Are we sure this is wise?> Zogrusz asked, eyeing the great glistening teeth with unease.

You know, there is a fish at the bottom of the ocean that uses light to attract its prey> Rhas murmured,

If you want me to turn away and fly as fast as I can in the other direction, tell me now> Anecoya said sharply, her thoughts flavored bitter by what might have been fear.

There’s something strange inside> Zogrusz said, peering between the fangs. It’s not . . . I don’t think this thing is truly a fish, at least like we understand them>

Anecoya muttered something unintelligible and angry, but she stayed her course, passing between two enormous teeth that reared around them like canyon walls. Zogrusz imagined the mouth snapping shut, the fangs looming above plunging down to impale Anecoya, and he let out a little sigh of relief when this did not happen.

Oh> Anecoya murmured as they emerged from the forest of teeth and beheld clearly for the first time what lay beyond.

There was no throat leading into darkness, no flesh fringing the inside of the mouth. The fish had been gutted, its insides scooped out and replaced with . . . something else. Filaments infused with nacreous light webbed the interior of the creature, forming softly glowing pathways that occasionally intersected to create broader platforms. These pearlescent threads vanished into the hazy distance, but Zogrusz thought they were anchored on the gray walls curving up around them. He wondered if the fish was truly still alive, despite its languid swimming – there were no bones or organs or blood, just this strange lattice filling the entirety of the vast hollow space.

“I think we can safely assume that the Wanderer is not the fish.”

When he heard Rhas’s voice, Zogrusz glanced at the cat in surprise.

“There’s air,” Rhas said, then as if to prove this point yawned deeply. “Somehow.”

I’m going to land> Anecoya told them over their mental bridge – perhaps she hadn’t realized that sound traveled in here, or maybe she simply preferred to communicate telepathically when in her bird-form. After all, Zogrusz hadn’t heard her speak since she’d transformed, so human-style speech very well might be impossible with her avian physiology.

Anecoya settled onto the closest of the suspended platforms, a wide disc connected to a half-dozen of the threads like it was a spoke in a wheel. A few of these paths were so narrow human children would have had to walk single-file, while others were wide enough that Zogrusz thought he could have navigated them in his true form. The grade of these filaments varied as well – some ascended to link up with higher platforms, others descended into what would have been the bowels of the fish, and the rest branched out at roughly the same elevation they now stood. Zogrusz tried to tell what else might be hidden in the far recesses of the fish, but the skein of threads was far too thick to see clearly. He understood why Anecoya had alighted here – she never would have made it through that dense tangle.

Everyone off> Anecoya commanded, and after an apprehensive glance at the opaque substance below, Zogrusz slid carefully from her back, though he was not willing to let go of the tuft of feathers he was gripping tightly until he was sure the platform wouldn’t shatter beneath him. He decided he would stay in this smaller version of his true-form until he was absolutely sure it wouldn’t collapse under a greater weight.

Rhas had already leaped down and was pawing at the thread as if this could help him discern what it was made of. Zogrusz had thought it would feel cool and hard, perhaps like polished stone, but instead it was warm and slightly sticky, which suggested to him that it might be organic in nature. Perhaps hardened saliva or some other bodily secretion.

A rush of hot air stirred his mouth-tendrils, and Zogrusz turned to see that Anecoya had assumed her human form. The flush in her cheeks was nearly the color of her hair; she looked exultant, the grin on her face revealing a pair of very deep dimples. He’d never seen her smile, Zogrusz realized, and he had to admit it was far more pleasant than the scowl she usually sported.

“So where is this Wanderer?” she asked, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her eyes.

“I don’t know,” Rhas replied, “but it looks like he’s sent a welcoming committee.”

Zogrusz realized what the cat was talking about a moment later when movement on one of the higher threads drew his gaze. An insectile creature was scuttling along its underside, its many-jointed legs a blur. A pendulous barbed stinger hung from the end of its thorax, and transparent wings of veined membrane were folded upon its back. More of the creatures were now coming into view farther back on the same thread, and all were moving with the same frantic purpose. Towards them.

“Let’s not rush to judgment here,” Rhas said. “I’m sure they are servants of the Wanderer.”

“They don’t look friendly,” Zogrusz muttered, reaching inside himself to ready his psionic blast.

“Now Zog,” Rhas admonished him sternly, “I’m disappointed. You of all beings should understand that outward appearance has no bearing on one’s inner character.”

The closest of the creatures had halted its mad scramble and was now staring down at them from one of the threads crisscrossing above the platform.

“Greetings, good sir!” Rhas called up to it loudly. “Thank you for your hospitable welcome! We have traveled from very far indeed to meet your master and ask –”

The cat broke off its speech, yowling in surprise as the creature spat a glob of some viscous goo. Rhas just managed to jump away before the substance splattered on the platform, where it began to hiss and smoke, eating away at the opalescent material beneath their feet. Zogrusz stepped hurriedly away from the deepening hole, wondering if this stuff could dissolve even his true-form’s flesh. The creature perched above them spread its serrated mandibles wide and made a chittering sound that might have been laughter.

Not friendly, then. Zogrusz blasted it with his psionic attack, sending it tumbling from the thread. He must have stunned it, because the insect did not even try to spread its wings as it plummeted out of sight. An enraged keening rose up from its brethren, the onrushing horde uncasing their wings as they leaped from the filament they had been clinging to.

Zogrusz raised his claws, but before the insects could reach them a flame suddenly erupted, and the swarm veered away as Anecoya swung her blazing sword.

“Back to back!” she shouted over the harsh droning, and immediately Zogrusz realized the wisdom of this idea. He set himself as she’d suggested just as the throng of creatures began to circle them. For a moment the swarm hesitated, as if unsure about the best strategy to attack, and then one of the insects proved itself the bravest – or perhaps the most foolish – as it suddenly darted from the rest of its kind and hurled itself at Zogrusz. He reacted purely on instinct, swiping with his claws and catching it in its distended abdomen. The creature exploded in an eruption of green ichor, splattering Zogrusz, though thankfully the creature’s blood turned out not to be as corrosive as its spit.

A crackling pop sounded from behind Zogrusz, and then Anecoya shouted in triumph. “Ha! Got one!”

The demise of their kin incensed the creatures further, as they surged forward in a flurry of clacking mandibles and thrusting stingers. Zogrusz felt something sharp scratch a fiery line across his belly, but he didn’t have time to check the severity of this wound. He was too busy plucking the insects from the air to crush their carapaces and make their swollen bodies burst like overripe fruit. Several of the creatures swooped at his head, but he scattered them with another wave of psychic energy. His mental attack was much weaker this time, and he doubted he had the reserves in him for a third attempt. Still, he’d been successful in disorienting the creatures, and as they bumbled about in a daze he lunged closer and began smashing them into oblivion.

A cry of pain from Anecoya made him whirl around. His pursuit of the stunned creatures had carried him away from her, and after leaving where he’d been positioned the insects had descended to surround her from all sides. He waded back into the blizzard of beating wings and moving chitin, taking hold of the goddess by her arm and dragging her stumbling out of the swarm. Her golden robes were in tatters and blood was flowing freely from a long cut on her shoulder close to where his claws were grasping, and he quickly released her for fear that he might make the injury worse. This was ill-timed, because just as he did this one of the larger creatures latched onto her back and wrenched her from her feet, pulling her once more into the insect whirlwind. For a frozen moment she met his gaze with shocked eyes, and then she was gone.

“No!” Zogrusz cried, lunging after her, but before he could reach the swarm something erupted from its center and he was thrown backwards. He landed in a heap not far from the edge of the platform, momentarily stunned, and after blinking away the dark spots in his vision he saw that Anecoya had once more assumed her bird form. The creatures seemed panicked by this development, the coherency of their swarm dissipating as they fled in every direction to escape her snapping beak. But Anecoya would not be denied her revenge, plucking the creatures from the air and swallowing them like they were insects in truth. In moments they were all gone, either disappeared into her gullet or reduced to specks as they retreated, clearly desperate to avoid this reckoning they had brought about.

“Well, that was exciting.”

Zogrusz looked down to find Rhas sitting between his feet. “Where did you go?” he asked. A ripple passed through the great bird as Anecoya reverted to her human form – her robes were intact again, and the wounds he could still see seemed to have stopped bleeding. Her face was pale, though, her hair in wild disarray.

“I thought it best if I stayed out from underfoot,” the cat replied, arching its back as it stretched. “Annie, are you all right?”

Anecoya ran a shaking hand through her disheveled curls. “I’m fine,” she said, watching the creatures warily as they dwindled into the far distance.

BRAVO!> They all jumped as the word reverberated in their heads. TRULY AN EXEMPLARY PERFORMANCE. I VERY MUCH WANT TO MEET YOU ALL>

The light infusing one of the pathways extending from their platform suddenly strengthened into a rich golden hue, picking out the thread clearly against the tangled knots of ganglia.

PLEASE, FOLLOW THE YELLOW SPIT ROAD>