is my property now,” she said as if that ended the subject. “But I will give him to you as a gesture of goodwill.”
“No!” The Empress shout was shrill and pierced Adelena’s eardrums painfully. “Enough of these games! The Prince said he would marry you and put himself on the Throne as King. He didn’t! Instead he brought me this little girl who wears the wedding band of his people, but she is not the Queen. Now you stand before me as the Queen, but claim you are not the Hidden Child. Who is to blame for all of this?”
“The Wizards are,” shouted Adele right back again. “I tricked the Wizards into making me the Queen and once again Marchant blood sits upon the throne of Unisia. I think the Marchant Prince here was too enamored with me to understand the truth though,” – she forced a laugh – “why would I marry a poor Marchant Prince when I have all of the powerful men in the Kingdom to choose from? But he is quite helpful
with keeping my Magic strong, so I Marked him and wanted to keep him as an escort.”
A bustle of noise at the door interrupted them and Charlie was dragged kicking and flailing against his captors to fall at the feet of the Empress. Schiss was thrown down a moment later.
Adele could feel the blood drain out of her cheeks. She had hoped that Charlie had managed to hide. “Ah, good, the tribute is here,” said Adele smoothly, borrowing Schiss’s word for Charlie. “See, Empress. I am not so rude as you might think. I brought a gift for you.”
The Empress’s feelers waved madly over Charlie’s head. “I smell Magic,” she snarled.
“Of course! The boy is just reeking with Magic,” replied Adele. “He has the purest blood I could find, after the Prince here, that is.”
“And now that we are speaking of blood again,” said the Empress and lurched toward Adele, unsteady on her back legs. Adele bit her lip to keep from yelping in fear. The undulating feelers were just inches from Adele’s face. Up close Adele could see that the white fangs glistened with slime. The Empress breathed out and a smell like warm sewerage enveloped Adele. “I will need to taste your blood to verify you are not lying to me, and we will burn it on the Sacred Fire to ignite the power.”
Adele was looking directly into the mouth of the Empress and saw the black tongue pulsating within. It was terrifying to think about being eaten by that mouth. She heard Rainere cough and shook off her fear. Two short men were approaching her, their heads were too big for their squat bodies, and their arms were very long, giving them a simian look, but the thing that drew Adele’s attention were the great machetes they each carried.
The music was building in Adele’s head. The swirling waltz had descended into the low notes of anticipation. Her blood ran cold, but she knew the time was coming when action would be needed. The end of this scene was drawing near.
“Go and get Natalie,” Adele muttered to Rainere and was relieved that he gave no sign of having heard, but simply melted away behind her.
Adele took a couple of steps back from the Empress and grabbed the arm of the still struggling Charlie and pulled him to her side, out of the grasp of his guards.
“Quiet down, boy,” she instructed him firmly. “The Empress would like to taste your blood. It is a great honor to be a tribute to such an Empress. You should be grateful your miserable Marchant life will be worth something. The time is almost upon you to give the Empress your tribute.”
Charlie stopped struggling, as the two Shamen shuffled to each side of Adele and him. Adele kept her arm firmly around Charlie’s shoulders. The boy was trembling so badly, that Adele feared he would collapse soon. He stood still as he held his arm out to the man-spider Shaman with the big knife, but gave a little sob of fear that vibrated through Adele’s ribcage. Adele held out her opposite wrist.
The slice on her wrist was slow, but not deep. She gritted her teeth and didn’t cry out as she watched with dreadful déjà vu as her blood dripped into a bowl. She heard Charlie whimper and squeezed his shoulder hard.
The first Shaman approached the Empress with the little bowl containing Charlie’s blood. Carefully he dripped the blood onto the Empress’s great black tongue as it appeared, quivering, to take the offering.
“He is Marchant it is true, but the strain is impure, though the Magic is strong. He is a very humble tribute,” said the Empress narrowing her hundreds of eyes at Adele and clicking her fangs together irritably.
“Get ready,” Adele muttered and felt Charlie flinch. “When her mouth opens again, do it.”
Slowly, the tongue extended a second time to receive Adele’s blood. Adele gripped Charlie tightly. She had no idea what the Empress would taste in her blood and they had to be prepared to act fast. But Charlie stared at the Empress with his mouth open and fear held him frozen.
The Empress smacked her jaws together with a resounding crack. “I taste St. Lucidis,” mused the Empress. “But something else, something darker than Marchant Blood, something far more… ancient.”
Suddenly her many eyes grew wide and the Empress shivered all over her great body. Droplets of venom sprayed out over Charlie and Adele. Charlie cried out, but Adele held him firm as he struggled to escape the acid shower.
The Chime Voices sang in time with the beat in her head. It was almost time.
“But no, you can’t be,” creaked the Empress and seemed to stagger in shock. “Abomination… you are an Abomination!”
The Empress fell to her eight legs and backed away from Adele. “Guards! Shaman! To me!”
All the Spider guards ran to the side of their Empress, leaving General Ohrig and the QGs to pick up their weapons. Adele saw her only chance as the Empress opened her mouth to shriek again.
“Charlie, now!” she shouted, as she pushed the boy toward his worst nightmare.
Quick as a snake, Charlie pulled out the little glass globe from his pocket and smeared it with the blood from his wrist.
“Arachanea!” he screamed and he lobbed the ball into the Empress’s open maw.
Everything slowed for a moment, as the air glowed green and the world paused to watch the glass ball shatter against the white fang of the Spider Empress and a tiny blue flame leap into the void of her mouth. A moment later, the blue light exploded and a blast of heat radiated out from the Empress. Adele stared in shock at the pile of black dust where the Empress had been just seconds before. She looked up in a daze, as her eyes followed the almost-invisible flames of blue fire as they danced and reached out for more victims in the crowd of panicking Spiders.
Adele’s gaze was caught by a vision of Rainere by the exit. He was carrying Natalie in his arms and silently mouthing something at her. She felt pulling and looked down to see Charlie ever so slowly yanking at her arm.
Time caught up to itself in a screeching crash of noise and movement.
“Run! Adelena, run!” screamed Rainere as he stepped outside the door.
They had to go! The fire would consume every Spider in the Nest, but that wouldn’t stop the Spiders from killing the Humans before they died.
Adele streaked through the chamber, right into the pile of black Empress dust and through the blue flames. She smelled her clothes singeing but the fire didn’t burn her skin.
“Men, to me.” Adele heard General Ohrig yell. “We follow the Queen.”
The tunnels of the Nest were in chaos. Adele felt the touch of Spiders scurrying across her face as the blue flames of Dragon Fire licked out of the cavern and into the tunnel, eating up every spider in its path.
Adele ran as fast as she could after Rainere’s retreating back. He was carrying Natalie and she was determined not to lose them, but Rainere’s legs were longer than hers and her QGs kept getting in the way of her sight.
When they hit the sewerage stream Adele felt something fall in front of her, knocking her sideways. Instinctively she kicked it away, but a flash of blue fire lit the hallway as a clump of Spiders were incinerated and in the light Adele saw Schiss’s white face drop under the filthy water. She reached down and dragged him up into her arms.
“Get up, Schiss,” she hissed at him. She felt a shadow fall over her and turned to see QG Owens behind her.
“Girl, you’re with me,” he said and caught her as she staggered under Schiss’s weight.
“No, take Schiss,” she protested. “He’ll die here and I can run.”
QG Owens did as he was told and grabbed the little man from her as if he weighed nothing at all and threw him over his shoulder. Looking behind, Adele saw General Ohrig bringing up the rear, and almost froze in fear when an enormous wall of blue flame filled the tunnel just yards behind him. There were Spiders everywhere, on the walls, the ceiling, on their bodies, in their hair. They would be burned alive with the Spiders.
Adele turned and fled down the churning stream. She prayed hard that Rainere had made it close to the exit with Natalie by now. She was running as fast as she could, but the waist-deep water was pushing against her and sh
e started to panic. Even with the roar of the fire in her ears, she could still hear the screams of the Spiders about her as they were burned alive. Adele joined the screaming when she felt an iron bar wrap itself around her shoulders and her feet were lifted clear of the water. She was thrown over General Ohrig’s shoulder with a whump that knocked the wind out of her. It was hard to catch a breath as she was jostled and bumped against his armored shoulder, but as Adele watched the wall of Dragon Fire edge even closer, the desire for air was swallowed by fear.
Adele could tell by his speed that General Ohrig had reached the shallow part of the underground stream. He was almost running by the time they reached the entrance. Adele twisted and then fell through Ohrig’s arms, but she mis-stepped and dropped to her hands and knees. She scrabbled as hard as she could, up and toward the hole they had entered through. She saw a flash of green in the clearing and knew that the portal had held.
Ohrig pushed out of the tunnel behind her and they both lurched across the clearing to stand in front of the shimmering portal. Adele looked around wildly, but didn’t see Grotto or the Prince anywhere.
“Pepper!” shouted Ohrig and Adele looked down to see that her QG was lying behind the portal, only his legs were sticking out to the side, and his body was covered with a sickly green light. General Ohrig pulled Pepper up into his arms and shook him. “Pepper, are you with me, man? Speak!”
But Pepper’s eyes were wide and his face was white with shock. He looked at the General, but didn’t say a word.
“We cannot wait for the Prince to help us,” shouted Adele over the dreadful roaring of the fire in the tunnel. “We must go now!”
Tentatively, Adele stuck her hand into the swirling green light. She reached for Ohrig and held his arm as she had seen Rainere do when they had first come through. Her courage quailed at taking that first step, but a wave of hot air blasted them from behind and they were pushed into the portal.
The Queen Revealed Page 33
