What Prunhiline lacked in direction was that she more than made up for it with her tracking skills. She could track anything or anyone. As she carefully navigated the woods, inspecting limbs, twigs, and bushes, Britina couldn't help but admire her. Prunhiline might be a handful, but when she focused, she was truly remarkable.

After an hour of silent walking, Prunhiline whispered, “Bri, I’ve lost the trail.”

“How?” Britina asked.

“I’m not sure. The zombie tracks are so thick here that I can’t make out the Prince’s tracks anymore.” Britina nodded, though she had no idea how Prunhiline could make sense of it in the first place. “I think we should keep going this way toward where the zombies came from.”

“So, the Prince was tracking the zombies back to their source, not just running from them? I get wanting to protect his people, but going alone seems reckless,” Britina said.

“He may have been tracking them back to the source so he could bring back more warriors. Or he could have been chased this way on purpose,” Prunhiline said.

“Dear love, do you think he’s still alive?” Britina asked, her voice tinged with sorrow.

“Yes, I don’t think they killed him,” Prunhiline said with too much conviction to argue with.

The two adventurers headed north. They walked for some time, with Prunhiline checking for tracks. Britina was nervous. This area had zombies and giant spiders. She wasn’t as eager to add anything to Prunhiline’s title as Prunhiline was.

The attack was swift. Neither saw it coming. A giant spider fell from the trees onto Britina. She screamed in surprise as her horse reared, knocking her to the ground. Prunhiline leaped off her steadfast warhorse, hammer in hand, ready for a fight. It stood with the resolve of a warhorse and never flinched.

“Bri!” Prunhiline shouted, rushing to her companion. Britina swatted the spider off her chest; it was large, about the size of her hand, but not truly giant. She scrambled to her feet and scanned the area, spotting spiders in the trees, none of them giant variety.

“Randle’s afraid of spiders,” Britina said with a frown. “Not giant spiders, just spiders.”

Prunhiline laughed. “Yeah, looks like these are just slightly big spiders. Nothing to worry about.”

“I’ve been worried about it since he told us.” Britina stomped her foot, almost crushing the slightly big spider. She wasn’t trying to hurt it; it was just in the way. It's a good thing she missed it.

“Who threatens my babies?” a voice echoed through the woods. It was a voice full of menace, protection, and danger. It almost slithered with threat.

Britina turned her back to Prunhiline. The mage spread her arms slightly and ignited her hands with magic. The warrior turned with her back to the mage and readied her war hammer. They had practiced this defensive move so many times that neither needed to think about it.

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“Who’s there?” Britina commanded.

“I’m the Mother,” the hiss replied from above them. The slightly big spiders had all left. The forest was quiet.

“Not my mom,” Prunhiline sneered.

“Prun,” Britina whispered a warning. Then, to the unknown entity, she said, “We are looking for someone. Could you help us?”

“And you found someone,” the voice said, now coming from Britina’s right. Both the mage and the warrior shifted their stances to protect themselves.

“If I may ask again, who are you?” Britina asked slowly, wanting to avoid a fight.

“I am the Mother of many.” The disembodied voice had moved directly in front of Britina. Prunhiline widened her stance, ready for an attack from any direction.

Before either could ask again, it emerged from the forest. And it was huge. Randle’s giant spider had made an appearance. The monster was three times as big as Prunhiline’s warhorse. What was worse was the emergence of the giant spider’s children. So many had appeared in the trees and bushes around them that they could barely make out the foliage through the swarm of slightly big spiders.

“I apologize for almost hurting one of your children. It was an accident,” Britina said quickly. Even the warrior would have trouble with this encounter.

“Accepted,” the Mother Spider said. “Why are you here?”

“We are looking for someone, a Dwarven Prince. He may have been abducted by some undead,” Britina said, still ready for an attack.

“Yes,” the Mother Spider replied. “He passed through my domain. Why do you seek him?”

“It’s a rescue mission,” Prunhiline snapped. She wanted less talking and more hitting.

The Mother Spider began to make a clicking noise. Her children disappeared, but the two adventurers could feel a thousand eyes watching them. “Yes,” she said.

“Could you help us?” Britina asked.

“Maybe.” The Mother Spider’s eyes never left the mage.

“What could we offer in exchange for assistance?” Britina asked, hoping it wasn’t something truly awful.

“Babysit,” the Mother Spider clicked.

Britina dropped her hands. “What?” she exclaimed.

“Babysit,” the Mother Spider said again, her clicking voice amused.

“You want us to babysit?” Prunhiline asked, as alarmed as Britina. She dropped her war hammer to her side and turned to face the giant spider.

“Yes,” the Mother Spider said again. The two adventurers stood, surprised, blinking at the giant spider. “I need a break.” They looked at each other, then back at the giant spider. “It’s hard work being a single mom.”

“Prunhiline, the Slightly Giant Spider Babysitter,” Prunhiline mumbled, then added with excitement, “I like it! We’ll do it!”

“Prun!” Britina looked surprised at her companion.

Prunhiline turned to Britina. “Look, Bri, we babysit, and then she helps us. It’s a win.” She turned back to the Mother Spider. “How long?”

“One hour,” the Mother Spider said.

“How?” Britina asked.

“Entertain them,” the Giant Spider said as it disappeared into the woods. Then, the children returned.

“Entertain them? How are we supposed to do that?” Britina asked, glancing at Prunhiline.

“Storytime!” Prunhiline said. “Children love stories.”

“You want to tell a story for an hour?” Britina said.

“Sure, Bri. We’ll start with my title,” Prunhiline said proudly.

“No, we won’t. You’ll want to finish it, and the Prince will be dead of old age,” Britina snapped back.

“I could tell them a story from my favorite puppet show, My Little Colorful Dragons?” Prunhiline suggested, hopeful about spreading the word of MLCD.

“Let’s take a vote from our audience. How many want to hear my companion re-tell a story from My Little Colorful Dragons?” Britina looked around. The chatter from their audience was rather loud.

“Hey, they know about MLCD! Fans everywhere!” Prunhiline was excited to meet more DragBros.

Britina sighed, unsure if the chatter was agreement or hunger. “Or,” Britina announced loudly, “a story about how Prunhiline and I—”

“Got married!” Prunhiline shouted, cutting off the mage.

“No!” Britina yelled hysterically. She took a breath and said, “Or we could tell them how we met.” The chatter grew even louder.

“Great idea!” Prunhiline said.

Hello, Dear Reader. That’s a story for another time. You can read Prun & Bri: Friends and Enemies - How They Met. Just kidding, keep reading.