"We are getting closer, I sence it ... it's even deeper"
"He never showed you this place ?"
"... He had his own secret and I had mines ... in the end secrets are like walls"
The spider queen eyed the two knights behind her, one of them looked uneasy while the other was admiring an environment he had never discovered.
"That's it ..." the queen stopped in front of a massive gate, there was some sort of symbol carved, Herrah almost immediacy recognized it, it was the king's brand.
The white lady ook a step closer toward the door, it shined brightly once, small withe sparks emerged from all around the door as if they were devouring it. Soon after the door disappeared, the way was open, and the group could continue.
However they were stopped once again as the path vanished, before them there was only void.
"Can you see the bottom Herrah ?"
"No ... even I can't ... you knew this place existed ?"
"Not to such an extent, Dryya, Ogrim, find a way to reach the bottom ... if you see any living being call us"
The two knights looked at each other for a brief second before engaging in their descent, the queen stared at the bottom, the spider could feel the terror of her friend.
"He never told you"
"... no ... I was aware, I thought I was doing this because I had some sort of responsibilities and now I realise the full extent of my mistake"
Herrah hesitated before asking her next question, she knew that the queen was still disturbed by her actions and the spider would rather avoid to open new wounds.
"How many ?" The spider queen simply asked
"... thousands" the white lady answered heavily
Another silence took place, the two great knights didn't show any sign of life and both queens lost their sigh on them almost immediately after they found their way down.
"Can we trust Ogrim ? I know that Dryya is devoted to you but- ... I fear that Ofrim may not put give you his loyalty immediately ... in fact I fear what will happen when the knights-"
"They won't, they will never find out, no one will ... we did what we had to ... and if they eventually figure out the truth I'm sure they will accept it"
"... it would be better indeed ... do you think some of them survived ?"
"He sealed this place once he found the perfect vessel, when we "dealt" with him he wasn't even ready to bring it to the temple"
"If they survived I wonder how they will get here"
"Each of them will be free, no one will be left behind"
"... about this perfect vessel, where is he ?"
"In a safe place ..."
Both of them heard something touch the ground in their back, Dryya was back.
"My queen, we found something but- ..." the knight seemed more disturbed than she already was before going to the bottom
"Speak Dryya, please"
"... bodies ... a lot of bodies, we found small bugs, childrens in fact, they are barely strong enough to move and they seem unable to communicate, Ogrim sent me back up, he is trying to regroup the children as we speak"
"Lead us to the bottom Dryya"
"My queen ... I must warn you, the path is dangerous"
"I appreciate your attention but we must hurry, if what you say is the truth then every second is important"
The knight nodded once and then stood up, she showed both queens the path she and Ogrim had found in order to reach the bottom.
"... I can take the lead if you prefer" proposed Herrah
"Yes ... I trust you, I'm not used to this kind of path but I have my own ways to reach a destination"
The descent was lengthy, the platform on which they stood a moment ago was already out of sight. Herrah could admit that even as a spider it was probably one of the most dangerous path in Hallownest, from times to times she took a small look behind her to see if her friend could find her way down.
The queen used the roots coming from the top of her head to have points of support, when they first met Herrah was disturbed by this physical aspect of the queen, she couldn't understand if they worked as tentacle or has horns, now she was even more confused, the way they spreaded around to help her made Herrah think about roots ... but plants do not grow out from the head someone someone ... do they ?
The small knight stopped for an instant "My queen are you alright ? I see that you are using a lot of your energy, we can stop for a moment if you want"
"Continue Dryya, I'm not exhausted yet"
The knights kept starring at the white lady for a moment.
"We are almost at the bottom, be careful though, it might still be dangerous"
The knight went further down, Herrah stopped for a moment, her friend was getting impatient
"Herrah is there anything wrong ?" she asked
"First I just realised what was the point of making such a path to get the to bottom or to the top ... your husband was using it as some kind of test ... to find the strongest among the weaks ... and second you are tired"
"Herrah I'm not-" the queen was interrupted by the spider
"Extending your own body at such a speed is tiring, now that HE isn't here anymore we have all the time we need ... so please, do not be reckless"
"... fine ... give me a moment, you can join Dryya and Ogrim, tell them I will be there soon"
"Good choice" Herrah pursued the descent and reached the bottom sooner than she expected, the small knight was here to, she look scared now and immediately ran toward the spider queen when she noticed that her queen was missing.
"Where is-?!" She must have tried to put pressure the spider queen but Herrah was not impressed at all, the knight had some fight in her but nothing to fear.
"Your queen is right behind us ... she is resting"
"But-"
"I convinced her ... now would you remove your hand from this nail ? As the queen explained earlier I am here as an ambassador AND friend, I have no intention to hurt her"
The knight tightened her trip on the nail handle for moment but then she saw her queen coming down and felt reassured.
"Finally ... I thought it was endless" the queen explained as she discovered the bottom.
Herrah looked at her feets ... bodies, a lot of bodies ... there was no ground, the ground was made of bodies.
"You said thousands back then ... I don't know if you are still right" she hesitantly grabbed what looked to be head.
The queen ignored Herrah's remark and followed Dryya
"Where is Ogrim ?"
"Just ahead, he found the childrens close to some kind of tower, when I left we found 7 of-'
The queen and the knight stopped when they saw that their was now a few dozens of small bugs around a taller one.
The said bug turned around and waved at his queen.
"I found more !" He yelled
"... well that was unexpected, there is a large ... lake next to the tower, but I would recommend to not get too close, there is something inside"
The queen stared at the small bugs ... her children, in a way. She walked next to Ogrim who looked slightly disoriented.
"Dryya, get to the top of that tower and scout for the other children, Ogrim explore further"
"Yes" they both answered
Herrah joined the queen right when the knight left
"... you are lucky, If I could have so many children then my kingdom wouldn't fall apart"
"I don't even know if they understand"
"They were smart enough to regroup ... beside I think they recognise their mother, talk to them"
"... Can some of you understand what I am saying ?"
The queen received the silence as a first answer, then a few of the children nodded, as much as they could.
"You see" exclaimed Herrah
"I'm not sure it will be so simple, even if some can answer they are just children"
"Children made to obey ..." Herrah sighed, she walked close to one of the vessels who answered "you, can you understand when I speak ?" Herrah's tone sounded aggressive but the vessel nodded just like he did with the queen.
"Good ... can you speak with your sibling ?"
All the vessels looked confuse, they exchanged glance for a moment before Herrah caught their attention once again.
"Enough, I understand"
"Herrah you do not have to be so-"
"I know ... it's just- ... they are so ... alike to him"
"But they are not him and-" suddenly something lit at the top of the tower, the light was directed toward the strange lake.
"... lumaflies ? In such a place ? ... no it's something else, something ancient" assumed the queen
"This place wasn't built by your husband ?"
"No, I would have known if he did anything like this ... Dryya ?"
Soon after the queen called her the knight was bowing in front of her
"Pleaser forgive me, I was curious about this mechanism and I also found some dead bodies ... my queen those were royal retainers.
"Here ? ... the entrance was sealed, he locked up his own servant inside ?" Wondered Herrah
"I fear that's the case ... what killed them ?"
"I have no idea my queen but- ... there was a problem with their face, I don't know how to describe it but, it looked like ... black tears, there was no visible injury on their body"
"Thank you Dryya, find Ogrim and lead the children to the top, Herrah and I still have one thing to do, children follow Dryya, she will help you"
Herrah gave a questionable glance to the queen, the knight did not bother to look further and went looking for her friend.
The queen walked away from the tower followed by the spider.
"What are you-?" Herrah was interrupted by the white lady.
"His promise ..."
"... so you know ?"
"Since he started "visiting" you"
"... I had no choice, if I had found another solution we wouldn't be here ... I wouldn't be here ... maybe it was a mistake, "honoured caste" ... hehe ... that's why they call me the beast in the e- ... White look"
The spider queen pointed her hand oward a black dot in ghr distance, the white lady got closer, here, on a pile of bodies, was one last vessel, away from the others.
"I could not sence it ... why ? ... it didn't want me to find it ?" The white lady sounded confused "little one ?" She called but the vessel didn't flinch.
"What's wrong ? ... maybe he has no mind ? What if your bloody husband succeed ?"
"No ... they would obey any order until death ... this one is-" the queen looked next to her, Herrah was walking directly toward the vessel.
"If he won't listen to you but maybe he will listen to me" she stood next to the vessel, he was looking at his feet "right ?"
Again it didn't move
"... you are really different from the others ... you can think I but you can't fear, you can choose but you don't want to why ? ... you were given a purpose and you could not fulfill it ?"
The vessel twitched for a brief second, Herrah hit a nerve.
"Does it mean yes ? ... you don't have to fulfill anything, not anymore, not for anyone but yourself, you are not more perfect than any of your sibling. This is a dirty lie, all of you never had to choose the circumstances in which you were born, but now your mother is giving you the choice, each of you can receive freedom ... what kind of creature would refuse to leave this place ?"
Finally the vessel turned toward the spider queen.
"Follow your siblings ... for you have no reas-"
The vessel moved so fast that Herrah was almost sacred to the point of hurting it, the vessel hugged her body. The spider queen had no idea about how she should act now.
"Hehehe" the white lady laughed
"W-what is so funny ?" Asked Herrah
"It did not listen, in fact I think it senced what's inside of you" the queen got closer from the vessel and grabbed one of his arm. The vessel stopped hugging the spider and was now looking at his mother.
"Please, come with us child ... alright ?"
The vessel didn't answered, it let the white lady grab it into her arms.
"... I think we can get out of this pace for good now"
"Y-yes ... and then ? What should we do ? My hunters must have left the white palace now, I asked them to clean up their mess and to bring back every bodies with them so no one would link us to the attack ... but then, what will happen ? ... you can't take care of almost a hundred of childrens"
"... I will ... if I have to I will, for the future ... I think we could become good friends, If you want your independence I can't refuse it"
"I regret White but I wasn't talking about the independence of spiders or our friendships"
"... I'm listening Herrah"
"They shall never know, no one will tell them about HIM, no one will tell them about the infection and finally no one will remember the king"
"... this is your condition then ... fine ... but then I have my own condition Herrah, one day she or he will me her or his aunt and siblings"
"Then we have a deal"
Present
"Hornet, you know it is your birthday today hum ?"
"Yes mother"
"... you have grown so much, I barely remember the little spider with who I used to make scarfs and who I taught to create webs and strings ... you are already exploring our tunnels and you have shown talent for hunting, that's why today I offer you this"
The spider queen showed a small object that she had been hiding in her back since her daughter arrived.
"Is this-"
"Yes ... it's a charm Hornet, the weaversong ... I wanted to give you a protection, something you will always have close from you, comon, use it, it is your birth day after all"
The spider princess put the charm on her cloth and immediately a bunch of small spiders appeared
"Weaverlings ?" Asked Hornet out loud
The spiders discovered their environment, once they noticed their princess they bowed on the ground.
"Mother it's- ... it's amazing"
If her mother could she would show her expression of happiness to her daughter, at this moment she simply patted her daughter's shoulder.