Guards of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher (Hawk & Fisher) (74 page)

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Authors: Simon R. Green

BOOK: Guards of Haven: The Adventures of Hawk and Fisher (Hawk & Fisher)
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The sounds grew suddenly louder and more distinct and he stopped, glaring ahead into the gloom. The others stopped with him, and Fisher moved in close beside him, her sword at the ready. Something was coming towards them out of the darkness, not even bothering to hide its presence anymore, something so large and heavy its progress pushed the air before it like a breeze. Hawk could feel the air pressing against his face.
A dozen red gleams appeared high up in the gloom before him, shining like fires in the night. Hawk lifted his axe as a horrid suspicion stirred within him. The glaring eyes, the soft sounds, and everywhere he looked, the endless webbing.... Oh hell, no. Anything but that. The blazing eyes drew closer, hovering up by the tunnel roof, and then the huge spider burst out of the darkness and lurched to a stop at the edge of the lantern light, its eight spindly legs quivering like guitar strings. It swayed silently before them, the top of its furry body pressing against the roof, its legs splayed out into the water and pressing against the tunnel walls. The vast oval body all but filled the tunnel, its thick black fur matted with water and slime. Its red eyes glared fiercely in the lantern light, watchful and unblinking. Thick gobbets of saliva ran from its twitching mandibles. Hawk stood very still. There was no telling what sudden sound or movement might prompt it to attack.
What the hell,
he thought firmly.
You can handle this. You’ve faced a lot worse in your time.
That was true, but not particularly comforting. Truth be told, he’d never liked spiders, and in particular he’d never liked the sudden darting way in which they moved. If he found one in the jakes, he usually called for Isobel to come and get rid of it. Of course, she was so softhearted she couldn’t bear to kill a helpless little insect, so she just dumped it outside, whereupon it immediately found its way back inside again to have another go at terrorizing him. He realized his thoughts were rambling, and brought them firmly back under control. He could handle this. He looked surreptitiously back at the others, and was a little relieved to see that they looked just as shaken as he was.
“Well?” he said steadily. “Anyone got any ideas?”
“Let’s cut its legs off, for a start,” said Barber. “That should ruin its day.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Fisher. “I’ll go for the head. Hack its brain into mincemeat, and it’s got to lie down and die. Hasn’t it?”
“Strictly speaking,” said Hawk, “it doesn’t appear to have a head. The eyes are set in the top part of its body.”
“All right. I’ll go for the top part of its body, then. God, you can be picky sometimes. Hawk.”
“That’s enough!” hissed Winter sharply. “Keep your voices down, all of you. I don’t want it panicked into attacking before we’re ready to handle it. Or hasn’t it occurred to you that the bloody thing is hardly going to just stand there and watch while you step forward and take a hack at it? If it can move as fast as its smaller cousins, we could be in big trouble.”
“It might also be poisonous,” said MacReady.
They all looked at him. “Something that big doesn’t need to be poisonous,” said Fisher, uncertainly.
“Are you willing to bet your life on that?” asked MacReady.
“We’re wasting time.” said Winter. “While we’re standing around here arguing, the terrorists could be killing hostages. We’ve got to get past this thing, no matter how dangerous it is. We need someone to hold the creature’s attention while Barber and Fisher attack its weak spots. Hawk, I think it’s time we found out just how good you are with that axe.”
Hawk nodded stiffly. “No problem. Just give me some room.”
He moved slowly forward, the scummy waters swirling about his knees. The tunnel floor was uneven, and he couldn’t see where to put his feet. Not exactly ideal fighting conditions. The spider’s huge body quivered suddenly, its legs trembling, and Hawk froze where he was. The serrated mandibles flexed silently, and Hawk took a firmer grip on his axe. He stepped forward, and the spider launched itself at him, moving impossibly fast for its bulk. He braced himself, and buried his axe in the spider’s body, just above the mandibles. Thick black blood spattered over his hands, and he was carried back three or four feet by the force of the spider’s charge before he could brace himself again. He could hear the SWAT team scattering behind him, but couldn’t spare the time to look back. The spider shook itself violently, and Hawk was lifted off his feet. He clung desperately to his axe with one hand, and grabbed the mandibles with the other, keeping them at arm’s length from his body. At his side, Barber cut viciously at the creature’s nearest leg, but the spider lifted it out of the
way
with cat-quick reflexes. Barber stumbled, caught off balance by the force of his own blow, and the leg lashed out and caught him full in the chest, sending him flying backwards into the water. He disappeared beneath the surface, and reappeared coughing and spluttering but still hanging onto his sword.
Fisher cut at the spider’s eyes with the tip of her sword, and it flinched back, dragging Hawk with it as he tried to tear his axe free. The spider’s body had seemed as soft as a sponge when he hit it, but now the sides of the wound had closed on the axehead like a living vise. He braced one foot against the tunnel wall and pulled hard with both hands, putting his back into it. The axe jerked free with a loud, sucking sound and he fell back into the water, just managing to keep his feet under him. The spider reared up over him, and he swung his axe double-handed into the creature’s belly. The heavy weapon sank into the black fur, the force of the blow burying the axe deep into the spider’s guts. Thick blood drenched Hawk’s arms and chest as he wrenched the axe free and struck at the belly again.
Barber coughed up the last of the water he’d swallowed and staggered back into the fight. Winter was trying to cut through the spider’s front legs, but it always managed to pull them out of reach at the last moment, and she had to throw herself this way and that to avoid the legs as they came swinging viciously back. Barber chose his moment carefully, and cut at one leg just as it lashed out after Winter. His blade sank deep into the spindly leg and jarred on bone. He pulled the sword free and cut again, and the leg folded awkwardly in two, well below the joint.
The spider lurched to one side, and Fisher scrambled up on top of it, grabbing handfuls of the thick fur as she went. She thrust her sword in between the glaring red eyes again and again, burying the blade to the hilt. The edge of the sword burst one of the eyes and its crimson light went out, drowned in black blood. The spider reared beneath her, slamming her against the tunnel roof and trying to throw her off. She hung on grimly, probing for the creature’s brain with her sword. Barber and Winter cut through another leg between them, and the spider collapsed against the tunnel wall, thrown off balance by its own weight. Hawk cut deeply into the spider’s belly above him, kneeling in the water to get more room to swing his axe. Blood and steaming liquids spilled over him as he hacked and tore at the creature’s guts. Barber severed a third leg, and Fisher slammed her sword into a glaring red eye. The spider reared up, crushing Fisher against the tunnel roof, and then collapsed on top of Hawk. He just had time to see the great bulk coming down on top of him, and then the spider’s great weight thrust him down beneath the surface of the water and held him there.
The spider’s last breath went out of it in a long shuddering sigh, its mandibles clattering loudly, and then it was still. The light went out of its remaining eyes, and black blood spilled out into the filthy water. Winter and Barber leaned on each other for support while they got their breath back. Fisher clambered slowly down off the spider’s back, wincing at the bruises she’d got from being slammed against the tunnel roof. She dropped back into the water, and looked around her.
“Where’s Hawk?”
Winter and Barber looked at each other. “I lost track of him in the fight,” said Winter. “Mac, did you see what happened to him?”
MacReady looked at Fisher. “I’m very sorry. Hawk was trapped beneath the water by the spider when it collapsed.”
Fisher looked at him speechlessly for a moment, then demanded, “Why the hell didn’t you say something? We can still get him out! There’s still time. Help me, damn you!”
She splashed back through the water and tried to grab the spider’s side to lift it, but her hands sank uselessly into the spongy mass. Barber and Winter moved in on either side of her to help, but even when they could find a hold, they couldn’t lift the spider’s body an inch. They couldn’t shift the immense weight without leverage, and the soft yielding body wouldn’t allow them any.
“There’s nothing you can do, Isobel,” said MacReady. “If there was, I’d have done it. I’m sorry, but it was obvious Hawk was a dead man from the moment the spider collapsed on top of him.”
“Shut up!” said Fisher. “And get over here and help, damn you, or I swear. I’ll cut you down where you stand, charm or no bloody charm!”
MacReady shrugged, and moved in beside Barber. Fisher sank her arms into the spider’s body up to her elbows, and strained upwards with all her strength, but the body didn’t move. She tried again and again, hauling at the dead weight till her back screamed and sweat ran down her face in streams, but it was no use. Finally she realised that the others had stopped trying and were staring at her compassionately. She stumbled back from the dead spider, shaking her head slowly at the words she knew were coming.
“It’s no good,” said Barber. “We can’t lift it, Isobel. We’d need a dock crane just to shift the bloody thing. And it’s been too long anyway. He’s gone, Isobel. There’s nothing more we can do.”
“There has to be,” said Fisher numbly.
“I’m sorry,” said Winter. “He was a good fighter, and a brave man.”
“You couldn’t stand him!” said Fisher. “You thought he wanted your stupid command! If you hadn’t sent him in first, on his own, he might still be alive!”
“Yes,” said Winter. “He might. I’m sorry.”
Storm!
yelled Fisher with her mind.
You’re a
sorcerer!
Do something!
There’s nothing I can do, my dear. This close to the House, my magic is useless.
“Damn you! Damn you all! He can’t die here. Not like this.”
They stood for a while in the tunnel, saying nothing.
“It’s time to go,” said Winter finally. “We still have our mission. The hostages are depending on us. Hawk wouldn’t have wanted them to die because of him.”
“We can’t just leave him here,” said Fisher. “Not alone. In the dark.”
“We’ll send someone back for him later,” said Barber. “Let’s go.”
The spider’s back pressed upwards suddenly, and the whole body lurched sideways. The SWAT team stumbled backwards, lifting their swords again. It can’t be alive, Fisher thought dully.
It can’t be alive when Hawk is dead.
The spider’s back protruded suddenly in one spot and then burst apart as a gore-streaked axehead tore through it. A bloody hand appeared after the axe, and then Hawk’s head burst out beside it, gulping great lungfuls of the stinking air. The SWAT team stared at him uncomprehendingly, and then Fisher shrieked with savage joy and scrambled up on top of the spider again. She cut quickly at the torn hide with her sword, opening the hole wider. Barber and Winter climbed up beside her, and between them they hauled Hawk out of the spider’s body and helped him clamber down into the water again. Fisher clung to him all the way, unable to let go, as though afraid he might vanish if she did. He was covered in blood and gore from head to toe, but none of it seemed to be his. He was still breathing harshly, but he found the strength to hug her back, and even managed a small, reassuring smile for her.
“What the hell happened?” she said finally. “We’d all given you up for dead!”
Hawk raised a sardonic eyebrow. “I demand a second opinion.”
Fisher snorted with laughter. “All right, then; why didn’t you drown?”
Hawk grinned. “You should have known I don’t die that easily, lass. When the damned thing collapsed on top of me, the weight of its body forced me through the hole I’d made in its guts, and I ended up inside it. Turned out the thing was largely hollow, for all its size. There was just enough air in there to keep me going while I cut my way through its body and out the top. It was hard going, and the air was getting pretty foul by the end, but I made it.” He took a deep lungful of the tunnel air. “You know, even this stench can smell pretty good if you have to do without it for a while.”
Fisher hugged him again. “We tried to lift the spider off you, but we couldn’t budge it. At least, most of us tried. MacReady had already given you up for dead. He wouldn’t have helped at all if I hadn’t made him.”
“That right?” Hawk gave MacReady a long, thoughtful look. “I’ll have to remember that.”
MacReady stared back, unconcerned. Winter cleared her throat loudly. “If you’re feeling quite recovered, Captain Hawk, we ought to get a move on. The hostages are still depending on us, and they’re running out of time.”
 
The atmosphere in the parlour was getting dangerously tense, and Saxon was getting worried. There’d been no word on how negotiations were going, but whatever the terrorists’ deadline was, it had to be getting closer. Madigan had disappeared with his people some time back, leaving twenty mercenaries to watch the hostages. Talking wasn’t allowed, and the mercenaries had taken an almost sadistic pleasure in denying the hostages food or drink while taking turns at stuffing their own faces. Time dragged on, and the mercenaries grew bored while the hostages grew restless. Sooner or later, someone on one side or the other was going to do something stupid, just to break the monotony. Which would be all the excuse the mercenaries needed to indulge in a little fun and games....

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