Unspeakable Secrets The Alchemist Series (A Dark Medieval Progression Fantasy)

Chapter 77 Matrons

He entered a branch made of the same disturbing, fleshy material as the rest of the hive.

Mantilisks flanked him and watched him from above, their sharp legs somehow able to adhere to the fleshy surface even upside down with no apparent difficulty.

The structure, if one could call it that, had holes large enough for mantilisks and larger things to pass through. Like some great, corrupted blood vessel that'd been eaten away at by acid.

Through these holes, Erik caught glimpses of more of the skree hive.

A massive chamber with fleshy spires interconnected by thick strands like the one he was in now stretched off into the distance, rising high above the floor of the wretched place like great towers.

Fungus and some sections of the fleshy 'buildings' glowed with bio-luminescent light.

He wondered if they were also the source of the pervading stench that crawled down his throat like maggots. The wet scrabble of various skree scuttling over rock and the wetter, fleshy surface of the hive echoed all around him. So many of them moving around that it sounded like a constant scratching whisper.

The idea of spending day and night working in this disgusting place made Erik feel sick. Almost as much as actually allying with and helping these wretched creatures.

Surely they didn't need to do this? To help the skree slaughter the dwarves? He thought once again of Connor and what he would've said to this had he known.

No. The child's heart had been in the right place, but he hadn't been even two decades old. He hadn't known why they had to do this... though Erik sorely wished he could've told him.

Perhaps that would've changed things...

Erik's heart was heavy when he finally reached the central spire. Just walking to it had left him feeling sick of the place already and he desperately wished he could simply turn on his heel and walk away. Preferably after burning it all to ash.

Within the central spire, he entered a large chamber with a deep hole in the center of the room. A fleshy tunnel that led downward. Not unlike the strands he'd traveled through to reach it.

Matrons stood watching him. Some on the glistening walls above him, others on the same floor as himself.

All of them towered over him. More than double the height of the twelve foot tall mantilisks flanking him like royal guards.

And each matron was far longer than tall. With bodies resembling winged scorpions. At the front of their bodies, an almost human and far more slender torso emerged. Complete with a pair of arms that looked positively delicate compared to their massive bulk.

But their faces, while vaguely humanoid in shape, lacked any semblance of emotion. In place of normal mouths, they had mandibles that quivered eagerly.

Strands of drool coated them as though the creatures wished to devour Erik whole.

Each had four utterly yellow eyes, devoid of even the smallest measure of empathy and all of them were fixated on him.

"Finally, you deign to arrive, Sorcerer. We were told you would be with us far sooner," said the matron directly in front of Erik with a voice that scraped over his nerves and made his eardrums itch.

"You were told I would come to your aid and I have already been busy in the city above for several days," Erik said, "Don't speak to me as though I'm not holding up my end when it's your failure that requires me to be here in the first place. You were told to build up your forces. Instead, you threw yourselves into the dwarves' fortifications and wasted the lives of your... swarm."

The matrons bristled at that, their transparent wings fluttering softly as though about to launch themselves at him.

Erik found himself wishing they would. Failure here would ensure he received a far more severe punishment, but in that moment he found himself yearning for something to lash out at and the skree disgusted him on an instinctual level.

But, the matrons settled back. Even as their yellow eyes glared hatred at him.

"We are not your servants, little sorcerer. Your orders and those of your kin mean little to us," said one of the matrons perched on the wall above and to Erik's right.

"But, we are allies. And if you don't cooperate with us, we cannot help you," Erik said, "You wouldn't want to fail your goddess, would you? Or do you believe her long imprisonment has taught her mercy and restraint at last?"

The matrons shivered in on themselves at that and Erik couldn't keep his lips from curling into a thin, grim smile.

"I thought so," Erik said, "So the next time we make a suggestion, you may wish to follow it. We are together in this after all, are we not?"

"Of course," said the matron standing ahead of Erik. Her words dripped with insincerity and vile, dispassionate, alien intelligence.

I almost wish I was dealing with demons instead, Erik thought.

They at least could be trusted to be selfish. But, the skree? Their motives and way of thinking were so utterly 'other' that they couldn't be trusted to do even that much.

Once again, he found himself thinking that there had to be a better way than allying with these creatures.

"Good," Erik said as though he believed them for a moment, "Preparations are already underway in the city itself. But, your numbers are—"

"Our numbers are endless," hissed a matron above him.

Erik didn't even bother to look at that one.

"Not endless enough to satisfy us," Erik said, "A chance at victory is not enough. We shall ensure that absolute victory is the only possible outcome. I have a ritual that will allow all of you to spawn more than you ever would've thought possible. With it, we'll make your ranks swell until they can overrun all of Magna'dur in short order."

The matrons stared at him, their mandibles shivering eagerly as their yellow eyes regarded him with what he took for interest. Though their inhuman, blank faces made it hard to judge what, if any, emotions the creatures had swirling around inside them.

"How soon can you begin?" asked the matron directly across from Erik.

"As soon as you bring me to your spawning chamber. The process will be too accelerated for you to leave there for some time. You'll want workers to bring you plenty of... whatever it is you eat. And to prepare the chamber for the numbers you'll be bringing into it," Erik said, "With them and certain other preparations that have already been made, we will annihilate Magna'dur and move one step closer to your goddess's freedom."

"Very well," said another matron, "but if you betray us, we will destroy you."

Erik scoffed. "You'll try," he said.