The Sypder's Amulet: Part Two

by beckykwinson

Becki glanced at me nervously. "Who do you think it is?" she mouthed. I shook my head and shrugged. The knocking continued, and grew louder and heavier, until the window trembled. Jumanjiochi, my brother rubbed his eyes. "I don't know exactly what's going on here, but if it was a monster, wouldn't they have barged down the door by now?"

Becki looked at me. "Shall I open the door?" she whispered, sweating. I nodded. We had nothing to lose but our lives, after all Becki threw open the door. A crooked old Gelert stumbled in, sobbing. His black coat was matted and unwashed, and a large backpack hung over his bloody shoulder.

"Shadows!" cried Becki "What's happened?" The old Gelert ignored her, and looked at me. "Iceburg. You are in terrible danger."

"What? I can't be. There's hundreds of Ghost Lions, about one thousand Swamp Ghouls, and I don't know how many giant Spyders heading straight for our house, and you're saying I'm in danger? NO!"

Shadows glared at me, and frowned. "This is no time for sarcasm. The army is barely five minutes away. You must hurry." He glanced quickly at my amulet and sighed. I stared at him puzzled, as we followed him out of the door, and deeper into the forest. My paws were still sore, and I was glad of the cold snow to cool them down.

I looked down my neck to the amulet. It was pretty cool, but I didn't see what was so special about it. It was made of deep golden amber, and a small jet black Spyder had been frozen for eternity inside. The amber shook from side to side as I ran, the weight of my equipped items weighing me down. My little brothers were behind me. Shadow was shepherding them along. Bubbleisia the Shoyru flapped along, panting, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Jumanjiochi lumbered along, thumping the snow into drifts with his stumpy Chomby legs. Tuftyia the Tuskaninny, however, was having difficulty keeping up. I bent my knees when he caught up with me.

"Climb on my back," I told him. "And make sure my Noil doesn't get squished!"

Things were even harder with my small brother sitting on me. We seemed to run for years. When we were barely a mile away, we stood on top of a huge rock, and looked down into the forest, which had once been our home. Becki nearly fainted.

Evil green flames were tearing through the forest, shriveling the smaller shrubbery bushes in an instant. A horrible stench of burnt wood filled my nostrils. We looked down to where the hamlet had once stood, undisturbed for centuries. Our cottage was no more than a pile of rubble. I thanked the Faeries I had got together all the important stuff, and our Pet Pets. Becki started to cry gently.

"What's going on? Why is this happening?" Shadows looked not surprised. "The Spyder Queen."

"Who?"

"The Spyder Queen. She-"

"Hang on!" hollered Bubbleisia. "Isn't the Spyder Queen just a monster, like the Pant Devil? I read about her in the Gallery of Evil!"

"She was a simple monster, yes. But now her powers are back. She's almost as bad as Dr. Sloth- in fact, some think she is his link to the insides of Neopia. A spy, if you like."

Becki looked up, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand."How did she get these powers back then? And since when have Ghost Lions, Pant Devils and Giant Spyders been strong enough to destroy whole towns?" Shadows looked at her, his deep brown eyes scanning her face. He sighed.

"I will tell you" he eventually replied. "But you must promise to forgive me."

We all nodded, confused. Shadows took another deep breath, and began his story.

"It all starts with this Lupe, Iceburg, and his twin brother, Icebolt. When they were born, their parents were gone, and I, as their guardian, took them to the Neopian Pound for adoption. I was (and still am) a very poor Gelert, and what little money I had was no where near enough to support two growing Lupes. So I handed them over to Dr_Death, and watched them closely. Iceburg was adopted by a young Neopian, which was you Becki. I was so occupied with Iceburg, and gaining contact with his new owner, that I forgot all about his twin. When I next returned to the pound, Icebolt had gone, and the Adoption Agency would and could not give details of his whereabouts. I decided to track him down myself.

"After reading through thousands of documents and manuscripts, I read a report of a young blue Lupe enrolling at the Haunted Woods School, named Icey. I excitedly traveled to visit the school, but upon my arrival was told "Icey" had last been seen following a huge Spyder into one of the caves in the hillside. I knew immediately it was the place the Spyder Queen lived. I traveled to the island mystic, and told him of my troubles. He immediately consulted his Crystal Ball. We saw the Spyder Queen giving back powers to the common monsters of Neopia. We heard her discuss what to do about the twins. We heard her say that Icebolt was imprisoned in the depths of her chamber. Then the connection was lost. Her own brand of magic was stronger."

When he finished everyone was silent.

"Is that true?" asked Tuftyia excitedly.

"What are we going to do?" wailed Becki.

"Can I fight the Spyder?" hollered Jumanjiochi.

"Will be able to help?" yelled Bubbleisia

"I've got a twin?" I yelped.

Breakfast the next morning was silent and subdued. Shadows had used up a Healing Potion curing his cuts and bruises, so we only had three left. Becki gave us all slightly squashed Bacon Muffins, and we shared a bottle of flat Neocola. I felt as flat and as deflated as my drink as I stared down at the desolate, burnt wasteland that had once been the snow kissed forests of Terror Mountain. The Magical White Lupe that was said to live in them would be long gone. Charred trees and shrubs littered the ground, which was dry and cracked, but still covered with snow, and wet. The whole scene was unnatural. It gave me the shivers. To the distance we could see the surviving townspeople driven over the hill by the retreating army.

Becki turned to Shadows. "There's one thing you never told us."

"What was that?"

"How come the basically simple and common monsters of Neopia suddenly get barbaric powers, and super strength?"

"The Spyder Queen banished their powers as a punishment. They failed her in the war, when she was an ally of Dr. Sloth. However, that was probably some sort of a plan. Weaker creatures are usually pushed aside by the authorities. Lax security in Neopia has allowed the darker parts of our world to become infested with evil. Now their powers have been returned, they are stronger; for there is strength in numbers."

He fell silent, and for the first time we all realised what we were wound up in. The task we had set ourselves was all but impossible. Hey, what WAS our task? I fed my pet Noil some streaky bacon, and asked Shadow. "We must travel to the Haunted Woods. I have a friend there who will give us shelter. The Woods were where your brother and the Spyder Queen were seen last."

Shadows' idea of shelter consisted of a broken old shed, with cracks in the roof, and Spyders dangling from the roof. We eventually booked ourselves in at Cockroach Towers, which Shadows said would be hardly better than the shed.

As we walked over to the Towers, dragging our Pet Pets behind us, Shadows suddenly turned, and stared. Thundering towards us was a creamy blue Lupe-and he was accompanied by around 5000 mutants...

To be continued...