Chapter Text
Embers traveled from the molten rivers of the Deepdocks and found their way into the verdant lands of the Farfields, where hardy greenery and stone stood cobbled together as a home for those creatures that yet survived in Pharloom’s wilderness. The rumbling of the land could be heard near the edge of the Deepdocks alongside the crackling of fire and the bubble of molten rock and metal. This was the norm here alongside the occasional rustle of a beast wandering the foliage, but many of the beasts today, both peaceful and violent, sought refuge as a discordant song echoed throughout the biome. Closer and closer toward the discordant song of battle, one could see small lines of silk flashing through the air. And then they could be seen among the flowing silk and foliage. The pair focused on their dance of pale light. Needle and pin clashing; then slicing and piercing through the air. Yells and growls of anger and frustration. Giggles and laughter unbound, joining the fury as the battle raged on. A break in the duel came, and standing there were the two combatants with their weapons in hand. Hornet, the needle-wielding hunter from lands far from Pharloom. Garbed in a fine red cloak with a white mask covering her face, extending upward and ending in two points. Opposite to her was Lace. Garbed in silken white with face of black and eye bright and full of delight.
“My, this dance of ours is much more enjoyable than the last, but you seem to have slowed down quite a bit. Do you tire so easily, little spider? Worry not, you’ll soon have all the rest you desire,” Lace said through giggles and sighs.
Hornet narrowed her gaze and brought her needle up to point it at Lace, “It is true that I tire, but I can continue this for as long as you can. What I tire of is instead of this constant back and forth. An endless prattle like blood spilling endlessly from a festering wound.” She then scoffed, “Even should I beat you, you’ll just be back again, and again, and I have no desire to kill you.” And while brandishing her needle, she ended her statement with a sigh, “But I will kill you if I must.”
Lace laughed, “Is that right? You’ll kill me? It matters not whether you wish to or not, you’ll need to if you wish to survive. That is simply how this place is.”
And Hornet lowered her needle as Lace lowered her pin. The sharpened tip of the golden weapon remained down at an angle, and Hornet brought her weapon down entirely at her side, thinking that the battle was over. Despite her words, perhaps Lace would rather continue this at another time. Lace lunged and from that lowered guard, made a quick swipe through the air. She had reacted far too slowly, and the pointed tip of the pin caught her shoulder, earning a splatter of blood as her shell opened for Lace’s weapon. Hornet let out a hiss of breath as she felt the sting of the pin cut through her cloak and her hide. Lace drew her pin up and then thrust to continue the onslaught, but Hornet had recovered and hopped to the side to avoid the glinting tip stained with her life. The wound was shallow enough and did not prevent her from moving, did not prevent her from responding with a quick swipe of her needle back into place. The agile Lace’s lunge had been done with too much eagerness, and even as she moved back, Hornet’s needle caught the girl’s side, cutting a clean slice through the silk that garbed her.
Lace cried out for a moment and clutched onto her side, her laughter then ringing out as she hopped back a safe distance away, “It was my mistake to think that you wouldn’t have a response to that, but still too shallow to gut me.”
They stared at one another as silk gathered from the air around their wounds and clothing, mending their bodies before both of them stood up straight with their weapons at the ready. This time, Hornet did not wait for her to act. The pain was fresh in her mind, and she did not waste time as she surged forward. Lace danced out of the way of her first swipe, but it had been a faint. She threw her needle toward Lace, and again the daughter made of silk darted out of the way. The line of silk she had attached to her needle pulled tight, and Hornet surged forward. She could have kicked her needle directly into Lace’s surprised face, but instead she rushed past her needle and drove her foot into Lace’s chest. Lace hit the ground, her pin falling away as Hornet landed while picking up her own weapon. She stepped forward and brought her needle up to press against Lace’s cheek, turning the flat so that the blade neared her neck.
“Yield,” Hornet said without emotion.
Lace simply stared up at her, and again she found herself distracted. This time, by her own thoughts. Lace was simply a daughter spun of silk, of artificial means though she looked like any other bug in Pharloom, albeit a bit younger. The girl seemed to have some sort of grudge against her own mother, but then again, could Hornet really blame her? The one who had given life to Lace seemingly sought others to fulfill the role of daughter, thus ignoring her duty as mother. A lonely thing that wandered as a ghost of what this kingdom once worshiped and looked up to. Killing those who stood in her way. A determination and desire of unknown origins.
“Don’t look at me like that,” said Lace interupting her thoughts.
The girl’s voice was devoid of the laughter and twisted joy of their bout. When she did not turn her head away or change her expression, Lace lunged past her weapon and tackled Hornet. She cursed her own ineptitude as they rolled along the stone and tall grass, as Lace straddled her and tried to grab onto her neck. She had the girl’s wrists in her own hand. Hornet was easily stronger than Lace, while the girl seemed to hold some sort of advantage in speed. Either way, they were both more evenly matched in this scenario due to the exhaustion creeping through her shell. Maybe if she could break out of this senseless grappling, she could slap the girl silly and see if it would knock some sense into her. Deep into the struggle, both of them paused as their senses picked up something wrong. The stones beneath them rattled fiercely before cracking open. The earth swallowed them both. Hornet had a distinct memory of being punched in the face before the shadows consumed them. When they hit the ground, she felt every part of her body crying out, but she did not yell. Instead, she satisfied herself by bringing a leg up to knee Lace in the side. Much to her satisfaction, she heard an expelling of air from the other. Less satisfying was the sound of bone, wood, and rope snapping around them. Confined in a tight space with a brat atop her, and it was too dark to see. How wonderful. It was even better when she felt their new cage being moved and could hear the language of the Skarr being muttered around them. Wonderful indeed.
Her needle had gone missing. She still had a bit of silk, but the battle with Lace had left her weakened, as well as the fall. Any tools that she had been carrying had been used to defend herself, so now she found herself in a position where she could not easily defend herself. These Skarr were whispering to one another, and she soon prepared to feel the sting of their weapons through the cage. Except that never came. She turned her head and could see their shapes moving as their prison rattled. The Skarr wore masks atop their heads but kept their faces mostly exposed. Ants with powerful builds, and some of them had pretty wings. She wished that she could converse with them, but she did not know the language, and even if she could, she could very easily see it. The silk glinting in their eyes. The pale light that seemed to glow from deep within that she could spot if she concentrated hard enough. All of them were afflicted with the influence of the pale being atop the citadel.
Lace hadn’t said a word ever since they had fallen, but she could feel the other against her body since they were in such a confined space. There was no snarky comment. No threat to her life. There wasn’t even much movement either. Hornet herself did not feel like saying anything, and certainly did not feel like moving, but she felt a small pang of concern. Very small. Perhaps the other had fallen on an odd spot and was more hurt than she was letting on. With what silk she had left in her shell, she could help, but only if Lace accepted it.
Quietly, she asked without looking, “Silence ill fits one such as yourself. Have you come to harm from so little a fall?”
Instead of a giggle or laughter, she was met with a hum, “Ah? I barely heard you over my own thoughts. Your age must make your voice quiet and feeble when not in the middle of shouting.” And before she could retort, Lace added with a sigh, “I was just wondering which one of us they would make the lucky bride. You or I. Surely, I’d make the better prize for some delinquent husband. Then again, they may just kill us both instead of having their fun. These folk are strange like that, it seems.”
“You’re the strange one entertaining such morbid thoughts. Speak not of such things and instead think of how we might escape with our shells intact,” she hissed. Although when she finished lashing out, she found herself feeling foolish for reacting in such a way, considering they were both stuck regardless, so instead of spending time with useless lectures she let herself sag against the floor of the cage as she muttered, “Besides, pretty as you are, I think I am a far greater prize if only for one thing. Can you guess? It is not my silk.”
For a second, Hornet thought that her lashing out had silenced Lace for good, until she heard the girl whisper, “And what might that be, little spider?”
Hornet sniffed, “My cloak matches the fine red sheen of their shells.”
A chuckle came from Lace. A singular breathy sound that echoed between them and the tunnel they were being pulled through. She found herself feeling a little bit lighter, if only because she felt that she did not have to survive both her captor’s ire and the ire of the scion of silk beside her. Perhaps she could even broker a deal with Lace, but right now was not the time. Poor taste in jokes aside, it would not help to fight with her fellow captive. It wouldn’t help to get angry either. Wasting energy on anything other than survival would not do, and so she remained still and kept her mouth shut, hoping that Lace would do the same.
The silence between them that came afterward could be considered a truce in many ways. She did not have to suffer the barbs and laughter of the brat, and Lace did not have to suffer Hornet’s stinging retorts. Both of them sat up as best as they could, back to back now as they looked out toward the barely lit expanse. They were still somewhere in the Farfields, but it appeared that they found themselves in a bug-made tunnel. The further they went, the more the tunnel opened up with a great set of bones and shellwork holding everything together. Mushrooms grew from top to bottom, and she could see Skarr tending to the fungus carefully as if this tunnel served an agricultural purpose as well. Perhaps to supply settlements, or perhaps simply as extra rations for those traveling through. On occasion, she could hear the Skarr speaking to one another, and again she could not understand a single word, so she tried to simply tune it out with her own thoughts.
It was down this tunnel that they found themselves being pushed through into another chamber. This cage of theirs was shoved through a door, and they were put in what appeared to be a makeshift cell. Of course, they had not been freed from their cage, but the cell appeared to have bars of a much sturdier material. With that done, the Skarr that had captured them left, leaving only two to guard the entrance of the chamber. Their weapons were gone. There was no use mourning her own needle. She’d be able to find a replacement, or with luck, be able to find her weapon once more, once they were free from this place. Even still, there was another problem that needed to be addressed now. Neither of them had struggled much, neither of them had attacked one another in the small confines of the cage, and the silence between them had been pleasant. Now, however, she needed to hear it in words. She needed to know whether or not they were going to work together.