“Let's camp over there, on the left side of the river, along the tree line,” Rikar said. “We’ll make a fine roast tonight.”
Talis followed Rikar as he rode down the hillside towards the river. The wind was fierce now, with snow coming down strong. Twilight settled as they made their way through the rocky clearing, and reached the forest's edge.
He slid off his horse and staggered, as his legs tried to recover from the long ride. A gnaw in his stomach reminded him he hadn’t eaten in over a day.
Rikar removed his packs and began hunting around for wood. Soon they’d gathered enough and Rikar released a fiery stream into the wood, big puffs of smoke shooting up into the sky. They built a roasting spit and skinned the buck. Talis sat, watching Nikulo’s masterful roasting skills, listening to the fat sizzle, inhaling the sweet smell.
Once the roast was ready, Talis devoured a helping, then ate some more until his belly felt like it would explode. Food had never tasted so good. Color returned to Mara’s face after the meal, and she sat next to him, curled up, and lay her head on his lap. He thought he heard her purring with content.
Out the next day, after trekking along the river for several hours, they found a trail leading north, and Talis studied the Surineda Map, realizing they were heading towards the village of Blansko. Half a day’s journey in they found the trail obliterated by an enormous rockslide that had felled giant soldier pines, creating an unsurpassable mess. Rikar suggested they loop around to the east and follow the river north. But before they reached the river, tall boulders hundreds of feet high stopped their way.
The only way was through the dark, pine forest. The branches pressed down at many places so low they had to dismount their horses and lead them through. They followed Rikar as he trudged into the forest, slowing as the woods enveloped them. There was something soothing about the air infused with pine and mountain herbs, and the calm from lack of wind. Talis inhaled and walked on.
A commotion above moved the limbs against each other. The eerie croaking and groaning of wood against wood. The sound unnerved Talis, but Mara smiled, and they kept on.
“Over there,” he said, pointing with his chin. They kept ahead towards a patch of twilight beyond the forest. After reaching a clearing filled with logs and boulders, he realized it continued into an even deeper forest.
He sighed. “Still more to go.”
After a long hike through a dense, suffocating part of the forest, torches in hand, they found an old tree lying on the ground, with termites devouring the wood. Too tired to go on, they decided to rest here for the night.
Talis knocked branches off the tree and grinned as he kicked a branch. It cracked and shattered in several pieces. He made a game where he was snapping the necks off Jiserian necromancers. It helped. Mara picked up a branch and swirled it around, giggling.
“This place is creepy.” She poked Talis.
“Are you kidding? I’m so glad to be out of the desert.” Talis spun around, trying to trip Mara. She jumped, and darted out of the way.
“Would you stop messing around?” Rikar sighed. “Just get some wood for a fire.”
Mara stuck out her tongue at Rikar, and punched at Nikulo’s belly. He blocked and danced left. Readying another jab to the ribs, Mara stopped and looked up.
“What's wrong?” Talis said, following her gaze.
“Not sure. I just had a weird feeling.”
Then he caught an awful smell. A mixture of wet, decaying leaves and fermented wheat. His shoulders stiffened.
“Light a fire so we can see better,” she said. The air had turned quiet and lifeless, and he wanted exactly the same thing. There was something here in the forest-with them-watching them.
“Let's gather some branches,” he said, his voice urgent. Mara nodded and they got to work.
Rikar glanced around and raised his torch. “Are you guys just trying to freak me out?”
“No,” Talis said, shrugging. “It’s just strange here.”
“Alright-” Rikar froze in his tracks as Mara screamed.
Talis whipped around and spotted her cringing on the ground, mouth hanging open, staring up.
13. ASSAULT IN THE FOREST
Up in the branches Talis could see hundreds of spiders. Four feet across, hairy, and drooling something black and wet. Their yellow beady eyes shone, staring hungrily at them. They were suspended on scores of thin, silvery cords.
Mara whipped out her daggers and rolled aside as a spider dropped over her. Talis grabbed his bow and quiver and raced to help, but his foot landed in a hole and he fell face first in the dirt, his bow flying out of his hands.
Talis spotted two spiders heading towards him and more charged at Rikar and Nikulo. They had to get out of here; there were too many spiders to fight. Three of them lurched at Mara and she dove away and slashed with her daggers. Talis picked up his bow and shot one in the back, sending a green spray through the air. The others zig-zagged over the forest floor as they chased Mara. Rikar ran after her but got in the way of Talis’s line of sight.
“Move!” Talis shouted, running after them.
Mara’s foot caught on a root and she fell and landed hard, her daggers skidding across the ground. She glanced back as the spiders hovered over her, then scrambled to find her weapons. Rikar zapped a spider with a lightning bolt, frying it into oblivion, but another spider turned, coiled up and prepared to strike. Talis launched another arrow, missed, then shot another, sending the creature spinning in a green, twirling mess. It splat on a tree, and its juices started eating away at the bark. What kind of poison was that? Then Talis realized that the spider’s bodies were filled with acid.
“Don’t waste your magic,” Nikulo shouted, running up to Rikar. “There are too many of them.”
“Behind you,” Mara yelled.
Turning, Talis spotted one mid-flight in its jump at them. Rikar quickly summoned a silvery sword and sliced the spider in half. More charged. He flinched, stabbing and cutting the fat beasts until a pile of green spider parts and goo lay at his feet.
“Don’t touch it…it’s acid! ” Talis shouted, pulling Rikar’s arm.
Mara backed into a corner, surrounded by spiders. She slashed stubbornly and they snapped forward and flinched back. Every time he scanned around, more kept coming. He shot the two creatures surrounding Mara, but others charged her. Talis felt a furry leg brush his hair. He fell, aiming up, and sank an arrow into another’s fat underside. He rolled away as it splattered onto the ground.
Talis grunted. He was out of arrows and there were too many of them, anyways. He grabbed a thick stick and glanced around. Yellow eyes danced in the dark. Mara went to slice a leg off, but another curled up and hurled a sticky glob of venom over her face.
She froze and fell over.
Talis charged at the spider, yelling and kicking it away from her. He brought the stick down hard against its neck.
Nikulo huffed up to them and stared at Mara. “What happened?”
“She’s poisoned,” Talis said, and slammed a fist on his leg.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” Nikulo said. Sweat poured down the sides of his head, and his eyes shone. A huge spider followed him, as if tamed and obeying his command. His hands were over his temples as he stared at the creature. It scampered over the ground and grappled two more spiders coming at them.
The creatures were everywhere. Hundreds of yellow, gleaming eyes locked on them.
“Which way do we go?” Nikulo said, and twirled around.
Rikar was feverish, exhausted from his use of magic. He summoned a curved blade, shimmering five feet across, and slashed as fast as he could. He was tiring and in danger of being consumed by magic.