“Fine.” I snapped back at her, “Carry us up, and we’ll kill them, but you keep one of your princesses close to us, and some of your brood nearby. When I finish the Drow, I don’t expect to have to come back down here to discuss it! I’ll have need of your help, and I’ll not have time to fuck about.”
“Very well. Now go. I have lost enough to your incursion,” She rumbled, spitting out commands as she slowly moved backwards into the outpost, a large building soon swallowing her up.
I looked down and saw a familiar-looking small spider scuttle out of the mass, along with a group of spiders that moved towards each of us, crouching down and waiting.
“Horkesh?” I asked, and the spider bobbed excitedly.
“Yes! You remembered! I am to be your companion, to help you and carry your words to the queen!” I couldn’t help but be freaked out by the jerky sort movements she and her brood made.
I’d never liked spiders before meeting the SporeMother, who only slightly resembled one; then meeting a huge freaking brood of them, including a queen that was bigger than a fucking bus, had only cemented that feeling.
I decided that Horkesh was a puppy, that was all, I was going to think of her as a puppy…not a spider that made my skin crawl and I wanted to hit with a hammer. A puppy…a puppy…a… oh, for fuck’s sake!
I gritted my teeth and climbed aboard the nearest spider at her direction, swallowing the bile that rose in my throat when another larger spider, began to web me in place. I held myself upright, and it stopped at my waist instead of trapping me fully, but I fucking hated it.
I could tell by the mutterings and grumblings behind me that nobody else liked it either, except for Arrin, who started petting and talking to his mount immediately, chattering away happily. As we all moved out from the Cavern onto the wall of the chasm, I had to clamp down hard onto my stomach, as I wanted to be sick. At least one sound behind let me know that someone hadn’t managed to hold their bile down, but again, Arrin showed his batshit self, as I heard his voice echoing around from below.
“Whoooo hoo!” he cried out, and I had visions of him being one of those mad fuckers that jumped out of planes for fun back home.
I shook my head and held on tight, the walls of the chasm slowly passing by.
Hour passing hour as we climbed, taking passageways above raging rivers, passing through tunnels that disappeared at crazy angles, and finally passing a section of fallen masonry, faint light from the surface glittering down to land on fast rushing waters that poured over the side of the cliff to disappear into the chasm below.
After endless hours of travel, the spiders stopped on a path that was open to the air on one side, and I tried not to think of how deep the hole below us was.
We dismounted, minor burns covering us again as we were freed from the webbing. The larger mounts scuttled away into the darkness, and a dozen small spiders clambered onto the wall nearby, awaiting my orders, Horkesh taking up station by my feet.
I checked on my crew, healing any injuries, and drew a deep breath, making sure the others were ready.
It was time to hunt the Drow.
Chapter Twenty-Three
I got Horkesh to send a spider ahead, figuring if the Drow saw it, it wouldn’t be an issue. Another trailed behind us, just in case, and I ordered Bane to lead our party, his Worldsense an definite advantage in the tunnels and paths. We traveled for maybe half an hour, before pausing by a small underground pool, letting everyone have a short break, with the magelights illuminating a small space around us.
We’d been passing through a huge underground chamber. Occasional faint light filtered in from high overhead, a slim path winding across crumbled rock, and moss covering the floor all around us. I figured the team deserved the chance now that we were away from Ashrag’s brood. I was enjoying the light filtering down, leaning against a pillar of carved rock, and we’d rested. It was a short break, maybe twenty minutes, just long enough to eat, drink, and give Bane the chance to breathe in a small pool we’d found, when he surfaced, carrying something.
He waded to the edge of the water, passing it up to me as Jian took his wrist and helped him out.
“What is it?” I asked shaking the muck from it, only to see a small skull staring up at me.
“There’s dozens of them down there, maybe hundreds,” he replied, gesturing towards the water, and I frowned. There were clear bite marks on the bones, and they didn’t look that old.
“What were they, and what the fuck killed them?” I wondered aloud, and Horkesh spoke up excitedly.
“They’re gnomes! There was a whole group of them down here,” she said, bouncing excitedly.
“What happened to them?” I asked, my stomach dropping.
“They died,” she said simply.
“How?” I asked, and she spun around to look up at me, legs clattering on the stones.
“It was many turns of the Daystar ago. Queen Ashrag said it happened because they were weak. They all died.”
“Did you kill them?” I asked, gritting my teeth.
“No, creatures from above. They followed them down, hunted them, killed them, stole their stuff, and went back up. Left the bodies here. We ate them and put them in the water. I was only a hatchling then.”
“You ate them?” Miren asked, sounding sick.
“Yes, good meat. Why waste it; they didn’t care?” Horkesh replied, and I closed my eyes, fighting down my anger.
It wasn’t their fault, and it made perfect sense from a certain point of view; after all, they were already dead, and the bodies would only be wasted otherwise.
“I…no,
