Heal (I)

“You won’t tell Maath about Eisor until I finish healing her.” Alice’s word echoed in the tunnel the swarm had been walking through ever since crossing the bridge, causing both Ricee and Chillushrith’s pace to falter.

The two Thinkers turned towards her with inquisitive clicks.

Behind them, Ozren, Khemi and the rest of the Spear Spiders quickly stopped to stare at the scene.

“If she asks, I’ll tell her that Eisor was injured during the fight like Skitter was. Letting her know of your sister’s death right before the attempt will not help anyone.” she said, taking a deep breath before staring straight into the two spider’s eyes, her jaw set and her lips in a tight line, “After that, I’ll be taking the blame for the event. After all, it was my decision to heal one or the other and she would have survived if I had chosen her. I suggest you don’t tell Skitter that. I don’t really know how your species actually thinks but if you are even a smidge similar to humans that knowledge might damage him for a long time. Finally, I really hope you’ll take me to the place with sunlight, regardless of what the Queen orders you. But you’ll see I guess. No point thinking over it, right?” a mirthless chuckle escaped her lips before the young woman turned around and resumed her walk down the passage without another word, behind her back an affirmative click was the only thing that briefly broke the silence.

They had been treading on Colony’s territory for a while now and Alice was quite sure they would soon arrive to the Nest proper.

She could feel the painful knot of fear and anticipation that constricted her insides, twisting them further with every step she took.

Had she been right pushing forward with her plan? Maybe she should have waited as Maath had wanted.

She could have used the time to improve on her own body, to experiment on the Illness, to create more cores. That way, Eisor would still be alive, Skitter uninjured and she wouldn’t feel that throbbing spike of guilt pushing outward from her sternum.

But would Maath be more likely to survive?

She didn’t know whether the Illness would keep its current pace or, as the Queen’s body slowly lost the fight, if it would get faster and stronger over time. Would the mold develop a resistance to the Lumen? And finally, how could she be sure that the artificial cores’ energy would be enough? That they wouldn’t just be a stopgap measure?

Even now, without concentrating on it, Alice could feel the slow, dense power exuding from the massive core held in her arms, a feeling unlike any other. Even the shadow core, as large as it was, was a mere ember compared to that roiling conflagration of magical energy.

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She murmured to herself.

She had already chosen her path.

They proceeded along the tunnel for one more hour before the Nest finally came into view.

As soon as they walked past the last bend in the main pathway, their expedition was immediately swarmed by dozens of arachnids, each one hissing and clicking in a chittering cacophony that slightly overwhelmed the tired human.

At least until that seemingly joyous crowd suddenly stopped.

Eisor’s body had finally appeared in the back of the procession and had been spotted by the other members of the colony. Now silent, the spiders parted like the Red Sea and let the four Thinkers move forward as they ignored their lesser kindred to focus on the only spider that hadn’t moved aside, her eight silvery eyes glued to the crumpled up corpse of her sister, her squat, tarantula-like body shivering and twitching in the center of the pathway.

Chillushrith stopped in front of Qhevi and clicked a couple of times, receiving no response.

After a few heartbeats, she extended one of her frontal legs and gently touched the exoskeleton of her stunned sister who instantly got out of her daze, taking a couple of uncertain steps backward before hissing softly.

After that, a whole conversation took place, and a couple of minutes later, Qhevi departed towards the center of the Nest, a small number of cocoons dragging behind her.

As soon as her sister left, the massive female Thinker proceeded to address the remaining crowd with another collection of clicks and hisses that caused them to hastily resume their work, soon followed by the lesser members of the swarm, separating and disappearing in the many caves and passages that littered the main thoroughfare of the colony of Spear Spiders.

Less than a minute later, Ozren and Khemi, finally done with their bridge, departed for their shared cave and Ricee led the surviving members of her own cluster into her personal experimentation chambers while Alice and Chillushrith stood there, silent. Behind them two stretchers laid on the ground, waiting.

Alice waited for a few instants to let her breath grow steady once more, then she spoke.

“I’m only going to take care of Skitter for today. I’ll need to be rested to heal Maath. I’ll leave you with Eisor.” She said, moving to grab the silken ropes that had been used by the spiders to drag the sturdy and thick cloth on the smooth ground of the caves.

Upon hearing the sound of her voice, the silvery female seemed to stir awake herself, a soft hiss escaping her mouth and whistling through her massive fangs. A moment later, she turned around and started gently dragging away the Overseer’s carcass, her huge limbs slowly and rhythmically impacting on the ground like a funeral toll, slowly fading in the now silent nest.

Alice finally averted her eyes and made to place the heavy millipede’s core beside Skitter’s body when, suddenly, a soft click of fangs and pedipalps caused her to almost drop the football-sized marble on the ground.

The First Son of Maath clicked once more with his slightly melted fangs.

“Oh my god. Skitter! You’re awake!” She exclaimed before lowering the core onto the floor and placing both hands on his carapace, trying to keep the suddenly twitching spider in place.

“You can’t move! Stop. You’ve almost died from the electric blast and you have severe internal burns.” She intimated, her words apparently reaching the agitated spider who slowly stopped his frantic movements, “You have lost your legs but I hope they will grow back within a molt or two. I’m still working to heal you even though you’ve not been particularly helpful with your behavior,” she laughed, her eyes somehow suddenly blurry with tears.

Another weak click, this one sounding confused, reached her ears; she decided to explain it further.

“After almost dying you’ve somehow developed a core and it seems like it doesn’t really enjoy my intrusion within your body. It’s been zapping me every time I’ve been using my own powers to speed up your healing,” she told him, extending a hand in front of his eyes and showing a couple of almost healed electrical burns on her palm.

“Not pleasant, but I guess it’s okay. Even if the shocks seem to be able to overcome the numbing of my pain receptors,” she lamented before placing the core on the stretcher and then starting to carefully drag the whole burden to the empty cave the Thinkers had used to plan the expedition only a few days before.

Once there, she used the coat of glimmers to clean up the sweat that had started coating her body and then proceeded to drop on the ground beside her spidery patient.

“I’m going to heal you a bit more now. I’d really appreciate if you didn’t zap me in the meanwhile.” A weak click of assent the only answer to her request.

Okay then. She placed her hand on the slightly charred exoskeleton of the young male and used a trickle of her power to soak into his body, finding a surprising amount of resistance as she delved deep into his healing flesh.

It seems that the presence of a core makes it harder to pierce through a being’s defenses. She smiled, feeling a much higher amount of her warmth being lost as it passed through the chitin.

It must mean he is getting better.

The biomancer immediately delved into the many layers of his book-like lungs, finding them mostly repaired. Already, countless new cells crowded those strange organs, furiously extracting precious oxygen from the air collected through the breathing holes in the spider’s abdomen.

After confirming that the respiratory system wouldn’t need further help, Alice moved through the burnt flesh, focusing most of her attention on the numerous nerves that had been destroyed by the electrical surge coursing through them, gently prodding Skitter’s brain to reform those lost connections and hopefully helping restore a link to the burnt off limbs at the same time. Only time would tell if they would really grow back.

As soon as she was done checking every nook and cranny of the male spider’s system, the girl sent a large and slow wave of her warmth rippling throughout his body, washing over the wounds and pumping the regrowing cells with just a bit more energy, smiling at the sight of a body slowly repairing itself.

Finally, unable to resist her own curiosity, the young woman spent a bit of time observing Skitter’s new core, embedded deep into his brain.

Unlike Maath’s supernova of silvery energy, however, the fifty cents sized core was a strange blend of electrical particles and low moving platinum, gently flowing beneath the sparks. She stared at it for just a moment, quickly escaping when the first, warning trace impacted with her own magic, promising pain if she didn’t leave it alone.

When her consciousness came back to her body, Alice found herself smiling for the first time in days before schooling her expression and softly patting the spider’s back.

“You’ve made a lot of progress but you’ll still need time.” she explained, “I’m most likely not going to be here in a few days so you’ll have to finish the healing process by yourself. It’s probably going to be slow, burns take a long time to get right and there might be lasting problems. I don’t know. Despite my powers, I’m not a healer. Just eat and drink a lot of fluids.” She ordered, receiving another affirmative click in response.

“Finally,” she hesitated for a moment, her expression turning into a grimace, “I feel like I should tell you that Eisor died in the fight. She was too injured for me to do anything,” she lied, flinching when she heard the almost keening hiss coming from the injured male, “you were just lucky to be the one who survived. There is nothing you could do. I’m sorry.” She finally said as she rose to her feet, lifted the huge grey core with a grunt and then moved herself to a free bundle of silk, dropping there to finally rest.

Her time in the dark chamber of her mind passed in a flash and soon the pulling sensation of awakening was bringing her back to her own body, still covered in the glowing glimmers that had been acting as an extra layer on her dress.

She stood up on her feet and quickly stretched and warmed her muscles before checking up on Skitter, finding the tiny male already awake and expressing his displeasure at his unmoving condition.

She briefly tried to soothe him before accepting his foul mood, lifting the titan’s core once again and heading out of the hollow, immediately finding herself staring at Chillushrith’s large frontal legs.

She had been waiting for her.

It was time.

As the human girl and the female spider walked side by side towards the halls of the Queen, Alice informed her of Skitter’s current condition and needs; how he would not only require almost constant care to be fed and cleaned but also a regular change of the silk underneath his body in order to prevent pressure damages to his flesh, even if she wasn’t sure bedsores were a thing for a being covered in rigid chitin.

Better safe than sorry, she thought.

By the end of their conversation, the two found themselves standing right in front of the huge square gate that would lead into the real Nest.

Only at that moment did Alice mind suddenly decide to remember what she was walking towards.

The small talk had made her forget about her goal, calming her nerves and letting her ignore the anxiety that had hounded her every hour of wake or slumber.

Now she found herself experiencing something pretty close to the mother of all panic attacks.

Her heart was suddenly hammering in her chest, the knots in her stomach had reappeared and brought company as the spike in her sternum started pushing into her lungs.

Her breath grew fast, her vision turned into a tunnel where her perception of time was hastened and uselessly precise. She became a new version of self, partially detached from the previous one, staring at the space after the gate, trying to follow the snaking platinum veins that meandered through the black obsidian and basalt as if that would give her a solution to her problems.

Then, from that small connection to her old self, came words.

Breathe. Relax. You’re just having a panic attack. Breathe. Relax.

That mantra seemed to be working and the girl seized that brief moment of clarity to move into her own brain and release a small cocktail of endorphins that almost immediately managed to reduce her stress and put a stop to the attack.

Reassuring a somewhat worried Chillushrith, the young woman took a few deep, shuddering breaths and kept moving.

They descended the stairs, moving past the huge, pearlescent sails of silk of the ‘palace’ and stepping into the crystal forest, walking through the jingling metallic protrusions and finally emerging in the metal glade that was the hall of the Spider Queen.

In its mid, a large pond of shimmering waters bathed the huge silken burrow and the matriarch resting upon it in a soft, green glow.

The thin silvery wire held by one of her three legs started vibrating the moment they stepped into the clearing.

“You have come back.” Were Maath’s first words to the human girl.

Alice took a few steps forward as she spoke.

“Yes. Your children managed to defeat the titan that lived near Skitter’s original nest. I’ve harvested its core. I’m probably as ready as possible to try and heal you.” she said, raising the core as if to show it before letting it down onto the ground a few meters away from the edge of the huge, stained cushion of the ruler who, to her surprise, elected to ignore it for the moment, instead focusing on Alice herself, scanning her with her eyes.

“You were not injured this time.” She finally stated, as if surprised by the fact, electing a small, dry chuckle from the girl.

“No, but others were.” She said, moving closer to the glowing basin and letting most of the Lumen fall into the syrupy fluid as she looked around the glade.

“Was it worth it? Risking losing everything for something you are not sure will actually change anything?” Maath’s leg pressed harder on the wire, slightly warping the sound, making it harsher, she turned towards the titanic spider, taking another deep breath and staring into the few non-ruined eyes she had remaining.

“I really hope so.” She sighed.

Maath raised the leg from the wire for an instant before placing it back a couple of seconds later. The sounds were now softer.

“After today, regardless of the results, I’ll give you the information you crave about the place with sunlight. I will warn you, however, that it may not be what you desire.”

Alice smiled sadly before nodding towards her.

“I understand. I will still take my chances. Staying here will not bring me back home.”

A moment of silence slithered between them and Alice took it as an excuse to start walking towards her old tent-home, rebuilt by Ozren just a bit more than a week before.

“How long until you start molting, Maath?” she suddenly asked as she bent over to pick up the object that had caught her attention, gently holding the slightly cracked and heavily modified prosthesis she didn’t have a use for anymore.

“Not long, I’ve hastened the process and already the carapace is feeling less like a part of myself.” The Queen answered readily, one of her rear legs plinking loudly against the healthy side of her abdomen, a strange hollow sound reaching her ears as it reverberated against the walls of the massive cave.

“That’s good. In the meanwhile, we will get everything ready.” She said as she dropped the chela into the shimmering basin, watching as it was instantly coated in brightly shining particles.

With that action, began the final preparations.

The girl went back to the tent, emptied it of her few possessions, and used the handful of glimmers she had left on her person to sever the main threads holding the structure upright, bundling all the leftover silk in a voluminous heap and also launching it in the pool as more food for the Lumen. The objects she wanted to keep were moved into the metal thicket as she tried to clear the glade of any distraction.

While the glimmers consumed the biological material, the young woman inspected the small heap of cores the spiders had kept harvesting during their expedition, finding herself with more than thirty marbles ranging in size from as small as a pea to as large as a walnut.

She held them within her hands, watching through her magical connection as their different energies contrasted each other.

On a hunch, she left them on the ground and used a tiny tendril of Lumen to touch the smallest of the cores, closing her eyes and trying to establish a connection through the particles.

With a bit of delay, she felt a scalding pocket of energy come in contact with her own warmth, creating a link she could use to gather that power for herself. Alice smiled, leaving all the cores a couple of meters away from the pond.

As she was doing so, the young biomancer could hear the creaking and snapping coming from underneath the Queen’s exoskeleton as the old shell detached from the newly formed one.

“I will need you to do a couple of things for me Maath.” She suddenly said once the rest of the glade had been cleared.

“I need you to move away from your cushion and let me cleanse it with the Lumen. I’ll need the entirety of the cave to be spotless and that thing is probably very infectious. After that, I’ll need you to trust me even more and do as I say.”

Maath stood silent for a moment before vibrating her response.

“I accept Alice, I know you are doing your best. It was time for a change of beddings after all.” Came the response, coupled with a tittering chuckle which, this time, didn’t also appear on her carapace, which remained still and opaque under her eyes.

With a number of pained hisses, the Queen slowly crawled down the silk, dropping on the ground with a thunderous thud of metal on metal, leaving a thin trail of infected blood as she moved away from her burrow, finally laying to rest a dozen meters away from it, her breath labored behind her pedipalps.

Staring at the towering mass of silk, as large as a house and probably just as heavy, the young woman proceeded pragmatically.

After a bit of planning with Maath and Chillushrith both, she had the Queen turn the solid metal upon which the main silken pillars were anchored into a fluid, causing the heavy ropes to fall on the ground. After that, Chillushrith called most of the colony to slowly pull the entire deflated structure as close to the pool as possible, where Alice finally used most of her own well of power to have the glimmers gradually consume the tainted silk, multiplying the number of glowing particles as an added bonus.

Once her well had been almost emptied, the young woman made use of her latest skill by consuming a large amount of meat and liver from one of the few mole rats that remained, using the newly obtained nutrients to speed up her magical recovery.

As soon as she felt that her reservoir had been filled enough, she proceeded to direct a large wave of glimmers all over the metal floor, making sure to cleanse every sign of the mold she could see.

By the end of the day, the entire clearing had been sterilized, at least aside from the spot where Maath laid to rest, the floor beneath the gigantic spider already covered in a layer of noxious pus.

Tiredly, Alice found a somewhat comfortable position with her back against a particularly solid metallic crystal.

“Wake me up when you feel like you are really close to starting the molt proper, I’ll need you to do one last thing for me before then.” She asked the Queen, receiving a thunderous click of assent as a response.

She nodded while yawning, her eyes closing by themselves as she was quickly lulled to sleep by the strangely soothing sound of the matriarch.

*****

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