She waits for a chance to strike

"I don't think I can do that," Teysa said. She kept her voice friendly. She knew the thugs were waiting on their leader to make the first move, and he couldn't be more than a second or two from doing so. They looked practiced, probably recruited from slum gangs-- when the time came to strike, they wouldn't hesitate. After all, there were six of them, against two women and a drider whose fear must have been obvious.

She had to hope that their discipline would break. It would only take a moment, and if they could break the cordon, they could escape. Perhaps alert the city guards, if any of them came down here. They were backed against a building, though, and the streets here were narrow and winding. Her hand went to her mace, and Gold-tooth's eye flickered towards it. Teysa felt the tension reach a tipping point, and time seemed to slow. Her fingers closed around her mace's haft, but they seemed to be moving through treacle. Gold-tooth was yelling something and raising his sword, the other drow were charging forward, but slowly, so slowly...

Time reasserted itself with a sudden clangor. The first thing Teysa heard was a wild, feral scream. The drow with the billhook had both hands wrapped around the handle and was holding it over his head like a scepter. He charged forward, gibbering madly. Aliara's daggers looked like knitting needles next to the jagged-edged hook. Teysa moved to interpose herself and lifted her mace. She caught the first blow on the haft, turned aside the second, barely dodged the third. Her attacker was raving, incoherent. He hammered at her with no grace and no technique, not even trying to evade her guard, just battering blow after blow from above. Spittle flew from his mouth. As he raised his hook again, Aliara slid up beside Teysa and planted a dagger in his chin. His eyes widened and he took a faltering step backward, ripping the dagger from her grasp. Then he toppled over like a tree.

But there was no time to rest. The ring of drow had closed on them. Gold-tooth slashed downward with his sword, forcing Teysa to leap backwards to avoid it. He stepped forward neatly and separated her from Aliara. At her other shoulder was a younger drow, slim, with close-cropped hair and a gold ring in one nostril. He carried a finely crafted rapier and moved like a dancer. His weapon was absurdly slim, but he was quick and easily penetrated her guard. She felt a prick on her lower thigh and hissed between her teeth. The wound wasn't deep and fortunately had missed her artery, but the drow stood back anyways with a look of triumph on his face. He raised his rapier in mock salute. Teysa's vision blurred. The blade glistened with something dark that was not her blood. Poison. She took a half-step towards him and her leg went out from under her. A loud buzzing rose up in her ears, and her eyes rolled back into her head. The world went dark.

She came to in fits and starts. First: darkness, with snippets of conversation. The voices seemed to be coming from a long way away, or perhaps underwater. Distortion robbed the syllables of meaning. She went under again.

When she came back, she had a sensation of movement: swaying, rattling movement, as if she were on a cart or slung over the back of a horse. Something chafed at her wrists and ankles. Her stomach was squashed uncomfortably; she couldn't draw in a full breath.

This time, though, consciousness did not vanish, and she fought to put together a coherent thought. It was hard. Her mind felt as though it were full of fluff. She struggled to remember her last moments of consciousness. The drow--

Her eyes snapped open. This proved to be of little use; the world was as dark as before. Little by little, her senses trickled back to her. Something rough and firm was wrapped around her wrists, ankles and neck. She could feel rough fabric scraping the back of her neck. The rest of her was exposed; goosebumps rose on her naked flesh. She was lying curled up on her side. From the sound of it, she was in the back of a cart or carriage. She heard the clip-clop of hooves and murmured voices above her. Her arms were crossed behind her back, and her wrists were bound together. She wiggled her body, trying to find the extent of her prison, and bumped up against what felt like clay jars and wooden crates on either side.

So. She was a prisoner, bound and hooded. At least they had not killed her outright. She wanted to call out for Aliara or El'keth, but she did not want to let her captors know she was awake. Instead she lay there and kept her ears open, hoping for a sound she recognized. She would marshal what little resources she had.

The cart trundled to a halt, and she heard a loud thump. The darkness around her grew perceptibly brighter. Then rough hands grabbed her by the shoulders. She went limp as they dragged her out of the cart. From the feel of it, there were two people handling her-- one supporting her under the shoulders, the other lifting her ankles. They spoke with gravely voices.

"Is she still out?"

"Looks like it." She was jostled back and forth and allowed herself to roll bonelessly. "Yeah, she's out. Look, she jiggles real nicely."

Both voices laughed. Teysa felt callused fingers close around her nipple. They pinched, lightly at first, then firmly. She struggled not to cry out. "This one's a beauty. Shame, really," said the first voice. The second, slightly higher-pitched, cackled. "Be fun to watch, though!" he said. The fingers around her nipple gave a sharp twist, and Teysa bit her lip. She was grateful for the concealing hood.

A second set of fingers probed at her cunt, parting her lips slightly. "You're making her wet!" said the second voice. "What a randy wench!" Teysa gritted her teeth, willing her body not to betray her. There was a long pause, then the hand around her breast retreated. "Come on, quit messing around," said the first voice. "We're wasting time."

Teysa felt herself sway and jerk as her tormentors lifted her and began to carry her away. She lay patiently and waited. They weren't traveling far-- she felt herself lifted down two flights of stairs, then dropped unceremoniously on a dirt floor. All the air left her lungs with a sharp woof.

"Careful!" This was a third voice, and one that sounded vaguely familiar. The consonants were sharp, the vowels clipped and precise. "She has to be in reasonable shape, you idiots!" The other two murmured apologies, and Teysa heard their boots scuff on the floor as they withdrew. Then there was silence.

Something bright poked into her field of vision with a tearing sound. It was a knife blade, she realized, cutting through the hood. Light poured in as the cloth tore and she squinted. When her eyes opened again, she was looking up into a familiar scarred face with a gold-toothed grin.

"Hello, lovely," he said, and stood up. "Should have left when you had the chance. It's too late now, I'm afraid."

"Where... El'keth?" Teysa managed. She feared she knew the answer, but wanted to hear it from his lips.

"What, your spider friend? Never you mind about her. I think you should be much more worried about what's going to become of you." He paused. "And your little half-breed. Never fear, she's in one piece. For now." He squatted next to Teysa and grabbed her by the elbow. His dagger flashed and she felt the ropes around her ankles part. "Come on, up you get," he said, and tried to pull her to her feet. Her legs tingled with pins and needles and she stumbled and fell almost at once.

"Come on!" he snarled. "The toxin's worn off by now. Do you need me to call my friends back to carry you?"

Teysa gritted her teeth. "No," she managed, going to one knee. Gold-tooth gave her an appraising look as she wobbled to her feet. With her hands still bound behind her, balance was a challenge, but at last she managed to stand upright. She fixed him with her fiercest glare, and he laughed. "Ah!" he said. "So you do have some fight in you. Good. I would hate to be wasting my time." With that, he grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her along behind him.

They passed through a stone corridor lined with rusting metal doors. Half of these hung open, revealing empty cells. The floor was damp, and lime deposits clung to the walls. It looked abandoned, but the door at the end of the hall was much newer than those around it. It was circular, a steel vault door with a wheel set in the center. It squeaked as Gold-tooth turned it and the door swung open.

The room on the other side was massive, a circular cave three stories tall. Rings of tiered seats surrounded a sand-floored arena like an amphitheater. The center was a ring of sand about thirty feet wide, surrounded by a spherical iron cage. Teysa and her escort were at the bottom of the room, on a narrow path that bisected the rings of seats. He dragged her forward towards the cage. She could see a door set in the side of the cage at ground level; Gold-tooth wrenched it open, then spun her around and pulled her close to him. He grinned in her face. "Good luck, my dear," he said, and brought his dagger up to slice through her bonds. At the same time he gave her a firm shove in the chest. She stumbled backwards on legs that still weren't fully awake and went sprawling in the sand.

The door clanged shut behind her. She climbed to her feet and looked around. There were two large holes in the floor, each covered by a grate, but aside from that the arena was barren. She looked up in time to see figures begin to filter into the seats from concealed doors high above. Drow, mostly, but the occasional dwarf or human, all dressed in fine robes and dripping with jewelry. She covered her breasts with one arm and held the other between her legs. Their mocking laughter filled her ears. Her face flushed and she sat down on the sand and curled her knees to her chest.

When the room was about half-full, she heard the squeal of rusty hinges from behind her. The vault door was opening again, and Gold-tooth returned, this time dragging Aliara behind him. She was bound as Teysa had been, and nude as well. This time, he was flanked by two drow with spears; they took up positions on either side of the cage door as he fumbled with the lock. Teysa sat and watched. Once again, Gold-tooth opened the door and nearly threw Aliara inside. As soon as the door closed again Teysa rushed over to her lover and wrapped her in her arms.

"Oh, Li, I'm so sorry," she said.

"It's not your fault," Aliara said. "We've been in worse scrapes. We'll get through this."

"Any idea what they have planned for us?" Teysa asked. "This looks like a gladiatorial arena..."

Aliara nodded grimly. "And us unarmed. If they wanted us to put up a good show, they'd be tossing us weapons. This must be--"

She was interrupted by a booming voice that echoed off the walls. It took Teysa a moment to realize that it was Gold-tooth, his speech somehow amplified.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" he began. The crowd's roar slowly ebbed and every face turned towards the women in the cage.

"Tonight, we bring you a special spectacle! These two surface-dwellers you see are in league with the spider-demons! They were captured attempting to infiltrate our fair city and bring ruin to our people. Their punishment will fit the severity of their crime. I invite you to watch them learn that there are more dangerous things than spiders in the Underneath!"

The crowd cheered and applauded. Beneath the uproar, Teysa could hear a dull clanking, a mechanical sound that seemed to shake the floor. She looked around in confusion until Aliara laid a hand on her arm and pointed. "Look!" she said. The metal grates in the floor were retracting slowly, leaving two gaping pits. Something was moving down there. There was a hideous rising buzz, and then something bright leapt out of the hole nearest Teysa. It moved so quickly that she only caught a brief glimpse of iridescent wings and shiny yellow carapace. Another shape joined it, and another. Teysa retreated until her back was pressed up against the bars of the cage.

The shapes clustered in the air near the cage roof, and Teysa's eyes widened as she finally got a good look at them. They looked for all the world like giant wasps. Each was nearly four feet long, with a wingspan double that. Their bodies were fat, chitinous sacs with tiny legs curled up beneath them. Their mandibles looked like shears with serrated edges. Their stingers hung down below them, lance points that tapered to an invisibly sharp point. There were four of them in total, hovering in a diamond formation and staring down at Teysa and Aliara with compound eyes that gleamed with malice.