BATTLE SCARS: (Indigo Symbols Book II)

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Ragni Di Morte

Amelia:
Not a Detective anymore. No, not a Detective anymore, not after what I'd done, not after Soleil. Soleil had been a trader, a bitch of one for the entire time I served under her, and, and, and for all I tried to do, for everything, I still wasn't able to destroy her, to turn her into the Commander. The Commander and Captain. I knew what Becky would say, "Amelia Spinner, pull your shit together alright, you did what you could, it doesn't matter, Soleil doesn't matter. You're a fucking General now, a fucking General to the Indigo army. Calm your tits, don't get your panties in a bunch, get that stick out of your ass and do the new job." "Do, the, job." Lead these people into war, battle, and blood, do what I have to. Teach, train, then, then lead, lead them into battles, into blood, into pain. Lead them, and trust them, trust them, trust yourself. I ran my fingers through my hair, watching the sun rise. A week, we'd spent a week here. A week since Audrey's death, a week since they'd gone and liberated Huntor's old school. A week, and, and now, now, now we were to leave this place once more. Leave, and finally battle our way across states, battle our way toward California. Battle our way towards the King, the King of the Keepers. I took a breath as the sun showed over the horizon, that beautiful orb glowing with it's incandescence, with it's beatific golds and reds. "Ancient, isn't it?" I jumped and immediately reached for my gun at my hip, or, where my gun would have been. Instead, there was a dagger sheathed there, and a sword across my back. Ancient blades, for an ancient war. "Huntor." I gasped. "You scared the shit out of me." He sniffed, "I don't smell anything." I slapped his arm. "Bastard." "Entirely." He said.
I couldn't help the laugh that came out of me. "I miss it too." He commented. I frowned. "Miss what?" "The fun, the laughter. When we were in the safe-house, when it was just us, you Becky, Jacobs and Sullivan." He paused. "I'm sorry, sorry that they are still there." "Sorry that they are there, and i brought you here alone." Were the unspoken words. I tried to feel the ire that should, would've surely lit my face, but no, nothing, nothing but love for Huntor. Love, for the person who gave and gave and gave. Gave himself for over a year, for over a year he'd given himself for his people. Now, now he was apologizing, apologizing, because he thought I blamed him, hated him, well, he's arrogated enough. "Don't do that." I said, touching his arm. "Don't apologize for something that had to happen. Don't stand there and throw that at my feet, I like my new Indigo boots." He chuckled. "Huntor, you gave and gave and gave for over a year, have given yourself holy to your people. Done everything possible to see their return. Don't sit here and apologize for that." "Civilians will die." He muttered. "Civilians on both sides will die. People will be slaughtered." "That's the way of war." I said. "It's not fair to them—"Is it to anyone?" I challenged. He looked up at me, his eye showing ire. "NO, war isn't fair to the innocent." "So you protect the innocent." I said. "Protect them, and stop the Keepers."
Ire still showed hot in his eye as I said, "Don't suddenly have doubts, have conniptions about yourself and this war's outcome. All you can do, is fight, fight, and fight till your last breath." "This country will be turned into a battle ground, into bad lands, all across the Northern Continent, North America will be destroyed because of us." "Is that your way of trying to tell me to save my ass?" I asked coldly. "Because if so, then I'm going to gut you where you stand for that. You can heal yourself, so i wouldn't be that, worried." He laughed harshly, harshly, but, but, but there was a small smile. "Can you blame me for trying." "No," Said another voice, one I'd know even in my sleep. Hailey stood to my other side, her hands on her hips. "And you'd better not be telling me to run either Huntor, or you, Mother." She directed at me. "I know I couldn't." Huntor said. "But, I'm certain if Amelia wanted to protect her daughter, she'd find a way to keep you here, but, that's not my call, it's her's." "Well, aren't you sweet?" I asked coldly. Hailey stared at me with that gaze no fourteen year-old should have. It was an omniscient look, as if she truly knew, knew all, seen all, and would always. "As much as I would rather keep you here." I said. "As much of a soother it would be to know my daughter isn't on the front lines, or anywhere near danger. I know that you'd do me proud, do our people proud, if you fought by our side, by, my side." Hailey nodded. 'It would be an honor, Mom."
Huntor wiped away a pretend tear. "Prick." I said. He laughed. "Entirely." Then, he straightened. I looked towards the horizon, where I, where we'd felt the shift. The shift, as if something, some God blew across the plains. High high, high above, Seeka the Drac'on flew hard and swift for us. SHe shifted in mid air and landed with twin long bronze blades drawn. "We've got trouble." She said. "Eight of them." "Can you tell what they are?" Huntor asked. "If I could I'd tell you obviously." Seeka snapped. Her spiked wings were at the ready, as if she'd need only swing one and take off someone's head. Then, then I felt them. A kind of prickling on the back of my neck, as if, as if ants were crawling there, their tiny, disgusting legs flying at impossible speeds. Seeka shifted ever so slightly in front of Hailey. Hailey noticed, and shifted to my other side. We waited, all holding our breath, as, as, as, shadows, crossed over the horizon, and flew toward us. "Ragni Di Morte." Seeka said in a hiss. "Who?" "Hailey asked. "What?" Huntor corrected. "Why?" I finished. "You'd know them as Spiders Of Death." Seeka said. Hailey, suddenly didn't look so high-mighty now. Her face went sheet white, and she hid behind Seeka's massive Drac'on form. "Those," She said in a whisper, "Are very, very, very, big, spiders." Seeka nodded. "They grow to be the size of Drac'ons in our dragon forms. They are our natural enemy." "And we, might have brought them upon you by accident." Were the unspoken words. Huntor shook his head. "We fight them, it's only eight, can't be that bad." "That," Seeka said. "Is the kind of optamism that gets most people killed by these things." Huntor shrugged. "I'm not most people." Seeka nodded. I looked back to the Ragni Di Morte, seeing with a spike of horror that they were closer, so much closer than before. "Can one Drac'on handle eight of them?" Huntor asked. Seeka looked deeply insulted. Her bronze gold eyes filled with ire, and insult, "We train to kill them, they're our natural enemies. One Drac'on can handle twenty of them." Huntor grinned wickedly, just like a wolf.
    "Good, because we'll need you. I presume you already sent out a notification to Vello and Theia." She nodded. Huntor turned to me, "That's what that shift was, that breath across the plains. Seeka's summoning." Realization hit me and I nodded. I turned to Hailey, who was trembling slightly. "Come on." I said, tugging her arm. She shook her head. "No, no, I'm—"Not staying." I said. "YOu're terrified of spiders, and those things, are huge, the size of freaking horses. You aren't going anywhere near them." Hailey looked back at the eight horrors that were slowly coming into focus. "Go." Seeka said, raising her blades, Huntor drew his own. "Yeah, yeah, yeah I'm going with you Mom." I tugged her hand, turned, and ran toward the tents, now seeming miles away, but were only three hundred yards. "Come on." I said as I tugged Hailey's hand. We'd run this distance every day this week, ran six hundred yards, over, and over, and over, and, over. Getting faster, swifter, deadlier. We ran carrying others with our telekinesis, with our own enhanced strength. The ants, no, the Ragni Di Morte, were speeding all over my neck now and I dared a glance back. They were so close to Huntor and Seeka, the ladder, had her wings extended, ready to fly, the former was in his fighting stance, ready to kill. Hailey looked, and screamed, screamed, because the beasts, we could see them perfectly now, all eight eyes, each the size of a baseball, each of those horrifying legs had curved claws on their ends, and going up the leg until it met the body. Worse, they had two more eyes, on the head, two huge eyes I was certain could see perfectly, was certain, they had seen us, and could see where we were running. Hailey screamed again and I hushed her, now running flat out. Until she stumbled. "HAILEY." I shouted. "COME ON, WE HAVE TO GO." "Mommy." She whimpered. I'd never heard such agony, such fear from her before. She trembled where she lay, as if something were holding her down. "Baby, Hailey baby I'm here. It's ok." "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy." I looked over my shoulder, the Ragni Di Morte were too close now, we'd only ran perhaps a quarter of the distance back to safety, Seeka raised her blades, Huntor straightened his stance. "Hailey." I crooned. "Hailey baby we have to go, right now, right, now." I dragged her up, and over my shoulder. I saw Kitana and Diana coming toward us. I saw the Ragni Di Morte pause, ten feet from Huntor and Seeka, even from the distance, I could see they could talk.

HUNTOR:
    The smell, oh great Gods Of Olympus the smell was horrible. It was sweet and evil, and of rotting flesh, and just, just, just no. They paused, ten feet away, and the biggest of them scuttled forward, and, oh my Gods they can talk. "Parlay," It said. And of course, it's voice isn't all disgusting and distorted, it has to have the capability to speak fluent english. Female, female, and the size of a freaking truck. "This," She said. "Is only one taste, one tease, of what the Ragni Di Morte Queen has to offer." "What do you want?" I asked harshly. "We desire your blood Indigo-God, we desire your flesh between our fangs, desire your undoing, your loves, your falls, your—"Gods freaking damn it another talker. Why is it, huh, that every damned villain has to have a Lieutenant that talks too much?" I said, effectively cutting the thing off. The thing hissed in outrage and said, "You'll fall Indigo-God, you'll fall and we'll be there to feast on you." I waved my sword, "That's what they all say." I commented. "Look, let's skip the history lesson where you tell us why you came all this way, why you chose to be here. Why you believe you'll get away with this, and just go straight to the fun." The spiders shifted, not apart of the plan was this? They hadn't expected me to be calling the shots, to be so arrogant and cold. I flipped my left sword. "Let me also guess," I continued. "You came here to destroy this encampment, then return to your dark Queen, tell her, job well done, and have a party? Well, I'm sorry to disappoint, well, no, I'm really not, but none of you are going to make it out of here alive, so, other than getting a decent exercise and loosing a good hundred pounds, you pretty much, came all this way for nothing."
    The spiders shifted once more. I smiled. "Fool, you have no idea what has come, what is coming, and, what's here." I rolled my eye. "I'm sure you'd love to tell us, or make us beg for your omniscient knowledge. The female hissed again and I said, "You have an option, go back to whatever hell, or dark, disgusting, hole you crawled out of, or die, right here, right now." I smiled, again, as Theia and Vello landed behind me, flanking me. "In my world," I said with a truly wolfish grin. "We say something like this, you were just played like a cello." Vello and Theia drew their blades. The Ragni Di Morte screamed an unearthly scream, then began to make a kind of, eww, it sounded like a kind of grunting or cracking sound in their heads. "Is that their way of communicating?" I asked. "Disgusting right?" Theia asked. Then, the Ragni Di Morte, attacked. Seeka threw herself in front of me and blocked the Lieutenant from snapping those pincers into my gut. I swung around her and engaged one of the others. This the size of a frigging pony. I slashed up, trying to take off one of it's legs. The Ragni Di Morte scuttled back, then spun and pointed it's abdomen at me. I rolled aside as silk shot out for me. I dove forward, my natural goalball move and took out a chunk, then the entire lower half of the spider's back legs. It screamed an unearthly scream and whipped back for me. I slashed up and took off it's head. Blood, bright and white, sprayed everywhere. I gagged as some of it got into my mouth. The thing's body twitched horribly, then melted, actually melted into white mud, then began to crumble into dust. Leaving nothing behind, but a bundle of something glittery. I jumped over it and engaged another. Seeka dove overhead like a, well, like a dragon. She spun, whielding her wings like swords. She dove, attacked, rose, then dove again. Vello and Theia were up there too, joining her in the slaughter of these beasts, demons, monsters. Some were already dead around us, but none were beheaded like the one I had killed. I spun and lashe dout with my booted foot at the Ragni Di Morte's exposed eye. It screamed, and threw itself at me. I jumped, rolling in mid air to avoid it. I slashed for it's abdomen, but my blade skittered off. "Of course." I said. "Of course your kind has to have armored asses. What God made you ugly things?" Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say. The Ragni Di Morte screamed in fury, and came at me again. I slid, again, just like in Goalball, and slashed my blade right down the spider's underbelly. It trembled, and cried out in agony. Wasting no time, I did the unthinkable, and jumped, landing atop the thing. I drove my sword into the thing's head and with two swipes, took it off. I jumped off as it's dance of beheadingment, not a word I know, I don't care, as it's dance took place. Then again, it melted into white mud, then, into dust, leaving another thing, of that glittery stuff.