Rowan stealthily moved through the caverns alongside Drea. It's been a day since Rowan's got here and he decided to put the first part of his plan into action.
"Hey Rowan?"
"What?"
"Why are we going to the lamia stronghold? You can't expect us to take on the entire army with just the two of us."
"We're not going to fight them right now. We're scouting the stronghold.
"What's scouting?"
"We're going to sneak to the perimeter of the stronghold and look for weaknesses in their defenses."
The two arrived at the stronghold as Drea scooped Rowan up into her arms and climbed onto the roof of the cavern. Carefully they entered the perimeter of the stronghold through a secret passageway that one of the patrols found awhile back.
"Do you think we can use the passage for an attack?"
"No, too narrow. We can only go through one-at-a time."
"Copy that."
The two settled on a nearby indent that gave a clear view of the stronghold. The repugnant smell made Rowan pull his scarf over his nose and mouth. Rowan pulled the nogs on his helmet down and inspected the stronghold. Lamia all slithered around their stronghold. Half-eaten rotten corpses were piled up into a corner, bloodied bones littered a floor, and a shoddy structure was made.
"Structure is most likely where the queen is located. It's the only structure here. I have a simple plan but it may not be ideal. "
"What is it."
"There's two entrances. One in the front and one in the back. The back is more heavily guarded compared to the front. So, here's what I'm thinking. One battalion will attack from the front. This will cause some of the back guards to move to the front to support. And then once the rear side weakens. We have another team go in from the back."
"We tried that but they kept us at bay."
"That's where we come in. Using this secret passageway, we can send a small fireteam into the shoddy building and take down the queen.
"Oh, I see! That's good idea."
"Alright, let's relay the plan back to the queen and execute the plan."
The two left the Lamia stronghold and returned to the home base. Rowan relayed the plan and the queen agreed with the plan. As Drea left the room alongside the other soldiers to relay the plan, Rowan was stopped by Kyra.
"Sir Rowan, I have a request for you."
"What's up?"
"I would like to accompany your team into the Lamia queen's lair."
"What for?"
"I can't sit here while my people die in battle. Casualties are unavoidable in battle, but I can't sit here in good conscience knowing that."
"Well, can you fight?"
"I was best spear fighter among my people before I became queen."
"Well, if you're confident in your decision I won't go against it."
"Thank you, you are an understanding person."
"I'll see you tomorrow. Relay to your troops that you'll be joining the battle."
"It will be done."
As Rowan stepped outside, he was caught by Drea who seemed fidgety.
"Something wrong?"
"Well, it's that some patrolmen found some belongings during a patrol on the lower region. Beside it was things that looked related to your world."
"What?! Let me see!"
Rowan hurriedly followed Drea towards the patrolmen who noticed the two approaching.
"Hey there human. We found this."
The patrolman held his hand out showing a two-tone Glock 17. Rowan slowly took it into his hands.
"While we were patrolling the deeper levels, we passed the usual basin of water and saw something in there. It was dead lamia and at the bottom of the water was this. At the entrance to the water, there was a dried blood stain. We couldn't ascertain anymore clues after that." The patrolman explained.
"Thank you. This is a good find." Rowan said flashing a small smile.
....
The time was now. As the Spider people were mobilizing towards the lamia stronghold. Once they reached the crossroads the two battalions diverged and readied the pincher. As everyone got into position, Kyra looked towards Rowan.
"My troops are in position, what is the signal that you said you'd have?"
"I told them that they'll see a red light soar. And a red light I have." Rowan said. Rowan held up a bright red flare gun and fired it. The lamias all looked up as the bright red light soared in the large cavern.
"CHAAAAARGE!!!" A war cry shouted from the arachnid people as they engaged the lamias in front. As some of the lamias from the rear to help in the attack, the second group of arachnids attacked from the rear. As the three watched the battle rage, Rowan motioned for them to move in. the trio moved into the cavern and made their way to the wooden structure in the middle. Entering the shoddy building a figure sat coiled upon a primal throne.
"I wondered when you insects would come back to attack me. Failure after failure and now, I can end this with the death of the queen. This is truly a momentous occasion." The lamia queen boasted slowly descending the throne. The thing that made the lamia queen stand out was her black and yellow colored scales compared to the average green and tan scales.
"Lamia queen, this has gone on long enough. My people will no longer suffer at the hands of your savagery." Kyra said holding her sword and shield in her hand. Drea gulped brandishing her axe as Rowan raised his pistol. The lamia queen laughed as she ripped her crude spear from the floor grinning widely.
"I can't wait to kill you one by one. I'll make sure to savor every part of your bodies!"
*Bang!*
Rowan fired striking the lamia queen as she quickly slithered up the side of the wall and leapt towards Rowan. Rowan rolled out of the way and went to aim but was slapped by the queen's tail sending him into a nearby wall. Kyra went for a overhead slash as the queen blocked it with her spear and quickly deflected Drea's attack. The queen quickly jabbed Drea as Drea went to dodged but was grazed in the torso. The queen spun her weapon and attacked Kyra who deflected the spear with her shield and went for a counterattack but was parried by the queen who jabbed her spear into Kyra.
"My queen!" Drea shouted as she tried to attack the queen but was knocked back and had the spear driven into one of her legs. Drea yelled in pain as the queen went for a killing blow but was knocked to the ground by Rowan who raised his gun and emptied his entire mag into her midsection. Still alive Rowan grabbed his knife and slammed down but the lamia queen grabbed his arms and held him back. He felt the queen's tail coiling around him as she threw him off of herself. The Kyra and Drea quickly took the opportunity as the lamia queen sat up and blocked the sword strike from Kyra threw an uppercut with her shield stunning the queen as Drea slammed her axe down into the queen's back making her yell in agony. Kyra quickly stabbed the lamia queen in the chest as the queen coughed up blood face twisted in anger and pain. Dropping her weapon she gripped Kyra throat, her claws digging into her neck as Kyra quickly tried to hold her back as her own blood began to seep from her neck. Suddenly blood flew from the queen's head followed by her head recoiled violently as her body went limp. Kyra and Drea watched as the lamia queen's body dropped to the floor. They looked to see Rowan who walked up to the body of the lamia queen and kicked her body over to see her face. After confirming her death, Rowan sighed and holster upped.
....
A couple days had passed. The battle had been won. The arachnid people were currently mourning the fallen warriors of the battle. I opened the tent to a certain recovery tent as Drea saw me and smiled.
"Hey, how're holding up?"
"Well the leg in time. Same with the other wounds. Too bad we don't have a healer." Drea said.
"I get ya. A healer would be nice but I'm so unfamiliar to this place so I wouldn't know where to look. Hell, I don't know where to go now." Rowan said sitting down beside Drea.
"You'll find your way. I'm certain of it."
"Thanks, Drea."
"Of course. Anyways, I have something for you."
Drea reached under her bed and pulled out a spool of a white thread.
"In arachnid customs. We give a spool of our own thread to those we trust in. I would like for you to have it my friend."
I took the spool into my hands and noticed the sturdiness of the thread. I also noticed the splash of light blue in the thread.
"The light blue I put in was from some cave crystals since my thread isn't special like the elder arachnids."
"I'm honored that you trust me much. Well then, guess I gotta give something in return."
"Oh, you don't have to."
I ignored Drea and ripped my PMC patch off the side of my uniform and handed it to her.
"Eclipse was the name of my PMC company. This is my company's insignia."
"Thank you Rowan. I'm glad to have you as a friend."
Drea hugged Rowan tightly as he returned the hug.
"Oh right, the queen wanted to speak with you. You should go see her."
"Sounds good. Rest up friend. See you later."
"See you later!"
I left the tent and went into the Arachnid queen's house as she sat on her throne her wounds covered in golden threads.
"Ah Rowan, good to see you. How fares you?
"Fine, all things considered."
"Good. Come here."
I approached the queen as she handed me a spool of golden thread.
"Golden thread from a descendant of an ancient arachnid is extremely durable. I'd like you to have it. As a sign of friendship, but also a way to help you on the journey ahead."
"This is, I'm at a loss for words." I admitted.
"It's okay. My men will escort you out of the cavern. I had them scout above ground and they found a road about a mile from the cavern exit. Whichever way you go, should lead you somewhere. I also had them prepare some extra rations that should last for a few days. We made sure it was safe for human consumption with advice from our healer. I apologize we couldn't do more."
"Please, it's more than enough. Thank you for your help, Kyra."
"The pleasure is mine. Take care on the long road."
I nodded and left Kyra's residence. When I did I was met with two guards. They handed me the rations and I placed them in my backpack.
"Come climb on sir." One said. I did as he asked. Once I did he wrapped my legs against his torso keeping me secure as they began to lead the way out of the cavern. It was then I saw a light. The light soon got bigger as I squinted my eyes and raised my hand up. I felt the air flowing against my face and soon I was met with the smell of trees and grass. The guard cut the threads holding me as I hopped off looking at the forest.
"Head straight and you'll reach the road. Where they lead I don't know. Good luck human." One of the guards said.
"Thanks."
"Safe travels, human." The other guard said as they both went back into the cavern. I began my trek and after twenty or so minutes I walked onto the dirt road. Looking both ways I noticed a stream nearby. Looking fresh, I took a drink and headed east following it downstream to hopefully where Civilization is.