10

 Cynthia was surprised to see that Gertrude was more humanoid than creature like. Her crimson eyes glowed save for the pitch black pupils in the center which seemed to suck away any feelings of hope and joy that Cynthia might have had when she first arrived. She was pale, almost milky in her complexion. Her deep red hair matched the red hourglass shape embedded in the middle of her chest. On her head rested a crown of black thorns tipped in red. Her gown matched her crown: jet black and fringed in crimson. Long gloves reached past her elbows which lead down towards her long, clawed hands. Gertrude's bright red lips formed a small smile when she saw Cynthia take in her image. "Oh come now, you saw a mother spider, my image shouldn't surprise you that much, now should it?" she chided before stepping down from her throne.

"I waited so long to see what sort of earth child could have captured the forest prince's fancy. And now that I see you, I really don't get what's so special," she said with a small shrug. "Just a normal earth child. Nothing special at all. Perfectly average. Maybe that's why it took so long to find you."

As much as she wanted to hide her fear, Cynthia could feel herself shaking like a leaf in the wind. Gertrude was right; she was completely average. There was nothing special about her. She failed, as any other normal person did. She lived and worked, breathed, ate and slept like any other person did. Perfectly normal, average and plain, there was no reason for her to be chosen. Tate could have picked any other girl at the cove that day. There was no way she could face Gertrude as she was.

"Hmm, yes, keep shaking," Gertrude said, dragging one long clawed finger down Cynthia's cheek. She felt her face twitch slightly at the touch, though she didn't back down. This was exactly how it was years ago. She had gone through this; she was going to be all right. It was going to be all right. Somehow, she would pull through and set everything right. "Oh, I do love it when my meal is scared witless about me, but I do suppose that's rather boring, don't you think?" she asked no one in particular. Gertrude sauntered back to her throne and sat down, once again staring at Cynthia.

"Give... Give my friend back," she finally demanded, finding the courage to speak up against her greatest fear. "Give back, my friend!"

"Oh, getting feisty aren't we?" the queen asked, letting out a small chuckle. "Oh, how brave you are, demanding things when you're in no position to do so. Oh, you really are a foolish earth child."

"I know I am," she admitted, "I know I've done some stupid things in the past and in the present. There's no denying it. But you know what? That's what makes me who I am."

In corner of her eye, she caught the movement of a dimly glowing light. Luce stood next to his master, working away at the spider silk holding Tate hostage. She took a deep calming breath and heard Henry softly whistling into the darkness. She smiled slightly and felt much more confident in what she was doing.

"I run headfirst into a lot of things, I don't listen, I'm stubborn and I always try to get what I want. That's normal," Cynthia continued, "I'm not claiming to be some perfect model from New York, I was born and raised here, I know better than to pretend to be someone I'm not. I am me, and there's no one else that I'd rather be. I've made some of the best friends here in passing and I've caused them a lot of trouble because of what I did. But I trust them, and I hope, they can trust me and my decision," she stated firmly, staring up at the queen.

"Is that all you have to say?" Gertrude asked. "Just confessions of how human you are, earth child? Silly, but I suppose they'll suffice for the last words of a fool." The queen let out a loud laugh of victory as four long, slender, spiderlike legs sprouted from her back and the rest of her body changed. Her eyes morphed on her head, splitting themselves until eight of them rested in a circle where her forehead once was. The red hourglass on her chest shifted towards her now growing abdomen, and she crouched, as her crown turned into her fangs and her body grew hard, black and shiny. "Well then, I'll enjoy my meal properly!" the queen screeched, skittering towards her.

Cynthia screamed and backed away as Gertrude was met by a storm of black birds which surrounded her. She looked over towards Cynthia and then towards Henry who was leaning against the wall, whistling softly as he had been doing before. The queen screeched in retaliation and started to stab the avian foes with her long legs. Feathers flew everywhere and blinded the queen. Cynthia took this moment to run towards Tate and help Luce with undoing the bindings he was in.

"Heh, you've grown up, Cynthia," he murmured when he got a good look at her.

"You did too," she said smiling slightly. He looked to be about Henry's age, in his mid or late twenties now. His hair had grown longer and was wild, unkempt and a tangled mess in general. Tate had the slightest shadows of a beard growing as well. His face was longer, leaner though his cheekbones remained prominent and high. Though there were all those changes, his eyes still remained the bright, vibrant green she had remembered from when she was a child. "No time to talk about old times, let's get you out of here, eh?" she said, struggling to get through the thin, sticky, yet strong webbing which kept him bound to the wall.

"Don't worry about me right now, pick up my sword," he commanded, “It's gotta be somewhere. That'll get me out faster than what the two of you are doing right now. she keeps it behind her throne, go now, while she's still distracted."

"Right," she glanced over to where the giant queen was and saw she was still struggling against the birds. Cynthia didn't want think about how much longer that was going to keep up and quickly darted towards where the throne of bones was. She saw the glimmering sword amongst the pile of bones and dove for it, clutching it by the blade, ignoring the pain that shot through her hand as she dragged it towards her. Her blood dribbled down her arm as she fumbled with it until she held it properly by the hilt.

"NO!" Gertrude hissed, when she saw what was happening. "I won't let you have your way, you little child!" she cried. "I kept my end of the deal, now you keep yours!"

"I'm going to bring everyone home!" Cynthia said, holding the sword in front of her. "I'm going to bring everyone home and we're all going back, together!"

"Then you will all die together!" the queen screamed and made her way to the still captured Tate. "You'll be the first to go, pretty little prince!" she said gleefully, rearing herself to bite him.

"No!" Cynthia screamed, running as fast as she could in front of Tate and positioning herself before the queen. With one fell motion, she drove the sword as deeply as she could into the center of the hour glass.

The queen let out a shrill cry, her limbs going stiff for a moment before she slowly shifted back to her humanoid form. "Why...." she gurgled, looking down at Cynthia. "Why... how... but.. you were so average."

"It's thanks to these friends I've made, who allow me to take my averageness and turn it into greatness." Cynthia grunted, plunging the sword further into the queen's chest until the blade went through to the other side.

"How... how could this be?!" Gertrude wailed. "How could I be killed... in such a ... boring manner......" she said as her limbs finally went limp and she fell to the ground in defeat.

Cynthia saw a bright, flaming figure beside her and glanced to see that Luce had taken the form of his prince's flaming steed once more. With a loud whinny, he lifted his great hooves and brought it down on the dead queen's skull, shattering both bone and thorned crown in one blow. He neighed and puffed in victory after that action before trotting back to his, now freed, master's side.

She walked over to Tate and sloppily wiped the dripping guts off of the sword before handing it back to him. "I think this belongs to you," she said.

"Thanks," Tate said, taking his sword back and looking over at Henry. "And thank you, favored of the Lady of birds. Without you, we wouldn't have been able to make it through this alive."

"Tehee, it wasn't a problem at all!" Henry grinned. "I've always wanted to see what a giant spider looked like up close! To be frank, it's much more boring than I thought it would be." He let out a laugh and gently petted the birds that surrounded him. "You guys did a really great job today, thank you," he said before letting out a low whistle which sent the whole flock flying off to whence they came.

"So... now what?" she asked looking around at the empty cavern.

"Well, now we find a way out before they find us," Tate said climbing onto Luce.

"They?" Cynthia repeated, "Who's they?"

The sound of hundreds of thousands skittering spiders answered the question for her.

"Now that their queen is gone, it's time to see who will reign over them next," Henry said, "Hmm, though I guess since you killed her, Cynthia, that would make you their queen! Cool, huh?"

"NO! Not cool! Let's get out of here!" she exclaimed, scrambling to get onto Luce when Tate offered her a hand up. "I don't care where, I don't care how, let's just leave!"

"As you wish, milady!" Tate said before urging Luce to race towards the entrance where they came from, a trail of golden fire coming from them.

Henry let out a long, shrill whistle and several large crows came from seemingly no where, carried him by his shirt and followed them swiftly. "Oh wow! This is the first time she's ever sent me crows!" he exclaimed, laughing joyfully and thoroughly enjoying every moment of their escape.

Cynthia on the other hand, held onto Tate tightly as they made their mad dash out of the nest and through an unseen gate back to the prince's domain. All the while, tears of pure joy streamed down her face as she laughed in the face of death.

All at once the world seemed brighter and the air cleaner. There was no stench of rot anywhere, the colors were vibrant and too bright for their own good. Everything was well again, and Cynthia felt a wave of calm wash over her. "It's over, huh?" she asked, taking a seat in the soft grass after Luce had changed back into the form of a sprite.

"It seems so, you did well," Tate said, ruffling her hair a bit.

Henry arrived in the peaceful glade soon after, waving happily at the large birds which flew off into the distance back to their homes. "Bye!! Thanks for the ride!" he called out and fell down onto the grass. He heaved a great sigh and looked up at the interlaced canopy of leaves above him. "Man, I don't think I've ever been this grateful to be alive."

"I'll be the first to agree to that statement," Cynthia said, rolling over to stare at the grass below her. "I have to say though, I felt pretty cool doing that."

"Doing what?" Tate asked.

"Facing the thing I feared the most and defeating it with the help of my friends," she said.

"You were very cool," Tate reassured.

"No disappointments then?" she asked.

"None," he said with a smile.

"So... does that mean I get to go on an adventure with you soon?"

"Mmhmm, soon," he promised.