Both crawled slowly towards the nearby edge, wary of the growing light and the echo of distant voices. The core of the hive was almost as big as a valley, yet as uneven as the wildest of waves. Below them laid uncountable open cavities and chasms, over which loomed the paths and cliffs that led to the caverns’ mouth.

Barbara had to squint to see it, but there it was… the exit. The light was unmistakable, even if she could not tell if it was sunlight or moonlight. It was high above, at the other side of the underground gorge.

They crouched and tried to hide as soon as they left behind the narrow tunnels they had traversed tiredly. It was not due to another golden monstrosity lurking by. What alarmed and startled them were the figures that patrolled everywhere ahead.

The chief had not wasted time, at all. Both cursed mentally, staring intently at the mob gathered at the exit. The tribe was not as simple-minded as the kingdom expressed; the way in which they operated those hellish contraptions was not their only display of cunning. There was only one way for them to leave: through that opening by the waterway. And they knew it.

“They are at least fifty.”

He whispered that almost helplessly, considering it a dooming fact. These savages did not seek them in the hive, due to one single reason. They would wait there, all the time they needed, until they were spotted and apprehended, dead or alive. 

Barbara rolled her eyes, hearing Olve mutter how they only had three options, all involving death. She disagreed with all of them. There was no way that she would surrender and let those savages burn them, nor jump into an unwinnable brawl against that mob. She would most definitely not kill herself to evade pain, either.

“Callate, ostia.” He did shut up, but not because she slammed a fist in anger. “You simpletons of the kingdom always think like brutes, only considering that numbers and strength win battles.”

“We do not-“

“You do. Need to seize a port? Fail at first? The royals will just send more troops until everything is burnt down and no one can keep offering resistance. If you think otherwise, you were just lucky to not have been the main fodder in any incursion.” She tapped her fingers on the edge of the cliff, biting her lip. “My ship is small, nothing compared to your battleships. Yes, we need a surprise, a scheme.”

He stayed there at the edge, remembering grimly the sunken ships that he would see when called as reinforcement. The memories were as bloody as the one of her crew rushing their vessel, not as glorious as he wanted to affirm. He stopped hearing the firing of canons when she tapped him with the point of her boot, glaring down for him to stand as well.

Two minds were better than one, even if perhaps numbed by past and recent events. She needed him alert. Thankfully, focusing on the task at hand was something that helped him mentally. He stood, glaring at the distance with somber determination.

“There’s a lot of amber.” She smiled in interest when he pointed out the fact, but there was an issue he was quick to remind. “It would be unwise to set alight the clusters that rest near the exit; we could be seen walking up the path, and the rising blaze could be hard to maneuver by.”

“We need to steal their attention; with something they can’t ignore.” He cowered subtly from her, because her green eyes pierced the lower cavities in a way that was murderous, malicious. “Yes, they do not only worship the earth and its fiery blood, but the vile beasts that slither through it. I wonder what would happen if they heard their aggrieved screeches, saw them twist ablaze. Will they kneel and grieve, or flee to save their own skin?”

He gave her a worried and wary look, unnerved by the way she said those last words. In any other moment, he would have accused her of being a sadistic pyromaniac. She crept forth fast without further word, seeming almost excited by the idea of burning everything to a crisp, be it men or beasts.

“Gods, don’t really want to know what she will do once we get out.”

Death was not always the worst outcome to fear. Living through terrible misfortune could be much worse than perishing. Perhaps she wanted to save his life, but that did not mean she wouldn’t seek retribution for his deeds once free. He had already seen she could be petty, and he had antagonized her a lot.

Once more, he pushed those notions aside. He needed her help, as much as she needed his. They had to cooperate, or else. Now was not the time to ponder how to escape her. This place was imprisoning them both.

The tribe had blocked the exit with a patrol, but that did not mean they were not looking for them. While the two descended into the lower cavities from a surrounding cliff, they spotted multiple figures marching through the narrow paths that connected the chasms.

Neither attempted to contain a hateful scoff when they distinguished the chief in one of those groups. He and his most loyal lackeys were striding towards a big archway carved on a huge wall, which led to a round hollow. It shined brighter than any other cavity, and the way in which uncountable ants crawled over its outer walls hinted that it was the real core of the hive.

“Imagine the way in which that hole would burn.” She growled and laughed at the same time, picturing lighting the fire while the priest was in there. “There has to be enough amber in there to put the volcano to shame!”

The ants were indeed creeping into that area with piles of amber between their pincers. It had to be the nest, and so, the most important place in the hive. The tribe had engraved decorations on the stone for that very reason, and the chief did march through in a reverent manner. It truly seemed a good target, be it for revenge or strategy.

“Fine, we sneak down, light a match by those arcs, then get the hell away before-“

“No, not by the stony arcs.” She grabbed the box of matches and began to descend towards the dark paths that would lead her there. “Past the arcs, where the fire will surely spread through the rest of that damn cavity. There’s more amber inside. We need to cause some serious damage, not only threaten them with it.”

There was reason in that, he could not deny it. Still, it did not mean he liked it.

“You really are vindictive.”

“Surprised that you aren’t.” She looked back at him while they crept ahead, moving where no ant or man did. “That bastard almost fried you. Why spare him the same fate?”

“I don’t mind him getting some karma, but I don’t want to go out of my way to cause it.”

“The gods don’t instill justice personally, and the laws of mankind don’t favor the victims. You should take things into your own hands.”

“By that logic, I should surely do my best to see you hanged.”

She did not pause, but she did fall silent for a minute. It was only when they evaded a patrol and got closer to the arcs that she answered.

“You should at least try. I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to.” She was giving him her back, so he missed how her smirk turned into a regretful sad smile. “It is only fair.”

She would not judge his wish of retribution at all, being a brutish vigilante herself. He did not dare voice it, but she knew that his troubled mind was debating leniency. That contemplative silence bothered her, for he ignored a fact that she still hid. She wondered if he would let go of that inner compassion if he knew she killed his captain directly.

His heart was less adamant than hers. Her judgment on the chief was unbreakable, for she did not see anything to pity in any of their encounters. As they stepped closer to the arcs, they eyed the surrounding walls and the many gleaming shadows that climbed on them. He did not stop her when she marched through, glaring through the darkness with a vengeance.

“These monsters do not deserve any hesitation from me.” Her eyes narrowed while she inched to the edge of an inner rim. She called softly, trembling slightly for what she saw. “If you still have doubts, step closer. I can see them below…”

Olve doubted, hearing how Barbara’s voice faltered a little. What could possibly make a pirate like her uncomfortable, he could not imagine. That was why curiosity took the best of him, even if he sensed the implied warning in her tone.

When he walked past the arcs and peeked carefully over the rim like she did, he paled. She did not tremble as much while observing what pulsed at the bottom of the circular pit, surrounded by infinite threads of melted amber.

“That is-“ He really did not know what he was looking at, and although he wanted to avert his gaze, he couldn’t. “What the hell is that?”

She eyed the golden bulging mass, from which pierced twenty long spiked legs; at least that she could see. They rested against the steep walls of the huge dark pit, right below the circular rocky pathway that surrounded it. The huge chamber seemed to rumble each time that thing twitched in its hole, causing the endless amber that covered it to creak hauntingly. Uncountable drones kept crawling in and out from the surrounding openings on the walls, piling even more shining stones in the cavity, letting their drool dissolve them to mesh with it all.

The two were seeing a creature that no scholar had lied eyes on before, hideous yet astonishing in its form. It had seemed dormant, but as the chief and its entourage approached through the surrounding path below them, it awoke in its golden web.

Those long and slender appendages raised lethargically, shattering the amber that covered them as they pushed against the edges. The queen of the hive raised its lengthy mass, which seemed to be fixed on the wall behind it by thick threads of golden sap. Unlike the drones, it had six pincers; four of them were closed around its uncanny visage, only opening to reveal its dark mouth and soulless eyes.  

The drones never attacked or made a move to lunge onto the members of the tribe. But that did not mean they did not loom and observe them in expectant and controlled hunger. Unlike Olve, Barbara always suspected the worst from humanity, and she was not that surprised when her suspicions were confirmed.

Olve shuddered, finally having a better view of the group below. Outside, the shadows had concealed it from his gaze, but now he recognized two of the figures that trudged along. The light of the amber allowed him to see the guards holding onto the ones that had intruded into his cell. While the girl was being led forcefully against her best efforts, the man was being dragged along without resistance; he was awake, but so beaten that he could not struggle.

His blue eyes opened wide in horror, seeing the chief stand in front of his attacker, to then snarl at him in a hateful manner. They were far too close to the edge of the pit, and the monstrosity that watched expectantly in it.

“They can’t possibly…”

Olve couldn’t conceive such notion; that was why he was the one to gasp and wince when it did indeed happen. Barbara watched in cold discontentment as the elder shouted, prompting the guards to cast the man into the pit. The girl screamed in fearful anger, but she was powerless to stop it.

The ants that lurked let out eerie sounds that hinted interest, as their queen arched up to examine the body that rolled down into her pit. Its four upper pincers parted, revealing its drooling maw, which leaned down very slowly to examine the man, insignificant under its golden mass.

Olve averted his gaze from the pit with a grimace, simply eyeing the chief and girl, who proceeded to intensify her struggles in a way that showed how distressed she was. Barbara fidgeted with the matches in her hand, scowling while terrible sounds echoed from the bottom. The chief showed no empathy or care as that man was devoured, directing his glare at his second target.

They were witnessing an execution, not a sacrifice or ceremony. There was no purpose other than cruelty in it. The ants did not need flesh to sustain themselves, and the way the chief condemned her while the guards held her down only proved that spite.

Neither dared comment on what they just saw. Both were eerily silent, as haunted by the fact. It was only when she stepped closer to a nearby cluster of amber that he looked away from the natives, seeing her eye the flammable stones with a contemplative glare.

“Wait.” She pierced the endless trail of gold with her gaze, troubled by his call. “We can’t burn it all.”

She leaned her head to look back at him, opening her mouth without letting out a word. For once, there was no scorn for his words. The best bet for their escape was to light the amber by the upper arcs to entrap the chief in the lower paths of the cavity… yet she was doubting.

“We must. The whole tribe will rush to rescue him and that monstrosity. It’s our chance to keep them all out of our way.”

“She will be trapped here too.”

“She is to be executed anyway.”

“As I was.”

Barbara did lower the match she held by this point, but she still struggled to surrender to her own inner wishes.

“You can still be forgiven as a royalist. She’s a savage.”

Savage. That word reminded Olve of what happened in that cell, something that Barbara was unaware of. Part of him kept insisting on lighting the match, burn the whole cavity, let the fire block the only exit a human could traverse to leave this ungodly pit. But that voice was quieted down by his most prevalent thoughts, which had also echoed when he reached for her hand in those ruins, and while she was dragged into the dark by a beast.

It only took one silent gentle glance, directed at her eyes in question. Her hand clenched as she tried to refuse him and herself. In the end, no matter how much she told herself to burn everything down, she could not help herself.

Olve breathed out, because Barbara opened her eyes after grimacing in anger, giving him a defeated tired look. With a resigned nod, her hand reached again into a purse, where she kept the only thing that they could spare to help.

“You are going to regret this as much as I.”

He admitted with a nervous smile, as reluctant as her.

“I bet on it.”

A fuse was lit, sure to unleash hellish chaos onto them all.