The Spider Garden Part 1

The group's journey south continued on for a few more days. They stuck close to the river, periodically stopping for meals and to rest. The days passed quickly for the dragons with Tars gathering food, Giga learning how to run, and the two young wyverns testing their wings and starting learning how to fly. Brand wondered if Giga would be jealous of their flying capability, but whenever they started to flap their wings and take off from the ground he would just look at them with indifference.

As for the sapient members of the party, Perenu would tell the others war stories from his youth, Ernagcio would continually brag about himself, his wyvern Nesto, and his family, and Brand and Alreya would usually listen in silence or talk amongst themselves. This continued until the group reached a point in the river that turned into a massive waterfall. Brand heard the roar of the falls and walked to the edge of the cliff that shot straight down. He gulped at the large distance between him and the large rocks below, mostly hidden by treetops, and then quickly retreated a few steps. "Do we have to climb down the cliff?" Brand asked nervously. "I'm not really worried about myself, but I don't think Giga will be able to make it down himself." he lied.

"No, we will not have to climb down." Perenu answered. "This is where we turn east into the forest and head through the Garden of Spiders."

"How about we climb down the cliff and go around the spiders?" Brand retorted, quickly forgetting about his fear of heights. "I'd rather not enter a place called the Spider Garden."

Perenu laughed. "You do not have to worry about the spiders. They are only the size of an elf and are not as poisonous as their northern counterparts. It would take at least three bites to kill you and they do not travel in groups."

Brand's jaw almost hit the floor. "Did you just say the size of an elf?! We are voluntarily going to a place that has spiders as big as me crawling around? Nope. Can't do it. I refuse. Me and Giga will just walk right back to where we came from. It's too bad we couldn't make it to the Capital Country. Just a real shame." Brand's mouth started working overtime as his brain was trying to register the fact that there were man-sized spiders running around in this world. The courage that he had found from Giga and the ritual disappeared just as quickly as it had come. Spiders were bad enough. Giant spiders were just too much for him to handle.

Perenu stopped laughing and quickly blocked Brand's path. "Whoa there youngster, every elf... or man, in this case, needs to face their fears sometime. How will you get anywhere in life if you keep retracing your steps? Besides, everyone knows that spiders are terrified of dragons. And we are traveling with four of them. There is a good possibility we will not even see a spider web, let alone a spider."

Looking back at Alreya, Ernagcio, and the dragons, Brand sighed heavily and said "Alright. Fine. Lead the way. But if we run into any spiders and I start screaming it's your fault."

"Good." Perenu smiled. He motioned for the group to follow him as started making his way through the trees heading east. The cliff tapered off to the right as they followed Perenu into the ever-thickening forest. As they walked the trees started to get closer together and it became darker and darker as the light of the sky slowly disappeared from view.

"How is Tars going to find us if he can't see us?" Brand asked nervously. "Isn't he our biggest spider repellent? Shouldn't he be walking with us?"

"Me and Tars have a connection." Perenu told him. "He will always know which direction I am in and I will know his. And he would not be able to fit in between these trees. He will fly overhead until it is time to make camp."

"Right. Makes sense." Brand stated. He was walking as close to Giga as he could with one hand on Giga and the other using his spear as a walking stick. If spiders hated dragons, then he wanted no chance of them getting separated. The day crept by as they all walked further and further into the Garden of Spiders, but by the time night had arrived, they hadn't seen evidence of any spider activity whatsoever.

Ernagcio helped Perenu make the campfire when they found a space in the trees big enough for Tars to land comfortably. Tars crashed gracefully through the treetops and landed on the outside of the space and quickly curled up next to the outline of trees. As the smoke from the fire rose, little embers of flame danced around the smoke and lifted into the lowest branches. "What happens if the trees catch on fire?" Brand asked Alreya as they sat on a small fallen log that they had placed around the fire. "Shouldn't we be more careful? How do you guys handle forest fires?"

Alreya turned to look at the trees overhead and replied "The trees in the Ostish Forest are mostly fireproof. Unless a dragon breathes directly on a tree, it will not burn. A lot of dragons live in the forest, it would not be a forest for very long if it easily caught on fire."

"Hmm." Brand grunted in apprehension. Just as they were getting settled down, Brand heard music suddenly ringing in his ear. It was something that sounded like a mix between a guitar and a harp. He looked over to find that Perenu had pulled out an instrument and was starting to sing.

"Oh sweet little flower..." Perenu sang in a high voice. "Why did you bloom so young? I thought you would be a sprout forever, but the bell of your youth has been rung. Now you are so pretty, for all the world to see, but you will always be... but you will always be... but you will always be... a seed to me!"

Brand had to admit that the song had a nice melody, but it was making him a little uncomfortable at the same time. "Why are you singing?" Brand asked Perenu as he kept playing. "Don't we want the spiders to not know where we are?"

"Sweet music keeps the spiders away!" Perenu smiled as he kept strumming on his lute-like instrument. "They hate jolly melodies and cannot stand upbeat ditties!"

"Is that true?" Brand leaned over to Alreya and asked.

"It is just an old myth." Alreya answered. "I do not think anybody really knows if spiders hate music or not."

"Well, by all means, keep playing!" Brand shouted at Perenu. "Better safe than sorry." And Perenu kept playing for quite a while. When he had stopped and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, Brand couldn't help but look at the giganotosaurus that had laid down on the ground and was sleeping comfortably right in front of him. He felt like he had jumped straight into one of those Triassic Planet movies. He couldn't help the proud feeling that washed over him whenever he looked at Giga. He had actually summoned a dinosaur. An actual dinosaur from Earth. Thinking about it now, Giga was the strongest connection he still had to Earth. Well, Giga and his precious sneakers. He wondered what secrets the dinosaur sleeping next to him would reveal in the future. Smiling at Giga, Brand once again cuddled up next to his scaly partner and fell asleep.

As soon as Brand's eyes closed, some bushes right outside the ring of trees where the group slept quietly began to rustle. In the dark of the night, eight glowing eyes abruptly appeared looking at the sleeping elves, dragons, and human. And just as soon as they had appeared, the eyes vanished.