Burning Bright (Ivy Granger) (24 page)

It also was a useful tool for chopping through the threads
of spider webbing as big around as my wrist.  With a throwing knife ready in my
other hand, I began hacking a path.

We’d cleared a couple hundred yards of web when I felt the
first drips hit my leather jacket.

“Rain, seriously?” I asked.  “How can this get any worse?”

“You just had to ask, didn’t you princess?” Torn asked,
voice thick with sarcasm.

“That is not rain,” Ceff said, pointing to a hole in my
jacket.  “Last I knew, even the poisoned human world does not have acid rain
that destructive.”

They both looked up and I followed their wide-eyed gaze to
the trees thick with web above our heads.  I wished I hadn’t.  I tightened the
grip on my knives as eight beady eyes stared back at me.

Apparently, whacking at the spider fae’s web had rung the
dinner bell.  If I’d taken the time to think about how spiders hunt their prey,
I wouldn’t have been surprised.  Not that we’d had much choice.  The island
knew we were here for the silver apples and now we were the flies in the
spider’s web.

Yanking our weapons from the sticky strands we’d been
cutting, we each took a step away from the web until we stood weapons out, back
to back.  Before the web even stopped vibrating, ten more spiders crept toward
us.  The largest spider, still hovering over our heads, descended further down
its thread.  We were surrounded.

“Anybody got any ideas?” I whispered.

“Besides run like hell, not really princess,” Torn muttered.

“What do we know of the spider fae, any weaknesses?” I
asked.

“It depends on the type,” Ceff said.  “As with regular
spiders, the spider fae are varied.  At a guess, I would say these are similar
to black widows.”

As we talked, the spider fae converged on the area of
disturbed web, but they didn’t attack.  Not yet.

“Okay, I have an idea,” I said.  “Whatever you do, don’t
move.”

Slowly, I shifted my blades to one hand and detached a water
balloon from my utility belt.  The holy water inside the balloon wouldn’t harm
the spider fae, it was loaded for demon, but I was testing a theory.  I palmed
the balloon, raised my arm, and lobbed it to our left.

Spindly legs skittered along the sticky web, carrying the
orb shaped bodies of the spiders at astounding speed.  The spider fae chased
the balloon, rearing up and pouncing on it.  They tore the balloon to shreds,
fighting over the measly meal—all except for the giant spider above our heads.

“How did you know they’d go after it?” Torn asked.

“Lucky guess,” I said, remembering not to shrug at the last
second.  “I figured if they hadn’t attacked already, it might be because they
couldn’t see us, or rather feel us.”

“They hunt by following the vibrations in their web,” Ceff
said.

“Appears so,” I said.

I carefully tugged a lighter and a lump of raw iron from my
pocket.

“On my mark, run as fast as you can, weapons out,” I said. 
I flicked my eyes to the giant spider that continued to dangle over our heads. 
“I’ll create a diversion behind us, but we need to clear the web ahead.  I’m
guessing fire will work faster than cutting our way through, and it’s too late
to worry about pissing off the island.  Ceff take the lighter and set as much
of this on fire as you can.  Torn watch his back.  I’ll take care of our drippy
friend.”

I pointed up and Ceff and Torn grunted their agreement.  It
wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was a start.  I slipped the iron from its
protective covering, took a deep breath, and heaved it with all my strength,
throwing it as far behind us as I could.

Ceff and Torn sprinted forward, hacking and burning their
way through the web.  At our movement, the spider above us dropped further down
the silk thread, its mandibles dripping venom onto the path at my feet.  With a
flick of the wrist, I threw one of my knives, striking the spider in a cluster
of eyes.  It shrieked and tore at its face, trying to dislodge the knife.

I took the machete in both hands, leapt up, and whacked the
dangling spider, splitting open its abdomen like an ichor filled piñata.  As
soon as I hit the ground, I rolled to the side, away from the sizzling pile of
goo.

The spider shrieked again, its cries mingling with the
hisses and squeals of its friends.  The other spider fae were learning the hard
way not to eat cold iron.  But after seeing the effects on the first few, the
other spiders were getting savvy to my trick—and were spinning this way.

“They’re coming!” I shouted.

“It is burning too slowly,” Ceff said.  “We will have to
stand and fight.”

“You make that sound like a bad thing,” Torn said, a
predatory look on his face.

Ceff and Torn may be ready to fight, but we were seriously
outnumbered.  I’d been lucky with the first spider fae, having the element of
surprise on my side, but that advantage was long gone and I was pretty sure
that none of us would survive a single spider bite.  If only the web would burn
faster.

Burn, damn you, burn!
  Heart racing, skin glowing, my
power raced up to the surface and the small fires that Ceff had set with my
lighter exploded into balls of flame.

“What in the shadows?” Torn yelped, brushing at a singed
patch of fur that dangled from his ear.

Wide-eyed, I reached for the power that poured from me and
focused on the web choked path ahead. 
Burn, burn it all, burn it to the
ground.
  Flames leapt, heat knocking me to my knees.  I pulled my shirt
over my nose and mouth and crawled forward.  Tears blurred my vision and smoke
choked the air.

I looked behind us to see the spider fae waving their legs
and chomping their mandibles at the shimmering air.  The flames were keeping
our attackers at bay, but that wouldn’t last.  We had to get out of here.  I scrambled
forward, letting out a shriek of my own when a hand grabbed my jacket and
pulled me forward.

“Come, we must hurry,” Ceff said.

“Wha…” I nodded, a cough cutting off my words.  I pointed to
the spider fae behind us and Ceff shook his head.

“Leave them to Torn,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow, but he just shook his head and pulled
me to my feet.  My lungs screamed at me as we ran, spots forming before my eyes
a sure sign that I wasn’t getting enough oxygen.

We made it to the top of a shallow rise, above the worst of
the smoke, when I heard the groan and snap of wood.  We ran faster, Torn close
on our heels as a huge tree fell behind us, blocking the trail.  As the first
spider climbed onto the fallen tree, the dead wood burst into flames.  That
should keep them busy for awhile.

As I watched, the silhouette of the injured spider fell onto
its back, legs curling inward.  That was one opponent we wouldn’t have to deal
with later.  As I turned to go, I saw the legs of the other spiders reaching
for it—not to rescue it from the flames, but to devour its corpse.  I don’t
imagine that spider fae woke up this morning wanting to become dinner for his
brothers, but I knew better than most that you don’t always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, you just might find…you get what
you need.

I
bent down,
hands on my knees and coughed, spitting out a mouthful of soot and phlegm.

“You going to be alright, princess?” Torn asked.  “That
won’t hold them forever.”

He pointed at the wall of flame rising up from the felled
tree that blocked the path at our backs.  I sighed, ran my tongue along my
teeth and spit the last of the soot and ash from my mouth.

I needed the
cat sidhe
’s nagging like I needed a hole
in the head.  My head pounded with each word.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said.

I kept my expression wry, but inside I was reeling.  My wisp
power had fueled the flames, which was something I didn’t know was possible. 
It wasn’t a bad skill, if I could ever figure out how to do it again.  I shook
my head.  No time to worry about that now.

I straightened and surveyed the trail ahead.  The worst of
the sticky web had burned, leaving drifting piles of ash and puddles of sticky
goo at our feet.  The wall of thorns wriggled, forming sooty clouds as they
shook off debris.  The brambles may not have burned, but they looked like
they’d been dragged through Hell and back.

My companions didn’t look much better.

Torn’s collection of feathers and fur, that normally adorned
his leather clothes and hung from his scarred ears, were singed and smoking. 
Soot streaked Ceff’s face and he’d lost his shirt somewhere along the way.  We
looked like soldiers limping into battle, and perhaps we were.  We still hadn’t
faced Ailinn and her magic apples.

“Come on,” I said, ignoring Ceff’s sideways glance.  “Torn’s
right for once.  We need to get a move on.”

Ceff took the lead with Torn bringing up the rear.   That
left me in the middle, a position I normally would have argued with.  The
middle was for the weakest link, but right now I had to admit that I wasn’t up
for more fighting.  As the last of the adrenaline washed from my system, I felt
all the aches, pains, and fatigue of the day’s trials—and the weight of the
faerie bargain that siphoned off what little strength I had left.

We walked for what felt like an hour, but was probably more
like five minutes when Ceff called a halt.  We’d found the spider fae’s nest.

As Ceff and Torn scanned the area for threats, I took in the
grisly scene.  Apparently, this was where the spider fae kept their food.  I
shivered and rubbed my arms, surveying the larder full of tasty snacks.

Cocoon shrouded skeletons hung like macabre decorations from
the branches of moldering trees.  Some of the cocoon shrouded bodies had
dropped to the ground in a heap, too much of a burden for the rotten, worm
eaten wood.

As I examined one such bundle where it protruded from the
ground, leaves and mulch writhed and heaved, swallowing the body deeper into
the earth.  My stomach roiled and I looked away.

Okay, right, stick to the path.

Ceff waved me forward and we continued past the bodies.  But
just as we were about to turn the bend, I caught movement to our right.  Ceff
and Torn hadn’t found any spider fae, but that didn’t mean there were none
here.

I strafed left, blades out and at the ready, but it wasn’t a
spider.  It was one of the cocoons.  It was moving.

“Ceff, wait!” I said.  “I think this one’s alive.”

“Come on, princess,” Torn said, bringing up the rear.  “We
haven’t got all day.  Time moves differently in the Otherworld, you know that.”

I did know that from my experience in Mag Mell.  If we
dallied too long here, there was a chance that we’d return too late to save
Jinx or the city.  It was one of the things that I’d worried about since being
plunged into this place, but it didn’t change the fact that someone was trapped
here.  I couldn’t just leave them like that.

“We can’t leave them here to die,” I said, testing the
ground with the toe of my foot as I inched to the edge of the trail and toward
the writhing bundle.

“Sure we can,” Torn said, tossing his hands in the air. 
“Just keep walking.”

Ceff gave Torn a glare and came to stand at my side.

“Here,” he said.  “I’ll hold them still while you cut
through the cocoon.”

“Have you both lost your minds?” Torn asked.

“What would you have us do, leave them here to become spider
food?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said.  “Yes, exactly.  It’s the cycle of life, a
beautiful thing best left alone.”

I shook my head.

“That could have been any one of us,” I said.  “Hold still,
we’re here to help!”

The last I yelled at the cocoon.  I didn’t know if the
person inside could hear me, or how far gone they were if they could, but I had
to try to comfort them.  Plus, I really didn’t want to risk maiming the person
I was trying to save.

“You have no idea what kind of monster is inside that
thing,” Torn said.

I scowled at Torn.  No one deserved to be hung out like prosciutto
and gobbled up by some huge spider.

“This is a hero’s path,” Ceff said.  “It is highly probable
that they are honorable.  If not, at least we tried.”

Torn sighed and shook his head.

“Fine, it’s your funeral,” he said.

“Ready?” Ceff asked, holding the bundle as still as he
could.

“I was born ready,” I said, doing my best tough guy
impersonation.

I carefully cut away at the tough fibers of the cocoon. 
Almost there…

Thousands of baby spider fae poured out of the cocoon,
skittering in every direction.  Except it wasn’t a cocoon.  It was an egg.  I screamed—though
I’d deny it if I lived long enough for Torn to tell anyone—and stumbled away
from the horde of spiders.  So much for my tough guy act.

I stomped on the spiders as I backed away, halting their
progress.  A brave one ambled forward and sank it’s dripping mandibles into its
nearest kin.  The other spiders followed suit, joining in the feeding frenzy.

“Oh, look, aren’t they cute?” Torn asked, pointing to where
baby spiders were busy cannibalizing each other.

“Freaking adorable,” I growled.

I inched further up the trail, relieved to see that most of
the spiders were too busy attacking each other to notice my retreat.

“Perhaps we should have listened to the
cat sidhe
,
just this once,” Ceff said, whacking the more determined stragglers with his
trident.

“I told you so, princess,” Torn said.

I flexed my fingers, hands itching to wring the
cat sidhe
’s
neck and wipe that smug look off his face.  Instead, I stormed past him and
around the corner.  I’d had it with this place and its creepy inhabitants.  We
needed to find Ailinn’s grave, grab a magic apple, and get the hell out of dodge.