-The Hunt [3]

Those words melded into Lia's brain, her voice refusing to speak, as her eyes just stood blankly at the spot where Lukali was taken.

'Seven Cain. Why didn't you tell me there were seven?'

In some way, she found blame falling on Cain, somewhat pushed from her mind.

Her denial that it was her fault.

'I was careful, I moved exactly how you wanted. I didn't do anything wrong with the information I was given. So why?'

Cain's voice remained silent, a far cry feeling from what lia was used to.

'Why?!'

Tears began to fill in her eyes.

Even if Lukali was still alive, she knew she wouldn't be able to keep up with the speed of those spiders. Even if the big one was slower than the rest, his movement speed was something Lia just couldn't follow.

Seven had hardly left behind any afterimage, meaning her eyes weren't able to adjust to the spider's speed in time. He was moving that fast.

'Lia.'

Snapping her from her thoughts, and breaking the silence that had settled in her head, Cain's voice was like a trumpet of the king, loud but vast.

'My perception of what is going on, depends on you. You act as a vessel of mine to the Ancestral World, like a spyglass. But if that glass is damaged, I can not see anything.'

Anger began rising in her chest, a bile forming on the edge of her throat, and over a dozen harsh words just waited on the tip of her tongue to be said.

'You're blaming me? How could you blame me in this situation?! You threw me into this fight, telling me that I needed to get stronger, and I tried. I tried…'

Her mind drifted off, and the anger that was rising in her chest faded into depression.

Lukali offered her his help, and it was because of him that she met so many people. He may have been weak in her eyes, but she had no right to judge. She was weak, so above all else, he was someone she could compare to. Someone she saw as equal.

Now he is gone.

'Stop it.'

Cain's voice held traces of harshness within them, a bile of disgust.

'Look down at your right leg.'

Heading the tone in his voice, Lia glanced down at her leg, where she was shocked to find a small baby sized spider, with its fangs embedded deep within her flesh.

'Wh-What is that?'

'A spider. Too small for our senses to pick it up. Since we were so busy looking for a larger threat, we forgot to pay attention to the smaller ones.'

Ripping the spider from her leg, she could see the faint traces of a bluish venom resting on its fangs.

'The smaller ones, being prepubescent, turn their own blood into venom as a defense mechanism. This causes our senses to dull, and small vision to appear.'

'Visions?'

Crushing the spider with her fingers, she brushed away the spot where she had pulled it from, checking for any more that could have been latched onto her body.

'Yes visions. It was why your formation broke apart. The men were bitten by these little things, and thus, failed to realize they were fighting in the first place. It was why they looked so shocked by their allies' deaths, and why they weren't even aware there were spiders above them.'

'They were discombobulated?'

'Big words but yes. Your formation was perfect, we just didn't account for these pests.'

Looking over the mass of dead bodies, their numbers reduced by half, Lia was left in shock at the amount dead.

'Amazing what such little creatures can do, especially when shifting the tide in a battle.'

Seemingly impressed, Cain admired the spiders for their tactical advantage and their prowess in traps and ambushes.

'They do set up quite the sophisticated ambushes. I'm impressed.'

Lia was brought back to her words from before, and felt immense regret for what she said.

'Cain…I'm sorry.'

'Don't bother kid. It doesn't matter much to me anyways. You were upset, and your emotions clouded you, that much I can understand.'

'But..'

'No buts. Lets focus. To your left you'll find a small bag. Take it, and administer the effects to anyone that looks even a little drowsy.'

Confused, Lia heeded Cain's words, moving to a small pile of stagties, where she bent down and peered behind the rock.

Surprised, she pulled out what looked to be an old worn bag made of leather and cloth.

'How did you know this was here?'

Instead of a detailed response as she expected, Cain's next words surprised her even more.

'I didn't. I put it there.'

'How?'

'The same way I used fire to kill that spider from before.'

Confused, her mind began turning its gears, trying to piece together some form of reasoning as to how this could have happened. However, as her head began to throb, she ultimately gave up, and wrote off this strange instance as just another one of Cain's mysteries.

'The medicine inside is the antidote. It will also permanently take effect once you consume it.'

Checking inside the bag, Lia found a large quantity of vials with a glowing, turquoise color liquid. There were so many in fact, that Lia didn't doubt she had enough for the remaining people left unharmed by the spiders.

Though she had doubts they would continue going forward with her, she knew that was within expectations. They had just watched their friends die, and even then, she had come into this fight believing that she would be fighting alone.

Firming her resolve, Lia headed back down the tunnel, passing by several dead bodies, blood seeming from their wounds, and a few even looked unrecognizable. Their faces bitten and scared, body parts torn to shreds by the spider's fangs.

Seeing all this, Lia was only left with a disturbing sickness within her stomach.

'I led these men down here.'

Even after Cain's peptalk, she could still not come to terms with what she had done. Second thoughts, regrets, and a number of other ideas poured from her head.

'If only I had been a little bit better. If only I knew more, they wouldn't have died.'

Shaking her head, she forced herself to push on through the rows of dead, holding down the sick feeling she felt, and, upon finding Rian, headed for his direction.

Seeing her drawing closer, his eyes passed between her and another man, who appeared to be in deep conversation with Rian, backed by another man.

Clearly Rian was worried about the man and what he was saying, but he also showed clear hesitation when turning over his words.

"We can't continue on. Too many are dead and we've barely got the rest in proper shape. How do you expect-"

Interrupting him, Lia called out, as silence settled after her words.

"Rian. I need to see you."

No one moved. Not the man or his backer, nor did Rian who held up his hands to his chest, as if to say that he was currently at a stand still.

"You!"

Whirling around the man gripped onto Lia's clothes and lifted her feet off the ground.

His face was contorted in anger, his right eye blind from blood seeping from a spider's cut on his forehead.

Instantly, Lia felt a fire rise in her stomach and her chest. Clearly Cain wasn't happy about this treatment, much less about her not doing anything about it.

Brining her face close, his voice was filled with anger and frustration.

"You're the one who made us get into that stupid diamond. It's your fault they're all dead!"

Pushing her away, Lia stumbled before catching herself from falling.

The commotion attracted the attention of the other miners, who were surprised to find Lia still alive, but Lia could see, even if they said nothing, a hint of anger was tracing their eyes.

Calmly, she looked at the man whose anger was written all over his face.

"I know. I did what I could based on the information I knew. But this…this is because of something else."

However, her words only seems to further anger him, as he stomped forward, only held back at a distance because of Rian.

"You're blaming this on someone else?! You put us in that formation, you sent us to our deaths!"

Trying to calm down the man, and keep the situation calm Rian placed himself between Lia and his rage.

"Now calm down. No ones to blame for this, except those damned spiders. The Huntress did what she could with untrained men like us, that isn't her fault."

"You're taking her side with this. How could you?"

"I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm just saying we can't go blaming each other when we've only just recovered. Give it time."

"Time? There are dead lying on the ground, and your telling me to be calm and recover?"

As the conversation blanketed out in Lia's mind, her eyes landed on a small bite mark on the left side of Rian's elbow.

It was small, hardly noticeable, but Lia was instantly able to tell what it was.

Similarly, the man currently engaged in an argument with Rain, had a living spider attached to the back side of his neck.

'They must have hit all of us.'

Moving past Rian, who was still arguing with the man, Lia reached out and plucked the spider from his neck, leaving behind a faint trace of red and blue blood.

"Agh."

The man clutching his neck in pain from the sudden removal of the spider, bringing his hand back around to see the different color bloods mixed in his palm.

Holding up the spider, Lia began explaining to the man, loud enough that the rest of the people in the cave could hear her, but calm enough to show she meant to harm.

"This is the thing that caused so many of your miners to die. These things are too small to see and infect us with a poison that makes us discombobulate. It's because of these that so many people died."

Hearing Rian sigh from behind her back, Lia guessed that what she had said must have calmed at least a few people down from their anger.

However, the man before her was no one of them.

"You're blaming us for this!?"

He slapped the spider from her hands, leaving the fire in her chest to grow into some unquenchable rage.

Urgently, she tried calming the anger.

'It's fine, it's fine. He can't hurt me.'

'Not if he's dead that is.'

'Cain, wait.'

Bringing his face closer to hers, Lia was forced to take a step back.

"You think you can just waltz in here and order us around, leading us to our deaths?"

Now Lia's own anger was growing. She already blamed herself for what had happened, but this man was making it seem as though she had planned this from the beginning.

Even when she found a common enemy to place their own anger upon, the real bearer of any fault in this situation, he still blamed her.

In a moment of anger, she spoke out, not holding back any of her words.

"I wasn't the one who willingly listened. "

It was barely audible, and no one within the cave could hear it besides the man, his backer, and Rian, who stood closest to her.

In a fit of rage at her words, the man attempted to reach out and grab ahold of her clothes, ready for a fight. But Rian was quick to react.

Placing himself between Lia and the man once again, he used his large gauntlets to act as a wall between the two.

"That's enough. Get back in line and keep quiet. If we want to kill those spiders, we have to do so together, not fighting each other. Otherwise we'll get nothing done and more people will die."

But the man wouldn't listen, and instead slapped away Rian's hand, moving farther from the group and motioned down the tunnel.

"Do it yourself. I'm not being led into that den by some two bitten fools."

Looking to the others who sat against the wall, some clutching their weapons, others clutching their wounds.

"I won't trust my life to this woman, and I suggest you all do the same. Unlike her, no doubt, I have a family to go home to. Which is more than I can say for those lying dead here now."

Turning his back to the rest, he began heading down the tunnel, followed closely by his backer, daring not to turn around and face Rian's raging face.

Slowly, Lia could see the others as their will began to waver, and soon, few by few, they stood up to follow.

Though there weren't many, the few that did leave left their numbers less than five. Too few to deal with an army of spiders that no doubt lied in the den.

Looking at the few that remained, no doubt out of loyalty to Rian, Lia knew in her heart that she would only be leading these men to their deaths if she brought them with her.

It would be better to send the rest on their way, bring them home to their families, and let her take on the challenge alone. That way she could use Cain's power to the fullest, without having to deal with others learning about it.

So, in a moment of maturity, Lia stood next to Rain and whispered in his ear, words she never thought she would be able to say with such maturity.

"Send the others back with the dead, I can continue on by myself."

Shocked, Rian whispered back, careful not to let the others hear, in a hushed tone.

"Are you certain? There's no way you can take on a whole army of those spiders. You fought valiantly, but in the end it won't matter with hundreds coming at your back."

"It doesn't matter. If I take them, I would be leading them to their deaths. It's impossible for them to continue on now."

"But…"

Shaking her head at rian stubbornness, she continued, showing her own resolve to him.

"Rian. You will understand when I walk out of those tunnels alive and with Lukali. But as of now, I can't risk bringing in people who I know will die."

It may have sounded harsh, but with so many to worry about, Lia would be instinctively focused on trying to save their lives rather than her own.

In many ways, what she was saying was true, these men would only cause her death not prevent it. It would be the better option to send them back with what life they had left in their blood.

This, Rain knew.

Nodding his head after several moments of hesitation, Rian set off to speak with the remaining few, persuading them to take home the dead, and heal their wounds.

When it was all over, and the last of the remaining men had headed off down the tunnel, carrying the dead over their shoulders, only Lia and Rian remained behind.

"Are you staying behind?"

"Of course. You said it yourself, this is a battle best won alone."

Clenching his fists together, the metal in his gauntlets cracked from the blood, oil to the joints.

"And I've got enough rage from those things taking my friends, to fuel an army. So I might as well act like one and go against another."

'So his stubbornness got the better of him again.'

Smiling, Lia nodded her head, coming to a conclusion.

'I suppose someone like him can keep a secret.'