“What’s wrong?” Taric inquired mischievously as he recognized Roild’s nauseous look.
“I hate cave spiders.” Roild spat at the smashed remnants as they picked up the litter and continued on.
“They don’t taste that bad when you cook them.” Taric glanced over his shoulder to see the result of his needling.
“It would have dropped on you if that thing hadn’t stopped where it did.” Roild preferred to change the topic.
“I suppose you are right. We should keep an eye out. Don’t want any more surprises.” Taric for all his bravado didn’t like cave spiders any more than Roild did.
“Just watch the ceilings. We might be near a den.” They had no intention of dealing with the creatures any more that was absolutely necessary and even then only as long as it took to destroy the miserable insects. He kept an eye on the walls and ceiling of the cave himself. He knew that this was the only tunnel that went where they were heading in this region. There wasn’t any other that wasn’t submerged during this time of the year.
They began noticing that the section of the cave that they were entering was riddled with pockets of a softer material that had over the eons eroded. Openings could be seen all along the walls in sections resembling a honeycomb. In a couple spots they were able to see the white remnants of a web spread along the walls but as of yet no spiders could be seen.
“Perhaps these webs were just made by the one we killed.” Taric verbalized a hope that they both fervently hoped to be true. They were nearing a larger opening on the side of the when Roild heard a sound behind him. Looking over his shoulder he saw a couple smaller spiders no larger than a spread hand skittering at the edge of the pool of light his armor threw. He was about to caution his companion when he hear Taric muttering something about the cursed insects. He glanced back just in time to counter Taric making a stomping motion that threatened to upset the litter.
“Take that you deep cursed abominations.” Roild only had a moment to register the worried expression that the entity wore before he hear a snapping sound from the entrance to the side chamber ahead.
“What have you done!?” Roild hissed as a dozen spiders crawled through the opening.
“I hate those things!” Taric responded with emotion equaling Roild’s. He recalled having heard something about a smell that attracted other spiders in the vicinity when one was crushed. Unfortunately his recollection was a moment too late.
“They are coming out of the walls.” Roild lowered his end of the litter and loosed his twin battle axes. He wished that he had thought to bring his hammers like Taric had done. They were better suited to smashing the insects. Taric had unburdened himself and drawn his weapons as well.
They only had a moment to take in their situation. The ghostly being was floating with arms crossed to the side while spiders of all sizes crawled out of the walls. A constant stream of the insects were coming out of the side chamber cutting off their route of advance while a few dozen spiders were appearing out of the tunnel behind them. With all avenues of escape effectively cut off they were forced to defend themselves.
Roild jumped as one of Taric’s hammers clanged off the stone as the battle began. The spiders enraged by the fresh scent of their companion’s death charged as one. Roild silently began cutting a path through the attacking insects while behind him at the other end of the litter he could hear Taric smashing away while heaping every curse he knew on the ill-gotten creatures.
Roild beat back the spiders for long enough to glance behind him at the helpless human on the litter. To his shock he saw a spider had managed to sneak past them and was about to pounce. Before he was able to act however there was a flash from the apparition and streamers of light reached out and encircled the spider before it burst into flames. Turning back to the task at hand be brushed off a couple of the smaller spiders that had begun climbing his armor. Stomping on them he sliced a spider bigger than his head in half before crushing another with the flat of his blade.
Taric had reached the end of his vocabulary and was forced to recycle and improvise. His armor was gleaming with a white light from the energy collected by his exercise. The twin hammers were doing their duty with ruthless force. The area was covered in the guts from the smashed spiders. Sparks flew with each blow that contacted the stone. A motion in the corner of his eye warned him of a spider dropping down from the ceiling. Smashing his hammers into it he sent the mangled corpse flying through the air and into the wall where it exploded into a spray of spider parts.
The entity had only managed to burn a handful of the beasts. It seemed to need a few moments before it could repeat the effect so it limited its attacks to those spiders that presented an imminent threat to the human on the litter. He did however lend a hand when the need arose elsewhere. Taric cursed and ducked when a spider that had been lowering itself from the ceiling over his head burst into flames. Roild rarely needed the extra help. He was a whirling dervish of destruction. His bright axes were slicing left and right. If a spider managed to sneak within the arc of death it found itself under the dwarf’s heel.
After appraising the near endless stream of insects appearing the apparition moved towards the entrance to the side chamber. Its light illuminate the chamber and revealed that the walls were honey combed with pockets where spiders were emerging with unabated numbers. In center of the room were piles of unhatched eggs and networks of webbing. Sitting crouched on the top of the eggs in the center of the web was his target.
Roild only noticed that the apparition had abandoned them as he saw it entering the side chamber. He gritted his teeth and returned to his work of destruction. He now had to cover the gap that the ghostly creature had been defending. The added strain was already taking a toll. The spiders were pressing their advantage on every side now.
Just as the dwarves were about to be overrun a loud snapping sort of clatter arose from within the side chamber. Appearing at the entrance was an enormous spider. Taric guessed that it was the queen as he noticed the strange glow that seemed to surround the monstrosity. It was when he saw the eyes that he recognized it. All eight eyes were shimmering with the rainbow colors that they had observed in the human’s eyes.
At the onset of the noise that the queen was making the spiders had faltered. They quickly recovered and pressed forwards but this time it was towards their queen. They fled from Taric but surged towards Roild who was nearly overwhelmed before he realized that they simply wanted past him. They surrounded the queen who continued the chattering.
When the first of them reached the queen she began impaling them with her forelimbs. The spiders didn’t seem to notice for a few moments but instead seemed to be trying to care for the monstrous creature. They were patting her limbs with cleaning motions until suddenly they detected that something was wrong. In an instant they began attacking their queen. A loud hissing sound filled the cave as the queen was set upon by her brood. The dwarves took the opportunity to seize the litter and make their way past as the queen covered in biting spiders staggered through the entrance to the side chamber. They kept running until they were well beyond the perimeter of the spider nest. Behind them a flash of light filled the cave for a moment before being followed by the scent of scorched spiders.
“He saved our lives!” The dwarves stopped to catch their breath and Taric looked at the human with a new respect.
“It cost him. His pulse is slower and his breathing shallower.” Roild was checking the human’s vital signs. The supernatural being was nowhere to be seen until it began slowly forming a couple minutes later. They both watched mesmerized until Roild heard Taric exclaim. He glanced over and saw a confused expression on his friend’s face as he held a spider no bigger than his hand. His other hand was rubbing a spot on his neck.
It took Roild a moment to figure out what had happened. He was only able to get to Taric as the dwarf began collapsing. His suspicions were confirmed when he lifted the helm and revealed the two red puncture wounds on Taric’s
neck. The dwarf wasn’t dead but paralyzed. Death wouldn’t come for days. Days during which Taric would be in terrible pain but unable to lift a finger.
A flash of light pulled Roild out of his shocked state. He turned and watched as the little spider was consumed with the apparition’s flames. He now was in a conundrum. He had not only one but two helpless individuals on his hands. The human that they had been transporting and his friend. Roild figured that he could probably drag the litter with one but that left the other to die.
“Gar'as onwath noverum. Wrathy spawn eriache.” He stared at the apparition in confusion. The only word he was able to understand was dwarf but the tone conveyed sorrow.
“Do something! We risked our lives to save you. He is my friend understand! Help him!” Roild screamed at the entity that didn’t even flicker in response.
“Draceros noverum Gar’as onwath.” Again the tone of sorrow. Roild was unable to restrain himself but lunged at the luminous being. His senses were assaulted with a bright light for an instant. When he was able to see again he found himself a dozen paces away picking himself up off the ground. When he had attained his feet he looked back and saw the fog of light enveloping Taric. It seemed to melt in and disappeared. By the time that Taric was able to get back to his friend the light was gone. A moment later Taric began moving.
Roild was about to express relief when he caught sight of Taric’s eyes. They were shimmering with that same internal light that he had seen in the human’s eyes then in the spider queen’s eyes. The full impact of what had happened struck him like a hammer blow to his chest. The entity had possessed Taric’s body.
“Draceros las Taric. Eclarion Underheim.” Roild was incensed by hearing his friend suddenly being used by something else. He stepped forward menacingly as if to rip the entity from Taric’s body by hand. The dwarf simply lifted a hand and brushed Roild aside sending him flying through the air. When he had recovered his feet he advanced again before thinking better of it.
“Eclarion Underheim!” This time Taric pronounced the ancient words as a command before picking up his end of the litter. Roild realized that there was nothing that could be done right now. Taric was under the control of the entity as well as a deadly dose of spider venom. They had a couple days at most before Taric’s body would begin dissolving from the inside out. Underheim was still at least that long out.
Picking up his end of the litter Roild followed as the possessed Taric began marching at a rapid pace. Roild was able to maintain the same pace but only because his legs were longer than Taric’s. They kept up the same speed for at least a hundred units before they came to an obstacle.
Roild who was in the rear only realized that they had slowed before Taric began stepping into the water. Roild registered that their cave had been filled with water. He was despairing when he realized that Taric under the entity's control was walking into the water without even pausing. He tried pulling on the litter but found himself no match for Taric’s supernatural strength. As he was about to drop the litter he noticed that the water was being repelled. It was forming a bubble with the epicenter around the litter. It extended out on both sides enough to envelope the two dwarves.
Gritting his teeth Roild pressed on. He had to duck to keep his head inside the air bubble but his feet were not so fortunate. A minute later the bubble broke open as they ascended out of the water. Roild glanced back at the undisturbed surface of the water with awe. He could hardly believe that they had just passed through a tunnel full of water.
The march continued on relentlessly until Roild’s arms felt like they were being pulled from their sockets. His feet had been soaked in the water and were now developing blisters. In spite of the pain he stumbled forward until it seemed that he was drifting through a haze hardly aware of his own automatic actions. Fragments of reality pierced his fog.
He remembered them picking their way through another spider den. This time he hardly registered the fact that the spiders were simply moving out of their way. He had the presence of mind to try and avoid stepping on any of the infernal creatures. Another time the cold shock of water striking his face brought momentary clarity as he ducked inside the bubble of water. Later he remembered seeing through blurry eyes what appeared to be Taric rolling aside a boulder easily as tall as the taller of the two dwarves. The next thing he remembered was standing in front of iron gates as armored dwarves ran towards him. For some reason the sight of the short individuals running in their armor struck him as funny. He heard a dry raspy sound that resembled a cackle just before everything started spinning.
All of a sudden everything was brightly lit. Roild jerked his eyes open and tried sitting up. Lost and confused for a moment he tried to stop the world from spinning. He was able to see clearly again and realized that he was laying in a bed surrounded by candles. His armor was on one side with his weapons. A strange sound resembling someone being strangled drew his attention to his other side. Taric was sitting in a chair with his head hanging over the back with his mouth wide open snoring. The peculiar strangling sound was probably due to his odd position. Taric must have sensed Roild staring at him because he suddenly jerked awake and straightened up rubbing the back of his neck.
“You are finally awake! Been sleeping for the last four days I'm told.” Taric seemed himself and spoke the modern tongue but Roild couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being tricked somehow.
“Is that really you?” Roild squinted and looked into his friend’s eyes. There was nothing but the deep brown that had been there since the day that the two had met.
“Of course it’s me. They tell me that you hit your head pretty hard when you carried us both up to the gate. By the way, how did you manage that? I was in the later stages of spider poison so I was paralyzed.” Taric relaxed and leaned back in the chair again. This time slumping down so that the back of his head was supported by the chair.
“What do you mean?” Roild tried to piece together his fragmented memories of that nightmare march.
“I was paralyzed and the human was on death’s doorstep when they found us. You were supposedly laughing your head off and looked like you had walked around the Garoche in its entirety. I on the other hand only had a couple bite marks to show for it.” Taric laughed before continuing. “What was so funny that you were laughing your head off when they found us?”
“You really don’t remember any of it?” Roild ignored the question and pressed Taric.
“Was there something that I should remember? Did I say something embarrassing? Honestly the last thing I remember before waking up when they gave me the antidote was being bit by that cursed spider and my fingers going numb.”
“You walked here. Carried the other end of the litter the whole way. That thing took you over.” Roild remembered the other effects that the possession had caused but realized that saying them out loud would make him sound insane.
“That thing was a light walker. I read up a little while I was waiting for you to wake up. The gate guards came to see me yesterday. They wanted to know how we got through. They said that the main tunnel was flooded and had a cave in. They were also amazed that you could have carried us both but if I walked the whole way...” Taric left off as the implications hit him.
“We walked through the flooded tunnels and I watched you shove boulders aside as if they were no heavier than paper. That light walker thing was inside you the whole time.” Taric didn’t respond for a moment as he pondered Roild’s words.
“He saved my life then.”
“What exactly is a light walker?” Roild tried to shift the topic from is still fresh experience in the tunnels.
“So I found this old book on the Dragon Lords and it talked about an ability that one of them had. I guess their consciousness could leave their body and manifest as light. They had limited interaction with anything in that state but they couldn’t be injured.” Taric became animated in his explanation of what they had witnessed.
“Limited? It became you. I
saw it burn spiders just by throwing light at them. If what you are saying is true then his body is just damaged but his mind is active. I wonder.” Roild drew himself up in the bed and wrapped his arms around his knees.
“About that. No one has seen him light walking since we arrived. It seems that whatever he did to help me get here may have harmed him. The healers say that he has been steadily declining in condition since we got here.” Taric became intensely interested in the toe of his boot as he explained.
“His condition did worsen when he saved us from the spiders.”
“That was my fault too. If I hadn’t smashed that one spider we might have been able to sneak through.”
“Don’t blame yourself Taric. If anyone is at fault it should be me. I demanded that he help you. Being the ungrateful brute that I am, I attacked him when he did try.” Roild flinched as he replayed the events in his mind.
“Neither of you should blame yourselves. The dwarven race as a whole is at fault.” Both the young dwarves jumped as a grizzled old warrior entered the room.
“Greetings Captain Seeroth. Taric stood and saluted the old warrior. Roild attempted to follow Taric’s example but was stayed by a scowl.
“Neither of you should be out of your beds. I’ve been bitten by spiders and for the life of me I can’t figure out why you aren’t as weak as a newborn after having been two days with that venom in your blood. As for you Roild, I wish we were meeting again under better circumstances.” Seeroth was an old friend of Roild’s father and had known Roild since he had been old enough to make the journey to the capital.
“I feel fine. In fact I haven’t felt better since I had breakfast the day we left.” Taric was shoved back into the chair before Seeroth moved to the other side of the bed and emptied the armor out of the remaining chair before sitting down.
Chronicles of Den'dra: A Land Torn: Ancient Powers Awaken Page 31
