The Spider Garden Part 2

Brand came to the next morning to the smell of meat cooking over a fire. At least he thought it was morning. It was too dark in the forest now to really tell. The trees that surrounded them had become taller, wilder, and even more sinister than when they were traveling in the elves part of the forest. Vines and bushes seemed to be growing everywhere making for a very eerie atmosphere.

Brand stood up and looked around the small outcropping of space they had found last night to rest their eyes. He had asked Perenu last night if they had needed to set up lookouts, but apparently dragons could sense whenever they were in danger. Perenu himself could sense if he was in imminent danger while asleep, but he had been taught this skill in Draporora. So they had all gotten a good night's sleep.

After they had all had a breakfast made of yak leftovers, some fruit, and water, Tars took off again through the trees to fly above the forest as the rest of the group walked below. Brand gathered up his bag that Alreya's mother Maneya had given him, his dagger, and his spear and once again fell in beside Giga, Alreya, and Atil, following behind Perenu, Ernagcio, and Nesto. Perenu and Alreya were carrying makeshift torches with a couple of sticks they had found lying around. The group left the outcropping of trees and once again began to make their way through the dense, dark forest ahead of them.

As they went the underbrush of the forest became thicker and thicker. Pretty soon the group was forced to proceed single file behind Perenu who had infused magic into his sword and began to cleave a path forward through the forest that had become unpassable otherwise. The forest also became darker as the little rays of light that had been shining through the treetops had all but disappeared. At this point, Alreya and Perenu made torches for Brand and Ernagcio as well. Brand was amazed that Perenu seemed to know where he was going since he would've become lost quite easily if he were by himself.

Behind Brand, Giga was bringing up the rear of the column, looking very natural stalking through the woodland. Brand then looked ahead to where Atil and Nesto were. The wyverns seemed to be having a tougher time making their way through the flora than Giga. It wasn't very surprising as they looked like they were made for flying, and Giga's natural habitat was the jungle.

After some time of moving like that through the forest, Ernagcio's voice could suddenly be overheard up ahead saying "My feet are incredibly sore. We should rest for a little bit. In fact, let us stop for lunch. An elf was never meant to walk so long and so far. We have wings for a reason my grandpappy always says." Ernagcio looked back at his dragon. "And Nesto here looks like he is wearing out his front claws already. He was never meant to crawl through this maze of greenery either." Nesto just stared at Ernagcio curiously with a look that said: "I can keep going as long as I need to!"

"Let us find a more suitable place to relax." Perenu uttered back to Ernagcio. "As soon as we find an open area, we can stop for a quick rest.

They walked on for another few minutes before finding a large, gray boulder that had a few other stones surrounding it making for an area big enough for them to stretch their legs, but not big enough for Tars to land. The circle of stones seemed to have a little light shining down on it so it made for a welcome rest stop. The elves and Brand sat on some of the stones while the dragons stood next to the boulder looking around. Perenu passed out some yak jerky and the other gratefully accepted.

"So how long until we make it out of the Spider Garden?" Brand said as he leaned back on his hands trying to make some conversation.

"It should only be another couple of days until we are out of the Garden of Spiders." Perenu answered him. "After we are out of the Garden, it should only be another day through the Ostish Forest until we come out into Eshurg."

Soon the sunlight that was peeking through the cover of the forest started to disappear. *drip*... *drip*... Brand looked up as little drops of water started hitting his face. The drops started to drop faster and heavier until the whole forest became soaked in rain. Needless to say, the torches that everyone was holding quickly went out. Perenu chanted something and his torch lit up once again in the rain. Alreya didn't know the spell so Perenu took everyone's torches and lit them up as well.

As he was handing Brand his torch again, a thunderclap sounded and the area around the group was lit up for a brief moment. Brand almost screamed. Ernagcio did scream. Standing just a few feet away from them in the trees were numerous giant spiders. Their hairy legs, fat bodies, and smaller heads glistened briefly in the light of the lightning strike. When the light faded the only thing the group could see were numerous glowing eyes staring at them through the pitch-black.

"Impossible. What are they doing here? What is going on?" Perenu muttered to himself. Quickly regaining his focus, Perenu shouted "Follow me and stay close!" He lept up, with a torch in his left hand and a sword in his right, and started hacking a way out away from the spiders. The group quickly lept up themselves and followed him into the darkness.

Perenu was followed closely by Ernagcio and Alreya, and behind them were Atil and Nesto, and bringing up the rear was Giga and Brand. Brand was thinking to himself "How in the world did I end up last?!" when Giga turned his big head to look at Brand with concern.

"Don't look at me man!" Brand yelled hysterically. "Go go go go go go! We gotta get the freak outta here! GOOOO!" Just as Giga was about to turn around, something caught hold of Brand's heel and he fell hard to the ground.

Perenu shouted "Keep up!" as he ran and chopped frantically at the vines and bushes in front of him. If they could just make it a little bit further, he knew they would be okay. Perenu knew Tars was just another couple of hundred feet in front of him. He wasn't moving so Perenu assumed that he had found an open area in the forest where he could land and defend them.

Just as he was thinking that a huge black spider with red stripes landed a few feet in front of him. It raised it's front legs and hissed at him with shiny fangs dripping with poison. Perenu jumped in the air and with one clean slice, split the spider in two. Not stopping to confirm his kill, he continued forging ahead shouting encouragement as he heard Alreya shouting some offensive spells and the dragons growling behind him.

Running and hacking at the same time in the almost complete dark, Perenu suddenly saw a dim light up ahead of him. "We made it!" Perenu exclaimed as he charged through the underbrush and into the light. He exited the trees into a large space with no trees that sloped into a huge boulder that jutted into the stormcloud covered sky. The elves and their dragons ran up to the rock face and turned around with their backs now literally up against a wall. Out of the forest crawled an army of giant spiders. They were almost all colored black with red stripes, with a few larger and harrier brown ones here and there. They crawled out a certain distance in front of the of the trees and then stopped just a stone's throw away from where the group was standing while the rain continued to pour down from above.

Up above them, spiders had crawled onto the top of the rock from the tops of the trees and went to work spinning webs. Not realizing this because he had been partially blinded by the rain, Ernagcio unfolded his wings. "We have to get out of here now! We have wings! Let us use them! With me Nesto!" Ernagcio and Nesto pushed off from the ground flying straight into the air.

"No you fools! Get back down here!" Perenu screamed, but it was too late. Ernagcio and Nesto flew right into the waiting webs of the spiders. On the ground, Perenu turned his eyes away from Ernagcio to witness the monstrosity that was crawling out of the woods. A spider that dwarfed the others was pulling itself out of the forest. Another lightning bolt ripped through the sky, and Perenu caught his breath as the loud thunderclap followed. The enormous spider in front of him was as big as Tars! He didn't know spiders could grow this large! It was all black without any coloration whatsoever. The spider gave a loud, what can only be described as a bellow and charged forward with the army of giant spiders following right behind.

Back up top in the spider web, Ernagcio and Nesto both struggled to free themselves, but only ended up getting more and more tangled. "No! Help me!" screamed Ernagcio as dozens of spiders started crawling towards him and his dragon. Suddenly a huge figure ripped through the web sending all of the spiders flying. Two giant claws placed the tangled Ernagcio and Nesto on the ground then flew forward. Tars had come. He flapped his mighty wings toward the spiders and a many of them went flying back into the forest.

Tars roared then charged the gigantic spider leading the others. The two creatures crashed together causing the ground to shake. The two front claws of Tars were entwined with the two front legs of the spider both trying to overpower the other. Tars let out another roar then tried to breathe fire directly on the spider's face, but the spider endured and started pushing Tars back. Step by step, Tars was forced back until his tail was directly in front of the group.

Perenu would have helped Tars but was busy fending off spiders that had made it past Tars and were attacking the group directly. Perenu hacked and slashed at the approaching spiders with Atil biting and whipping his tail at them beside him. Alreya was behind them shooting arrows past them and into the ranks of the spiders. Perenu hoped that Brand and Giga were busy releasing Ernagcio and Nesto so they too could join the fight.

Meanwhile, the spider had pushed Tars right back up against the group. Just as he was about to crush his partner, Tars stopped and pushed back against the humongous spider. He stopped breathing fire, opened up his gigantic mouth, and bit down hard on the spider's face. The spider struggled violently and Tars threw it from side to side. Tars bit down once more as hard as he could and the huge spider's legs finally curled up in a death pose. Throwing the spider's carcass aside Tars roared then breathed a jet of flames into the line of approaching spiders. Hundreds went up in flames before they ultimately began to retreat into the darkness of the forest.

The battle had ended. They had won. Then rain continued falling as Perenu shouted "Well done!" up to Tars as Tars turned around and snorted pridefully. Perenu then turned to Atil and Alreya and said "You two did a wonderful job as well!"

"Why were there so many spiders? Why were they attacking us? And what was that spider that was as big as Tars?" Alreya cried emotionally trying to calm herself down.

"I do not know." Perenu shook his head. "But answers can wait." He walked over to where Ernagcio and Nesto were still tied up and quickly cut them loose. "From now on you must listen to me at all costs." he told them. "This mistake almost cost you both of your lives."

Ernagcio hung his head and replied "I am truly sorry." He then looked up at Tars and said "Thank you for saving us." Ernagcio then bowed his head. Tars looked away as if to say "It was nothing."

Suddenly Alreya cried out. "What is wrong Alreya!" Perenu asked concerned. "What happened?"

Alreya was looking around frantically. "Where are Brand and Giga? Where did they go?" Perenu and the others began looking around as well. Brand and Giga were nowhere to be found.