CHAPTER SIX

Battle of the Spider Queen

I padded out of the passageway, and the room suddenly grew dark- almost no candles glowed in this chamber, unlike the one before it. Eerie music seemed to thrum from the huge webs covering the walls. While my gaze was wandering, I tripped over something in the gloom- landing on the stone floor with a slam. I opened my eyes and came face-to-face a horrifying thing. I scrambled backwards, my mouth open in a silent gasp of horror. It was a skull.

Dark shadows seemed to come alive and crawled down the walls, I couldn't help myself as my heart-rate grew faster. The slinking shadows herded me across the bridge and into the tunnel on the far side, then they withdrew as suddenly as they had come. Telling myself I had only imagined it, I stopped for an instant, then looked around to see where I was. The room was large and circular, and in the far corner, a large shadow lay resting in one of the webs- It looked like a withered flower. Gathering courage, I leaped down off the cliff and into the room gracefully.

"Sisters!" A shrill hissing voice called from the shadows. "Brothers!" I tried to locate the sound, it echoed from everywhere. I searched the room, then- there! Up on the ceiling! I crouched into a fighting stance. All at once, the shadows started to move, giant spiders crawled off the walls into a circle around us. I swallowed, there were so many of them… There must have been a hundred or more.

"Another canine meal has come into our midsts!" One spider dropped from the ceiling, then lifted its head, parting yellow hair that almost reached the floor. She was 10 feet tall, maybe even taller. She had the face of a human -except for the fact she had no eyes, and two giant mandibles stuck out the side of her mouth. Her blue skin changed to red, yellow and green when it reached her back, which was huge and bulbous and shaped like a budding flower. She wore a wooden necklace with kanji carved into the beads, but the symbols were too small for me to read. "How delightful, another dog-snack has so foolishly come into our home!" She said, coming closer on her backward-facing hands.

"Stand back, you arachnid scum!" Hiraku shouted bravely, his tiny voice echoing around the room- standing on the edge of my nose and waving his sword. "Our dog friend has brought a side-dish! Oh- but he doesn't even make a mouthful!" The spider laughed a creaky laugh, filled with such evil the hair on my neck stood up. Hiraku glowed red with indignation, but the spider continued before he had time to retort. "I know you!" The spider with blonde hair clacked. "You are a God! One of those Gods who killed our mother!" Her fellow spiders clacked their jaws from the wall in a threatening manner. "They, who stole from us the ancient right to do so ourselves! Ha! But now her daughter, -I- Maiko, shall avenge her! Akako! Jirou!" Maiko clacked from the center of the room. "Where are your manners? Come and greet our visitors." The great she-spider turned and walked slowly to the flower-throne on the far side of the room. Two other spiders landed behind me on either side. One was male, the other was female, like Maiko. The female had blood-soaked fangs and short black hair with red tips. She had painted markings splashed across her face, and her back was a crimson red. The male's back was a deep green, unlike his sisters', and he carried something on his back; it looked like a spider-web strung guitar, two of his backward-facing hands played it as we faced eachother- it was the same eery music as before, except now sped up into a battle-tune. "See that our guests are taken care of." Maiko said, turning around again so she could watch from her throne. Instantly I sunk deeper into a fighting crouch, and growled, daring the giant spiders to come nearer.

The female attacked first in a headlong charge, I dodged but one of her long clawed fingers grazed my side. We circled eachother, growling and chattering, then she lunged again. Using mist-warp I leaped over her head and attacked with my weapon, slicing into her back. She shrieked with pain but then turned around and grabbed at me. All the while her brother waited in the background, playing a fitting tune on his guitar. She retreated into the shadows, and I waited warily, her dark complexion made her impossible to see, but I knew she was waiting to strike…

'There!'

She came flying out of the darkness, but I spun on my paws and smacked her upside the head with my reflector, and the spider collapsed. The male suddenly grabbed his spiderweb-strung instrument and began to swing at me. I dodged, and he aimed blow after blow at me, but I managed to escape him each time. After he put the instrument on his back, I lunged- grabbing one of his legs and biting down hard, before dancing away. He shrieked and limped towards me, shooting webs; which were harder to evade- but I managed it; leaping over them and twisting in the air. When he paused, I made my attack, coming at him in a charge and battering him with my weapon. He yelled in rage again, but collapsed. Spiders on the walls chattered uncertainly, but their leader silenced them with a flick of her hands. "Hmm..." Maiko muttered, coming closer on her backward limbs. "Tougher than I thought, but I won't make that mistake again. You may have slain my siblings, but now, I will kill you." I rolled my eyes, 'Why do monsters always have to be so obnoxiously sure of themselves?'

"Come on then!" I growled, daring her to come nearer, spinning my weapon. The large spider paced around me, looking for an opening to strike, but I didn't let her find any weakness. Growing tired of it, the spider grabbed at me suddenly, but her hand crashed into a rock when I leapt away- which made her very angry. She let out a war cry and swatted at me with four of her legs. I started to panic, and one of the hands hit me. I went flying with a shocked yelp. Though I only stayed on the ground for an instant, the giant arachnid grabbed me, and picked me up into the air. "Revenge… Is mine!" The spider clacked, and opened her jaws wide, her rank breath nearly choked me. I growled, my tail was free- so I power-slashed her mouth. She screamed in pain and dropped me to the ground, where I quickly spun around and charged while she held her hands over her mouth, crying out in pain. When she removed them, I saw one of her mandibles was missing, and her face was bleeding through a large gash. 'Good, she won't be able to talk now!' I thought to myself as I veered away, but she made her anger known as she hurled things at me. Dodging them was easy, but I feared I was running out of time, as her younger siblings started to slink down from the walls -apparently tired of waiting at the sidelines- lusting for blood themselves.

A sudden idea came to me, and I ran in for another attack, but this time- I wove between her legs, confusing her as she tried to stomp on me. Avoiding her was easier than I thought, and I tripped her up using my reflector. She came crashing to the ground, and I was on her in an instant. Using bloom, I opened her back, and to my disgust- saw eight horrible, giant eyes staring at me. Trying not to gag, I slashed at the first eye. Maiko screamed, but was unable to get up. Her back trembled. I whirled around the center of the eyes, striking in every direction, placing well-aimed blows to all of them. They retracted, and the spider let out a howl, blonde hair flying around her as she thrashed and collapsed, darkness flying from her body- back unfolding into a yellow lotus. The remainder of her body disappeared into the moss-covered floor, and the ground glowed.

A weapon appeared from where the giant spider had previously stood- from the center of the flower. It was Maiko's necklace, but it had transformed into a rosary made of fine wood- with ancient carvings on it. Grabbing the weapon, I turned on the other spiders, roaring at them. They all looked uncertain to fight the one who had killed their leader, but before I could attack, the cavern shook. I was jostled from foot to foot. "W-what's happening?!" Hiraku said, clinging onto my fur. "The statue's collapsing!" I gasped. "We have to get out of here!" The spiders had fled to the walls, seeking a way out, pushing and shoving each other to get through first, but I raced back the way I had come from, I leapt up the wall of the circular room and dashed out.

I crossed the stone bridge in the large cavern, rocks and chunks of ceiling falling all around me. Right after I got off the bridge, a huge rock crushed it in half. When I made it to the top of the Dogu's head, I looked around. There was no way down, and there was no time to look for one. Another great tremble came from the Dogu statue. watching the far-away ground, I realized, There was only one way to get down. I bunched up my legs and sprang from the statue. I fell level after level down the statue, spread-eagled, rocks crashing to earth around me. Doing a holy-eagle jump at the last moment I managed to land on one of the stepping-stones on all four feet. My pads and ankles stung, but I kept running. Leaping from rock to rock as fast as I could, I could hear vines and spiderwebs snapping behind me. As I reached the shore and looked around my shoulder, the huge Dogu statue collapsed as all the spiderwebs that held it up snapped. First the head fell, the remaining spiders all yelled and screamed as they fell into the water below. Then an arm detached, then the whole body shifted and fell into the water, snapping in half as it went. I flattened my ears. It was such a pity that was the price of ridding evil from the ruins, its most magnificent feature went down with it; like their fates were tied together.

I shook my coat, sending dirt and bits of rock flying. The Dogu's head was lying in the water, lying on its side. 'There's nothing more to be done here.' I shook dust free from my ears. 'All that's left is to-'

"Akime, look." Hiraku said, in a flat, somber tone. I turned to see what he was staring at. The gates, the stone doors of the entrance were blocked by layer upon layer of rock. When the earthquake that shook the statue happened, it must have loosened the rocks above the entrance, or made them crumble and break...One thing was sure- we'd have to find another way out.

(AN: Ermagerd BOSS FIIGGHHT! :D About time something happened, even if it is descendants against descendant. Yeah, Maiko's really similar to her Mom, in appearance and attack, but the monsters will get more original, I swear.

And here's an interesting tidbit for you- Maiko's name actually has meaning behind it. The original spider in okami was called the 'Geisha Spider'. And 'Maikos' are Geisha apprentices. ;) )