Henry drew his sword and braced himself, placing the lantern at his feet. His hands tightly gripped the sword handle as he looked ahead into the inky darkness, the lantern illuminating no more than fifteen feet of the tunnel at most. The sounds of skittering grew louder and closer, along with faint chirping and clicking noises.
The tunnel was still dark, but the noise sounded as if it were right in front of him. He peered closer, feeling the leather wrap of his sword dig into his hand, but still he saw nothing, just the faint glinting and gleaming of the rock walls that-
He leapt back with a start. It wasn't the walls that were shimmering in the dark; they were eyes.
Dozens, no, hundreds of eyes, staring right at him, a sea of them rushing at him from the darkness.
He barely had time to register them before the first spider scurried into the light. It was the size of a small dog, brownish-gray fur covering its body and legs. Eight beady eyes stared at Henry for a split second, as if barely acknowledging him, before it darted into the darkness past him as fast as it had come.
His heart skipped a beat as he remembered. The potion. Whatever Nezwick had given him, it was working, so far, at least. A few more spiders of varying sizes scuttled by, again hardly registering his presence, as he remained frozen in trepidation.
As long as I don't attack. His heart leapt as he felt a crawling sensation on his leg; looking down, he nearly let out an instinctual yell upon seeing a large spider, as large as a dinner plate, crawling up his thigh. Its meandered for a bit, climbing to his belly, then his back, then finally back down to the ground and scuttled out of sight.
A sea of the creatures surged past him, some regarding him with mild interest, most ignoring him completely, but all eventually moved on past him and continued on their journey behind him.
When the flow of spiders finally slowed to a trickle, before at last ceasing completely, Henry allowed himself to breathe once more; it took him another second to realize that his grip on his sword was so tight, his palms had gone numb. He lowered his weapon and looked at his right hand; the leather wrap around the sword's hilt was clearly imprinted into his palm, just short of breaking skin. Sheathing the sword, he picked up his lantern and resumed his journey deeper into the tunnel, intent on finding Rebecca.
Surely, the spiders would have ignored her as they have him; she had mentioned taking the potion, after all, and given how docile they ended up being, she must have-
A faint shape loomed out from the darkness ahead, something splayed on the tunnel's ground. As Henry drew closer, the light from his lantern washed over it: it was a spider's corpse, looking rather beaten and misshapen. Bright green blood smeared the ground around it, but what alarmed Henry was that this spider was nearly the size of a sheep. Alarm quickly shifted to internal panic when he saw a familiar satchel near the corpse, nearly completely filled with bright glowing red stones.
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
Rebecca's bag. He stooped down to inspect it, noting that it seemed to have been dropped, not laid on the ground, as a few of the stones were scattered around the bag. Beside it, he saw thick strands of cobweb-like material, stuck to the ground and walls in clusters, and trailing off further within the tunnel.
His blood chilled as he realized what had happened; Rebecca must have panicked and killed this spider, thereby breaking her potion's protection. Judging from the thin trail of the web-like material leading down the tunnel, the spiders must have bound her in webbing and taken her back to their lair to...
He shook his head, refusing to even think of it. If his knowledge of spiders held true, then there was still time; spiders often saved their quarry to feed upon later.
Henry stood and quickened his pace, following the thin trail of webbing down the tunnel. Hang on, Rebecca. I'm coming.
The tunnel had snaked this way and that, leading Henry deeper and deeper into the bowels of the Mines. By now, the mined-out portion of the tunnel had long been left behind, the walls now a more natural rocky formation as opposed to the smoothly-bored surfaces from before. The squire stumbled and staggered over the rocky floor as he continued to follow the trail of stringed web, which at this point had reduced to mere strands from the ropes he had initially tracked. The only sounds within the tunnel were his labored breathing and his footsteps as he climbed over the rocks, desperately following the ever decreasing trail of web strings. Panic slowly rose within him as the trail continued to fade, before finally ceasing completely as he came to a crossroads of three tunnel openings.
The light from his lantern flickered and bounced off of the shiny rock walls, casting shadows that seemed to mockingly dance around Henry as he frantically looked down each of the tunnels. They all looked similar, no webs, no tracks, no signs of any kind that would show where the spiders would have taken Rebecca. Despair threatened to overtake him as he frantically looked between them, his heart racing furiously in his chest.
No. NO. He bit his lip; he'd have to choose, and he'd have to be swift. If he strayed down the wrong tunnel, it would take precious time for him to backtrack, and he'd-
His heart leapt as he suddenly remembered: Nezwick's spell!
He thrust his hand into the small bag on his belt, his fingers grasping the aged parchment of the scroll. As he held it before him, he could see that it was neatly tied with a thin blue string, which glowed faintly in the dim light.
Nezwick's words came back to him: Simply unfurl the scroll, and a light will guide you to what you desire most at the moment.
Henry made to untie the string, when he remembered the following phrase as well. It may also lead to momentary impulses.
He closed his eyes and fixated his thoughts on Rebecca. He recalled every detail he could muster on her, picturing her crazy hat, her curls, her faintly freckled face and pointed nose, her emerald green eyes...
He couldn't help but smile. He recalled her cold nature at first, slowly warming up to him and Arthur, the meals they shared on the road, how they knocked out Arthur with an apple, her foretelling of his fortune...
The scroll felt as if it were humming in his hands. He opened his eyes and saw the blue string glowing brightly now, the knotted ends appearing to float gently. Henry breathed, grasped one of the ends, and gingerly pulled, watching the string softly unfurl before him.
The scroll lightly opened into a pristine sheet of brilliantly shining paper, before it dissolved into a glowing trail above his head. The trail led down the tunnel on his left, faintly glowing in the dark.
Henry grabbed his lantern and quickly followed it, his heart racing. Hold on just a little more, Rebecca.
