Caught in a Web

Chapter 1

"Son of a bitch," Mindfang swore and angrily blinked blood out of her one good eye. She wiped roughly at her forehead with the arm not clutching a gaping wound on her side. "Stupid fucking clowns-," her muttering cut off with a yelp as she tripped over a root and was sent tumbling down a hill.

She skidded to a halt at the edge of a dirt path winding its way through the forest. Blue colored her cheeks at the indignity of the situation. A bounty on her head wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with before. But with no crew to watch her back and no treasure to pay off the hunters, things were a different story altogether.

Cerulean blue splattered the ground below her as she spat blood. The result of a particularly bold purple blood. Though Mindfang secretly cursed herself too, knowing that she'd stupidly let her guard down after a particularly event free perigee.

"Are you alright, miss?"

Mindfang's head snapped up at the new voice and her eyes landed on a tall, muscular troll with long, handlebar horns and choppy hair streaked with red. Although the most notable feature of his was by far the translucent orange wings that sprouted from his back.

He jumped back in surprise, his wings fluttering nervously. "Highblood," he gasped, lowering the lance he carried in his left hand.

"Hardly," Mindfang sneered, though it came out less harshly than she would have liked. Whether that was from blood loss or confusion she wasn't sure. Those wings, she could have sworn she'd seen him somewhere before.

Her eye widened with recognition. "It's you," the man from the cue ball. Though she wasn't about to tell him that.

The Summoner, for that must be who he was, narrowed his eyes. "What do you know about me?"

Mindfang shook her head quickly, her demeanor changing in an instant. It would seem her luck was taking a turn for the better yet again. "Sorry, I'm not thinking straight at the moment." She laughed and gestured to her wound, still leaking blood though slower than before. "As you can see I'm injured."

The Summoner's expression softened for just a moment and Mindfang took the opportunity to push harder. "And if I had any interest in killing you, or the ability to do so, I'd have done it already," she lied.

He didn't need to know about her mind control just yet.

The Summoner slowly but surely lowered his lance and knelt by her side. He gritted his teeth, as if he couldn't quite believe his own actions. "What is your name? What happened to you?"

"Mar-" She paused. Probably best not to use her full title. After all, he might have heard of her, and that would certainly make for a rough first impression. "My name is Aranea," she corrected. "As for what happened, well let's just say I had a little run in with a clown that didn't quite go my way."

"Of course," the Summoner replied stiffly. "I'm Rufioh, but some people call me the Summoner."

Bingo, "What people?" Aranea asked as she allowed Rufioh to prop her up against a nearby tree.

Rufioh hesitated, "My fellow soldiers," he said at last. "I captain a small band of trolls."

Aranea smiled, "You're trying to start a rebellion, aren't you? Let me guess, deserter from the imperial army? I'll bet those wings of yours garnered sizable leverage amongst the lowbloods."

She watched his fists clench and his expression hardened as he spoke, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Aranea laughed, "Oh come on, call it a lucky guess if it makes you feel any better but I don't see many highbloods taking too kindly to a mutant like you." She tried to look a bit more reassuring for her next sentence. "But don't worry your pretty little face, I'm not going to turn you in. The empress and I don't quite get along. That's why I'm all beat up like this, see? I even have a sizeable bounty on my head."

At this, Rufioh's eyes lit up, ever so slightly. "Really? Why?"

"I offended a seadweller and caused the death of a legislacerator," Aranea replied vaguely. "The point is, if you're really trying to pick a fight with the highbloods, I want in."

Rufioh's hesitation was written all over his face as he tried to answer as tactfully as he could. "I don't know. I'm not sure how much people would appreciate me bringing a cerulean blood back to camp. Even if I am technically the leader."

Aranea frowned, "You're not seriously thinking of leaving me here are you? I'm as good as dead if I don't find somewhere to hole up for a bit. And if you doubt my story, look." She lifted her mechanical arm and flipped up her eyepatch, revealing a scorched red eye. "You see these injuries? It wasn't a damned lowblood that gave them to me, I'll tell you that much."

Rufioh visibly flinched while he reached forward, almost by instinct. "Your eye," he said, his voice full of concern.

"It's an old injury, I've learned to live with it," Aranea reassured him as she covered it back up. "Same with this," she added, flexing her mechanical arm. "But they're constant reminders of the evil that comes from kissing the empress's fishy ass too much. So what do you say? Let me join your rebellion."

"But the others," Rufioh said again, though Aranea could feel his resolve weakening once more. It's not in his nature to abandon someone he thinks of as in need, Aranea realized.

She smiled, more menacing than sweet as she bared her fangs. "Nonsense, just think of what it could do for your cause to have a cerulean endorse it. Together we'd be unstoppable." Another lie, she knew how it would all end. But this is what fate had in store for her. And she'd long since learned to stop defying fate. It was sheer hubris to think it was even possible.

Rufioh looked down at her nervously, "I don't know..."

"If you really don't want me to stick around, at least let me stay until I heal up," she bargained, knowing that if she could just get him to take her in, the wheels of destiny would do the rest of the work. "That won't take long, anyone higher than teal tends to be fairly sturdy. And you're quite possibly the only person in the world who can help me." Who'd be dumb enough to help me, she thought privately.

"Fine," he said at last.

Aranea grinned and took a sharp breath before getting unsteadily to hfeet. "Thanks Summoner, lead the way."