Obsidian Ridge - Jess Lebow [63]
Behind them, the spider's legs tapped out a rhythm of sharp clicking sounds as they scampered across the floor. Evelyne dashed ahead at full bore, her arms pumping. She was quick, so was the Claw, but the spider with its eight legs was faster, and it gained ground.
They reached the corner of the room, the spider bearing down on them. It was dark here, darker than the rest of the room. Even the purple glow from the ceiling didn't reach into the recesses of this chamber. Evelyne gave a quick look over her shoulder, then dived head first into the darkness.
The Claw was startled. What sort of magic was this? She'd led him into the farthest corner and disappeared, trapping him behind a spider and a spider-making monster. Slowing his pace, he steeled himself for a tough fight.
If he ever found this Evelyne again, she was going to be very sorry she-
"Don't stop! Just jump." Evelyne's voice came out of the darkness, coaxing him on. It sounded hollow, almost echoed, as if she were inside a well. "Hurry!"
The spider was nearly on him. It ran with six legs, swiping its front two out trying to corral him. Not having much choice, the Claw leaped into the dark corner, the spider's limbs nearly on his back.
Flying through the air, he braced for impact, half expecting that he'd knock himself cold running full speed into a brick wall. But instead, he slipped right through. A large chunk of the wall was missing here in the corner. The absent piece was broken in such a way that it was covered perfectly by the shadows.
Jumping from the solid stone into dark nothingness was tremendously disorienting, and the Claw opened his palm, trying to see where he was before he impaled himself on a piece of stone-or worse, another spider.
He fell for a moment longer, then his magical light revealed the dirt floor. It came up fast, and he crashed to the ground with a tremendous thud.
"Not very sturdy there, are you?" said Evelyne, helping him to his feet.
"You might not think that," he replied.
"That wasn't bad fighting back there," she said, with a wink. "Maybe I won't kill you just yet."
"Thanks," said the Claw. "I appreciate that."
They were inside what amounted to a large hole in the brick wall. The floor was big enough for four or five men to stand around comfortably without bumping into each other much. The crack they had jumped through was up high in the wall, maybe twice his height from the floor. He could just make out the faintest bit of purple glow, rimming the broken stone above him.
As he looked on, the spider's legs shot through the opening, probing the air and the stone.
"Are we trapped in here?" asked the Claw.
"No. There's a passage," she replied, taking him by the arm. "It's small, and we'll have to crawl, but it'll lead us out of here."
"What about the spider? Holes in walls seem like the last place we want to fight one of those things."
"It won't leave that room. It's bound to the deepspawn that created it."
The Claw looked up at the spider. So far it wasn't making any real attempt to follow them, only waiting at the opening.
"So that thing's called a deepspawn?" he asked.
"No," replied Evelyne, dragging him toward the crawl-space. "It's called Clusterfang."
"A deepspawn with a name." He was shoved toward an opening in the wall, down near the floor. "I can't wait to hear this story." Dropping to his knees, he held his palm out and followed the light into the darkness.
Chapter Nineteen
Everything shook. Only slightly, but it shook all the same. The walls hummed with power. The floor swayed like the deck of a ship on a gentle sea. The chandeliers, "decorative reminders of a time long past, swayed gently, constantly.
Resting his bone-thin arm on the chiseled obsidian throne, Arch Magus Xeries twirled the stem of his wine goblet between his fingers. He watched the red liquid inside swirl. Its surface trembled, never smooth, shifting like everything else.
On the dais in front of him, an image