Anika dropped the knife and bent down to check on Kal as he hastily untied Ria's bag from his belt and tossed it on the ground beside him. The mage scooped up the pouch with his magic crystals and continued healing himself while getting to his knees. Kal stared in confusion at the bag of holding as the surrounding grass blackened and started to smolder from the radiating heat. The bag began glowing red, which seemed impossible for something made of leather, and caught some of the nearby grass on fire.
"What's going on?" asked Kashka, running up to them. She knew through the bond Kal was already healing himself and didn't feel like he was in any danger. Instead, he worried more about Ria. When Kashka realized the thing on the ground glowing red and slowly getting brighter was the sprite's bag, she couldn't blame him.
"I don't know," said Kal. Looking up at Anika, he asked, "What did she do?"
The arachne blanched at the intensity of Kal's stare and looked away. "When I woke up, she told me Tavik needed to recharge between lightning bolts and I had to strike within that time. She didn't think your staff could handle a direct hit, so she wrapped herself around the end of your staff and let it hit her instead."
The mage's brow furrowed in anger. "Her idea was to let you take a lightning bolt head-on in hopes you could kill him before he fired a second shot?" he asked. "What was she thinking? If you missed, you'd be dead. So many things could have gone wrong there."
"Regardless," Kashka interrupted, "Tavik is dead by Anika's hand. I don't think you have much room to complain about Ria's plan, considering you just nearly killed yourself. Is exploding things in your face a common way for you to fight? Because you've done it twice so far."
Anika's eyes widened, "You blew yourself up?"
Kal unclasped his cloak, letting it fall to the ground, then gingerly pulled his shirt over his head. Holding both garments up, he showed Anika the holes burnt through them, then pulled his flight rune out from where he tucked it under his belt. The mage was surprised to see the leather stayed in one piece. He expected a hole like his cloak and shirt. Kal guessed from the burnt ink furthest from where the bolt struck that the activated spell absorbed a good amount of the bolt's energy.
"The plan was to use my flight rune to get away from the explosion," he explained, throwing the charred and blackened leather panel on the ground next to Ria's bag, "but the first lightning bolt did this. As much as it hurt, I can't regret what happened." He looked up at Kashka, "That explosion is likely the reason Anika is still alive."
"What? How?" the arachne asked as she picked up his shirt and inspected it
"Magic and lightning have a special relationship," he said, leaning forward to stretch his lower back. The healing rune mended the damage, but the pain from the bolt's impact and explosion was still fresh in his mind. "Unlike a fireball that uses heat and flame or my partially solid arrows, lightning is almost pure energy. Pump too much energy into a spell and it can shatter and explode, which is why I couldn't use my shield against him. I used that same relationship to put a couple of healing spells pointed at you in the way of his lightning bolt. Unfortunately, I couldn't get away from the blast," he said, waving a hand at the damaged leather.
"Sorry to ruin your lesson, but there are still Reavers around," said Kashka. "We need to track down the archers you didn't kill, the guards stationed at the servant's quarters are still unaccounted for, and we need to finish off the men out dismantling traps. We also need to figure out what to do with the men they kept as servants."
"Until I know Ria is okay, the servants and remaining Reavers can go to hell."
"Stop it, Kal. I know you don't believe that," said the cat, tapping her temple.
The mage grunted, "You're right, but that's what I want to say."
"Do you think you should call her?" Anika asked.
"I don't know," Kal sighed as he got to his feet. "Consider what I said about magic and lightning and how it applies to Ria taking a lightning bolt to keep you safe. I'm guessing this heat is her way of bleeding off all the extra energy her avatar absorbed."
"But she stores your crystals when they are fully charged," the arachne pointed out.
"Those are crystalline containers that go through Ria's storing process, not getting hit with raw energy. All I can do now is wait, and I suppose that means taking out my worry on a few stray Reavers. We'll deal with the servants when Kashka and I get back."
Kal looked down at his bracers as the runes on them glowed faintly. The strength rune was ruined, and the speed rune only had a few uses before it would also burn out. Kal glanced down at Ria's bag and remembered that all his inks to make new bracers were still inside her. He quickly realized he didn't care if he lost everything stored inside her, just as long as she was okay.
"Let's go before I change my mind," he told Kashka. Kal looked at his staff with Tavik still mounted on it, then picked up the jade dagger Anika dropped. "I doubt the armor will have any powers unless worn as a complete set. Take helmets off Tavik and his lieutenant and hide them, but leave their corpses. If and Reavers circle back around to regroup, they can see what kind of fate is waiting for them." He looked down at Ria's bag, then up at Anika, his expression pleading. "Watch over her, please?"
"I will," she replied, handing his shirt back. Layers of fine webbing that shimmered in the moonlight covered the hole in the back.
"Thank you," he said. Donning the shirt, Kal made his way around the stepped pyramid's base to where he last spotted the archers.
Kashka fell in step next to him, "When we get back, I'm going to see if I can find my other dagger. I think I can copy how Tavik's shield launched it away and give myself an idea where to start looking."
Kal's eyes flicked to her waist, "What are you talking about? They're both right there."
Kashka looked at the two dagger hilts sticking out of their sheaths in disbelief. "But I only retrieved the one...?" she said, confused.
"Something else to test, but not until the area is cleared and secure," said the mage before they continued on their hunt.
---
Anika watched them disappear around the side of the temple and felt a wave of relief wash over her as she realized her part in the battle was over. Following Kal's instructions, she carefully eased the helms off Tavik and the other Reaver's head.
In the temple's paintings and engravings, she thought the animals on the brass and silver armor were the same. On closer inspection, Tavik's appeared to be a giant river otter, while the brass armor resembled a jaguar. She couldn't reason out why the Ancients might hold an otter in higher esteem than one of the powerful jungle cats. Perhaps there was something about the playful, weasel-like animals she didn't know.
She carefully scooped up Ria's bag using the silver helmet and started toward the temple atop the pyramid. Anika hurried as the metal in her hands quickly warmed. A third of the way up, she dumped the leather pouch onto the stone steps and promptly set the helm down before it burned her.
Anika looked around at the carnage she, Kal, and Kashka had wrought while the forest wind cooled the helm. Cleaning up over a hundred corpses would be a monumental task, and she hoped everyone stayed long enough to help.
Once the silver cooled enough to carry, Anika pulled some silk forward on her legs and wrapped it around a portion of the headpiece's band. After quickly and carefully loading Ria's bag again, she skittered up the steps to the top of the temple. Near as the arachne could tell, Tavik and Gaboh relied exclusively on the archers to keep them safe, and she didn't need to worry about any more guards.
Anika welcomed the lack of security as her quick run up the pyramid steps left her winded. It was an unfamiliar experience for the arachne to stand there and pant from something besides arousal. Her large body usually had enough energy reserves she often succumbed to mental exhaustion long before tiring.
The leg she landed on and crushed was whole once again, the hairs where her abdomen cracked were still wet with clear blood, and she didn't want to think about the size of the puddle beneath her when she woke up after saving Kal. By the miracle of Kal's magic, she lived through the battle, but it had definitely taken its toll on her. As she stood at the top of the steps sucking in lungfuls of air, Anika doubted she could handle another fight.
The arachne dumped Ria's bag out of the helm off to the side of the top step and stared at it worriedly as its heat ignited small pieces of dust and debris nearby. It settled into a bright orange glow and didn't seem to be getting hotter, but the bag didn't seem to be cooling down either.
A noise came from inside the temple at the top of the pyramid, setting her on edge. The arachne darted to the side, away from the wide breezeway running through the building's middle, and peered around the wall.
The sound came again from the room of Tavik's second-in-command, then another from Tavik's quarters, the shuffling of cloth and the rattle of metal on stone. Anika pulled her few remaining hairs from her abdomen and ducked into the breezeway before quickly crawling up the wall to the ceiling. Holding herself flat as possible, she crept forward to the first linen-covered doorway lit by the flickering torches inside. The hanging sheet of cloth left a small gap at the top. Anika slowly circled the room's entrance looking for what made the noise.
The room within was a testament to the Reaver's success. Gold trinkets and fine purple and red fabrics adorned the walls, while ornate and expensive-looking rugs littered the floor. The arachne frowned, thinking of all the men and women who died so Gaboh and Tavik could live in such luxury.
She eventually found the right angle to see the bed, which consisted of a large pile of expensive-looking pillows tossed into the corner. A young woman sat on it, her arms holding her knees to her chest and gently rocking as she anxiously watched the sheet covering the doorway.
Anika was surprised. The bandits' leaders did an excellent job keeping these women hidden. Through her signal lines she never heard the other Reavers speak of concubines. The girl inside shifted, and the chain attached to the metal cuff on her ankle scraped along the floor. No. Not concubines, slaves.
Despite her strength, Anika doubted she could dislodge the chain. Even if she could, the spider wasn't sure how to remove the cuff from the girl's ankle.
More noise from the lit room on the other side of the breezeway caught her attention. Anika forced down the emotions welling up as she approached Tavik's quarters. The room was quite spacious, taking up most of the building on that side of the breezeway. She believed it was once a pen that held animals for the Ancient's blood sacrifices. Its doorway was equally large to allow for the passage of livestock. The bigger door made it easier for someone her size to come and go, so her mother naturally chose it as her room when making the ruins her home. After Anika's mother passed, it sat empty for a month before she finally took it for herself.
Inside were two more women about the same age as the first. One knelt beside the Reaver's bed in a submissive pose wearing an ankle chain and the same haunted look on her face as the first. The other woman looked more relaxed as she paced quietly across the lavish rugs and appeared free of any shackles. Both were young and beautiful like the other girl, and all three women wore clothing of transparent gossamer that barely covered their breasts and sex.
Anika carefully released four legs on one side, straddling the height of the breezeway before letting herself down. A claw clicked on the stone in front of the door, setting off a flurry of movement inside. The arachne thought for a moment about the best way to handle this unexpected situation. Bursting in would probably terrify them, so she picked a softer approach. She pulled back only the linen in front of her face and held the rest in place to cover her body.
The scene inside had changed drastically. The kneeling girl's legs were spread and mouth opened in invitation while the one pacing had bent over with her bottom facing the door. The arachne caught the glistening of wetness coating both her ass and pussy before the woman saw her face and spun around in surprise.
"Tavik is dead," said Anika.
The standing woman's shoulders slumped in relief, but the kneeling girl pointed at her and yelled, "She's one of them!"
