Henry stripped the last of the webbing from Rebecca's body, flinging the strands and fibers as far as his left arm would allow him. His right arm hung uselessly at his side, still numbed and unusable thanks to the spider venom; aside from feeling as if it were a lead weight, he could faintly feel a locus of intense pain at the bite area, just above his wrist. He was almost literally disarmed; he had dropped his sword back in the spider lair, leaving him defenseless save for the small dagger in his belt, and he couldn't wield that while carrying Rebecca.

  The mage, for her part, was breathing, but only just; she had received a much more potent dose of the spider venom, on the right side of her neck, it seemed. The bite area was swollen, with the veins on her neck bulging the closer they were to the bite, but she was deathly pale and cold to the touch; were it not for her breathing, Henry would have thought she were dead. She was still unable to move, so Henry had sat her up and propped her up against the wall, where she breathed laboriously with her eyes closed. Henry sat beside her, resting his head against the wall as well.

  "You... came... for me." Her voice was faint, barely audible even in the silent tunnels. "Didn't.. think... you could..."

  "Of course I came back." Henry smiled, gripping her shoulder reassuringly. "I need a magic chef for the way home."

  "You... cur..." The edge of Rebecca's lips cracked into the beginning of a smile, before she winced in pain.

  Henry grabbed her hand. "Are you alright?"

  "I'll... be fine. Venom... will wear... off..."

  "How long, do you think? We can't stay here too long."

  "Hours?... Days?" Rebecca's face contorted, as she seemed to try to wrest back control of her body. "Depends... on type... of spider..."

  "Anything I can do to help?"

  "No... wait... maybe..." With great difficulty, her head lolled to meet Henry. "Anti...venom... in my... pack..."

  Henry felt his stomach churn as he cursed himself; he had left their packs near the entrance of the Mines. "I, uh, left our effects behind."

  The mage sighed. "It's... fine..."

  "What happened, anyway? Why'd the spiders attack you?" Henry cocked his head. "I thought you already took Nezwick's potion."

  "Potion... wore... off... days ago..." Rebecca closed her eyes. "I was... stupid..."

  "Yet you managed to kill one of them. A big one, too." Henry squeezed her hand. "Nice job."

  "Thank... you..."

  They sat together in silence for a moment, their heavy breathing echoing through the tunnel. Henry's eyes had adjusted to the dark, enabling him to see somewhat in the darkness; stone bricks now lined the walls on either side, a welcome change from the webs and natural rock faces from before. Wherever they were, it was manmade, a small relief in the dire situation they were still in.

  "So, good news, and bad news. Good news is, we're alive." He felt Rebecca squeeze his hand. "And so far, no spiders. The bad news is, we're lost. Hopelessly lost."

  Rebecca coughed. "I'll.. take that... over... spiders..."

  "I suppose. We've traded being devoured to starving and suffocating to death, wherever we are."

  "Stop... that's... Arthur's job..."

  Arthur. Henry's heart twisted as he remembered the others, set on their own quest to find and slay the purported dragon within the Mountain. He missed Arthur most of all; the squire's attempts to make light of their situation paled in comparison to the knight-apprentice's biting wit and tongue. Even though they had known each other for only a week, Arthur's absence weighed heavily on him; his last words about Gallant and Henry may have been harsh, but Henry knew it was his ego out of check again. He had counted on meeting the knight-apprentice again for his apology, a real apology this time; unfortunately, it would seem that this would not be the case.

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  "Yeah. Arthur's job." Henry stared ahead into the darkness. "I wonder if the others succeeded in their task. If they really met and fought the dragon."

  "I... hope so." Rebecca's hand squeezed Henry's again, but this time it stayed tight. "I'm... glad I met you... you know..."

  "And I you." Henry felt her head rest on his shoulder. "Once this venom wears off, we'll need to keep moving. There's bound to be an exit somewhere."

  A shifting sound emanated from somewhere nearby; Henry sat up, gingerly resting Rebecca's head back against the wall. He drew his dagger from his belt with his good hand.

  "We've company. And I wager it's those spiders again."

  "Henry..."

  He turned, looking at her. She looked back at him, her eyes pleading.

  "Don't... let them... take me... again..." She blinked tears from her eyes. "Rather... you... finish me..."

  "I won't." He stood, dagger in hand, facing the direction where the noise had come from. "And I will, if it comes to it."

  The noise came again, louder this time; Henry steeled himself, prepared to meet the threat head-on.

  The shifting noise grew louder and louder, before a great hole appeared in the stone wall opposite them; light flooded into the tunnel, momentarily blinding Henry as he shielded his eyes.

  "Henry? Rebecca?" A familiar voice, soft and gentle, stunned him.

  He squinted and looked into the light, before his eyes widened in disbelief. "Diana?"

  Sure enough, the cleric stood in the hole in the wall, clad in a breastplate and donning her customary head-scarf; she wielded a mace and shield, the former glowing like a bright torch as it illuminated the tunnel.

  "By the Lady, are you alright?" Diana crossed into the tunnel and grasped Henry's arm. "Your arm... and Rebecca!"

  He refused to believe it was real at first; it must be a hallucination, a fevered dream of some sort, conjured up in a haze of desperation and despair in the dark tunnels. Henry staggered back, dropping his dagger to the ground; instead of fading away into nothingness, Diana rushed forward and caught him before he fell.

  "Sit. You're wounded, both of you." She helped him sit back down, kneeling beside him. "Thank the Lady I found you, here of all places!"

  "Diana." Henry's head spun, still in disbelief. "You're... you're here. You're really here?"

  "I am. By the grace of the Lady and Saints, I'm here." She rolled his sleeve back on his right arm, exposing the spider bite that paralyzed his arm. "Ah. A simple burrow spider bite. Nothing I can't handle."

  Henry shook his head. "Rebecca. Help her first. I'll be fine."

  The cleric nodded and turned her attention to Rebecca, who was still lying against the wall. The mage's eyes were open, her face still frozen, but clearly gawking at Diana's timely arrival. Diana knelt beside her and examined her neck, turning her head to face the light from her mace.

  "Another bite. She's been poisoned more heavily than you, but it's easily treatable." She placed her mace and shield on the ground, laying a single hand on Rebecca's bite. "Please, keep an eye out while I treat her. It shouldn't be too long."

  Her palm glowed again as she treated the mage, murmuring a soft prayer under her breath. The light from the mace illuminated the tunnel clearly, as well as the hole Diana had made; Henry still struggled to take it in, this fortuitous stroke of luck that was too good to be true.

  "Diana... how did you find us? We were all the way in the Mines, and you're supposed to be in the Mountain of the Dead."

  "You speak true. And I was indeed at the Mountain." Diana kept her focus on Rebecca as she spoke. "I had cast a divination spell on my mace to detect the strongest source of holy magic here. Oddly enough, it led me to right outside that wall; I thought I heard voices behind it, and smashed my way through in case there truly were lost souls here." She cocked her head. "And indeed there were! The Lady works in strange and mysterious ways!"

  "And the relic you were looking for? Did you find it?"

  "No. And that baffles me." She shrugged. "Perhaps my spell was faulty. I shall have to redouble my efforts and continue looking."

  "What about the others? Are they with you as well?"

  "I'm afraid not. We had split up quite some time ago; I went off to search for the relic, they went in search of the dragon."

  Henry's heart sank; Arthur's obsession with the dragon had compelled him to seemingly abandon Diana. No doubt Praetorus had a hand in it, as well.

  "I'm sorry to hear that. I'd have thought..."

  "That Arthur would have found his way as a knight?" Diana smiled sadly. "He's still young and impetuous. I hold no grudge against him, but he still has quite the journey ahead of him if he wishes to become a knight."

  Rebecca stirred, moving her head slowly; Diana's progress was swift, and going well by all accounts. No doubt Rebecca was still in shock and disbelief, the spider venom affecting her mind more acutely than Henry. "Diana... are you..."

  "Yes, Rebecca. As I had told Henry." Diana laughed, a gentle sound that soothed and comforted Henry even in these dark tunnels. "I'm here. As is the light of the Lady."