Cruz raised his eyes to heaven. “Just stay here, willya? Please.”
The dragons were putty in his hands. “All right, Cruz.”
“You promifse to bring back fsomething nifce?”
“Do our best. Promise,” he said, giving them each a farewell pat with the butt of his spear.
The seven of them set out, leaving Henri, who still did not look well, to recover from the flight with the resting sphinx and dragons.
* * *
The path led down into a little valley. In the olive groves, between the twisted and pitted gray trunks, they suddenly discovered just what a mistake leaving the dragons behind had been.
Liz was the first to hear it. “There is something in the bushes . . . ”
And there was also something between the trees. Webs.
Cruz stepped forward to break the web. The looted spear was no substitute for the steel of his bayonet, lost back when the priests of Sebek had captured them. But the solid spear shaft would make short work of a spider web.
“No, Cruz.” McKenna grabbed his arm, and held him back from smashing the web.
The burly sergeant looked puzzled. “It’s just a spider web, Mac. And it’s between us and the village.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have to break it,” said McKenna. “Or at least let me take the spider out before you do.”
He leaned forward and let the spider walk up onto his arm.
Cruz gaped. “You crazy, Mac? It’ll bite you, man!”
McKenna shook his head. “Not unless I scare it or try to squash it. Here, spidey. Climb onto this bush. You’ll be safe there.”
Cruz shook his head. “It’s just a goddamn spider, Mac.”
McKenna shrugged. “They’re good little critters. Never do any harm and they eat lots of pests.”
The myrtle bushes shuddered. “You are a very wise man,” said someone with a voice like the tinkling of chimes. The webs and bushes were suddenly alive with spiders. Myriads of them. Enough to swarm over a small army, never mind a handful of travelers.
Medea clung to Cruz.
“What the hell . . . ” muttered Lamont.
The spiders moved aside to allow passage to a giant among their kind. The spider coming forward was huge . . . for a spider. At the same time she was delicate. And she was definitely a she. She had a very feminine head. Feminine and human, with beautiful, luminous dark eyes, framed by long lashes. Her cascading tresses were pinned with a fine silver comb. A few strands fell back onto her long spider body.
Jerry cleared his throat. “Arachne, the daughter of Idomon of Colophon, I presume.”
“You’re very cool for a man who is moments away from death.” The spiderwoman’s voice was very musical.
McKenna had gone down on his haunches. “Your voice is nearly as lovely as your face.”
“You have a very smooth tongue.” She didn’t sound displeased about it. “Now, explain. Why do armed men come creeping down on my father’s estate by the back trail?”
“We were just passing through,” said Cruz, in as calm a voice as possible. “We were hoping to buy some food.”
“Buy? With spears? And traveling across the mountains! A likely story,” she tinkled scathingly.
Cruz threw out his hands. Nearly dropped his spear. “For God’s sake! We left the dragons and the sphinx behind, so that we didn’t frighten anyone.”
“Appealing to me in the name of the gods is unlikely to get you any sympathy,” snapped Arachne.
“Does the fact that we’re trying to attack Olympus alter that?” asked Jerry.
“Attack Olympus?” Again, the tinkling scoff. “Another likely story!”
Jerry sighed. “Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? And, to be honest, I’ve got no inkling of an idea just how we are going to set about doing it.”
“But we’re tired of being victims, lady-spider,” said Lamont. “We’re going to take the fight back to them. Somehow.”
Arachne seemed to relax slightly. “You are plainly mad. Not that I don’t agree with you. But not even one of my spider-sisters can scale the cold heights of Olympus. And when it comes to power, not even the great Titans could overthrow the Olympians.”