Raina turned to me, excitement in her eyes. She looked like a wide-eyed kitten, proud of itself for catching its first mouse. Even without an empathy link, her excitement was almost infectious…almost.

“You know what it is, too?” she asked. I nodded.

“It’s the time,” I continued. Before I got to the end, she joined in, speaking perfectly in unison.

“Between the lightning and the thunder!” we finished together. The others looked at us in confusion, having only heard half the answer from Raina. I flipped the end of my tail back and forth as Raina explained it to the others.

“It’s a pattern,” she said. “The number of seconds between when the lightning strikes and the thunder follows. There’s a pattern to it that keeps repeating.”

Everyone grew quiet as we stared up at the ceiling, waiting patiently for the pattern to repeat. At the end of each cycle, there was a long pause before the next set of lightning began again. Carefully, we counted.

Lightning…three seconds…thunder.

Lightning…five seconds…thunder.

Lightning…two seconds…thunder.

Lightning…immediate thunder.

Lightning…four seconds…thunder

Pause.

“Three, five, two, zero, four?” Raina asked, turning to me for confirmation, as rightly she should. I nodded my agreement and picked up my dagger between my teeth. A moment later, we both raced from the room.

“Wait! There could still be monsters!” Aelisra shouted, but we didn’t wait. It was too exciting.

We raced down the halls littered with dead scorpions before turning the corner and entering the room with the plaque. There, we paused. Raina stared at the small tablet and stylus but didn’t move.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked, whipping my tail around in irritation. We were so close to moving forward…

She bit her lip. “What if we’re wrong? What will happen if we put in a wrong answer?”

“The riddle was pretty clear, once we found the right room,” I pointed out. “There are not that many ways to misinterpret it.”

“You don’t know that!” she frowned. “What would the point of the worms and mimic have been if we could just enter and know the answer by listening?”

“The worms were dispersing the lightning down their threads, thus making the time between lightning and thunder different from the truth.” I really didn’t see what the big deal was. We knew we were right, so why was she hesitating so much?

The rest of the party caught up. They looked at Raina, then at me, then back to Raina.

“It seems Malzy is frustrated,” Cithrael translated, seeing my tail whipping back and forth.

“He wants me to put in the numbers from before.”

“So why don’t you?” Aelisra asked. “Seemed right to me.”

“If you don’t put them in, I will,” I growled.

“Do you even know how to read and write?” Raina snapped at me. I hissed in response.

“I’m not an illiterate idiot! You summoned a greater demon! Why are you constantly surprised when I prove how skilled I am?”

“I didn’t s-” she stopped herself before continuing, lest our companions learn our secrets. “Fine, we’ll continue that line of thought later.”

“I’m so excited.” I rolled my eyes and sat down near the wall to watch.

Raina took the tablet in hand and scratched the five numbers on its surface. Once she was done, she set the tablet back on the pedestal. A bright light flashed, and the sound of scraping stone filled our ears. The pedestal fell away, along with a strip of floor circling the wall.

I leapt to my feet as the floor I was standing on began to shift. Stones separated into sections and lowered into a set of spiral stairs leading down into the ground below. I found myself near the bottom, looking into a room so dark even I struggled to make out any details. All I could tell was that it was small and probably circular. I confirmed this by walking quietly around the edge, letting my whiskers brush against the wall. By the time the others descended the stairs, I had a decent image in my head for the size of the room.

“Spooky,” Terrowin mused as Cithrael lit an arrow on fire to see by. Out of the boundless generosity of my heart, I called on Fire III to create a tiny bit of flame to provide more light to the group.

“Guys?” Aelisra whispered. There was an unusual amount of terror in her words. The others noticed it, too, and everyone turned around to see what had frightened our fearless paladin so much. She pointed up.

Above our heads, the ceiling had a few webs draped near the corners. They were old and loose hanging, filled with dust and dirt.

“Just cobwebs,” Terrowin said. “The spiders who made them are long gone. We should be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Quite.”

I tossed my firelight into the cobwebs to prove his point. The webs ignited immediately and burned quickly before disappearing entirely. Terrowin knelt and scratched my ears.

“See, Malzy agrees! No spiders here.” He continued scratching my ears for several seconds, and I purred at the recognition through the knife I still held in my teeth. “I bet Malzy is quite the mouser, and mice are way harder to catch than spiders. You’re in good paws, Aelisra.”

“I h-hope you’re right,” she muttered.

“Tell you what, Malzy and I will take the lead,” the knight offered. Aelisra nodded and fell in step behind us as we continued into the tunnel beyond the chamber. “Cithrael, how’s your sense of direction?” he asked.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Decent.”

“How long until you figure we’re under the spring?”

The elf shrugged. “Hard to say underground. Another couple hundred feet maybe?”

“I bet the core’s right under the nexus, and that’s why it was drained dry.” Terrowin brushed aside several more cobwebs as we delved deeper into the earth.

The tunnel was long, narrow, and winding, forcing the humans to walk single file again. Hard stone dripped with water in several places, and yet none of it ever seemed to pool on the floor. It flowed ever downward before disappearing into the darkness.

“Is anyone else worried that the cobwebs are getting thicker?” Aelisra said.

“Not yet, I’m not,” Terrowin muttered, but it was a lie. There was a quiver in his voice that only one with exceptional hearing like mine would be able to hear.

Aelisra was right. The webs were becoming more and more dense. Each cobweb Terrowin brushed away became stickier than the last, clinging to his hand until he scraped them away with the handle of his glaive.

When we came across a web that covered the entire area of the tunnel, Terrowin stopped. This one was white and clean, mostly free of the dust and dirt of the cobwebs earlier in the tunnel. He poked at it with his glaive. It came away without issue, but the knight was clearly worried.

“Everyone stay on guard,” he said. “I have a sinking suspicion we’re about to find lightning spiders or something ahead.”

“At least they were kind enough to leave webs behind to let us know they’re here?” Raina offered, trying to put a positive spin on it for Aelisra. I could smell the paladin’s fear all the way from my position in the front of the group.

It was a few minutes later that we heard the first skittering sounds of spiders in the tunnel beyond. The ground suddenly became covered in sticky webbing that caught the fur between my paw pads. I took a moment to struggle free.

Terrowin paused for me, so I hopped back to the front of the group, only puff out my fur at what stood before us. A spider as big as me stood on eight furry brown legs, staring at us with eight horrible eyes. I hissed at the thing. It clicked its pincers and tapped a foot on the webs around it.

Inspecting creature: Level 7 Juvenile Thunder Spider

Disposition unknown.

A young specimen of spider. It is too young to have mastered the magics common of adult Thunder Spiders.

Level 7 wouldn’t be much of a challenge. In fact, I didn’t think we’d even get experience from such a kill. So, why had the dungeon placed this…thing…before us? What was its purpose?

“Everyone stay calm,” Terrowin said. “It’s probably just as scared of us as we are of it.”

Without warning, the spider turned and fled into the darkness. Everyone relaxed, but I picked up my dagger. The dungeon was not to be underestimated. If it was juvenile, it likely had gone to find the adults…

I crouched and crept forward, inching my light along behind me to light the way. The soft orange glow illuminated the walls…until they disappeared from my side, widening out into a larger cavern. Webs covered every wall and most of the floor, save for a single clear path between us and another tunnel on the far side. Dozens of eyes glinted in the firelight, some big and some small.

“I think we found the nest,” Terrowin whispered. Out of curiosity, I inspected another set of eyes in the darkness.

Inspecting creature: Level 14 Thunder Spider

A large spider proficient in the use of vibrations and sound to incapacitate its enemies.

Inspecting creature: Level 13 Sparkhopper Spider

A medium spider which uses lightning mana to increase its speed and jump large distances.

Inspecting creature: Level 15 Venomous Lightning Spider

A medium spider which uses paralytic venom to stun enemies before wrapping them and eating them.

That…was a lot of spiders. They just…stared at us. It was unsettling.

“Okay, maybe they’ll let us pass?” Terrowin said. “The dungeon clearly wants us to continue, right? Just stay on the path, and we’ll be fine.”

“What the dungeon really wants is to kill us,” Raina corrected. “But, the way out is that way. We don’t have a choice.”

“So, tread carefully, and make no sudden moves.” Terrowin stepped forward slowly, ever watchful of the creepy, crawly creatures that could attack at any moment.

Aelisra was next to follow, keeping so close to Terrowin that she practically hugged his back. Raina and Cithrael followed at a much more reasonable distance. As for me, I jumped onto Raina’s shoulders and resolved to keep watch.

“A-are we there yet?” Aelisra whispered when we were halfway across the room.

“Almost. There’s a tunnel ahead.”

The soft hiss of spinning thread reached my ears, and I whipped my head behind us. A spider the size of a small horse now blocked our escape. However, much like the rest, it didn’t make a hostile move against us. It just watched.

This wasn’t good. They were waiting to spring a trap. I was sure of it, but what choice did we have? I almost wished they’d just attack us and be done with it. At least then, we’d know what we’re dealing with instead of waiting with bated breath for the inevitable first strike.

Terrowin was almost to the tunnel entrance, and I started to think that we might just make it. However, that was a hopeless thought.

A giant brown spider crawled down the wall and stopped with its body squarely over the tunnel exit. It stared at us with beady eyes.

“Maybe it’ll go away?” Terrowin gulped. We were exposed. Our position was not defensible. We were in the middle of the nest and there was nowhere to go!

Aelisra screamed as a tiny droplet of water fell on her head. She swatted at the thing and Terrowin turned to calm her down, but it was too late. The spiders hissed and clicked their terrible pincers.

An enormous twanging sound sent a shockwave through the room, knocking me clean off Raina’s shoulders and onto the webbed ground. I tumbled forward, but the sticky threads clung to my fur, trapping me on the ground.

I howled my fury and sent my ball of fire straight into the webs of the ceiling. The room burst into light as the webs began to smolder and burn with a fury that matched that of the spiders. They surged down the walls, six of the large ones with many more of their smaller kin between them.

“RUN!” Terrowin shouted. He rushed forward, glaive at the ready.

“Oh, mercy of Valencia,” Aelisra prayed as she followed. “Grant me your strength, I need your courage!” The light of her magic surged and covered each of us in a golden shell of protection.

Terrowin thrust his glaive at the spider standing between us and the way forward. It hissed and reared back on its back four feet before lunging forward to bite him. He darted back, bringing his glaive back around to thrust at the spider’s legs. The blade made contact, slicing the lowest segment of its front leg clean off. It hissed and clacked its pincers angrily. One of the smaller spiders, the venomous ones, came up beside Terrowin, racing forward with incredible speed. It threw itself at his ankle, trying to sink its fangs into the unsuspecting knight. He kicked it away before it got the chance.

Meanwhile, Raina and Cithrael were dealing with the spiders behind the group. One of the sparkhoppers, it couldn’t be anything else, raced forward, leaving a trail of lightning magic in its wake. Cithrael fired an arrow, but it missed. The monster leapt clean off the ground, catching Raina before she could finish her spell and knocking her to the ground. It bit down into her shoulder, and she cried out. She called on her mana and the spider shrieked as Drain took effect. It withered, its thorax shriveling as its life was sucked out of it. The witch threw off the creature as its legs curled in and scrambled back to her feet.

A shriek from another spider heralded Terrowin’s victory. The enormous spider curled and died with a glaive straight through its middle.

“This way!” he shouted as he and Aelisra pushed the corpse aside. Cithrael and Raina began to retreat with him, but I was still stuck. I tried to cut the threads holding me with my infused dagger, but half of them were under me, I couldn’t reach them. All I could do was thrash and struggle.

A spider with venom dripping from its fangs landed on the ground before me. With all the fury I could muster, I hurled the dagger straight into the biggest of its eight eyes. It howled and died, but I was still trapped.

Congratulations. Level 12 Venomous Lightning Spider defeated. Experience shared between challengers.

“Raina!” I called. “Raina! I’m stuck!”

The witch turned, looking first at the ceiling and the spiders closing in, then to me. Fear was in her eyes. Was she going to leave me? Would she leave me and summon another familiar later?

“Raina!”

Another spider was closing in. I couldn’t move.

“Raina! Help me!”