Page 66 of Heart of Dawn
The king gave him a nod before he carefully poured the sugared water down my throat. Its boosting properties were so, so welcome, surging through me, putting up temporary walls against the inevitable. I could even lift my head a little higher.
“Thank you,” Wendy said, returning to her work.
“Go back to the carriage and bring more canteens,” the king ordered one of his men. “There are plenty of them in the storage hold.”
“Yes, my king.” He darted off through the tunnel, crawl-walking as fast as his long legs could take him.
“Thank you,” the king purred, drawing out his words. “I am so glad I paid this visit, after all.”
Why couldn’t he go back to being angry and scared and running away with his tail between his legs?
Ugh.
Damien helped himself to some water, a sickening grin stretching his mouth, golden droplets glistening on his lips.
“This is incredible,” he intoned. “I feel extraordinary, as if I have enjoyed the best meal of my life.” He stretched his limbs, then drank some more. “What a wonderful discovery.”
“Our blood,” I said. “We can?—”
But the returning guard cut me off. The three men soon scooped up more water, laughing together, drinking as if this was some bar on Saturday night. Merrily passing the timewithout a care in the world, not registering what’d just happened to Dawn.
“Our blood…” I tried again to no avail.
Sounds came from the tunnel, killing their foolish camaraderie. Something scuttling in there was coming at us. Fast.
The guards got into position to protect their king, Damien pretty much standing beside me now, fear all over his face.
There. Much better. Fear suited him, as did the terrified tremors in his hands.
Now you know how it feels to be afraid,I thought.
Holding my head up, I watched the darkness of the tunnel between the legs of the guards. Lights appeared, eight of them. Pale green, shimmering, strange.
“What is that?” the king rasped.
The spider launched itself from the darkness, taking down the guard on the right. He shrieked, dropping his sword. A terrifyingly huge white spider pinned him to the ground. Eight green eyes seemed to search the room even though they didn’t move. Its fangs punctured his chest, its legs tapping the mud, silk spraying from its swollen abdomen.
The other guard charged, swinging his sword. He sliced off a spider leg, the creature screeching.
“By the stars!” the king cried.
The guard made another swipe with his sword, taking another leg. He twirled, avoiding the spray of web, stabbing at the spider’s abdomen.
The arachnid’s squeal was ear-splitting.
Regardless of my hatred for the king and his guards, I wanted them to succeed, especially when I lay here like a ready meal.
A new set of eyes appeared in the tunnel.
Crap. This was all going to…what was that saying? Hell in a paper bag? No. Hell in a handbasket.
The guard sliced his sword through the abdomen, a fizzing white slime spilling across the ground. With one final shriek, the spider fell dead just as the next one charged into the hive.
“In the name of the king!” the guard boomed, rushing it.
This spider reacted quickly, spitting silk into his face. The man fell to his knees, muffled cries behind the white sticky stuff. He clawed at it, his weapon forgotten, clearly unable to breathe. Vulnerable, exposed, prime meat for the spider’s fangs.
I watched as the spider drove those fangs into his torso. The guard collapsed and went as still as his comrade beside him.
