On the journey to the Widow’s lair, to retrieve both the Jewel of Deception and Maria’s grandfather, Claire sniffed deeply and gagged.
Maria’s eyes narrowed. She smelled it, too. Good. That smell meant the Arachnids were close.
A Light Elf shouted from behind them as branches snapped and broke.
Maria turned around just in time to see black figures descending from the trees on glittering, gossamer webs.
The Arachnids.
Maria stood, and Joe, Claire, and Tabby followed suit. Claire and Tabby raised the Orc blades they had brought with them from Ashbourne, and Joe brought up the sword that Agnes had gifted him.
Maria jumped down from Odarth’s back, her own sword clashing with two Arachnids’ swords. She let magic flow through her, and it helped give her hit more power. The Arachnids flew backward, crashing into the trunks of large trees, and dropped to the ground, unconscious.
Three more came at them, saliva hanging from their fangs in long strings.
Maria prepared her attack, but the Arachnid soldiers didn’t even get within five feet of her before Joe dropped to the dirt and swiped their legs out from under them using his own blade. They fell face-first, and Joe hit their skulls with the hilt of his sword, knocking the three Arachnid soldiers unconscious.
Everyone gawked at Joe, Light Elves and dark witches alike.
“What?” he asked, patting dirt off the sides of his jeans.
Maria spoke when no one else would. “Where the fuck did that come from?”
Joe shrugged. “Working at Rolling Hill, you learn some tricks.”
“Rolling Hill Mall is not that bad,” Claire said. “I worked there, too.”
“Try working the third shift sometime,” Joe suggested. He looked at the unconscious Arachnid soldiers and the others that the Light Elves had taken out. “Is this it? Was that the war? We needed a dragon for that?”
Odarth grumbled in reply.
“Sherlock could’ve handled those three himself,” Joe added.
Aw, I think I’m starting to like this one, Maria, Sherlock wagged his tail.
Maria chuckled and looked at Joe. “That’s not it. We still have to—”
“Uh, guys?” Tabby’s voice was distant.
Maria searched for her and found her standing between two trees on a low, scrubby hill.
“You might want to look at this.”
Maria’s stomach flipped, but she couldn’t hesitate; she was their leader. She crawled up the hill with Joe, Frieda, and E’olin behind her, and saw what Tabby had discovered.
“Oh, shit,” Joe said.
“I’m not too familiar with the Earth dialect,” E’olin mused, “but I do think ‘Oh, shit’ is right.”
As far out as Maria’s eyes could see, red bulbs, clustered in eights, dotted the horizon.
Arachnids. Scores of Arachnids.
They stood, waiting for the wanderers in a large clearing, which looked to be Arachnid-made. Stumps as wide as houses jutted out of the ground in rows. On the far side, barely visible and also sticking out of the ground, was a building. Maria saw what looked like an entrance, as big as the door to a four-car garage.
The lair, she thought, touching the crystal around her neck. It was burning brighter on each blink. Gramps was in there.
Even without the crystal, she would’ve sensed his magic.
Climb on, Maria, I will get you there, Odarth said.
Thank you.
As Maria mounted the dragon, Gelbus, still wearing his dinosaur hoodie, mounted Sherlock, and Joe, Claire, and Tabby climbed on Odarth, raising their swords. It hurt Maria to see how eager they were to do battle, especially with the outcome so uncertain.
The dark witches stepped to the left side of Odarth, Gloria in the middle of them. Frieda looked at Maria and gave her a reassuring nod.
On the right side, the Light Elves stood with their weapons out and at the ready. E’olin smiled up at her.
Maria’s arms and hands began to glow with blue magic. She raised her sword in the air and shouted, “Charge!” like she’d seen in so many war movies.
The wanderers followed her with shouts of “Death to the Spider Lords!” and “For Ignatius Mangood!”
Chapter Twelve
Odarth launched into the air, her great wings beating stinging wind. Maria braced herself for the sudden rise in altitude.
Inside of her mind, Odarth screamed out in pain.
Maria looked down and saw a hundred strands of white webbing on the dragon. Webs shot from the enemy like ropes. They were meant to hold the dragon down, to slow Maria's progess.
Then the Arachnids scurried up these webs like nightmares.
Fear struck Maria’s heart, but only momentarily. She would not allow it to consume her—could not allow it.
She held on to Odarth’s spike, knowing they were going down. There were just too many webs. Maria held her sword up in her battle pose.
Go down, Maria ordered Odarth. Give in; I can take them. They won’t be expecting you to do that.
You are right.
The dragon dropped, and Maria barely kept her balance as Odarth landed with a thud. Louder was the squishing of the Arachnids who were unlucky enough to find themselves in her landing zone.
Monstrous as the spider-creatures were, the fallen were hardly noticed by their comrades. Two had already made it up the dragon’s tail and were coming for Maria. Snarling, they swung their large, dark swords. Three blades met in a steel kiss, but only one remained when they parted.
Drawing on her magic, Maria sent those Arachnids off Odarth’s back. It gave her enough time to right herself and prepare for the others. It also allowed her to see where her family was on the battlefield.
The dark witches shot jets of flame toward rushing Arachnids. These soldiers came at the women on all eight legs, moving with a sickening grace, but they were no match for the combined flames. Frieda, along with the others, joined hands, and from the ground rose fires in the shape of men. They moved like men. They hit like men. They destroyed like men.
Flames erupted over the battlefield as the burning bodies of Arachnids bumped into other Arachnids, and they caught fire. A high-pitched scream came from their mouths, making Maria want to plug her
