Curse of the Spider King (46 page)

“Kiri Lee!” Edward shouted. She had fallen to the stage at the first explosion. He knelt by her. “Kiri Lee, are yu hurt?”

She rose to one knee. The violin had been crushed beneath her, and her beautiful, new white dress was spotted with soil and ash. “No, I don't think so . . . what—?”

“No time, lass! No time!” he shouted. He picked her up and carried her off the stage . . . just as it exploded in a flash of blue light.

They fell into a section of chairs and tumbled to the grass. Edward rolled to a crouch and surveyed the scene; Kiri Lee stayed low beside him.

The enemy attacked from all sides, arc rifles firing, battle-axes and swords swinging. “Ellos, have mercy,” Edward said, losing his Scottish accent. He helped Kiri Lee back to her feet. “They're everywhere.”

We're going to need weapons
, he thought, quickly scanning the area.
And much more than Charlie has in his beloved bag of tools.
“Kiri Lee, come with me, now! If something happens to me, I want you to steal away on the wind so that they will never find you.”

Firelight glistened off the many eyes of a massive Warspider as it crashed into the midst of the crowd fleeing their seats. The creature turned its gaze to Tommy . . . a mistake.

In ten seconds, Tommy fired three arrows, instantly blinding three of its eyes.

Just then, Jimmy—pale with dread—yelled over to Tommy, “Look out!” But he was too far away to do anything about the frightening vision he had just seen in his mind.

The giant spider shrieked hideously, turned around, and lifted its huge abdomen. Like a silken spear, a strand of web shot out for Tommy . . . but Mrs. Galdarro guessed rightly from Jimmy's warning and made quick work of the projectile with her sword. Tommy rolled, rose to one knee, and drew back the bowstring all the way to his ear. He let the arrow fly, sending the shaft deep into the creature's spinnerets.

“That had to hurt!” yelled Jett.

“No kidding,” Tommy added, and then looked to Jimmy and Mrs. Galdarro. “Thanks, guys!”

The Warspider screeched and began to quiver and buck. Its Gwar rider fell awkwardly to the turf, where a tuxedo-clad Sentinel stole its axe and finished off both mount and rider.

“We must get to the portal, now!” bellowed Mrs. Galdarro. “Run to the ruins!”

Mr. Wallace, Anna, Mr. Spero, Mrs. Galdarro, Mr. Charlie, Regis, and Miss Finney all formed a perimeter around the four young lords, and they ran toward the ruins.

“What am I supposed to do?” Kat yelled, ducking at the sound of a nearby explosion. “I don't know how to fight. I can't use—”

“Here!” Mr. Charlie put a short sword in her hand. “If a Gwar gets in your way, cut his legs first. Then finish him, chest or head. If there's a Drefid, you let me handle him.”

“I definitely will!” said Kat, trying to keep up, fumbling with the sword.

Charlie lowered his shield, pushed ahead of them, and charged straight into three Gwar warriors. They all tumbled to the ground, but Charlie was up first. His shield rose and fell three times. In a flash, he tossed the dead Gwars' weapons to the Sentinels. For a time, they were able to push back the enemy and keep the young lords safe. They had put down a dozen Gwar and two Drefids as they raced across the wide lawn toward the woods.

But as they left the concert area another hundred yards behind them, the Elves realized how deluded they'd been to think they could escape to the portal so unhindered.

Mr. Spero exclaimed, “Wait! Where are Kiri Lee and Edward?”

But none of them replied. They were riveted to something ahead. The moon, now half-covered by shreds of cloud, cast a weak light on a dark mass moving across the field toward them . . . a
huge
mass like a mountain of shadow. “I don't like this,” said Mr. Wallace.

“Nor I,” Anna agreed.

“Stop! Wait!” bellowed Mr. Charlie as he forced the group to slow.

The Elves pulled up short. Fanning out around them were Warspiders, driven by Drefids, and Cragon trees. They were surrounded.

Just then, Jimmy doubled over. “Oh, this is not good!” He pressed his fingers to his temples, a horrific vision passing before him.

“They're going to kill us,” said Kat.

Tommy hefted his bow and looked to his new friend. “Are you reading their minds? Is that what they're thinking?”

“No,” Kat replied. “That's what I'm thinking.”

43

Help from Above

A JAGGED blade tore through the hem at the bottom of Kiri Lee's dress. “Aah, it's behind me!” she cried. “Edward, help!”

The Gwar snarled and lunged again for the young lord. Kiri took one step, leaped up, and the sword missed, slashing beneath her. But Kiri Lee didn't stop. Three, four, five steps up, and now she ran on the air ten feet above her enemy.

Riveted to his prey and shocked at her impossible escape, the Gwar didn't see Edward coming. Being more than sixteen hundred years old, the elder Sentinel was no longer as strong as some, but he more than made up for it with experience.

Edward pivoted and ducked under Kiri Lee as she went up. Then he exploded forward, pushing with his legs while at the same time rotating his upper body to violently drive his elbow just beneath the Gwar's rib cage. The blow forced the air from the Gwar's lungs. His sword flung into the air, and he went down hard on the grass, lying on his back and gasping for breath. Edward grabbed the Gwar's sword out of the air and, in one continuous motion, finished him off.

“Now to make this a fair fight!” said Edward, looking above. “Kiri Lee, follow me!” With little resistance, they made it to the castle's massive barrel turret. Kiri Lee descended from the air and found Edward clearing away bracken, branches, and pine needles from a pair of storm doors. These he flung open and then disappeared below. He emerged with two very heavy-looking green canvas duffels.

“Can you carry one of these?” he asked.

She grabbed the handles of one and hefted it. “Yes, I think so.”

“Good,” said Edward. “I'll get one more.”

“I need more moonlight,” Tommy muttered. He had only nine arrows left in his quiver, and needed to make every shaft count. His hand flew to the arrow, to the bowstring, and to his ear, again and again until every arrow was spent.

Pierced in the heart, two Gwar slumped to the grass. Three Drefids, shot through the neck, tumbled out of their saddles and writhed on the grass. The last four arrows blinded two Cragons, and howling miserably, they stumbled and fell to the earth. In spite of the dim light, Tommy's aim had still been true. His bow now useless, Tommy grabbed a blade from one of his fallen enemies. But he, like Kat, had no training in swordplay.

Fortunately, Mrs. Galdarro, Mr. Charlie, Mr. Spero, Mr. Wallace, Regis, and Anna had. They put themselves between the enemy and the young lords. Their swords, axes, and Charlie's shield took down many foes. But a Warspider sprang forward and, with a sweep of one of its forelegs, sent Mr. Wallace sprawling to the ground.

Mrs. Galdarro ran to his side.

As the spider closed in to claim its victim, Mrs. Galdarro dropped her sword. She reached into her purse and pulled out a tan cube the size of a toy building block. She flung it at the jaws of the creature, and the cube exploded in a vaporous cloud.

The spider screeched and reared as the chemical compound ate away at its eyes and face. It tried in vain to slash the pain away with its forelegs, but collapsed to the ground and began to twitch.

Tommy had now seen Mrs. Galdarro dispatch spiders with the strange cubes twice: once with a little spider back at school, and once . . . with a monster. It gave Tommy an idea. But it would have to wait.

Mrs. Galdarro looked at Mr. Wallace gravely.

He stood, hefted his sword, and nodded to Mrs. Galdarro. “I'm okay.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'll be fine,” he said. “. . . and thanks, Elle.”

“We've got to get to the portal!” she said.

But to do so meant going through a virtual forest of Cragons. And the Drefids, who had been content to let their Warspiders fight for them, now leaped into the battle.

One of the Drefids came behind Anna and went to stab her in the back. But Jett was behind it. He grabbed the Drefid by the shoulders and rammed his knee into the Drefid's spine. Then Jett flung the limp foe into the jaws of an advancing spider.

“It's no good, Elle!” said Mr. Charlie, wiping something black and sticky from his face. “There are too many!”

“Where are they all coming from?” she gasped. “With every one we slay, more appear!” Then she realized how complete the design of the trap had been. And she began to despair. For not only were there Drefids and Cragons already waiting in Edinburgh for the Elves to arrive, but reinforcements were pouring forth from the portal itself. That had to be it.

“We've got to fall back and regroup!” Mr. Charlie growled.

The wave of enemies pushed them farther and farther from the portal, and there was little they could do but try to stay alive. Soon they had been driven all the way back to an area near the concert stage. There the battle was even more intense. But of the hundreds of Sentinels and Dreadnaughts who were in the audience before the attack, barely more than seventy survived to fight. Bodies of Gwar and Drefid—even a few Warspiders—littered the ground. And though the enemy dead counted far greater in number, the losses for the Elves were daunting.

“We've got to help them!” yelled Mr. Spero.

“No!” said Mrs. Galdarro. “We must protect the lords. All is lost without them!”

Tommy and Kat watched Jett slam another Drefid to the ground. Kat looked at Tommy. “I feel like baggage,” she said.

“We've got to do something,” said Tommy. He held up his Gwar sword. “Come on.” They ran ahead.

“Tommy, Kat, NO!” Mrs. Galdarro shouted after them. “You're not ready!”

But they were gone.

It's all coming apart
, she thought.

For once, Jimmy was glad he was short. He stayed low and out of the way, but still within the protective reach of Regis or Miss Finney.

“Ugh!” Miss Finney swept the legs of a Drefid. He fell on his back but continued to swipe with his claws.

Battling beside her, Regis leaped off the thigh of a Gwar and ripped his helmet off using
Vexbane
techniques she'd learned in the elite Dreadnaught training. Descending, she brought the heavy iron helmet back down with both hands, trying to hammer the fallen enemy, but he saw it coming and rolled to the side.

Coming back toward Miss Finney, the Drefid leaped up to his feet again and slashed wildly at her face. Armed only with a short, dull blade she had plucked from a dead Gwar, she couldn't fend him off. Soon she was fighting not only the Drefid but two more Gwar.

Regis clambered back to her feet, wanting to help her friend, but she had to deal with the helmetless Gwar behind her.

To everyone's surprise, it was Jimmy who came to the rescue. “Miss Finney, look out!” he yelled. “Duck! Now!”