The other two guards left the Vuul and charged at Cristena with their blades. Cristena stepped back, sideswiped the first guard and sent him careening into the wall with a roundhouse kick. Her spirit moved with her, around her, an extension and a shield of herself. It was invisible to Cross, but he recognized the pattern of movement, and he sensed the bitter cloud of acrid magic and the swirls of black dust that the spirit left in its wake.
The second sentry brought his blade up, but Cristena swept his blow aside, used her momentum to keep him off balance, and in a quick series of spin thrusts used her scimitars to take both of his arms off at the elbows.
Stone and Graves kicked their way through the mesh fence and leapt into the pit. Graves landed on the guard that Cristena had kicked against the wall. He took hold of the guard’s head and pummeled the man’s skull against the stone until he stopped moving.
“ What the hell?!” Cristena yelled at them. “Why did you come here?!”
“ Wait, do we know you?” Stone asked. Stone didn’t know her, Cross realized, but Graves probably remembered her from the Black Hag.
Cross was the only one still on the main floor. The crowd was gone, and more White Spider sentries were on their way.
Cross moved to leap down, but his eyes caught on the Vuul, still down in the pit, silent and still.
“ Guys…” Cross said.
The Vuul stared back at him. Its muscles tensed, and its anvil-like fists clenched. Even with the chaos in the background Cross heard those steel-like bones tighten. The Vuul’s blank expression didn’t change, and his solid white eyes didn’t blink.
Cross had no doubt the Vuul could kill all four of them.
After a moment, however, the Vuul stepped back, and he nodded to the open door that led to the tunnels beneath the arena.
“ Let’s go,” Cristena said.
“ Wait…” Graves began, but Cristena was quick to cut him off.
“ You can stay here if you want,” she snapped. “I don’t care one way or another.”
Cross leapt down into the pit. He landed with less grace than usual, righted himself, and followed Cristena out of the arena. Graves and Stone were right behind them.
She led them into a dark and narrow network of subterranean passages, the underbelly of the White Spider. The air down below was cloying and tight, and it smelled of sweat, urine and fear. They heard the growl of the Spider’s sentries in the distance behind them.
Cristena guided them through a veritable labyrinth of short and claustrophobic tunnels that wound up and around. Side passages led to torch-lit rooms filled with weapons, chemicals and bodies; Cross guessed that serving narcotic drinks and staging violent pit brawls weren’t the only shady activities the proprietors of the White Spider were involved in.
Cross’ heart pounded as they raced through the tunnels, but after a few minutes he didn’t hear any sounds of pursuit. There was no telling how deep or how far they’d gone.
Finally, when the smell of sewage had grown so strong that Cross had to use smelling salts on himself to keep from getting sick, Cristena stopped.
They stood at a four-way intersection of greasy and slime-coated tunnels. Vents released gouts of superheated steam into the dank underground air, and a narrow stream of mucus, grime and muck slithered down the tunnel in a nauseating flow. Dank brown water oozed down from the ceiling like gritty rain. Thick sewer grates stood in the diagonal walls of the intersection, and an ancient and rusted iron ladder led straight up, where it vanished into darkness.
“ The ladder will lead you to the surface,” Cristena said. “So do me a favor and get out. You’ve done enough damage.”
“ Damage?” Graves said, exasperated. “Honey, we just saved your life.”
“ Thanks for nothing, then,” she bit back. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
“ No, you didn’t,” Stone interjected. “But we’re asking for yours.”
Cristena laughed. She was exasperated, Cross thought, maybe surprised, and undoubtedly angry. With all of that, Cross was glad that all she did was laugh.
“ That’s a pretty funny way of asking for my help,” she said with a mean-spirited smile. “Of course I’ll help you! You busted in on my fight, started a mass panic, and you made it so that there’s no chance I’ll ever be able to talk my way back into the Spider ever again. I owe you SO much!” The smile faded. “I hope there’s something horrible waiting up there for you. I really do.”
Cristena stalked past them, back the way they’d came.
“ Why did you help us escape?” Cross asked her. He saw the spider in his mind, the white spider from the field on that day that he and Snow had visited their mother’s grave. The same spider he’d seen in Krugen’s, when he’d learned that Cristena’s husband was among those lost in the search for Red. The same spider that was the name of the place where they’d found Cristena.
I’m supposed to be here, he thought. That’s the deal with the spider, it has to be.
Cristena hesitated.
“ Because I know why you’re here,” she said. She still faced the other way. “And I want you to succeed.”
“ Then come with us,” Cross said. “We need your help.”
Cristena turned around, slowly, her boots sloshing in the muck.
“ I already told you,” she said quietly. “I’m not interested.”
“ Yeah,” Cross said. “I can see that. You’re busy trying to get yourself killed.”
“ Go to hell,” Cristena answered.
“ Look,” Cross said, and he stepped closer, leaving Stone and Graves so he could speak with her alone. “I get it. I really do. I’ve lost…everything…in the past few days. My spirit. My sister. My hope. But this has to be done. I don’t think I’m going to live through this.”
He hadn’t actually realized that until that very moment, and his insides coiled up like rope at having said it aloud, because he believed it.
Cristena regarded him stoically. She was strong, but he could see the strings that held her together coming unraveled. She was almost ready to die.
Almost.
“ If we have to die,” he said, “I want our deaths to mean something.”
Cristena smiled bitterly.
“ You’re such a romantic. I think I pity you.”
“ Look, enough, all right?!” Cross said. “Just cut the crap. We need your help. I’ve needed your help. Remember when I asked you to be our tracker back in Thornn? Well, my sister became our tracker instead, and now…she’s gone. We have no chance of finding Red unless someone helps us, and right now that someone has got to be you. Maybe you’ve given up on living, but there are a lot of people who haven’t. If you’re too selfish to see that…” Cross took a breath. “Then I don’t know what to tell you.”
They stood silent.
“ Nice speech,” Cristena said after a moment. “You do that a lot?”
“ No,” Cross smiled sadly. “I’m actually pretty impressed with myself right now.”
They waited. Stone and Graves looked on, silently. Cristena’s eyes focused on something only she could see there in the greasy waters.
“ Cross?” she said after a moment.
“ Yeah?”
“ Why did you try to save me? I would’ve been all right in that fight, you know. I could’ve taken him.”
Cross thought for a moment.
“ I know,” he said.
“ Then why?”
Cross hesitated.
“ A little spider told me to.”
“ I’m sorry?”
“ Don’t worry about it.”
“ So is she with us?” Stone asked from behind them.
“ She is capable of answering for herself,” Cristena said coldly. “Thanks.”
“ This is our Squad leader, Abraham Stone,” Cross said. “That gnarly looking blonde fellow is Sam Graves. Gentlemen, this is Cristena…”
“ Da’avros,” she said.
“ Cristena Da’avros.”
“ Your new tracker,” she added.
“ Pleased to meet you,” Stone said. “And now we need to move. With what Captain Impulsive here just pulled,” Stone said with an eye on Cross, “we’ll need to exercise a bit more caution from here on out.”