Obsidian Ridge - Jess Lebow [60]
Giving it a wide berth, the Claw moved around the rear of the trapped vermin. Steeling himself for what he was going to find, he peered around the pillar and into the space that seemed to hold these two huge spiders' attention.
The floor was awash in reddish brown filth. Stringy bits of gooey flesh and large chips of chitin littered the ground. From what he could piece together, the spiders had been cut in half and pounded flat. They had no faces, no fangs, no front legs, nothing left except their round lower halves. They had literally been squashed like bugs-only they were really big bugs, and whoever had done the squashing apparently didn't have feet large enough to smash more than half.
The Claw had never seen the inside of a spider-other than on the bottom of his boot. But he had seen what a dead human looked like. And nothing on the ground in front of him even remorely resembled the body of a princess.
Glancing down at the compass, the needle no longer pointed at the spiders. Instead, it faced the wall to his left. He was both relieved and frustrated. He had been terrified of coming around that pillar and finding Mariko's body, half devoured, enshrouded in spider silk. At least he knew that wasn't her fate.
At the same time, he'd been following this compass for a long time now, and it always seemed to point into walls. You would think someone could invent a magic that could take physical barriers into account.
The Claw stepped up to the wall and pounded on it with his palm. "Lazy wizards," he grumbled. The wall was completely solid.
He scanned the bricks from ceiling to floor. There were deep scratch marks in several locations, as if something tried to dig its way out of this room. But there were no secret passages or hidden doors that the princess might be hiding behind.
Then something caught his eyes. Bending down, he pushed aside some of the spider guts and lifted a silvery chain with a pair of interlocking circles dangling from the end-the locket he had given to Princess Mariko. The compass had taken him right to it.
"Damn!" The Claw shouted, kicking the wall. His words echoed through the chamber.
Finding the princess just became a whole lot tougher.
He had a way in. He had a way to find the locket. But that was all. He was out of tricks, and time was not on his side.
The edge of a sharp dagger pressed up against his neck. "That'll be enough shouting," said a woman's deep voice. "Put your hands out where I can see them."
The Claw straightened up and did as he was told.
"Well now," said the woman. "It's not every day that you see something like that, now do you?" She slapped one of his bladed gauntlets with a second dagger. "Must be kind of rough, you know, if you need to scratch your eye or something."
The Claw nodded. "I was just thinking that myself."
"Were you now?" The woman started frisking him, feeling around his waist, his calves, and near his boots, but keeping her other blade firmly against his neck.
The Claw started to nod yes, but the sharp edge of the dagger bit into him. He could feel the sting as the metal separated his skin, and he decided it was better to hold still.
"That's a good boy," she said, clearly noticing his discomfort. "No moving till I say so."
The Claw let her continue her search. In the pouch on his belt she found the compass that had led him to the locket, three small healing potions, and two flasks of alchemist's fire.
"You're pretty well armed," she said. "You weren't sent here as a prisoner, were you?"
"No," replied the Claw, trying his best to not move his throat much.
"Judging by the make of your clothes and the magic on them blades, I'd say you work for someone with a lot of coin. Perhaps even the king himself."
"Impressive," said the Claw. Whoever this person was, she reminded him of Princess Mariko-smart, sharp tongued, and dangerous.
She stopped her search and placed her second blade on his neck. "Now listen