Dungeon Lord: Abominable Creatures (The Wraith's Haunt Book 3) Read online

  Now that she pointed it out, Ed realized he was soaked. He studied the front-line as the ebb of battle flowed away from him. “I can still go for a while longer.”

  “Maybe, but your casters are almost out of spells,” Kes said. “Are you a foot-soldier or a general, my Lord?”

  Ed clenched his jaw. His blood was running hot in his veins, clamoring for the thrill of battle and victory while his heart raced in his chest, demanding the broken corpses of his enemies to be laid on bloody piles at his feet.

  His temper was getting the better of him again. That kind of attitude could get him killed.

  “Very well,” he said quietly. “Let’s go. But if Clovis still won’t make a move, I’m coming back.”

  Kes nodded and, without taking her sight away from the battle, signaled with her free arm.

  “Nimble feet!” Alder called from somewhere far behind them. A frantic flute melody fought the noise of the battle. The music lifted a weight from Ed’s shoulders, making it as if his body weighed nothing at all.

  Ed and Kes ran back toward four approaching figures headed their way through the allied streams of horned spiders. Six hell chickens, feathers black like night were bound together by leather straps and ropes. Monster Hunter Kaga and Yumiya rode the two at the front, and the others were meant for Ed and his friends to use in their ride away from battle.

  Technically, hell chickens were much more dangerous than horned spider warriors. Or, at least, the Haunt’s strain were. They had more in common with a velociraptor than a real chicken, with claws capable of gutting a human in the blink of an eye and a beak hard enough to puncture chain-mail.

  Ed and the Monster Hunters had tried to use the hell chickens in combat for months now, but it was harder than they originally thought. They were mean sons-of-bitches, and no matter how much the kaftar trained them, the creatures were just as likely to attack the Haunt’s minions as they were its enemies.

  This group was the more amicable of the bunch, which wasn’t saying much. Thick sheets covered their beaks and claws, their gazes averted by black squares to keep them from seeing anything that would piss them off—which was pretty much everything.

  For all that trouble, though, they made for fantastically agile mounts. Ed and Kes climbed on their respective hell chickens using quick, practiced motions while making sure the creatures never saw them at all. Soon enough, Lavy and Alder reached them as well and mounted up.

  “Finally!” The young man exclaimed. His blond hair grew wild in all directions, with blue eyes constantly wandering into the clouds. “I’m out of spells already. That illusion combo is more magic-intensive than I thought.”

  “You have a sword, Alder,” Kes reminded him. “You’re decent enough with it, you know. You should use it more.”

  “Agreed,” Lavy said. She was a pale young woman wearing clothes more appropriate for a ball than a fight. She had purple eyes that marked her Lotian heritage, and messy black hair in dire need of a brush. “It’s improper for a man to cower while others do the fighting.”

  “Lavy, you were right next to me!” Alder pointed out. “And you know how to use a sword as well.”

  “Maybe, but I’m far more valuable as a spellcaster than as a mere warrior.”

  They rode away from the thick of the battle into a nearby hill that Ed had chosen days before for that exact purpose. Once there, he steadied his mount—the smell of spider ichor was making it hungry, and he had to pull hard at the reins to stop it from charging back onto the battlefield. In response, the creature craned its long, feathered neck and tried to snap at Ed, but the straps clenching its steel-sharp beak stopped it.

  “Easy, Eyegouger,” Ed said, patting the creature’s neck.

  Next to him, Marshal Kessih of the Haunt stood uneasily on her own mount. “Now that I stopped you from trying to solo the entire rebellion, I’ll admit waiting here makes me uneasy too. Catching our breath while our forces fight in front of us, it doesn’t feel right—even if they’re just horned spiders.” Her right hand hovered over the sheathed longsword hanging at her side. Her hand clasped the reins of her mount hard enough to whiten the knuckles of her three remaining fingers.

  “It’s all part of the plan, Kes,” said Lavy, Head Witch of the Haunt. She was dressed in a pompous purple dress, made for her by the human inhabitants of the Haunt. It had brass buttons tightening the silk corset, which had been sewed to resemble a spider’s web. Her thin cape was of a shiny black which, combined with her sickly pale complexion, gave her a mystical look she no doubt enhanced on purpose. A collar made of skull-shaped beads hung around her neck. The only mismatching parts of her apparel were her leather riding boots and thick leather gloves, meant to protect her fingers in case the straps around her mount’s beak failed to keep it shut. Not that it’d make much of a difference against the huge serrated fangs that the hell chicken sported. “If Laurel is to secure the loyalty of the rebellion, we must deal with all the Queens at once,” she said. “No use spending our energy dealing with mere warriors.”

  “And also you don’t expose your neck to all those mandibles before you run out of spells,” came the response of the Bard Alder Loom, Chronicler of the Haunt.

  “Alder, you were cowering at the rear!” Lavy repeated.

  Ed squinted, keeping his eyes on the battlefield. “If you must bicker, do it quietly, you two. I’m trying to pay attention.”

  That earned him a disbelieving snort from Lavy. “No way. You mean to say you can tell what’s going on? It’s just spiders as far as the eye can see!”

  Ed turned back to face a very confused Witch. “You mean you don’t know the difference between our spiders and those of the rebellion?”

  Lavy shrugged. “They are spiders, Ed,” she said simply. “There’s no difference, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “I have to admit, even for me it’s hard to follow the course of the battle,” Kes admitted.

  “Well,” Ed said, “let’s see.” He pointed at a melee between several spider warriors. “Look at their midsections. Laurel’s brood has gray and black hair over their chitin, and they’re usually leaner and smaller than the rest. Queen Pirene’s are sturdier and their mandibles are fatter. You can see them by our flanks, reinforcing our warriors’ charge. The ridges in the abdomen of Queen Bumelia’s brood are serrated instead of interconnecting, which makes sense, given they’re more aggressive. Those two princesses that are trying to rush the rebel Queens are Bumelia’s.” He pointed them out. The two princesses were trying to carve a path through the thick of Gloriosa’s royal guard, with little success, their warriors slowly giving ground to the enemy. “They must retreat soon. The rebels will probably try to flood through the gap.”

  “Right,” Kes said, frowning hard. “Laurel should reinforce them before the entire flank collapses. What is Bumelia thinking?” Queen Bumelia was nowhere to be seen, the same as Laurel and Pirene.

  Ed gave her a grin, then went on. “Now, for the rebels. Queen Cornelia and Queen Gloriosa are young regents—” Laurel had killed their mothers during the spring skirmishes “—so their brood is still growing. Cornelia’s spiders are the ones with the red and brown hairs and the curved horns. Gloriosa’s are impossible to miss—they’re albinos. Finally, there’s Queen Clovis. Her brood has emerald eyes. She’s the one about to flood Bumelia’s flank. Clovis is one tough lady—older than anyone here.”

  Spider Queen Clovis was the size of a warhorse, with mandibles that were strong enough to crush plate armor. Gray scars stood in place of three of her eyes, and the rest of her chitin was covered in deep scratches that were the horned-spider-equivalent of medals and trophies from past battles. She reminded Ed of Queen Amphiris, Laurel’s predecessor. While Ed was speaking, the rebel Queen Clovis and her royal guard were tearing into Bumelia’s princesses, routing their formation into disarray. Clovis attacked from one flank, using the royal guard of Gloriosa as an anvil—pushing the princesses against each other and forcing them to retreat. Clovis’ sp
iders chased them, their mandibles severing legs and their webs catching on their enemies, slowing them down. Clovis herself closed in only when it was obvious there was little risk for herself, but her presence still meant a huge morale increase for the Rebellion, since she was now the first Queen in the thick of the fighting. As a result, the rebel spiders fought around her, pushing back Laurel’s forces.

  “Ed…” Kes started, her impassive martial stance faltering at what seemed to be the Haunt’s first disastrous engagement. “Perhaps we ought to drop a few fireballs on them. Thin the ranks a bit.”

  “And risk having them disperse?” Ed said, shaking his head. “No way. We have them right where we want them.”

  “I mean, maybe we shouldn’t be so close to the action,” Lavy called from the rear, sounding nervous.

  “Look at the spiderlings,” Ed said, pointing at them. “You’ll understand.”

  Laurel’s spiderlings weren’t behaving normally.

  The ebb and flow of black chitin moved with an energy that resembled mercury when compared against the sluggish, honey-like waves of the rebels. Some were jumping in the air like fleas while others enveloped and overran their counterparts.

  “No,” said Lavy, “I really don’t. Spiderlings look even more alike than adult horned spiders!”

  “See, spiderlings never retreat from these kind of battles—if they do, the Queens would rather just kill the entire lot and replace them all,” Ed explained. Horned spiders didn’t care much for the survival of their offspring between larval stage and adulthood. “To get past them, the other spiderlings need to kill them all, which almost never happens—there isn’t much of a difference in the number of spiderlings, or their strength, between broods. They’re pretty much evenly matched. This is on purpose.

  “A lone spiderling is useless against adult horned spiders, but if they engulf a spider warrior, it usually means a bad time for her. To protect themselves against enemy spiderlings, the broods use their own, which keeps both groups locked for the duration of a battle.”

  Lavy shook her head. “Okay, so I don’t see how that stops us from becoming spider meal in a few minutes—”

  “Our spiderlings fell into a couple of barrels of Andreena’s Agility potion,” Ed said.

  As if responding to his words—but actually reacting to an order given by a nearby princess—the Haunt’s spiderlings charged as one through the ranks of the rebels’, overrunning them in seconds. In normal circumstances, spiderlings were evenly matched, so the extra ranks in Agility due to Andreena’s brew meant a massive, completely overwhelming advantage. About half of the Haunt’s numbers forced themselves past the wall of enemy spiderlings, and the remaining half rushed in to keep the rebels from pursuing.

  The spiderlings ran and jumped through the files of warriors, headed straight for Clovis. The Queen saw them coming and ordered a retreat, but suddenly, the retreating warriors from Bumelia’s brood weren’t running for their lives anymore. They were back in the fray, forcing Clovis’ royal guard against her, leaving little space to maneuver. A cluster of Pirene’s princesses led a charge against both Clovis and Gloriosa, who was trying to break the sudden resistance from Bumelia’s troops.

  The enhanced spiderlings arrived straight into the midst of the mess and turned the chaotic center of the battlefield into an even more confusing affair. They launched themselves against enemy warriors and princesses and hung there for dear life. Their mandibles were too small to pierce through the adult chitin, but a covered spider couldn’t fight as well—they barely could see—and many of them panicked and thrashed about, giving Laurel’s forces an opening to run them through with their horns.

  “See?” Ed said. “It’s all under control.”

  “If you say so,” Lavy muttered.

  Kes placed a hand on Ed’s shoulder. “Over there! The other two rebel Queens are rushing in.”

  Seeing Clovis’ predicament, Gloriosa and Cornelia were leading an attempt to rescue their de facto leader. Laurel’s forces near their charge retreated—the combined might of the three groups of royal guards were too strong—and allowed the Queens to reach Clovis. With three Queens now on the battlefield and none on the Haunt’s side, the tides of battle changed directions. A brave group of spiderlings tried to cover Gloriosa’s white face to threaten her eyes, but she shook her body like a wet dog and the little critters flew off.

  “Finally,” Ed said, watching the three furious Queens take control of the center. They and their retinues may have been surrounded by Haunt’s troops, but this only meant it was a target-rich environment. “That’s my cue. Kes, do you mind?”

  The Marshall blinked, then caught the meaning of Ed’s words. She grabbed him from the neck of his leather armor and kept him steady.

  “Thanks,” Ed said. “Be back in just a minute. Murmur’s reach.”

  There came a flash and the stink of sulfur, and his soul left his body, taking the shape of a black cloud.

  Ed swept above the battlefield. Being a disembodied spirit was an eerie experience. For the duration, all his physical attributes dropped to zero, leaving him only with his Mind, Spirit, and Charm. His eyesight and hearing were replaced by a radar-like sixth sense. Living creatures were bright shapes against the dimmer background of the forest, and a dark expanse with distant stars glimmering in the distance replaced the blue sky. In this form, he felt no exhaustion, nor hunger, nor thirst. There was a metaphysical, faint, inhuman coldness. As a spirit, all his emotions came muted, like they were sifted through a cloth, and the sensation of coldness intensified the longer he spent in the form, as did his emotional detachment. Thankfully, it all went back to normal as soon as he was back inside a body—either his or someone’s else.

  He wondered what would happen if he refused to find the body of a minion to posses, or didn’t return to his own. Probably nothing good. Somewhere below the bright shapes of the three rebel Queens were surrounded by a tightly knit formation of lights.

  He descended through the battlefield and went underground. Most of the creatures there were minions of his, directly or indirectly. Once he had selected a suitable body, there came an overpowering sensation of suction, and he shot inside like a leaf captured in a tornado.

  A blink later, he was a spider warrior, with the physical attributes of his new, temporary body. He glanced around with his multiple eyes, which were shining with an eldritch green light, showering the cavern in threatening shadows and throwing menacing reflections on the chitin of the spiders that surrounded him.

  Being a spider was just as hard to explain as trying to describe the color red to a blind man, and Ed had never produced an accurate portrayal, to Alder’s disappointment. Walking on eight legs was as natural as walking on two. Eating fleas wasn’t delicious, but it wasn’t unpleasant either—it was akin to brushing your teeth at night. Producing spiderweb was pleasurable, but in an entirely glandular way.

  “Ah, welcome, Lord Wraith,” said Queen Laurel. She was hunched at the end of the cavern—which was barely enough to contain her bulk—next to her two subordinate queens, Bumelia and Pirene. These two stared at Ed with unbridled fear. Murmur’s reach, the possession spell, was one of the better known powers of a Dungeon Lord—and one of the most feared.

  “Queen Laurel,” Ed greeted back. “Your enemies are right where you want them. Shall we?”

  As a spider, Ed shared the creature’s instincts without being bound by them. It was the mental equivalent of moving into a new apartment whose previous owner hadn’t yet finished moving out.

  Said previous owner was still present, somewhere in the basement, peeping through a doorknob and hoping that Ed wouldn’t get her body grievously wounded—or worse—while he was at the helm. The waves of the spider’s apprehension flooded him.

  Don’t worry, he sent back. I’m only here for a few seconds. He added an emanation of calmness to his thoughts, to better keep the spider at ease.

  “We shall,” Laurel said. “Have your drones do me the hono
rs and I promise the battle will be over before you’ve had the chance to reach it.”

  Ed vaulted out of the spider warrior and flew out of the cavern toward the bright spot over a distant hill—his own body. This time, the path was straight, as if he was riding an arrow shot straight at his heart, with him having no control over it. He saw his body approach, and then, in a blink, he was himself again.

  Air rushed into his lungs. While he was away, his brain kept all his base functions going, but coming back in still felt like breaching the surface of a lake after remaining underwater for long enough to black out.

  The metaphysical cold dissipated. Kes released her grip on his back, and he steadied Eyegouger, careful not to expose any limbs to the angry hell chicken.

  The ground a few paces away from the three rebel Queens collapsed inward, forming a coarse ramp from which a stream of angry horned spiders flowed out, led by Laurel and the other Queens, charging straight at the heart of the enemy resistance before Clovis had a chance to react.

  Laurel clashed against Clovis with the strength of a landslide. Chitin splinters exploded in all directions. Legs broke, web flew everywhere, and the Queens hissed and roared like angry predators. Steam rose out of open wounds… and then Laurel broke out of Clovis’ range, leaving the other Queen heavily wounded. Laurel allowed her royal guard to finish the job, which they did with exceptional enthusiasm, first dispatching Clovis’ winded guards, and then beginning the slow process of webbing Clovis into immobility. The rebel Queen tried to fight, snapping at the warriors with frothing mandibles and brandishing her horn as if it were a sword. The warriors evaded her attacks, always keeping a safe distance as they let exhaustion and blood-loss take their toll on the massive Queen.

  Around them, Bumelia and Pirene repeated that exact scene against their counterparts, while the Haunt’s clusters finished breaking the rebels’ ranks. Spider princesses ran for their lives while covered in Agility-enhanced spiderlings, and warriors pursued them with their horns aimed down toward their abdomens. Ed knew if a princess managed to escape she could morph into a Queen with enough resources and time, and eventually rebuild her cluster, so he made sure the eradication was absolute.