“So I'll make you an offer,” the king of spiders gets straight to the point. “I would like you to help us. Our goal is to eliminate the Diamond Marquise. With your weapon, it might be possible but we spiders are unable to use it, as you can well understand.”

“I understand, but…” Sely bows her head. Partly for the fetid smell that those jaws give off and more for fear of sustaining that eight-eyed gaze.

“However!?” The king's tone increases in volume, sounding annoyed.

“But I don't know. I know nothing about this war, I know nothing about the relationship between spiders and other insects, about the relationship with the silver religion, about the relationship with humans...”

Sely hugs her elbows and chews her lower lip. She doesn't know how you continue, among the many things she doesn't know.

“The point is that mom told me a lot of things. She taught me a lot about hunting, survival, religion, people, and insects… but everything is different. It's all confusing, I feel dragged left and right, as if I don't have a will.”

Silence falls.

The noise of chains and lanterns, the shadows moving, avoiding the moving lights.

“So? Have you decided not to help us? Under normal circumstances, such an affront… if it weren't for the fact that you are the heroine of the battle, everything would be different.” The king cranes its neck, reaching for Sely's gaze and moving its chelicerae nervously.

Sely doesn't react. She realizes the delicacy of the situation. But her father is not present this time, she does not want to remain silent and submissive as with the mayor of Vanoge.

“It's not that I don't want to help. The point is, I don't understand. I had to reach the humans and warn my father. My father's murder overwhelmed me and brought me to your presence. But what am I doing? What do I want? I'm not interested in a war. A war against a Hive Monolith, then. For what? Why?”

The spider king twitches sharply. All its trinkets rattle and clank, mixing with its angry hiss.

The being emits a brief roar and then regains some composure.

“If it's revenge you seek. I can give it to you. I have learned who the murderers of your father, my dear friend and servant, are. We can help each other.”

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“But I don't want revenge! I want justice. And it's something I have to do, on my own. This is my cause.”

“So you want to leave everything to hunt those humans?”

“Maybe. I may even want to go home to consult with mother.” Sely raises her head.

Although she is trembling, she tries to hold the giant arachnid's gaze.

She knows Tossyllia taught her this technique. “Make yourself as big as you can with your enemies,” she said.

The king holds its gaze for a few moments, then looks towards Filo.

Sely doesn't turn around, it could be a fatal mistake to get distracted. Just like her, spiders also have very fast reflexes.

“I understand. This hurts me a lot. Under the circumstances, I will let you go back so you can reflect. There's no shortage of time anyway. By killing the gargantuan scolopendra I doubt the marquise will attack for now.”

Sely breathes a sigh of relief.

Fortunately!

“But first let me tell you something.”

Now it is the king who arches up on its four hind legs, raising its neck to the maximum to look down on her.

Chains and hooks rattle and its dimensions are imposing, at least four or five times Sely's height.

“Let me just tell you this. Surely you already know, but it's the marquise's fault that your mother and father separated. It's the Marquise's fault that your human friends suffered. It is the fault of the Marquise and the Hive Monoliths if insects and other animals cannot coexist in balance and peace.”

Chatter in the wind.

Sely thinks very clearly. “I know,” she simply says. “I know, and I can't help you.”

It is not clear to you who or what you are referring to. She just feels like the right thing to say. Ultimately, it is certainly partly the truth.

The story of his mother and father, although I know it only vaguely: is true. The same goes for Vanoge's misfortunes.

But the rest?

Those abstract and general speeches?

Hive monoliths are not evil. They are just natural. They are the pillars of faith and are their most prestigious bearers.

Even if it were true that it was their fault...

Well, maybe…

…maybe it's true that we are strange. Me and mom.

Perhaps it is true that humans and insects cannot stay in balance.

It's them or us.

Either the marquise or the flying city.

I…

“Your Majesty” Filo's voice comes in trembling. “Your Majesty…” he repeats in a whisper.

Sely turns to look at him, regretting it immediately afterward. Luckily she is not treacherously attacked.

She sees Filo pale, kneeling in the spidery mud.

“Speaks Filo, undertaker of Vanoge. But this is none of your business, your kind has no say in the matter.”

“I shouldn't, I know. But I would like to raise a question for Sely. She came from afar to warn everyone. You took a risk to warn everyone of terrible upheavals, it seems...”

“So?”

“So I would like you to leave her alone. I shouldn't be the one to say this, but you're not here to solve our problems. She is here for her father and her father is dead. I…”

A cavernous roar interrupts Filo.

Sely I look back at the king writhing and gasping furiously.

“Go. Leave now. Serve! Serve! Reward them and drive them out of my sight before I eat them!”

Before I eat them…