James West - Queen of the North

“There’s nowhere to go!”

Erryn cast about. “Gather a dozen men,” she ordered, “and all the lamps they can carry.”

“For what?” Aedran asked, breathless after pushing through a wall of thrashing Prythians.

She raised herself up, shedding her terror and revulsion. “Do as I command!” She was sure arguments would follow. Instead, One Eye Thal grinned at her, and a strange glimmer came into Aedran’s gaze. Pride? she wondered, hardly able to believe it. Or is it satisfaction?

The general turned away to call soldiers to his side. The response was almost as overwhelming as the swarm of caterpillars. It seemed as if the men had been waiting for someone to give a command, no matter what that command was. It took but a few seconds for Aedran to gather a score of Prythians around himself and their queen. It took less time for those same men to collect a hundred oil lamps, some alight, but most cold.

“We have what you wanted,” Aedran said.

“Follow me!” Erryn set off toward the corridor they had used to reach the great hall. She was stopped cold by a surging wall of soldiers, all beating at themselves and one another, smashing worms, cursing the glassy spikes hung in their skin, bellowing when any of those creatures sank pincers into unprotected skin.

Aedran stepped ahead of her, with One Eye Thal and the other three captains serving as a defensive ring between her and her frenzied army. Together they pushed through-Aedran was not alone in knocking a few heads of anyone given completely over to terror-and ended up in the long corridor, now aglow with tens of thousands of marching caterpillars. They squirmed over every surface, seeking the heat of men.

Or, maybe, they’re drawn to the scent of fresh blood? Erryn thought, horrified by the prospect.

Aedran faced her. “What do we do?”

He wants me to lead , she realized, knowing intuitively that was true, but not understanding why.

Instead of answering, she took a cold lamp from his hand, unstopped the oil reservoir, and hurled it down the corridor. A long tail of oil droplets followed after the unlit lamp, sparkling like silver raindrops in the ghostlight cast by the worms. The lamp hit the floor with a clang and wobbled out of sight.

One Eye Thal looked at her as if she had gone mad. “That was a perfectly good lamp!”

Erryn snatched a torch from Kormak’s hands and flung it after the lamp. When the torch hit the floor, its flames guttered and spit, then set alight the trail of oil with a muffled whoosh!

Erryn retreated, her feet crunching through a dense carpet of caterpillars. Flames raced down the corridor, blackening a host of worms. They began to swell like tiny sausages. Soon after, they burst, their jellied insides threatening to put out the fire.

“More lamps,” Erryn ordered.

Before she had finished speaking, the corridor was filled with soaring lamps. The sharp smell of drizzling oil mingled with the reek of roasting caterpillars. In seconds, intense heat and rising flames filled the corridor, driving back the light of the worms. A hot, soot-filled wind drove Erryn and her party backward.

After the flames and the heat faded, she saw that blobs of ash had replaced most of the caterpillars, but those still alive were crawling for the safety of cracks in the stone walls. A rowdy cheer went up from her captains, as if they had singlehandedly pushed back an invading army.

“We’re not finished,” Erryn said. “We’ll have to burn them all before we can shelter here.”

Now that they had seen what to do, her companions set off down the corridor, dousing the floor with lamp oil, splashing it high up on the walls. Once they reached the far end, they set it all alight again. It burned hotter and brighter than before, the flames scaling the walls to reach the ceiling, searing everything left alive.

When the last flames guttered out, and only the flickering light of a few lamps stood against the usual darkness of Stormhold, Erryn surveyed what they had done. The long corridor would make for a tight fit with all the men and horses, but she was confident there was enough room.

Erryn felt the weight of the men’s gazes on her. Aedran and the captains ringed her about, as if waiting for something more. Erryn locked eyes with the general and frowned. As they had before when she guessed he had wanted her to take command, his blue eyes shone and an expectant smile played over his lips.

“What would you have us do, my queen?” he asked.

He truly wants me to lead , Erryn thought, but more than that, he wants the men to see me leading, a queen at the head of her army . In that moment, she could almost forgive him for spurning her. Almost .

“We’ll need to keep a watch, in case these foul creatures return,” she said. “But now that we know how they swarm, we ought to be able to knock them back before they can grow in number-hopefully without having to set everything afire. Bring the rest of the men here, but before they come into the corridor, make sure they have none of those damnable caterpillars crawling on them-”

“That means we’ll have to strip,” Aedran cut in.

“Modesty will do us more harm than good,” she said, and received reluctant nods all around. Listening to the rising commotion in the great hall, she added, “I suggest you make all haste, or my army will flee Stormhold.”

When Aedran and the others hesitated, Erryn took a deep breath, drew off her cloak, and shook it out. Next off was her coat, then her first of three tunics. Her general and captains followed suit.

Her talk about modesty came back to haunt her when she stood as naked as her men. As far as she could tell, they were not looking at her as they would a goddess-queen, but as men who see a desirable woman.

Not to be outdone, she boldly returned their scrutiny. When she looked on Aedran, she felt the same eagerness and regret in her heart that she saw in his eyes. Both emotions she pushed down, strangling the life out of them.

After ensuring no caterpillars had taken refuge in her clothing, Erryn got dressed again, as did her men. While no one had set fire to the worms in the great hall, the tiny creatures had begun to disperse. Neither Erryn nor Aedran thought it wise to count on the creatures not returning.

A few shouts got the army moving toward the corridor. A few more shouts had the men in front stripping out of their caterpillar-infested clothing and armor, shaking it all out, and then moving into their narrow sanctuary.

Erryn oversaw everything. Some of the Prythians looked askance at her, but she only bid them entry with a curt gesture after Aedran or one of her captains had ensured they weren’t bringing any of the worms with them. Most of the men bore welts and swollen bite marks.

Erryn recoiled when Zander tottered into the torchlight, his curly black hair matted with sweat and blood. He had removed his cloak and trousers, but still wore his scaled jerkin. His eyes, red and puffy, rolled feverishly.

“Are you daft, lad?” One Eye Thal asked. “The queen’s order was to take everything off.”

Zander wobbled where he stood, and began pissing on the floor. “Gobble my arse, you ugly, one-eyed whoreson,” Zander mumbled, as if his tongue had grown too thick for his mouth.

One Eye Thal’s fists clenched, but Aedran stopped him from disciplining the man. The general leaned closer to Zander. Erryn suddenly wanted to scream at him to keep his distance, but the words stuck in her throat.

“He’s sick,” Aedran said.

“Is it venom?” Erryn asked.

“Mayhap,” Aedran said, brow furrowed. He spoke quietly to Erryn and the other captains, but all of them denied seeing anyone else showing the signs of fever or delirium.