The Spider and the Fly Read online

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  The staff twirled dangerously in the Credok’s hands as he sauntered forwards, and his cohorts fanned out across the concourse to box in their target. Jenavian risked a quick glance to her right as she retreated another step. The Krosian who’d been tailing her was there, too, positioning himself in such a way as to block any attempt for her to flee. And he was smiling.

  “Four on one, huh?” she asked, desperately scanning the area for inspiration. “You know, this might get you in a lot of trouble. The Council promised me I’d be safe here.”

  “Not the Council,” the Claggoth corrected. All four of his arms were flexed and ready as he crept closer. “A pitiful human lord whose time to rule has long since passed.”

  Jenavian glanced again to the Krosian as he took another step forward. But what he didn’t see—what he couldn’t see—was the Kali slowly sneaking up behind him. She wouldn’t have noticed the shimmering, wraith-like figure either if she hadn’t known exactly what to look for, but she did…and it meant she still had a chance.

  She stopped backpedaling before she bumped into the railing and dropped into a more dramatic combat pose. “Your people fear Spiders. Don’t make me show you why.”

  All four of them chortled in near unison, and in that moment she struck. She pounced forward towards the Credok, sweeping her leg up in a high kick. On instinct, he lifted the shockstaff to block—at which point she dropped flat to the ground and swept out the back of his legs instead. He flipped backwards and wheezed as he smacked the rocky ground, and with practiced ease Jenavian vaulted back to her feet and wrenched the staff from his bobbling grip.

  At this point the others were already charging, and she barely had time to spin around before the Claggoth reached her. She dodged the first bulbous arm as it clawed for her face, but the second connected with her stomach and knocked the air from her lungs. Out of habit she rolled hard to her right, spinning clear of his other two arms, and despite her lack of oxygen she drove the staff cleanly into his side.

  He screamed and dropped to his knees as the electricity jolted through him, but Jenavian was no longer watching—her attention was focused on the two-hundred kilogram Krosian now lunging for her throat. She gasped for breath and leapt backwards, fully expecting his giant hands to crush the life from her—

  And then he collapsed to the ground with a dull thud as Thexyl materialized behind him and clubbed him in the back of the head.

  Jenavian gasped in appreciation as she collided with the safety railing. She tried desperately to catch her breath, but the V’rath had other ideas. Ignoring Thexyl completely, he lowered a chitin-plated shoulder and charged. She twirled the shockstaff in her hand and managed to stab him cleanly in the gut, but while the voltage might have been high enough to knock out a human, it would barely even tickle the hard shell of a V’rath. He grabbed onto the weapon, wrenched it free of her grip, and then lunged forward and tried to crush her against the railing. Miraculously, she managed to plant her right foot and throw herself into a tight roll out of his path, but by the time she popped back up she realized she’d only delayed the inevitable.

  The Krosian appeared to be down for the count, but both the Claggoth and the Credok had recovered. The former was now in a heated melee with Thexyl, and the later had managed to retrieve his staff and spin around to flank her. Despite her best efforts, all she’d really done was drive them into a frenzy…

  Jen, are you in trouble?

  She blinked in surprise as Markus’s voice jammed its way into her thoughts. But she didn’t see him anywhere, and he had to realize she couldn’t respond with the collar on…

  I turned off the collar for a second, he answered her unspoken question. Please tell me you’re not doing this.

  He could have easily been lying, she knew. The collar could have been active, and if it was then the second she let herself get shocked was the second these thugs would finish her off. But right now there was exactly zero chance in hell she was going to beat them hand-to-hand, and so it was time to take a risk.

  Summoning all the mental force she could muster, Jenavian slammed a telekinetic fist into the Credok—and to her pleasant surprise he launched backwards like he’d been hit by a car. He crashed into the shop the thugs had emerged from and disappeared in a cloud of shattering glass and buckling plastic. The few remaining pedestrians nearby, having just seen their greatest fear come to life, ran away screaming in terror.

  The V’rath’s eyes shot open wide, and for a moment she wondered if his good sense would prevail when he realized he wasn’t fighting a simple human anymore. But then suddenly he was charging forward again, and it was all she could do to try and dive out of the way.

  She didn’t make it. His chitinous hand smacked hard into the side of her head, and she hit the ground and nearly blacked out. By the time her vision cleared he was already on top of her again, letting out a feral roar as he slashed down towards her face.

  She managed to dodge the worst of the blow, but her cheek still seared as his claws caught flesh. In desperation she kicked upwards as he tried to right himself, but it glanced harmlessly off his thick carapace. A second later he lunged in for the kill, diving straight for her throat—

  And then paused in shock when his hand struck an invisible telekinetic barrier mere centimeters in front of her. He roared in fury as he stubbornly tried to push through it and pound her skull into the ground, but with the last of her mental reserves Jenavian thrust outwards. The V’rath’s entire body shot upwards as if propelled by a cannon, and a few seconds later she heard the disgusting crunch as the city’s artificial gravity slammed him back against the asteroid’s rocky surface.

  Jenavian leaned up, fully expecting the Claggoth to finish what his friend had started, but the four-armed alien was lying in a heap next to Thexyl. Her companion wasn’t looking at her, however; his eyes were fixated just past her up the street, and she craned her neck to see what had caught his attention.

  Three security guards were racing down towards them, rifles in hand as they stared at the broken bodies of the ambushers. It didn’t take long before those weapons were pointed squarely at the only two people still standing.

  Jenavian slowly swiveled to a knee and tossed up her hands. “They attacked us. We didn’t have a choice—”

  The rifles flashed, and then there was darkness.