Ruby Shadows

  “Indeed there is,” Laish said quietly. “There are many sins to choose from although some are hard to commit in such a way as to breach the barrier.”

  “Such as what?” I looked around me. “Look, are there any pits here? I’d really like to get down and stretch my legs before we go on.”

  “The area around the Jealous Heart is free of sand traps. Just be careful not to get too close to the mouth of the cavern.” He reached up to take my hand and I grudgingly let him help me down.

  Laish sighed as he got me safely to the ground.

  “Well, pride—the excessive belief in one’s own abilities—cannot be your sin, as you just allowed me to help you off Kurex’s back.”

  “What? I didn’t know we were starting now!” I protested. “Let me get back on and we can redo it!”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way. And anyway, I do not believe pride will break the barrier or we would have felt it give way when you tried to mount Kurex earlier and nearly slipped into the trap.”

  I shivered at the memory.

  “Ugh! That was awful. Um…” I scuffed my foot against the sand. “I don’t think I thanked you for saving me. So, well, thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said gravely. “And I think we must rule out anger as your potential sin as you no longer seem to be angry with me.”

  I sighed—he was right about that. I had been frightened and upset and yes, angry, with him for not telling me his true nature before. But now I couldn’t summon any rage against him at all. I just felt…sad though I didn’t even really know why. Because I’d been having feelings for him and had been forced to make myself let them go? Because I wished our circumstances were different?

  Things would be so much easier if he was just a nice guy I’d met in a supermarket somewhere. Someone I could strike up a conversation and form a relationship with. Preferably a real one that would end in a soul bond and eternal love, like what my Grams had had with my grandpa.

  Then I realized what I was thinking and scoffed at myself. How ridiculous! As if someone like Laish would ever look at home roaming the aisles of Publix or Winn Dixie.

  As if I could form a soul bond with a being who had no soul.

  I tried to shake the feeling and get back to business.

  “Okay,” I said firmly. “What else could I do?”

  “Sloth cannot be your sin because you have undertaken an arduous quest to close the door into the Abyss,” he said thoughtfully. “Greed will not do as you do not seem to desire either excessive wealth or power.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Except the power to take revenge on the one who had wronged you?”

  “I’m not discussing that with you,” I said shortly. “It’s not your business.”

  “Of course not. Well, I do not believe it would work anyway. In general, the sin one uses to pay the tax must be an actual physical action.”

  “Great…just great.” I began to pace back and forth, forgetting my earlier fear of the dark mouth of the cave. In fact, I hardly noticed it now—I was too busy thinking about my dilemma. It felt good to stretch my legs but my mind was in an uproar, trying desperately to think of some way to break the barrier between the circles without doing anything sexual with Laish.

  “I think gluttony must be ruled off the list of possible sins since I cannot now convince you to eat anything I give you,” Laish said dryly, watching me pace.

  In fact, I was feeling lightheaded and empty at the moment—it had been a long time since that single bite of cantaloupe that morning and even longer since the PB&J from my broken Sponge Bob container. But I tried to ignore my rumbling stomach.

  “I’m still not hungry,” I lied uneasily.

  “You mean that you still do not trust me.” He cocked his head to one side for a moment and shook his head. “And your lie has not broken the barrier either, though I thought it might. Apparently a stronger sin is needed. Not surprising really—as we get deeper into the Infernal Realm, progressively stronger sins will be needed to break the barrier between circles.”

  “Well, what can I do, then?” I asked desperately. “Because I’m not…not up for what we did last night again. Especially if we have to go further than we already have.”

  “I’m sorry you feel that way, mon ange,” he said quietly.

  “Laish,” I began. “It’s not that I don’t find you attractive—I do. You know I do. I just can’t—”

  But my sentence ended in a strangled gasp. Skuttling towards me, out of the mouth of the cavern Laish had called the Jealous Heart, was one of the most hideous creatures I’d ever seen.

  It was a spider—but not like any spider I’d ever seen. It had the body and legs of a tarantula which was horrifying enough but then it had the head of a chipmunk. Either a chipmunk or a squirrel. Anyway, some kind of little woodland creature you’d coo at and try to feed some of your lunch if you were having a picnic. But that head was stuck onto a huge, hairy, eight-legged body bigger than my hand and it was headed straight at me!

  “Ahh!” I screamed and jumped back. Yes, I know I said bugs don’t bother me but I was talking about insects. Spiders are a whole different ball game. The way they move—all skittery and quick—freaks me right the hell out. Once when I was eight one of those big wolf spiders got on my arm and crawled right up in my hair. I was hysterical for hours afterwards, even after Grams got it out and killed it.

  “Gwendolyn, wait!” Laish was saying but I barely heard him.

  The spidermunk or chipspider or whatever you wanted to call it was coming towards me fast. All I could think was that it probably wanted to crawl on my skirt. Or under my skirt! Oh God, I couldn’t take that! I tried to get away but it kept following me. I was afraid if I went too far back I might fall into one of those awful pits and this time Laish might not be close enough to grab me and save me.

  “Get away from me!” I shrieked at it. “Get away!”

  But it ran right up to me in that awful skittering way, making me want to puke or faint or scream or all three. Yes, I know it’s girly but what can I say? I hate spiders.

  The thing got right up to my skirt and I actually had a mental image of it going right up inside the long green dress I was wearing. Oh no, that’s not happening—no way in Hell! said a grim little voice in my head. Instinct took over and I lifted my foot and stomped down on the hybrid creature as hard as I could.

  It gave a loud shrill shriek and there was an awful crunching sound which is the main reason I hate killing bugs—that sound like somebody stepping in a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Ugh! Then it twitched once and I felt it go limp under my little black ballet flat.

  I skipped backwards and tried to wipe the black ichor the thing was leaking from the bottom of my shoe. I was so grossed out and worked up I almost felt like I wanted to scream. Waves of revulsion ran through me, strong enough to make me shake, especially when I looked at the mangled mess that was left in the sand.

  “Ugh—gross, gross, gross!” I muttered to myself, bile rising in my throat. It was a good thing I hadn’t eaten anything much that day or it would have come right up at that moment. Luckily my stomach was empty but that didn’t stop me from gagging anyway.

  The chipspider looked up at me with one eye which could still see—the other was popped like a smashed grape. It’s long, hairy legs were still twitching feebly and black blood was leaking through its sharp white teeth. It made a final, feeble noise—almost like a squeak you might hear from a regular chipmunk. Then, as I watched, the light died from its remaining eye and it went completely still.

  At the same time I felt a now familiar ripple in the air around me. I looked around, dragging my eyes from the small, mangled corpse that was already being buried by the sand.

  “Congratulations, Gwendolyn,” Laish said grimly in my ear. “You have found a way to pay the tax without giving yourself to me. Now come, we must go.”

  “What? What are you talking about?” I asked, but he was already boosting me up on Kurex’s back and
getting up behind me. “I thought there were preparations we had to make before we could go through.”

  “Yes—we should have made a deal with the emissary of the Skitterlings for a safe passage. That is what it was coming to do when you very unwisely killed it.”

  “Skitterlings? That’s what you call that thing?”

  “That is the name of their species. They are a minor demon but though they look like animals they are a sentient people who can think and reason.” He was already gathering Kurex’s reins and aiming the big horse towards the pitch black hole in the side of the mountain.

  “What—you mean I killed an actual person?” I was aghast. “Or something that can think like a person, anyway? And there are more of them in there?”

  “A whole army.” Laish sounded even more grim. “And as soon as they realize what you have done to their emissary, they will mobilize for war. We must go through the Jealous Heart now before they understand what has happened.”

  “But—” I began.

  Laish, paid me no attention. He was already spurring Kurex forward, into the mouth of that black and awful tunnel. That tunnel that I now knew was crawling with hundreds and hundreds of huge spider things that were shortly going to be extremely pissed off at me.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Laish

  We raced forward, into the darkness. I was not worried for myself—I knew perfectly well that the Skitterling venom, while intensely painful, could not kill me. But I did not want Gwendolyn to be bitten even once. She was weak from going without food and riding all day in the scorching sun. Plus, I wasn’t sure how her human body would react to the bites—not well, I was sure. So I spurred Kurex onward, trying to get through the Jealous Heart before the word of the emissary’s death spread to the rest of the Skitterling tribe.

  Overhead, I could hear their masses gathering. The soft, scratching sound of their many legs and their high, questioning calls to each other indicated their confusion. No one simply charged into the Jealous Heart without first striking a deal with the Skitterlings. Even the demons raiding parties that went back and forth between Stygia and Minauros almost every night had long standing agreements with the hybrid tribe. Often the smallest and weakest demon was left behind as tribute—to be devoured at the Skitterlings’ leisure. I myself had been prepared to offer them some of my blood or flesh but they wouldn’t be interested in that now. Now all they would want was the one who had killed their emissary—now all that would satisfy them was Gwendolyn.

  Well, they would not have her, I swore to myself as we galloped through the black tunnel. When I looked up I could see their eyes glowing poison green in the darkness. Then I heard the timbre of their calls change from confusion to anger. Word must be spreading from the mouth of the tunnel, they were learning what had happened, what my little witch had unwittingly done.

  I spurred Kurex faster even as I felt one of the Skitterlings drop onto my shoulder. I brushed it off and another dropped down and then another.

  “Laish!” Gwendolyn’s voice was as close to panicked as I had ever heard it. “Laish, they’re coming down! I think there’s one in Kurex’s mane! Oh my Goddess!”

  “Hold tight,” I told her. “I’m going to make a light—they don’t like that and it should drive them back.” She wouldn’t like it either, I was sure. It would illuminate the tunnel and show her our true danger. “Don’t look,” I told her, knowing it would do no good. She wasn’t good at following such orders as I knew from experience.

  Leaning a little away from her, I spoke a word of power. I didn’t like to use the Dark Language so close to Gwendolyn, fearing to cause her pain but in this case I had no choice.

  Light blazed out around us, illuminating every crevice and cranny of the vast tunnel. In my arms, Gwendolyn stiffened and gave a small, breathless scream.

  Every square inch of the rocky walls was teaming with Skitterlings—most of them quite large. The emissaries, like the one Gwendolyn had killed, were the smallest caste of this demon species—and the only ones who would willingly withstand the light. The others were considerably larger. In fact, I saw a few quite as large as myself crawling on the walls. If one of them decided to go for us, we would have a difficult time indeed.

  “Goddess,” Gwendolyn whispered, pressing herself back against me. “They…they’re not all chipmunks!”

  “What?” I wasn’t sure what she was talking about at first—I was too busy brushing off the smaller Skitterlings that had fallen on Kurex and myself.

  “There are some with other heads—dogs and cats and goats and owls…Goddess, that one has the head of a lion—how is that even possible?”

  “All terrible things are possible in Hell,” I said grimly. “Hang on, Gwendolyn, we are coming to the end of the Heart and it may be difficult to get out.”

  “Difficult? Why?” She sounded even more frightened and I felt her grab the arm I had wrapped around her waist in a tight, panicky grip.

  “Just hold on,” I told her. The light from my word of power was fading but already I could see the pale blue illumination from the Stygia end of the tunnel. We were extremely lucky that this had happened during the daylight hours. If we had been coming out into a cold, black Stygia night the Skitterlings would have pursued us for miles. As it was, all we needed to do was get out of the Jealous Heart and we should be all right.

  If we could get out. Up ahead I saw the tunnel’s exit…but I also saw something else. The most monstrous Skitterling yet awaited us, crouching at the mouth of the tunnel, blocking our way out. He was as massive as Kurex, though lower to the ground, and had the head of a man with long wild black hair and yellow eyes. When he opened his mouth, I saw the jagged, serrated teeth of a shark.

  “Give us the human girl!” he hissed, his eyes glowing in the dying light, his long hairy legs poised to spring. “Give us the one who killed our emissary! We will feast on her flesh in retribution for his death! Give us the girl!”

  There was no time to argue. Outside, just past the huge demon, I glimpsed the Stygia landscape, a mountainside covered in ice and snow. In particular, there was a large drift piled up just outside the mouth of the tunnel.

  “Gwendolyn,” I breathed in her ear. “Trust me now.”

  “Trust you? Why—?”

  Before she could finish her question I had caught her by the waist and was lifting her clear of Kurex’s back. As she screamed, I tossed her lightly over the monster’s head and out of the mouth of the tunnel. I barely had time to ascertain that she had landed safely in the snow drift before the huge Skitterling roared in anger and turned to go after her.

  I saw the danger at once. Despite their dislike of sunlight, their hatred of the girl who had killed one of their own was greater. He would come for her, even if it meant going into the sun.

  I dug my heels into Kurex’s flanks, urging him upward. Being a war horse he knew what I wanted at once. His hooves came down upon the heaving, hairy body at the same time I shouted a word of power—a killing word this time.

  I had just time to see the surprised look on the Skitterling’s face before its head exploded, spraying black ichor everywhere. Kurex finished trampling its spasming body beneath his hooves, neighing wildly and then I urged him forward, out into the light.

  * * * * *

  Gwendolyn

  “Gwendolyn, come!”

  I was still struggling to my feet, trying to brush the freezing snow off my soaked dress when Laish reached down and dragged me up into the saddle again.

  “What—?” I began but he was already wrapping an arm around my waist and urging Kurex into a gallop. We rushed over the snowy, slippery ridge we found ourselves on much faster than was probably safe but when I looked back, I saw why speed was necessary.

  A horde of the animal-headed spiders was pouring out of the mouth of the tunnel. They hissed and hooted and growled as they scuttled towards us. My heart was pounding in my throat and I thought I might be sick. Would they keep on following? What if they caught
us? I had seen Laish explode the human head of the one that seemed to be the leader but there were several more his size and none of them looked like they were giving up.

  “Laish!” I gasped as we continued to pound down the snowy ridge. “Laish, they’re gaining on us! I thought you said they didn’t like the light!”

  “They hate it,” he said. “But just at the moment they hate you more for killing one of their kind.”

  “What are we going to do?” I demanded, tightening my grip on his arm. “What are we going to do?”

  “We may have to stop and take a stand.” He sounded grim but calm. “We are coming to the Drowning Pools soon—it is not safe to gallop through them. They must be skirted carefully like the sand traps of Minauros.”

  “Make a stand?” I nearly shrieked. “Are you serious?”

  “Deadly serious, Gwendolyn.” His arm tightened around me. “What is more, I may have to take my dragon form again. I am sorry if it disturbs you but it is the quickest way to drive them all back. Words of power will only work on one at a time and there are far too many for that.”

  I swallowed hard. I didn’t like the idea of seeing him morph into that huge dragon-snake thing again but I didn’t think we had much choice. The awful human-headed Skitterling’s words came back to me—”We will feast on her flesh…” it had hissed, right before Laish exploded its head. It didn’t take me long to decide it was way better to watch him barbeque the spider-things in dragon form than to end up as their lunch.

  “All right,” I said. “Do what you have to do.”

  Laish stopped and wheeled Kurex around so that we were facing the seething, teaming mass of spiders flowing down the mountain side towards us. He dismounted quickly and handed me the reins.

  “If they overcome me, Kurex will take you to safety,” he said. “Whatever you do, do not leave his back.”

  “Laish—” I began but he was already changing—swelling and morphing into the thing with black scales, steak-knife teeth, and a furnace in its belly.