Venom and Song (65 page)

“Tough going,” said Johnny, coming alongside Jimmy and giving him a hand.

“Thanks, mate,” Jimmy said.

Johnny nodded, but he strained to see ahead to where Jett was carrying Autumn. “Jett better be careful.”

“One way to find out,” said Kiri Lee, trotting lightly behind them. “I'll go see.” She sprang into the air and climbed an invisible arc over dozens of Elves, including Kat and Tommy. “This isn't so hard,” she called down to them.

“Show-off,” muttered Kat.

Kiri Lee landed near Jett, hitting the ground running. “How is she?”

Jett cradled Autumn in his arms and turned. “She's not in as much pain now,” he said. “For a while though . . . she just couldn't stop crying. Claris told me Autumn's not out of the woods yet, but if I have anything to say about it, she's going to make it.”

Kiri Lee marveled at Jett. He wasn't sweating. He wasn't out of breath. He didn't look the least bit tired. Jett wasn't just strong for his age. He was strong for any age. “Okay, Jett,” Kiri Lee said. “Be safe. I'll go tell Johnny . . . and I'll keep praying.” With that, she was back in the air, jogging over the ragtag line of soldiers.

“Getting hard to see,” Jett called ahead to the Sentinels.

“We could go faster, Guardmaster,” said Mr. Spero, “if we could kindle a few torches. This terrain is bad enough without trying to navigate it blindly.”

“Yes, torches!” Mr. Wallace agreed. “With more light we could—”

“Torches, nay!” Grimwarden snarled. “That would be the very worst thing we could do.”

Why?
Goldarrow wondered. She had never ventured this route after the Spider King had come to power, but for the life of her, she couldn't understand why they couldn't use torches.
We didn't come all this way, through deadly peril, just to lose the young lords to pitfalls in the dark.
“Grimwarden, how much farther?”

“Almost there!” Grimwarden pointed to a pair of boulders with a narrow gap between them not more than a mile ahead.

Goldarrow harrumphed. She remembered the Guardmaster's words:
“I believe our preparations will be more than adequate.”
But as she looked over her shoulder and saw the enemy closing in she wondered.

“How do you fare, young Jett?” Claris asked, stepping up beside the Elf Lord. He carried Autumn in his arms easily enough, but she noted a change in his demeanor as they neared the mountains ahead.

“I'm fine,” Jett answered without taking his eyes from the horizon. “But I'm not sure how Autumn's doing. I mean, up there,” he said, gesturing with his head. “Something's waiting for us. We've got to keep—”

“She'll be safe, Jett. We are not without resources even in the darkest of circumstances. This is, after all, your land.”

Jett cast the red-headed Elf a curious glance, but was quick to maneuver around a rock outcrop just before him.
My land?
They were nearly to the twin boulders that marked the entrance to the mountain pass.
The Dark Veil.
Such an ominous name for an even more ominous-looking place. He knew something was waiting to meet them. Just beyond those rocks. . . .

Grimwarden was the first to slip through the gap between the twin boulders and disappear into the shadows. Jett and the rest of the teens looked on as Goldarrow went after Grimwarden, followed by Claris and a few of the other senior Sentinels. Before long it was the young lords' turn to follow. As soon as they passed through the entrance, they understood why it was called the Dark Veil. In this place, mountains blotted out all direct rays of the setting sun and turned what little ambient twilight there was into a thick, membranous curtain of darkness. The entire party slowed to a walk.

Tommy held a hand up in front of his face and was grateful to be able to see his hand, but beyond that distance, he could not see anything else except for eerie silhouettes.

“You look creepy,” said Kat. She waited. “That is still you, right?”

“Yeah . . . it's me,” Tommy replied. “It just feels like we should be quiet in here.”

“Tommy's quite correct,” said Goldarrow, just a shadow suddenly beside them. She had dropped back to check on the lords. “No speech at all would be preferable. But if you must communicate, no louder than whispers. We need to listen for the Spider King's forces to enter the Veil. We will not see them. . . . The Gwar have the advantage there, being able to see in the dark.”

“Even in this?” Tommy asked.

“The Veil will obscure their sight as well,” she said. “But still, they will see much better than we can.”

“Why can't we light torches?” asked Kat. “I don't understand.”

“Nor do I,” said Goldarrow. “But while it makes me uncomfortable to stray through the dark like this, I am mindful that our leader is both noble and wise. If he leads us into peril, it is only to save us from greater peril.”

“I'm just saying,” Kat replied, but thought better of finishing her sentence.

“One of the assets we Elves pride ourselves on the most is trust,” Goldarrow added. “You will see in time why Grimwarden deserves all of yours.”

Grimwarden had crept back to within a few feet of this conversation, but after hearing it, he returned to the front of the line. Not in recent memory could he remember ever feeling so encouraged.
I'm glad you're back
,
Elle,
he thought as he strode farther into the dark.

BONUS SCENE
9
High Treason

Authors' Notes:
As fun as they are to read, we had to cut these scenes of the other characters on the chute line to allow for scenes we thought were more important to the story line. Because we didn't run these, there are inconsistencies between the final novel and the section that follows. Can you find the inconsistencies?

“DUCK, KIRI LEE!!” yelled Jimmy.

She did, dropping into the splits at the edge of the flet. Fangs clicking and snapping, a large arachnid sailed over Kiri Lee's head and plummeted like a stone.

“Lords, take the chute line!” Grimwarden's voice—high and agitated—blasted from around the bend of the tree trunk. “I'll defend your retreat!” He raised his siege axe with both hands. “Go, now!”

Johnny kept a darting Warspider at bay with his short sword while he kept Autumn safely behind him. He lunged at the creature and yelled, “Autumn, use your speed, get hooked up to the chute line, and GO!”

“Don't you think I'm trying?” she yelled back, racing short distances to-and-fro behind him. “You're in the way! And—watch—where— you're—swinging—that sword!”

The spider retreated a few paces, and Autumn found an opening. She flashed to the edge of the flet, clicked her hook into place, and leaped. As gravity took her away, she saw Kiri Lee standing at the edge of the flet struggling to get her harness on.
What is she doing?
Then Kiri Lee let her harness fall to the flet and turned her back on the action behind her. She seemed to be in a trance, staring out over the enormous drop into the forest. Two spiders had separated from the melee on the flet and were creeping up behind her.

“Kiri Lee, watch out!” Autumn cried, but she was certain Kiri Lee hadn't heard. “Kiri Leeeeeee—” she yelled as Kiri Lee and the spiders behind her faded from Autumn's sight.

Back on the flet, Kiri Lee forced herself to stand still as stone. She could hear the spiders behind her, clicking and gnashing. They thought they had her. She was, after all, cut off from the chute line. “
Viens si tu oses, imbécile
,” she spit out.
Come if you dare, imbecile!

She turned her head just slightly, waiting for their inevitable pounce.

The spiders leaped.

So did Kiri Lee. Right off the edge of the flet. The arachnids grasped for her, but their arms never reached her, succumbing to the sudden pull of gravity. “Bon voyage,” Kiri Lee muttered. She watched the two spiders scrabbling at the air and each other as they fell. Sinking slowly, Kiri Lee turned and sprinted on steps of air following the trail of the chute line.

Back on the flet, Johnny felt throbbing pain from a gash in the back of his lower leg. Though smaller than the ones they'd faced on the Dark Veil, these Warspiders were relentless. Every time Johnny tried to hook himself to the chute line, the spiders took advantage and lunged. He'd been knocked down three times, but he'd recovered quickly each time and, with his sword, made the spiders pay. One he blinded. He'd cut two inches off another spider's fangs. He'd thrust his blade into the midsection of one that had tried to leap on top of him. It had spattered him with reeking gore, but Johnny tossed the creature off the flet. The only problem was that the spider took Johnny's sword with it.

He turned to the chute line and leaped, but failed to bring the hook home. A spider's foreleg thumped Johnny in the back. For a moment, he teetered on the brink—staring down from the dizzying heights— but then regained his balance. His heart pounding thickly in his throat, Johnny turned to look at the horde of spiders closing in on him. There was no way he could get hooked up to the chute line now. Then he saw Kat, her back against the great tree, a trio of spiders closing in on her. They seemed to be toying with her, swatting at her with their forelegs, thumping her hard in the shoulders and legs. Kat had a sword, but her thrusts and swipes were slow and tired. She looked up at him weakly. She was fading.

“THAT does it,” said Johnny. He remembered Goldarrow's warning about using his fire, but he thought,
If it comes between fire or dying . . . fire wins.

The thought no sooner entered his mind than his eyelids began to tingle and his palms itched. He raised his arms and saw the orange glow on the clamoring spiders. “Hands off her,” he muttered, and gouts of liquid fire erupted from his hands and surged into the spiders. It felt different this time, and Johnny immediately saw why . . . saw
and
felt. A wave of heat washed back over Johnny as the spiders were consumed. His flames burned hotter than ever before and reduced the spiders to smoldering, popping cinders.

Johnny kicked the charred remains of those spiders aside and walked toward Kat, keeping his focus on the spiders nearest her. The spiders didn't see Johnny coming, but he couldn't risk releasing a flare, not with Kat so close. Instead, he walked up to the nearest spider, placed one hand on the creature's bulbous abdomen, and filled the creature with a molten infusion. The spider shuddered as its innards melted, then fell limp to the ground. Johnny did the same to the others, leaving two more motionless carcasses, each with a smoking wound.

Kat nearly collapsed into his arms. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Come on, Kat,” he said, walking her toward the edge of the flet. “We've got to get you harnessed to the chute line.”

“No harness,” Kat said.

“What? You have to wear a harness. . . . You can't air walk like Kiri Lee.”

“No, I never got a harness from Goldarrow.”

“What—? Oh, well, come on!” Johnny led her over to the chest. He had to scorch spiders on either side, and still more clambered around the corner and dropped down from the roof of the flet. Unless they escaped, and soon, he feared they might be overwhelmed. He couldn't burn down the flet and the tree, not without killing himself and Kat . . . and any of the others, if they lived.

“Kat, Johnny!” came a voice from behind. Mr. Wallace's clothes were dark with the blood of a spider he'd impaled on his sword. “Why haven't you gone?”

“You—you're alive!” said Kat. “I thought—”

“It'll take more than a spider trampling to keep me down,” Mr. Wallace said with a mock smile. Those reckless spiders had nearly trodden him into transforming. It was all he could do now to keep his mind from his true objective. She might read it. He had to maintain the ruse at all costs. “Let's get to the chute line,” he said.