Shadowborn

Chapter Thirty-Four: Bluffing with the Best

The others had seemed a tad skeptical when Noelle returned to them holding a two-handed axe over her shoulder that was as tall as she was. They were no longer skeptical after she cleaved two guardian Valax in half with a single swing. She was unused to both the reach of the weapon and her intensely boosted strength, but she had lightning fast reflexes and sharp instincts.

The Valax didn’t come at us in any real numbers, which worried me. I had no doubt they were setting up some kind of trap for us later down the road, I just had to hope it wasn’t another platoon killer. If we found ourselves face to face with another Royal, I had no illusions I’d need to draw the cursed blade. I seriously doubted I’d killed the only two that were down here. And where there were royals…

Well, I really hoped I wouldn’t have to draw the blade until we were a lot closer to the surface.

The good news was that we were cutting through Valax easier than we ever had before. After summoning a tendril for defense on Rhallani, all three of our most vulnerable members were protected. Since I always had a sense of what my tendrils were up to, I could afford to let loose without constantly checking to make sure we weren’t getting ambushed from behind.

Noelle was still insistent that I watch the back, and now she had extra ammunition to use against me with my newest ranged skill. Something had shifted in her with the evolution of her class, and I liked what I saw. She was clever and hard headed, and I hoped I’d only seen the beginnings of the woman she might become now that she was well and truly leaving her past behind her. Her new skill was something else, too. Spectral ravens that shifted in and out of this realm. They swooped in to intercept any attacks in her range, throwing themselves at fangs and claws to give the others time to dodge or defend.

The golem was getting more and more lethal by the encounter, and it was difficult to say whether it was the golem’s strange properties or Rhallani’s commands. I could see her lips moving while she whispered commands, the bracer at her wrist emitting a constant, soft glow. She was more focused now than I’d ever seen her. I could see the fear that aways accompanied fighting for your life, but she had a better handle on it than ever before.

Something had changed in Serena, too. There was a new look in her eyes. A darker one. She put on a brave face any time she caught me looking, but I knew a forced smile when I saw one. There was something that was bothering the hell out of her, but now wasn’t the time to have that conversation. Whatever was bouncing around in that head of hers, it had her moving with a precision and relentlessness I hadn’t seen in her either.

It was like she’d decided if she could kill enough of the spiders, she could kill whatever had forced the change.
Tiana was another matter altogether. Since we’d started our trek back to the surface, she’d been a force of nature. Whatever my tendril was doing to her, it was clearly working. She had a constant flush and stumbled every so often, but the one time I’d tried to help her she’d smacked my arm hard enough to tell me not to do it again. When the first real ambush had happened, she’d obliterated it with a single cast of her [Force Bolts]. Even she’d been caught off guard by the destructive power she’d unleashed.

“What the f—fffff—fuck did you tell your tendril to do?” she demanded.

I slipped a hand into the high cut on her side and grabbed a handful of her rear. Arousal was key, and over the last hour we’d been slowly making our way to the surface a plan had started to form in my mind. She’d had me make that promise before because the mere thought of its payoff kept her running hot. “I could tell you, but I’ve got another idea.”

Her nostrils flared, then I felt the tendril shift underneath her clothes and she let out a soft gasp. “It keeps fucking changing things up. Every time I think I’ve got a handle on what it’s up to, it switches tactics.”

I slid my hand closer to where I knew she wanted me to touch. “Have you cum?”

She pushed her ass into my hand. “No, it won’t fucking let me! It pulls back as soon as I get close.”
I raised my brows. The tendril was scarily good at keeping her on edge, it seemed, and I wasn’t quite sure I was ready to deal with what that might say about me. “Then I’ll make you a deal. If you can figure out the command I gave it, I’ll make you cum so hard we have to take a break while you remember how to walk.”

She groaned through clenched teeth. “And here I was thinking you weren’t an asshole.”

I chuckled. “Oh, I’m definitely an asshole. But don’t forget, I’ll make it all up to you when we get out.”

Her breath caught. “Are we?”

I hesitated just a second too long. “Of course.”

She shook her head. “Look, I get it. Whatever you’re holding back, there probably isn’t anything we can do about it. You don’t want to psych them out. Serena might be able to handle it, but Elisa and Rhallani both are non-combat types and Noelle seems…fragile. If I’m going to die tonight, I think I’d rather know.”

My hand left her ass and slid up to the small of her back. “There’s a chance we don’t,” I admitted. “There’s a much larger chance that not all of us survive. I give you my word here and now, though, that I’m not leaving anyone behind. I’ll do everything in my power to get us out of this.”

She looked at me for a long time, then nodded curtly. Then she jumped. “Magic, behind us.”

I turned to see a wave of skittering spiders rolling towards us. Small ones. Hundreds of them. Thousands.

“Don’t suppose you’ve got more area of effect spells?” I asked, pushing her behind me.

“A couple, but this many—”

A flash of silver, and flames erupted in the tunnel between us and the spiders. A metal sphere shooting out two jets of flames that propelled it into the wave and bathed them in fire. Tiana threw her hands out and two blue disks shot from her palms. They were both nearly two feet in diameter and carved through the spiders that weren’t immolated. She twisted and pulled as if directing the disks with invisible strings and they turned, heading for the larger masses of spiders.

The smell of burning insect hit us like a wave, but the spiders turned back down the hall and retreated. I shook my head, then turned to Elisa. “You didn’t mention you had fire skills.”

She blushed. “I don’t.” She held up one of the spheres I’d seen in her pack. “Spitter Spheres. One of my first inventions.”

The others had stopped, weapons raised, but I nodded to Noelle and she started forward once more. I gave Tiana one last brush along her breast, gently flicking the hard nub poking through the fabric of her new outfit, and sped up enough that I was walking next to a still-limping Elisa.

“May I?”

She hesitated, then dropped one into my palm. I rolled it around, feeling something liquid moving around inside. I saw the button on the side, between the two grooves where I knew fire would come out, and figured that was the activation mechanism. Making sure not to go anywhere near that, I put it back in her palm. “Ingenious. The ignited fire propels it further, then?”

Her eyes widened, and she nodded eagerly. “Yes, exactly! It works really well with liquids and compressed gasses, too. I’ve got a bunch.” She pulled out a number of them that looked identical to me. “This one has peppermint and vinegar because of the spiders. This one is a light-spitter. It’ll spray lampflier excretion around, which glows when it hits the air for about an hour. This one sprays drake salamander gas, which is—”

“Highly explosive,” I said with a little worry.

She lit up. “Exactly! I call it boom-gas. The fire spitters are great for setting things on fire, of course, but these babies can spread gas over a twenty foot area. You can detonate it with a single spark and cause massive damage!”

I gingerly placed that one back in her bag. “You could also cause the tunnel to cave in on us, so maybe leave those aside for now.”

She was crestfallen, but not for long. “Oh, I’ve also got some of these! Wire-webs. They shoot out a mana-steel thread—another invention of mine—that’s thin and sharp and really strong. Great for tangling enemies up. And this one I call a false daylight. It doesn’t spit so much as it does immolate itself, but it burns so bright it can light up an entire cavern and burn your eyes if you’re looking right at it.”

I looked at the girl in a whole new light. “These spitters, they can be modified to shoot any kind of gas?”
She bit the end of her thumb. “Should be able to, yeah. I’d probably have to modify it a little depending on the gas. Why?”

“Just curious. After we get out of here, I think you and me need to have a sitdown.” I picked up one of the wire-webs. “I’m curious just what else you’re capable of.”

She grinned from ear to ear, then her expression fell. “Well, I can do commissions, but you should know that I’ve got a lot of debts to take care of. This stuff isn’t cheap, after all.”

I could imagine, but if she was down here scraping for levels with a group like Camden’s, then that meant whoever she owed money to had no idea just how valuable a mind like hers could be. Paying those debts off would be a small price to pay if she was half the gem I thought she might be. I was very interested to see what she and Ryoko could get up to once the Kitsune had a bit more alchemy experience under her belt.

I squeezed Elisa’s shoulder. “Let’s survive today, first, then we can worry about all that.”

I could tell from the way she sobered further that she’d allowed the talk of her inventions to distract her from our situation. She nodded, and I let her go to fall back into step with Tiana. “So you can sense magic?” I asked her.

She nodded curtly. “I have a skill. I’m not sure why it activated, though.”

I had a few theories, but if she had a skill then I needed to at least warn her what to look out for. “Don’t react to what I’m about to say,” I said softly, “but there’s a possibility there’s something down here capable of using real magic, not just the mana-infused venoms and webs the Valax are so fond of. Let’s just say you’ll know it when you see it. Sense it, more likely.”

“And if it shows up, we’re fucked?” she guessed in an equally quiet tone.

“Probably, but I thrive when facing certain death.” I gave her a wink, and her cheeks darkened. “If we end up dealing with anything like that, I need you to trust me.”

“I do trust you,” she said so quietly I nearly missed it. When I arched a brow, she blushed even more. “A lot. Like, a weird amount. Does that make me a fool?”

I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’ll certainly do everything in my power to keep from breaking that trust, but I know that there’s no way for you to know that just yet.”

She made a growling noise in her throat and looked away pointedly. “Why is it that every other thing you say makes me want to jump your bones so damn bad?” Then the words that had escaped her mouth caught up to her brain and she clamped a hand over her mouth.

I laughed softly, which made Noelle peek over her shoulder with a questioning look before turning her eyes back to the tunnels ahead. “I never thought I’d say this in my life, but I seem to have that effect on women.”
Now it was her turn to arch a brow at me. “Fending them off with a stick, are you?”

“It certainly feels that way.” It was difficult to keep my eyes from lingering on the backsides of the three girls I’d become so close to. It was a good thing Tiana was next to me, not in front of me. “It’s all very new to me. I’m not usually so good with—”

“Women?”

I barked out another laugh. “I was going to say people. My life has been a solitary one, often by choice. Not mine, mind you, but what can you do?”

Tiana bit her lip. “What changed?”

A deal with a goddess and a chance to save everyone I’d ever failed. Something that had taken away the guilt I hadn’t even realized weighed down on me that I could have the nerve to be happy when so many had never got the chance. I couldn’t say that, so instead I said, “I wanted to save Rhallani, and she ended up saving me instead. Same with Serena. I’m starting to think Noelle is trying to do the same.”

Her turquoise eyes searched mine warmly. “What did they save you from?”

A smile tugged at my lips. “Myself, mostly. They reminded me what it felt like to protect the people I cared about, not just avenge them.”

She opened her mouth, then jumped with a groan. “Fucking tendril, ruining the damn mood,” she grumbled. Then she shook her head. “You’ve got a thing for saving people, that’s for sure. Sorry again that you got dragged down here by my stupidity.”

I shrugged. “Honestly, you might have done the world a service by being captured.”

She leaned away from me, aghast, and I laughed. “Alright, that didn’t come out quite right, but if we get out of here then you’re capture might save a few hundred lives.”

That sobered her up. “How so?”

“Those royal Valax are a bad sign. The trap I fell into is a worse one. They’re preparing to defend against a siege. That means that not only are they smart enough to plan that far ahead, but they’re also planning to grow into a big enough problem they know the people in the city above will have no choice but to exterminate them. They’re still in the early stages, though, and if Anford can get a big enough host together they can take the spiders out before they get too entrenched.”

She didn’t look away from me for a while. Then, finally, she said, “you sure know a lot about Valax. I thought I was the expert, but I don’t know any of this.”

“Most of it we learned in the war thirty years ago.” Her brows knit together, and I struggled to come up with a way to explain it without revealing that I was actually there. “Grimsbane surrounded the capital with his armies, so the Seven had two options. Cut their way through tens of thousands of innocents enslaved to him or take a more direct route. They chose the latter, but that meant cutting through the Altain Mountains that run from the coast to the north of the capital nearly to the other end of the continent. Through the very pass Anford is settled in now. Only problem was, for the last two centuries or so, the entire mountain range had been inhabited by a Valax queen and her brood.”

“The Seven killed the queen and their armies snuck through the mountains to land on Grimsbane’s doorstep before he even knew what happened.” The caves in the Altain had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives over the years. Armies and hosts had marched in to exterminate the spiders never to walk back out again. The seven of us had gone in alone, posing as agents of Grimsbane, and slain the queen ourselves.

She paled. “You think there’s a queen down here.”

“The odds are slim. The seven destroyed the eggs they found, after all. But, if we do run into one, I need you to do something for me.”

“Trust you?”

I nodded. “And get the others out. If worst comes to worst, then I can get the queen focused on me. Hopefully long enough for you all to slip away.”

She stiffened. “If you think I’m just going to leave you down here—“

“I’ve walked away from fights that should have claimed me for as long as I’ve been alive,” I said flatly. “And most of those were when I didn’t have a reason to come out the other side. Now I do. I’ll be fine, but I can’t fight the way I’ll need to and worry about the others. Can I count on you?”

I saw her jaw clench and unclench. “Why me and not Serena?”

“Serena is amazing,” I said, “but she’s also the type who’d stay by my side no matter what, even if it costs her life. If I even suggested to her what I’m asking of you now, she’d be furious.”

Her back went stiff and I could see fire in her eyes. “And what? I look like the type of girl who’s willing to abandon someone they care about?”

I met her gaze unflinchingly. “No, but you do strike me as someone who understands the difference between leaving someone behind and getting out of their way. It’s a matter of experience, not character.”

She recoiled slightly, but then she turned her gaze away. “I’ll do as you ask, but just remember. I can’t rightly cash in that promise with a corpse, so you aren’t allowed to die.”

I ran my hand up her bare back and she shivered. “Same goes to you.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but then Noelle came to a stop at a crossroads. She smelled the air, then looked back at me. “Metal. Rusty. That way.” She pointed.

I’d long given up trying to guess what was above us, but metal could mean signs of civilization. I nodded. “Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

When we started back up, the pace had quickened. Anticipation spurred us on, and it wasn’t long before we reached a point where our tunnel intersected with another that was visibly different. Older, but more neatly carved. Likely by human hands. Then, after we’d all jumped down into the tunnel that was slightly lower than the one we’d left, we found what Noelle had smelled.

Tracks. Mine cart tracks. We were under the mountains outside of Anford, which meant there was every possibility that the Valax hunting us were direct descendants of the one’s I’d fought thirty years ago. It was long abandoned judging by the rust, but at least we could follow the tracks to the surface.
“This is good,” I told the others, and there were smiles all around. “Come on.”

We moved in a tight group. The others knew as well as I did that an ambush was most likely to come when we were least expecting it, but it never did. We followed the track up for another hour before the shaft we were walking through ended.

We stood at its exit where it let out into a massive cavern. One so large I couldn’t make out the walls on the other side, and with a chasm that stretched onto infinity below us. A ridge led up the wall to our right, the track going up its length until we could no longer see it.

“This ledge will wrap around the edge of the wall all the way until the top. Hopefully it isn’t much further from its end to the entrance to the mine. Stay away from the edge, and—”

I felt the chill travel up my spine right before Tiana gripped my arm with vice-like fingers. Noelle dropped into a crouch, both hands on her axe, her eyes darting around wildly. Then I heard it. The soft padding of the massive hairy legs belonging to the giant spider that was somewhere below us. The others heard it, too, but before I could so much as shout a warning I heard a voice.

“So it was you.” It was decidedly feminine, but low and warbling. Words spoken from a mouth never intended for human speech. “You who have slaughtered my children. You who have murdered my honor guard. You will go no further, vermin.”

Fear radiated from my companions, then it spiked when the first hairy leg crested the edge further along the path in front of us and the spider pulled itself up the wall and into view. It was slightly smaller than the royals, but the softly pulsing yellow marks left no question as to what beast stood in front of us.

Then I heard more padding behind and turned to see a royal pull itself out of a hole in the wall somewhere above us. It looked down at us, its fangs twisting agianst one another in anticipation. Another set of padding told me there was a second royal somewhere below us, and the fear I felt coming from my companions reached a new high. They weren’t the real threat, though. Not by far.

The Valax queen took a threatening step towards us, and I felt the pull of dark magics coming from her. [Giant Killer] made my Primal shoot through the roof. In a straight out fight, I didn’t think we could take her. Especially not this deep in her domain. Though I couldn’t see them, I knew there would be hundreds of guardians waiting for her order to strike.

There was only one thing to do. Bluff the shit out of this.

“About damn time you showed up!” I called at the spider, stalking through my fear-stricken friends towards her with an angry expression. She hesitated, and I walked until I was within reach. “Is this how you honor your agreements, majesty?”

I’d never seen a spider hesitant, and from the way the others gaped at me, neither had they. “You…serve them?”

Okay, guess one was right on the money. Time to really pull some shit out of my ass. “Of course I do! You really think anyone else would come all this way? I made my way down here to collect on our end of the deal, and what do I get? Attacked! Honestly, you’re lucky we didn’t send someone weaker!”

The queen took another step back. Her fangs rubbed against one another agitatedly. “I was not informed you would be coming so soon.”

“Oh, so now it’s our fault?” I demanded. This was good. We were lucky she was a fledgling queen still growing mature, otherwise we’d be truly fucked. She was only half-grown, which meant she’d be uncertain and unskilled. “Lovely. I’ll be sure to pass that along to my master. He’ll be thrilled, I’m sure, that you’re laying the blame at his feet.”

“No!” Her feet started stepping in place, and I started walking forward.
“Your lack of control over your brood has already cost me too much time, I’m certain to be in for punishment thanks to you,” I warned her.

She stepped backward at my approach, then backed up and onto the wall. I heard footfalls behind me and knew that my friends were following me. They were probably as terrified as I was, but I couldn’t risk looking back at them like I had doubts.

“And after all this time, you really only had two candidates for me? My master won’t be pleased. Not at all.”
The queen backed further up the wall, walking along it to keep up with me while I strode as fast as I could without running. I had to get as close to the exit as possible before my deception was revealed. It was our only chance.

“They are all that we have found!” she warbled. “Your master was very clear. Females with powerful abilities. None of the vermin in the city above have delved far enough into my kingdom for my guardians to make an accurate assessment of them, lord.”

Now I knew why there had been no signs the Valax had fed on Elisa or Tiana. They weren’t food, they were captives. At least now I knew we hadn’t left anyone behind in their nest. “That’s hardly an excuse. Still, two is better than none I suppose. Not that getting them to the surface was made easy by your brood.”

She paused and examined us with her many eyes, then hurried to catch up with us. “You did not restrain them. My guardians assumed you were attempting to steal them, and you had females that fit your master’s requirements.”

Shit. Time for another shot in the dark. “Of course I didn’t restrain them, they couldn’t disobey me if they tried.”

The queen warbled. “I see. They are your…thralls. Like the others.” Thralls. Whoever was working with the Valax had a way to make their captives obey. That didn’t bode well. “You did not use the agreed upon entrance!” she whined.

“Plans change. The entrance was being watched, we had to take an alternative route.” My legs were starting to burn from such a forced march up the steep incline, but we were making good time. Already I could feel the pressure in the air lessening. We were getting closer and closer to the surface. “A messenger was sent, but he was either detained or eaten by your overexcited brood.”

She warbled again and dropped to the pathway behind us. “Yet you are alive, and you have the sacrifices you came for. Is that not enough? Will you not tell your master I have done as asked?”

“I suppose I can pass that along,” I said begrudgingly.

Her feet stamped excitedly. “Will this be enough? Will you hold up your end of the bargain?”

I didn’t answer right away. I paused just long enough to buy us time but not long enough to draw suspicion. “That won’t be up to me.”

Her feet stamped again, this time with more agitation in the movements. The ground under us trembled, and I hoped the overexcitable fledgling queen wasn’t about to send us all tumbling to our deaths. “Just one, then! Give me one of the vermin who slew my mothers! My grandmothers! They are your enemies as much as mine, allow me to inflict endless torment upon just one of them!”

Fuck.

Me.

Sideways.

She wanted the seven. She wanted me. I had to get out and warn the others. I had to make sure she didn’t discover what I was. I knew Valax inherited memories, but this one hadn’t recognized me yet. If I started using my skills or drew my sword, that might change. “I will pass along your wishes, but I am not foolish enough to speak for my master. Surely you must understand that.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I understand. But when you see your master, tell him that I can inflict agonies with my children that even he could never dream of. My control is growing. Even the other bloodlines follow me now.” Only a Valax queen or her royals were capable of controlling the spiders enough for Valax to coexist with other species. It sounded like she’d only recently gained the ability to do that, though. She couldn’t be more than a few years old. If that.

“I will pass your offer along.” I wished I could come up with some way of asking who this supposed master was, but that was a quick road to being outed. The incline was starting to level out, and my senses told me that we were nearing the surface. The cavern stretched up endlessly, though, which meant it was likely a massive hole in the mountain itself.

She scurried back up the wall and over us, coming to a stop about fifty feet ahead. As the light of our lamps reached it, I saw that she stood over a gaping hole in the wall where our path ended. “And pass along to your master that we need more sustenance. If we are not allowed to prey on the vermin in full yet, then he must deliver an acceptable substitute! My brood are difficult to control because they hunger, and you were such an appetizing meal.”

She moved to the side so we could pass and I saw numerous other tracks. The entrance was in sight. “I will pass it along. Any other messages you would like me to take since our messenger was so apparently deposed?”

Her front feet stamped. “I will need royals to replace the ones you have slain. If we are to control this mountain range again and draw the vermin armies, then I will need the necessary soldiers.”

I kept my face neutral of any emotion, but I felt spikes of fear behind me. Things were far, far worse than I’d imagined, which meant it was even luckier that we’d fallen into this situation. I was poised to throw a wrench into the plans of our enemies before they were even set in motion, it seemed.

“I will pass that along as well. And you have my apologies for slaying your kin. I could not risk death, so I hope you understand.”

Her fangs rubbed against one another. “If your master sees fit to send me more as recompense, then bygones shall be bygones. I am surprised, though. I did not expect the deathblood of my honor guard to be so similar to that of my mothers. It seems my memories undersold the scent.”

My mouth was suddenly very, very dry, but I managed to keep my fear hidden. “I’ll take your word for it.”
Then I took a step towards where I hoped the entrance to be and froze. A cold draft rushed through the tunnel. An impossibility this far below ground. On the wind I heard whispers. Words in a tongue no human could hope to understand. The queen froze, and I took control of the tendril wrapped around Elisa’s leg. I slipped it into her pouch and used it to send a number of her boom-gas spitters into my storage, then pulled them out into my hand.

I activated and dropped them around us, letting them roll away from us and towards the spiders that were suddenly at the edge of our light. Guardians of all sizes waiting for their queen’s order to strike. Thick green mist sprayed from them, spreading and hovering around chest height while they rolled further into the mass of Valax.

I used the same trick to grab a fire spitter just as the queen howled in rage. She began stomping back and forth. “GODSLAYER! MURDERER! EGG SMASHER! MATRIARCH KILLER! SHADOW OF THE SEVEN!” She screamed, and the shriek echoed through the halls.

I looked at the others, who were all looking back at me in fear.

“Run.”

They needed no further encouragement. Tiana grabbed Elisa in one hand and Serena in the other and broke into a sprint. The golem scooped up Rhallani and Noelle in the same breath and careened after them. The queen continued raging, stomping and cursing in a language native to the Valax that no human had ever cracked.

“What the hell was that!?” Tiana shouted at me.

“A godwind,” I called back, reaching over my shoulder and undoing the clasp on the cursed blade. I didn’t draw it though. Not yet. “Seems an angry goddess decided she’d had enough of my deception.”

“What the fuck did you do?” She demanded.

I glanced behind me where the queen was seemingly looking around for us. “I may have killed her Chosen, which means she probably holds a bit of a grudge.”

“KILL HIM!” the queen howled.

I threw the fire spitter and the result was immediate. The gas ignited violently just as the spiders stepped forward. They were blown to pieces and I felt the force of the explosion in my bones. The tunnel around us crackled and groaned, then a second later there was another explosion. This one deeper and further away, but followed by a third. And a fourth.

“I think the miners left behind some dynamite!” Rhallani screamed from her spot in the golem’s grasp.
The cavern shuddered and pitched, then a low rumbling started. “And that sounds like a natural gas vein,” I called back. “We need to get out of here now.”

Serena and Tiana both threw one of Elisa’s arms around them. Good, I needed Serena focused on Elisa so she didn’t realize what I was about to do. Tiana glanced at me over her shoulder, eyes wide, and nodded once. We were too far from the entrance, and there was no outrunning a Valax of that size.

I nodded back and slowed to a stop. Noelle saw and cried out, but I gave her a soft smile and a slight shake of the head. She reached back towards me, but the golem had a firm grip on her waist. I put my hand on the hilt of the cursed sword and turned.

Immediately I felt its power race through me, but it felt different. Not weaker, necessarily, but more…tired. It pulled at me, but not as strong as before. I could pull back without too much issue. I felt the hammering of the queen and her honor guard racing after us even while the cavern rumbled and collapsed around us. I heard her howl, and I drew my sword.

Not a sacrifice, I told myself. I’m just buying them time.

It had nothing to do with the fact that the queen had told her brood to go after me, not my friends. Though, as the crimson energy wrapped around me and melded with my shadows, even I had to admit that my argument was flimsy at best.