Silence’s red eyes looked at me. Even in mouse form I could see his fear.
And it was seeing that fear, which matched my own, that shifted something within me.
Oh… I felt that. Auwei said.
My fear hadn’t fled, something deep within me surged to subsume it. The icy claws still lingered in my flesh, but my soul and spirit were free, and I knew what I had to do.
I shifted back to human form and whispered to Silence. “Get out of here. Tell Maverick the Vauphani are bringing fey from the north and planning for war. After this assassination of their royals, they’ll be attacking us for sure. Also, someone back home set us up to die here, perhaps to blame all this on us! Now go!”
The tiny grey and white mouse skittered away, running swiftly across the stone floor.
I slid out from under the table, body trembling with… something. I didn’t know what I was feeling. I was still terrified, but some unstoppable part of me had decided to run toward the danger, not away.
It’s called bravery, Legs. Auwei said, proud while still terrified.Don’t worry, I’ll give you all the benefit of my nine lifetimes, all the things I’ve learned about combat. But I trust you too. You’ve trained relentlessly. You know what you need to do.
I huffed a heavy breath and felt my skin tingle, muscles flexing as a thrill ran through me.
“I’m here, Hazra. Come and get me.”
A laugh. “Oh, aren’t we brash!”
I targeted that voice and threw a ball of webbing.
Another laugh. “Missed me.”
I threw another, and another. Following the laughter as it danced around the room. I couldn’t see a thing through the blasted fog, but if I could just hit her, hopefully that might distract her long enough for me to get to her.
“You’ll never hit me,” she chided. She sounded distant, and I nearly leaped out of my skin when she spoke next and her voice was a whisper right next to my ear: “I am everywhere in this mist.”
The combat training I’d been drilling for the last few weeks kicked in and without thinking I spun. My elbow connected with her ribs, even as a blade sliced across my side. It had probably been intended to sink into my back, but with how I’d turned, it caught me a glancing blow instead, across my ribs.
Laughter danced away as I grunted, putting a hand to the new wound. It hadn’t been as bad as it might have been, but it was still bleeding freely. I spun some webbing to place over it, clotting the wound, but it still burned with searing pain.
This wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t keep still. If she could move freely in the mists, then I should already be dead. Unless… she was playing with me. If she hadn’t spoken the last time and just stabbed me, I wouldn’t have known until I’d felt the pain, and not been able to react as quickly.
I kicked off my slippers and hoped I remembered how high the ceiling was in this hall, then jumped. If I leaped too hard, I’d crash against the stone above, but too lightly and I’d fall back down. But again, my practice paid off, and I was able to find the ceiling with my hands and stick, then brought my feet up and switched to walking upside down, keeping on the move, planting and placing silk-strands around the room. Perhaps, I could catch her in a web. Unless she actuallywasthe fog, then I’d be damned to the Blackest Pits.
What saved me next was pure luck. I’d returned to the floor to place another strand and something slick under my foot — probably blood, but I didn’t want to think about it — caused me to slip as she attacked. She’d been trying to slit my throat, but I fell and the blade instead cut my chin, then traced a line up my cheek, between my right eye and right ear, and up into my hair. I instantly veered into my avatar and skittered away, before returning to my natural form to leap back up to a wall. With each new strand of webbing I placed — quivering with the faint vibrations in the air — I was getting more and more of a sense for the room and her movements.
But that last failure must have frustrated her. Her laughter turned to a growl. “You’ll not catch me in a web, little spider. I’m done playing!”
The fog solidified around me, crushing me to the floor, then turned sharp, like the points of a thousand nails piercing into me.
I screamed, even as I veered into spider form to get away from the constricting, piercing pain.
But that last attack had nearly done me in. Even in spider form I felt the wounds all over my body, the slow leak of blood. I’d be dead soon if I didn’t find a way to turn the tides.
I flinched, avoiding someone stepping on me, leaping away. My hairs had warned me just at the last moment as she’d materialized above me.
My hairs…
I hadn’t been using them. I’d been trusting to my web and my regular hearing to know where she was but…
Yes, of course! Why didn’t I think of that, Auwei said.I guess terror got the better of both of us. You concentrate on finding her, I’ll do the rest.
I surged back to my normal form, eyes closed, concentrating on my spider’s sense. I gathered as much webbing as I could in my hands and waited, still.
“I feel your life ebbing, spider. You’ve stopped running. Are you ready to die?”
