“A…” I reached over and grabbed Tuf's mouth before he could speak.

“Don’t speak so loudly,” I whispered. All of us turned our heads in sync, gazing upon the large thorax of the tarantuladon. It had not yet noticed us, “Okay,” I said, “Let’s get out of here.”

“How!” Kaavi whispered.

I pointed to a small rocky corridor where light peeked indirectly through. It was a tiny hole, not big enough for any adult that had been trapped, but for preteens and children it would work. I took a soft step, then another. Something under my foot made a squishing sound. When I tried to lift it again, my foot was stuck to the ground.

“No,” I whispered. I looked at my feet. It was chained to the ground by a strong puddle of webbing.

“Tarantulas don’t even produce webs!” I hissed, “Why call it a tarantuladon!” Then to the others I said, “Everybody, be careful where you step. There’s some webbing over here.”

“I already got myself stuck when I first fell,” Said Bova, “So you can’t be mad at me.”

“I’m not mad,” I said, “But no one else take another step forward.”

Tuf took a step backward and suddenly couldn't lift his foot up anymore, “Egen,” he started.

“Please don’t tell me you’re stuck.”

The bard started to talk as he took a step toward me but his foot tapped a rock and he fell down, cementing his entire body to the floor of the spider’s cave.

“For the love of gods,” I groaned, “Why did you take a step forward?”

“I just wanted to tell you to be careful… not to fall.” Barth whispered.

“Raise your hand if you’re stuck in webbing.”

Everyone raised their hand. Everyone but Yajaira. She laid on the edge of a wall, “Yajaira?” I asked, “You’re free?”

“No. My hands are just stuck from when I rested on this wall.”

I sighed. The giant spider’s many footsteps could be heard throughout the cave. It was ambling from place to place on its side of the cavern. I got my sword out and slashed at the web around my foot. However, it wasn’t a string like a normal spider, more of a viscous goo. There wasn’t as much to cut but I kept whacking away at it. Once my sword got through the goo, the metal of my blade clanged against the stony bottom. We all cringed as the noise rang out through the cavern. The spider had stopped ambling. I watched as it turned around, now fully aware that there was prey in her den. Its hideous face housed dangling mandibles uncurling and curling as it approached. I counted seven eyes total, all were milky white.

“It’s old,” I whispered, “I’m pretty sure it can’t see well, if at all. I’m going to light the web on fire.”

“If we know it can’t see well,” Porta pondered, “Then the fire will help it see us better.”

“Sure, but I’d rather it see us running away, no?”

Porta didn’t push back. I took it as a hearty endorsement. I crouched down and focused on a rock covered in the goo about three feet away from us. I needed to experiment first. I stuck my hand out and recounted in Sylvan exactly how I wanted the fire to behave, like trying to cast the perfect wish a genie couldn’t take advantage of.

“Can you please speed it up,” the bard said with his cheek pressed against the ground.

“I lost my place in the incantation!”

I tried again, going through the same incantation as before. The spider drew near,cautiously. A small fire extended from my hand, floating in the air toward the rock. It engulfed the rock and the cinder from the spell wrapped itself around the webbing like burning paper. Success. It was highly flammable. I would just need to act quickly before the spider noticed us… that was when the smell hit my nostrils. The stench was worse than burning hair. It’s deeply musty quality now set ablaze caused some of my squeamish teammates to gag. I watched in real time as the stench wafted along the cavern floor until it rang the tarantuladon’s senses like an alarm bell. It perked up, now confirming that someone was in its trap and trying to escape. It skittered forward. And came to a sudden stop. It skittered forward. And stopped.

I looked at Kaavi, “Should I light the web?”

Kaavi’s shocked expression bounced between me and the spider. Confused, he asked, “Is this one of those times where I’m the leader?”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The question pounded my heart like a drum. Clearing the frog in my throat, I nodded my head and asked, “What’s the play?”

Kaavi’s eyes glimmered. What the hell was I doing? I had just entrusted my life to a ten year old.

“You light it, and we all run in different directions. Then, we each make noise and while the spider’s distracted, the person on the other side of the spider will run for the exit.”

Holy shit. That wasn’t actually a bad plan. We all affirmed that that’s what we would do and Kaavi said, “Light it.”

“Wait!” Barth cried out, his face still sealed to the ground, “Is this going to hurt?

“It should happen fast enough to not burn you,” I said.

“Do you mean that?”

“I hope that,” Then I conjured fire on my hand and spread it everywhere. The stench filled up the room. Our eyes watered and Ruglio threw up. The fire illuminated the giant spider so every kid with human eyes could get a look at its face. They all shrieked. Yajaira, Porta, Barth as well. No one held back and if this spider could understand why they were screaming, it would be really insulted.

“Come on!” I said as we were freed from our webbing, “Everyone go in separate directions!”

They did not need to be told twice. They all booked it in different directions and the spider skittered backward as the orange of the fire haunted the dark cave. I grabbed Yajaira’s hand and jumped backward into the biggest crack. I shoved her in there and told her to stay put, then I poked my head over the corner of the wall and saw Barth still struggling to get up. He whispered, “Please don’t scar my face. Please don’t scar my face.” As the fire singed the webbing around him.

“Barth!” I yelled. When Barth was free enough, he got up and attempted to run in a randomized direction as planned. Three steps in, he collided with a large, hairy, column in the middle of the cave. Back on the ground, he looked up to see the spider’s undercarriage. The spider rotated its body clockwise then counterclockwise, attempting to use its old eyes to locate where its victims had gone.

“Barth!” I whispered, He looked at me, “It doesn’t know you’re under it,” I made sure all of my words were pronounced and could be understood immaculately by this theater kid.

The junior paladins had all found places to hide in the cave. Even with my night vision they were difficult to locate, having tucked themselves away behind rocks or into crevices. What little sunlight crept in through the cracks, filtered through the dusty air and landed right on the spider’s tall knees as they quickly shifted from one directory to another, giving the spider the chance to look at different angles.

It had not yet noticed Barth.

I could not throw a rock somewhere, because it would possibly land and scatter near another child. The spider kept looking around, on the lookout for its victim. It took a few skitters forward, and Barth ran with it, staying under.

I dropped down, staring at Yajaira.

“What do we do?” Yajaira whispered.

“I’m thinking.” I said.

I peered my head over the rock to see the blind Taranuladon determining if an oddly shaped stalagmite was anything more than a rock. Its mandibles extended and scraped the rock clean off and placed it in the spider’s mouth. If that thing got its hooks into one of us, we’d be done for. While I determined how to help Barth, Kaavi’s plan took shape.

Ghala, used the opportunity to make his great escape. He made it quite noisily too. The crunching on the freshly burned floor caused the spider to turn around. Barth saw it as his opportunity and looked right at Yajaira and I.

“No. Don’t come over here,” I thought, “You’re so annoying.”

Barth trotted in our direction and leapt behind the rock we were using as cover.

“Hello, all,” Barth said.

“Hey, buddy,” I said, “I’m so glad you made it.”

Kaavi then pulled himself out and yelled, “Everyone cast Stride!”

That was enough for the spider to turn around and leap in that direction. It would not let another victim get away. It pounced toward Kaavi and then suddenly Porta ran toward the sliver of light. The spider, confused, tried to make a swipe at Porta. Once she made it through, Apep screamed, “Stride!” The spider looked in Apep's direction. Huy screamed “Stride!” and Apep escaped. The spider was constantly confused as it would look at each kid casting Stride, while another kid who had previously cast the spell would run away.

We were running out of people and Yajaira and Barth would need to move quickly, “You two are going next.” Kaavi cast Stride on himself and I pushed Yajaira and Barth out and told them to run. Yajaira started moving. Barth tripped on the same rock as before. The spider turned its weary eyes rested on Barth. It used all eight legs and hauled its big spider ass toward earth. Barth stuck his hands up.

“Hey!” I yelled, “Over here!”

Dissuaded by all the previous bait attempts, it ignored me. Instead, it opened its mouth wide in anger and attempted to chomp down on Barth. Yajaira grabbed Barth and pulled him up. They both ran to the rocky corridor. The spider readjusted itself as Yajaira crawled into the tight crevice. Barth followed behind her but he was the oldest of us and he was struggling to get his hips through. The spider reached over with one of its elongated legs and pressed down on Barth, pinning his body as he tried to crawl out.

“Help!” He said to Yajaira before being dragged closer to the tarantuladon.

The spider leapt in a forward direction, no longer holding Barth down. It skitter-rotated and saw that Kaavi had just slashed at one of its legs. Barth crawled on his hands and knees as Yajaira helped him through the rest of the way. I jumped out and with my sword I slashed at the opposite leg.

“We have to run!” I said, then I cast Knowing Light. It created an orb of light hovering around me. I grabbed it and pushed it as far as I could, then, before I let go, I spoke in Sylvan, “Let the orb of my magic burn thrice as bright!” The room became awash with a bright white light and we became invisible to the old spider.

Kaavi slipped under the spider’s abdomen and we both made a run for the corridor. As a last ditch effort, the tarantuladon spewed webbing but in its age, it could no longer perform as well as it used to. The webs dribbled out, nowhere near us.

Kaavi crawled into the corridor, but he was also a big boy. He became stuck as the spider scurried after us. Its mandibles unfurled and reached into the corridor, the toothy point at the end stabbing at me. The spider pressed its mouth against the opening as the mandible got closer and closer. I placed my shoulder on his backside and pushed Kaavi outside. I followed, only to find out we were still on the edge of the cliff. I went into freefall as my body tumbled downward to the depths below.