Page 29 of Nightingale (The Broken Kingdoms #1)

V rea could cut the anticipation with one of her knives because it was thick and heavy, like a drowsy-drugging flower that created an induced dream-like state. Sparkling opium powder might have helped ease her unnatural unsteadiness at the situation that unfolded before them, even if she hated things like that. But when the powerful sense of anticipation and fear was loaded into the space between them all, humans and creatures alike, it was enough to make her head swim.

She could sense it from the Moordian Prince, from both of the horses. The entire area was eerie, bedecked in massive silken webs that stretched from the peaks to the crumbling ground. They were large enough to cover Vasthold from head to toe, with some to spare after. They ran along the corridor of rock, tumbling downwards in spiralling strands of spooky silk. If the light caught ahold of them from a certain angle, they shimmered with a decrepit silver that sent shivers into her cells.

In a different scenario, without the gargantuan arachnids lurking below in the tunnels, it might have been quite stunning.

Rian avoided stepping directly into one, lifting his gait to not accumulate the sticky substance before urging Kohl to do the same. There were patches of dirt that bore no webs, whilst others were loaded in the spindly thread. Small creatures were stuck in certain spots, in all forms and sizes and stages of life. Flies in the top left corner, missing a wing and an eye from previous snackings. Ladybugs with their spotted shells as they buzzed and hummed in any attempt to free themselves. Tiny dragonflies that struggled with every bit of their long-proportioned bodies to break away before they became someone’s lunch.

Not someone’s.

The Blacklegs.

Vrea had seen rough sketches of them from the expanse of her mother’s library, witnessed the horrific retellings of men who had survived the caverns and lived to tell the tale. Unless one faced them themselves, it was impossible to tell what was true and what was not. Until she’d laid her eyes on one herself, Vrea hadn’t believed in the wild plains-cats of Niroula. Massive beasts with padded paws that held gnarly talons that could maim with a single swipe.

And those had been startlingly accurate to the renderings. Which meant that the possibility of the Blackleg drawings for size, could be accurate.

From everything she’d read, she didn’t want to be here at all. There was nothing good about the giant arachnids, not even the silky threads they wove together like a sentient loom with eight eyes.

It was nearly impossible to gain any of it, to take it for themselves and use it for clothes and supplies. The spiders were notorious for keeping it to themselves, for protecting it like it was one of their own children. Though, according to rumours, the arachnids ate their young. Perhaps their self-spun silk was valued at a higher cost, considering that the tales said the monsters killed for the spun wefts.

Something they shared in common.

Getting rid of the weak.

At least her family wasn’t forced to eat them.

She prayed to the seven heavens that no one would see them, that the spiders would remain in their caves and leave them alone. The very last thing she wanted was for a sound to erupt across their cavernous homes and for the giant eight-legged insects to come crawling out to inspect.

Rian and Vrea were more than halfway across the Blackleg Caverns and other than the webs and a couple decomposing corpses in the shards of stone, there was no sign that the spiders even existed. There were no screeching arachnids that shot across the canyon, nor bone-chilling clicks to be heard. There weren’t even any creeping legs to be seen with vicious pinchers to follow.

Vrea inched forward, ready to get this part over and done with before they encountered a single spider, no matter the size. She normally had no issue with them but there was something about this place that created a coiling horror that rotted any of her confidence away.

Onyx skittered with a snort, huffing hot air by her shoulder. She whinnied, trying to tug her reins free which only caused a neigh of protest.

Rian turned into a block of ice, whipping his head around to them. His eyes were wide, wider than the moon and his rich skin was pale. His gaze snapped around them, finding everything as a focal point until it landed on her and she felt the chilling dread that filled him.

“We need to go, now. ” He urged and his fingers wrapped around her bicep in a way that wasn’t tight, but wasn’t suggestive.

Too late.

It was too late.

A horrible roar cleaved the silence in two, followed by a scratching that stabbed right through her system. Something crawled in the darkness of the tunnels as several hundred smaller shapes darted across the valley. They ran in sideways patterns that spooked the horses as they broke free and into a run down the rest of the path. Rian shouted and began to chase after them on a swift foot, running as fast as possible. She followed, unwilling to be left behind as whatever woke up from the bleak caves.

The earth shook with a mighty force as the tunnels rumbled. Then a dark mass of legs and curved pinchers hurdled out, letting out a terrible noise that turned everything to liquid inside of her.

Her stomach and her bowels.

Vrea’s hands trembled for the first time in her life as she unsheathed her knives, letting them fall into her palm as she flipped around to see the newest threat.

As three Blackleg Spiders poured into the pass and blocked off one exit.

They were taller than she was- nearing six feet tall and bore legs that cranked up even higher. They had eight eyes, four on each side that found her within an instant and held onto her as if she were the only interesting thing for miles to come. Each one wore different colours, as if there was some sort of rank installed by the size and shade. But it was clear who was in charge as the largest and most colourful skittered forward a couple of inches, clicking its pointed beak at her with a dreadful sound.

One that she hated.

Rian returned, out of breath and without a single horse. He fumbled to a halt, almost skidding along the dirt-encrusted earth as he took in the massive creatures that loomed far above them both.

No horses in tow.

“Oh, shit .” He swore.

His sword was out and he didn’t falter as he came around to her side, ready to stand with her until the end, if that was what fate had in store for them.

Within his actions, the very reaction that followed, was a faint murmur of appreciation for the male. He could have left her, could have chased after their mounts without one thought towards her and avoided the situation entirely, But instead, he’d come back. And alongside that appreciation, was a heat of something new.

Vrea couldn’t deny that she liked him.

Found attraction and lust in him.

But whereas those were feelings that headed towards desire and a heady want, a husky emotion, one that she’d felt a million times before in her life thanks to the skill honed into her from an early age, this was something else.

Something different.

It was almost like respect, with a dash of passion.

Which terrified her.

She’d never once felt anything similar to anyone before, including her past lovers. This was a spark of something formidable, of something long in the making. Of something that could ruin her and remake her rolled into one. Of something she hadn’t expected to feel for the Golden Heir.

“Shit.” Vrea agreed in a hoarse voice as she struggled to control the raging war within her. “Very much shit. ”

The biggest Blackleg had red strips around the top portion of its legs, with predatory eyes that refused to leave them alone. They moved and whirred between the two of them. It was approximately two feet larger than the other ones, which invoked some sort of leadership by the way they hovered behind the one in the front. It towered over them, around eight feet tall from the tip of its legs to the very top of its massive head.

“I know for a fact that there’s more than three.” Rian uttered, no longer whispering. “Which means that we have about ten minutes if we’re lucky, before more of those damned beasts come flying out of the rest of these tunnels.”

They didn’t move, nor did the creatures.

It was clear that there was communication passing between the three spiders as they tapped their pinchers together, sticky webs trailing behind like drifting snow that coated the world in white.

“We have two options.” Vrea began, eyeing the narrow road behind her and taking in the distance between the barely-visible war camps.

It was a mile, if she measured right.

A half-hour on horseback, perhaps a bit longer on foot.

“Want to share those with me?” He asked with a lacing tone of terror, and winced as the smallest of the spiders shot forward.

Vrea slammed the pommel of her dagger into the closest leg, spotted with blue that faded into a dark black. The beast screeched in pain and fell back, only for the second to charge for Rian.

If anyone was killing him, it would be her.

“We can try running, but I don’t think we’d be able to keep up a quick enough pace before they have the advantage. I’d give it half a mile at the most.” She grunted as one creeped overtop her, her knife finding the softest part and dragging it through the underside of the belly.

A disgusting, putrid smell filled the air and she gagged at the molding reek of it. It was wet, it was dust, it was everything she hated rolled into one.

“What’s the second?” He jumped over a sweeping joint, bringing his sword straight down as black blood spilled. It sprayed the earth, coating it in a slick layer.

“Fight, and live to see another day.” She angled her blade forward and cut through another leg, a strangled hiss coming from the large creature as it fell. Vrea plunged her weapon directly into its head and shoved all of her might as the thing died. Too slow for her liking but it was better than it being alive.

She ripped it out with a grunt and studied it.

Her steel was heavy with the obsidian blood, oozing off the end in a dripping sludge that reminded her of oil. The consistency, the colour, the smell even.

“I think I’ll go with option two. We can keep advancing little by little.” Rian said as he fended off a swipe of a leg. He moved just in time and struck the second down as the largest one with the red legs opened its mouth and let out a wretched cry that rattled the mountains around them.

The ground trembled with tremendous force.

Vrea met his gaze.

She saw the sky and storms, the lake as it froze over and switched into something fierce, darker, deadlier.

“Run!” She yelled and directed herself towards the small opening of the valley that would take them towards the Niroulian camps.

It was either that, or let the spiders kill them.

Rian flipped around and did the same, running as fast as he could as he said, “Right there with you.”

Neither put their weapons away as they bolted for the other end of the valley, trying to gain as much distance as possible before engaging in another duel with the oncoming spiders. Four more emerged from the tunnels, slightly tinier in size than the last two, but larger than they were.

The Blackleg spiders chased after them.