When Seth woke up he looked around at the disaster in the clearing. Huge dead spiders were everywhere, and an enormous dead cat. Its cub noticed he was awake and sauntered over in a clumsy, new cub way. He pulled out his knife, but honestly didn't think he'd need it. The thing was small, like housecat small. Based on the adult's size, this thing couldn't be more than a few weeks old at best.

It bristled when it got close to him. It didn't back away though.

Seth was grateful to the cub for retrieving the healing potion. But for now he ignored it and stood up. His ribs ached a bit, and his leg was a little stiff, but his head wasn't killing him and his thoughts were definitely clearer. He rotated his shoulder and was happy not to feel any twinges. Looking around he realized he'd been absolutely crazy to think he could walk into the clearing without dying. Yet that was what he did.

There were two more cats he hadn't noticed before, both of them cubs, both of them dead. They were actually a fair bit bigger than the runt over there. He didn't see or hear more spiders, but it probably wasn't a good idea to stay here, or anywhere near here really.

He walked over to the enormous cat, carefully checking that it was, in fact, dead. The horns of the cat were still glowing, which meant they still possessed mana. Saben had given him a primer on harvesting magic materials, and although the only tool he had was his knife, so there would be quality loss, he harvested the horns anyway. They were really beautiful, clear and gemlike, glowing a blueish silver rather like the moonlight.

The cub watched him. At first he was concerned the cat would get angry at him for cutting into its parent, but it didn't do anything about it.

"All right," he said aloud, presumably to the cat, but mostly to himself. "Only way out of here is up. I can walk along the cliff and look for a path, or just try to climb up here." Then he noticed the crevice into the cliff face. He then realized the spiders ambushed anything coming out of the crevice looking for water. Which meant the crevice was probably an entrance into the Below. Camping or waiting here was no longer an option and he’d probably been here way longer than he should have. And it was likely there would be more spiders in the woods nearby too. If these things could kill an enormous cat, he would be easy prey.

Entrances to the Below were somewhat rare. In general when they were found they would be explored, whatever made the entry slain and looted, and then it would be sealed up. Dangerous things lived there and dangerous things would leave when there was an open door.

"I don't think wandering around is a good idea. Straight up it is." He gazed up at the cliff face. He'd fallen down that, and it nearly killed him. It would have killed him without his air magic shielding him. There were no more potions to save him if he fell again. And climbing this was impossible. There were too many places that were vertical walls taller than he was. The northwest and southeast cliffs were no better either.

Suddenly overwhelmed, Seth sat down. He wanted to lie down and wait for someone to rescue him, but knew that was suicide. He wasn't afraid of heights, but he did not have the strength or skill to climb this. He needed a different plan. Maybe go into the Below? Could he get out at some other place? Should he explore the woods? What else was in this ravine if there were table-sized spiders and monster cats here?

Seth jumped when the cub nuzzled him. Slowly, he reached out to pet it. It was a little standoffish, but it did like its head scratched, particularly the little bumps where its horns would grow.

"Hey, little kitty. Looks like you and me. You’ve no family anymore, so I guess I’m it?" What was he thinking? He couldn't get up the cliff himself, what was he doing thinking about taking the cub up too? He should just leave it.

Who was he kidding? He wasn't going to leave it to die. Even if it would die anyway with him, he'd at least try.

Seth stood up. May as well just do it and try climbing the cliff. Staying put too long was more dangerous and going into the Below was insane thinking. The best he could do was hope for some luck. "All right kitty. I'll carry you up, but you need to behave, okay?" He reached down and pet the cat again. It didn't run away when he carefully picked it up. He was actually surprised at how docile it was. Ah, how docile she was. He put her on his shoulder and scanned for a good place to climb. The moment he reached up, the cat jumped off and meowed at him.

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Was this kid fucking stupid?

By the pretty little peas on a gracious green earth there was no way that he was going to be able to climb up that cliff. Hell, I couldn't do it without equipment and I was an adult in great shape. Huh, funny the things that came back and disappeared again.

“I can’t climb with you if you don’t stay put. I’ll leave you here.” He was talking to me again.

“You need equipment, idiot,” I said. Or I tried to say. All that came out of my mouth was meows. Dammit.

Kid was trying to climb up without me. “You’re gonna fall,” I tried to say again, but again only meows. He paused to look at me and gestured to his shoulder. I shook my head.

If he wanted to climb the cliff, then do it right, dammit. He must have a reason for wanting to go straight up, and since he was my guide to crazy dream land, I'd go along.

I trotted, rather awkwardly still, over to the trees where the spiders had been. I quickly found what I was looking for: long, strong strands of spider silk, the non-sticky variety. I picked up a strand in my mouth (gross!) and dragged it back to the kid.

Dummy had started climbing again. He didn't bother to look at me when I meowed, apparently having decided to leave me. So I began crying as piteously as I could. He hadn't gotten far, and heaved a big sigh before climbing back down.

Yeah, I'm saving your life bucko. Stupid kid. Sweet, but stupid. Eh, he did save me from the swimming spider, so I did have a debt to pay. Dream debts counted, right?

When the kid picked me up again I snagged the silk cord. He pulled it from me and looked from me to the cord and back again. Yeah, there you go buddy. I just saved your life now. Well, not yet, but it counts!

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Seth wondered how he was supposed to use the spider silk. The cub was insistent on it, but it really made no sense how the cat would even think of it. How would the cub want skinny ropes to be used? They were too weak. Even if they were strong enough, tying off to something wouldn't help for long. Once he climbed higher than where he tied off he'd be tethered and unable to go higher. Maybe cut it and tie another length? Was there enough silk here for that?

Would gathering silk tip off any more spiders?

He supposed if there were more spiders they'd've come out already. He set to work gathering the silk. At first he didn't realize there was a sticky version of the silk until he was nearly tied up in it. The cub's claws were pretty decent at cutting the silk, and she helped cut him loose. She was quite a bit smarter than a regular cat. Maybe her species is normally really smart? Or maybe there was something special about her?

He wondered what he could do for her once they were out of the ravine. He didn’t know if he could keep her as a pet or not. She was too young to survive on her own.

With her help he'd gathered a good pile of silk. He coiled it and turned his attention to the cliff again when her claws lightly poked him.

She wanted him to braid the strands. And tie climbing knots in them. Then she guided him to the enormous cat and directed him to harvest the claws. Then she arranged them to form a grappling hook, and had him lash the claws together. This absolutely was not a normal cat.

"Bossy little thing, aren't you?" As he did as she directed, he was starting to think this was actually possible. Soon he had a harness for himself and for her, two grappling hooks, and a braided and knotted line that both he and the cub could easily climb. She also searched the wagon and found a water flask and some dried food.

Since he’d already spent time on the ropes and claws, he took another hour and fashioned a pack he could carry, and took the rest of the claws and fangs, and the hides of the two dead cubs. That was as much as he could safely take.

As predawn was lighting the edge of the canyon, he heard what sounded like barking coming from the crevice. Time to go.

"Ready to go, Boss?"

Magic animals were supposed to be able to understand humans. She was really young, so he wasn’t sure she would be able to understand language yet. But when he held out his hand she climbed up onto his shoulder and directed him to where she wanted him to start.

Seth was anxious about his slow progress at first. But the cat wouldn’t allow him to rush, and made sure they were secure before moving upward again.

They got a pretty decent rhythm going. He would throw the grappling hook, she would climb up to where the hook was and secure it better, he would untie from where he was and climb up. She had fallen a few times because the hook came loose, but she weighed almost nothing and didn't pull him hard when the line caught. In some places she'd just scoot up the steep slope and wrap the hook around a tree letting him walk up with the rope for balance. In the sheer areas, she insisted on two points of tethering, and she'd climb down to untie the second tether before moving forward again. He was very grateful for her caution the one time he did fall.

It was around noon when they climbed out of the canyon and onto the road.

Now to find out what happened to Saben and the others.