Sabraya, Anestas, and Lyola rode north far into the night. Anestas slouched
heavily in his saddle when Lyola made the suggestion that they try to
find a place to make camp for the night. They crested a rocky hill and
Lyola spotted a ledged area where they could stay, safely unseen, off
the road. Sabraya and Anestas were happy to soon be off their horses
and into a bedroll. They tied the horses, and made a small campfire.
Lyola asked Anestas, "Would you get some ferns from over there?" ....
Anestas looked in the direction she had been pointing, but couldn't see
anything that resembled a fern, "Which ferns would that be? I don't see
anything over there."....
Lyola realized he couldn't see as well as she could in the dark. She said
more specifically, "Over by the fallen tree and to the side by the
large rock, is a patch of ferns."....
Anestas squinted, trying to make his eyes see better, "How do you see that?" He looked at her in amazement.....
She giggled in a flirting way, "There are a lot of things about me that would surprise you."....
Anestas smiled back in his own flirting way, and then turned to retrieve the
ferns. Upon returning with an armful of ferns, he found that the girls
had started a small supper of stew. Anestas dropped the ferns and
asked, "What are these for, anyhow?"....
Lyola looked at him surprised, "To make a softer bed. These rocks aren't exactly comfortable, you know."....
Anestas was embarrassed that he hadn't figured that out before. He sat down and
waited for the stew to warm. After a few awkward moments of silence,
Sabraya broke the silence with some small talk, telling Lyola about
their home in the mountains and the people that visit that had some
connection to the king. Lyola talked about her growing up and some of
the training and adventures she'd had, careful not to alarm them about
her true skill of trade. ....
Soon they were eating dinner and sipping wine. Sabraya finished her stew and
could hardly keep her eyes open. Her thoughts turned to her father, and
the people they had run away from, without so much as a word. Father
would be mad when he found out that she didn't make it to her school,
though he wouldn't know if he ended up dead on his secretive quest.
After losing her mother, she couldn't bear losing her father. The
thought was just too much for her. ....
She turned to ask Anestas if they were doing the right thing, but he was
oblivious to her, focused only on Lyola. She seemed to be the only
person alive in his mind; he even forgot how tired he was just moments
ago. Deciding it would be better to talk to him in the morning; she
excused herself for the night and grabbed some ferns to put under her
bedroll. She fell asleep listening to Anestas and Lyola talking about
their past adventures. ....
Acorns being thrown at her head, followed by immense, uncontrollable laughter,
awaked Sabraya. Wildly flailing her arms to protect herself, she sat up
with a scowl on her face. Anestas and Lyola sat cuddled next to each
other, pointing their fingers and laughing, as if they had known each
other for years. Anestas controlled his laughter long enough to say,
"You need to drink your tea. That and we need to get some rest without
you killing us in our sleep with your uncontrollable powers." They both
burst out in laughter once more as Sabraya rolled her eyes.....
Sabraya stretched her stiff muscles and then joined them at the dying fire pit.
She took the cup of tea from Anestas and asked, "Have you two stayed up
all night?"....
Lyola shrugged her shoulders, "I don't need much sleep, but a nap would be nice, if you don't mind taking the watch."....
Sabraya answered, "I'll stay awake. I don't mind the slow morning after such a rough sleep."....
With that, Lyola picked up a pile of ferns, rolled out her bed, and promptly
fell asleep. Sabraya was going to ask Anestas about Lyola when she
realized he had fallen asleep, leaning against the rock by the fire
pit. She drank her tea and ate some bread, feeling refreshed from the
night's rest. Several hours passed as she sat watching them sleep. The
sun was peeking out from behind the trees, so Sabraya leaned against a
rock and absorbed the warm sunrays. Closing her eyes from the
brightness, she relaxed, and was soon drifting off into a sound sleep.....
When Sabraya finally woke up, it was completely dark. She tried to move, but
something was holding her in place. It felt like a blanket, as she
tried harder to move. Panic swept over her as she frantically
struggled, trying to remove the blanketing restriction. Sabraya
screamed out as loud as she could, and then stopped to listen. She
heard a muffled voice trying to say something she couldn't understand.
Sabraya yelled out, "Help me, I can't move! It's getting harder to
breathe! Get me out of here!" ....
Then all of a sudden, her bound body was tossed over to one side, causing
her to hit her head on the ground. She heard the muffled voice again.
This time she thought she heard it say, "Hold still." The muffled words
were repeated six times, and then a sharp blade skimmed along her back,
sending a shiver through her body. A rip sounded in her ears as
sunlight blinded her eyes. Sabraya's eyes adjusted until she recognized
Lyola, who was peeling some kind of sticky webbing off her body.
Sabraya tried to move, but her muscles felt numb. She looked
frantically at Lyola, "What's happened to me? Why can't I move?"....
Lyola smirked, "You can't move because you fell asleep on watch duty, and let
the giant spiders into our camp without warning us."....
Her thoughts went to Anestas, "My brother! Where is he? Is he hurt?"....
Lyola paused to squat down to meet her eye-to-eye, "The giant spider I was telling you about, dragged your brother away."....
Sabraya paused for a moment, not wanting to believe what she had just heard.
Then she fought with all her strength to stand. After a few attempts,
she managed to get to her knees. "Is he dead?"....
Lyola looked optimistic, "It seems as though he was still struggling as he
was being dragged away, if I'm reading the ground right." ....
Sabraya started to get the feeling back into her legs and she stood up awkwardly. "We need to go for help."....
Lyola laughed, "By the time you reach help, your brother will be dead."....
Sabraya was feeling panicky again, "What are we going to do? We can't just go
barging into a spider's lair and take back what they think is food."....
Lyola held on to her shoulders to calm her down, "If we use stealth, we can do anything."....
Sabraya calmed down, puzzled by the meaning of what Lyola was planning. She
felt queasy at the thought of getting there only to find him dead, or
worse; they could all end up dead. She asked Lyola, "How do you use
stealth against one or more giant spiders. Won't they detect us with
their webs?" ....
Lyola shrugged her shoulders, "We use the back door. The one they keep as an escape route when the nest is threatened."....
Sabraya was surprised at Lyola's confidence, "So you know where this back door is?"....
Lyola smiled, "Nope. But it doesn't hurt to use our eyes to find it." Lyola
then turned and started tracking the spider's obvious trail. ....
Sabraya looked over at the grazing horses, wanting desperately to get on and
ride off, so she could get someone else to rescue Anestas for her. She
turned as Lyola moved out of sight. Sabraya quickened her pace, trying
to catch up as quietly as her half-asleep legs would let her. She could
see where the spiders had dragged her brother through the brush and
loose ground. She followed the dragging tracks into a small dip,
sending her tumbling down into Lyola, who had been crouched behind a
fallen tree. Lyola sat back up giving Sabraya a stern look, as she
silently brushed the dirt off and repositioned herself in her original
stance. Sabraya noticed what had caused Lyola alarm, and quickly hid
behind the tree next to Lyola. "Is that it?"....
Lyola signaled for silence, disturbed at Sabraya's speaking. She then went
back to staring at the webbed entrance jutting into the rock wall above
a high chasm. Without looking or saying a word, Lyola signaled Sabraya
to move to their right. Sabraya moved through thick brush to the right,
with Lyola on her heels. Soon they stood in front of a rock wall that
rose steeply up into the sky. Lyola whispered to Sabraya, "We need to
climb this hillside to reach the back tunnel."....
Sabraya looked at her as if she were mad, "This is no hill." She whispered, "We have to go around."....
Lyola looked at her in disbelief, "If you want to take the time to go around,
we will only be retrieving your brother's body; if that's the way you
feel, we might as well just keep on going and leave him to his fate."
Lyola couldn't help but smirk at the squirming young girl.....
Sabraya blurted out in frustration, "I didn't mean it like that."....
Lyola felt pity for such an inexperienced adventurer. "Then let's get this over with, shall we?"....
The two girls made their ascent up the gradual base, and then chose their
path more carefully as the climb became more vertical. Sabraya followed
Lyola's every move, working up a sweat as she struggled to keep up. She
looked up at Lyola and noticed she hadn't even started to tire. She
looked as if she could climb twenty of these cliff-like hillsides
before dripping a drop of sweat. She shook her head in disbelief as she
went back to climbing. She caught up with Lyola who was perched on top
of a small ledge, like some sort of bird.....
Sabraya sat down with a thud, happy to have a rest as she caught her breath.
She looked out over the horizon, over the tops of the forest that led
to the mountain where her home was located. Memories flooded her mind
of the happy times she had with her mother. There were many times when
they would sit in the middle of the meadow making circlets of flowers,
and crowning each other into some made-up kingdom. ....
Her thoughts were interrupted as small pebbles hit on top of her head. She
turned and was about to complain to Lyola when she found Lyola crouched
snuggly next to the rock wall. Lyola signaled to Sabraya to take cover.
She looked up to find out what she was so afraid of, a gigantic spider
dangling several feet above their heads. Shivers went down Sabraya's
spine as she hugged close to the wall. She was frozen with fear,
wishing she had just done what she was told and had gone to school. ....
The hairy spider was connecting its web to the top, and then moments later,
it jumped over the two girls, to the base of the hill, leaving a
rope-sized strand of webbing. Lyola jumped over to the web strand and
whispered back, "Quickly, before it returns!" Then Lyola started making
her way up the sticky rope.....
Sabraya was terrified, but she knew her brother needed their help. She jumped
over to the webbing, dragging her feet and clutching the strand
tightly. She watched in horror as a cluster of small rocks fell down
upon the spider, alerting it to their presence. Fear again washed over
her as the giant spider turned their way. Sabraya scrambled up the rope
as fast as she could after Lyola. The spider started to give chase,
just as Lyola had reached the top. Sabraya kept climbing, trying not to
look back at the spider, as Lyola pulled up the slack from the top.
Sabraya had barely grabbed onto the top of the ledge when Lyola brought
her sword out, and in one swift move, severed the web strand below
Sabraya. The giant spider, that was about to catch up to them, went
tumbling down to splatter its guts out at the bottom; its twitching
reflexes making it ooze blood all over, before the convulsions stopped.
....
Lyola grabbed Sabraya's arm, just as she lost her hold while getting up.
After Lyola helped her get settled, Sabraya sat down with her knees
tucked to her chest, panting from exhaustion. Lyola looked at her,
hardly breaking a sweat, "It's not over yet, Sabby. We need to get
going if we want to find him alive." ....
Knowing Lyola was right, but too exhausted to move, she muttered, "Maybe you should go on without me."....
The look of disbelief crossed Lyola's face once more, "You're unbelievable!
How do you expect me to keep the spiders at bay, and rescue Anestas at
the same time?" She paused, before adding, "I'm good, but not that good."....
Sabraya was embarrassed at her own weakness. She took a deep breath and rose to her feet, "All right, I'm ready."....
Lyola replied, as she turned to move on, "I should hope so, because I don't see any replacements anywhere near here." ....
Sabraya followed Lyola up the rock-formed plateau and across to a forest's
edge. As they approached the edge of the rock where it met with the
soft earth, they could see the complex web layers spread throughout the
area, upon rock, ground and trees alike. Lyola started hacking away at
the webbing, making a path as she went. Her blade cut through the
rope-like webs as if they were butter. Soon, she had made her way
through to the thick of the webbing. Sabraya didn't understand why she
would want to cut through the thickest part of the web, until she saw
the crude passageway leading down into the hillside. Lyola asked
Sabraya, "Do you know how to tie knots?" ....
Sabraya replied, "My father made us practice all the time."....
Lyola said, as she tied one end of the rope around her own waist and handed
the other end to Sabraya, "Tie this to a thick tree, and give me as
much rope as you can." ....
Sabraya quickly did as she was told, tying the rope to a big tree near the
hole. Lyola had a torch lit by the time she had returned, "Wait here
until I give you the signal." Lyola stopped talking to cry out a unique
birdcall, and then continued on, "Then it will be safe to climb down
the rope, and I'll be waiting for you at the bottom." She turned back
to ask, "You're going to stay and see this thing through, right?"....
Sabraya quickly answered, "I'll climb down when I hear the birdcall." Even
though she wanted to flee from this hillside as fast as she could, the
second she got a chance. ....
Lyola gave her a stern look, and then climbed down the rope, gingerly burning
the webs clear as she went. Sabraya waited nervously next to the hole
for a few minutes that seemed like hours. A birdcall echoed out of the
hole, causing Sabraya to jump back. Then, without thinking, she fumbled
her way into the hole, hanging onto the rope, taking care not to lose
hold and fall to her death. She reached the bottom a short time later,
stepping onto the unstable webbed flooring. The whole cavern was
nothing but a complex network of webs and web tunnels. Sabraya asked in
a soft whisper, "Which way do we go?"....
Lyola pointed to their right, "The thick webs probably lead to the main lair where they would store their food."....
A chill went down Sabraya's spine at the thought of her brother being
spider food. She followed Lyola down the spider tunnel, listening for
any danger in the area as they went. A short time later, Sabraya lost
her footing, tumbling into a thick layer of webs. Sabraya thrashed
about trying to get back up as Lyola tried to calm her down, "Sabby,
hold still, or you will attract them right to us."....
Sabraya finally stopped struggling as she took deep breaths, trying to calm
down from the panic she felt. Lyola carefully cut the sticky strands
that kept Sabraya down and helped her back onto the main strands once
more. Then Lyola felt the vibrations of many feet approaching their
position. A black form of a spider appeared as Lyola quickly shoved
Sabraya with her, back into the webbing Sabraya had just escaped, and
flung the loose strands over them both. Lyola covered Sabraya's mouth
as the giant spider moved, perfectly balanced, above them. It sat
motionless as it felt the strands for vibrations, clenching its fangs
with eagerness for a kill. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it
turned and darted off to a webbed tunnel to their left. ....
Sabraya sighed in relief as Lyola removed her hand. Lyola cut the sticky
strands off, and climbed up to the main passageway again. Balancing
carefully on the webs, she helped Sabraya up from the sticky prison.
Then a loud screeching scream echoed from far down the tunnel they were
in, vibrating the webs with enough force to throw Sabraya off balance.
Catching herself before she fell back into the sticky webs, she pulled
out her dagger and turned to follow Lyola, who had already scurried
down the tunnel toward the scream. By the time she reached her, Lyola
had sliced one of the giant spiders in two, leaving its kicking carcass
to bleed the rest of its life out. Lyola was in a stance, waiting for
anymore giant spiders that might enter the far tunnel, as she yelled to
Sabraya, "Get your brother out of here, the spiders are coming and
there're too many for me to hold off!"....
Sabraya didn't hesitate as she searched the hanging wrapped victims for her
brother. She found the small webbed figure of her brother, struggling
in panic. A huge hole had been made in the web, which was soaked in
blood. Sabraya started frantically cutting away at the webs holding her
brother, but her dagger was not nearly as sharp as Lyola's blade. It
wouldn't cut completely through. She was overwhelmed with a flush of
heat as her vision blurred into a swirling nightmare.....
Anestas kept screaming in agony as Sabraya struggled to get him free. Her
necklace started to burn hot, causing her to flinch at the pain. Flames
shot forth from her fingertips, searing away the webbing around
Anestas. She didn't question the reasoning behind such a fluke of
power, but instead used her dagger to rip open the rest of the cocoon,
enough to pry her brother out. He fell onto the ground, rolling in
agony, as he tried to cope with the pain. Two deep puncture wounds
oozed puss and blood as the spider's venom coursed through his veins. ....
Sabraya glanced over toward Lyola, who had just cut three legs off of one of
her attackers, causing the spider to topple over onto its back. She
knew Lyola didn't have much of a chance against such agile creatures,
but she wasn't about to let her die for nothing. Sheathing her dagger,
she hunched down to grab her brother from under his good shoulder. He
yelled out in pain near her ear, making her jerk away and drop him back
on the ground. ....
Time was running out as Sabraya struggled to get Anestas back on his feet.
She got him to move toward the tunnel she had come from when his
screaming quieted to a whimper and moan. She figured he was getting his
senses back, and hopefully would be able to walk by himself. After
stumbling halfway up the tunnel, Anestas started to get some movement
back, taking most of the weight off his exhausted sister. To Sabraya's
relief, she did not run into any spiders along the way. Soon, the rope
came into view. ....
Anestas slumped back against the webbed wall as Sabraya desperately tied the
rope securely around him. She looked back into the tunnel to see if
Lyola had emerged, when she noticed a shadowy figure approaching. Using
her best tomboy abilities, powered by the rush of adrenaline, she
climbed the rope with lightning speed. She spun around and used all of
her strength to pull Anestas up, who was drifting in and out of
consciousness. ....
Her brother dangled at the end of the rope, being pulled up only inches
with every tug. Sweat poured off Sabraya as her hands began to sting
from rope burn. She could see his wounded body only inches from her
reach when the rope slid through her torn hands. She wrapped the rope
around her waist and slammed herself to the ground, stopping the fall
of her brother as he ricocheted against the rock walls. She held tight
as she made it back on her feet just as she came face-to-face with a
giant black spider. Three swishes flew past Sabraya's head and landed
between the spider's fangs, poking through the now brainless head. The
spider shrieked out a high-pitched squeal as it fumbled forward,
falling off the rock cliff.....
Sabraya nearly released the rope as she spun around to see who had shot the
arrows. Cloaked in a dark hooded cape, was a dark-skinned elf, holding
a loaded short bow within his hands. He bounded up next to Sabraya on
silent feet and took hold of the rope, pulling Anestas up to safety. He
was still out cold and shivering. The dark elf looked at Sabraya with
bright green eyes, and spoke in a heavy elven accent, "Take him to the
horses and ride north to a cottage by the lake. Ask for Boshawk." The
dark clad elf then untied the knot and leaped down into the dark webbed
hole with weapon in hand. Sabraya lost no time in getting away from
there, dragging her brother. ....
The hooded one landed on his feet at the bottom, leaving the rope behind.
He headed toward the commotion of noise that could only be Lyola, his
only child. After running into her in the meadow with Pighorn, he had
followed her, watching her every move as he tried to make up for lost
time, from a distance.....
He reached the main cavern where Lyola was holding her own against the
eight-legged beasts. Boshawk and Taggart had trained her well, as he
knew they would. An overwhelming feeling of pride came over him as he
mechanically drew three arrows and shot them in a blur of speed, into
the heads of the spiders that now flooded the area. ....
Lyola tried to catch a glimpse of her new friend, but the spiders kept coming
as she continued to hack away at their legs and soft bellies, sending
the spiders tumbling in a twitching pile. There were six spiders left
in the entrance that Lyola had blocked off. The dark elf grabbed for
more arrows as he heard something scuff against the rocks above him. He
tumbled to the ground, landing on his back, to find a spider suspended
from a strand of web. He quickly shot the spider with arrows until it
fell to the ground with a thud, causing the elf to twist his ankle as
he rolled up into a stance. He limped further into the cavern,
grimacing from the throbbing pain.....
Lyola had sliced through two more spiders, as the dark elf dropped the third
with an onslaught of arrows. Lyola's strength was faltering as her
swings became less precise. She backed away from the entrance as the
last three spiders entered the cavern of webs. They surrounded Lyola as
the elf effortlessly killed two, but one of them ended up landing on
the surprised Lyola. The third spider charged the hooded elf as he shot
arrows through its head until it fell, twitching with reflexes. ....
Lyola had sliced through the dead spider on top of her by then, climbing
through the severed body. She jumped down, completely covered with
spider guts. The dark-hooded elf yelled out with his heavy elven
accent, "We need to get out of here!" As his words left his lips, a
half dozen more spiders came to replace the fallen ones. ....
Lyola glanced back at the spiders just once, and then ran as fast as she
could in the direction of the elf. The elf met her gaze with familiar
green eyes, and then bolted to the exit. Lyola didn't have a chance to
say anything as the spiders gave chase in their home environment. Had
it not been for the agility of Lyola's elven blood, she would have been
spider food by the time she had made it to the rope. She leaped up,
with a burst of energy, as she noticed the elf had stopped halfway up
the rope, and was aiming a bowed arrow toward her head.....
She flinched as three arrows swished past her head, landing deep into the
heads of two spiders, making a natural barricade of corpses. The elf
nimbly climbed to the top as Lyola hurriedly followed, hoping to catch
up to a somewhat familiar rescuer. Though she couldn't place the face,
she knew she had seen those eyes before.....
As she crested the top, she found the elf standing by the edge of the rock
face. She dashed for him as he leaped over the edge and disappeared.
She reached the spot where he had so quickly disappeared, and found he
was already out of sight. She scrambled down the steep rock face,
skinning her knees and arms. Upon reaching the ground, she found his
footprints, and she picked up her pace, racing to catch up. Unconcerned
for her own safety, she broke through branches and brush, causing her
wounds to sting from the mix of sweat, nettles, and acidic spider guts.
The footprints abruptly stopped, just as Sabraya came into sight. She
was securing her brother to his horse. Lyola yelled out in frustration,
"Where did he go?"....
Sabraya looked at her, fatigued beyond her strength, shook her head, mounted
her horse, and said, "I have to go north to save my brother." She then
grabbed the reins of Anestas' horse, clicked her heels, and they rode
off at full speed. ....
Lyola shouted out at the top of her lungs, "Come back! Why do you not show
yourself?" No one replied or came out of hiding. Lyola growled out in
anger and frustration as she mounted her horse and rode to catch up
with Sabraya. She had the horses running at full speed, ignoring the
rough terrain that could break a horse's leg in a flash of a second.
Lyola knew she had to slow them down if they were going to make it
without injury.....
The narrow path made it impossible to override them, so Lyola had no choice
but to bring out her sling. Guiding her horse with her legs, a skill
developed many years ago, she shot forth a small rock, hitting Sabraya
in the arm, causing the reins to pull the horses hard around, slamming
the horses together, with Anestas being the unfortunate cushion between
them. Lyola stopped without incident, surprised by the stern stare on
Sabraya's face. Lyola said to her, "The horses need to be slowed down,
or risk injury that could kill us all."....
Sabraya rubbed her arm as she answered wildly in a fit of emotion, "My brother
is dying! The elf told me to take him to the lake and find Boshawk.
It's the only hope I have; what do you want me to do?" Tears started
flowing down her face.....
Lyola was mystified by what Sabraya had told her, "Are you sure he said Boshawk?" ....
Sabraya threw her arms in the air, "Yes, I am sure. Can we get back to riding now? My brother is dying!"....
Lyola said sternly, "Boshawk is my friend. That is where I was taking you. It's over a two hour ride even at full speed."....
Sabraya looked at her hysterically, "So we're just going to let him die?"
determined 
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