Page 17 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter sixteen

Scarlett

I follow Iksah, the Hollow Spider, deeper into the forest. Zane shifts from side to side on Iksah’s carapace, the silky binds holding him loosely in place. Keeping my mind vacant is the only way to escape the pain, so I let the spider lead me—possibly to our deaths.

“Medicine needed for both,” Iksah thinks. The language comes in disjointed images and concepts that somehow my mind translates into meaning. Alyse’s magic is more powerful than I could’ve imagined.

What medicine?

I’m not sure if when I speak directly back to him if he fully understands, or if it sounds like child-speak, so I try to keep my sentences simple.

“You carry it.”

I look down at the bundle of silk. It’s not heavy, but Iksah asked that I carry it. Perhaps it was a show of trust. An exchange. Or maybe I’m a fucking idiot and he’s going to eat both of us when we get back to his lair.

No, that doesn’t feel right. I can’t explain it, but this is the path that leads us to victory .

The forest grows darker with every passing moment. I can’t tell if night is falling, or if the thick of trees is so oppressive the sun can’t penetrate here. My remaining eye is nearly blinded by the black, seeing only the soft glow of Zane’s magic against my skin and the occasional glowing fauna.

My missing eye, however, perceives much more.

The forest is alive with so much essence it’s overwhelming.

Plants, animals, insects, and fungi shimmer in different shades of magic.

Fallen trees are black, devoid of life, but they writhe with little green ants that march along the logs, collecting food for their colony.

“You are not like Iksah, but you are. Explain. What are you?”

How much will this creature be able to understand?

I’m a woman.

“I have heard of woman and man. Sheesahng spoke of them long ago. You are not woman. You are like Iksah, like Sheesahng.”

The spider follows an unseen path on instinct with the grace and fluidity of a dancer.

Who is Sheesahng?

Iksah makes a clicking noise. “Mate.”

I’d heard Iksah’s fear before. He was worried for his mate, but there is a distinct sensation carried with this word that sets it apart. Two different entities, both of them mates, but this one is more revered than the other.

Are we going to meet Sheesahng now?

Iksah makes three loud clicks in quick succession, and I sense his mind is working through the question.

“This creature you make noise for is of the kind you speak: man. But you are not woman. You are Origin-touched. You are Other.”

The slimy bit of Ashai wriggling around inside me goes still for a moment. In the absence of its struggle, I feel the wetness on my cheek from my tears. The fear for Zane floods to the front of my mind and I realize I’ve been crying the whole way.

I grit my teeth and wipe my face.

I’m not Other.

“A wise one does not deny its existence, or its purpose.”

What do you mean by that?

Iksah is quiet, his mind chittering on faster and without any sense—at least none I can discern. Perhaps he was formulating his thoughts into a digestible form for me, and now I’m being kept out.

The heat of the forest is oppressive. I dare not stop to drink from my skein and lose Iksah in the dark brush. Without the spider’s voice in my head, the sounds of the creatures around us become a hot soup of noise I’m drowning in. Who could live in this madness?

“We draw close. Rest soon.”

Can he sense my thoughts as easily as Alyse can?

We ascend and my muscles burn. Even using my spindles to aid the climb, it’s been a brutal trek that’s left my core weak.

My gaze lifts to Zane as golden light penetrates the canopy. The sunset colors highlight how pale he is and my gut plummets. I’ve allowed us to wander so deep into the forest, with him so near death. I’ve killed us both.

Iksah pivots around a white-wrapped branch and taps it once.

A zip of power surges along the once invisible string that leads down into the forest. A woven net of silk comes to life with magic and shimmers through the trees.

It would be nearly impossible to navigate this without spindles.

It would spell death for any captured creature.

“Protection,” Iksah says, his bulbous fore-eyes focused on me. The other six rotate and scan, looking for threats.

Or a trap, I send back .

“Deceit is for gods and men. Iksah is a hunter. If you were prey, you would not be breathing or carrying medicine.”

I’m shocked by how clear the message is this time. I look down at the bundle of silk glistening with my sweat. “Fair enough.”

Iksah chitters and rotates toward the white wall above us. He pushes his forelimbs into the silk and it separates, opening just wide enough to fit his rounded body and Zane. He squeezes inside, then holds the way open for me.

I swallow my fear and push myself up into the nest. Light spills across my face and I close my eye, allowing my magic vision to take over.

A massive black void sits in the center of the nest with a smaller blotch of yellow resting beside it. There are black ovals all around the white nest, swallowing the color of Iksah’s magic. In the crook of the yellow creature’s overlapping arms is a tiny ovular bundle that pulses deep red.

I open my eye and it adjusts to the low light, revealing what I’d already assumed.

We’re inside an egg sac. At the center of it all is a black and red spider the size of a house, but her carapace is desiccated, and her limbs are curled in an unnatural way.

There’s a gaping wound on her side and a drag of old blood across the nest floor from the rim of the bowl-like structure where she lies.

A spider several hands smaller than Iksah is nestled against the female’s side. In its crossed pedipalp is a bundle of silk not unlike what I carry.

“Mate Iksah, what has followed you home?” the spider asks in a weary voice.

“Mate Ahnkeem, I have brought medicine and warriors.” Iksah hurries across the distance and pushes close to the other spider. He wraps two of his limbs around Ahnkeem and presses down, sealing their bodies together for a moment.

My gaze drifts to the mouth of the massive corpse beside them. Two sharp fangs glisten in the fading light. I know the venom sacs are attached to her fangs but nestled deep in her face under her eyes because the book told us as much. I’ll have to cut her open to extract them.

Zane mumbles something and I snap from my stupor, moving closer.

Iksah severs the bonds holding Zane to his back and slides him onto the floor.

I drop to my knees beside him and touch his face.

He’s sweating, cold, and shivering. I move to his pulse point and feel for his heartbeat.

It’s weaker than I’d like, but stronger than it was.

“It’s wounded,” Ahnkeem says.

“It saved me from the sky beast. Both.”

Iksah gestures to me, reaching for the bundle in my arms.

I hold up the package and he takes it, using his pedipalps to pry open the silk. There are herbs inside, ones I’m sure Zane could identify if he was awake. Iksah pushes several of the leaves into his mouth and works them into a paste, then offers me the bundle.

“For vigor and strength,” he says. “Crush them into his mouth.”

Is it safe for a man?

“All creatures eat the medicine when they are weak.”

I take two of the leaves and put them in my mouth. They’re bitter, but the more I chew, the more awake I feel. The burning in my muscles slows to a mild throb, and my mind becomes alert.

I press my thumb against Zane’s mouth to open it, then push the chewed leaves inside with my tongue.

He groans and swallows, then sighs. Within moments, Zane’s shivering slows and then abates.

His pulse is stronger, but he’s still unconscious.

If he doesn’t wake, I’ll have to carry him out.

Would that even be possible? I don’t know the way, and the predators are many.

“You need it,” Iksah says, trying to put his mouth up against Ahnkeem’s.

The smaller spider pushes Iksah away gently. “I am nearly gone. This will prolong my suffering.”

“It will prolong your life.”

“Sheesahng is gone. You need another mate for the child. She is here,” Ahnkeem says, gesturing toward me.

“She is not of us. She is Other.”

“She has tools of man. With her, our child will live.”

“Hold on just a moment,” I say, my gut tensing.

Iksah looks at me, his fangs twitching as he continues to chew the herbs. I may be reinvigorated, but so is he. I don’t want this to turn to blows because I’d surely not walk away unscathed. And Zane…

“She can feed the child. She can feed you. Live on for us, Mate Iksah.” Ahnkeem lifts a pedipalp and caresses it along one of Iksah’s.

I don’t like where this conversation is going, but I don’t think Iksah will be amenable to me cutting open his deceased mate for her venom. Negotiation may be the only way I get out of this with everything I want—and my life.

Iksah pulls back from his mate and turns to me. I stand and push myself up on my spindles, getting the height advantage against him as I cover Zane’s body with my own. Iksah tenses and his movements slow.

“You are stuck here without my help.”

He’s not wrong.

“Our child will die without yours.”

Why?

“Without our mate, we cannot eat,” Ahnkeem says, nudging the withered carapace of the female. “Her venom turns our kills into food.”

My eyes dart up to the massive fangs poking out from below her empty eyes.

I don’t have venom.

“No, but you have tools. The ingenuity of man is known. It is why we few remaining Archin have moved into the deep forest.”

I gesture to Zane. He is an alchemist. Do you understand what that is?

“I grasp it,” Iksah says, turning his gaze on my love.

If he has her venom, he may be able to make more with alchemy science.