Jake spotted a huge disturbance in the far distance. From his height he could make out dim shapes battling on the ground below.

As he drew closer, he could see badly frightened people, men and women, fighting the terrible jaws and webs of the spiders. Their strength proved futile, however, and most were already down and captured. A bare handful, maybe twelve or thirteen rangers and six campers, were holding their own against the most ardent efforts of their foes. Shotgun blasts mixed with the thunder of pistols and the occasional crack of a rifle. Spiders shrieked in agony as bullets cracked armor, turned eyes to jelly or punched holes in legs.

Before Jake could aid the warriors, Cassandra appeared from out of the forest, covering the distance quickly on her new legs.

Jake watched in interest as the bullets fired by the frightened humans ricochet off with sparks, indicating the toughness of her hide versus that of her children.

She bowled over the remaining defenders and the rest of her brood swept in. The mass of bodies pumped up and down several times before the violence ended. The paralyzed humans were lifted onto the broods backs to be carried away to the new, temporary nest that had been set up in the ranger station.

Jake circled overhead, looking for the others. He hoped they wouldn’t be much longer.

The wait seemed interminable, but at last Jake detected a shiver in the forest below. He caught a glimpse of a shimmer below, and knew that Serena had arrived. Behind her puffed Rachel and Brian. Despite the run, they still looked ready for battle.

At last they were ready. Cassandra had retreated inside the fire station; for what purpose, Jake could only guess. Most of her brood, however, had been preparing the station for attack. They’d webbed over the windows and rear door, leaving only one entry way unblocked. Here they posted huge sentries, each about half again the size of the others. Instead of the normal jaws of the others, these had long, wicked mouthparts that opened up like a four petal flower trap, with serrations for cutting flesh.

Yet, as daunting as their numbers were, it was nothing compared to the numbers summoned to face them.

Around the clearing slunk scores of wolves, bears, foxes, coyotes, and dogs of every size and description, some wild and some escaped pets. In the canopy perched hundreds upon hundreds of birds of every possible color and shape. Great eagles and hawks, to the brilliantly plumaged cardinals and jays. Even the tiniest birds had shown up in the greatest numbers of any creature but one. The limbs of the trees rustled and shook, though no wind stirred.

Realizing that his time had come, Jake relaxed his camouflage and allowed his glory to shine forth above the world. He loosed a battle call that echoed off the mountains and city, making people look up in fright, wondering what was happening. The spiders didn’t bother, they scurried under their webs or into the building, seeking escape from the fire they knew would come.

“CASSANDRA!” Jake challenged. “Come and face me! Unless you are a coward as well!” He landed in the remains of the parking lot, blasting the slowest spiders with flame.

He did not settle for just hot enough. This time he allowed his full power to go unchecked, controlling the flame itself as he had learned in his training. So hot was it that the nothing remained of them but their shadow on the ground.

The dramatic nature of his arrival didn’t seem to work at first. The web-covered building remained dark and empty-seeming. At last a response was shouted out.

“Go away, Jake! Leave me in peace!”

“If you desired peace, then you should have never come back! Or remained hidden away from the world in Melinda’s shop!”

“How did you—never mind! It’s not important.”

“You’re right about that.” Jake agreed.

“You won’t come in! You wouldn’t dare.” Cassandra spluttered. “I’ve got the hostages! You wouldn’t hurt them!”

“Would you hide behind them like a wretch?” Jake demanded. “You are a coward Cassandra! You talk big and strong, but when faced with someone who isn’t afraid of you, you whine and snivel and hide behind your mother’s skirts!”

“Don’t you dare talk about my mother!” The spider shrieked angrily. “Oooh! You’re going to pay for that, Jake! I know who you are now! I know where your parents live! They’ll never be safe! Not from me, not from the others! Not even if they live a hundred years will they be safe! They or their brats! You’ll lose in the end! I know you will!”

“You still are hiding. You wouldn’t face me in even battle, you bitch!” Jake swore at her. “You are pathetic! A lousy, worthless wretch that wouldn’t fight unless she has some helpless mouse in front of her!”

“Then the world is my mouse, and you are the dog that I will wrap in my webs and eat alive!”

“Then come out and prove it! Now Cassandra! Or I will come in and burn you out! I held back before, hoping that I could reason with you, but now I will use my full power! You cannot escape again Cassandra! Surrender now!”

“Never! It’s your turn to die, dragon! And good riddance to you!”

At these words, spiders rushed from the building. Spiders, and something else. Jake actually stepped backwards in surprise, trying to see what these creatures were. They looked like little mud-men, their liquid bodies dripping all over the ground, horrible dripping mouths open in gaping grins.

His surprise cost him dear, and the first rank swarmed over him. Jolted back to reality, Jake fought the horrid creatures. Fire seemed to have great effect, but nothing else seemed to harm them.

Jake began to get overwhelmed, the spiders were crawling on him now, spinning webs around his wings, his legs, and his mouth. Jake’s flame cut out and he was reduced to rolling over and over again, seeking to crush his enemies.

There were simply too many, however, and he soon fell, legs completely bound in the white strands.

Only after he lay secured did Cassandra strut from the her jaws clicking in anticipation.

“You should never have come here alone, Jake.” She hissed in delight. “Now I’m going to kill you.”

Jake glared defiantly at her. He would have spoken but her minions had webbed his mouth shut.

She came over him; fangs dripping in anticipation, Jake began to feel a flutter of fear wondering what had gone wrong with the plan, why were they waiting so long?

As if his thinking had summoned them, a white light burst from the forest like the sun herself had come out of the sky. The spiders shrieked in agony and fright, Cassandra stood stupefied over Jake’s prone body.

He could just see Serena stepping out of the woods, horn lowered at the Spider Queen. Around her appeared the animals she had summoned, while the sky turned dark from the birds.

Yet it wasn’t the animals that made the first move. With explosions of dirt, tree roots leaped up to snare the badly surprised spiders and mudmen. The mudmen turned to water and oozed around the bigger roots, but the finer tendrils formed a mesh that ensnared them and drained the water from their bodies, apparently killing them.

Yet for all their efforts, hundreds of enemies remained, and the unicorn led the first charge against Cassandra. She dueled personally with the Spider Queen; her horn flaring brightly as she countered every attack Cassandra made and retaliated with some of her own. Hers would wound the spider deeply, even if it was simply a scratch. Instead of the expected blood, however, strange black pus emerged instead.

The clearing became a madhouse of sound; snarling, snapping bodies, chittering shrieks and clicks, the beating of thousands of wings and the burble-glug of the mudmen.

Those creatures proved the most formidable and dangerous. Attacks were useless against their slick bodies, but the gelatinous creatures simply absorbed their opponents into their bodies. Then they became a round sphere for several moments from which the internal struggles could be seen weakening, and when they moved on there remained no trace of the other.

Jake snapped the cords binding his mouth and concentrated on freeing himself while everyone remained distracted. Occasionally he would spot a mudman trying to eat a wolf or bear or whatever and loose a well-aimed blast at them, turning the evil thing into hard-baked clay that popped and sizzled as it hardened.

Jake finished freeing himself just as Cassandra tried to crush Serena physically, her jaws rendered useless in the fight. The unicorn hopped nimbly out of the way, her own white hide specked with silvery blood.

Cassandra tried to rise up and turn again, but Serena got underneath her and with a mighty blow upwards, stabbed her horn deep into Cassandra’s body.

The spider screamed in agony, her legs jerking wildly. Around the clearing, the mudmen and spiders rolled over as the queen’s mental link to them was severed. The animals made short work of the spider and mauled the mudmen unmercifully; despite the lack of damage they were able to do, the animals were madly angry and determined to kill those that had taken so many from them.

With a terrific crash, Cassandra fell to the ground, barely missing Serena who’d danced out of the way. She whimpered softly, the legs already starting to curl under her body.

Even as everyone watched though, that grotesque body started to shrink, a black smoke rising off of it into the sky. The more it shrank, the more human features were revealed, until at last a young woman, maybe twenty-five years of age, lay in the clearing with a hole in her stomach, red blood turning black.

She was small, barely five-one in height, with short black hair done up in a Mohawk and various tattoos on her arms, legs, neck, breasts and hips. Even her cheeks were tattooed.

Her eyes fluttered open, startlingly green and bright as she looked at them all. She tried to speak, the blood flowing out her lips as Jake and his friends gathered round.

At last she managed to croak, “Damn you. I was…was…argh!” She began to lean back. Serena made to touch her but Cassandra glared at her so fiercely that she stepped back, a single tear forming in her eye.

“Don’t…don’t you dare pity me.” She gasped painfully. “I made my choice. And I’ve won today.” She grinned macabre at them, the white enamel of her teeth covered with her own blood making her seem some demented vampire. “You’ll see later…when they grow up. They’ll win, you see. It’s already started.” She laughed, or choked, and continued. “But…perhaps…I’ll leave you with this thought. My brood isn’t the worst danger out there now. And there is something coming…something soon. It’s…*cough*almost here now. And then you’ll be finished. All of you, finished!” she gave one last shuddering laugh then became still.