The Queen Revealed (32 page)

Chapter Forty-Eight

“Down We Go Into the Darkness Below”

The journey through the portal had shaken everybody up. Rainere had taken the party through in pairs, as they each had to hold his arm to make it through the long green void without getting lost.

Rainere had brought them deep into the Dark Forest, far from the main entrance to the Nest, but close to a little-used waste channel that Schiss had claimed would be a discreet entry point. Their party now had time to rest and survey their surroundings, while Rainere closed the portal from the Grey Palace and opened another one, which would lead them to the border of the Belvoir Estate. It was their escape route when, or if, they made it out of this nightmare alive.

Adele stood apart from the others and watched Rainere work. She couldn’t help it. As if from nowhere, a swirling matrix of particles and clusters of green dust appeared before him as he swept his arms in small circles and formed the portal. She could feel him pulling Magic out of the air and mixing it with the power within himself, as green sparkles of energy flowed from his elegant hands and coalesced in an oval shape big enough to fit a Human-form. It was beautiful.
He
was beautiful. As if she had spoken aloud, Rainere turned to look over his shoulder at her, catching her gaze and holding it for a moment. Her eyes ran over the planes of his face, those fine cheekbones she had held between her hands, and the perfectly-formed mouth that fit so well against her own, and tried to deny the urge to throw herself into his arms. Her anger toward him had been eclipsed by a nearly petrifying fear of walking into a cave of giant Spiders, and finding her daughter dead.

A cold breeze blew into the forest glade, swaying branches and rustling the dead leaves at their feet. Adele shivered and pulled up the collar of her riding jacket, dragging her gaze away from Rainere. Schiss shuffled over and gave her a welcome distraction.

“I never got to thank you, m’Queen.” Schiss smiled shyly. “You saved me from that horrible Mage in Sandar. I would have died in that little box if you hadn’t set me free.”

Adele nodded. That was a week ago, when she’d had mercy for Spiders. “Who did this to you?” she asked, gesturing at his injuries.

“The Empress, my mother,” whispered Schiss and a bleak look passed over his face. “She never liked me, I think, or any of her children who walk in the Above Lands. Though I would have kissed her foot for a kind word I know I am dead to her now. Should she see me again she will eat me, or feed me to her new Hatchlings.” He looked closely at Adele, his big eyes bulging even wider. “I do not think, m’Queen, that you would ever eat your children?”

Adele shook her head, no, but couldn’t say another word. What madness she had been caught up in? Mothers eating children, monsters eating her daughter. Wizards who could love you and turn on you in a heartbeat. Adele wanted to scream in fear and frustration. This wasn’t what her life was meant to be like!

“Your Majesty, we are all as ready as we’ll ever be,” whispered Ohrig close to her shoulder. Adele took a deep breath and struggled to bring her hysteria under control. Natalie needed to be rescued and that was what she had to focus on.

Adele surveyed the group standing under the trees. General Ohrig looked as grim as she had ever seen him and was staring about the glade in sharp, jerky movements like he was trying to catch something that kept darting out of his view.

Captain Lucky stood tall, but was pale in the dim light of the late afternoon. QGs Leith and Pepper looked scared out of their wits and stood close to each other, jumping each time there was a breeze or rustle in the thick undergrowth. QG Bear and Owens, on the other hand, looked almost relaxed as they discussed the odds of their survival and laid bets on it. A woman named Bess featured a lot in their bargaining.

According to Schiss, most of the larger Spiders would be in and around the Empress as she prepared for the moon rising. Which meant they only had to worry about the thousands of tiny Spiders who lived in the labyrinth of tunnels, but they would most likely be close to the center of the Nest and awaiting the call of the Empress when the time came.

Charlie moved to stand on the other side of Adele. She noticed he kept his hand in the pocket which held the glass ball of Dragon Fire. She had always known that Charlie was capable of Magic, but that he was a Marchant as well was not a great shock. How else could he have handled the Magic sand in her room the first time she had seen him if he wasn’t a Marchant?

“I cannot believe I was scared of this lot when I first met them,” said Charlie and cast a disparaging look at the Queen’s Guard. “That Leith looks like he might have filled his britches already, and we haven’t even started yet.”

Adele realized the joke was an attempt at battlefield humor, meant to jostle the others out of their fear, and it worked when QG Leith’s head snapped up, his eyes sparking with derision. “Shove a cat in it, Charlie,” the young QG sneered. “Did the Queen lend you that pretty vest today or you wearing your own for once?”

“Oi, Charlie, why don’t you take a message down to the Spider Queen, seeing as how you’re so brave,” added QG Bear. “Or maybe you could shag her for us…”

“Steady,” growled Ohrig in a warning tone, but Adele was too far from herself for jokes that could make her blush now.

Rainere walked across the clearing and made his way through the soldiers as if they were so many trees. He only had eyes for Adele and she felt herself leaning into him even before he reached her.

“Adelena,
cara mia
.” His rasp sent a chill over her skin. “I am begging you, please do not do this. Send the men in your place if you must, but please, don’t go down there yourself.”

‘Down there’ was a cave in a mound of rotting tree trunks, no more than a yard across and a yard high. A tiny creek flowed out of the cave, which carried out the waste from the Nest. The smell of the sewerage was acrid and caught at the back of the throat like ammonia. Schiss had assured them that even though the entrance was small, it opened into a much-larger tunnel, one that was high enough for a man to walk upright.

“You put my little girl down there,” Adele replied softly, and saw Rainere flinch at the accusation. “I’m going to get her back.”

“But, Adelena, think of the Prophecy,” Rainere beseeched her, and came a step closer. “I have read it and it only travels in one direction. ‘The Hidden Child
shall
defend the Throne from the Favored and cast the Shadows into the Light, to restore the glory of my Chosen Ones on the Throne of my Kingdom’. Adelena, the Favored are the St. Lucidis Wizards, the Shadows are the Spiders and the Chosen Ones are the Marchant Family. Our marriage was foretold, but our future doesn’t have to be. Listen to me when I say…”

“Does it say anything in the Prophecy about the Shadows eating little girls given to them by a Chosen One?” asked Adele.

Rainere shrugged helplessly and opened his mouth to speak again.

“Then we are done talking about this,” she snapped. “You and the Wizards and the demons can all follow your cursed Prophecy but I’m taking my part in this out.”

Adele squared her shoulders and stepped up on a nearby tree stump to raise herself above Rainere. She didn’t want to speak loudly and they all crowded close to hear her. It felt passing strange to be comfortable with the mantle of leadership, but Adele knew she had become someone else the minute she found out Rainere had stolen her daughter.

“Men, I want to thank all of you for coming with me tonight to save my little girl, Natalie. You are all heroes tonight going into battle with mythical creatures, fighting a war we never expected to be faced with. But we will be united and I will do everything in my power to get you out and back to Belvoir before the sun rises. Remember the rules are simple: Stay close to each other and if you see a Spider, kill it. We will get the Princess out alive.”

There was nothing else to say. Adele stared hard at each man in turn, then hopped off the tree stump and led the group to the hole at the side of the clearing. She wiped her hands down her leather riding pants and made sure her shirt was tucked in tightly and the sleeves pulled down to her wrists. The less flesh that was exposed the better.

Despite her inner transformation, there was a part of Adele who wanted to scream and cower back at the Grey Palace and let the men around her rescue Natalie from this deep hole in the ground. She patted her tightly-braided hair and could already feel imaginary Spider legs getting tangled in it. She suppressed a shudder as a lifetime of arachnophobia washed over her in a suffocating wave. Adele pulled on her gloves.

There was no choice. Natalie needed her. She gave her Magic a squeeze and felt it pulse back in response. She was stronger than she had ever been in her life.

“Kill them all!” she muttered hotly and was the first to push through the dead tree branches into the hole.

“Fall in,” whispered General Ohrig and the men moved into position behind Adele as they all filed into the cave. Their feet splashed quietly in the shallow creek and Adele didn’t even hear Rainere until he was by her side, a small globe of light was suspended in front of him to light their way.

“The tunnel opens out just pass these tree roots, m’Queen,” whispered Schiss. Just a few yards in, Adele could see the giant tree roots from the forest above them hanging across the tunnel in an immovable curtain.

“Cut these down, Lucky,” ordered Adele. “As quietly as you can.”

But Rainere had stepped to the front and with a flick of his wrist the tree roots disintegrated into a cloud of tiny shards. Rainere caught Adele’s eye and held it for a moment in the blue light of the globe. “You can still turn back, Adelena.”

“Err…m’Queen?” Schiss coughed nervously. “It seems we are expected.”

Adele looked past Rainere to the tunnel beyond. Thousands of eyes glittered in the blue light, and a soft rustling and clicking noise could be heard as a blanket of Spiders moved toward the intruders.

Chapter Forty-Nine

“Where is the Fire to Light Up the Darkness?”

“Stop!” shouted Schiss, as the horde of Spiders rustled their way up the walls of the tunnel toward him. At his command, the Spiders all stopped moving and sat in eerie silence, waiting. With a quick glance back at the Queen for confirmation, Schiss started speaking in his native tongue, clicking and wheezing oddly as he flailed his arms about his head. When he stopped, the carpet of spiders undulated as they all rose up on their back legs and waved their forelegs in the air.

Rainere’s gaze flew to Adelena when he heard a whimper escape her. She was deathly pale and sweat trickled down her temple, her fists clamping and unclamping at her side. She was clearly terrified out of her wits, despite her brave speeches. He saw her close her eyes and heard her mutter a prayer to the Gods of another world. His heart clenched hard and he wanted so much to catch her into his arms and carry her away from this dreadful place. But he knew she would just find a way back down here by herself. He had never before witnessed such maternal love and he was struck dumb with admiration at its power. For love of her children, Adele would face a terrible foe and drag her little army into battle with her, knowing she was doomed to fail, yet still hoping to save her daughter. It was tragic, yes, but tragically beautiful.

Schiss turned to smile at Adelena. His sharp little teeth gleamed in the blue light. “I have told them that we are on our way to the Empress already, m’Queen,” said Schiss. “So they will not stop us. Of course, these are just little Brown Stripes. Most of them can’t morph into Human-form yet, and some of them don’t even have venom in their fangs.”

“Comforting,” sniffed Charlie. “At least
some
of them can’t bite you.”

“Oh no, boy, they can all bite,” Schiss assured him. “It just wouldn’t kill you.”

Rainere watched as Adelena turned to exchange a look with General Ohrig. She still doubted Schiss, as well she might. He was betraying his own people and committing them to death at her hands. What was to stop him from betraying her to the Empress? Rainere gritted his teeth. He would pull Schiss limb from limb if he tried it. Rainere hoped that Adelena would look back at him, but she didn’t.

As they splashed their way down the center of the stream the Spiders slowly dropped to their eight legs and edged back from the water to avoid getting wet.

“Steady, steady men,” said General Ohrig. “They are just backing up. We will pass them by, peacefully now.”

Continuing down the tunnel the stream became much wider and deeper. Though the current wasn’t strong, they were soon walking in water up to their thighs. But Rainere noticed Adelena was now up to her waist in the filthy stream. He wanted to offer to carry her but he feared she might attack him again. His shoulder was still sore from when she had stabbed him earlier with her power. It had been awful to feel his Magic leaking out of him as it was conducted into her hand. It was odd that she could do that. Normally her touch had felt exquisitely painful, but always it had been tempered by desire and the heat of lust. Rainere touched the Mark on his side. He could tell that she wasn’t thinking of him at all right now. No doubt all her thoughts were taken up with fear of Spiders touching her skin and Natalie.

Their party made their way along the stream and travelled further and further underground. Rainere could feel the familiar sensation of tons of stone and rock pushing down on the curved roof of the tunnel. To their credit the soldiers did not complain or show much discomfort at being so far under the Earth.

Rainere felt Adelena tense up beside him. “What’s that music?” she whispered.

She looked around, but everyone shrugged.

“There is no music in the Nest, m’Queen,” whispered Schiss.

But Adele was unsettled and Rainere could see that she still turned her head from side to side, as if trying to find the source of it. He heard her whisper something that sounded like, “chime voices.” And strained his own senses to listen for music, but heard none. Adelena sent him a worried glance, but she looked away too quickly for him to reassure her.

Schiss held up his hand for silence and pointed to a fork in the tunnel. They took the right fork and had enough room now to clamber out of the water, and rest on the dirt path by the side of the stream.

Schiss had told them that they would have to pass the Hatching Chambers. It was Schiss’s belief that the Chambers would be empty as he hadn’t heard the Empress birthing in the last days he had spent in the Nest. But if he was wrong they were all in a huge amount of trouble. The baby Spiders had a keen sense of smell and ravenous hunger, if they smelled fresh meat they could well swarm the Humans.

As they walked the corridor to the chamber doorway, Rainere could feel his heart pounding. Unlike the Humans with him, being eaten alive wouldn’t kill him. He would remain alive, or conscious at least, as the flesh was stripped from his body and his soul remained attached to his bones, feeling every last moment pain, until there were no nerves left to feel.

Reaching the doorway, the whole group froze and Rainere’s arm instinctively curled around Adelena’s shoulders to hold her back against his side. He decided then and there that should a wave of carnivorous baby Spiders flood out the doorway he would kill them all before they could touch her. His oath to the Empress would be broken and he would forever be her puppet, but Adelena would live a moment longer and that would be a comfort.

Rainere felt Adelena’s trembling stop as she held her breath. Schiss had crept forward on all fours to peek inside the first Hatchling Chamber. Rainere only felt her breathe out again when Schiss lifted his hand to give the all-clear. Schiss then crept onto the second chamber doorway. Adelena leaned into Rainere’s side and because of the Mark he became suddenly and acutely aware of how relieved she was to have him by her side. Rainere almost gasped with pleasure at her psychic touch but too soon it was gone and she pulled out of his arms.

Schiss raised his hand a second time and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Then Schiss pointed down another pitch-black tunnel indicating it was time for their party to split up.

Rainere looked at the boy, Charlie—that little piece of catshit who had dared to call himself Adelena’s Escort. Though any fool could see The Blood ran strong in the boys’ veins, Rainere felt no loyalty toward him. He was a Marchant bastard, no doubt born in filth and would die in filth. It irked Rainere to no end that the boy had earned himself a place in Adelena’s maternal affections. Rainere watched as the boy gave Adelena a frightened glance and she squeezed his dirty hand in return. Charlie checked the precious ball of Dragon Fire in his pocket and turned to follow after Schiss into the darkness. The little cretin was brave, at least, as he headed off to find the Empress in her sleeping chamber with only a Spider by his side.

Schiss and Charlie would wait outside the Empress’s chamber until the rest of them could retrieve Natalie from the central cavern and carry her back down the tunnels and out to the portal that Grotto was holding open for their escape. It was Charlie’s job to ignite the Dragon Fire and unleash it on the Empress, killing her and most of her Royal Guard immediately. His chances of survival were pretty slim but he seemed determined enough, and Rainere was sure the boy had enough Magic to do what he had to.

Rainere tried to calm his pounding heart as it thudded out of control. So much could go wrong with their flimsy plan, but now it was time for Rainere to do his part and take the lead. He was the only other person who could take Adelena into the cavern where her daughter was. He dismissed the idea of leading her out of the Nest along different tunnels, instead of to the center. At least if he went along with her plan he could remain by her side until the end.

Rainere reached out to take Adelena’s hand. Despite the situation he took a moment to enjoy the sweet thrill that her squeezing his hand back gave him. He fantasized about kissing her, they were so close here in the dark, but quickly pushed the thought away. General Ohrig was antsy enough to skewer him for trying such a move. He satisfied himself with pulling her closer until her felt her breast pressing against his arm and her leg push against his.

Then he led her to their mutual doom.

Rainere’s little blue light had faded to almost nothing when they reached the torch lit passageway that took them to the cavern. As they approached the doorway Rainere held up his hand to silently signal to Adelena’s Guard to be alert. The Empress would probably have guards watching over Natalie. General Ohrig and his men had orders to dispatch them before Natalie could be freed.

Just outside the cavern doorway he hesitated. Something was wrong. But what? Little Spiders scuttled passed them, no doubt too frightened to stop. He held Adelena so tightly he felt her squirm against his grip.

“What is that music?” she whispered and looked wildly about for its source. She looked up at him, but he shook his head sternly. Rainere needed her to keep it together right now.

Peeking round the corner of the doorway, Rainere risked a glance into the main chamber. A large crucible sitting over a smokeless fire had been placed next to the stone table with little Natalie, still asleep, laying on top. At least she was still alive, so far. Now they had only to move in and grab her, and make it back to the juncture of the tunnels to send Charlie the signal to detonate the Dragon Fire, and get out as fast as they could, back along the sewerage stream.

Rainere gestured to the General and his men before quietly stepping into the chamber and pulling Adelena in after himself. It was only when she pulled her hand from his and dashed headlong to the stone table that he realized that they had missed a step.

Where were the Guards watching the Princess? Ohrig and the QGs stood about with their swords glinting in the torchlight wearing expressions of confusion.

Princess? Rainere straightened up as the awful reality dawned on him. Natalie was herself again, and she was the bait in a trap.

“Adelena, no!” Rainere’s shout came an instant too late as the Empress’s Guards launched themselves out of the shadows and grabbed Adelena, pushing her to her knees.

“Well, well,” cackled the disembodied voice of the Empress, sending a sickening thrill down Rainere’s spine. He cursed in terror as the enormous body lowered itself from the ceiling of the cavern. The four back legs pulling a chain of wet rope from her obscene spinneret.

“Finally, you bring me the real Queen I asked for, and some delicious manly gifts to go with it.” She wheezed with laughter. “I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me! You shall be richly rewarded for this my young Marchant prince. When we are married I will be pleased to keep you by my side.”

“Adelena, no! It’s not true,” shouted Rainere, as he felt a vicious stab in the Mark. She could not really think he had betrayed her yet again, but the look on her face brought him to his knees.