Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
But eventually, the skeletons die out in a pile of bones and ashes, and all that we’re left with are a dozen giant spider things at the end of the tunnel, staring at us.
Alright. This is way worse than the skeleton army. Earlier, I had done my best not to look at the spider I came across in the tunnels, especially since there was a bigger danger at hand, but now, I don’t have much choice. The spiders are black and hairy, with a row of shining eyes down their backs, human-like hands at the end of their legs. Their heads are oblong with a hole in the middle, a mouth filled with rows of silver, needle-sharp teeth covered in fine hairs.
It makes me want to vomit.
I glance over my shoulder at Raila. If that’s what she looks like under that veil, I pray to God she never lifts it. I’ll be much happier pretending she’s just some regular murderous woman under there.
“Well,” Death says gruffly to the spider people, lowering his sword slightly. “I thank you for your help.”
Raila makes a series of unsettling chirping sounds.
“Are you translating for them?” I ask her. “Do they not know English?”
I am asking them for safe passage, she says.
“Asking?” Death says, his chin lifted with an air of importance. “They do realize I am their king? I shouldn’t have to ask; they should know to give.”
Yes, but as you saw with the Inmost dwellers, things have changed here, Raila says. I am explaining the best I can that you are still their king.
She goes back to making that chittering sound, and I exchange a glance with Death. He’s not amused, his mouth setting into a firm line before he turns to face the spiders again. This time, he raises his sword.
“Let us pass, and there will be no trouble,” he commands. His voice is gruff and steady, and if I were them, I wouldn’t risk his brand of trouble.
But the spiders don’t move.
Raila lets out a raspy sigh and walks past us so that she’s in front of us, facing her kin.
She starts chittering again, louder now, throwing out her hands.
And yet, the spiders don’t move.
Finally, one in the middle starts tapping a leg against the ground, the weird, human-shaped hand slapping the surface. Then, the rest of the spiders join in until the slapping sound fills the tunnels and dust from the ceiling begins to fall.
“What’s happening?” I ask, my chest growing tight along with the grip on both swords.
This isn’t going as I’d hoped, Raila says, sounding unsure for once. It makes her seem human, and for once, I don’t like it. They are having a rebellion of their own. They say that Louhi has promised them a new life running free on the surface…feasting on anything they see. It’s too tempting for them.
Death growls. “How the fuck has that she-devil been turning everyone in Inmost against me?”
She has her ways, her networks, her spies, just as I have mine. I should have known, master, that this was her plan. For that, I am sorry. I thought my relatives would have listened to reason.
Death grunts. “Reason. There is no reason anymore. Guess we’ll have to fight our way out of it.”
Raila turns to face us. Please. Allow me to make sure you can pass. At the very least, I can get the queen to safety.
“I’m not going anywhere without my husband!” I cry out.
“And I’ll slaughter every creature I see before I let my wife walk off with you,” he sneers.
You’d risk her life on that? Raila questions.
I can tell my husband is two seconds away from driving his sword across Raila’s hidden neck, so I quickly reach out and put my hand on his arm to calm him.
“Let’s try to get past them first,” I implore him. “If they don’t let us through, then we’ll lay waste to them.” I look to Raila. “I’m sorry if they’re your kin, and I’m grateful they came when you called and helped defeat the uprisers, but if they don’t let us through, then we don’t have a choice.”
I understand, she says quietly.
She turns to face the spiders again, throwing her hands into the air, the chirps coming out loud.
“What are you saying to them?” Death asks.
I’m promising things, she says, then continues chittering.
“What sorts of things?” His hand tightens around the handle of his sword.
Promises you won’t keep but might let you live, she says.
And at that, the spider people stop stamping their feet.
Silence fills the tunnel.
We stare at them.
They stare back at us. Or at least, it feels that way, considering their eyes are on their back.
Then, the one at the front slowly starts to move to the side.
The others follow suit, half of them curling up on the walls and then the ceiling so that they’re building an arch of giant spiders we must walk under.