by T. H. Lain
Tzrg was lurched forward so fast and so hard his neck almost snapped. Rezrex was holding him by the front of his ragged tunic, taking up some of Tzrg's chest hair with the mildewed old cloth. Tzrg hissed in pain as he was lifted off his feet and drawn in close to the hobgoblin's huge, stinking face.
"Listen, Tzrg," Rezrex growled in halting Goblin. "Rezrex leads. More than eighteen goblins. More than eighteen tribes. Rezrex leads. Leads goblins. Tzrg knows?"
Tzrg nodded, letting himself hang there. Tzrg understood what the hobgoblin meant. He was going to lead all the goblins. Every goblin would fall under his leadership. Tzrg couldn't imagine how such a thing might be possible, then he considered the size of the beast that was holding him off the ground with one hand. There was the magical mace, too, and the hobgoblin henchmen...and the Stonedeep Tribe. Maybe it wasn't so hard to imagine after all.
It had taken Rezrex less than a week to take complete control of the Stonedeep Tribe. The Cavemouth goblins had resisted, and all that did was get more than eighteen of them killed and the rest thrown into cages to think about the folly of their resistance. Tzrg knew goblins—Stonedeep, Cavemouth, or whatever tribe—well enough to know they'd give in soon enough and give in completely. What else could they to do?
"Tzrg knows," Rezrex said, looking the goblin in the eye.
Tzrg nodded and said, "Tzrg knows."
He was launched backward into the cool cave air. His arms started flapping—he couldn't stop them. His stomach jumped up into his chest. Tzrg fell and fell for what seemed like a full minute but wasn't really more than a couple seconds. He hit the water hard—hard enough to smash the air from his lungs and leave him in the freezing cold pool, locked in mid-gasp lest he take in a lungful of water.
When he climbed out of the water, gurgling, desperate for air, Tzrg briefly wondered why he'd bothered to hold his breath. It might have been over.
"Y'know," Lidda complained, "all this justice stuff is hurting my knees."
Regdar suppressed a smile and glanced down at the little halfling. Jozan had seen fit to have Lidda crawl along the dry grass, following the blood trail, and Regdar couldn't help but feel for her. She was certainly a thief, but there was something about her that Regdar found...charming? It wasn't a word Regdar used overmuch.
"It goes into the woods, I think," Lidda reported, sitting up on her knees and stretching her back.
Regdar followed her gaze forward to the edge of a deep pine forest that made its way up a particularly steep hill. They'd come easily three hours from Fairbye, and the sun was low over the high mountains in the west. The glaciers sparkled, and the mountains turned purple. Streaks of orange and pink colored the sky.
"Spiders would like the woods," Jozan said. "It's darker in there, and they could spin webs between the trees."
Lidda stood, hugging her arms close to her body. "Yeah, well, mystery solved. Drinks are on me, boys. Last one back to Fairbye
is a—"
"Hanged thief?" Jozan finished for her.
Regdar laughed, and Lidda shot him a stern, annoyed look.
"You want to go in there, following giant spiders, to save a sheep? We've been following a trail of its blood for, like, three miles. I don't think the sheep's gonna make it, guys."
"We're not going to save the sheep, Lidda," Regdar said. "We're going to kill the spiders."
"Really?" she asked, looking into the edge of the woods rather than at Regdar. "You might want to start with that one."
Regdar started to say, "What?" but didn't have a chance to before Jozan shouted his name.
The big fighter drew the greatsword from his back with a shriek of steel on steel at the same time he saw the spider creep out from the underbrush at the edge of the woods. He knew that Jozan would have his mace out, and Lidda drew a bolt from her quiver and slid the crossbow from her back. It was impossible for Regdar to tell if the spider was looking at him, or at either of his friends, or at none of them. The thing had eight eyes of different sizes, all black circles that glistened in the sunset.
It came right at Jozan, who happened to be closer to it than either Regdar or Lidda. The priest stepped toward it, hefting his mace, his footsteps firm and confident. Regdar liked what he saw and smiled around gritted teeth.
There was a soft, rubbery sound from behind him—Lidda had fired her crossbow. The bolt shot wide of the spider and burrowed deep into the ground not ten inches from Jozan's foot. The priest sidestepped, and the spider jumped.
Regdar hadn't even seen the spider tense its eight, brown-and-beige striped legs, but the arachnid was in the air as fast as Lidda's bolt. Regdar lunged at the thing almost as quickly, but he knew he wouldn't get to it before it got to Jozan.
The priest let himself fall the rest of the way to the side, and the spider flashed past him. It hit the ground facing away from Jozan, and the priest rolled to his right, kicking out in front of him and to the side to make himself roll faster. The mace came down on the spider's tear-shaped body, and there was a wet cracking sound and a burst of yellow ichor that obscured the medium brown X-shaped marking on the spider's back.
Regdar drew himself up short and started to think about whether he should congratulate Jozan on the kill first or chastise Lidda for nearly nailing his friend's foot to the ground. He had just about made a decision when another spider leaped out of the shadows at the edge of the forest and hit him hard on the side.
Regdar staggered back a few steps, and the spider scrambled up his body, its freakish sideways jaws, bristling with coarse fur, snapping at his face. Regdar thought the thing meant to bite his head off. The tiny, but sharp and strong claws at the tips of its segmented legs dug into the seams of his armor, gripping its way up him.
He couldn't get his greatsword in at that angle, so he held it in his left hand and grabbed the huge spider—it was easily eighteen inches around—where its spherical head met its tear-shaped body.
Regdar pushed the thing away, and it came off with three distinct snapping sounds. Three of its claws had hooked so firmly into his armor that when he pulled it off him, the three legs stayed where they were, and the body came away, trailing yellow ooze. The spider started thrashing madly in Regdar's grip, and the fighter wasn't sure he could hold the thing. He squeezed it as hard as he could, but he couldn't snap its neck.
The sound of Lidda's crossbow hummed again, and Regdar was afraid she might be trying to help him. He wasn't sure which he was more afraid of, the spider's jaws or Lidda's wildly flying crossbow bolts.
"Behind you, Lidda!" Jozan shouted, and all at once Regdar realized that there were more spiders.
It wasn't easy, but he managed to get his greatsword in-between the still thrashing spider he held in his right hand and the side of his body. He punched the tip of the blade through the spider and let go with his right hand. The thing spasmed once, curled its five remaining legs in, and slid off the end of his blade, dead.
The ground all around Regdar was scattered with more of the fast-moving beige bodies. He kicked one, sending it into the air between Lidda and Jozan—directly into the path of one of Lidda's steel bolts. The spider seemed to hang in the air for a second before changing direction an inch or so and falling dead to the ground. The crossbow bolt might have hit Jozan if Regdar hadn't inadvertently lobbed a spider into the air between them.
Regdar stepped back to avoid one spider, and another bit him on the calf, through the hard leather of his boots. The fangs stung going in and held on tight, pinching him. He felt his own blood burst into his boot and soak his calf. With a curse, he hacked down hard and sliced the spider cleanly in two. A wave of hot yellow gore washed over his legs, and the spider's bite released.
He managed to stay on his feet and turned to see Jozan strike at a spider on the ground, but the thing dodged away, moving perfectly sideways. Lidda was running backward, her knees popping up almost to the level of her chin as she danced away from the clattering mandibles of five spiders.
Regdar stomped down on
another spider at his feet. His heavy heel came down right in the middle of the big X on the spider's back. The carapace cracked, and the spider scuttled away, wounded but alive.
Jozan was fighting a bizarre duel with one spider, and Lidda screamed in frustration and fear. Regdar spun and lifted one foot to close with the five spiders that were harrying the halfling. He wasn't able to finish that step before the dwindling early evening light was washed away by a spray of multicolored lightning.
Regdar put an arm up to block his eyes. Every color of the rainbow wrapped itself into a cone of dazzling brilliance that bathed the spiders in front of Lidda. The creatures scattered and tumbled along the ground, and Lidda fell hard on her nicely rounded behind. The short sword she'd been trying so hard to draw came out of its scabbard all at once and reflected the green, yellow, orange, purple, and white light.
Then the colored light was gone, and Regdar moved fast toward Lidda. The halfling was sitting on the ground, bringing her short sword in front of her and waving it uncertainly at the spiders lying motionless in front of her. The things looked dead.
A loud crack! sounded behind him, and Regdar turned to see that Jozan had finally managed to smash the dueling spider with his mace. The priest was breathing hard, dripping in sticky yellow fluid but otherwise unhurt.
"All right," Lidda gasped, "what's all this then?"
Regdar said, "I don't know."
"It was a color spray," a voice said. All three whirled to face a young woman who was walking slowly toward them. "It worked nicely, didn't it? Nuance my a—"
"Who are you?" Regdar demanded, stepping toward her.
The woman stopped and put up both hands as if to ward him off, though the fighter was still a good ten paces from her.
"It's all right," she said.
"You did that?" Lidda asked, standing. She was obviously trying to look at the newcomer but was having a hard time keeping her eyes off the spiders. "You killed them."
"You cast a spell," Jozan said, stepping up next to Regdar. "A well timed and well executed one at that, I must say. We all three owe you thanks. Young Lidda in particular."
Lidda sheathed her unused sword and started dusting herself off. All three of them looked a mess. The halfling had a strange expression on her face. She looked angry, somehow, maybe frustrated.
Regdar ignored her moods and turned to the young woman. She was pretty, and Regdar rarely thought that about women. For a soldier women were just...well, it wasn't possible to be married and fight for the duke, so he always assumed that would come later, after he retired.
Regdar actually shook his head. Where were these thoughts coming from all of a sudden?
"I'm Jozan," the priest said, "a cleric in the service of Pelor. My traveling companion here is Regdar, who served the Duke of Koratia and now serves the temple as well, and—"
"I know my own name," Lidda said, "thank you, Jozan."
The halfling approached the young woman stiffly, reluctantly, and held out her tiny hand. The stranger leaned over and returned the handshake.
"Lidda," the halfling said, "and I owe you one—damn it!"
The young woman was as confused by the outburst as Regdar and Jozan were, but she managed to say, "Naull. My name is Naull."
Regdar repeated the name in his head: Naull. He found himself smiling, and when Naull looked up at him, all he could do was bow.
"They're not dead," Naull said, glancing between all three of them.
Lidda turned around, backing up almost into the young woman. The halfling regarded the motionless spiders with a grimace and said, "They aren't?"
Regdar tightened his grip on his sword and looked at the spiders. They appeared dead from where he was standing.
"The spell just kind of knocks them out for a few minutes," Naull explained. "When they wake up, they'll be blind and kind of stunned. That only lasts another few minutes as well, then they'll be back to normal, and likely none too happy."
Regdar looked at her, and she shrugged, half smiling at him. He wasn't sure what to say.
"What do you mean 'a few minutes'?" asked Lidda.
Naull shrugged, looking a bit embarrassed. "Well, it's not an exact science, but if you want to kill them, you should get on with it."
Regdar and Jozan needed no further prompting. They made absolutely certain that each of the five stunned spiders were cut into at least two pieces or smashed as flat as parchment. Lidda refused to look, and Naull turned almost as many colors as the light from her spell.
"Done?" Lidda asked after the sounds of cracking carapaces stopped, not turning to look.
"Done," Regdar told her.
"Good," the halfling said. "Let's go wash up and get a good night's sleep."
"We're not done, Lidda," Jozan said.
"Oh, come on!" Lidda said, stomping her foot.
"You're looking for where they came from," Naull said.
Regdar raised an eyebrow and met the slim woman's warm gaze. "Would you happen to know that?" he asked.
"Me?" answered Naull. "Oh, no, sorry. I've never seen spiders like this before. I was just on my way to Fairbye when I heard all the shouting and scuffling around."
"Well," Jozan broke in, "you're right, anyway. We will need to find the source of these spiders....Their lair, if they have one. If you can do that spell again, we'd appreciate the help."
"No!" Lidda answered for her. She turned on the woman and almost fell to her knees. "Say no. Don't go with them...seriously. If you go with them, then I have to go with them because I owe you one now, and I just so do not want to go with these suicidal maniacs. You were going to Fairbye....Let's go to Fairbye."
Naull looked confused, turning to Jozan with silently pleading eyes.
"Lidda forgets that the people of Fairbye were about to string her up," Jozan said, "and will be happy to finish the job if she returns without me. Do you mind me asking, Naull, where you were coming from? You're not exactly on the road here, and Fairbye isn't a terribly popular destination."
Naull didn't seem as if she was too eager to answer the question, but after a second or two of glancing back and forth between Jozan and Regdar she said, "I live in a...a...a sort of country house just north of here."
"Your family's estate?" Jozan asked.
"My teacher's," the young woman answered. From the look on her face, Regdar could tell she didn't want to elaborate. Instead she changed the subject. "You three don't look like you come from Fairbye."
"Just passing through," Regdar said.
"On your way to...?" Naull asked.
"We need to clean up this spider problem," answered Jozan, "then Regdar and I are on our way to New Koratia."
Naull's eyes sparkled, and she grinned, showing straight white teeth. "I'm in," she said.
Lidda threw herself to the ground, flopping over on her back. "What is it with you people and these thrice bedamned spiders?"
"Justice, Lidda," Jozan said. "Have you learned nothing?"
Lidda closed her eyes and said, "Is it too late to just be lynched like a normal person?"
They found pieces of a dead raccoon and knew they were on the right track. It was getting dark fast, and Regdar was getting nervous even faster. The spiders were dangerous enough when they were easy to see, but the deeper they got into the forest, the more they walked, the more the deep wound in Regdar's calf reminded him of just how dangerous the creatures could be.
"Webs here," Lidda whispered. There was something about the dark woods that made them all want to whisper.
Regdar looked up and saw that the web went sixty feet or more up the tall, old-growth firs. He had his sword in his hand but couldn't see any spiders.
Something heavy crashed through the underbrush behind him, and he whirled, his sword out in front of him. There was just barely enough light filtering through the tall trees for Regdar to see that it was Naull.
She looked up at him from the ground, pine needles scattered in her hair and clinging to her clothes.
&n
bsp; "Sorry," she said. "I tripped."
Naull smiled weakly, and Regdar sheathed his sword. "Let's move away from these webs and camp."
"Camp?" Lidda asked. "You mean sleep out here?"
"It's dark," Regdar said. "We can't even see to walk. It's too dangerous."
Regdar looked at Jozan, who nodded and started moving off into the darkness. Naull stood up and brushed the pine needles and dirt off her clothes.
"Afraid of the dark, Rudlor?" Lidda asked, her head tipped to one side and her voice almost squeaking she was trying so hard to tease him.
He smiled at her and said, "My name is Regdar."
He turned and followed Jozan, not turning around when he heard the two women giggling behind him. Ahead, the trees were beginning to thin out. Jozan was heading for the clearing, exactly as Regdar would have done. The farther they went, the more stars Regdar could see behind the trees, and he started to feel a whole lot better.
They had been going uphill for a long time, and Regdar's leg was throbbing. Jozan was sort of a purple blur ahead of him in the darkness. He came out of the trees into the clearing, and in front of him was a wide swath of pure black darkness. Regdar could make out the rumpled lines and jagged shadows of bare rock above and to the sides of the huge dark space. Jozan stopped walking, and Regdar halted several paces behind him, just out of the line of trees. Naull and Lidda stepped up on either side of the fighter.
"What is that?" Naull asked in hushed tones.
Regdar shook his head.
Jozan said, "Shade your eyes. I'm going to cast a spell."
The priest bent at the waist and picked something up off the ground. Regdar squinted and listened as Jozan murmured a prayer. After just a few seconds there was a burst of bright light. Regdar closed his eyes and saw spots flash behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes carefully and saw that Jozan was holding the light in his right hand. It wasn't too bright to look at once Regdar's eyes adjusted, but it had the effect of transforming the area around them. The deep shadows filled in, and colors came out of the murk.
