Kingdoms of Gold

16 | Kill The Queen

It had no eyes. None.

And if I hadn't been frozen in fear, holding my breath, I would've sighed in the smallest amount of relief. But at the front of its body were two large fangs, angled together in sharp pinchers. Its legs extended far enough out to easily stretch between trees.

Pinchers mere feet away from were I rested, completely still. I wasn't sure how sensitive its receptors were, and I didn't have the time or opportunity to figure it out. Not when I could fall hundreds, maybe thousands, of feet to my death, or get eaten by this thing. I didn't know which was worse, but I might find out.

A wave of movement shook the webs once more. Only, it wasn't me who did it.

With viper speed, a white leg struck at the webs a dozen feet from my head. The crunch echoed through the forest as its taloned leg pierced through the body of another arthropod. Dark, slick slim dripped onto my head, coating me with its gooey blood.

I still didn't move, didn't breathe. My lungs were burning, every muscle in my body was burning.

The two fangs opened up to reveal thousands and thousands of tiny razor sharp teeth. Razor sharp teeth that crunched and tore into the smaller spider.

Slowly, while it was distracted, I wrapped myself in my illusion and moved my body up, out of its range. I moved with such fluidness, lightness, the queen didn't even notice.

It didn't move while I maneuvered out of its touch. Only chomping and crunching into its appetizer. If this was the end for me, then I only hoped I gave that fucker one hell of a stomach ache, constipation for weeks, and a painful shit.

At the pace I moved, the creatures above began to scurry back to their routine. Small scratching beginning to pick up again.

A clinking caught my attention. I stopped and glanced up. They had mistaken a sheathed knife for a bone. It was old, and battered, and almost rendered useless. But it was better than nothing. I needed that knife.

I changed course, climbing up instead. My pace picked up and I didn't care if I was attacked. I just needed that knife. It was my lifeline.

I stopped a few feet away from the nearest spider, its eyes following the trail of the sword as it made its way closer. I braced myself into a crouch, ready to snatch the knife and run, or climb down. I had no idea how any of these creatures would react but as long as I had that knife, I'd have a chance of survival.

The knife was clutched in the creature's claws. It paused when it turned to pass it on, eyes trying to focus on me but not seeing anything. It could sense something was there though. A low hiss emitted from it.

My fingers clenched around the blade and pulled, taking that thing with me. I brought up my leg, slamming my foot in it and sending it flying towards the ground.

Scratching stopped again.

Webs vibrated under me. I scrambled out of the way.

A large, white leg slammed up into the canopy, shaking the trees around me and the webs. It barely missed me by inches, the hairs of the legs brushing my invisible arms.

The queen didn't miss the canopy of spiders above, disturbing and shaking their entire network. Her leg had slammed into the trees hard enough to send spiders falling from their spots, to their death. And I was right in their way.

Bodies slammed into me, but I kept my grip tight around the webs, the stickiness helping. But other spiders caught on the web before they fell, sensing me and hissing.

The disturbance only irritated the queen more. Her legs shot out in all directions, snatching at spider and slamming them into her mouth. She even caught some mid-air.