Back on the sheltered balcony above the spider nest, Kaelira knelt beside Celia, checking that the unconscious girl lay clear of the returning women's bloodied weapons.
At Quinlan's call, the Elite Souls dissolved into streams of blue fire and returned to [Soul Reaper]. Black Fang's dead spiders kept tearing at the swarm as the last soldier vanished from the lower bridge.
The queen strained toward the empty span. Before she could pull her belly free, Quinlan closed a collar of stone over her head and cut her ledge from the wall, keeping the rock clamped around her abdomen attached to it.
He drew the whole block across the cavern and anchored it at the balcony's far right end, beyond his gathered women and the prisoners pinned beneath Aurora's barriers.
"N-no..."
Marielle heard the queen's broken clicking from farther along the balcony.
