by Ryan Peter
The night was still under the crystalline sky. The Dernium army were just as silent as they marched through more archways and ruins telling silent tales of long ago.
Garth became increasingly uneasy as the evening progressed, watching the sands religiously for signs of an enemy. Something plagued him -- a strange foreboding that increased its grip on his heart. Eventually he moved next to Gerald, hoping conversation would make him feel better.
“You fought well today, my friend,” he said. “Courageous, too.”
“You showed far more courage than I,” Gerald replied, looking away.
“It's only that I've received more training,” Garth said. Gerald didn't reply and just carried on looking the other direction.
Eventually, Garth changed the subject. “It seems the road is quiet now. I don't suspect we should find much more trouble.” That wasn't true, but he said it to brighten his hopes.
“The road is very quiet,” Gerald replied. “And yet I sense something is on the move. Something in the shadows of the sides of this road plague me.”
Garth looked at Gerald again. “I sense it too.”
He looked all the more around him, suspicious of the large ruin they were passing through. Shadows moved around the walls and pillars, as if they were watching their every move. The moonlight shone on the road brightly, but it was quickly lost in deep darkness at the edge of the road. Even at those places where it seemed the light should shine, it did not. The road was the only place where the light seemed to shine.
Noticing this, Gerald called to his men to stay on the road. Cadell, hearing the orders, agreed. Tensions began to rise as the shadows beside them increased. At one time a warrior gave off an awkward cry. But everyone just kept moving.
Garth gradually became aware of a whisper in the air. The words were not clear, and he wondered if it was in his head or real. He asked some others around him but none claimed to hear anything. Fear crept into his heart and his foreboding grew darker.
The dark eyes in the shadows beside them were no longer watching them as a group, he felt, but were watching him alone. They were preying on him, waiting for him to fall to the wayside of the road and be lost in the darkness of that desert for ever. Trying to shake this feeling off, he moved closer to the centre of the road and focused straight ahead.
Don't look into the shadows, he said to himself. I must keep my eyes on the light of the road. Or else these shadows shall take me.
Out of nowhere there was a chilly breeze. Garth heard the faint whisper in the air again.
I see you.
He took a deep breath. Was he going mad?
Then something in his heart spoke. He had a brief flush of joy. The road, to his eyes, grew brighter; a solid powerful beam of light piercing straight through the cloud of darkness ahead.
I watch over you, his heart said. Avert your eyes not to deceptions.
Garth listened and kept his eyes straight, feeling peace come to his heart and fear melt away. Still, the shadows beside them grew darker while the road continued to shine brightly in the moonlight; clear and safe from the madness felt outside its borders.
Some time passed and they emerged from the ruins to a rockier region. The road passed in between two small mountains of rock crevice. It matched a landmark on their maps. As they entered between them, Gerald noticed a strong warm breeze draft through their ranks. He looked at Garth. Weather in the desert could change with no warning and storms appeared very quickly.
Suddenly there were startled screams and gasps. He turned around. Thunder and lightning were hurtling wildly towards them.
“Sandstorm!” he cried as pandemonium hit the ranks. It landed upon them in savagery, blinding their view. They all scattered, looking for shelter amongst the crevices of the rock nearby. The horses were in panic. Gerald tried to control his horse, but to no avail. It threw about madly, eventually succeeding to throw him off. Fortunately he landed in the sand safely and unhurt, his horse running off to seek its own shelter.
Garth ran over to Gerald. He also lost his horse. “I saw some shelter off to the right just before the storm hit – a cave! At least, it looked like a cave! Come, it may be our best chance!”
As they sprinted towards it they gathered up some of the men and knights, including Cadell. Garth quickly pointed out the cave just a small climb up. It was perfect for shelter and so they took refuge there while the storm raged on.
A loud whistle permeated the cavern as the fierce wind penetrated inside and trilled through every gap of it. They could hardly hear each other. It was very dark but they managed to light three lamps with their tinderbox and positioned them at various points of the cave where the wind could not put them out. The light exposed the smooth brown rock of the cavern and each man managed to find himself a very comfortable position to rest in.
Realising that the storm had probably set in for a good many hours, many of them started to drift off to sleep. Garth found himself wide awake though, staring at the darkness around him. For a moment his foreboding was gone, but he still considered the entire experience closely. He could find no rest. Much time passed as the storm raged outside, and he prayed that day would come.
Suddenly the loud clang of a sword echoed through the cave followed by an awkward scream. He sat up at once, trying to make out what was going on in the faint light and listen over the howl of the wind. He squinted.
“Desert spiders!” came a faint cry from deeper within the cave. “There’s one here!”
Cadell was awake immediately. Garth watched as he shifted over to the soldier with one of the lamps and examined the carcass of the spider that the soldier had stabbed with his sword. It was about the length of a man's arm, with woolly fibres on its legs. In the light of their torch it seemed to be the same yellowish-brown colour of the rock around them. A flash of realisation crossed over Cadell's face.
“Where there is one, there is more! Everyone up!” he shouted, but not all could hear him over the raucous whistling of the wind.
“Up!” Cadell shouted all the more, moving over to soldiers and shoving them. Garth began to follow his example, but as they were doing so they started to see dark shapes moving about them. In the few spots where the lamps gave light they could see more spiders beginning to pour out through the crags. Ominously and swiftly they advanced. More soldiers began to cry out loud as the spiders bit and wounded them.
“Everyone up!” Cadell was still screaming. “Desert Spiders! Get up! Arm yourselves!”
In absolute chaos men started stabbing in the darkness and screaming wildly over the constant whistling of the wind. Some were being dragged off by the spiders. Garth felt one fall on him and try to bite him. He was grateful for his chain mail protecting his upper body. But unfortunately, many of the men had taken their chain mail off because of the heat of the desert. There were more frightened screams and he watched in horror as some of the men were being wrapped up in cocoons. He stabbed at a few spiders and dragged one man out the cave mouth after killing the pest that was after him.
“We must leave the cave!” ordered Cadell again over the noise. “There are too many! Leave!”
Gerald was lucky to have heard him. The noise of the wind and the screaming made it practically impossible to communicate. Garth was frantically trying to save more of the men who had become dire victims of the creatures. “Foul creatures!” he was shouting as he stabbed and fought in the darkness.
As Gerald got up a spider landed from the roof on his shoulder. Quickly, he flung his dagger at it, stabbing it before it had time to bite him. He wrenched the dagger a little to make sure the thing was dead and then threw it away, drawing his rapier.
Garth quickly appeared next to him at the entrance of the cave. “They have Herman!” he shouted, a soldier they both knew well.
“Who else?” Gerald asked frantically.
“I do not know – Cadell!” he shouted. They heard Cadell faintly screaming from inside as men poured out the mouth of the cave. At once Gart
h was at Cadell's side, stabbing at spiders covering Cadell's body. But it was so hard to see in the dark!
A man was crawling towards Gerald, pleading for help as two spiders were trying to drag him away by the legs. Gerald sprang over to them, stabbing at one while the other jumped for his chest. It tried to sink its fangs into the chain mail but failed. Gerald grabbed it with his left hand, threw it on the floor and thrust his sword through it. But the man whom he had rescued was still, paralysed from the bites of the spiders, so he flung him over his shoulder and carried him out the mouth of the cave.
Sand and wind stung the side of his face, but the one end of the ledge was protected against most of the onslaught of wind by overhanging rocks. He laid the man down and instructed one of the soldiers to take him to the sand below and find protection. He entered once again to see what more he could do, stabbing at a few spiders moving before him as well as driving his sword into those who covered the men running past him. Suddenly, a piece of large rock fell and he noticed at once that the mouth of the cave was starting to collapse.
“The cave is falling in!” he shouted, hoping Cadell and all could hear. “Make haste! The cave is falling in!”
Garth shoved Cadell from inside of the cave towards Gerald, who caught him with his left arm. Cadell's feet were wrapped in web, a frightful look on his face.
“Garth! The cave is falling in!” Gerald shouted.
Garth sprang towards him, but his face jerked – a spider had fallen on him and soaked its fangs into the back of his head. Gerald reached out for him, but Garth collapsed backwards and was dragged swiftly to the back of the cave, pleading for help; the terror and fear in his voice shrilling throughout the cavern.
“Garth!” Gerald tried to reach for him, but he just couldn’t make it. The cave was about to collapse completely. In that moment he had to decide to venture further in and rescue Garth or get out.
He thought of how Garth had saved him earlier. But he hesitated. Then he leaped off the ledge just outside the mouth of the cave into the storm and landed on the sand below with Cadell. The rocks all gave way and the cave was shut tight, eerily sealing off the screams of those inside for good.
Numbed by his choice, Gerald couldn’t feel the stinging of the sand on his skin. “Fool,” he mumbled to himself. “Fool, fool!”
More spiders crawled through the crevices of the rocks nearby, but they would not come on to the sand. Some of the soldiers nearest them were stabbing and pulling them off. A great number were paralysed and lying in the sand, but it was difficult to make out exactly what was going on in the storm and dust blistering past them. They could barely even open their eyes.
Jeroni, a doctor, came crawling to Gerald from nearby. “I am happy to have found you! I managed to see you jump out the cave with Cadell!” he shouted. “I hid in the crevices of rock on the other side, but noticed the spiders immediately!”
“Cadell is paralysed!” shouted Gerald.
Jeroni examined him briefly. “The swelling will go down in an hour! And he will be fine! It is only a paralysing poison, and he was not bitten too many times! Where is Garth?”
Gerald lowered his head and didn't answer, except by cursing himself. Jeroni was looking around. “We need to get under a shelter somewhere and wait for the storm to pass!”
The sand was starting to bury Cadell at his feet, so they had to move. As Gerald looked around there was an instant, a small moment, when the wind subsided and the view of the rock formation on their right could be clearly seen. He saw something that startled him, for higher above the clefts was a peculiar silhouette. It appeared to have the head of a dog and what seemed to be its right hand lifted in the air, a spear in the left hand. Gerald could not be sure of it, for the shadows were deep and the wind suddenly raged again; now nothing could be seen except the rocks close by.
“Did you see that!?”
“Yes! I saw a place we can hide! Follow me!”
Jeroni led Gerald (who had Cadell) over to the nearest rock. They took cover behind it in a large crag. It was a fair amount of shelter and here they could wait.
Faintly, very faintly, they heard a rhythmical booming, pulsating as the storm raged. To Gerald's ears it sounded as if a hundred drums were being played. Another spider made its appearance from a small crag in the rock and Jeroni stabbed it and threw it into the storm. The wind blew it away violently.
“What are those drums!?” Gerald shouted.
Jeroni looked around. “I don't know! Perhaps it's simply the wind blowing against the rocks!”
Sand continued to surge past them throughout the night in an infuriating madness. There they sat, alone in the crevice of the rock, with only their own thoughts to comfort, or haunt them. For Gerald it was the latter.
CHAPTER ELEVEN