Nico flowed around Zephyr’s massive sword swing, focused more on evading rather than blocking his powerful strokes. He lost control of a swing chasing after her. His balance crossed his center, a mistake ringing in her ears like off-key notes. Nico lunged through the opening to stab the sheathed glaive into Zephyr’s chest. Zephyr nodded, conceding.
Both Nico and Zephyr collapsed down into the sand, exhausted from their spar. Nico wiped at the sweat with her shroud and took a chug of water. She pulled back the sweaty strands of her hair into a neat ponytail. Despite making camp in the mountain’s shadow, the sun’s heat seeped through her clothes.
“Even after all these years, you still beat me,” Zephyr huffed.
“I only beat you when we were little because you could barely lift that sword.” Zephyr splashed water into his hair, and Nico watched the drops drip down his bare torso. She’d been taller than him once. “You’ve gotten a lot faster since then. I guess all those muscles aren’t for show.”
Zephyr raised his brows at the compliment, and Nico blushed at the unintended suggestiveness. Nico turned and fanned air to her overheated skin.
Zephyr broke the branch off a nearby tamarisk. Nico laughed when he fanned the leaves and sent swooping air in her direction. She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy the cool air, then peeked an eye open to Zephyr enjoying the view even though she was all sweaty and gross.
“Stop,” Nico said, swatting at the makeshift fan. Stop looking at her like that. Stop making her feel so hot. Stop flirting with him, Nico, even though she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
“You messed up my hair,” Nico complained. She pulled off the hairband and shook out her hair, glancing over at him as she did so.
“Need help?”
Nico turned her back to Zephyr, almost in relief. She closed her eyes to his fingers combing through the thick mass of her hair.
“You’ve gotten better,” Zephyr noted as his fingers massaged through her scalp. “I couldn’t land a hit on you.”
“I’ve been sparring with Azan and Kelin. They’re great practice. I just . . . I wish it was enough to catch up to Rasia.”
“You’re just as good as Rasia.”
Nico laughed at his attempt not to hurt her feelings. Zephyr finished with her hair, not nearly as perfect as Kenji-ta used to, but it would do. She turned back around to find Zephyr frowning at her.
“Seriously, Nico. Your technique is perfect. When you fight, there’s no move or action wasted. You suck at fighting Rasia because she treats a spar like a damn fight, and you’re never looking for a killing blow. If I have any criticism, you react slower to things you don’t expect. It’s clear you’ve studied every fighting style, but Rasia often throws styles together and thrives on the unexpected. Lastly, Rasia has always been the one able to get under your shroud.” Zephyr shrugged. “She’s your worst match up, that’s all.”
Nico’s head tilted. “I’ve never thought of it that way.”
“You’re both also extremely competitive, have strong personalities, and two very different approaches to the same problem.”
“Okay. I get it. We are destined to be at each other’s throats.”
“Are you? You stopped complaining about Rasia after your tah died.”
“Because there were bigger things to deal with it. The little things weren’t important anymore.”
“Exactly.”
Nico considered Zephyr’s words. Had she been letting every little thing trip her up when she had so many bigger things to tackle?
“And it’s not about Rasia,” Zephyr said. “It’s never been about Rasia. Nothing has ever come easily to you. You’ve worked hard and endured a lot to master your technique. You pride yourself on the hard work but resent all that hard work as well. You’ve grown to hate Rasia because you’ve never been able to hate the person who deserves it.”
Nico narrowed her eyes at him, knowing exactly where he was going. “Ava-ta wasn’t that bad.”
“She refused to let you sleep until you memorized every argument put forth to the Council. She made you practice your magic until you were blue. She forced you to train through broken bones. You never had a problem standing up to Rasia, but you were never able to stand up to her.”
Nico stood, taken aback by such an old argument. Zephyr had always gotten angry on her behalf when she told those stories, but tah was dead, and she’d figured that old anger had died with her.
“She did what she had to, Zephyr. I’m the heir. It made me strong.”
“The only difference between you and Kai is that people can see his scars.”
“What does it matter?! She’s dead. All of that was a long time ago, and it didn’t make a difference anyway. I’m still not strong enough. I’m still not good enough. I’m still a fucking failure,” Nico croaked out.
“Nico-”
Nico walked away and needed some space to gather herself. She walked past one of the hare traps they laid for gonda bait and slumped against a large boulder. She’d forgotten how unerringly direct Zephyr was at times. It was useful when Nico got too much into her head, but more often than not, it was a punch to the gut.
Nico tensed when Suri leaned against the same boulder.
“He touches you,” Suri observed.
“Doesn’t mean anything. I grew up touching him. They don’t care in the Tents,” Nico said, unapologetically.
Nico refused to shield Suri from her friendship with Zephyr, nor had Suri any right to know that Nico had already rejected him and now they were trying to reach some sort of normal in the aftermath. Nico, admittedly, wasn’t doing a very good job of it.
“What do you want, Suri?” Nico asked.
Suri pursed her lips. She murmured, “He’s right. You never complained of what your tah put you through, but I noticed too.”
“What did I have to complain about? At least I was healthy. At least I had Kenji-ta. I had you, and Jilah, and Zephyr, and the rest of my friends. Kai had no one. I didn’t have the right to complain.”
“For all of Kai’s weakness, you were expected to be stronger. It wasn’t fair to you.” Suri looked at Nico, bright eyes asking for forgiveness. “It’s okay to be flawed, sometimes. No one is perfect. I am sorry, Nico.”
“You are not forgiven,” Nico said firmly. It was not Nico who Suri needed to apologize to.
“NICO!”
Both Nico and Suri swiveled to attention as Kelin came racing toward them, notably without Azan. Kelin and Azan were supposed to be checking the traps. Judging by the balled caftan Kelin clutched to his groin as he ran, they had gotten distracted by other things.
Nico raced out to meet him, and Kelin’s momentum had him slamming into her. His bare chest heaved against her, and his eyes contained a frantic terror.
“B-big f-fucking spiders,” Kelin stuttered, then forced himself to snap out, barely more coherent, “A big fucking spider!”
“I warned you about having sex outside of camp. Put on your clothes,” Nico commanded and immediately turned on her heel. Both Zephyr and Suri came to meet her from opposite directions, drawn to the commotion. “Ready your weapons. Azan has been nabbed by silk spiders.”
Without hesitation, despite all the drama, both Zephyr and Suri immediately did as Nico ordered.
Nico scooped up her glaive. She slung her canteen and preparation pack around her shoulders. Ready, Nico searched for Kelin. He was dressed now, and his perpetual swagger had burst into a mere stuttering, wide-eyed child of sixteen years.
“Where did it happen?”
“This way,” Kelin said. He held his arms crossed in front of his chest in a terrible attempt to disguise his shaking hands. Nico placed a firm hand on his shoulder as they walked.
“We’ll get him back. Silk spiders can’t digest solids, so they don’t feed on their prey immediately. We have time. But not much. What happened?” Nico said, partially to get information and partially to keep him calm.
“I think Azan heard or felt something. He threw me off, and then he was gone.” Kelin hunched forward. “He saved me.”
They arrived at the scene of the incident, where sand swirled down a depression caused by the silk spider’s tunnel. Silk spiders resided in the silk mines, but they often hunted from burrows to capture unsuspecting prey and drag it into their lairs.
“Follow five vibrations after each other,” Nico ordered, and Nico moved toward the sinkhole.
She made to step toward the center when Kelin clutched at her arm. “What are you doing?”
“It’ll take us forever to find the right entrance to the silk mines. We have no choice but to go the way of the spider. I suggest you hold your breath.”
Kelin held a death grip on her.
“You’re all I’ve got left,” he hissed.
Nico softened. “Kelin, this is what it means to be a kull. When the ground vibrates, there’s no time for self-doubt or fear. You do what you’ve got to do. You put it all aside, and get it done.”
Nico offered her hand.
“You’re all brave idiots,” Kelin whispered. He grabbed ahold of her forearm with both hands. “Don’t let go of me.”
“I won’t.”
Nico turned back to that whirl of sand. She held her breath and jumped into the whirling pit. She and Kelin sunk into the darkness. Their backsides hit dirt and slid down until the angle of the tunnel evened out.
The deep darkness swallowed all light. The air tasted thin and clogged. Nico searched her rucksack, easily navigating through the myriad of items she always had at the ready in the event of such a disaster. She counted the time in her head as she pulled out a small clay lamp. Soon the lamp glowed with a fire and battled the darkness of the tunnel.
At once, Nico lunged toward the mass of items that had also fallen down the hole—Azan’s canteen, a shroud, a strip of underwear, a shoe, and most notably, Azan’s fan axe, waiting to cut anyone who unknowingly tripped over it. She grabbed the hilt and dragged the weapon out of the way as Suri came to a sliding stop.
Zephyr followed soon afterward.
Kelin gathered up all the fallen items, throwing Azan’s canteen over his shoulder, wrapping Azan’s shroud around his neck, shoving Azan’s shoe in his bag, and stuffing the loincloth in his belt. It wasn’t Kelin’s underwear since he didn’t wear any (and it was ridiculous that Nico knew that).
Nico motioned to Zephyr, and he came over to shoulder Azan’s axe with ease.
Nico pulled a rope out of her rucksack. “We’ll use this to keep from getting separated, but we also need to keep our hands free in case anything attacks. Wrap it around your waist. Me first, Kelin, Zephyr, then Suri.”
Kelin between Zephyr and Nico to keep him calm. Suri, the ranged fighter, at the back.
They tied themselves to each other then continued down the tunnel with careful urgency. Nico led, holding the lamp in one hand and her glaive in the other, guiding them onward.
Rarely did surface dwellers dive into the Desert’s various underground mazes, built by the silk spiders, gondas, and all the creatures who made a living hiding from the sun. Nico could sense them at her feet sometimes. She never thought one day she’d be in the belly of them.
“Silk spider venom isn’t like gonda venom,” Nico warned, both for Kelin’s benefit but to also fight back against this suffocating darkness. “While gonda venom kills slow, silk spider venom is a paralytic. Most likely Azan won’t be able to move when we find him. Zephyr, it will be your job to grab him. The rest of us will back you up.”
The tunnels grew thicker and thicker with spider webs until it was almost impossible to avoid them. Silk spiders sensed movement based on the vibrations of their webs, which made any element of surprise impossible.
They stepped into a cavernous space filled thick with spiderwebs crossing each other in a mad tangle even the greatest weaver could never mimic. At the center, a massive spider was cocooning Azan in silk, almost covering his entire head. Azan’s eyes widened at the sight of them.
The shadows moved, or at least that’s what Nico thought at first, before realizing they were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of smaller silk spiders, traveling with silent deadliness toward the intruders in their home.
“Elder protect me,” Kelin breathed out.
“I thought you didn’t believe in the Elder?” Suri asked.
“I do now.”
“Suri, target the Han. On my signal,” Nico said, while untying the rope that held them together.
Suri drew her bow and aimed toward the spider at the center. The leader was so large each one of its legs spanned two lengths of Nico’s glaive.
“Hold this,” Zephyr pressed the fan axe into Kelin’s chest, and Kelin toppled back into the nearest wall at the weight of it. Zephyr reached for his large sword and swung it over his shoulder, so big it scraped the tunnel’s low ceiling.
Nico glanced at Zephyr, he nodded, and they moved back-to-back.
Nico smashed her lamp against the web-covered wall. The clay cracked, splattering oil. Fire blazed up the silk.
Suri released her arrow, and Nico and Zephyr pushed forward into the cavern. Out in front, Nico carved the path. She whipped water from her canteen and swatted at the small silk spiders closing in.
In her periphery, a furred shape hurled toward her.
Azan’s fan axe cut through the air. Limbs flew, and a severed leg brushed Nico’s face. The silk spider fell twitching, and Kelin stomped it still.
Nico grabbed Kelin by the arm and dragged him into her and Zephyr’s formation. Behind them, Suri remained at the entrance protecting their exit. The smaller silk spiders shied away from the fire, and Suri dipped her arrows into the flames to shoot chaos into the thickest parts of the cavern.
Suri’s initial shot had failed to kill the massive Han spider. It dropped down atop their heads. Nico spun. Zephyr slammed down all his weight to cleave the enormous spider, halfway. Zephyr hefted up his sword again and sliced through the other half. Nico winced at the warm splatter of blood and guts.
Azan dangled too high in the air to reach him.
“We’re going to have to get on each other’s shoulders,” Nico said. “Kelin, you’re the lightest. You’re on top.”
Zephyr bowed down, and Nico climbed atop his shoulders. Zephyr took hold of the fan axe while Kelin climbed up, onto Zephyr’s shoulders, and then up Nico’s torso. Nico gripped Kelin’s thighs as he reached to rip the webs from Azan’s cocoon.
The flames that had once been their shield began to thicken, and the smoke burned Nico’s throat. They didn’t have much time to make it out before the entire cavern went up in flames.
Most of the spiders had fled now, disappearing into unseen cracks and crevices.
“Got him,” Kelin cried triumphantly as Azan sagged and floated to the ground with stray webs still attached. They scrambled down, and Zephyr threw Azan over his shoulder without looking back.
“Grab hands!” Nico shouted when they reached Suri and the exit.
Nico grabbed Suri’s hand. Suri’s grabbed Zephyr’s. Zephyr grabbed Kelin’s.
Water flooded the cavern.
It took a while for Nico to move the large body of water from its deep underground aquifer, but it answered her summons exactly when she needed it.
The flood swept them off their feet. It carried them with force down the tunnel, spinning them around the walls at a speed that roared in their ears.
They shot out the ground atop a geyser. Nico tucked in her arms and landed, rolling in the sand.
Nico spit out dirt and water and coughed on the smoke still stuck in her throat. She picked herself up, drenched and covered in sopping silkwebs, careful with the wiggling weight in her arms. She unwrapped the baby silk spider out of her shroud.
Their hare traps had been coming up short, and they needed bait for the gonda.
The sky had transitioned to night, even though they had dived underground only a little after high noon. Kelin and Zephyr ripped away the rest of the cocoon to free Azan. Once freed, Kelin tackled Azan and sobbed. Even though still affected by the paralysis and naked as the day he was born, Azan managed a smile.
“Nico,” Suri said. In that tone. When someone needed her.
What now?
Nico blinked at a sudden windship on the horizon. She couldn’t tell if it was friendly or scavengers. Exhausted, she handed Suri the baby silk spider.
Nico cleared the spider webs from her face and dug her glaive out of the sand. She used it to stand and face the next storm on the horizon.