Chapter 24
The hallway seemed to close in on us, the dust-covered webs over the walls flickering in the lantern light.
Bile rose to the back of my throat, coating my tongue with bitterness. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted the spider to fulfill its end of the bargain, knew Drayce should have restrained it with shadows. Now the wretched monster was playing games with our lives.
With a satisfied groan, the spider straightened its eight monstrous limbs, their bristly hairs quivering with power. A dry chuckle rustled in the back of its throat, and its pincers made satisfied clacks.
Standing six feet tall and with a quartet of eyes that reflected our golden light, it raised an arm-like front appendage to the webs strewn across the ceiling. Dust sprinkled on the floor, creating a small pile.
“I’ve feasted on the human servants and grown to such grand proportions,” it rasped. “I’ve dipped each morsel in my blend of spices. How strong will I become after I consume your powers?”
As slowly and as soundlessly as I could, I slid my sword out of its sheath. If I could create a rift and trick the spider into running into it, we might have a chance of reaching the Fear Dorcha unscathed.
“Do not hurt that spider,” Drayce whispered from the front, presumably for my benefit.
Aengus and Cathbad stepped closer to my sides, and Rosalind placed a hand on my back. Pursing my lips, I exhaled a frustrated breath through my nostrils. Why did that wretched thing get to take our gifts and then fabricate an extra rule about needing compliments?
On my right, Cathbad straightened. “I did not say you were majestic because you are not.”
The spider reared back and hissed. “What?”
My mouth fell open, and words of reproach died in my throat. I glanced at the druid, wondering if he meant to get us killed, but he raised his chin and stared ahead, his eyes blazing with defiance.
“You are indeed monstrous,” Cathbad added.
The spider lowered its arm to the floor, its pincers clicking as though savoring the taste of the words. “Monstrous,” it rasped and crawled toward the wall, leaving a narrow path. “Monstrous is close enough to majestic. I will let you pass.”
Nobody moved. I glanced at Aengus, who shook his head.
“What are you waiting for?” the spider asked, its voice dripping with amusement. “Do you not trust me?”
Still, nobody moved.
I held my breath, willing my heart to stop slamming itself against my rib cage. If I had been alone, I might have tried to slice at the spider with the Sword of Tethra, but Drayce’s words that killing spiders brought bad luck and Rosalind’s guess that it might cause our deaths made me pause.
We were about to face a dark creature who could weave nightmares and a desperate creature who needed my body to survive. Erin would have shared everything she had gleaned about us to the Fear Dorcha, and we couldn’t afford to impair our luck.
“Do you still intend to take our lives?” asked Drayce.
The spider paused, making me wonder if it was also incapable of lying like other faeries. “I must leave at least one of you alive.”
I ground my teeth. It was working for the Fear Dorcha and probably meant to kill my companions all along.
“Ah…” Its voice was as soft as an exhale as it rose. “Who shall I allow to live?”
The spider took a step toward us and then another, its hand and foot-like extremities clicking on the marble floor. “I’ll eat the bearded one first, then pluck the female’s wings, and save the others for later.”
An idea dropped into the back of my head. It probably wouldn’t count as hurting the spider, but it was better than running around the palace trying not to become its meal. I raised a palm. “Wait!”
Drayce turned around and frowned. I shook my head, silently urging him to trust me.
“You are Neara,” the spider lengthened my name.
“I want my handkerchief.” I stepped forward and stood at Drayce’s side.
The spider reached into its cloak and pulled out the embroidered piece of cloth. “This?”
“Yes.” I snarled. “Give it back.”
The spider opened its pincers and swallowed the handkerchief in a single gulp. “Delicious. What a pity I won’t be able to discover if you’re as tasty as your handkerchief.”
I folded my arms across my chest, hoping the spider had enough faerie in it to fall to the effects of the tree sap.
“What is this?” The spider’s limbs trembled, then its massive body thudded to the floor in a cloud of dust.
For the next few heartbeats, nobody moved. The spider’s limbs lay splayed across the hallway, twitching once, twice, and then no more. Only its bony rib cage expanded and retracted with its rasping breaths.
Drayce created a path with his shadows that stretched several inches over the slumbering spider. He stepped over it first, and then we followed. A snore from the monster below us made me flinch as I stepped into the other end of the hallway, which led to a winding staircase of marble steps and silver railings.
As we descended the stairs, Drayce wrapped an arm around my shoulder and gave me a tight squeeze. “How did you know it would work?”
“The sap made Aengus sleepy, and even I felt a little drowsy at its smell.” My gaze dropped down to my leather skirt. “I guessed it would do the same for the spider, seeing as it’s some kind of faerie.”
“More likely a Fomorian mated with a spider and produced that,” muttered Aengus from behind.
Suppressing a shudder, I continued down the stairs. “Can you sense Erin’s location?”
Drayce nodded. “At the bottom.”
The next step loosened granules underfoot. I pointed my torch to the floor and found the marble becoming increasingly worn as we descended. Eventually, splinters of wood protruded from the marble, making me frown. I didn’t know anything about the construction of castles or
