Gilda didn’t have time to worry about the distant archers or the sorcerer because another wolf rushed forward. Gilda barely blocked its claws with her blades and pushed it back.

Pain.

Blood oozed out around the arrow in her thigh. She shoved the beast away and hopped forward on her good leg until she was close enough to slice into its flesh and finish it off.

Her brain was getting fuzzy, and it was getting harder to think through the excruciating throbbing coming from her leg. She was losing too much blood to continue much longer. When would that blasted bard be ready?

Movement caught her eye and her hand moved automatically to cut down the arrow aimed at her heart. Her dagger split the wooden shaft in two and stopped the attack.

The world grew quiet. Thorin’s song was over and row after row of enemy combatants fell to the ground, asleep. The chain reaction had the monsters falling on top of each other and when the spell reached the great oak tree the archers dropped from its branches. “Finally, thank you, Thorin. Everyone kill as many as you can in the next minute, then we’re heading in.”

“You’re bleeding!” Shon said. He ran to her side and asked, “What can I do to help?”

“Pull the green bottle out of the pack on my back and don’t worry. I brought healing potions,” Gilda explained.

“Is this it?” Shon showed her the green bottle and she nodded to confirm. Gilda sheathed her daggers to free her hands.

“You might want to look away for a moment. I have to pull out the arrow before I use magic to heal the wound.” Her son followed her advice, and Gilda took a deep breath to steady herself before using both of her hands to break the arrow. The movement was agony to her leg.

Gilda pulled the arrow through the back of her leg and when she saw all the blood on the broken weapon the shock and pain took over. Her head went blank and suddenly the ground was closer. Did I just fall? Shon’s voice came through a fog but she couldn’t tell what he was saying. Everything was hazy.

She remembered the glass potion bottle in her hand and with great effort managed to raise it to her lips and drink. It tasted of vinegar and tree bark. Gilda gagged but still managed to swallow every last drop. She desperately needed to close her eyes and rest, but knew that would be bad. She was in the middle of something important.

“Mom, are you alright?” Shon’s shaking voice brought the world around her back into focus.

She was in the middle of a battle and the lives of everyone in the village were at stake. She couldn’t afford to sit here moping. Gilda looked down at her leg wound. The potion numbed most of the pain and her skin started to form a large scab.

“I’m fine. Go and kill some monsters while I recover. We cannot waste any time, because we do not know how long they will stay sleeping. Head for the sorcerer by the tree. We cannot leave a magician here. Who knows how many innocents they will kill when they awaken,” Gilda said.

Thorin at least was already cutting down enemies with a knife. Gilda took a moment for herself. One moment to breathe and heal. She ignored everything and focused on air coming into and leaving her body. Ten long breaths later she opened her eyes and stood. She put a little pressure on her injured leg. It hurt, but it was a manageable level of discomfort. Nothing compared to giving birth. I did that already, so I can do anything.

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Gilda unsheathed both of her daggers and made her way to the portal. Killing any monsters in her way that were still alive. Blood covered her clothes as her kill count grew higher. With each death, her experience points grew and she was getting close to hitting level 23 by the time she stood in front of the glowing portal.

“Let’s enter. Come to me,” Gilda yelled out for both of her party members to hear. Once all three of them were gathered together they entered the dungeon. It looked the same as she remembered. A dark and desolate cave, but one fact was immediately different. Enemies were waiting for them. Usually, the area where they entered was a safe space free of enemies.

Gilda rushed forward to keep the goblins away from Thorin so that he could sing in peace. Shon followed her to the frontline and for at least ten minutes they hacked down enemies side by side kicking the fallen to the side to keep the ground clear. Yet nothing they did could stop the flow of blood from covering the rocky floor.

Despite her skills and her many agility points, Gilda struggled to grip the slick rocky floor. Her feet slid and caused her to miss a goblin’s vital organs. She turned the blade and pulled it back to her body with the neck of the goblin in the path of return. She cut through the jugular and blood sprayed all over her arm.

She checked on her boy. He too had a pile of bodies next to him. They locked eyes momentarily. Just long enough for her to see a club flying towards the back of his head. “Get down,” Gilda yelled.

Shon jerked down and the thrown weapon missed its target. “Thanks, Mom,” Shon replied, “I’m level 3 now. I can already feel myself getting stronger.”

A wolf nipped at his arm and he parried before stabbing it in the heart. “Less talking, more killing, we really need to move somewhere else. I’m running out of room to move here with all the blood and bodies.”

“There’s still a bit of space behind us. I think that will be easier than pushing through all of the en…” Shon’s sentence was cut off.

Gilda decapitated a wolf and turned to see her boy on the ground. She grabbed one of her throwing knives at the goblin in front of her boy and rushed to his side. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“I slipped. I’m fine, just keep your attention on the enemy. I think I can see some space up ahead. Their numbers are dwindling.” Shon hopped back up and they fought side by side to the rhythm of the bard’s buffing song. Gilda wasn’t sure how much time passed but the moment she finished off the final monster in sight she sat down. Exhausted was not a strong enough word to describe how she felt. She was too old for this.

Thorin sat next to her, took a long drink of water, then handed her the canteen. “Drink. I can hardly move and all I did was sing. You must be hurting.”

Gilda guzzled down the water. It was sweet and cool. “How many more monsters are in this dungeon? I’m sure we killed several hundred. More than 5 times the number of monsters I would expect in a normal dungeon and we just entered.”

“I’ve no idea, but we should rest and eat while we can.” They took about a quarter of an hour to do just that. Once they all were ready they waded past the mounds of monster corpses. Soon they were past the battle scene and had more room to move. They walked through winding passageways, and large and small caverns, all without seeing or hearing anything. It was eerily silent, except for their labored breathing and footsteps.

Gilda led them into another chamber. The moment she entered a chill ran down her spine. Something was wrong. She stopped walking and put her hand out to block others from trying to pass her. Gilda couldn’t see anything up ahead that would be alarming. Just more rocks, stalactites, and stalagmites. Where was this horrifying energy coming from?

Gilda focused all of her senses on the cavern. The smell was musty and the air felt damp. A drip of water fell and made the slightest of noises as it hit the stalagmite below. Danger came from the left. She could feel something vile emanating from that direction. Movement caught her eye and she realized her mistake. The cave was not empty. What she had assumed to be a large lump of rock was actually the back of a rotund monster. Did it sense her eyes watching? Something twitched and then eight eyes opened to stare at her.

A spider.

No.

A giant spider that was as tall as a house.