7. Sun

Chapter 7

Sun

I tore through the underbrush in the blinding dark of night, not caring as the brambles caught my bare skin and the rags I wore.

What had once been sought after silk was now torn to shreds, barely clinging to my body. A body that had been used and abused for far too long now at the hands of nocs. No different than the very spirit within me.

The anger that had fueled me for so many years was now a knot in my chest that I could not untangle or direct at anyone in particular.

Clem had claimed me, they all had, in the metaphysical sense. It had been done without my permission, yet I could not bring myself to blame them. Clem had done what he had felt was necessary to survive and the others had been brought along for the ride despite themselves. Despite Clem being so incredibly foolish, I could understand . And that made me hate myself more than any of this had yet.

I was so angry but there was nowhere for the festering feelings to go. They pooled inside me like acid. I had never felt so poisonously furious before. I could feel it burning me from the inside.

It felt like I had nothing left, like the ground was falling out from under me.

Then I realized, too late, that it actually was .

I slid, a gasp leaving me as the earth fell away from beneath my feet and I fell into a pit of blackness.

The second one tonight alone.

Before I could so much as gasp, I landed, bouncing on whatever caught me.

Instinctively, I tried to sit up, scrambling to get back onto my feet, but I couldn’t.

Whatever I had landed on was sticky, it pulled my hair like honey, keeping my head back, my arms down, my legs trapped. I reached for my pocket to extract my newly sharpened weapons, but my arm couldn’t reach. It was stuck.

The familiar adrenaline of facing the unknown shot through me as I struggled, but the more I flailed, the more the stuff held me in place. I was almost like a fly caught in a trap.

My eyes widened and everything seemed to slow as I understood.

The noc king was finally among us.

I stilled, hearing only my own ragged breaths and the deep thumps of my heartbeat. It had been warmer today, but now, the chill of the night was making my breath rise in a pale fog, the only thing I could see.

All this time, I had been so preoccupied with Clem, Kiar and Bracken. I had pushed aside the coming reality of one more noc on my unfortunate team.

“Alhadya,” I whispered into the dark.

There came a clicking first but it was nothing like Clem’s. It was louder and more ominous, like bones clapping together.

A chill traveled down my spine as it came closer.

“Congratulations,” a familiar voice whispered. “You have drawn another noc from beyond the grave.”

A large shadow rose over me, blotting out the stars, the form more monstrous than any nocs I had seen before.

A massive spider’s body, standing taller than a wagon’s, a human’s torso and head–although I could not make out his face in the dark.

For so many years, I had known of the noc’s king; a giant spider who sat upon the throne but seeing him now standing before me was suddenly like being a child again and seeing a noc for the very first time.

It was unnatural, hideous, frightening…

My heart was pounding harder now as I stared up at his shadowy form.

I did not know how to react. This was the noc king–until recently, at least. He had been replaced by another, but having been in prison, I still did not know who. This creature standing over me was the very being I had fantasized about killing for most of my life, but according to Clem, he was a part of my tether. And he had helped me before, in Kovit’s chamber.

But he also had me trapped in his web.

I did not know what he thought of me, but I had a very bad feeling that it wasn’t anything good.

“Release me,” I whispered.

There was a sudden movement. The web bounced and Alhadya’s monstrous form was hidden in the shadows around me once more.

“Why would I release you, little human ?” he hissed, his voice behind me now. “You are worth no more than a fly in my web.”

I shook my head, stopping when more of my hair clung to the sticky strands.

“No,” I argued, not wanting to believe it. “You helped me in Kovit’s torture chamber.”

There was a silence and then a quiet laugh that made all the hairs rise on my body.

“I sent the bat who betrayed me on a wild goose chase,” he mused. “I bought myself time to get a body, to get the stone before him, to get my throne back.”

Bile rose up my throat.

“I won’t let you,” I growled.

He laughed again and I realized he had moved once more. I could not see him, nor feel his steps on the web. Despite his size, he moved around me with a feather’s grace.

“And how do you intend to stop me?” he whispered. “Sun, the great noc killer .”

His words turned into a hiss at the end and air brushed my shoulder from his breath.

I shrank away, shocked that I hadn’t felt him coming so close. I was breathing hard but otherwise, I could not move Still, but he would not kill me. He couldn’t or else risk ending his life too.

“You must know at least as much as I do about this spell. You know that we are tied together. That we cannot live or die without each other. You have been with us all this time–”

“Oh yes, I have been watching you... all four of you. Your little games. Your attempt at taking my last loyal servants from me… To make them yours. ”

“I haven’t–”

“That ends today, Noc Killer.”

The sky was unexpectedly blotted out again, but for a moment I could not make sense of what I was seeing until I realized with horror, that Alhadya was over top of me. His legs surrounded my trapped body.

Something touched me, and I couldn’t hold still any longer.

I thrashed, fighting a losing battle against the webs as I was grabbed by claws and countless hands . Then I was being turned and wrapped and a scream tore from my throat.

All I could think of were the others, my nocs. The ones that he may be right about because I had no doubt that if they could see me now, they would do everything they could to save me. Even take on their own king.

“Kiar!” I shouted. “Bracken!”

And I must have been as much theirs as they were mine because even while my mind raced in terror, a few things were clear. First, I wouldn’t call for Clem because I did not want him to be harmed. He was too delicate to fight for me. Second, I believed in the other two. They could defeat any monster who challenged me. No matter how angry and frustrated I had been only moments before, I wanted them with me.

“They will not help you!” Alhadya snarled. “They are my servants, not yours!”

His hands became rougher, and he paused, squeezing my shoulders and whispering in my face, “you will tell me where Tsuki’s stone is, or your end will be slow and painful.”

“I’d rather die!” I spat and he growled, “So be it.”

His hands wrapped around my neck with crushing strength. My mouth fell open, gasping for air as pain shot through me. Suddenly, loud shout tore through the silent night and a streak of light dazzled my eyes.

Just as suddenly as it started, my body was launched sideways, my neck freed. I could not throw out my arms to catch myself, but the web caught me before I went far.

I blinked, coughing, trying to make sense of the moonlight that was filling the space before my eyes adjusted and my stomach dropped because that was not moonlight. It was Clem. He was clinging to Alhadya’s arms like he could stop him if he wanted it badly enough, and he was glowing .

“Clem!” I shouted hoarsely. “No!”

I wanted to tell him to run, to not be so brazen, but my breath caught in my swollen throat because I hadn’t seen Alhadya properly yet and he was just as horrific in the light.

He was huge, bigger than I’d even realized. His eyes were solid black, like the bug that he was. His teeth were fanged, his expression sinister.

Like most nocs, he was somewhat human in a way–a way that looked like he was wearing a human man as a costume because he was so violently unlike anything that could be natural.

For a moment, to my shock, I thought Clem might actually win as he clung to Alhadya’s four arms with all his strength. Perhaps our tether gave him strength now beyond that of a normal mothian.

Suddenly, Alhadya let out a frustrated grunt and threw his arms out, dislodging Clem.

“You filthy traitor!” he shouted and the small, poisonous looking points at the front of his hips stabbed out, catching Clem in the stomach before he threw him viciously aside.

Sickly colored blood sprayed from Clem.

He gasped, somewhat caught himself midair and then fluttered down, all the way to the web, allowing it to catch him.

“Clem!”

He turned his head weakly, looking at me like he’d let me down, then he turned his gaze back up to Alhadya’s ominous form.

“Please, let Sun go,” he begged.

Alhadya growled and then there was a streak of black through the air as Bracken dove into the clearing.

From the side, Kiar burst through the sand.

Both stood between me and Alhadya, breathing hard.

For a moment, there was silence.

Finally, Bracken glanced over at Clem, who was still lying prone and still glowing, and let out a soft growl.

“Foolish moth!” he spat. “We told you to wait for us.”

“Sun would have died if I waited. We all would have,” he argued weakly, and I knew he was right. Despite being far from a warrior, he had done everything he could to stall Alhadya’s plan to end me long enough for them to get here.

“It’s okay now,” Kiar said, calm strength in his voice. “We are finally all together. The five of us will learn to work together.”

“Listen to you three,” Alhadya mused. “Defending the human noc killer.”

He crawled backwards over his web, crouching when he reached the upper edges and looked down at the scene with a sneer clear on his lips.

“What exactly do you want, Kiar? For me to become one of Sun’s pets? Like you?”

I could practically feel Kiar’s shame.

This was his king, I reminded myself. All three of my nocs had been his loyal servants until waking up in my cell.

I struggled to remain calm as I laid there, barely able to breath because the web was tied around me so tightly.

My gaze flew to Clem once more. His strange light was still illuminating all of us. Initially, I’d thought it was moonlight for a split second of confusion but now, I suddenly understood.

“Moon magic,” I whispered. Clem’s tired gaze fixed on me. The other three stilled. “The moon goddess, Tsuki, is responsible for all of this.”

“Sun,” Kiar hissed. “Not now.”

He probably thought that I was rambling and delirious, but I wasn’t. For the first time, I saw everything .

“Listen to me,” I insisted. “Tsuki created the nocs–she created all night creatures. Her stone is the one you all want–the one that can end all human life. Clem used moon magic to bring you all back to life and to bind you to me. Tsuki is the one who has all the answers .”

“Stop your raving!” Alhadya snarled and leaped into the air, straight over his two subordinates, intent on ending my life once and for all.

He landed on top of me, all eight legs surrounding my body as he crouched low, reaching for my exposed neck with all four hands before suddenly, Kiar was wrapped around his torso holding his arms down with all of his strength and Bracken was blocking me.

My heart raced at the implication.

All three of them had chosen me over their own king.

“He cannot die without taking us with him, Your Highness,” Kiar reminded him. “Please think .”

I could see the fury on Alhadya’s face. There was no way to end this peacefully unless they listened.

“I am the only person who knows where Tsuki’s stone is!” I shouted in frustration.

For the first time, Alhadya’s eyes turned to me with something other than ill intent. He was interested.

“And the stone is the only way to directly speak to the goddess Tsuki herself.”

Everyone stilled.

Bracken gave me a confused look over his shoulder.

“What are you saying?” he asked.

“I’m saying that I will take you all to the stone. We will retrieve it together . Then, we will ask Tsuki to remove our tether, together. ”

The tension seemed to evaporate from Alhadya’s body and Kiar loosened, freeing him when Alhadya shoved at his coils.

“And what of the stone?” he demanded.

I stared into the black pools of his eyes and knew I could not bring myself to lie even in this moment.

“When we are free of the tether and our lives are no longer entwined, you will have to fight me for it.”

Clem let out a distressed noise next to me, but satisfaction filled Alhadya’s expression, and I knew I had won. This was the only course of action that made sense.

We could not remain one-but-not forever. I still wanted the nocs gone and Alhadya wanted the humans to be wiped out. We both wanted to win this war once and for all.

There was no way to make this end harmoniously.

I just had to watch him closely. Find his weaknesses and when Tsuki broke our bond, I would show Alhadya why I was called the number one noc killer.