World Weaver (The Devany Miller Series Book 4) (16 page)

Krosh must have noticed my discomfort because he sat near me and slipped his hand into mine. “Are you all right?”

I nodded, giving him a small smile. “Just thinking too hard.” I nibbled on my lip, debating, and decided the grown up thing to do would be to talk about it. “It’s awkward, having Ty here,” I said, my voice pitched low. “And no, I don’t want to go all Laurel K. Hamilton and have a harem of dudes.”

He frowned, then his face lit up. “Anita Blake novels. I’ve read those.”

“You have?”

“They are popular in Odd Silver.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t let them give you any ideas.”

“Perhaps I should warn you of the same.”

My mouth dropped open. “I would never—” I stopped when I saw the amusement in his eyes. “You’re an ass.”

“I’m sorry, Devany. If it makes you uncomfortable, we could sleep across the camp from one another, but if you think he doesn’t know we are sleeping together, you are wrong.”

“I know.” And no, I didn’t want to sleep across the camp from him. It would be dumb and I’d miss the warmth of his body. “I’m just tired, stressed, and silly.”

He leaned in close. I thought he was going to kiss me, but he didn’t, stopping just short. “It is understandable. You’ve been pushing yourself hard. I won’t fault you for being tired, stressed, or silly.”

I smiled. “Thank you.” I closed the gap between us and kissed him. ‘Take that, Ty
,’
I thought, then Krosh was kissing me back in earnest, and thoughts of Ty vanished.

***

Neutria’s spider kin came in the night. I woke in the back of my head, Neutria ascendant, standing at the water’s edge. The moment she noticed I was awake, she retreated and the spiders scattered into the dark.

I shivered, sleepy-eyed and cold after being snuggled up against Kroshtuka. ‘Don’t do that again.’ I paused. ‘Have you done that before?’ She didn’t answer me, of course. I pivoted on my heel, headed back to my bedroll, when movement in the shadows of the trees caught my attention. I put up a bubble just in case and waited, curious to see what was coming to drink.

The figure that appeared in the moonlight looked normal enough. A woman, her dress in tatters, her hair tangled around her head. She stopped, her head swiveling jerkily on her neck. “Devany Miller,” she called in the low, dead voice of a Rider.

Shit. Fear and loathing crawled over my skin. Something blurred by me: Kali. Her blades gleamed in the dim light when she drew them and, in seconds, the Rider’s host was in bloody pieces on the ground.

Kali stepped away from it, swords still at ready. What was she waiting for? Then I heard it, a low screeching sound. The corpse’s head, separated from the body, shuddered once, twice, then a shiny black leech oozed from its gaping mouth.

Kali stomped on it, grinding the thing under her boot.

Ty appeared beside me, his eyes on Kali and the body at her feet. “It knew your name.”

“I’m afraid so.”

“Why would they be hunting you?”

I shrugged helplessly. The Riders traveled through Dreams, directed by its hosts’ hatreds, or so I’d been told. The one that had attempted to kill me, Krosh, and Liam had been in the head of a young woman named Sharps whom I’d been helping—or trying to. Her anger toward me had been a shock, one I’d been woefully unprepared for. I killed the Rider without having to kill her, too.

Had that been a mistake, leaving her alive?

God. How could I even ask the question? Was there ever a time when it wasn’t a mistake to commit murder?

“We need to move. Those things communicate like ants or bees. Hive mind. If it knew you were here, then they all know you’re here.”

I shook Kroshtuka awake while Ty and Kali woke the rest.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

I explained what had happened, trying to ignore the dismembered body not fifty feet from us. “There’s a good chance more Riders will find us. If any of you want to leave, go back to Odd Silver, I won’t blame you,” I said, raising my voice so everyone could hear me. I didn’t want to drag them to their deaths, or worse, get them infected by a Rider.

No one left, no one looked afraid. Instead, everyone packed up their gear and fell into place as we set off into the night. I slipped my hand in Kroshtuka’s as we walked in the dark, the sounds of the Wilds not unlike Earth. Birdsong, the faint croak of frogs—or things that sounded like frogs—and crickets were our soundtrack. “Would the bracelets we use to stay together on the backroads allow me to hook to everyone in our group, do you think? I have your ring,” I said, touching my shirt where, underneath, the necklace he’d given me rested. “It will let me hook to you. But I want to make sure I can get to any one of us if there’s trouble.”

“It might. The bracelets were made from the same piece of leather, each with stones made from the same, larger gem. They work on the same concept as the
emiliometer
.” In the dark, I couldn’t see his expression well—at least until Neutria meddled and enhanced my vision.

I hissed at the sudden onset of light, squinting at Krosh until my brain adjusted.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Neutria was helping me out.” To the spider, I said, ‘Stop it.’

She hissed at me but didn’t answer.

“Ah. It is strange, I think, to have the animal part of your nature be separate from yourself.” His thumb rubbed along my index finger, the small contact still wonderful to me. “If you ever find yourself without your spider companion, perhaps you will discover your Wydling side.”

My Wydling side. An animal of some sort, probably a bird, if Krosh’s research into my mother’s origins and Liam’s transformations indicated anything. I won’t lie, flying held a huge appeal. Not being a scary ass spider would also be a bonus. Though being a scary ass spider had advantages.

Birds are prey,
Neutria said, her voice dripping with venom.

‘Not all birds,’ I said. ‘Eagles, hawks, falcons—’

Are prey to me. Not even a good meal. All feathers and no meat.

I rolled my eyes. ‘All that time you’ve spent inside me, you still haven’t cultivated a hobby?’

She didn’t answer so I took that as a no. Anyway, my luck I’d end up as a fish. I already had gills gifted to me by the fleshcrawler queen. Gills I kept hidden with magic because they were kind of hard to explain.

Tytan caught up to us as the sun rose. His face was grim as he came up beside me, his shirt torn and furrows the length of his forearms.

“What happened?”

“A group of infected Wydlings were hiding in an arroyo over there,” he said, indicating a steep gully a few hundred yards to our left. “I routed them, but there will be more.”

More death, more bodies. I felt sick to my stomach. “Where’s Kali?”

“She’s scouting for other dangers, for the infected.”

I nodded, thinking of her whirling blades, of the blood, of the body parts that had fallen with meaty thuds to the ground. “That was nice of her.”

Tytan grinned. “She said she was bored enough to start killing Wydlings.”

I eyed him. Was he was pulling my leg? Nope. “Tell her thanks for not massacring everyone when she gets back, okay?”

***

We walked, taking breaks throughout the day, until we neared the town of Null. We stayed well back, not wanting the locals to see us. Krosh’s people had left sign near the border showing us where our meeting place was. We only had to wait until dawn to talk to the man. If he showed.

The power of the Omphalos pulsed through the magical fence-line and awed me with its brightness. Could I spool its energy inside me and break the hold the witches had on the magic? Maybe. More likely it would kill me or set off a world-destroying cataclysm. ‘Don’t act without asking first.’ My new motto.

I put my hands on my lower back, stretching. “Where are we going to make camp tonight?”

“Back in those hills.” Krosh pointed to a spot about a mile away, a steep rise bare of trees. “We’ll need to set watch and keep our weapons handy.”

The hill gave us a good view of the land all around, which meant we would be able to spot anything trying to sneak up on us. No one had seen Kali, but Tytan assured me she wouldn’t get lost. It was a long, sleepless night but come dawn, there were no sign of anymore Riders.

I didn’t dare hope that things would stay so simple.

Krosh and I walked to meet Daniel at the border, the rest of our group staying behind to watch camp. The morning air was redolent with sage and pine, reminding me of home. The rising sun tipped the scrub with orange and gold, chasing away the dark purple shadows of the previous night.

Waiting for us at the border were two people, a man and a young woman. Daniel Luresh was a distinguished man with grey threaded throughout his dark hair. The young woman with him had a sprinkling of freckles across her pale face, her curly hair short and tucked behind her ears. I pegged her at sixteen, seventeen years old, but of course, witches aged slower than humans.

The pair had on hiking boots and both carried baskets. Daniel held his up, filled with berries and various plants. “Our cover, should anyone wonder why we’re so close to the barrier. I’m Daniel and this is my daughter, Masette.”

We introduced ourselves and Daniel was immediately fascinated with Kroshtuka. “Can you tell me more about the Meat Clan? I’ve heard stories about your people raiding the border towns to stop the slave trade.”

Masette smiled at her father, then gestured for me to follow her. I did, walking with her along the barrier, the low pitched hum insistent and aggravating. I was glad we wouldn’t be staying long. Masette said, “My father can talk for hours about the Wilds. I thought you might be in a hurry, though, and I can answer your questions about the Spider Queen.” Her voice was full of affection as she spoke, and when she said, ‘Spider Queen,’ her eyes lit up.

“Do you know her?”

“She’s my friend.” She pulled a stone from her pocket and tossed it to me. It sizzled when it passed through the barrier.

The gem was a pale green with darker veins of the same color running through it. It was warm from her pocket, but it also vibrated with energy and it was probably always warm, even when someone wasn’t holding it. “There’s a legend that says if a child puts out the aventurine on Solstice night, the Spider Queen and her babies will come and visit. She came to me the first time I put that in my window when I was ten.” She smiled, remembering. “She took me on my first adventure and oh, I was so proud of myself.” Her gaze fell back on me. “I killed a spider mummy. Almost died doing it, too.”

“You were ten?”

She nodded and I shuddered at the thought of Bethany going off with a giant spider to fight monsters.

“I need her help,” I said. “I’m not sure what kind of help, but I need it. Do you think she will talk with me?”

“She might. She’s better now that she has her eyes returned to her. All but the last.” She stopped, glancing back to where her father stood talking animatedly with Kroshtuka. “I don’t know where it is. I can’t sense it. The Spider Queen doesn’t know either. There’s some sort of darkness cloaking it.” She sighed, her fingers going up to tuck flyaways behind her ears. “She’s so close to being whole again. And when she has all her eyes, she will be able to find her egg sac.”

“Her egg sac?”

“The Witch King stole it and he took her eyes to keep her from being able to find it.”

A thrill of excitement thrummed through me. “Why would he take her egg sac? I don’t understand.”

The young woman was silent for a moment. “I’ve thought about this a lot. The Spider Queen thinks it’s because he wanted to stop her from giving magic to all equally, like she used to. He wanted control over it. I think he wanted the power from it.”

“The Omphalos.”

A wind kicked up, tossing my hair and hers all about. I had mine pulled back in a braid, but wisps still tickled my face. She shook her head, then tucked hair behind her ears again. “He supposedly made the Omphalos,” she said, the tone of her voice hinting that she didn’t believe he’d made it any more than I did.

“Supposedly.”

A shout behind us. I turned to see Tytan and the Wydlings running toward us. “What’s wrong?” But I knew. More Riders. I didn’t know if they could breach the barrier or not, but I didn’t want to risk getting Masette and her father killed. “Get away from here, quickly. Those people are infected,” I said.

I hadn’t even finished talked before she was moving; Daniel was already running too. Krosh had drawn his weapon and I returned to his side, wishing for a knife. “Do you think I should change?”

“Yes.” He grinned fiercely at me. “Though I would like to see you fight with a weapon in your hand. We will start training you to use a blade.”

I snorted, glad for the lightheartedness in the face of the thing coming at us. ‘Neutria? You want to come out and play?’

Not play. Kill.
And she burst to the forefront of my mind and we changed.