Chaele chucked a potion down to the minister. “There. Tooth, dentist, cherry syrup with baby aspirin. Go home.”

The man took a swig, then bounded to his feet. “Just what I needed, heroes! Before I go, I must entrust you with another mission, the true reason I came for a hike.”

Kodish lumbered closer, excited. “Gold?”

“Silk,” he corrected. “Silk from one of the really rare spiders, one hidden deep within a cave to the north of here. I was on my way there when I was assaulted by the giant hyena-thing.”

“It’s not even threatening,” Kodish pointed out. “You have to hit it first before it’ll attack you!”

The minister shrugged. “Sometimes I get cocky, okay? That’s besides the point! The silk! The silk, man! The rarest of the land.”

“Which land?” Kodish questioned.

“This land, surely,” the minister said, spreading his arms to indicate the village and surrounding lands of berry-bushes. “It’s very important. I want to make a present for my wife, it’s our anniversary, and you know how that is.”

Kodish shook his head. “No. How is it?”

Chaele scowled. “Where’s the cave?”

“To the north,” the minister said.

“There’s a lot of north,” she pointed out. “Can’t you get more specific?”

He thought for a long moment. “No.”

Chaele and Kodish headed north. When Kodish swung his axe toward a hyena-thing, Chaele jumped in front of it. “Don’t be stupid, these things aren’t worth our time.”

“You said earlier—-”

“Let’s go!” With rising impatience, Chaele began to run north, and Kodish gave in and followed. Soon enough, they saw the litterings of spiders — tiny little webs, eggs spun in silk, oh, and spiders too.

“It’s not even on the cliffs,” Chaele commented. “How in the—-”

Kodish cut her off with a yelp. She spun around and saw that three spiders were launching themselves on him. She yanked out an arrow, and fired at one. It abandoned Kodish and scurried her way. She put another arrow in it, but not before it reached her. As it sank tiny teeth into her leg, she realized she couldn’t use her bow on this one. Too close, she’d probably shoot her calf somehow. She yanked a white-handled knife from her belt, just some common thing she packed around, and stabbed it in the head. It wasn’t bothered. She stabbed again, and again, daydreaming about a truly epic dagger she hoped to have someday. The dragon probably kept one its lair.

Eventually the stupid spider fell off, legs twitching, then died. She looked over and saw that Kodish had taken out four.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Any of them have that silk?” she called, kneeling down to search her kill. She found webbing, but it was frayed and torn, and not at all special. Kodish shook his head too. She looked up, saw the cave entrance, and said, “Probably in there then. Come on, and try not to let more of them see your big feet, okay?”

“What am I supposed to do? Paint them like grass?” Kodish asked, looking at his orcishly green toes, which were currently sticking out of a pair of frayed, cloth boots he’d found on the body of a hyena-thing.

“Just… don’t be so aggravating,” she suggested.

“Easy for you to say,” Kodish said, but under his breath. He tiptoed as he walked beside her into the cave. It was dark inside, but not too dark. They both paused at the first bend and looked at each other.

“I can hear water up there,” Kodish said. “Which is good, I’m out.”

“Why do you even have water?” Chaele demanded. “It doesn’t help you, just takes up space in your pack.”

Kodish gave her a blank stare. “We’re in a desert. Haven’t you heard of dehydration?”

Chaele gave an impatient shake of her head and started forward once more. “So think it’s a big spider, like the hyena-thing?”

“Probably not,” he said. “Dude wouldn’t send us after two giant things in a row. More likely, it’s just one of these spiders. Let’s kill ‘em!”

And with that, he rushed forward, bashing heads with his axe, splattering spider guts with each hit as more and more flocked to him. Chaele thought about helping, but then decided it wasn’t worth drawing attention to herself. After all, he had an axe and she only had a knife.

Once he’d slain a good handful, they began searching the bodies. Gray silk, white silk, torn silk, eggs, spider hair, an eyeball — gross, Chaele decided as she pocketed it — but no rare silk.

The Kodish cheered and held up a shiny handful of what looked like pink thread. “Got it! This guy, right here!”

Chaele hurried to him before the bodies could disintegrate, and patted it down. “None left for me… I guess we each have to find our own?”

“My guess too,” Kodish agreed, happily stuffing the silk into his pack. “Come on, I’ll help kill ‘em.”

For the next fifteen minutes, Chaele watched Kodish slaughter spiders, checking each body after. No luck, no dice, no cigar, she could think of a million ways to say there was no silk, which she grouchily did each time Kodish asked.

“Let’s go further in,” Chaele suggested. She moved forward, hopping over fallen rocks and jumping over a small ledge. When they’d made two wrong turns, ended up back at the beginning, and made their way back again, they finally found the water Kodish had heard. It was a big stream that ran… somewhere, though clearly not out of the cave. Kodish happily splashed into it, cupping his hands and drinking.

Chaele didn’t like getting wet, so she edged around it. Behind the giant boulder that the water seemed to be coming from, she saw a child sitting cross-legged. They stared at each other for a moment.

“What are you doing here?” Chaele finally asked.

“You found me!” the child exclaimed, jumping happily to her feet. “I’ve been hoping a brave adventurer would dare the treacheries of the cave, but I’ve been worried nobody would come.”

“There’s been like… a hundred guys in here looking for silk since this morning,” Chaele pointed out.

The kid stared at her, eyes wide. “Yeah, but so? I wanted someone who's a true hero! Clearly that’s you.”

“Why?”

“You know better than to get your feet wet,” the girl explained. “My ma says that’s how you catch a cold.”

“Who are you talking to?” Kodish called, still splashing around.

“He’s going to get a cold,” the kid stage-whispered.

“There’s a kid back here, lost in the cave,” Chaele yelled back.

Kodish came out of the water, muttering, “Sure, I’ve got to walk quiet, but you can yell all you want… kid, what are you doing here?”

“I lost my doll,” the girl announced. “I was hoping to find her.”

“You lost her in a cave?” Kodish asked.

“No, but here I am! And now I’m too scared to leave,” she explained. She lowered her voice and dramatically added, “There’s SPIDERS.”

“You came through the spiders to get here, though,” Kodish blinked at her.

“Yeah, but NOW I’M SCARED. Are you going to take me home?”

Chaele and Kodish looked at each other.

“Well hell,” Chaele said, shrugging. “We’ll probably get something out of it, right? Come on kid, time to go.”