A Bellyful of Spiders

"Negotiate? With you?" Serenica snarled. "I'd rather eat my own pistol."

"Be patient, now, young lady," Kinley said, wiping her hair off her face with considerable effort. She had to be hurting. "I would rather limit the bloodshed. I may give you your property back if you and your ilk leave Neul for good."

Serenica thought about all the losses they had taken to get this far. She was not willing to bend. She wanted to stay alive as well, though.

"I want everything you have stolen," she said. "And you have stolen a lot."

Kinley shook her head. "Do you think you are some sort of a heroic figure? Don't you think it would be better to be left alive?"

"Don't you want to live?" Serenica shot back at her. "You're looking much worse than when we met before. How's that hunt been going for you?"

"This can be fixed, and it will be. I'll keep my looks longer than you if you decide to rot," Kinley said, glaring murderously at the healer.

"Can your heart be fixed?" Serenica asked.

She knew she shouldn't taunt people like Kinley. She just couldn't resist showing off her conquest to the one person who cared.

"What do you mean?" the woman asked. She was starting to sound worried.

"The Dreamer thinks about me!" Serenica yelled, boastful and proud of her conquest. "He very nearly kissed me, too! He would never touch a hateful wench like -"

Kinley clapped her hands and a violent shock made Serenica's heart skip a beat. It was a good thing that she was still young and healthy. Otherwise, her heart could have jerked itself dead from the invisible wave.

Serenica was now on the ground again, but it seemed that Kinley had lost her energy to cast spells again. The woman attacked the healer physically, pulling her hair with her left hand and placing the other firmly on her throat.

Serenica sticked her fingers into Kinley's eye, the one that wasn't blinded by blood.

The witch screamed and backed off.

Serenica darted to grab her pistol, but Kinley was too fast, painfully stomping on her fingers and kicking her in the face.

Serenica felt her nose crunch nauseatingly.

"All right, we'll negotiate!" she screamed.

Kinley withdrew, wiping her blood off her eye.

"What is left to negotiate about? You want your captain back?" she asked. "I'm very sorry, but I don't trust him to stay away. I will execute him. How about I pay blood money for him and you people never set a foot in Neul again, hm?"

Serenica didn't intend to actually agree to anything. She was only stalling Kinley in case either Spade would wake up or the rest of the pirates would manage to tear through the city watch.

"How much for a captain, then?" she asked. "How much...for I am hungry. My men are hungry. They will not take it lightly if I sacrifice him."

"Then don't return to your men at all." Kinley shrugged. "I can forgive your delusions about the prince. I could take you as my partner. I could make you rich, richer than a woman of your birth has any right to be."

Serenica pretended to take the offer into consideration. "Really? You would work with a Raelian healer?"

"Healing is the one thing I have little experience in," Kinley said with a tempting tone. At least she seemed to be trying hard to sound pleasant.

Serenica had a hard time staying civil, as well. Her rage pumped through her like water under a sailing ship, poisoning her very existence. Her heart screamed at her to jump at the wench and kill her, but she couldn't. Even in a state of relative exhaustion, Kinley was far too dangerous. There had to be another way to end her.

Serenica sprinted towards the door. She found it locked.

She hadn't heard anyone lock it.

She banged on the door. She screamed until she felt Kinley pull her back down on the floor.

They were now side by side, Kinley having fallen as well.

Serenica punched the woman as hard as she could, but the position was less than optimal. The punch only angered Kinley more. She got on her feet and pressed a stylish boot on Serenica's throat again.

The healer could not breathe, let alone think. She grabbed Kinley's dress and pulled as hard as she could. The dress ripped, and perhaps out of pure vanity, a shocked Kinley stepped away, allowing Serenica to get up and tackle the witch.

Serenica landed a punch after another on Kinley's already maimed face and she could have done it until beating the woman into absolute pulp if Kinley hadn't spewed three little spiders out of her mouth.

Serenica noted that the critters had Kinley's colors on their bodies. Their abdomens were the size of small spoons and while the healer had no idea of their destructive capacity, she didn't intend to find out. She jumped away and tried to stomp on them, but the spiders were too agile for her. One of them managed to climb up her leg.

"Do you want me to call it off?" Kinley said with a remarkable serenity for someone who had just escaped being beaten to death. "Just say it. What will you do for me? Will you leave Neul for good?"

"Yes, I will, I will!" Serenica yelled. "Just get it off me!"

Kinley giggled. "The thing is, I can't. It's no longer under my control. You know how familiars are!"

Serenica pulled herself together. She had to get rid of the spider before it managed to bite her.

She snatched it in one swift motion, holding it from the place where its head joined its body. Now she could be safe from its bite.

Not wanting to waste any time, she crushed it with her other hand, but the body of the spider didn't merely erupt in a slimy display of mashed organs, it released a mass of very tiny spiders as well.

Serenica screamed.