They nodded, and we turned onto the new tunnel. Soon, we began to see webbing along the ceiling and on the walls. Thick webbing.
“Better not be spiders,” Mudhoof said. “I hate ’em. In game and in real life.”
As we progressed, the webs became more of a nuisance as they encroached more into the middle our path.
I was about to suggest we go back when a cry came from somewhere ahead.
We all stopped.
“Was that a person?” Feign asked.
“Listen,” said Mudhoof.
Several heartbeats later we heard it again. “Help!” Someone said.
Mudhoof gripped his uber ax more tightly. “Better not be spiders,” he said and walked forward with caution.
The tunnel opened up into a small chamber. Webbing clotted every available inch of space from the high ceiling to the rocky ground.
Jammed up in one nook along the wall was a cocoon. Inside it, wrapped up to his neck in webbing was a man. He looked at us wide-eyed with terror.
“Help me! Please!” He said. Sweat glistened his skin. I noted with relief that he did not have any black veins.
I said to him, “Easy. We’ll get you down from there. Don’t worry.”
“It… It’s going to eat me! Please help!” He cried.
Frustrated, Mudhoof said, “Well, where is it?”
The cocooned man said, “I don’t know. It was just here a second…” His eyes looked upward in surprise.
The three of us did the same.
From an alcove high up, something emerged. Large and fast.
Feign’s orbs floated upward and illuminated it.
It was a monstrosity of a spider. Purple in color and covered in a fine hair, its giant fangs dripped with thick poison. At first it glared at us and the light from the orbs reflected in the cluster of eyes at the center of hits head. Then it lunged.
“FILTERED!” Said Mudhoof as he back pedaled. “FILTERED! FILTERED! FILTERED!” He needed room to swing his ax.
The thing crawled down the chamber wall and hissed. Its focus was on Mudhoof, probably sensing him as the biggest danger.
I took this as an opportunity. Moving to the side a little I waited with my sword held in front of me.
Mudhoof, despite his fear, knew what I was up to, so he yelled more obscenities at the thing.
The spider crab-walked along the floor, keeping Mudhoof in sight. It inched closer to him.
Feign held out his dagger, but looked a little out of his depth. With his offensive magic tapped out after continuously freezing the mine door, it was all he could do.
At the right moment, I shifted into Shadow and vanished. Quickly, I moved around to the side of the giant spider.
Mudhoof jabbed his uber ax toward it. “I can’t use my knock-back. It might collapse the ceiling.”
When I was in position, I used my sure-footed ability to help me take several running steps up the cavern wall. Then I pushed off and up.
By attacking, my Shadow dropped, and I became visible again.
The spider caught my movement above it at the last moment and raised its forward legs in defense.
Falling straight down onto it, I plunged my sword through its head. My weapon passed through its body so deep it clinked on the rocky ground beneath it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I leapt off the body in a mid-air roll, careful not to touch the vile thing.
The huge spider’s legs curled up underneath it in its death spasm and greenish blood oozed from its wounds.
Mudhoof poked at the corpse with the end of his ax in disgust. “Is this thing really dead?”
“Don’t worry,” I said, “It’s been skewered good. Maybe you can build a fire and cook it up.”
The minotaur looked at me in horror, then stuck out his tongue. “Not cool, Vee.”
“Get me out of here!” The little man pleaded from within the cocoon.
“That’s why we’re here, apparently,” I said as Feign and I moved over to cut at his sticky bindings. After a few moments he was free.
“Oh, thank the gods you arrived when you did!” He said, giving the spider corpse a look of disdain. “That thing would have eaten me.”
“Who are you?” Feign asked. “And what are you doing here?”
The little man dusted himself off and pulled webbing from his clothes. “I’m Tress, the town jeweler. I’d come here a few days ago to pick up an order of crystals when things suddenly went very bad.”
“What happened?” I said. Mudhoof had moved in position next to the chamber entrance to post a watch. We wanted no more surprises.
Tress shrugged. “I don’t understand, to be honest. When I arrived no one was at the entrance to give me the jewels as usual. So I wandered in and ventured down to the lower levels.”
“How many levels are there?” Mudhoof asked.
“Oh, I’m not sure,” Tress said. “But I do know the mines extend all the way under the town. That is where most of the deeper digging takes place.” He sat down heavily and pulled webbing away from his neck. It exposed a necklace with a white crystal dangling from it.
Tress sighed. “The miners had gone mad. That would be the best way to describe it. Black lines in their skin, running around screaming and hollering like it was the end of the world.” He shivered. “When it became clear I was in danger, I hid. Took me forever to work my way back up here. Then that thing,” he pointed at the spider, “came out of nowhere and dragged me in here. Never seen the likes of it before!”
I waited a moment before saying, “So you are unaware of what has happened in Ashbrook?”
Tress looked at me with surprise. “No! What happened?”
“The same as the miners, I’m afraid,” I said. “Nearly the whole town has been infected with that black magic, I’d guess you’d call it. Now the Demon King rules it all.”
Tress stared at me in horror. “But, what about my brother? Did he survive at least? His name is Perrin.”
I perked up at this. “Yes, we met Perrin. He was hiding in a house near the town square alive and well. But I don’t know if he’s still okay or not.”
“Oh, thank the gods! He’s the only family I have left,” Tress said looking slightly relieved.
“Let’s blow this joint, Vee,” Mudhoof said, getting nervous.
I pointed at the crystal on Tress’s necklace. “What is that? It’s quite beautiful.”
“Oh, this thing? It’s something Perrin, and I came up with. He’d discovered a good luck chant in some old books he’s always buried in. And I found a batch of these white crystals which can hold the chant indefinitely. Has brought little luck, I’m afraid. But it makes for a pretty trinket to wear.”
“Why are we talking about jewelry,” Mudhoof said, getting agitated. “We need to keep moving.”
Feign sensed what I was thinking. “Perrin wore a crystal just like that,” the mage said.
“Why, yes,” Tress said. “He and I are the only ones at the moment. Everyone else lacks good taste.”
I looked to Mudhoof and Feign. “Perrin was wearing one, and he didn’t become infected by the Demon King. And Tress, here, hasn’t been infected either.”
Mudhoof frowned. “So?”
To Tress I asked, “Do you have more of these anywhere?”
“Why, yes,” Tress said. “In my pack. I dropped it here somewhere.” He looked around and found his pack in a clot of webbing. Feign used his dagger to cut it free.
Tress opened his pack and revealed an inner pocket full of necklaces with the white crystals attached to them. “You can have these if you want,” the jeweler said. “It’s the least I can do considering you saved me from such a horrid death.”
I thanked him and passed one each to Mudhoof and Feign. We all put them on.