“We don’t havetime for this,” the blodbad said. “There’s danger near. I can feel it.”
Cyrus clenched histeeth and rubbed the tears from his eyes. Humiliation turned to anger. He shookhis head. Then he wrenched the grappling hook from the crag and climbed the remainderof the cliff.
Cyrus crawled alongon his belly and peered over the sloping precipice. The steel wall lay severalyards ahead. Salt and ice stained the ground and tarnished the battlement’s greyexterior. The gun hatches remained closed.
“We need tohurry,” Fibian whispered, creeping on his stomach next to Cyrus.
Cyrus gathered upthe hook and line. Then he and Fibian were on their feet, sprinting across the exposedexpanse, praying the night would hide their intrusion. The hatches began to creakopen. No! The intruders reached the defensesand pressed their backs to its steel. Cyrus heard scraping, scrabbling soundsbehind the wall.
“I saw something,”he heard a wheezy klops voice whisper.
“Better sound thealarm,” another replied.
Curses! They were out of time. Cyrus’ plan would have to change.
The two cannon hatcheswere mounted one above the other. Cyrus grasped Edward from Fibian’s shoulderand placed him within the lower hatch.
“Stall them,” hedemanded.
Without hesitation,the seven-legged spider darted within. Cyrus then hurled the grappling hook overthe wall.
“Aaahh, get off,get it off!” the first klops voice cried.
Fibian pouncedupon the rope and flew cat-like over the barricade. Cyrus followed.
“Nooo -”
The second klops’cries were cut short. Cyrus reached the top of the defenses. He climbed overthe wall and dropped four feet down onto a wooden walkway. The walkway ran the entirelength of the battlement’s interior. Fibian crouched over two unmoving figureson the ground below.
Cyrus searched thedefenses. The wall’s meager torchlights exposed the odd, shadowy form standing furtherdown the ramparts. The guards were too far down the line to see or hear the intrusion.Cyrus suspected that more klops hid in the distance, below the walkway, manningthe guns. To his left stood a small wooden platform, protected by a steel roof.Cyrus spied many similar sentry posts mounted along the parapets. Were theremore klops hidden within those guard towers?
He ducked into theoverlook and descended a wooden stairway to the earth below. He arrived on a platformof cold, hard steel. Heavy bolts secured the wall’s base to the island’s tiledsurface.
The two klops lay motionlesson the ground. The dead sentry had a bloody knife wound in his back. The onestill breathing bled from a ragged gash on his forehead. Small bite marks scarredhis neck. A pair of fallen torches burned on the ground beside the pair.
Cyrus looked to Fibian.The froskman stood near the cannon, his rifle at the ready. Edward crouched onhis shoulder. Purple blood stained the blodbad’s mouth. Edward had lost his poisonousfangs, but he could still bite.
Cyrus inspectedthe iron cannon. The gun was mounted to a wooden base that rolled on metal wheels.A housing for a second cannon was built above the first. It seemed that Knavishhad fled the slave village before the artillery’s installation could be completed.
“They’re coming,”Edward whispered, “I can smell them.”
Cyrus’ fleshprickled and his neck knotted with tension. He turned and searched the snowyforest at his back. The barren ground reached out several yards from the wall beforegiving way to frosty grey grass. Thick vegetation began to dominate the grassas it neared the shadowy woods. A strange clicking sound came from the tangledforest. There were just one or two clicks at first. Cyrus unshouldered hisrifle and aimed into the trees. Fibian sighted his weapon over his maimed forearm.The clicking sounds became crackling, popping noises. The tall grass began to crawl.Cyrus and Fibian pressed their backs against the cold, hard wall.
“Blodbad!” Edward hissed.
Then several milkywhite eyes burst forth from the snowy spider’s bristled fur.
Chapter13
THE SPIDER KING
A BROOD OF BLACK, hairy spiders stepped to the edge of the grass, illuminatedby the torchlights’ glow. They stared at the interlopers across the barren no man'sland, their many eyes shining and dark. The horde looked to be five hundred instrength. What had Moro said about the island’s blodbad, that they had becometwisted halfbreeds?
The spiders lookedto be a third larger than Edward, and their fur appeared more coarse and shaggy.The skull-and-bones-shaped mark on their backs was distorted and red. Dark greystripes lined the sides of their thick abdomens. Whatever spider they had been crossedwith must have been fierce.
Edward crawled tothe top of Fibian’s bald head.
“I am the rightfulheir of the fallen King Fedor,” he cried, his voice growly and swollen, “Whohere would challenge my claim?”
Cyrus stared atEdward, bewildered. The wintry blodbad was furious, monstrous, possessed. Whathad come over him?
The halfbreed hordeclicked and rubbed their front legs in reply. It seemed their crossbreeding hadcost them the power of speech. The largest of the black spiders stepped forwardonto the barren earth and bared his dripping fangs. Cyrus sighted the spider withhis rifle.
“No,” Edward demanded,“This is my fight.”
“But your teeth,” Cyrusreplied, “You’re defenseless.”
Edward did not respond.Instead, he leaped from Fibian’s head, falling the five-plus feet to the hardenedground below. The white blodbad hit the earth with a bounce and rolled towards hisenemy. Then he sprang to his feet like a mechanical trap. The brood hissed theircontempt. Edward rose up on his rear legs and hissed back. He bared his shiny,square teeth, exposing his swollen, blackened sockets. His fur bristled, andhis many eyes stared out, crazed.
The halfbreed’s kingrushed forward and met Edward head on. The big arachnid too rose up on his backlegs and flashed his mandibles. Several brown, jagged teeth surrounded his long,dark fangs.
The enemy spiders encouragedtheir leader with clicks and pops. The inky blodbad started to circle Edward, tryingto expose his flank. Edward shuffled to his right, countering his opponent'sfootwork. The giant leaped forward and bit at Edward’s face. Edward sprang tohis left, revealing his enemy’s side. He snapped at the brute’s legs and rippedseveral black hairs out with his blunt teeth. The large blodbad retreated. Edwardspun a rough sheet of silk. He threw the sticky mask at the king’s face, blindingthe halfbreed. The horde hissed their disapproval. Cyrus had never seen Edwardfight this way before.
Edward scrambled forwardand lunged at his helpless enemy. He bit deep into a
