Azjol-Nerub, Part II - The Hunter and the Spider
"Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope," Rainbow stammered, retreating hastily from the edge, eyes darting anywhere but the spider. The others stared down at Hadronox with a mixture of awe, disbelief and horror.
"Big bug!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"That's your 'shield'?" Twilight asked incredulously.
"Released five years ago, when our lands fell to the Lich King... he was instilled with two burning desires: to avenge our honored dead by slaying the traitor king, and to reclaim our lost lands. Since taking up his post, to this very day, he has never once allowed the Scourge to pass through this cavern. In order to get around him, they have been forced to burrow through alternate routes, much delaying their relentless advance into our sacred kingdom.
"He is also, currently, in our way," A'zak added. "And you will need to remove him from it if we are to progress deeper into our kingdom."
"There is no alternative, so it must be done," Kilix agreed, though he sounded a little more resigned than A'zak - who, for all his apparent pride in the giant spider and its success, seemed almost eager at the prospect of its death.
"You expect us to fight something that big?"
"Yes," came A'zak's blunt reply. "You have no way to get out of these caverns if you do not."
"Y'know," Rainbow started, "I don't remember anything being said about giant spiders when we signed up for the army." The paladin had turned a remarkable shade of pale green, and was doing her utmost to look anywhere but down.
"Do you not like spiders, Dashie?" Pinkie's question was almost a little too innocent, given her friend's blatant horror.
A sense of horror that certainly wasn't shared by the other plate-wearer in the group, as Memoria calmly knelt by the edge of the bridge and peered over it, getting a good look at the creature below. "It doesn't look as big as Maexnna," she muttered, her voice too low - and muffled further by her helm - for any of the others to hear her clearly. "She was big."
"Did you say something, Memoria?" Twilight asked.
The death knight straightened up and looked back toward the group. "I can take this one, no problem."
"I hope you can," the nerubian replied. "You are unlikely to be able to succeed against Anub'arak if you cannot."
"Memoria—" Twilight began to say, but the other was already in motion.
"Don't interfere," she snapped, tearing her blades from their scabbards and sprinting over the bridge, her boots crashing a heavy beat as they pounded into the stone. She jumped down onto the thick strands of web, briefly tested her footing, and then raced further below.
Rainbow lifted her hammer over her shoulder and looked at Twilight uncomfortably. "We're going after her, then?"
"...No."
"No?" the paladin echoed, surprised. It wasn't the answer she'd expected.
Twilight shook her head. "Not yet. I'd rather she waited, but we're still in a position here to help her if she really needs us, as long as she doesn't go too far down. I'm concerned we might get in her way if she's fighting a creature of that size, and I don't doubt that she'll be able to retreat if she really needs us."
She'd seen Memoria in action multiple times, now - against foes as low as a throng of skeletons and as mighty as a blue dragon, and felt that she was beginning to get an idea of the death knight's strength. They could afford to acquiesce to her demand to fight this fight alone - could gather valuable information from their vantage point above - while still having the ability to intervene, if things were to go south.
"All right... if you say so."
Several Scourge spotted the death knight's approach and moved to intercept her on the web, shambling across where it had formed a flat surface on which it was easy to stand. Four were nerubians similar to A'zak and Kilix, but the other two foes were much larger, not far from Karagos in height, and more beetle-like in shape compared with their spider-like cousins.
Faster than the lumbering brutes and deadlier than their lesser kin, Memoria carved through them like a hot knife through butter. Black and purple ichor sprayed out from the wounds she inflicted, and the nerubians expired with rattling hisses, quiet to the last.
It was almost laughable: how easy she made it look, how little time it took her to lay them low. How would I and my friends deal with them in her place? Twilight silently wondered.
"This one seems impressive," Kilix said. "I must admit to the efficacy of those touched by the Lich King's might... when they are not fighting against us."
Hadronox shifted as the tide of Scourge slowed, like he understood that something had changed above him. He began making his way up the tunnel, long legs clambering up over the thick cave rock as he sought to reach his larger web. The death knight barreled her way into the Scourge massing at the bottom of the stairs, hacking and slashing at any that came within reach.
The spider rounded the corner, reaching the point where the cave fell away and his web took over - an area that would otherwise just be thin air. He paused, as if surveying the room, taking in the sight of Memoria dealing with the Scourge a short distance away... then shuddered, and burst into a jerking motion that was as breathtaking as it was horrifying. Massive globs of web sprayed out from his spinneret, saturating the entrances that the Scourge were pouring from.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Rainbow groaned.
Fluttershy remained silent, her eyes wide with wonder.
Memoria dispatched the last of the Scourge and stalked toward the great beast, hissing in gleeful anticipation. "Good. I was hoping for a one-on-one. Come, then!"
Whether it could actually understand her or not, the spider answered the death knight's taunt with a glob of poison, rocking backward and shuddering to expel it in such a way that once again caused Rainbow to retch and close her eyes. It washed over Memoria's armour, causing it to scar, hiss and smoke in places, but she otherwise seemed hardly affected.
"You think you can poison me? Let's see how you cope with a little disease!" The runeblade in her left hand flared with frozen power as she raised it towards the spider, and a blast of icy magic smashed into his body. It had been a highly effective attack against both the blue dragonflight on the beach and the Scourge she had cut her way through moments before - but it was much less so against a foe like Hadronox, who was just... so much bigger. He didn't even flinch in response to the attack, in any way that they could observe.
It was as ineffective against him as his poison had been against her.
"This specimen was bred with a resistance to the vile magic of the Lich King," A'zak noted approvingly. "Witness how the death knight's frost leaves hardly a scratch on his body!"
"Fine, then," Memoria growled, clearly frustrated and having worked out herself what A'zak had just told the others. "Melee it is!" She charged across the web, blades held en garde.
Hadronox watched her carefully as she hastened towards him. He took note of the pile of Scourge corpses surrounding her, all slain by her ichor-stained swords. His bestial cunning processed the threat that she posed up close.
He discarded brute force and took a very different approach.
He reached forward with his forelegs as she came within striking distance and rent the web beneath her feet, opening up a woman-sized hole.
Given her momentum, Memoria had no opportunity to stop before she reached it - and fell straight through instead.
"You son of a biiiiiiiiii—" She cried out loud enough that the group was able to hear her even as she fell, her expletive drowned out by distance. She disappeared from their view down a dark hole at the bottom of the cavern and the sound trailed off.
Nobody atop the upper web said anything for a moment.
Oh, whoops, Twilight thought. Maybe we should have backed her up after all... though I'm not sure we could've prevented that from happening.
"Disappointing," A'zak commented at last, while Fluttershy exhaled a guilty little sigh of relief.
"What happened? I wasn't looking," Rainbow said, eyes still firmly shut.
"Was that a big drop?" Pinkie asked.
The nerubian offered a non-committal sound. "There is a deep pool of water at the bottom, and her kind are disgustingly resilient. She likely survived."
"Okay..." Twilight replied. "One problem at a time. We need to reach her, but we need to come up with a new plan first. I don't think fighting him will get us anywhere," she said, and lapsed into thought.
"If you guys let him out, can't you just get him to let us pass while all the undead are blocked off?" Rainbow suggested.
"We were not the ones who released him," A'zak scoffed. "His handlers are all long dead, or undead. We use him here, but we do not control him."
Twilight gestured over to the webs that Hadronox had produced to block the Scourge from entering his lair. "How long will those last?"
"A few hours, typically, before they break through," Kilix said, pointing towards Hadronox again. The spider was slinking slowly down towards the bottom of his web, each leg moving rhythmically in turn. "He will use the time to recover before their next wave attacks."
"Why doesn't he just keep webbing up all the entrances before they break through?"
"The Scourge would only burrow new openings if pushed hard enough to do so. For now, they seek the path of least resistance, hoping to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, and are channeled through the terrain in a way that Hadronox knows and has experience with. Besides, as a result of the instincts instilled in him, I believe he finds fighting the Scourge... enjoyable."
"Any other ways down?" Rainbow suggested.
"There are - but none that will be safe with our current numbers. Certainly not without your death knight."
There was silence again for a few moments as the group puzzled over this information.
Fluttershy looked up from the spider for the first time in several minutes. She turned her gaze to Pinkie, and caught her friend's eye, then nodded, ever so slightly.
Another moment passed, and Pinkie understood. She smiled, and nodded back.
Fluttershy took a deep breath.
"I'll do it," she said. "I'll take care of him."
"Fluttershy..." Not for the first time, Twilight was struck by the remarkable duality of being shocked by something a friend had said... and yet not surprised at all.
Of course, Fluttershy would want to aid a creature like Hadronox. Of course, she would see the animal, the friend yet unmade, where others would see the threat. The obstacle. The monster.
Of course, she would disregard the danger, when other animal friends had disregarded it for her in the past.
"Are you nuts?" Rainbow cut in, nowhere near as restrained as the mage in showing how she thought about the idea. "Memoria didn't stand a chance against that thing, and you're going to try to fight it?"
"I didn't say I was going to fight him," her friend countered. She "I'm going to take care of him."
Rainbow looked to Twilight in the hope that sanity would prevail. "You can't seriously think that this is a good idea?"
Fluttershy looked her way too. "I can do this. I need to do this. Please."
And so it was Twilight's turn to take a deep breath. Her turn to play her role as leader - as decision maker. "All right," she said. "We're counting on you."
If her friend could bring herself to reach out to a creature like Hadronox, the least Twilight could do was trust her friend.
Fluttershy gave her a small, grateful smile. Wasting no further time, she set off along the bridge, her boots rapping against the stone a little more gently than Memoria's heavier plate ones had, barely minutes before. She reached the end where it met the web, removed her bow from her back, and carefully laid it down. The nerubians made no comment, watching her strange actions in perplexed silence.
"I don't like this," said Rainbow, nervously biting her bottom lip.
"We need to trust her," Pinkie demurred. "Remember the manticore back home?"
Their friend took a tentative step onto the web - then a few more, having reassured herself that it would support her weight and that it wouldn't stick her fast in place.
It didn't take long for Hadronox to react to her intrusion. He twisted around, now scuttling back up the tunnel again. Scuttling towards Fluttershy.
"I really don't like this, Twilight," Rainbow insisted frantically. As much as she seemed to find looking at Hadronox intolerable, her desire to protect Fluttershy had clearly won out in her mind, and she was visibly itching to run down the bridge to aid her friend.
"I must confess that I also do not understand," Kilix agreed at last. "The death knight had all of her cursed powers, and they availed her naught. What will this one do, that will be any different? And why has she disarmed herself so?"
"She'll be fine," Twilight insisted, her faith in Fluttershy reinforced by Pinkie's - but she had to fight hard to suppress a little shudder as the giant spider edged closer once again; couldn't help but clench her right fist in worry.
"She'll convince him to get out of our way!" Pinkie elaborated a little.
"...'convince'?" A'zak cocked his head to the side and exchanged a look with his comrade. "Hadronox may be more intelligent than the average arachnid, but he cannot be reasoned with. At the very least, he is entirely unable to understand the "Common" language, which we are speaking now - his handlers raised him with commands exclusively drawn from the nerubian tongue. Surely your fellow's plan cannot rest on talking to him?"
"She doesn't need to talk to him!" Pinkie said. "She has this stare. And he has eight eyes, so it should be like, four times more effective than usual!"
The baffled nerubians had no response to that.
"Plus," Pinkie added, turning back to Rainbow, "Remember how she scolded that dragon?"
"She scolded that dragon in our world," Rainbow countered sotto voce, more conscious of their present company than Pinkie apparently was. "In case you haven't noticed the dragons here aren't as nice - and this isn't a dragon!"
"Eh, dragon, spider, what's the difference?"
"There're a lot of differences, actually!"
Twilight, her eyes glued to Fluttershy, tried to tune out their bickering. She took another deep breath as her friend made her slow advance across the web, and tried not to think about how much larger Hadronox was; the way his razor-sharp fangs glinted in the gloom, his aggressive, many-legged stride as he stalked inexorably up the web, eager to visit violence on those who would invade his home...
Animals were Fluttershy's area of expertise, after all. If anyone could get them through this situation in a way that didn't involve fighting, it would be her. She'd had success in taming Wilder, after all; with the Manticore back in Equestria, and that angry red dragon, as Pinkie had pointed out. Surely her natural talent would still work on a creature of Hadronox's size, too.
She really, really hoped they would.
The web wasn't easy to move across. Her boots weren't held fast by the substance, but it was still adhesive enough to slow her down. She'd seen how dangerous he was; knew how dead she'd be if she were to become stuck, caught in the wrong place at the wrong moment.
She didn't care.
She knew others might have called him grotesque. An abomination. A monster.
That wasn't what she saw.
She'd looked after spiders in the past, and they had never scared her - never mind how they moved; how they lurked, how they appeared to a more judging eye. They had been all much smaller than Hadronox, admittedly, but she'd helped large animals before too.
But - looking up at him as he rounded the bend in the tunnel and approached - she saw more than that. He was more than that.
Fluttershy believed that all animals were intelligent, in their own way, but Hadronox was more than the average spider. He certainly possessed a predator's cunning, in the way he had defeated Memoria, but Kilix had said that Hadronox had - that he enjoyed the fight on a greater level than just basic instinct. And looking into Hadronox's eight eyes, this close, she could believe it.
There was pride there. There was outrage at having to defend one's home against an invading force. There was fear - not the kind exhibited by cornered prey, or an outmatched hunter, but the kind held by someone who had something that was dear to them to protect. Someone who feared failing to live up to the responsibility they had been given.
"Hello there," she said, as the spider loomed over her, jaws clicking menacingly. "My name is Fluttershy."
He responded with another glob of poison, the same kind that Memoria had boldly withstood earlier.
Fluttershy didn't possess the death knight's endurance or her resistance to toxins. She hurled herself to the side and it splashed against the web where she had been standing, searing it away where it was weakest.
She knew that the spider probably couldn't understand her words. That was okay. She didn't have to speak.
You've done so well to protect this place. I can't imagine how awful it's been for you, fighting a war for the last five years.
He swiped forward with his front two legs - a vicious strike, but one that left him unbalanced and exposed. She took advantage of this immediately, rolling forward out of reach of his brutal strength, and landed almost underneath him - but she didn't strike him. Didn't touch him. Didn't hurt him. She poured all her intent, all her thoughts, and her feelings into the movement.
But we aren't your enemy. We want to help you protect your home, and stop those who are responsible for this.
He brought his thick abdomen down, trying to crush her under his bulk. She threw herself back, and then gracefully dodged to the side again as he scrabbled to bring her back into view.
She understood why he fought, but wouldn't fight him. Not when she didn't have to. Not when there was another way.
A better way.
Please - let us try.
He twisted around towards her.
She stood still... and stared.
Seconds passed. Hadronox reared over her, his body pulled back, poised to smash forwards and—
—she heard Rainbow cry out high above, but couldn't make out what her friend had said—
She didn't move. Didn't close her eyes.
For Wilder.
—and he stopped.
Eight eyes gazed down at her two, and both spider and woman stood still, captivated by the moment.
Slowly, he eased himself forward, down and out of the attack he had been preparing. Relaxed, a little. He clicked his legs up towards his mouth, the movement producing a hissing sound.
Fluttershy smiled.
She took a careful step forward and gently placed her hand on his closest leg. He shuddered at her touch, but didn't attack.
She looked up at her friends on the bridge, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Please, please never do that again," Rainbow begged as she pulled Fluttershy into a hug - and then let go almost immediately as her slighter friend gasped from the plated, crushing embrace. "Sorry! I just... don't think my heart could take it."
"She was brilliant! Brilliant!" Pinkie declared, latching onto her arm immediately after Rainbow had let go. "I knew you could do it!"
The rest of the group had wasted no time in joining their friend - and their new, discomforting ally - on the web. The two nerubians trailed hesitantly - almost awkwardly - behind.
A mixture of emotions played their way across Fluttershy's face as she basked in her triumph. Relief. Exuberation. Guilt. "I'm sorry to have worried you all, but... I had to try."
Twilight took her hands. Squeezed them, softly. "I'm glad you did," she said. "And I'm so proud of you."
Fluttershy blushed and nodded, then saw the two nerubians standing further back behind her friends. "Don't worry," she explained, taking note of their fixation on Hadronox. "He understands that we're on his side. He's going to help us against Anub'arak."
"How can you possibly know that?" A'zak asked, visibly struggling to comprehend what he had just seen. "How can you possibly understand him?"
Fluttershy continued to smile. "I just listened to his heart, and that was enough."
Once again, the incredulous nerubian had no answer to that.
One capricious, unreliable ally lost - one unexpected, unorthodox ally gained. The latter was at least an indication to Twilight that their day was looking up.
"It's time we moved on," she said. "We need to look for Memoria down the hole she fell Into, and we need to find a way to allow Hadronox to join us.
Kilix spoke up. "There are other tunnels nearby - concealed by rock that Hadronox to break into, and large enough for him to move through, though they are far less direct than the route now open to you. There are likely to be Scourge on the way, but they will prove no match against him."
"Hadronox knows the way," Fluttershy added. "I'll go with him, and we'll catch up with you as soon as we can."
"Are you sure you'll be safe?" Rainbow couldn't help but ask.
Fluttershy looked up at the warrior-beast lurking patiently over her shoulder, then back down to the others. "Yes," she replied, with absolute certainty.
They said their quick goodbyes and best wishes, and then they were off. Fluttershy and Hadronox walked the upper web, towards the shadows, the spider moving slowly - by his own capabilities, at least - to allow her to keep up at his side. A'zak and Kilix went with them, vowing that they would traverse the tunnels and rally every living nerubian they could find for the final effort against the traitor king.
Their numbers now diminished, the rest of the group took the other route. They cautiously descended to the very bottom of Hadronox's lair, passing multitudes of decaying scourge corpses; liquifying remains, ossified bones, and other putrid material. The stench was horrible, and it was a huge relief that it only took them about a minute to reach the point where the web once again gave way to natural rock, and where no more bodies were laid to an unkind end. Above, they could hear the crash, and could feel the shake of the cave walls as Hadronox made his own path.
The opening in the web was easy to spot, and they made their way straight to it. Remarkably, they found that they could see down it a reasonable distance, as the next cave below had its own form of natural lighting: giant mushrooms, growing from cracks in the stone, bathing the area in an unpleasant blue-green glow. They could see other plant life too, and more nerubian architecture, but no sign of any water. Whatever lay at the very nadir of the drop was beyond their sight for the moment.
"I don't think a drop from this height would be good, even if there's a pool at the bottom," Rainbow said.
Twilight nodded. She reached into the pack she carried at her hip and pulled out three small feathers, then, as her friends watched, she whispered a few words and raised her staff. An aura of light briefly surrounded her head, then faded. She repeated the same motion twice more, gesturing in turn to each of her friends.
"There we go," she said, latching the staff to the back of her robes once again. "We're all affected by a spell that should slow the rate at which we fall."
"...should?"
"...I should add that it only works for a minute or so, so we might want to go—"
"NOW! Geronimooooooo!" Pinkie took the leap of faith first, jumping into the hole in the ground without a second thought. Twilight's spell caught her immediately and arrested her fall. Twilight and Rainbow jumped after her, almost without thinking about it - the spell caught them too, and they dropped slowly through the air.
Twilight stretched out her arms. It was a pleasant feeling, this defying of gravity - a more practical expression of her mastery over magic than the combative spells she had more recently become accustomed to casting. "It feels like someone ought to say something about looking before you leap, but in fairness, we did look..."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Its not like Pinkie's ever done that." She swiveled her head around, taking in the sight of the nerubian architecture, then directed her gaze down, past Pinkie.
"...so you said this spell lasts about a minute, right?" she asked. The meaning behind her question was clear: from their falling speed and the distance from the ground, she'd recognised the simple fact that it would take them longer to reach the bottom than it would for the spell to expire.
"I can cast it again when we're all this close together, " the mage replied and punctuated her statement by refreshing the spell on all three of them, one after the other. "The feathers as a reagent get used up, though, so it's just best that we don't waste any time that we get from the spell.
Rainbow nodded, seemingly reassured.
Twilight turned her attention to the pink-haired woman below them, watching her flailing around giggling and laughing, her voice echoing off the surrounding rock. "Wheeeee! This isn't as much of a thrill as falling normally is, but you get more time to see things as you go!"
"Not sure we'll have the element of surprise when we land," Twilight chuckled. "But at least she's having fun."
No reply or comment came, and when she looked over to the paladin she had the distinct feeling that something was off. "Rainbow?"
"It's nothing," her friend replied quietly after a noticeable pause.
"Are you sure?" Not to be defeated by a tied tongue, Twilight pressed on. "Because if there were something you wanted to talk about, it looks like we've got a few minutes."
Rainbow still wouldn't meet her gaze, so Twilight waited, watching the cave float by around them, until her friend was ready.
"This is..." she exhaled slowly, speaking at last. "This is the closest I've come to flying... since we... you know..."
Since Equestria, the words went unspoken. Since the storm. Since their world had turned upside down.
"I miss it, Twilight. I miss feeling the wind between my wings. I miss the speed I used to be able to go. But not just that - I miss just being able to hover in the air, that freedom... I miss... everything about it.
"It feels like it's been so long that we've been here. I was starting to forget... but right now, right here..." Rainbow trailed off entirely, lapsing into silence.
They were close enough together that Twilight could reach over and touch her shoulder for comfort - so she did, and their eyes met, purple to magenta.
"I know how much flying meant to you. I only had my wings for a short period of time, so it's not the same for me - I can't truly understand the extent of what you're going through. And I know our time here hasn't been remotely straightforward - but I promise you, Rainbow, we will find a way home. You will fly again."
To Twilight's surprise, Rainbow blushed. "That's not... really what I—" she stammered. "What I mean is - what I'm trying to say is.... thank you."
"I don't—"
"Thank you... for this." She gestured around them, into the stillness surrounding them, as they fell, as they flew, and Twilight suddenly understood what she meant - what this experience was giving back to her, if only for a moment. "It's not the same, but it's - it's something."
Rainbow closed her eyes; spread her arms out, tipped her head back into the open air, and laughed.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,033 users online
1,686,622 hits today, 2,205,040 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well... Welcome back
Good to see this story getting an update welcome back
A surprise, but a welcome one.
Very heartfelt chapter