Chapter 6: Chapter 6

“Not harshing the plan,” Gordon said.  “But why ain’t something chewing my leg right now.”

Protius stood next to him, arms crossed, staring into the forest.  “This really is quite peculiar.”

“It’s not like to you complain about not having trouble,” Chandra said.  “Have you finally matured?”

“So funny,” Gordon said.  He stuck his tongue out at her.  “Just’d prefer to know what’ll be biting my ass off.  Feels like an evil spirit’s looming over us.”

While the rest of his team waited a fair distance from the tree line, Hitori had advanced to the forest’s edge.  The canopy was thick, and it cast a hard shadow over the short grass.  He closed his eyes, focusing on his hearing.

A slow rustle of leaves in the wind.  The quiet pop of sand shifting in the steady beat of the noon sun.  A distant chirp from what was hopefully a smaller type of insect.

“Well, this was pointless.”

Hitori was about to turn back, when, suddenly, he froze.

Here little spiders, I’ve come back to play,

With five tiny birds to carry away,

Bring me your venom, your fangs, and your thread,

Revenge for your king by the blood of his dread.

“Now the best time to be daydreaming?”

“What?” Hitori said.  He shook his head.

“Been staring at trees for five minutes,” Gordon said.  “Thought you might of been mind controlled.”  He laughed.

“And you were so worried about your friend you were willing to brave a perilous trap to rescue him?”

“Nah.”  Gordon held up a tiny strand of dry grass.  He grinned.

“You are going to be a terrible influence on Elvira.”  Hitori turned away from the forest.  Gordon hopped to his side.

“More like the best influence.”

Hitori rolled his eyes.

“What were you humming?” Gordon asked.  “Don’t think I ever heard it.”

“Was I hum—“ Hitori was interrupted by a flash of red light wizzing past his ear.  Instinctively, he dived forward, barely escaping the blast wave from the expanding fireball.

He rolled and landed facing the forest.  Standing before him was a set of massive spiders, staring him down with clusters of black eyes.  These were a variety of metafauna known as Canopy Weavers, so called because of their tactic of ambushing from the dark ceiling of their forest homes.  The ones from Wychwood were especially dangerous.

Their legs were long spindles of jagged spikes, stretched out from squashed, bulbous bodies.  Two clicked and clacked as they sprung to their feet. Behind them, a third spider bore the brunt of the impact, charred to a crisp.  Hitori drew his sword, his eyes scanning left and right for Gordon.

He caught a blur to his right, and jumped back, adding a few body lengths between him and the spiders.  He spotted a flicker of Gordon’s flailing arm as a Weaver dragged him into the tree line.

He needed to regroup.

Hitori turned towards his party, ready to rally them after their stolen teammate.  Unfortunately, they had their own problems.

Chandra was wrestling with the jumbled legs of a pair of Weavers, while Elvira was keeping one at bay with a flurry of clumsy slashes.  Another pair of spiders was dragging away a bundle of white thread.

Oh my, whatever shall we do?

Hitori needed to get back in a hurry.  He set his sights on what he assumed was the trapped form of Protius, and prepared a Blitz Tech.  He’d have to use two to cover the distance.

Before he could release, Hitori felt an impact on his back.  He tried to quickly spin around, but found something attached to his armor, a line of white thread.  The fine strands on the end were knitting themselves into the fabric of his armor.

He didn’t react in time, and was barely able to process the moment when the Weaver responsible whipped him in.  He did, at least, keep his sword and himself oriented towards his opponent.  It looked like there were three more waiting alongside it.

He was still holding his tech, and the spider had to tuck its body low to the ground to get enough leverage.  As soon as he landed, Hitori released his pending Blitz.

The Canopy Weaver had not expected that, and took the full force of the tackle.  Although the creatures were quite large, their bodies were very delicate, lighter than a human.  It was tossed aside, the finishing slash shattered its exoskeleton and sent the creature spinning so hard several legs broke off.

Not bad, I suppose.  But will it be enough?

Hitori wasted no time cutting the attached webbing, and sprinted towards a space in between the two remaining spiders.  This would be a great time for his Dash Tech, if only he had it loaded.

Instead Hitori was going to have to use his Longstrider Tech.  A single run would take him almost twice past the truck, but he couldn’t afford to get stuck in where the Weavers had the advantage.

Hitori barely caught a glimpse of Elvira tumbling to the ground as he shot by.  She seemed to have taken one of the Weaver’s venomous bites, which could lock up someone’s Vital Net, effectively paralyzing them.  He was pleased to see at least one set of crumpled spider legs, but couldn’t find any sign of Chandra.

As soon as his tech stopped Hitori spun around and sprinted towards his team as fast as he could.  In the distance he could see some the spiders maneuvering.  Could Chandra be on her feet?

As he got closer it seemed they were only forming up.  There were about a dozen, and they were fanning out, ready to attack from all angles.

You know, if you ran a short distance further, you could have used Longstrider to make it back in a fraction the time.

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There wasn’t anything left for Hitori to do.  He had no chance of winning, not with odds like this.

But he couldn’t abandon his friends.

… Reminds me of him.

As he approached the group of Canopy Weavers, Hitori prepared another Blitz Tech.  He released it as soon as he was in range.

He found himself floating in midair?  No, not quite.  He was moving slowly towards his target.  Something was tugging on his hand.

It’s not time to die yet, little bird.

 

---

 

I had a lot of questions about the giant spider standing before me, the foremost of which being, ‘What shadowed pit did he crawl out of to get here?’

“I was born in this forest you call Wychwood, but it was during your kind’s war on my home that I ascended into this greater form,” Wickham said.  Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he projected it into my head.  Given humans lacked psychic transceivers, I didn’t see how that was possible.  In any case, the monstrous arachnid spoke in a vaguely singsong voice, contrasted by deep, chittering undertones.

“You mean the Tag Hunters?”  I opted to speak out loud, unsure I liked his ability to read my thoughts.

“Butchers, plunderers, call them what you will,” he said  “Theirs was the crucible in which this gift was forged.”

“Then you’ve ruled this forest for the last hundred years?” I said.

“I have spun the thread of fate to my benefit.”  He sounded terribly pleased with himself.

“That’s nice and all, but I don’t see what that has to do with me.”

“I was curious if you carried my ability as well.”

“You mean being psychic?” I said.

“It is not a gift of the mind, but the web,” he said.  “Though it seems you are merely a strange kind of bird.”

“Well, okay, glad we got that sorted out.  Guess I’ll grab my classmate there”—I motioned towards a large bundle of silk—“and get out of your hair.  I’d appreciate it if you didn’t cause any more trouble.”

“The bait served its purpose,” Wickham said, “save perhaps as a snack, but we’ve only begun to explore your usefulness.”

I sighed, drawing a pair of straight swords from my waist.  They drew tight into my palms.  “I don’t know why I hoped this could be easy.”

 

---

 

Hitori was spent.  That was the best way he could describe it.  Every scrap had been used up.  Traded in.  Exchanged for services rendered.

And for what services exactly?  Apparently a dozen dead spiders and a few moments rest.  He collapsed into the nearest clump of grass that was still standing.  It looked like the earth had taken a pair of shears to its own hair in frustration.  Not that Hitori could blame it.

He was feeling pretty frustrated himself.

“Well, shit.”

Yeah, that summed it up nicely.  He should call for help.

There’s no time!

He needed a moment anyway.  He pulled a small circular disc from his satchel and began manipulating glowing symbols on its surface.

You think those… people will be any help, if they can even make it in time?

Hitori took a deep breath, and fell to his back.  He put the communicator away.  His Vital Net dutifully informed him it was currently out of the business of fixing things, and would he please be kind enough not to die for a couple hours while it was recharging.

Well, he didn’t have a couple hours, but he did have a handful of Dragon Stims.

“Hah, what if there’s six drakes my ass,” Hitori said.  “You’ll be glad I was so stingy when you aren’t tomorrow’s breakfast.”

Hitori hopped to his feet, then grabbed a vial from an armored pouch on his waist.  It had a small black cap, and the contents glowed with virescent light.  The cover popped off with a flick of his thumb, revealing a surface covered in jagged points. 

He stabbed the sharp end into a patch of exposed skin on his arm.  The vial flashed, and then rapidly faded into a murky green.  Tendrils of silver spiraled in the depths, the Stim utterly spent.  With the right equipment and skills it was possible to leave it able to be recharged later.

Hitori tossed the vial aside.  There was no way he would have had time to learn how to do all that.

The Stim fully restored his Vital Energy, and for a brief moment more than tripled his total reserves.  Unfortunately, he shed all the excess in a matter of seconds, his Vital Net nowhere near dense or robust enough to handle it all.

Hitori tried not to measure the loss in marks—the currency on Esper—but he remembered the cost of a Dragon Stim dwarfed the average Seitojin’s monthly income.  It would take a decent chunk out of his own future earnings to buy another.  He took a deep breath.

“Alright team,” Hitori said.  “I need you to do me a favor and keep not dying a while longer.”

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