Screeches echoed in the dark and misty forest. Beneath the thick canopy, amongst the gnarled roots of the wood, a fight raged on. 

"A little help?" Aiden grunted as he held back three, ravenous creatures. 

“I'm a little busy myself," Desmond staggered back against a deformed tree with his shield held high. 

The fierce monsters flapped their bat-like wings as they bared their needle-like fangs and slashed their claws at the two men.

"Sol!" A loud and commanding shout came from behind them. 

A brilliant light beamed down into the forest. It was as if the sun itself came down under the trees and burst its radiant power to every corner and shadow of that dreary land. The creatures screamed in pain and quickly faded away as dusty clouds. 

"I thought you said that you could handle a few fledgling vampire spawn?” the powerful voice jested. 

Aiden and Desmond staggered to their feet and looked at each other. Their faces were covered in mud and small scrapes. Desmond shook the sleeves and twigs out of his dark, curly hair and Aiden rubbed his scratched neck.

“We ran into a bit more than a few,” Aiden panted as he picked up his bow. “It would be a lot easier if you taught us all how to do that sun thing.”

"Many years of practice would be needed for that and somehow, I still think you would find a way to muck it up," the old man gave out a deep, melodious laugh. "Come, Cynthia and Maeve are finishing the den.”

The three made their way through the dense thicket of thorn bushes and branches to an overgrown cave in the forest. There was a heavy feeling of dread that weighed on the companions as they entered. Thick vines hung from the ceiling and bugs crawled in and out of dark crevices.

“Somehow, I think this place is worse than fighting off a small army of those creatures,” Desmond shuddered as he spoke in a low voice.

Aiden laughed, “You know, for a fierce paladin, you are kind of a baby.”

“Quiet,” Demond punched Aiden in the arm and they both chuckled.

Up ahead, they could hear a pounding of stone and grunting. 

“Hey, Graham, give us some light, will ya?” Aiden called.

Without a word, Graham lifted his staff and a small bulb of white light floated in the air. They turned a corner to reveal a woman of imposing stature slamming a greathammer into a large crystal that glowed red. There was an ominous power that flowed from the crystal, like a vibration. Another woman was standing beside her with a golden mace in one hand, and a torch in the other.

“You boys finished playing with the little demon babies?” the large woman said as she took a break from swinging.

Aiden rolled his eyes, “Will you get on with this so we can go home already? I am sick of this wretched forest.”

“What was your count, Maeve?” Desmond asked the woman carrying the torch.

“Eighteen,” she said proudly. “And how many for you, brother?”

“Twenty-two,” Desmond said as he crossed his arms with pride.

“I think the old man has us all beat,” Cynthia said in between the swings of her hammer. “Took out the father of this den and came to help you two if I recall.”

“We had it under control,” Aiden protested as a final swing shattered the crystal, leaving it lightless and dull. “Finally, let us get our money.”

***

“By Areandel, we cannot get out of here sooner,” Aiden complained as the five companions walked through the sloppy, mud-filled roads of the old town.

“Can you ever be quiet?” Cynthia sighed as she rolled her eyes.

“We did a good thing today, Aiden,” Graham said calmly. “The people of this town were being prayed upon by that vampire den. It has now been eradicated for good.”

They approached the large building in the town center. It was clear that this settlement had once been a more prosperous place, but that time was long ago. In front of them, a large man in a fur coat clasped with a gold chain approached them.  

“The Defenders of Sol!” the man said in a booming voice. “The people of Gallia are forever in your debt, thank you for your courage and valor!”

He handed Graham a small coin pouch and placed his right fist over his heart. Graham returned the gesture and gave a slight bow. 

“Anything to help your people,” Graham said with a smile.

“Will you stay with us and have a feast to celebrate this wonderful salvation?”

“Apologies, but we have a long list of people that need our help,” Aiden cut in. “We will have to decline."

“Very well,” the large man said, a little thrown off guard. “Your wagon is ready for your departure.”

Just then, a large wagon drawn by two, large, black horses pulled up next to them.

“I hope you never have to see us again,” said Graham with a nod and the five piled into the wagon and were off.

***

Maeve sat alone in the front as she drove the wagon through the foggy forest. Her thick, black hair bounced along with the rough road as she hummed the tune Riders in the Fields of Grass. 

Graham smoked a pipe with his robe wrapped around him like a thick blanket. His long, white beard drooped down to his belt as he sat in a pensive silence. 

Cynthia sat in her light, bear-skin and leather armor as she sharpened a blade. Her short, brown hair was slicked back and her fierce green eyes focused on her task.

“What are you reading, Desmond?” Aiden asked. “Another religious text?”

Desmond sighed and closed the small, leather-bound book, “Yes. By the way, you never answered Cynthia's question, can you ever be quiet?”

“Just making conversation,” Aiden shrugged as he twirled a small dagger. “Where to next, Graham?”

“Home,” he replied happily. “After a long time on the road, it will be good to see Hailgrad once more.”

“And to have a hot bath and soft bed,” Cynthia said with a smile.

“Maybe we can look into finding some new recruits,” Desmond suggested. “We can only travel around the kingdom so quickly.”

"And we know the royal army cannot do what we do," Aiden said proudly.

“You know the formula of our order,” Graham replied. “One mage, one brute, one ranger, and two paladins; a group of this makeup can take on any task of the unholy and unnatural. Though, it would be nice to have another team. These bones are not as young as they once were.”

“Can we really be called an order if it is only us five?” Aiden cut in.

“Enough talk,” Maeve said in a loud voice from the head of the wagon. “We have got company up ahead.”

Through the gloom, up the road, there were a few upturned wagons and crates strewn about. Some people were being attended to by healers and a few soldiers stood as quiet sentinels. They looked weary and shaken with their iron armor covered in dried mud.

“Halt,” a stern voice commanded. 

“You do not look to be in any position of giving out orders, friend,” Aiden called back.

A woman with long, brown hair ran past the guard. Her face was dirty and worn with a great fear. 

“Can you help us, please?” she pleaded.

“Of course,” Graham cut through the uncertain group as he stood up, leaning on his wooden staff.

The company came to a halt and filed out of the wagon. They noticed that there were a number of bodies lined up with blankets over them.

"What, by Areandel, happened here?" Maeve asked in exasperation. 

"We were traveling to the capital with goods to sell when we were attacked by giant spiders,” the woman explained as she tried to steady herself. “After they destroyed our caravan, the beasts dragged some of our people off into the forest.”

She pointed off the road to a trail of broken branches that led away into the foggy darkness. A guard in mud-strained armor approached the group.

“That sigil that you all carry. Are you truly the Defenders of Sol?” The man asked.

Graham was busy starting off into the forest. Something seemed to be pulling his mind off to where the people were taken. Maeve stepped forward.

“Yes, we are,” she said with pride.

“What a stroke of luck,” he said with a sigh of relief. “My name is Gerrit. I was gathering a group of soldiers to go after those creatures. Would you join us?”

“We do not work for free,” Aiden cut in as Desmond gave him a nudge of disapproval.

“We do not have much, but we could scrape together some gold,” the man stammered.

Maeve shook her head, “That is not necessary. We can help your people. This road has already taken too much from you.”

“I think it would be best if your soldiers stayed behind,” Graham said, his voice was almost trance-like as he continued to stare off.

“Nonsense, they are our people and we are going to bring them back,” Gerrit said firmly.

Graham remained silent, so Maeve again stepped in, “Fine, but stay close.”

***

The forest drew in densely around the company as they followed the trail of trampled brush. Four soldiers from the caravan, including Gerrit, accompanied them in an uneasy walk.

“Keep in tight,” Graham ordered from the center of the group.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The paladins, Desmond and Maeve brought up the rear. Each of them wielded a golden shield that matched their shining, gold armor. Desmond carried a sword while his sister had her mace. They walked in silent and confident vigilance.

In the front, Cynthia walked with her head of a swivel. She held her heavy, steel greathammer in front of her, ready to strike. Strange runes on its head glowed a faint blue.

“What are those markings?” one of the soldiers asked.

“This hammer was forged by a particular tribe of Kaboutians that are proficient in enchanting weapons. This one is especially good at dispatching nasty creatures,” she said with pride.

“Quiet,” Aiden snapped. He had his bow out and notched. “Bad enough you had to come and bring your soldiers with you. The way you move it would be no surprise if every creature in this wood was watching us.”

Although it was daytime, the forest became dark at an alarming rate. In no time, almost all light was being blocked out by the overgrown canopy.

“W-what are those lights?” one of the soldiers said with a shaky finger that pointed out into the darkness.

The group looked around to see hundreds of red lights in every direction. There was a strange gurgling and hissing coming from the shrouded brush. The company stopped in their tracks as they quietly watched the ominous, glowing red orbs.

“Graham?” Cynthia said quietly. Even her voice quivered as she took a step back.

Graham lifted his hand and an orb of light rose above them to reveal that the lights were eyes. Eyes of hundreds of spiders that surrounded the group. They varied in size from the height of a human, to a foot tall. They sat in a patient silence at first, only watching their potential prey.

One of the soldiers shook in his weather-stained, iron armor. Graham sensed the young man’s anxiety and he laid his hand on the soldier’s shoulder. It was no use as, within a moment, the young man lost his nerve and tried to run.

“No!” Graham shouted, but it was too late.

The soldier was grabbed by a spider with terrible speed and strength, and was being dragged off. The other creatures started to hiss and paw at the remaining other people. 

“Maeve, Desmond, shield!” Graham shouted as he raised his hand and shouted infiero.

A ball of fire rose high in the air as the mage ducked to the ground. The fireball rose to the tops of the trees, and then came down onto the party, where it was blocked by an invisible shield that glowed a brilliant gold as it was hit. 

In a flash, Graham was standing, staff in hand. To the other’s shock, the entire space around them was scorched as small fires danced in the darkness, and quickly went out.

“Wicked,” Aiden said with a laugh as the group lit torches in the smoldering flames. “You fireballed us.”

“It was the best way to get rid of the spiders,” Graham shrugged as he gave Desmond and Maeve a nod. “I knew the great paladin siblings had us.”

Gerrit shouted as he ran through the hundreds of charred, spider bodies. There was the corpse of the soldier that was taken. He too was burnt and dead. The man drew his sword.

“You killed him,” he shouted at the mage as the two other soldiers also drew their weapons.

Desmond stepped in between them, “He was dead anyway. If Graham had not done that, we would also be food for those creatures.”

The man pushed Desmond as Cynthia pushed Gerrit to the ground.

“Enough!” Maeve said in a hoarse whisper. “Who knows what else is out there. Fighting will do us no good to save the others.”

In that moment, a hiss cut through the silence. Long, terrible limbs reached out of the darkness and grabbed Graham. Before the mage could cast a spell, webs covered his mouth and hands, and he was gone into the black and hazy forest.

Without hesitation, the remaining companions ran after the mage as he was dragged away. 

They ran on and on, into the darkness. The group stumbled over roots and were slapped by branches as they ravenously pushed onward. They thought there would be no end to their pursuit, until they came to a decrepit cabin.

It was covered thickly in green moss and the roof was caved into the structure. The doorway was broken into a wide hole that was covered in old spiderwebs. 

“If Graham or any of your people are alive, I would bet all my gold they would be in there,” Aiden said.

Desmond shivered as he saw spiders, about the size of his palm, crawling up the cabin walls.

“No,” one of the soldiers said as they turned and ran into the forest.

Cynthia held her torch in one hand and greathammer in the other as she stepped forward. “Well, unless you want to run like that one, come along.”

They all reluctantly went forward into the decrepit home to find a large pit in the center of the floor. It had webs and thick roots that delved down, down into a black abyss.

“Well,” Aiden said. “Who will be the first into the pit of people-stealing spiders?"

***

The roots were thick and plentiful enough for the company to climb, one by one, down into the hole. Cynthia was the first to venture forth.

“Made it,” she called up. “Despite how it looks, it is not far down.” 

Desmond was last to climb. He grabbed firmly on the roots and closed his eyes to block out the spiders, and even lizards and snakes that crawled and slithered about.

“This is no ordinary cave,” Gerrit cut in as Desmond finally reached the bottom. “These walls are made of brick.”

“Quite the extensive basement,” Cynthia said with a whistle.

Maeve knelt and put her hand on the floor. Desmond put his hand on her shoulder.

“Do you feel that?” she asked her brother.

“I do,” he said as he pulled away and looked down the passageway in from of them in fear.

“What is it?” Gerrit asked.

Maeve stood up and brushed herself off, “This is not a basement for storage. This home held a dark secret underneath it.”

“It is a temple for the worship of some dark magic,” Desmond added. He pointed at all the various reptiles and bugs that moved in strange patterns on the walls. “This is not normal. Some ancient evil dwells here. Even the spiders attacking a caravan. That is rare to say the least. They are being manipulated by a power that this place contains.”

“Evil mages?” Gerrit asked as he gripped his sword.

Maeve shook her head. “Unlikely, but we should stay vigilant. No telling what is down here.”

“Or how much time we have to save the others,” Cynthia added. “We have to get moving.”

***

The stone hallways were covered with strange depictions of ritualistic sacrifice and harshly carved runes. As the company moved on with torches in hand, hissing and clattering of spider legs against the stone echoed all around them. Then, up ahead, there were two, diverging paths.

“Well, what do we do now?” Aiden asked. 

“Split up,” Maeve said, trying to sound confident for the sake of the group. “Cynthia, you should go with Desmond and Aiden. I will take the left path with Gerrit and his guard.”

Cynthia put her hand on Maeve’s shoulder and gave her a nod. “Be safe.”

“You too,” she said with a smile. “And keep these two out of trouble.”

***

Maeve led Gerrit and his guard through a tight corridor that seemed to shrink more and more, until they were hunched over in the darkness.

“Dead end?” Gerrit shouted as they came to a wall of stone.

It was a dead end, but that did not make sense, Maeve thought.

She examined the stone and gave it a push. Curiously enough, there was a bit of give to the wall.

“Here, give me a shove,” she said as she laid her mace and torch down. 

The three backed up and slammed into the wall. Nothing happened, so they pushed again. This time, the stone gave a bit more.

“One more time,” she shouted and they gave one, final shove.

The brick fell inward to reveal a secret room. Strangely enough, it was faintly lit by a red glow. The three entered the area and realized it was a circular space with pillars surrounding a central altar.

As they stepped forward, Maeve spied a strange, small pyramid at the altar. It was black and had intricate carvings all over it. The ticket laid on a red cloth that had gold fringe.

The air in the room was strangely heavy and it felt that they had an oppressive weight not their backs, dragging them downward. 

“We should go back,” Maeve said to the group as she tried to pull away, but there was an odd pull to the pyramid-shaped object.

As if in a trance, the three walked closer and closer to the altar, not even realizing the large spiders that circled the room in the same trance-like state.

Maeve tried to resist the almost magnetic-pull to the item, but it was no use. As if by instinct, her arm extended towards it as the other men also tried to grasp at it. As soon as Maeve got a hold of it, her whole world went red.

***

Desmond pushed forward into the darkness. Every step was magnified as it bounced off the stone walls. They turned again and again until they came to a wide opening. Without warning, a large spider lunged at them, but he was struck down by an arrow. Aiden gave his companion a nod as he notched another. 

They advanced further into the dark cavern as they saw a number of sacs strewn about the place. Some were large bulbs and others were in the shape of people. Desmond took out a knife and cut through one of the shapes. It revealed a child who laid in peaceful sleep. The paladin placed his hand on her forehead and a green light radiated from him. In that instant, the girl was awake and breathing in sharp, anxious breaths. 

"My parents, where are they?" she cried. 

"Shh, you are alright," Desmond reassured her. 

After a few more moments of his healing spell, she was calm and fully awake. Hisses could be heard approaching from a distant cave. Aiden held up his bow and shot again. Another spider came crashing from the cave wall. Cynthia tightly gripped her greathammer as she squinted into the darkness. 

"We have this covered," she said to Desmond. "Get the others up and moving.

Cynthia and Aiden fought tirelessly to waylay the waves of spiders that looked to defend their catches. Meanwhile, Desmond and the little girl ran around waking the people. They worked as quickly as they could until they came to the final webbing. 

Please be Graham, Desmond thought as some of the adults that were woken took up whatever weapon they could find to fend of the assault. 

Desmond cut away at the webs to reveal and old face and long, white beard. With a sigh of relief, he quickly went to work waking his companion. 

"Desmond!" Cynthia's voice shouted from behind him. 

To Desmond's horror, a spider ten times the size of any of the others charged the group of survivors. The spider-mother came with a ferocity never before seen in those dark places. The paladin quickly rose to his feet and casted a wide shield to try and block her blows from the people. It briefly held, but her fury was too great. She crashed through the golden light and killed two of the survivors. 

Aiden peppered the beast with arrows as Cynthia swung at its legs. Desmond casted a meager bolt of sun that crashed into the spiders eyes, but it did little more than stun it. Panic overtook Desmond as he picked up his sword and started to charge. 

That was when he heard inferio behind him as a fire bolt wizzed overhead. It crashed into the spider and was followed up with a devastating blow of blue sparks from Cynthia.  

Then the spider-mother wheeled in pain and anger. Her children retreated back to her with a terrible gurgling of venom and hissing. She reluctantly led them away, down a deep, dark hole to nurse her wounds. 

Desmond fell to one knee as everyone gathered around and cheered. 

"This is no place for a party," Grahams powerful voice cut in. "Where is Maeve?"

***

The group backtracked to the hallway Maeve took with Gerrit and the other guard. Cynthia and Aiden led the others out of the hole as Desmond and Graham crouched through the opening to the circular room. 

To their terror, Maeve laid unconscious, covered in blood. Gerrit and the guard looked to be brutally killed by a blunt weapon. Spiders laid dead all around as well. 

"Maeve!" Desmond shouted as Graham stared at the scene in shock. 

To their surprise, Maeve woke and was unharmed. 

"What happened?" she asked. "Desmond?"

She looked around and was mortified at the scene. In her right hand, her mace was covered in blood and in her left she held a strange pyramid-shaped object. 

Maeve looked at Desmond with bewilderment. "You don't think I..."

Desmond looked over to Graham who held out a hand covered in a thick cloth. 

“I think it would be best if you gave that to me," he said with an uncertain tone. 

At first, Maeve was reluctant to hand it over. Something pulled at her to never part with it. 

"Maeve," Desmond shouted as he shook her. 

She seemed to snap out of a trance as she handed it over. "I don't know what happened," she said softly as tears fell down her face.

"I know, I know," Desmond said as he held her close.

 ***

It was not long before the group reunited with the caravan by the road. There was much rejoicing over the rescued people and a moment of silence for those that fell.

"What is wrong with Maeve, what happened down there?" Aiden whispered to Desmond as they helped the people repack their gear. 

Maeve sat alone in the wagon with some hot tea. She was motionless, staring blankly off into space.

"She will be alright," Desmond said. "That was a strange and unholy place. I am glad to put it behind us."

"I thank you for everything you have done for us," the woman from the caravan said as she bowed to the five companions. She started to walk away, but stopped. "Any chance you are headed to Hailgrad?"

Graham nodded with a smile. "I think it would be in our best interest to travel together, especially through this strange forest. After that, I hope you never have to see us again."