Subcon Forest's spooky atmosphere was eternal, but waking up to its winter nether-land was worse: It only added a layer of cold to the preexisting darkness and ruin, slowly killing what little life had managed to find a place there after all those years. The bats were gone, retreating to whatever shelter they could find. The dull chirrup of insects had fallen mute, leaving only the harsh wind and the woods' restless spirits to create any kind of background noise against an overwhelming silence. Plants continued to freeze from the inside out, their rich colors sinking to a dismal, deathly black.
They were running out of time. No one had spotted Vanessa yet, but that was likely only because she was trying to establish some dominance over the land first by manipulating the weather to this extreme. After all, Snatcher had been in full control of it for so long that his own power was practically intertwined with it: The more ground she took, the easier it was to limit his chances of stopping her.
As such, the shadowy phantom wanted to take a more aggressive stance. Right then, every being was on their guard; however, Snatcher had already given them orders to mobilize at a moment's notice. During their inevitable, final push back against the queen and her own forces, they'd shrink their defenses primarily to the foxes' bonfires. The maintained barriers would hopefully bottleneck Vanessa directly toward their largest numbers. A handful of minions and the strongest of the Dwellers would watch over the village. The remaining fire spirits would take the frontlines to battle the ice itself, while the minions and swamp spirits backed them up as support and fought off any of the possessed statues. Snatcher would mainly guard the whole of their small army from the side with his magic, ready for when Vanessa herself might appear.
The spiders—if the girls succeeded in getting their help—were to stay in the trees as lookouts and additional backup. Snatcher also planned out traps for them to set with their webs prior to the fighting. While Hat and Bow slept, one of the minions had snuck off to a neighboring town just beyond the woods on-foot to get them the pork they needed. They'd returned by the time that both young aliens were ready to set out on the task ahead, who had to split the large load between them just to carry it and keep their hands free for combat.
Kit couldn't join them, now busy as ever tending to the fire spirits. Luckily though, they'd burned enough webbing away the previous day that the path into the arachnids' territory would be fairly clear. Going even deeper in was the problem, but torching everything in their way didn't seem like the best option if they were going to convince the spirits into joining their side. They'd need to tread carefully.
Hat and Bow thought of asking Lily to join them again, just to have one more person guarding their backs, but she seemed busy herself between Snatcher's and the Thane's orders—set on the defense like the other, restless swamp spirits. All of them showcased an impressive, if dangerous power: Even away from their watery home, they maintained some elemental advantage to compliment their raw strength. Whenever Vanessa's forces lied in wait, they'd have some difficulty pushing all the way through without the ice queen herself at their side.
Hopefully, that meant that the cursed statues would also keep away from the two girls' trail for a while. They followed the same path from the day before, determination creasing their brows. Hat Kid adjusted the straps of her pack, eyes peeled at the shadows creeping through the canopy of branches as long and jagged as spider limbs themselves.
Deeper in, they found a few ragdoll forms tangled in a thick layer of webs, a warning of the potential danger ahead. While the minions were able to escape by leaving their cloth bodies behind and the arachnids had no need to actually harm them—evident by how intact the remains were—that didn't guarantee her and Bow's safety as flesh and blood beings. Two gaping, fang-shaped holes in one of the bodies—no doubt left behind from an exploratory bite—were just another reminder of that very fact. The young alien swallowed air out of nerves.
With a somewhat anxious look of her own, Bow Kid ran over to the low hanging branches of one of the nearby trees. Grabbing one, she motioned the other child over with a pointed nod, "Let's climb up. I can't help feeling like we'll just get ambushed down here."
She had a point. Between the haze of snow and webs and the cover of craggily plant-life, any of the big bugs could've been hiding nearby, waiting to strike. Hat had a number of close calls with them while working on Snatcher's contracts, so she knew they needed to spot the spiders before they got the chance to blindside them. After all, coming in peace didn't mean she wanted to put herself or Bow in harm's way if they could help it. As an added precaution, both girls also slipped on their Dweller masks.
Besides, Moonjumper specifically said they needed to find the leader of these spiders: The Widowmaker. The rest were mindless beasts, so it wasn't like diplomacy would work on them. As Hat Kid followed her friend up into the canopy, she again took a cautious look around as though countless eyes from countless spiders were already staring right back at them, sizing them up as their next meal. She wished she'd thought to ask the phantom prince how far in they were supposed to go into the arachnids' territory, or at least for some kind of clue to help them find the Windowmaker. Still, the way he described the spirit, maybe it would just be obvious.
Just follow the webs… the young alien figured, even though it was hard to see how they could be any more cluttered than they already were in that part of Subcon. She tapped her umbrella against her side as if to urge herself onward. Strangely, there were a few lamps hanging along some of the branches as they did in other areas, but these were dark and busted—two clear signs that they hadn't been used in many years. Nevertheless, they were perfect for the girls to latch onto with their hookshots.
One after the other, the pair swung across to the next tree, about mid-level through the canopy. A few minutes passed into their journey before they found any other sign of a lost civilization: One of Subcon's many treehouses. It was in just as dismal a state as a rest, the interior in shambles and part of the roof caved in. Neither child was certain that it would even be stable were it not for the thick webbing unintentionally binding the structure to its leftmost beams.
A cracked chest remained out of the ruined furniture, in which they found a small collection of old toys. Not all of them were in the best condition, but Hat Kid picked a small, wooden sword from among them and stashed it away in her bag. However weak, it was still good to have a backup weapon just in case. With a similar line of thought, Bow soon found a wooden shield that matched for herself.
Continuing on, it wasn't much longer before the giant arachnids began to actually show themselves. Multiple sets of bold yellow eyes and the glowing, jaw-like patterns on the spiders' abdomens gazed at them in the darkness. The girls rushed to leave their immediate surroundings only for a trio of the bugs to pounce at them from above.
They whirled in opposite directions to escape their reach. More used to facing them, Hat Kid countered first. Kicking off the platform, she leapt at the closest spider—driving the heel of her foot against it as she cut the silky thread keeping it suspended and rebounded off its side to repeat the same set of actions to the next bug to follow after. As they plummeted to the earth below, she landed safely against the thick trunk of another one of the many trees.
More were already closing in after them. Hat Kid activated her projectile badge next, blasting one away that dropped toward Bow from behind. Meanwhile, the latter fought back the last of the first three, hurrying over to a lantern to swing to another branch not far off.
Without a word, they kept each other's pace as they raced through the trees. The wood creaked under their feet at each sudden impact, snow flying as they bounced back into place when the children leapt to the next boughs in-succession. The arachnids didn't immediately give chase, but there were so many eying them in the darkness that, soon enough, they were attacked yet again.
Hat Kid was too busy counting the sets of eyes in the distance that she didn't notice the spider that dropped down on top of her until it was too late to evade it. It's quick, spinning attack sent her flying from the safety of the limb she stood on toward the ground far below. Even with the air knocked from her lungs, she hurriedly propelled her body into a sideways tumble—aiming for a radiating mushroom growing in the crook of an ancient oak. She hit her mark and rebounded back into the upper section of the canopy.
The world seemed to spin around her as the young alien took a moment to regain both her footing and senses. When everything fell back into place, Hat Kid raised her umbrella to fire a swift bolt at the bug before it could come for her a second time. Then she risked a glance down. The chaotic tangle of webs was worse here than earlier along the path: They had to be going in the right direction. Still, even if the fall itself didn't hurt them, it looked like they could easily wind up trapped below should they lose their footing now.
Hat Kid reached a spot along the trees where the gap between them was too large for a regular lunge. She had no choice but to climb a little higher, reaching a single cord from a distant web. It was older and not as sticky as the others, but was still strong, much like the wires she'd traipsed across in Mafia Town and Dead Bird Studios. Quickly and carefully, she began to make her way over it, only daring to jump the remaining distance once she was well-over the half-way point and after yet another spider had gotten uncomfortably close.
Meanwhile, Bow found her own way over by scaling the trees to an even higher point and spiraling down with a wide kick. She landed on top of the spider, knocking them away as her companion had down previously before making the much smaller jump to her side. Together once more, they headed closer to the old web to use another one of its stray threads to tightrope on.
It was simultaneously reassuring and nerve-wracking. On one hand, it reminded Hat Kid that Bow was right behind her, urging her on. On the other, she could feel every wobble of the cord between her and her friend's shifting weights, making it feel all the more likely that either of them would fall. One of them could've stayed back until the other had finished crossing; however, they didn't really have the time to wait and risk being swarmed and divided again.
Needless to say, the two took a long breath of relief when their feet returned to solid bark. There were eggs now, clusters of huge, ivory spheres barely hidden in thick, translucent sacs. The girls' faces twisted in shared disgust and worry, and they found themselves tiptoeing past as if afraid a single misstep would trigger thousands of the bugs to hatch—all awakening with a new, raw hunger and two, tiny morsels right there for the taking.
A little further in and the pair stumbled into what could only be the heart of the spiders' many nests. From afar, it was impossible to tell the blanket of spider silk from a heavy layer of fine snow: There were so many webs that they covered every inch of the landscape even worse than Vanessa's storm had managed yet. Nevertheless, the unnatural weather was clearly trying to gain ground, glistening ice crystals collecting in neat rows along the pale, loose strands.
They looked hard, but it actually made the webbing quite fragile. Hat Kid tried stepping on one only for usually strong band to snap under her boot. Bow pulled her back by the arm to help keep her from slipping as the two watched the frozen piece disappear into the messy haze below.
A few meters ahead still, a vivid light reflected against the ice. They knew what it was before they even neared: A Time Piece caught within the web. Bow cautiously removed it, then quickly shoved inside her coat for safe-keeping as the entire area suddenly erupted with movement. The webs shook as arachnids crept around them from every angle: The hung from branches, clung to trunks, and saddled along the silk threads. Hat and Bow moved back-to-back, raising their weapons in defense.
Before either side could act though, a high-pitched, feminine voice vibrated through the trees, "Oho! What do we have here? Noisy, nosy, little intruders… You're either very foolish or very brave to come to our home."
It was impossible to tell where the voice was coming from at first. Except for the slight, involuntary twitch of their fangs, none of the spiders had opened their mouths, much less spoken. Then a wide shadow fell over the two children, enough to block out what little light washed over Subcon's eternal night. They looked up:
Hovering over them on a single cord, at least twice as big as the rest of her kind, was undoubtedly the Widowmaker. Beyond her size and a slightly narrower sternum, she looked mostly the same as the others: The same strong legs, the same big abdomen, the same patterns. Her face, however, was a terrifying amalgamation of human and spider features. The mouth was the most jarring, the lips pulled so far back it was as if they were stitched to the frame of her jaws, exposing her gums and twin rows of abnormally large teeth. Tangled, matted strands of pitch-black hair draped past her face and across her forelegs. Eight eyes with golden sclera stared intensely at the girls, and a human nose flared as if to sniff them out. A disturbingly long, twisted neck connected the head to the rest of the body.
"You smell very, very good…" she continued in a languid, dangerously low tone, inching lower toward them. Neither Hat or Bow could move, as if the horror alone of the seeing the spirit kept them firmly trapped where they were. She shook her head next, as if uncertain, "But you two don't look very tasty…"
Unconsciously, Hat Kid raised her free hand up to her mask. Unable to immediately respond, all she could think of was how grateful she was for the Dwellers' traditions. Although the masks already had some power of their own, it seemed there was more truth to their legend than most would believe, since they weren't immediately attacked like human beings.
The Widowmaker continued, her teeth clacking together as she spoke, "You came all this way, so what do you want? Tell me quickly, tell me, intruders. And be thankful. I only listen because so many curious things lately have echoed through my web."
She tapped the tips of her innermost forelegs together, almost in anticipation—whether for news or for an excuse to kill though was hard to tell. Either way, the warning stretch of one of her outer forelegs was enough to encourage them to finally speak. Her face was hardly half a meter away from their own now. Bow Kid leaned her head away as if to distance herself as she answered, "The Shadow sent us."
Hat appreciated her friend's wise choice of words, and her steady explanation that followed as the Widowmaker first hissed in response. From what little they knew about this spirit, they needed every advantage they could get to lure her to their side. As kids, they didn't have enough power or authority for her to easily be intimidated by them and, without their masks, they looked human enough for her to try to eat them. Their ties to Snatcher—who had most certainly isolated her and most her kind to this deep, hidden part of the wood—was practically the only sort of reputation they had here.
As she kept talking, Hat Kid noticed her friend fiddle with the hem of her skirt, her hand clenching and knotting the fabric at her side. She'd release it for a moment, then start again. Bow twisted her umbrella in her other grasp. She was nervous, but didn't let it show in her voice even once.
By the time she was done explaining the situation, the Widowmaker had reigned in her initial aggression. Instead, she now looked slightly amused, "That Shadow wants our help? Welly well, I'm sure he won't sorely miss it."
Hat and Bow jumped out of the way as she at last fell with a faint swing off her thread, landing on all eights to step a short distance off and rotate to face them yet again:
"The queen is no friend to us spiders, but neither is he. If he loses this fight, it's not our concern."
"But if Vanessa freezes over Subcon, the storm will reach you too."
The Widowmaker dipped the front of her body in an awkward, dismissive shrug. The ends of her mangled lips rose in an ugly smirk. "Then we shall find a new home. The cold is bothersome, but we can survive."
It was hard to say whether the spirit was telling the truth or just being stubborn. Hardly anything had survived Vanessa's first storm so many years ago; however, the devastation it caused was what invited so many dark beings like her to begin with. More worrisome still was her promise to find somewhere else to go. Subcon was vast and other spirits like the foxes would be able to take care of themselves, but if the spiders ventured outside of the forest's boundaries—down its winding trails and into the neighboring areas to wait the blizzard out—they'd most likely enter farmland and small towns. They'd attack innocent people with no connection to Subcon at all.
Hat Kid grimaced, shrugging off her pack to hunt for her half of the meat. Now was as good a time as ever to over up their bribe. "We were told to give you this, if you'd help us," she grunted, tugging at it by its thick wrapping. It wasn't that it was too heavy for her, just that it was hard to pull out. Eventually though, she managed to unload her burden next to her, holding it up for show.
As Bow Kid fetched her own half, the Widowmaker's nose madly flared yet again. This was the smell that enticed her before. Hat stared hard at the Widowmaker and unraveled part of the wrapping to reveal the red and pink mass hidden under it. The two girls had dossed the meat with the carrion flower oil well before they arrived here. Hat Kid hoped the smell stayed well enough. As ornery as spirits in general could be, she didn't want to think of how the spider would react to being tricked.
No matter how necessary, no matter if the meat they brought wasn't really human flesh, the plan still disgusted her. It was working though. An instant change came over the Widowmaker: She tapped all of her legs against the platform in an anxious fashion, rocking back and forth in place as if she hadn't eaten anything in centuries. A clear droll reflected against her large teeth.
It flooded over and splattered through the webbing under her as she spoke, "I didn't think that Shadow had good taste… Usually, he just throws that part of his playthings away once he's finished with them."
Hat Kid blocked that particular image out of her mind.
The Widowmaker kept fidgeting in place, then moved forward to take the meat away from them. Against her better judgement, Hat Kid held her piece away from the spider, giving Bow a look to do the same. The spirit hissed a second time and raised a pair of legs dangerously, then looked around to the rest of her kind. They were starting to close in and there was only so much meat to go around—nowhere near enough for all of them. She glanced down: If she attacked the girls and they fell, it was unlikely she'd reach them before other members of her kin did and had taken their share.
She relented, fidgeting her two of forelegs as she did earlier and changing into a more pleasant tone, "Perhaps… there is some kind of agreement we could reach after all. Since that Shadow wants our help so badly."