Chap. 3 Not Spiders
Standing up, Devon wasn’t sure where to go from here. He knew that he was probably in a cave, but he still had no visibility. He shrugged and just started to walk forward carefully to avoid being tripped.
He soon hit a wall, and with no other option he kept moving along the wall, his hands outstretched and feeling along the moist cavern moss and lichen. He shivered as he thought of the bugs that could live in there, but for now he just ignored his aversion to insects and germs.
Finally, a turn in the enclosing stone was reached, and feeling in the same direction he was moving he felt more stone on the other side. An opening had been reached. Finally, he decided to leave the cavern behind and follow the passageway, but before he could he heard a clattering behind him. Frozen in place, Devon prepared to run.
* ••
The scorpion hadn’t had anything bigger than a fox visit its cavern for years. It had a vague recollection of some other two-legged creatures in the past, but they fell after a skirmish. That was where it had gotten the gash across its side, and the shiny metal to add to its pile. Ah, the pile...
It suddenly remembered what it was doing and kept watching the scary two-legged. It had appeared in the scorpion’s first cave while it was watching the entrance and seemed to have no awareness of the scorpion. If this was any other creature, the scorpion would have immediately attacked. But this one had appeared with the danger feeling, and anything with the danger feeling was bad.
The scorpion also remembered when it had gotten the danger feeling. It was right after killing an intruder into its cave in its younger days, another scorpion trying to take its pile and its home. However, that scorpion had been defeated, and its meager belongings taken for the better scorpion’s pile. The danger sense helped it protect its pile much better now that it knew when strong things were around. The pile... The scorpion clacked its claws together in enjoyment.
Ah! The two-legged had almost been alerted to the noise it had just made thinking about its pile, but the two-legged had fallen at the same time. It had to be quieter, even while thinking about its pile.
The scorpion considered attacking. The danger feeling was almost gone, and it wasn’t around the primitive two-legged. It was only a brief flash as soon as the two-legged appeared, and now the two-legged was moving towards the cave wall. WAIT! THE PILE! THE TWO-LEGGED WAS MOVING TO THE PILE!
The scorpion hurled itself forward, skittering over the stone ground towards the two legged. This intruder would pay.
* ••
Devon hurled forward and scrambled up as he heard a crash behind him. He ran forward, touching the cave wall for support. He could hear the clacking of legs on the ground of the spider behind him, and he saw a faint light as he turned the corner.
Another second of frenzied sprinting revealed a large cavern with a mound of gold at the end, and Devon felt a pit in his stomach before he rushed towards it. Coins and random bits of scrap metal jingled down the side as he used all of his backpacking experience to clamber up the collection, using armor and--was that a bone? -- as handholds to push himself farther.
At the top of the mound, he turned around and was greeted by the sight of a humongous scorpion paused at the entrance to the cavern. It seemed confused, jerking its tail in quick movements back and forth. The bulbs on the tail pulsated with venom as it did so. Devon shuddered as he imagined the pain that venom would cause. Devon started moving backwards, keeping his eyes on the scorpion and waited for it to strike.
* ••
The scorpion was perplexed. Did the two-legged want to run away? There was no other way to go! Stupid two-legged. It twisted its tail and slowly moved forward, making sure to keep between the entrance and the two-legged.
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* ••
As the scorpion moved towards him, Devon looked around with urgency. There were random treasures and gold, but he couldn’t see anything that he could realistically use. He’d read enough to know that the sword sticking out of the treasure like a kebab stick would be much too heavy to lift. As the scorpion slowly advanced, he didn’t make any sudden movements.
The only option was to escape, but he couldn’t get past the scorpion. He could try, but he had thought up a possibly better idea. The dim glow of light came from the center of the pile, and light could mean fire. The best option for escape probably lay inside of the pile, about 5 feet deep. It was a totally random idea, but he didn’t have time to think of a better one and running straight past the scorpion seemed like the quickest way to get himself killed.
The scorpion’s leg hit the edge of the gold pile, coins clinking. Devon pushed away coins, getting bruises from ricocheting metal. He was slightly stronger than expected, and could already see the jagged edge of the very bright light as he got closer.
The scorpion’s front leg dove down almost lazily towards Devon, and he barely managed to dodge. He scrambled for the light and held it up above his head. Through sheer luck, the scorpion’s next stab bounced off the crystal and dove into the pile.
Devon pushed himself backwards with his legs, and started rolling down the pile, trying to help himself along. The scorpion started to get more serious, whipping out its tail for a devastating blow that... missed? Devon pushed himself up and started a frenzied run towards the exit.
The scorpion clacked its claws loudly behind him, and another blow slammed down next to him. This one was incredibly powerful, and stone shards cut into Devon’s side. He still couldn’t understand why the scorpion was missing, but kept running.
Through all the chaos, he could see the cave he had appeared in just through the passageway. The scorpion wasn’t done, however. It attempted to move past him into the entrance, but as it started to move past Devon, he reached out and grabbed hold of the scorpion’s leg, holding the leg with one arm and the sharp crystal with the other hand.
Devon couldn’t believe he had just done that. The scorpion skittered around in an unbelievably fast circle, and he barely hung on, only his one arm wrapped around the scorpion. His arm seared with pain, and he shouted a cry of rage and stabbed the crystal into the scorpion’s tan carapace.
* ••
The scorpion couldn’t believe that the two-legged had just done that. Was it a defense mechanism? It couldn’t risk striking at the two-legged because of the cloud of danger feeling obscuring its sense, but it needed to get it off. It whirled around, but the two-legged held on. After it stopped spinning, it started panicking. The other two-legged hadn’t gotten this close before it killed them. What would the two-legged do--
CRACK!
The scorpion had been hit! It panicked, shaking around and trying to stop the parasite on its leg from getting in another hit. It hit the walls of the cave, scraping along the wall, and the two-legged finally fell off. The scorpion readied its tail, now taking the two-legged seriously. The group of two-leggeds had done more damage, but the scorpion had been able to hit them. This two-legged needed to be killed.
* ••
Devon blacked out for a brief moment as he impacted the wall and found himself on the cave ground the next second. He couldn’t focus, but he already knew he would have to keep moving. He rolled to the side as the scorpion struck and felt like an action movie character even as dirt and stone sprayed him and cut him up. He grabbed the crystal and crawled into a sprint away from the scorpion.
Luckily, his sprint took him towards the wall leading to the entrance chamber. He kept pumping his legs, but the scorpion seemed to have no intention of chasing him. He ran up the passageway and towards another tunnel revealed by the light.
A far away clacking inspired him to run even faster, and after a few skidding turns he saw light not made by his crystal. He slowed down a bit as he walked out of the tunnel and was in awe at the sight that presented itself.
In the distance, great mountains loomed over a green forest of pines. The forest extended towards him, with pristine lakes and ravines visible from his vantage point. After a few kilometers it gave way to the mountainous terrain he was in right now.
Clear creeks bubbled down the hill he was on, some running into caves that probably had other scorpions inside. Above, a cloudless sky revealed a bright yellow sun, sending rays into the dark forest below.
Devon took in the view, knowing that while he wasn’t safe yet, at least he was free.