Boss Meatloaf

Cheddar, get your ass back to the hideout.

Now!

Boss Meatloaf

Are you ignoring me?

Cheddar

No. 😀

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Green

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Nimcha readied, Terri rolled into her nephew’s mind. “Kiddo, hold on!” She didn’t slow, her sword moving in a graceful series of moves, cleaving spiders from the ground around Asher, the steps of her warrior’s dance killing as many as the sword.

Terri was here! Green squished another spider as it burned its way through the mental shield. He glanced up and watched as Asher squirmed under the spiders crawling across his form, but the fledgling still held his concentration, mental hooks dug into the walls of ice forming the boundaries — he was doing it, great carrots! The fledgling was going to pull them down and crush the swarm — no spiders, no Lady Wraith.

“Thief. You're not welcome here." Lady Wraith's voice was no longer a whisper heavy with focal fry, but a rumble of anger that flooded Asher's mindscape.

Asher stumbled forward; one hand slapped over his ear, but he righted his posture, took in a breath, closed his eyes, and thrust a hand toward opposite walls; his finger's flexed around the air as if holding thick anchored chains.

“You call me the thief? He doesn’t belong to you, Wraith!” Terri snarled as she continued her spider-stomping battle dance; her sword's violet glow burned like a lit torch. Terri executed a final spin, slashing upward with her blade, the arc of the weapon left behind sparks of violet energy that combined and reformed into arrows of light; each fired from the sword’s arc, striking spiders on Asher with precision and leaving him spider free. Puffs of corpse smoke wreathed Asher, but Terri’s follow-up swing pulled the smoke from him, trailing after the sword. “I can see the mind tethers you hooked into the wall. When I say pull, you pull with all your strength.”

Asher took in a breath and gave a small nod.

Terri spun, the nimcha gathered more smoke from as far as Green’s battle. Then she froze, letting the trailing corpse smoke envelope the blade, before slicing her palm with a practiced flick; the sword let out a metallic sigh as it drank in the corpse smoke. Terri was a master of an art few others understood; she'd converted the corpse smoke of Lady Wraith’s spiders into an energy she could use — thief indeed. It all happened in a moment; the nimcha glowed brighter than when she'd first entered as her footwork carried her around Asher; A vertical or horizontal slash followed each step.

A spider bit into Green. Stuck Nugget! That burned. Green kicked out with his hind legs, sending the spider on a journey to impale on a rose prickle that Meyonohk was kind enough to thicken. Green chomped down on another, while his front paws hopped to squish a third. A box! She made a mini bunker of glowing slashes for them.

“Pull!”

Green let out a shout as another spider’s mandibles penetrated his fur. How’d it get up there? With a hop up and backwards, Green slammed his spine against a wide maple tree, turning the spider on his back into a smoking ichor smear on its bark. He rocked along the trunk from shoulders to rump; as his back legs found purchase, Green launched forward, snatching a leaping spider with his teeth.

Asher screamed, his arms held out to either side, knuckles devoid of the flush found throughout his face and arms as he pulled with all his mental strength; his eyes popped open as the walls unleashed a massive crack. “Green! Get down!”

Green tore apart another spider, then another; It seemed endless. None had gotten past, but a few took more than a sip; he and the bond path had both faded some. He had to move faster — he couldn’t get down or fall back until Asher wiped the board clean.

Terri finished her flourish and in a fluid motion knelt on the ground, between Asher and the slash marks she'd placed, the nimcha held between both hands as energy pulsed from the glyphs along the blade to feed the magic bunker she'd created. Spiders crawled up and over, but like Green’s barrier, where spider and barrier met, the energy sizzled as they tried to push through. “Anytime, Kiddo.”

Asher gave a hard yank on the invisible chains letting out a yell and the walls exploded in a rain of ice! The blast hit the spider’s first, causing most to pop like juice filled fruit snacks.

Green tore at spiders as the blast struck his hole-filled barrier, shattering it and popping spiders, but without the protection of a bunker, Green knew this was where it ended for him.

“I have you, Sir Didmouse.” Meyonohk wrapped him in a bubble of leaves as the explosive force knocked him from his feet.

No spider could survive that; he doubted bunnies protected by a god could either.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

***

Darkness had folded over him like a blanket after the blast hit. Asher? Terri? He was alive? Green didn’t know how much time had passed, but pain and weariness overwhelmed those thoughts. “Ow. Thanks for the assist, Meyonohk.”

“You must get up, Sir Didmouse.”

Green opened one eye; he was still in the bond, but the archway to Asher’s mind was gone.

“Where is he?”

The archway flickered. It was there for a moment, but then gone again.

“The barrier protected some. You need to get up. They are feeding.”

The spiders. “Stuck nugget. Energy?”

“Your body may not sustain it in this way for much longer. The one called Cheddar does all they can to sustain you.”

Green groaned and rolled to his feet. “Give me all you got. Asher is okay?”

“I know not.”

Green felt the energy flow through him. That’s better. Six, there were six he could see — they'd be hard to miss — grown as they had to the size of eight-legged ponies. They weren’t Meatloaf plastic spider big, but they were close, and they were feeding. He didn’t know what happened to Asher or Terri, no clue if either could tread in the bond while he was here, but no matter — the spiders had to be stopped. He’d lived a good life; It was time to go down fighting. It’s what Triskele would do.

The archway flicked back into existence as a shout echoed from it. Green snapped into action, sprinting at the nearest spider as Asher charged into the bond, throwing himself upon the back of the closest my-little-arachnid. He held shards of ice in each hand, the first split the carapace and anchored into its back. He swung the other stabbing through the protective armor repeatedly, raining smoke and purple ichor across the quickly graying foliage.

Terri was right behind, blade slicing at any appendage it could reach. They both looked near drained, but could they cycle in the mindscape? Did their color reflect their physical bodies? This was one area Green knew little about.

Two spiders were feeding, still growing, while one thrashed under Asher’s improvised daggers, trying to dislodge the spider-rider. Two squared off against Terri, but the Cutter held them at bay, taking careful swings when openings appeared; she used the trees as cover but kept Asher’s flank guarded — one spider came for Green.

“Feed them Meyonohk, please.”

The spider pounced.

“I have no tie with Terri Davis. Her presence in the bond is causing harm.”

Green dodged under two of the spider’s legs, meant to skewer him, but he swerved out from underneath as it turned. Mandibles lunged downwards, but with a quick twist, Green avoided, and they sunk into the hard packed path; with a second sharp turn, through the spray of mental soil, he hopped up to the creature’s back, then spring boarded behind it. There! Meyonohk was right; everywhere Terri stepped, the foliage withered and died. “Asher, Terri needs to leave! Go with her.” The distraction cost him — the spider sent Green sprawling with a kick.

Riding the spider into the ground, his ice daggers pierced the shadow creature’s vitals and, as he tumbled forward, it puffed into smoke. “What?” He scurried sideways, foot-to-hand like a crab as one spider beat past one of Terri’s parries, almost skewering Asher with its leg.

“Look at her feet.” Green zipped forward, catching the leg that kicked him with his teeth, near its body it was thicker than he could chomp through in a single bite, but with his teeth magically enhanced he still tore a thick chunk free. Landing, he spat the leg chunk free, turned, and kicked out his hind legs, ripping the weakened appendage from the spider’s body. The spider roared, and Green assumed it was more in anger than pain as it rebalanced and lashed out.

The two mustang sized spiders stopped their feast and joined the fray. One charged towards Asher, ripping a small tree from the ground, snapping it with its hedge trimmer sized mandibles as it did. The other charged for Green.

Green knew one bite was all it would take to end him. “I can handle this. Take Terri and go!”

“Terri, you can’t be in here. You’re destroying the bond!” Asher said.

She severed another leg from one spider and with a twist dodged mandibles of the other, bringing her blade up and around to slash through its head. It twitched as it fell to the ground, dissipating in a wave of smoke. “We give ground together.”

“No. You go, I can’t leave him.” Asher twisted and threw an ice dagger, but the thoroughbred spider batted it away and curled its legs to pounce. “He can’t fight these alone.” He took up his remaining ice dagger in his left hand and set his feet to meet the attack.

Terri parried the smaller one, then rushed forward in a flurry, ending with a sidestep as the spider’s momentum brought it past. She twisted her body between two legs and struck. Her sword cleaved through carapace and split the spider in two. The ichor covering her turned to smoke as she sprinted for her nephew. “Move!” Terri slammed into Asher, knocking him out of the jumbo spider’s path.

The spider went past, but now it stood between them and the archway to Asher's mind.

They both pushed up from the ground, Terri back in a defensive stance; Asher a step behind. “I had it.”

“No, Kiddo. You didn’t. We need to leave. Now.”

The spider turned to face them, letting out a hiss as it clashed its mandibles.

“Trust your familiar. That’s Fleetfury and he’s been in tougher scraps than this.” She reached back with her free hand and gave him a push. It was enough. They moved together, circling to the left, using the trees as cover, keeping the spider to the front as they worked their way towards the archway.

Three left, one large and two jumbos. That was kind of Terri, Green knew it was a blatant lie, but kind. Green hopped on the back of the injured smaller spider as the other closed. His magically enhanced diggy claws went to work, ripping through carapace as easily as loose hay. The spider hit the ground, turning to dark smoke as the nearest jumbo charged in, but the smoke offered cover, and Green flashed into the foliage before it struck. Hopefully, the other spider would follow Asher and Terri through the archway. Green could handle this one.

Nope. As Green came out of the smoke, he watched the second spider turn away from Asher and Terri as they slipped back into Asher's mind. One he might be able to take, but two?

“What can we do?” Asher asked. He threw his second ice dagger, but it bounced off the larger spider’s armor. “We need to help him.”

Left or right one first? What was it Triskele said? ‘Adventurers always go left.’ Good enough; Green sprinted for a nearby pine tree; jumped high as he could, then spun and launched off the pine at the left spider — front paws ready to dig, teeth ready to chomp, he was furry fury from above.

“We need to help from the real,” said Terri. She turned and made a Cutter’s X. “You need to will yourself out.”

A roar of yellow-green fire rolled through the mindscape. Terri didn’t wait; she dove for the X as the blaze engulfed Asher’s mind.