Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [80]
His Uncle Zel yelled, in a voice barely distorted, "Warian, get this thing away from me! What are you doing standing there?" The crystal-mandibled spider snapped at Zel, but Warian's uncle fought it off, just barely, by swinging his iron bar.
Warian moved to aid Zel, but fell down instead. Had he drained himself anyway? No-something tugged at his foot-he was caught! Glistening purple strands of crystal stretched between the floor and his left leg, anchoring him in place. The spider with the prosthetic spinnerets had been busy. To Warian's horror, it spun yet another crystal strand, one end of which caught him on his crystal arm.
He flexed his dimmed prosthesis, trying to break the hair-thin strand. The web was tougher than it looked, but with a bell-like pop, the strand broke.
An instant later, two more webs landed on him from the busily spinning weaver. "Damned beast," he cursed. So much for conserving his energy.
Consciously, he increased the arm's radiance. Enhanced strength was his again. With a light tug, he pulled free of the strands holding his arm, then climbed to his feet. He reached down and snapped the strands still attached to his foot. Simultaneously, he tamped the radiance down to the barest glimmer. A hollow feeling was beginning to blossom in his chest, but the moment he cooled down the brilliance, the empty feeling stopped growing. Warian knew he was fast approaching the limit of the usable energy of his body.
Without pausing, he charged at the web-spinning spider. It worked its spinnerets with great speed, ready to release another entangling salvo. The spider skittered away from Warian's charge, but he grabbed hold of its fat, hairy body. It writhed and snapped, and he nearly dropped it. Instead, he whirled in a half circle. Warian released the spider at the terminus of the circle's arc with a hard snap. It flew like a ballista bolt into the wall, making a satisfyingly loud crunch as both its carapace and crystal shattered.
"Warian!"
He turned and saw a spider bite Zel. His uncle dropped the iron bar and clutched the bloody wound on his leg. The spider, its crystal mandibles stained red, moved in for another bite. Warian was too far from his uncle to do anything but stare with sick horror.
Both Warian and Zel yelped in surprise when Sevaera dashed forward and stomped on the spider with her artificial leg. The woman kicked the creature flat until little remained but a sparkling, bloody smear.
Sevaera tried to put a hand on Zel, but her brother flinched away.
She asked, "Zel, what's going on? I know Father said to hold you, but… plangent spiders?"
Still clutching his leg, Zel said, "Thank you for coming to my rescue. But it doesn't mean I trust you. You're compromised." He limped toward Warian and the exit.
"Aunt Sevaera," Warian began, but stopped. He wanted to invite his aunt to join them-but as Zel said, she was a plangent. How could he depend on her to control her own actions? Shaddon demonstrated that he could possess her at any time, and implied even more frightening aspects of the entity in the crystal.
He decided on a different tactic. "Aunt, you must get those crystal implants removed. Shaddon has gone mad, or he's been possessed, or maybe both. He's able to commandeer the body of every plangent he creates."
"Commandeer?"
"Possess and control every action."
Sevaera gasped and asked, "Did he do it… to me? Just a little while ago?"
Warian nodded.
The woman, already pale, paled further. She said, "I've suspected something wasn't quite right, you know. Too much lost time. And every so often I'd find myself somewhere strange with no memory of how I'd gotten there, or why I wanted to go there."
"Shaddon was testing out his new toys," said Zel, somewhat maliciously.
"I don't… I don't know what to do." Her last words spiraled up in pitch. Tears welled in her eyes. Sudden sympathy for his normally cruel, self-assured aunt took Warian by surprise, and he took a step toward her.
What happened next would haunt his dreams for years to come.
Sevaera's eyes