As the group stepped through into the new passage, Goldie noticed an immediate change in the surroundings.

Before, they had been in a clearly little used section of catacombs, but an area clearly made by the hand of man, decorated artistically, with statues of the dead and vaults where their remains were presumably stored. There had even been a few statues or carvings of butterflies, though of course there would be little or no "remains" from them.

This new underground space was different. The further they moved, the surer she became about it.

This area was a cave before the catacombs ever existed, right? Goldie asked.

It was a vast stone tunnel, and it looked far more natural than the space they had just occupied, although there were still manmade touches like pillars to provide additional support for the ceiling.

"You are correct, Goldie," Carolien said. "As far as I know, this cave is older than the catacombs and even older than the city itself. One of the early kings was lost in this place, or so the story goes. He then ended up building the city adjacent to it, and the idea of an escape route that would pass through here seemed a natural one."

I see, Goldie sent. Thank you for the explanation.

Anything that makes this anxious journey pass just a little more quickly, Carolien thought in reply.

The spider was going to formulate a response to that—something reassuring, if she could muster the appropriate mental attitude under the circumstances—when she realized she could hear the sounds of battle again. They were louder than before, skirmishing noises.

We must be closer to ground level now than we were before, she sent.

"That is correct," Carolien said, setting her jaw.

There was a sudden, very loud sound of impact somewhere above their heads, and the entire cave seemed to shake.

Oh, Goddess… Goldie thought.

She suppressed the natural question she wanted to ask in the immediate aftermath: Is this place going to collapse because of what's going on overhead?

What is happening out there? Samson sent.

"The Empire knows that Alistair is dead, so they are hammering our walls as hard as they can," Carolien replied in a cool tone. "We are almost directly below the walls now."

"The walls of Claustria have been resilient against previous attempts to take the city, correct?" Frederick asked.

"Reinforced by wizards and knights constantly infusing mana during assault," Carolien replied.

The Dessians nodded in satisfaction, but then the Queen continued.

"Unfortunately, the Empire now has a weapon that drains mana away from a location where it is applied. If they have begun trying to take the city in earnest, they will be using it."

"I had not heard anything about this," William commented. Goldie did not need Telepathy to recognize he was a bit displeased with this news.

So, there is a chance the walls will fall? Samson asked.

"It is inevitable," Carolien replied after a moment. She glanced over her children's faces, but Goldie did not think much could be seen by the flickering torchlight. "That is why we have no choice but to leave."

"If the city walls collapse while we are down here, what will happen?" William asked.

Carolien gave him a hard look, and William finally averted his gaze and remained silent.

All three adult humans had variations of the same thought in their minds, though.

This place could collapse.

"Even if something affects the structural integrity of the cave, we can navigate around that," Frederick said.

We did it once, William thought loudly.

"Right, that sort of event is what preceded the two of you leaving Rosslyn behind," Carolien said. "You made it out of that safely."

Goldie could feel a seething mass of emotions in the Queen, barely contained beneath the surface. The passive aggressive comment about the dungeon cave-in was the least she wanted to say about that. Now that she had a little time to actually think, Carolien was growing more upset at the fact that her husband had died without having had the chance to see his eldest daughter's face again.

That was undeniably something the brothers bore some responsibility for.

As they had been walking, the cave had become noticeably more humid, with occasional visible rivulets of water coming from walls or droplets falling from the ceiling.

It reminded Goldie of that rich land that they had passed through on the way to the dungeon's entrance. She thought she might know where this cave exited.

Those crown's lands.

But Carolien's remark, and her feelings, pulled the spider back to the present conversation. The group could not have in-fighting, not at this juncture when they were all stuck with each other for a while to come.

She could feel the Queen trying not to blame the brothers for what might have befallen Rosslyn—or for the fact that no one truly knew what had happened. Just a small nudge might help her.

We will see her again soon, Your Highness, Goldie sent. The Princess is a survivor, and she could face much worse than a dungeon collapse with Adon beside her. My best friend is there, watching over her. Honestly, if I could trade places with her at this moment, I would!

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That last bit of unvarnished truth—about their own situation more than Rosslyn's—brought a tiny smile to the corner of Carolien's mouth. Goldie felt the momentum of the group's emotions shift slightly, away from shared blame and toward concern for their own situation.

I did that. She felt inexplicably slightly giddy. I suppose that is why Adon always wanted to be around people.

Just then, she heard a loud, familiar noise coming from outside.

It was the sound of Matilda's voice.

"This is the fight you were afraid of," she boomed. "The reason you poisoned and betrayed King Alistair! I am his blood and every inch his equal. Come and taste my sword!"

"How very like Matilda," Carolien murmured with a grim smile. "Alistair always used to say she had a great sense of the theatrical. Yes, Matilda, please continue to distract the enemy while we make our esca—"

In the deep, distant dark, Goldie felt something. No, several somethings. She reacted instantly.

Your Highness! the spider telepathically shouted. I sense multiple intelligent life forms, rapidly incoming!

"I cannot see anything," Carolien whispered. "Are you certain?" She shook her head at her own question. "Of course you are…"

A moment later, Goldie knew she had done the right thing. It was subtle, as the figures were dressed all in dark colors meant to blend into shadows, but they had gotten close enough to be visible as flickers in the gloom.

Some of the advancing men crept hunched close to the floor. Others crawled along the wall like arthropods, attached by a mana-enhanced grip or with specialized tools. But they were unmistakably present, advancing through the darkness like barely-visible phantoms.

Oh, no, the Queen thought. I think those are the Empire's assassins. The same men who almost killed Rosslyn and ruined my leg and her eye…

"Everyone behind me," Carolien whispered. "Watch out for their blades. They coat their weapons in poison."

Typical for the Empire, William thought.

Carolien's children all formed a single file behind her, ordered by age with the oldest at the front.

The Queen raised the cane she had been using to walk through the entire journey thus far, twisted the top, and drew a sword that came with the cane's head. She discarded the base. She passed the torch she had been holding to one of her daughters.

The two Dessians drew mana from deep within themselves and began circulating it throughout their bodies, reinforcing themselves for a fight.

Despite being told to stay behind his mother, Baltazar, the oldest child besides Rosslyn, was also doing something. He channeled mana toward some task that Goldie could not immediately pinpoint. It looked familiar, similar to Rosslyn's use of light magic, but what exactly he intended to use it for was anyone's guess. He wasn't giving the task much conscious thought that Goldie could quickly absorb. Clearly the boy had been through some sort of training, just like Rosslyn, and fighting was already second nature to him.

Samson and Goldie exchanged a quick series of telepathic messages, and both hopped off of their respective humans and climbed nearby walls, moving up toward the ceiling. They had decided they ought to take advantage of being smaller than humans, harder to see, and having an unusual field of movement.

The assassins moved close enough for Goldie to see their dark clothing, including face masks, in as much detail as the unreliable light of Carolien's torch would allow.

The spider took a moment to lengthen her legs with Transformation so that she could advance more quickly if an opportunity presented itself. She had already been brewing her deadliest venoms inside her body as the group fled the city. She would show these poisoners what toxicity really was.

"Your Majesty, we are pleased to meet you under such pleasant and straightforward circumstances," one of the assassins said in a strange, soft voice. "We are prepared to accept your surrender and take you safely into the Empire's custody. Our mission today is not to kill, believe it or not. Your family is far more valuable to the Emperor if you remain alive. And we would hate to force your children to witness fighting at close range at such a young age."

"You will force them to watch you die screaming, I fear," Carolien replied, grimacing, her face white with undisguised nervousness. Mana ran throughout her whole body now, Goldie noticed, with the bulk of it concentrated around her injured leg and infusing her sword cane.

I know what you monsters do to your prisoners, the Queen thought. I would sooner die. I would rather my children die than have to suffer your vile attentions…

Goldie deliberately cut off her telepathic contact with Carolien as the Queen's mind envisioned a terrible future for herself and her young.

The lead assassin turned toward the young lords.

"What about the two of you? You are from a nation not currently involved in this conflict. It is… unfortunate to see you assisting the Royal Family in retreating from this present siege, and it might be seen as taking sides in the war. Be that as it may, we are happy to respect your diplomatic neutrality as the sons of Dessia and allow you to pass in peace."

"We stand and fight for our friends," William said. "Prepare for battle."

Thank the Goddess, Frederick thought. He had been prepared, Goldie sensed, to go against his brother's wishes here. But the fighting would be much easier with another pair of hands.

"Very well," said the assassin. "We will report to your nation that we attempted to spare your lives."

Everyone moved at once, then. The Empire's trained killers charged forward, Carolien brandished her blade, aiming it at the nearest assassin's chest, Samson crawled up a wall, and Goldie spewed her venom.

But it was the Dessians' attack that landed first. Moving almost as one, the brothers cast their lightning bolts into the thick of the assassins. More swiftly than a human could react, blasts of electricity penetrated through the bodies of a half dozen assassins, leaving blackened holes straight through their bodies. Five corpses hit the ground. Only one of the men managed to remain alive, struck through the thigh rather than the chest or the head, but he closed his eyes and looked to Goldie as if he was ready to faint.

The spider's venom attack struck another assassin charging in directly in the eyes, and the cave filled with the sound of his screams as the high potency fluid permanently blinded him. Goldie turned her attention away from that man. Even if being blinded wasn't fatal, the venom would seep into his bloodstream through the membranes around the eyes—or possibly into his brain directly.

There were scores of others attacking.

The Queen was immediately locked in combat with her assailant. He dodged around her blade and stepped inside her guard, forcing her to jump backward to get distant.

As the man lunged with his long dagger, Baltazar unleashed a blinding light. Carolien took advantage of that moment to stab the assassin through the neck.

Goldie was blinded, though, too. For a moment, she simply stood on the wall, helpless to contribute anything to the fight.

Then she remembered Telepathy.

The spider began to look through another set of eyes.

I hope you don't mind, she sent as she inhabited Frederick's head space.

Come on in, he thought in reply.

Goldie saw everything from a new point of view, and she began to recognize a disaster in the making.

Frederick's vision was far better than hers, and now that the assassins had stopped trying to conceal themselves, their numbers were obvious. There must have been over a hundred of them.

There were no more coming, and a possible escape route, if they could get around the killers, was visible in the distance. But that light at the end of the tunnel was far away, and the Empire's assassins were all too close.

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