The flyer wasn't used to the light. She closed four of her eyes, but the lids were too thin to completely block out the sun. She should be hunkered down in her dark nest, but the brood was in a feeding frenzy. If she didn't keep them in meat they would take their sustenance from her, and they would not finish until she was picked clean. A mother must make sacrifices. She never had enough meat, but at least she wasn't like the prey below. She could fly. Her four wings long and wide, a pleasant sensation ran through them, the promise of killing did it every time.

She climbed high into the turbulent warm layer of air that most flyers avoided. The updrafts and plunges sapped her strength, but it was safer than staying in the kill zone below. With her limited vision she could still see well enough to scour for movement in the tangled canopy. The jungle was also at war, branches and leaves struggling to expand, to cover territory, to outclimb their neighbors for the promise of light. The eternal battle produced a green tapestry that covered the land from sea to sea, with only a dozen breaks mainly the troublesome walls that the two-legged apes cowered behind. She didn't travel far, stuck to this territory for most of the year, taking prey at night, sometimes in the settlement itself, but mostly gathering prizes from her own kind in the dark sky.

One structure existed outside the settlement walls, an iron perimeter encircling a fortress of rock. A warm blooded piece of meat down there was stirring up a lot of activity standing at the edge of the iron wall like a tease. This piece of meat survived for now, but it wouldn't be long before its life got torn, skewered, punctured, by all that had the strength to take it. She pulled her wings back and dropped down through the layers of hot wet air to take part in the kill. The two-legged being didn't stop spinning always on the lookout for the next threat, but the thing didn't have the sense to see its end came from above.

She opened her talons eager to feel them bite into the soft flesh, eager to feel the pull of weight as she carried the still living up and away, but the weight she felt came from above. A hard knock that pushed her off target. Parts of her cracked when she hit the ground. It took a moment to register the way her abdomen pulsed as talons entered. She struggled to break free, but too much of her didn't work. She recognized a change. She was no longer the eater, now she was going to be the eaten. Her limbs limp, she opened all her eyes to take in the last bit of life. The larger brethren above her beat his wings. The struggle no longer mattered.

The struggle of the two-legged warm piece of meat continued.

Something flew up into the blue from the jungle to his right. He ignored the transaction. The two flyers weren't a threat. Tangy acidic bug juice was in Ragnar's mouth, beads of it trickled down and stung his eyes, then the other six-legged horehound attacked. Its multiple eyes took careful aim, preparing to ensnare him in its net of death. The gooey string enveloped him. The line got taut. A bad day to be on the bottom of the food chain.

The cold-blooded beast pulled him off his feet. He struggled to keep his sword in his hand. The horehound retracted the warm tender morsel, the sharpened beak eager to crush. Ragnar slid the steel through a break in the net's fibers, used the tip to cut at the retrieval cord. The stench of rancid meat, the heat of decomposition puckered his face. The point of the beak scraped his cheek. He felt the cord give, hit the ground, legs tangled up. Three beakers ran past and drove their sharpened faces into the horehound's torso, to eat it alive from the inside.

He slipped the net off and attacked in a frenzy of hate and fear each breath corresponding to a fast down stroke. He made every blow cut deep into a carapace, to slice into the meat underneath, six strokes and he was almost out of annihilations grasp.

The sound of a thousand whispers rose up over the din of the creepers. Two figures in white robes stood on the other side of the scion's gate. He scanned the brush waiting for more creepers to attack. He could feel the jungle all around, vibrating with life, unknown beings calculating his weakness, waiting to scavenge the corpses.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

A few ravaged creepers struggled to crawl away. He didn't bother with them. They could serve as a distraction while the twins opened the gate. Only the twins didn't move to let him in. Their white robes hid their faces. They continued to make their eerie call, the garbled voices of a legion all trying to speak at once. The effect faded. One of the children's voices could be understood.

"Why has Ragnar left his walls?"

"I've come for Terra. I know she's here."

One twin pointed to the killing ground. "Look how he desecrates all that he touches."

"Those monsters attacked me, child. Now take me to the Scion. I can feel the creepers gathering."

"What do you suppose he wants?"

"Come to ask for his seed to be allowed to remain in Terra's womb, no doubt."

"He doesn't know that mother wants it gone. I can tell by the way he stares."

Ragnar kicked at the gate taking the Scion's burn that she used to line her fortress. It made his body spasm. His muscles all felt torn in two, but he managed to compose himself, to hide his pain. "If the creepers keep watching, they'll know this gate only stings. They may realize that if they are determined they can swarm it and then you two will be creeper shit, now let me in."

"He likes to threaten, no wonder he is accursed."

Out of the side of his eye Ragnar could see a large masher parting the jungle brush.

"Open the gate."

"Let's watch it crush him."

Another thousand whispers came from the abbey and the twins cocked their heads as they deciphered the call. One slid back the latch while the other pushed open the gate.

"Come Ragnar, the Scion awaits."

The black lagoon smelled of sulfur and rotting leaves. An unseen force moved the waters to and fro. The Scion stepped out of the water and stood naked before him. A spider crawled over her toes. She bent down and put the creature into her mouth. She closed her eyes savoring the morsel. Rivulets of water streamed down her taut body; tendrils of steam caressed her flesh. She gave Ragnar half a smile. "I've been outside the walls for far too long. I have forgotten all my manners. You probably don't approve of eating spiders."

"I'm not shocked by anything you do."

"I believe that." She put her breast to her mouth and licked a drip of water from her nipple. "I think I could do lots of things to excite you, but you're right you are a hard man to shock. The fact is I've been expecting you Ragnar. Did you know that today you will be charged with treason?"

Ragnar looked around for the twins to see if they had overheard, but they were nowhere to be seen.

"Don't worry about them Ragnar. Come, we can talk more intimately inside."

His eyes followed her every movement, the way her long hair tickled her spine, the way her hips swung, the way water dripped down the crack of her ass.

The doors to the abbey slid aside and he entered her chambers. She reclined on her settee, her legs slightly akimbo unashamed of her sex and its hairy crown.

"What desire would you want to fulfill if you knew death was imminent, Ragnar?"

Ragnar studied the back of his hand. "What game is this? Whatever it is, I don't want to play."

"Oh, it's much too late for that. Do you remember the first time you came to me here? You were only a child and your mother brought you for consecration. I refused, at first."

Ragnar tried to recall but this timeless being was always the same, always conniving, always manipulating.

"I saw your death that day, Ragnar."

"Death and temptation, that is a strange combination, even for you Scion."

"Are you tempted? Are you really?"

"I've never heard of you taking a lover. You're the most powerful woman in Galleria; it would be an honor."

"An honor? I was hoping for more than that."

"Where is Terra?"

"Your sister, that's the crux of this sordid plot, isn't it? The night those legs parted... Well, it's no use there is no taking back what is done."

"I know that better than anyone."

"You don't know, but you will. Landrey failed to kill Riccard. Riccard has reached Thermica. You slept with his betrothed; he is raising an army to avenge his honor. In the jungle, Landrey got turned; he serves a new mistress now. But that's not all, this mistress, this Queen from across the corridor has come to put her monsters in order, our destruction is now her priority."

"What are you saying?"

"Landrey will offer Terra to this new Queen."

"Where are they? Why have you wasted so much time in telling me?"

"Landrey will open the North Gate. Every creeper for a hundred leagues will flood into Galleria."

Ragnar put the tip of his sword over her heart. "This is treason, you were pledged to serve. You betrayed us. Why didn't you speak sooner?"

"The day of your consecration, I told your mother this hour would come. I told her you were accursed."

"I won't kill you. No matter what lies you tell. I won't kill you."

"Make your own fate, accursed one, choose to try to save your city or your sister. "