“Do we really need to waste a draught on him?” Vergil cradled the burnt spider in his arms, holding it as he would have a child. It was an oddly sickening sight, but at least the critter was still alive. A few drops of Sil’s draught brought it back up to its feet.

Odd that. It didn’t normally work on animals.

“Next time, cut his bloody head off and be done with the deed. I’ve seen overripe fruit looking better falling from the tree.” She forced open the shattered remains of Ludwig’s mouth and poured the accelerant down his throat. “Since you’ve left him marginally alive, I want to understand what the blazes he’s been thinking.”

The healing mixture worked wonderfully fast to restore some of the damage the boy had wrought. Not the teeth. She expected the old man had swallowed those.

“I—”

Vergil hesitated with whatever he’d meant to say while she dug out the smelling salts. Fresh scarring on his face made him look older, though the bashfulness remained. It made for a rather comedic contrast. Suited him.

“Out with it, Vergil. We don’t have all night.”

“I wanted to kill him. With my own hands. I think I would’ve if you hadn’t stopped me.”

“Good. Next time use the axe. Nothing worse than talking to the man you put on death’s door.”

“You’re not angry with me?”

“I’m disappointed you rushed in headlong. Didn’t I teach you about delayed detonations?”

“…No?”

Oh bugger. Tummy would have her hide. “Ah. Well, lesson learned I suppose.”

She untied the pouch and shoved it under Ludwig’s nose. The bugger could sleep when he was dead, a prospect that could be close at hand if she didn’t find a use for him. If he was truly unconscious or pretending, the stench of the thing brought him up coughing.

Tallah smashed his nose into a red smear to add to the splotches of drying blood already marring his beard.

“I thought you wanted to talk to him.” Vergil helped the spider climb up to its perch on his shoulder.

“You don’t get to have all the fun. Morning to you, Professor.” She shook Ludwig until he stopped his mewling. “Fancy another try at killing me?”

He stared up at her, eyes wide, pure hatred on his face. “Monster,” he lisped. “Aberration!”

“A bit late to try and flirt with me, Professor.” She hauled him up by the lapels of his coat. Vergil had taken the backpack. “You should know I don’t take kindly to betrayal. Luckily, I have a use for you. Where were you headed?”

He glared and his mouth faded into a white line of displeasure. A flash of fire on his coat got a reaction of horror. She could spend a long time roasting him alive until she got everything she needed from him. But time was in short supply.

“I suggest you talk to me. Or what you accuse me of...” She allowed both Christina and Bianca to speak through her throat at once. “We’re going to do to you.”

The look of a man about to piss himself in abject horror. That got every shade of terror out of him along with an overflow of unintelligible words. She shook him back into coherence.

“I was to find the girl,” he finally said.

“We were already doing that, you daft bastard. Why take off on me? Why even attack me?”

“Because you’re a monster. I know what you did. I know what you are.”

“In a city of monsters, you thought it wise to attack the one that actually cared to keep you alive?” She shook him again and grinned. “And you know bugger all. Catharina always believed in using every advantage, dirty trick and unsavoury tactic to achieve her goals. I doubt you’ve ever divested yourself of her philosophy. Why do you want the girl to yourself?”

“To kill her.”

Vergil moved behind her, a looming presence that quite fit the man he was growing into. The hatred flowing off him was nearly palpable. For a heartbeat she wondered if not to give Ludwig over for another pummelling. The old man’s eyes widened as he stared over her shoulder.

“What does it matter to you, old man? Why all of this?” If the city and the story held any more surprises in store, she wanted them aired out before she assaulted that webbed fortress. Time washed over them all and every moment she tarried was one more where Sil had to handle herself alone. “One more half-answer, Ludwig, and I’ll let the boy finish the job. Speak plainly. You’ve lied to us all the way here. I will be lied to no longer.”

A pale tongue licked swollen lips, “She must die. She’s the last link.”

“To what?”

“To my failure.”

The stupidity of it all was staggering. She’d wanted to think better of the old bastard, at least for gratitude for the time he’d kept her secrets. And yet…

Has Vergil hit him too hard? Christina shared her incredulity. Has he gone insane?

More likely they’d never known him otherwise.

“All of this, just to… what? Hide a crime nobody even knew existed?”

“She lived. The girl lived.” Blood drooled by the side of his mouth as he hissed the words. “She knew. The last to know, and she wouldn’t die. Years spent watching that pendant and waiting for it to fall. It never did.”

“What harm could she do you?!” Vergil sounded affronted, pacing behind them. She agreed with his sentiment. “What danger was she to you? She saved your life after you failed her. You should be begging for her forgiveness. And I’m certain you wouldn’t deserve it.”

At least to Vergil’s words Ludwig had the decency to flinch. Tallah considered if she should throw him over the balcony into the waiting dark. Seemed too simple an end.

“All the girl said is true then?” Both she and Vergil already knew the answer to that. The image of the mutated girl still burned fresh in her mind. Whatever Ludwig had to say for himself wouldn’t matter in the least.

You’re going to hand him over to her, aren’t you? Christina approved.

May she choke on him, Bianca followed. I’m well enough to help again if you need me to.

Anna kept her own council, a surly presence cowering somewhere in the depths of Tallah’s mindscape. She grew stronger each heartbeat and soon there would come the inevitable confrontation. Tallah hoped against it.

Little suggested that Erisa may give Sil in exchange for the old man. Still, if she threw the blighter at whatever fresh horror waited in the castle of webs, maybe she’d have enough time to grab the healer and make a run for it. Fighting the girl in her enraged state wasn’t likely to end well.

“Well, old man, I have good news for you.” She pushed him to his feet, away from her, and snapped her fingers. Five fireflies flitted into existence around Ludwig’s head. “You can have your chance at killing the girl. Just don’t expect my help for it.”

Vergil growled and rubbed his hands, dried blood flaking off. What got the fire lit under his arse, Tallah didn’t care to know.

“Lad, you’re making a mistake,” Ludwig lisped at the boy. “She’s evil. You don’t understand what she meddles with.”

“Shut up.” He turned to her. “Give me my helmet, please.”

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“Out of the question.”

“I need my helmet, Tallah. It’s mine. You gave it to me. Now give it back.”

“It’s not safe. You’re already polluted. Why risk more?”

Ludwig looked as if he prepared to bolt. Tallah brought the fireflies closer to his head, the threat obvious. She wouldn’t be opposed to blowing his head off then and there. For now, she needed Vergil sorted. The boy didn’t look like he’d back down from her glare. Part of her was proud of him. Another part wanted to punch some sense back into his head.

“I can be useful with the helmet. If I had it earlier, Sil wouldn’t have been taken.” He gestured towards the vista waiting for them. “I can help you fight your way out when we get Sil back.”

She wanted to smack him. Tried to. But he leaned back and caught her by the wrist. Stronger than she knew him. Vergil was coming into his own quite handsomely, his recent near-death neatly shrugged off.

“You don’t need it. You’ve been doing well enough so far without it.”

“I almost died. This old coot nearly blew my head off.”

“And yet here you are, alive and well.” She pulled her wrist away from his grip. “Leave it be, Vergil. I don’t need—”

“Please, Tallah!” He was on the verge of tears, whatever backbone he’d relied on crumbling under his insistence. “If something happens to Sil, I’ll never forgive myself.”

Just give him the stupid thing. He’s already got the dwarf in his head. I don’t expect the posession may get any worse. Both ghosts offered an impatient huff. He’s getting as bad as the hen.

Tallah sighed and accepted Christina’s wisdom. She’d destroy the thing once it was no longer useful at the end of this miserable misadventure. For now, they needed to get moving and the boy’s hysteria was wearing her patience thin. A quick dip in a rend later, she handed over the absurd piece of armour.

“Wear it proud, if you value what’s left of your mind so little.”

“It’s not that.” Vergil stuffed the helmet over his head, ears still proving an issue. At least it hid the scar tissue of his recent burns. “Sil trusted me. Once we reach her, she’ll power me. Horvath and I will do anything to get her out safely.”

“Are you trying to make her lover jealous, Vergil?” She grinned but he was even more resolute.

“I’m trying to get her back to her lover in one piece. I owe it to them both.”

Admirable sentiment but time wasted away. She turned to Ludwig and marched him out of the destroyed room, wary of any other spidery surprises. Warning the old man against trying anything stupid would be useless. Given the girl’s hatred for the blighter, she’d be quite as happy with a headless corpse as with the git himself.

Heading down proved uncontested. Beneath the thick webs, something was different this close to the ends of the city. Knickknacks littered the living spaces and the rooms were smaller, less open, more human-sized. There were many bridges spanning the various gaps, some with handrails off which spider webs fluttered in the strange underground breeze.

“I hope you’re taking stock of all you’re seeing, Vergil,” she said as they made their way down a steep incline of stairs. “We’ll have a chat once everything’s said and done here.”

“If we make it out alive you mean?”

“You’ve spent entirely too much time alone with Sil if you’re picking up on her fatalism.”

Ludwig gaped as the… what did Vergil call it? The spaceship engine grew into view the closer they got, a cavernous construct that beggared her imagination. Even the ghosts observed in fascination.

How had humans built something like that? The biggest construction yards of Calabran couldn’t even hope to fit in half of that thing’s gargantuan size.

If that was an engine, how large would the rest of the ship have been? It would’ve put Aztroa to shame. An entire city floating in the void among the stars, this new detail far removed from what she’d imagined out of Sil’s recollection.

She nearly missed a step close to the end.

Spider corpses littered the way, crushed down by the fury of Erisa’s passing. Some still twitched and Luna let out a low whimper as they stepped onto the first strut leading to the lair.

It resembled a wasp nest in how it had been built, now that she was close enough to understand what she’d seen from afar. The structure connected to both walls of the ravine via bridges, and hung suspended in front of the gargantuan engine. By what means, she could only guess.

An array of cables, tubes and chains led from it to the engine, their size mind-boggling. And one was clearly an aqueduct, water flowing down from the city to wash over the nest from above. It dripped like rain, seeping among the webs.

Bianca offered a mental image of the earlier embassy, at the other end of the city, and how a waterfall would’ve looked washing over it. It would’ve been a striking greeting into this place, with winged beings fluttering to and fro.

“They were studying the thing?” Vergil mused. “Do you think the Grefe builders found Panacea’s crashed ship and brought part of it here for study?”

It was a decent assumption, though it failed in bridging any of the gaps in their knowledge. “Or here were the survivors of the crash,” she said. “We’re millennia too late to know anything for sure. I’m hoping the library would have some answers.”

To Ludwig’s puzzled expression, she added, “Had you been less of an imbecile, Professor, you may have joined in our discoveries. Yes, this place has history you can’t even conceive.”

I don’t believe the irony escapes you, Christina chided her.

It did not, no. She’d have to unpack it after Sil was safe and they were at least on their way out of this horrible place. Ludwig’s single-minded pursuit of his goal had made him blind to everything else he might have gained otherwise. A lifetime spent under the harsh light of obsession.

Look where it got him…

“That’s peculiar.”

Tallah stopped dead as Vergil looked to the engine.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard two more ominous words coming from you, boy. What is it?”

“Argia warns me of a radiation leak.”

They were halfway across the first bridge to the castle, their way so far uncontested but for the many corpses littering the narrow passage. The way was solid, but their feet sank into the web with each step, making for slow, difficult passage.

“And what’s that supposed to be? I assume it’s bad.”

“Very bad. Makes you sick. Argia can’t actually tell how how intense it is, or what kind, just that it’s there.”

“Best we hurry then.”

See to your mission, Anna said, her tone as displeased as ever. I am observing what you’re bathed in. You will not die of it. Not quickly.

Lovely.

My attention is split. Do not rely on me much. I don’t trust our old colleague to behave up to the end. Christina injected the thought straight among Tallah’s worries and concerns. They were, on this, of a mind.

She harried Ludwig for a faster crossing. The old man walked resolutely, looking about as miserable as she wanted him feeling. Her fireflies orbited close to his head, a reminder of what may happen if he took any risk. Maybe he understood she was marching him to the gallows. Maybe not. But she and Erisa would likely come to more blows and a distraction would serve.

Unless the bastard threw in with the girl and then all sorts of contingencies would be needed.

Spiders erupted out from beneath the webs close to the end of their journey. A glance at the closest one revealed a different beast than those she’d been fighting and killing up to there.

What kinds of beasts even were these?

“Are those breasts?” Vergil asked, as struck as she. His eyes would’ve picked the details better than hers.

“Try and focus.” She ignited fireballs. “Those claws are far more interesting.”

They also had arms with grasping fingers. A terrible melding of human and arachnid, these were the stuff of fever nightmares, coherent in their danger unlike the things dead in the pit. One emerged right next to her, grasping her trousers with clawed fingers as it drew itself out. Long, serrated claws would’ve dug into her if not for Vergil’s vigilance.

He struck the thing across the head with a sickening crunch of armour meeting bones. It staggered and allowed her the breath to burn it to ashes. These screeched when dying, the sound like a child’s wailing.

How did they even get worse than before?!

More followed and the way became contested. They skittered and crawled across the webs, the nest disgorging them in a tide of black flesh and chitin. She fired on them with impunity, trusting the dampness of the place would keep it from exploding into flames. Ludwig fought like a man possessed. She wouldn’t have him out of her sight.

Step by step, they gained ground, the assault on them halfhearted at best. As terrible as these new apparitions were, they held little surprise for her now. With the old man not as useless as he’d been before—beneath the mask of cowardice the old soldier still knew a thing or two about conducting himself in battle—and Vergil fighting with a zeal she’d never expected from him, the aberrations were pushed back or thrown off the webs.

“The false mother is distracted now,” Luna chirped, its voice coming in staccato bursts. “This is not her entire strength. Oldest tried coming here with the Kin. Most were devoured then.”

That bode ill. Whatever had Erisa paying attention inside could not be in their best interest. Luna’s warning doubled Tallah’s flames. She had their measure even as her fire raged out of control, a shifting, breathing beast of its own she hadn’t even realised had grown. Ludwig and Vergil hung back as she pushed the wall of heat forward to incinerate whatever moved.

She forced it to the edges of the nest, running to keep up with the devastation before more creatures rose from underneath. Was this stupid? Running into a fortified enemy position while allowing minions to box them in?

Of course it was. But what choice did she really have?

Focus, Tallah, Christina warned. Your mind’s wandering. Reel it in.

Ahead, as she’d grown accustomed, where the flames dispersed and only smoke lingered, Rhine watched her with dull, dead eyes. Behind her, one of Erisa’s ugliest beasts, another hunter as before, slithered out of a dark passage.

Spiders regrouped in the back of her flames. The hunter waited ahead. She donned the misshapen mask, ignited her lances, and attacked.