Chapter 23
A t the top of a flat expanse of rock, a gigantic spider hissed and lunged toward a group of Dark Elves, only to be drawn back momentarily by a cry from approaching goblins.
Aelrie could scarcely believe her eyes. Chimeras and griffons were equally terrifying, but a giant spider sent her skin crawling.
Shikra huddled close to a column and brought her beside him. There was no way for them to get around the fight as it took up the area in the middle of this expanse of rock, which they had to cross. “We wait here until they finish,” he told her. “Don’t get yourself involved.”
She watched on in horror as the goblin slaves were sent first, only to become fodder for the spider as she pounced on them and crushed their stunted bodies between her engorged, hairy fangs.
The two noble Dark Elves—seen by the lavish way they dressed—stood unperturbed by the slaughter of their slaves.
The Dark Elf standing to the side of the rock tower barked a laugh, amused by the carnage. He leaned toward his companion, commenting loudly, “Efficient, isn't she?” He sounded as if he were complimenting a fine wine and not a spider soaked in his slaves’ blood.
They merely sent another wave of slaves to the arachnid.
A high, pitiful wail then echoed throughout the cavern. It was a goblin, shrieking as it fell beneath the spider’s abdomen and was dragged across the stone, smearing the ground in black goblin blood in the spider’s wake.
She had no love for goblins, but this was horrifying to watch.
Even if she were to charge forward to help, Shikra wouldn’t let her as he held his hand out against her chest, holding her back.
She could do nothing but watch as one goblin broke free, only to be impaled through the back by a spindly leg and reeled in like a fish caught on a hook.
The spider’s fangs sank into the goblin’s side, almost breaking him in half, draining him of his black blood.
The other goblins had been drained of blood or left too ravaged to be of use to her as prey.
Above the scene, there was a wide web laced between two columns. The spider already had some prey stored for later, wrapped up in those cocoons.
The spider made quick work of the last of the goblin slaves, with black goblin blood dripping from her fangs as seven dead goblins lay mangled and tossed to the side.
Then came a battle cry, but not from the wealthy nobles still standing off to the side, regarding the situation with indifference. These Dark Elves wore brown leathers and wielded simple crossbows and swords.
One of the Dark Elf nobles cast a darkness spell that clouded the spider’s vision. Though able to see in the dark, it hindered the spider in a way so that the charging group of mercenaries could get close without getting stabbed by its venomous fangs.
The crossbow bolts the mercenaries fired could not pierce the spider’s hide while it was upright—the underbelly or its black eyes were the only soft spots on the spider—but the mercenaries, a group of four, still attacked the spider, stabbing at it with their swords.
The spider was quick to evade these attacks as it skittered about despite its size. Even if they were to land a hit, the attack would not injure it enough for it to retreat unless they could get close enough to stab one of its eyes.
“They won’t make it.” She turned to Shikra, who still sat unbudging beside her.
Shikra glanced at the two noble Dark Elves with black swords at their sides, humming with magical energy—enchanted swords.
The nobles watched as if they were merely spectators. “They will finish it, do not worry,” he said with almost as much indifference.
“How can you be so sure?”
“Only those belonging to the great Houses can wield magic in the Evergloom.”
“But the mercenaries,” she said, watching on. The fight took a turn for the worse as the darkness spell wore off.
The Dark Elf noble called another darkness spell, but before he could do that, the spider pounced on a mercenary who made it close enough to stab at one of its many black eyes. His hit missed as the spider flinched and then pounced on him. One of the spider’s fangs pierced the Dark Elf’s side.
There were two screams, one from the injured male, staring at the fang that entered his belly and crying out in pain and horror, and another scream of “No!” from the only female there. She rushed to free him from the spider’s grasp.
The darkness spell was cast, and the spider let go of her victim, discarding him by throwing him to the side. The mercenary took a hard landing, crying out as his back met the ground.
The female mercenary was too close to the spider now. Even though it couldn’t see her, it sensed her and lunged.
Aelrie couldn’t see what happened with the rest of the fight because she broke out in a run.
Her vision tunneled on the injured mercenary lying on the ground, writhing around and groaning in pain.
Giant spider venom would kill the Dark Elf if he weren’t promptly treated, and it wouldn’t be quick; he would suffer a long and excruciating death.
Shikra growled, “Fuck!” behind her, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t let another elf die in front of her without trying to save them. Not like Lindana…
She skidded beside the injured mercenary, collapsing to her knees.
His face grimaced in severe pain as the poison was likely spreading like wildfire throughout his body.
Dark Elves didn’t have protection against poisons like Light Elves.
She lifted his hand off his injury, and there was a lot of blood.
The spider’s fang had so much power that it had pierced through his leather armor.
He cried as his open wound met the air, and she shushed him. “It’s going to be alright.” She soothed him, brushing the damp white hair from his face that had fallen out of his short ponytail.
“Feels like … something’s rearranging my guts …” the young Dark Elf said through a groan of exertion as he took hard breaths.
First, she had to get rid of the poison so that it wouldn’t kill him. She placed her hand on his open wound. He winced and groaned loudly. There was so much blood pouring out. She had to act quickly before it was too late, and he bled out.
“This will hurt,” she told him. “But please, trust me.”
He nodded his head and bit his lip. She slipped into near-unconsciousness and found the poison in his body. There was a lot of it, too much for any elf to bear for long. The poor boy had gotten a potent bite. The spider was cruel and poured all its venom into the attack.
Envisioning a crystal-clear spring much like the one from the golden tree, she cleansed the poison from his body with the force of a current of water in a fast-flowing river. There were no traces of the poison left when she was done.
The mercenary relaxed a bit, at least he didn’t have deadly amounts of venom coursing through his veins anymore. He was still pierced through the stomach, though. She started her healing magic on that next.
“Halogi!”
Her concentration broke as her head whipped around at the loud call for a fire spell.
Shikra battled the spider on his own. The rest of the mercenaries lay on the ground or had backed off.
A wall of flame, a blaze, shot from Shikra’s hand, and the spider shrieked as it burned.
It skittered backward, trying to escape the inferno, but Shikra pressed forward, with the flame still blazing from his outstretched hand, until a disgusting smell came from the charred spider, and it shriveled up and plopped onto its back.
Shikra jumped atop the arachnid and rammed both blades through its belly; the spider convulsed violently and then went silent after that.
Halogi . The advanced flame spell, the blaze. Shikra only knew the lesser fire bolt spell before, logi . She saw it in his fight with the minotaurs. Did his flame magic advance to halogi just now?
She turned back to the injured boy, and the healing magic flowed naturally through her touch. He was looking better, his expression was less grim, and his skin had a healthier glow about it.
Once his breathing became more normal, he told her, “Help the others, please. I’ll be alright.” So brave for such a young elf, no older than a teenager.
She nodded at him and squeezed his hand before she rushed to the other mercenaries. The other two males were not injured, just knocked down or dazed, but the female mercenary sat up and clutched her left arm.
“Let me see,” Aelrie said and knelt beside her.
The Dark Elf looked up at her, and the first words she spoke were, “Tell me he is safe, please.”
“See for yourself.” Aelrie motioned to the boy, who walked up to them. There was a tear in his leather armor, but the wound was gone. She’d healed him completely, not even leaving a scar.
Seeing the effect her healing magic had firsthand … it did seem amazing .
“You ever do anything that reckless again, and I’ll …” the female mercenary said, then hissed in pain.
“Sis, you’re injured.”
“Let me see,” Aelrie said. The mercenary looked up at her, and her eyes went wide as if she just noticed now that she was Light Elf. Her hood had come off sometime earlier, perhaps when she ran to the injured boy.
The female Dark Elf did not seem to mind Aelrie’s race, though, and nodded her head, allowing her to work her healing magic on her.
The Dark Elf wore her long white hair in twin braids at her side, and she looked older than the boy. His older sister, no doubt.
“I will check for poison first.” Aelrie placed her hand over the wound. The mercenary did not flinch as she pressed down on it to search for poison in her system.
There was a little poison there, but it seemed the boy got the full dose and wrath of the spider.
She cleansed the poison and started to close and heal the wound next.
The Dark Elf looked at her in awe when it was done. “Thank you,” she said, both amazed and confused at the same time.
Aelrie stood, helping the mercenary up as well, pulling her up by her uninjured arm. It was then that she noticed the two nobles and Shikra had been staring fixedly at her the whole time, but Shikra was the one giving her a hard look.
He was upset with her, a hint of concern etched on the sides of his mouth and eyes.
The look on the two nobles’ faces, though, was of a different sort. Gone was the indifference from before, and it was replaced by the opposite, intense curiosity of her.
They continued a conversation with Shikra that she hadn’t heard while she’d been healing the mercenaries, only hearing hushed words between them until Shikra loudly replied, “She’s not for sale!” And with that, he turned abruptly from them to face her. “We’re going,” he said pointedly.
She didn’t have time to protest because he grabbed her arm and dragged her away.
“Wait! Please wait!”
Shikra turned around to give the female mercenary a glare.
She retracted from his wrath, silencing herself, but her countenance changed when she looked at Aelrie and the arm which Shikra still had a grip on.
Her courage increased, though she spoke humbly to Shikra. “We have a camp nearby. You can rest there. I am sure you and your … slave are tired from the fight.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” Aelrie glanced up at Shikra.
“No,” he replied and turned around. “We have no time to stop and rest.”
Aelrie forcefully removed her arm from his grasp. “Well, I am tired. I’m staying!”
Shikra’s eyes burned into hers. The Dark Elf nobles were watching their conversation intently. “Do as your master commands!” His harsh voice bounced off the cavern walls .
Her bottom lip trembled as she stared back at him. He wasn’t slipping into the role of master , was he?
She didn’t want to test him, though. He was her only way to the truth. She couldn’t leave him before that.
Though it was not in her nature, she decided to relent and leave with Shikra without putting up more of a fight.
“Wait!” The Dark Elf mercenary ran out in front of them and got down on her hands and knees, stopping them from leaving.
She bowed deeply to Shikra until her head touched the ground.
For an elf, this was the ultimate prostration.
A complete show of humility, and only to be done in extreme cases.
“Please, I beg of you, kyr . Let me repay you for your kindness. I cannot let this debt go unpaid. My little brother is still just a teenage boy. He would’ve been dead now if not for your slave.
This is all I have to offer. Please, accept my hospitality. ”
Shikra huffed in annoyance. When an elf prostrated themselves before another elf, they would have to keep in this demeaning position until they were dismissed, thereby insulting their honor and name for a lifetime. The only other option was to give in to their plea.
“Get up,” he said after a long moment passed. The mercenary lifted her head. “Where is your camp?” he asked.
Her red eyes lit up. “This way, kyr . Please, follow me.”