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“You did not deserve this fate, Arachne.” Elena’s tone was consoling?

I kept my thoughts to myself.

“This fate,” the creature spat, “was due me for my arrogance. For my folly in thinking I was greater than the gods. The gods showed me, didn’t they? Now I’m left to rot in this decaying, blighted wood.” The bitter laugh that left Arachne’s body made my hackles rise.

Arachne’s story was legend. She had once been a fair maiden who excelled at weaving. She was so skilled at the art, she challenged Athena to a contest. Athena accepted the challenge, sure she would best the maiden at the loom. Instead, Arachne wove the most beautiful tapestry earth or Olympus had ever seen, stinging Athena’s pride. In retaliation, the goddess doomed Arachne to a life of weaving by turning her into a monstrous spider. Now she was here in the Darkwood, a nightmare come to life.

More legs poked through the mist, a host of spiders massing around Arachne.

Her dark gaze swept over the remaining spiders. She pouted, if such a creature was capable of doing so. “Look how you’ve thinned my babies. My adopted darlings and I have made this our home, dark and diseased as it is, our one refuge from the gods and the immortals.” Her voice rose, the hissing growing louder. “You’ve killed them.”

Elena nodded. “We did. Now that I know for certain it is you, I am sorry for it.”

Was she apologizing for defending our very lives?

Arachne ran a hand through a lock of her dirty hair. “You speak well, warrior, I’ll give you that. But I see Artemis has marked you. You’re in service to the gods I hate with every wisp of soul left in this cursed body. What stops me from ripping you to pieces and sending the runes on your skin back to your mistress?”

“Well, for one thing, there’s this.” Elena threw the ball of fire into the air, the flames reflecting in Arachne’s black eyes before Elena caught it smoothly in her hands again. “For another, if you grant us safe passage, I swear to you that when I take the Bloodkeep, I will make you mistress of the Darkwood. You will have charge of it and will answer only to Paris, the true king of the Bloodkeep. But with one caveat. You and your spiders must not attack or kill those who venture herein. The new king will need a protector, someone to oversee the wood’s rebirth.”

I tensed for the hissing laughter and the spider attack. Reaching into my pack, I palmed a magic bomb. When there was only silence, I stilled. Was the nightmare actually considering Elena’s offer?

I knew Elena was skilled in battle, in strategy. But the way she calculated and came upon a way to move ahead without losing our lives to the spider queen was something altogether greater. Even if it didn’t work, I was still in awe.

Arachne clicked her many teeth. “What’s your name, warrior?”

“Elena de Artemis.”

“Well, Elena de Artemis, I do not believe for a moment you will ever make it to the Bloodkeep. My darlings and I aren’t the only evil things in these woods, and what lurks within the keep puts us all to shame. Still.” She clicked her needle teeth together again, considering. “I don’t want to lose any more of them.”

She watched the fire as Elena allowed it to play back and forth in her palms, a mesmerizing show of ability. But her wounds and the many spells had taken their toll. She was trembling, only enough that I could feel it against me. She gave no other sign, nothing that would hint of weakness to the spiders or their mistress.

Arachne looked around at her spiders, which waited patiently for her command. “I will agree to your proposal if you will also agree that, should you fall in the woods by some other creature’s hand, my babies will get the pleasure of feasting on you and your companion.”

Elena tilted her head. “What do you mean by fall?”

Arachne tsked. “Smart little warrior, aren’t we. I mean if you die. Though I don’t see why you wouldn’t let them have a little nibble if you were mortally wounded. And, of course, my wager is only on your life, but if you die and he lives, then I still get both of you. Live meat is so much more fun for my babies to eat.” The spiders tittered, their maws wet and dripping with anticipation.

“I think I can handle that.” Elena tossed the fireball up into the air one final time and let it dissipate in front of Arachne’s face. “You have my word.”

At the wave of Arachne’s hand, the spiders skittered back into the mist. Arachne backed away too and tipped her head slightly, a bow to the bargain struck with Elena. As she disappeared from view, her voice, still that mix of beauty and horror, floated on the damp air. “Sleep here tonight, little warrior. None dare venture into Arachne’s realm in the Darkwood. You will be safe…for now.”