We rode through the woods for half an hour. I kept my eye on the lighter area in the trees, reassuring me we were keeping in line with the edge of the plain, but aside from that small task, there was little to do but trod along—the trees too closely spaced to run the horses safely. I found myself guiding Pudding toward branches on purpose to see what she'd do.
We came to heavily sloping terrain, running downward toward the interior of the woods. The horses did their best to keep going on the slope, but the loose debris on the forest floor made sure footing difficult. As much as I wanted to keep us close to the plains, we had no choice but to take a path farther inward, where the ground was flatter.
As we descended, the light waned. Pudding slowed her pace. I watched her looked repeatedly to each side as she walked. Hope she isn't expecting anything.
I kept my head forward, wanting to avoid any surprise branch or worse coming at me in the increasing darkness.
"I have a bad feeling about this," Tara said.
I chuckled, but did so quietly, to keep her or anyone else from hearing my response. Monica or Victoria would've caught the Solo reference, but the rest of them would've thought me an insensitive jerk.
"Just watch out for R.O.U.S.s," Monica said with deadpan delivery.
I laughed. I like her.
"What the hell is a rous?" Tara sounded tense.
"She's kidding," Victoria said. "It's from a movie."
"Movie?" Tara's tone switched to confused, which made me feel better.
I hated that we had to go through the woods. I guessed she'd be spooked by it. I knew I would've if I had been the one wrapped up in spider webs like a giant burrito. A chill went down my spine as I imagined the experience. I shook it off.
"You alright?" Alara asked.
"Yeah. I'm fine." I glanced around, hoping to change the focus back to our surroundings. "Sure is getting-"
"Light?" Alara said.
The area lit up like it was a cloudless night with a full moon, and the trees weren't blocking it. I glanced back to confirm the obvious. The gem atop Alara's staff radiated a soft white light. She smiled at me.
"Thanks." I shielded my eyes from the light, wanting to keep them calibrated for the darkness, which still surrounded us, but outside the circle of clarity Alara provided.
"That's one of the things I hope you'll teach me," Nithia said.
"Yes," Alara said. "It comes in handy, and with little drain on me. Really the staff does most of the work."
"Are the rest of you doing okay back there?" I turned to check on Tara, Monica, and Victoria.
Tara shrugged. I winked at her.
"I don't know," Monica said. "I guess. Though this isn't what I'd rather be doing."
"I told you guys we should've checked the tower out," Victoria said. "Probably has beds and… I don't know, but-"
"Will you drop the tower already?" Alara sounded pissed.
I noticed something in the trees ahead, just outside the light from Alara's staff—something moving. "Hey!"
Alara sighed. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."
"No, I'm not talking about you two." I pulled Pudding's reins to halt her. "There's something ahead." I moved my hand to the hilt of my sword.
"Look out!" I drew my sword as a giant spider leaped at me from the darkness. It slammed into me before I got the blade around to meet its attack. I heard Pudding neigh and the women scream as I flew off Pudding. The other horses sounded even more panicked. I landed on the ground, the impact softened by a layer of leaves and other forest deposits which built up over years. The giant spider stayed with me through the air and fell on top of me. Keeping it from biting my face off, I had only my sword between us. I held it across my body, one hand against the flat of the blade. The spider was heavy and scraped its legs against the ground to force itself closer to me.
The last time I did a bench press was in my high school gym class. I couldn't get the bar off my chest after bringing it down for the first rep. It was humiliating with my classmates watching. I remembered the coach walking over to me, reaching for the bar to lift it off. But I couldn't let him. That would've been the ultimate humiliation. Somehow, out of a desire to avoid what I thought was the worst possible outcome in that situation, I drew on some untapped well of strength and inched the bar higher, slowly at first. When a few of the students cheered me on, I moved it more. Then everyone joined in routing for me. Probably half from fear of humiliation and half from my classmates believing in me, I did it. I proved to myself I was stronger than I had thought. Even the couch clapped when I got the bar back up to the rack.
But now, with the giant spider snapping its disgusting bitey bits at my face, I didn't feel fear of humiliation—more like fear of getting eaten!
Screw this! My barbarian build proved more than up to the task of pumping out the rep. In fact, I pushed against my sword hard enough to toss the giant creepy piece of shit right off me.
I glanced back to the women to make sure they were okay. They weren't. Two more spiders had come out of the dark and were crawling toward the women and horses.
Alara held her staff higher and the light from the gem got ten times brighter. The two spiders stopped moving for a moment, then they started toward them again, though at a slower pace. It seemed the light really bothered them, but not enough to keep them back.
"Den!" Tara looked terrified. She leaned back so far on her horse, away from the approaching spider, I thought she might fall off. Her horse and the others were shifting their legs about, evidently eager to get away. I didn't blame them.
Monica struggled to retrieve her bow, which was tied to the side of her horse, but she too seemed panicked. Behind her, Victoria was eerily calm.
Nithia fell from her horse as it reared back. I wanted to run to her side, but I knew the spiders had to be taken out first. Her horse fled. Monica hopped off her horse to help her. Then the horse bolted with Victoria still on it, but sitting too far back to reach the reins.
A blinding light came out of Alara's staff. I stuck my hand up to block my eyes. Good girl. I didn't see where the staff discharged, but I heard a shrill noise, which I took for one of the giant spider getting cooked.
I heard the spider I'd thrown shuffle in the leaves. I returned my focus to it and pushed myself up and got to my feet, sword in hand. I wanted to kill it as soon as possible. I knew in less than a few seconds the other two creatures could kill one or more of the women. I charged the revolting thing, bent on whacking it with my sword. It came at me too.
It moved fast, scampering around in an apparent attempt to get at me from the side. I swung my blade in a continuous curve, going for the creature at first in front of me, then bringing the movement around to my side. I shifted my feet to match the spider's maneuver, cutting off its flank attack—severing one of its legs in the process. The hairy stick spun off from the rest of the leg and bounced twice before settling ten feet away.
I heard more screams. Damn it! Hurry up!
The spider attacking me turned toward the screams. I knew I had to kill it before it too went for the women. I didn't want to swing and only wound it, fearing it would still run for them. So I decided to pin it down.
I made sure my mouth was closed and I squinted—as if that made my next move any less uncomfortable. I jumped onto it as if belly-flopping into a pool, but I held my sword to my side but pointing forward, hoping to stick it into the creature as I landed on it. My blade went in as my stomach, chest…and face came down onto the spider's body. It was the most disgusting sensation I'd ever felt, until I shoved my sword farther into it. My blade must've punctured some interior sack. Slimy, sticky, gelatinous goo shot out of the spider, coating my sword arm. The smell instantly nauseated me. I kept my mouth shut, but had to swallow a little of my own juices which came up reflexively. The spider's body deflated under me like an end-of-party bounce house.
I heard Tara scream again and looked over to see another giant spider leap out of the darkness. It knocked
her off her horse. She flew five or six feet and rolled like a log when she landed. The spider stayed on the back of horse, moving its hairy legs around rapidly to keep from falling off. The horse obviously hated the idea of a giant spider on its back. The horse bucked, but the creature held on until the horse took off like he'd heard the starting pistol at the Kentucky Derby. It ducked a thick branch as it ran. The spider didn't. I heard the whack sound despite all the other commotion.
I ran toward the first live spider I could. I came at it from behind, driving my sword down like it was Excalibur's stone. It collapsed without any fuss—except to squirt that smelly-ass goo shit all over me. I wished we were fighting something less disgusting.
"No!" This time it was Alara screaming. I yanked my sword out of the spider corpse, and charged toward Alara.
A spider came at her leg, but she pulled it up onto the back of the horse and jabbed the bottom of her staff into one of the creature's many eyes. It slipped from the horse, but then reached up with two more legs, getting them over the top and beside Alara. She jumped off and whipped her staff around to clock the spider in the head with the base of it, but it didn't seem to deter the creature. It had latched onto the horse.
I reached her as she slammed the point of the staff into the ground, brightening the gem once more.
"You alright?" I asked, but she didn't respond. Her eyes emitted white light, creating a glow over her face. The top of the staff flashed and I couldn't see anything but spots and white floating tracers for a few seconds. But I heard the creature screech the same way the other one struck by her lightning had.
I rubbed my eyes to get my sight back as soon as possible. I knew another giant spider remained. I listened for a sign of where it might be, even before my vision returned. When I could see, I spotted it—three arrows sticking out of its head. I panned across the apparent line of fire and found Tara and Monica standing triumphantly with their bows.
"No." Alara hurried to her horse's side. The animal's legs quivered, then they buckled and it collapsed onto its belly. Alara rubbed its neck and began to cry. "I'm sorry."
Spider got it.
I walked over to join her. The horse's eyes rolled back and its head swayed. It breathed heavy. Alara stroked its neck repeatedly until its head rested on the ground and its breathing stopped.
I took a visual head count, looking also to see if everyone was alright. Tara and Monica looked no worse off, except maybe rattled. Nithia stood behind them. I nodded to her. She nodded back. "Where's Victoria?"
"Our horse ran," Monica said. "With her on it." She pointed in the direction of the plains.
"I'll go after her." I looked around for Pudding. "Oh, come on!"
"She must've run too," Alara said. "All the horses are gone…except mine." She looked at the ground.
"We have to save her," Monica said.
I noticed how worried she looked. Then I saw Nithia behind her. She was practically in tears.
"Look," I said. The horse ran her clear of the spiders. So, she's safe. We just need to catch up with her."
On foot.
Monica nodded. I turned to Alara. "Are you okay?" I asked both because she'd just lost her horse and because I knew using her magic drained her. Granted, we only acquired the horses a short time ago, but hers was the only one that died. And seeing it happen was difficult, even for me.
"Yeah," she said. "I'll be alright."
I looked around to all of the women. "I think we've had enough of the forest. Let's get the hell out of here and find Victoria." And that pesky horse of mine.
Chapter 17
As we prepared to head out of the forest, we realized we'd lost almost all of our supplies. Our packs were tied to the horses. Some of us had a few things on our person, in pouches fixed to our belts or in pockets, but we'd lost most of our food and the few bowls Jan had given us for the journey. We had our weapons, at least. We pulled the stuff off Alara's horse, and a few things had fallen from the pack on Tara's horse, probably knocked loose by the giant spider.
I waited until no one was looking before wiping my arms and back on the side of Alara's dead horse. The spider goo on me smelled awful. Sorry, man.
We followed the way at least one of the horses had taken. Snapped branches and flattened debris on the ground made tracking the path easy. Knowing we could be on foot for hours, or days if we couldn't find the horses, made the walk hard.
We eventually broke through the tree line onto the open plains. The clouds had thinned out, but only evening light remained. I felt the cold air immediately. The strong winds hadn't returned, but the temperature must have dropped fifteen degrees. If it was above freezing, it was only slightly so.
We'd passed the tower, but just barely. I could see the entirety of it now, though not the details, just the outline. It stood high above the plain. Apart from the forest behind us and the tower, there was nothing around us but wild grasses. The ground didn't slope here as it had in the area we covered before heading into the forest. I'd hoped to be rid of the sight of the tower. The way Alara reacted when we first encountered it remained firm in my mind, as did what she mentioned before that. What or who had she sensed? I asked the question, but didn't want to find out.
"I thought we'd gone farther," I said. As the crow flies, we might have been a few hundred yards past the tower, using the tree line as a reference. "As road trips go, this one is turning out to be a pain in the ass."
Monica chuckled.
"I don't see Victoria," Nithia said. "Or the horses."
From where we stood across from the tower in the distance, the ground was flat. And looking back to where we'd waited out the storm behind the rocky hills, or at least as far as we could see in that direction—the rocky hills were beyond our line of sight—also flat. Only to the left was anything different—a hazy outline of mountains. They must have been fifty miles or more away.
"Shit."
"Yes," Alara said as she stepped beside me. "Shit."
I grinned. I hadn't heard her talk like that. For some reason, hearing that small change in her, adopting something she'd gotten from me, made me happy. And given our situation, I latched on to the small bit of happy like it was bacon and a hot fudge sundae—not that I ate the two together.
"Could she be out there somewhere in the grass?" Monica said.
Alara put her hand above her eyes and scanned the landscape. "I sure hope so."
Tara was standing about five feet in front of her, but to the side a little. Tara turned around and stared at her. I could see from Tara's expression she was surprised at Alara's words.
"What?" Alara said to her. "She's annoying, but I don't want anything to happen to her." She must've noticed I was looking at her too. She turned to me. I smiled. I never thought she wished anything bad on Victoria, but it was nice to see her show concern in light of the back and forth the two had with each other before. She shrugged at me. I winked and put my arm around her. "Let's get out there and see if we can find her."
The others walked ahead of us. They'd spread out to form an uneven line, distancing themselves twenty feet or so. Nithia called Victoria's name. A bit later, Tara did the same, followed by Monica.
We walked for a few minutes, repeating our calls and scanning the grass for her or at least a sign of which way she might have gone.
"There!" Monica pointed ahead of us. "I see her!"
We all ran to Victoria. As we reached her, she pushed herself to her knees. Her left cheek was bruised and there was a cut on her forehead.
"Are you okay?" Nithia said as she knelt beside her and looked closely at the wounds on Victoria's head.
She nodded. "Yes. I think so. I'm glad to see all of you made it out of there. Those spiders were horrifying."
"And disgusting." I glanced at my arms and wiped them clear of the little bit of spider goo still on them.
"Nothing broken?" Nithia asked.
Victoria moved her legs and turned her torso a bit. "No. I'm not sure how, but no. It
happened so fast."
I pushed my boot at the ground. I felt it give a little. The rains had softened it, which probably saved Victoria a good deal of pain.
Tara stepped up. "Did you happen to see which way the horses went?"
Victoria looked around, then she pointed in the direction of the tower.
Alara rolled her eyes and sighed. "Of course they did."
"Are you sure?" I asked, looking toward the tower, but not seeing any sign of the horses. I scanned the high grass across the field to see if any of it appeared bent or crushed. I found no such clue in the direction of the tower. I looked all around us. Nowhere did the grass show a sign of the horses trodding through it.
Is she telling the truth? It didn't seem like the sort of thing she'd lie about, but she'd been insistent on all of us going to the tower for some time now. Strangely so, I thought.
Monica helped Victoria to her feet. "There's no way we can finish this journey on foot. It's too far to Yedia still." She looked at Alara. "I'm not saying we go into the tower, at least not until we get a closer look. But we have no choice. We must go after the horses. They wouldn't have run forever. We'll probably find them gathered somewhere out there eating the grass."
I could tell all of us were tired. I sure as hell was. Fighting giant spiders really takes it out of a guy.
Alara's warning echoed in my mind, but I knew Monica was right. Walking to Yedia would add days, or more. That's if we made it at all, I thought. So much of the journey, I suspected, held other unpleasant surprises for us—danger, really. On foot, we'd be that much more vulnerable to anyone or anything set on doing us harm. My strength and steel might keep me safe…and Alara could look after herself if I kept her charged up. No complaint there. But Tara's impulsiveness warranted supervision, and Nithia was a lover, not a fighter. And there's Monica and Victoria. She's turning out to be a handful.
Swing and Thrust: A Harem Fantasy (Sword and Sorority Book 2) Page 11