Tag: Magic

29. Cassandra

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I was having trouble sleeping.

I thought I had been close to reaching a place of safety, but there was still a lot of danger involved. Lucas’s brief conversation still sat with me, but it didn’t worry me the most. I had spent so much time on the run already… if I needed to escape again, it could be done. I had the feeling that Silden and Larina wanted to settle into a normal life of freedom once we reached the Empire, but I knew that Lyre would come with me, especially with how he had reacted to Lucas’s warning. That was a calming thought.

It was everything else that really bothered me. The evil we were meant to seal was still a vague description, hardly any more concrete than what Lyre had told me so long ago when he had guessed I wasn’t from this world. And the scar that I had spotted on Lucas… How had my experience here become so different from theirs? Did it even matter that it was?

But learning about the gods had really clicked things into place and sent my mind buzzing. Raella had pulled me aside at one point, asking about whether I had been hearing voices. It was the chance to come clean and discuss the matter openly, but I hesitated and shook my head. Asterollan, who had been with us as we talked, followed my lead, and did not mention the voice he had been hearing either. Raella warned us that it could be the evil entity that we were needing to seal, and stressed the importance of telling her if we should ever experience something of the sort.

But I knew it wasn’t evil.

Still… Had I been talking to a god this entire time?

In a way, it made sense, but I had never even considered it. The idea of divine beings actually interfering in worldly matters was strange, even a little unsettling. I had never been the religious sort, and back home if anyone had told me they were hearing the voice of God, I would have thought they were crazy.

My mind raced as I lay staring into the fire. Lyre was very close by – he had stayed practically within arms reach since we’d been reunited. It had only been a matter of hours so far, so I wasn’t feeling smothered yet, but I wondered if I would eventually. I half dozed, only to wake and find myself revisiting every moment I had interacted with the voice, straining to recall every detail. I remembered the smell of ozone, the soft breeze that seemed to drift out of nowhere, the power of lightning that seemed to come to me most naturally.

Late into the night, after waking for the umpteenth time, I stood with a sigh and walked over to the pool at the base of the waterfall. I could see that Chase and Zolambi were sitting up, and they watched me curiously, but neither made any move to stop me or talk to me. I splashed some water on my face and stared at my rippling reflection. “Who are you?” I muttered.

I waited a moment in anticipation of an answer. The ripples cleared, the water stilled. All I could hear was the usual sounds of the night – the waterfall and the sound of insects. When nothing happened, I stood, and turned back toward the camp. Fleetingly, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a figure standing behind me in the reflection of the water. I turned around to see if someone had walked up behind me, but I was still very much alone. When I looked back down at the water, there was nothing. I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me. “At least give me a name,” I said in frustration.

I felt something, gentle as a breeze, brush my hair away from my ear. “T’keran,” it whispered, the quality of the speech more present than before. As I lifted my hand to that ear, my fingers brushed against something that sent a strange tingling sensation along my skin. I turned, startled, to briefly see a smiling figure as it pulled its hand away from me – a woman, overwhelmingly tall and thin, lit silvery-blue like a beacon, hair raising slowly around her. She loomed over me for a moment before disappearing, leaving me blinking against the sudden dark. There remained the lingering scent of ozone.

Looking over at camp, I could see that Zolambi was watching me curiously, not at all alarmed. Like he hadn’t seen her at all. I rubbed the still tingling skin of my hand as I started to walk back to the fire. “T’keran,” I repeated.

I didn’t sleep any easier after that, so I was awake to watch the spider arrive. I first heard something softly hit the ground, a quiet thump. When I opened my eyes to see what it was, I noticed that Lyre was sitting up, his head tilted in amusement. When I followed his gaze, I was shocked to see the spider – it was the size of a dog, and the thump had not sounded that heavy. I sat up quickly, but Lyre held a hand out to me. “It’s his pet,” he said, by way of explanation, as the spider carefully crept up on Lucas’s sleeping form.

“A giant jumping spider?” I said the phrase half as a question, and half in simple awe. It dropped something on Lucas, who stirred and turned to look up at it.

And then I jumped when he screamed. The spider jumped as well, up on top of the highest remaining piece of wall, and the others in camp stirred at the noise, waking. Lucas was mumbling in embarrassment under his breath, turning a bright shade of red, his eyes still wide in barely contained terror. “That’s his pet?” I asked Lyre quietly.

“He named it Peter.” I shook my head, watching as Lucas lifted the dead squirrel that had been dropped on him. He sat up and began to try to coax the spider down from the wall, still looking wildly terrified.

Since everyone was awake now, breakfast was prepared and bedrolls and camping gear stowed away. It was strange being in an actual campsite for once, with plenty of supplies and horses to pack them on. The breakfast, which included a stew made from the squirrel the spider had brought for us, was surprisingly delicious. But since my previous meals had been drier travel rations, I figured anything would have been an improvement. Lyre handed over my bag, with the things I had brought with me from the ship. I was glad that I hadn’t lost it all in my fall into the river. It was also strange being surrounded by so many people. I watched them interacting with each other – Lucas was still wide eyed as he talked the spider into staying nearby, and Lexie, the younger girl was teasing him. She tentatively petted the spider, which leaned into her hand with pleasure at the touch. “Awww, Lucas, he loves pets. You should pet him!” Lucas visibly shuddered in revulsion.

Peyton Hobbs stood nearby, which was very strange to me as well. She was watching the exchange, her head tilted slightly and a faint smile on her face. I stared for a moment – she was tall for a woman, something I had never noticed seeing her on screen before, and ridiculously beautiful even without make up. She glanced up, saw me staring, and smiled politely at me. I smiled back, but quickly glanced around at the others, feeling a little embarrassed to have been caught gaping at her.

Asterollan kept mostly to himself, I noticed. It was probably strange to be amongst elves when you hunted them most of your life. It looked like he had finished his morning ritual, so I walked over to him. I had slept in the cloak overnight, and figured it was now time to return it. He gave me a strange look as I handed it back to him, but took it without complaint, swiftly pulling it around his shoulders. “Thank you for letting me borrow it,” I said.

“Why didn’t you tell the elves about the voice you hear?” he asked, ignoring my thanks.

“I don’t know,” I said honestly. He frowned. Feeling the need to explain more, I added, “At first I thought I was crazy. But now… maybe I’m just worried over how Raella would react.” He nodded in understanding. Then after a pause, I blurted out, “I saw her. The goddess that speaks to me. Last night.”

“What?” He stared at me, hard, his eyes searching.

“It was only briefly. She told me her name.”

We stood in silence for a moment, interrupted by Greyjon calling, “We’re packed up. Is everyone ready?”

I turned, thinking that Asterollan didn’t have anything to say, when he asked very low, “What was it? Her name.”

“T’keran,” I answered. He repeated it in a low whisper as we joined the others.

Raella obsessed over the map, marking the location of the temple ruins for a future visit. “It’s a great find for the University,” she said. We traveled directly east, hoping to eventually enter the borders of the Empire and hit a road that wasn’t far from it. Zolambi said that from the road, we could determine how far we were from our next destination, which was a small town called Veinwell.

Traveling with a larger group and horses was slower going. It took us a few days to reach the road and get our bearings. It was a simple paved stone road running north and south. As the others tried to determine our exact location from their map and a nearby mile marker, I stood next to Lyre as he stared down at it. Silden clapped him on the shoulder. “An Empire road,” Silden said. “We’re really here.”

We traveled south along the road. Veinwell was a small town, surrounded by a high stone wall. “Are they afraid of getting attacked out here?” I asked curiously as we stood just outside the gates. There was some hassle as the guards seemed reluctant to let a giant spider in the walls.

“Most cities built walls during the Fracture,” Chase explained. I remembered Lyre describing the Fracture as a massive civil war and nodded. Once Greyjon and Raella argued our way in, we traveled immediately to an inn just inside the town walls, where the group had agreed to meet with someone. He was young – hardly more than a teenager – and had brought their wagon ahead for them from the last town they had stayed at.

Raella secured our rooms for the night and the innkeeper cleared out the other clientele. There was some grumbling as the tavern’s patrons poured out onto the street outside. “All this for us?” I asked, feeling a little guilty.

“They’ve done this every time,” Lexie said, apparently already used to it. We were served a meal – perhaps the most delicious I’d ever had, but I suspected everything was going to taste delicious to me after so many weeks of hard tack, mystery soup, and jerky. As I tore into some bread – soft, warm bread, that I slathered with butter – they discussed the rooming situation for the night.

“They have 6 rooms in all,” Raella said, after taking a sip of her glass of wine.

Zolambi nodded to my friends. “If you three would rather get situated in you new home, I can take you to the organization that handles that for slaves escaping the human lands. They’ll provide lodgings for us for the evening.”

Larina beamed, squeezing Silden’s hand briefly. “We would love that,” she said. She glanced over at Lyre. “Though I don’t think all three of us will be going with you.”

Lyre smiled, half sheepish, half sad. “I’m staying with Cassandra,” he said simply. He placed a hand briefly on my shoulder as he spoke. Despite his previous promise, I realized I must have held some apprehension that he was going to leave me once we reached the Empire, an apprehension I didn’t realize was there until it melted away at his words. Glancing up from my food, I could see Raella’s lips thinned into a false smile.

Zolambi nodded respectfully to Lyre. When the meal came to an end, he prepared to lead Silden and Larina away, and Lyre and I followed them to the wide entrance of the inn. We stood for a moment in companionable silence, and then Larina stepped forward and hugged me. When she pulled back there were tears in her eyes, and despite myself I realized my own tears were starting to well up too. I hugged her again. “I’m so happy for you both,” I said very softly to her. “I’m going to miss you so much.”

Silden wrapped us both in a hug. “Thank you for freeing us,” he said, his voice slightly choking as he spoke. Lyre was standing back a bit, but Silden grabbed his shoulder and pulled him in too. I laughed at our awkward crush of bodies, and finally managed to push away. “Take care of her,” Silden said to Lyre.

Lyre grinned. “And you take care of her,” he said, nodding toward Larina, who blushed as she sidled up next to Silden.

Silden looked down at her, his eyes full of warmth. “Always.”

After a little more well wishing and goodbyes, they finally left, following Zolambi. Lyre and I watched them walk down the street before returning to the main tavern room, where most of the remaining group remained. Raella had retreated to the room she claimed for herself, and Lucas had also retreated to a room with his pet spider, which the innkeeper did not seem happy to have inside. From the way Lucas warily eyed the spider, I had the feeling he wasn’t very happy about it either, but seemed to be trying to make it work. I didn’t see Asterollan either.

As Lyre and I returned, I grabbed the bottle of wine that Raella had left behind and asked the barkeep for a few glasses. Peyton and Greyjon were talking companionably about past skirmishes he had been involved in as a Captain in a place called Kimber, and Chase was turning it into a drinking game at Lexie’s goading. She was taking a sip of her drink every time she suspected he was embellishing his story, and as he caught on, his stories became less believable. It wasn’t long before she was flushed nearly as red as her curls.

Lyre and I listened in, not quite joining the conversation, but laughing at some of Greyjon’s taller tales. I poured some of the wine for us. He looked at it curiously, tilting the glass to examine it. “Do you not like drinking?” I asked.

“I’ve served wine to Wrasker and his guests before. I’ve never had any.” He shrugged and took a long pull from the glass. I watched to see his reaction as he drank most of the cup. Curious, I sipped from my own glass – it was a very sweet red, but the burn of the alcohol was notable. It was strong.

I brushed my fingers on his wrist as he placed the empty cup down on the table. “You might not want to drink that so fast,” I said.

“It’s sweet,” he said, smiling softly at the glass. “Some of the slaves used to make their own liquor, but it was harsh. Bitter.” I felt a little relieved that he had some experience with alcohol at least. He poured another glass.

28. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

The next morning we backtracked to find a place to exit the canyon. After we passed the place where the river went underground, we began to regularly stop every couple of hours to check the compass spell. Since it was an inexact measure, we wanted to be sure that we didn’t travel too far and pass Cassandra’s location. It was late in the afternoon when we were close enough to see she was a little east of us, somewhere down in the depth of the gorge, which had opened back out into a canyon with the river once again visible below. “I hate going up and down like this all the time. I will be so happy to be away from this thing,” Lexie whined as we found our way back down to the river.

Silden, Lyre, and Larina all seemed eager to find their friend, and once we had descended fully, they would call her name out on occasion. It was heavily forested in parts, making it hard to see where she might be. I kept an eye open for Peter also – half from wary arachnophobia, but now that I had named it, I found I was a little worried I would never see it again. It was quickly growing dark when something caught my eyes – the flickering of lights. “Are those lightning bugs?” Lexie asked curiously.

“No,” Peyton said, and I could see that they were shaped like moths. “Watch when they land,” she added, pointing to one that was drifting close to the bark of a tree.

We had all stopped to see what she was talking about. The moth landed on the tree, gently flapping its wings for a moment, before lifting away. Directly underneath it, a second, dimmer moth lifted away and fluttered into the air as well. A faint moth shaped impression remained in the tree bark. Raella lifted a finger to poke at the second moth and it disappeared as delicately as a soap bubble bursting. “Pseudomoths,” she said.

“Pseudomoths?” Peyton asked.

Raella nodded. “The Creator moth glows at night, so to avoid predators it uses magic to create duplicates. Pseudomoths, which will divert attention away from them by providing another target.”

“These bugs use magic?” Lexie said. She was examining the impression left behind in the bark, running her fingers gently over the spot.

“Yes. They have a touch of divine magic to them, and tend to live near temple ruins,” Raella explained.

“So there’s a temple nearby,” Zolambi said solemnly.

Raella nodded, and we continued walking. Larina called for Cassandra again, and Greyjon held up a hand, gesturing for us to pause. “I thought I heard…” he started to say, but then we could all heard it clearly.

“Larina?” a voice called back from somewhere ahead – the tone was more high pitched than I was expecting from the image we had seen the entire time. A light appeared in the dark, human shaped, moving towards us.

“Cassandra!” Lyre said, rushing forward.

“Lyre!” she called back happily, practically crashing into him to envelope him in a fierce hug. Dunno why he’s worried, she totally loves him too, I thought to myself as she pulled back, her hands drifting to his shoulders, beaming up at him. I watched him wince as her hands moved close to the shoulder that had been bitten by the giant spider. Although the venom was no longer in our systems, the wounds from the actual bite still existed – mine was healing, but still smarted with every twist of my torso. Lyre’s was likely similarly pained.

The smile faded from her face, replaced by a concerned frown as she saw his reaction. For a moment, the glow extended from her, encompassing him. I watched as an expression of visible relief crossed his face. After a moment, he lifted his hands – the burns he had recently obtained from the flame hounds were gone, and I realized the spider bite was also likely healed. “Thank you,” he said, smiling warmly at her.

I opened my mouth for a moment, wanting to ask if she could provide healing for us as well, but froze, not wanting to ruin their moment. Also, it felt awkward and presumptive to just demand healing from a person I had only just met.

“Oh wow, can you do that for me too?” Lexie asked, apparently not feeling any of my apprehension.

“If it’s not too much trouble, a few of us have minor injuries that could use your attention,” Peyton said, as Lexie moved forward eagerly.

Cassandra turned to us, seeming to realize for the first time that people other than Lyre existed. She looked over all of us in turn, recognition and confusion lighting her eyes when she saw that Peyton Hobbs had been the one to speak to her. Nodding shyly, she placed her hands on Lexie, and did the same thing she had done with Lyre, the glow extending to encompass Lexie briefly. Lexie rubbed the spot where her spider bite had been, grinning. “Wow. I need to learn to do that.”

Staring into her face, Cassandra said, “You’re from my world.” It wasn’t a question, but Lexie nodded. “How did you get here? How many of us are there?” she asked. “Do you know why we’re here?”

“I imagine we’ll have much to explain,” Raella said.

Movement shifted from the woods where Cassandra had emerged. “We should head to our camp. Then you can explain everything in comfort.”

At the approach of the figure, the former slaves in our group tensed visibly, and the light of magic sprung up around Lyre and Larina. “You,” Silden said, sounding angry though he hadn’t reached for his magic. It was a man, with long, curly golden hair that had been tied back away from his face. He wasn’t particularly tall, and had very delicate features that were marred by a wicked looking scar that crossed his face, running from his hairline to his jaw. I realized the eye it crossed was dead white and wondered curiously if he could see out of it.

“It’s okay. He saved me,” Cassandra said very quickly, rubbing Lyre’s shoulders in a calming fashion. “And he can cast too,” she added.

Lyre frowned down at her, and the light around him disappeared. Larina frowned, her head swiveling between her friends, before she also dropped her hold on her power. “You can cast too?” she asked slowly, edging closer to Silden and taking his hand.

In answer, the light of magic surrounded the man. “Impossible,” Raella said softly.

I was confused for a moment, until I realized that his ears weren’t pointed. He was human, like us. And he wasn’t from our world.

Their camp was set next to a small waterfall, on the stone floor of old ruins. Cassandra set about using her healing spell at first – healing the burns her friends had received fighting the flame hounds, and healing my spider bite. I lifted my shirt to check my abdomen, running my hand over the fresh skin in awe. Cassandra frowned for a moment, distracted by what I was doing, and I dropped my shirt, feeling a little embarrassed. “You’ve got a scar there?” she asked, her voice a little strange.

I frowned, then realized what she had seen. “Oh, I had my appendix out ages ago. I guess the healing thing doesn’t remove old scars.”

She seemed a bit taken aback by what I said, but simply nodded. “No, I guess not.”

We settled ourselves for the evening. Zolambi and Greyjon tended the horses and Chase prepared a meal, while Raella told Cassandra and her companions everything that they had told us about why we were here in this world. We ate when she was done, Cassandra half lost in thought and silent.

I was sure that Raella would have plenty of questions for Cassandra and the human, Asterollan, but she seemed more distracted by our surroundings. “These must be the ruins of an ancient temple,” she said when she had finished her meal.

“There’s another part of it. Better preserved,” Asterollan said. He stood, and gestured to show that he would lead the way for her.

Raella seemed hesitant to follow him for a moment, then nodded. He led her to a spot closer to the waterfall, hidden amongst the rocks, where an opening descended into darkness. Raella summoned her orb of light, and followed Asterollan down. Similarly curious, Chase followed behind.

I watched them go curiously, wanting to see what was so interesting, but also realized it was an opportunity to speak to Cassandra privately. Zolambi was conversing with Larina and Silden about what their future in the Empire would look like, and Greyjon was sparring with Peyton, his star pupil.

I tapped Cassandra on the shoulder. “Could I speak to you for a bit?” I asked, perhaps a bit more awkwardly than I intended. I gestured over toward the woods.

She nodded, hopping up from her place next to the fire. Lyre raised an eyebrow, and stood to follow as well, which I figured was harmless – if we were going to run away at some point, he would probably come with us. Lexie eyed us curiously, but remained seated. We walked around the outer edge of the crumbled stone walls, and I wondered vaguely what the building had looked like when it still stood. “I wanted to let you know that we… um, those of us from our world – have had concerns about what might actually happen to us here.” I turned to look at Cassandra as I spoke.

“What kind of concerns?” she asked. Now that she was face to face with us and not made of light, it was easier to see her features – the wavy hair was brown. The eyes were a very light shade of brown, almost golden, and unnervingly large.

“We think they’ve been hiding things from us, but we’re not sure exactly what it is. We know that we’re here to seal some old evil guy, but they’ve been very careful to guard our interactions with others. Like they don’t want to tell us what’s going to happen to us… after.”

Lyre frowned, staring at Cassandra as I spoke. “What do you think might happen? Why would they keep it secret?”

Cassandra waited for me to explain patiently. I shrugged helplessly. “We’re not sure, but we don’t think it’s good. We’ve been considering running away once we had found you. But if we do run away, it has to be all of us – I suspect they can use the compass spell to track us if any of us stay behind.”

“Perhaps we should go,” Lyre mused.

She considered what we said for a moment, frowning. “But, if we run away and the seal breaks, and this evil returns to the world…” She sighed, and shook her head. “We’re in this world now. Isn’t it in our best interests to keep it safe?” I frowned, and opened my mouth to argue, but she held up a hand. “Listen, I understand your concern. If it turns out to be more serious, like you suspect, I’ll go with you. We’ll run away. But we’re here now, and unless we get a chance to return to our world, this is going to be our home. Shouldn’t we help protect it?”

Lyre sighed as she spoke, almost like something about her frustrated him, but he didn’t say anything. “I’m not sure they’re… saving a place for us? They’re not going out of their way to make us feel like this is going to be home after we do the thing. I’ve got a really bad feeling about what that might mean,” I said. But even as I spoke I wondered how convincing I sounded. How to explain the strange pity the University students had for us, or the way our questions about life here after our quest had been avoided?

Cassandra nodded and glanced over at Lyre. “Did you ever hear anything about what happens to outworlders after they complete their mission?”

He shook his head. “The stories we had were vague, fairytales at best.”

She considered that for a moment. “Lucas, we’ll run if we have to. But I want to know more before we do.”

I sighed and nodded. “Fair enough. But at least you know what we’ve been thinking now.”

She placed a hand gently on my arm. “I am taking it seriously,” she said softly. “I don’t want to die.” For a moment, her words startled me. In a way, I realized I had been saying that might be the case, I had suspected it all along from the way we were being treated. But at the same time, my brain had never acknowledged the possibility that I might die.

She and Lyre returned to the fire together, settling down for the evening. I continued my walk along the edge of the ruined wall – from where I stood, I could watch Peyton and Greyjon running through the footwork he was teaching her. They seemed to be finishing up, and she was sheathing her weapon, placing it amongst her things. Then, much to my surprise, she beelined straight for me. She had a rag in hand, and was wiping her face with it. “I assume you told her our concerns,” she said in a low voice as she reached me, her lips barely moving.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. Peyton was always so ridiculously observant. I nodded. “She wants to wait and learn more before we do anything. She said she’ll run with us if it seems bad.” I paused for a moment. “She said if we’re a part of this world now, it might be in our best interest to protect it.”

Peyton nodded, thoughtfully rubbing at her neck. I found myself staring for a moment longer than I probably should have, then diverted my gaze to the waterfall. “That’s fair,” she said. “And not wrong. If there’s no way home, and we’re stuck here… would it be better to protect this place at any cost? Or live in a ruined world that we allowed to be destroyed?” I sighed, feeling completely weighed down by the talk of death and apocalypse, and she chuckled. “It’ll all work out, Lucas.”

“How do you know?”

“I mean, we were summoned here. That makes us the heroes, right? We’ll find a way.”

I snorted. “I wish I had your confidence.”

Laughing, she turned away to head back toward the others. I crossed my arms and stared at the waterfall. I could see that Chase had returned to the others, but not Raella or Asterollan.

Curious, I descended the steps to where they were carefully, feeling my way in the dark. I could’ve used magic to light the way, but didn’t want to be seen approaching. Below, I found Raella and Asterollan standing beneath her orb of light, dark silhouetted shadows. I hesitated a moment, realizing they were having a conversation. Asterollan had just asked her a question, but it was too soft for me to catch.

She laughed softly after a long pause. “Ah, so that’s how you’re doing it.”

“Doing what?” he asked, sounding confused.

“You haven’t even realized. Of course.” She gestured up to the symbol the orb of light illuminated above – stained glass, taking the shape of a sword set in front of a blazing sun. “I do not know his name, but I know he is a god of justice… and truth. Tell me, when you ask people questions, do they usually give you direct and honest answers, even in situations where they normally wouldn’t?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Truth. Every time you’ve asked a question, I’ve recognized some degree of compulsion. You don’t even need to reach for your magic to cast it – your very presence as a Champion compels others to answer you truthfully. A powerful gift.”

“Truth,” he echoed her, and his words echoed faintly in the room. “What does it mean, if your gods are touching the world again?”

“They were never our gods to begin with.” She paused for a moment, before adding. “I do not know what it means. I do not know if it is something to be welcomed or feared. We have had to pull outworlders for so many years because we had none capable of divine magic in our own realm. But if the gods have returned to us…”

Asterollan shifted, crossing his arms in the dark as he gazed up at the symbol above. I moved back up the stairs, quietly. “I will go with your group. You may need me.”

I paused, waiting to see what Raella would say. I could see the glint of her yellow eyes in the dark as she turned to look at him. “Yes, we may,” she said, her tone uncharacteristically solemn. I continued back to the campfire, and considered what I had overheard.

27. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I woke when I was unceremoniously dumped on the ground by Lyre. I sat up, rubbing my head and blinking against the brightness of the day. Lexie was shouting and waving enthusiastically, and I could see the rest of our group descending into the gorge, attracted by the gaping hole that we had crawled out of. Lyre flopped down on the ground next to me, glancing back at the vines that twisted out of the ground, pale purple and gold flowers blooming along them. Then he turned back to watch Lexie running to meet the others. “You’re both very powerful,” he said.

I studied the flowers – they looked like morning glories. “That was the first time I cast,” I said absently. Lyre looked startled at this news, but he simply nodded and finally stood up.

He offered me a hand, and I accepted his help up. “I’m sorry about wandering away from you before,” I said. “I wasn’t in my right mind.”

He shook his head. “I was leading us further into the spider’s den. If you’d been with me…” He shrugged, and I smiled at the universality of the shrug itself. We followed Lexie over to meet with the others. I thought I heard faint giggling and glanced back, but saw nothing.

We rested near the river for the remainder of the day. Now that I had apparently cast for the first time, Chase and Zolambi sat with me and attempted walking me through some magic lessons. It was hard attempting to capture that feeling again, but I was able to summon fresh water by that evening. Even sweeter than the cool water that I splashed on my face was the rush of the power I could feel surging through me – it was heady and overwhelming and almost addicting. I sat for a long period of time, just holding on to the power, looking down at my glowing hands.

That evening I was still wore out from using so much magic. I felt so tired that I was sure I would fall asleep quickly, but instead I tossed and turned restlessly, and it felt like I woke up at least once every hour. In a moment of lucidity upon waking, I wondered if it had been because of the spider bites or the webbing. At one point while it was still dark out, I woke up tasting salt and bile at the back of my throat and moved a short distance away from the camp to be sick.

As I stared at the ground in front of me, I used my newfound power to summon water to swish around my mouth and spit out as much of the awful taste as I could. I thought I heard something shift in the bushes ahead of me, and stared into the darkness. I was so focused on looking for the source of the sound that it caught me by surprise when a hand fell on my shoulder, and I jerked back in surprise. “Are you okay?” Chase asked, smiling sympathetically at me.

I nodded, wiping the wetness from my face. “Yes. Think it might have been the spider bite.”

She nodded. “Lexie has been groaning audibly and Lyre went to the river to stick his face in the water. We may have to stay here an extra day if you’re all feeling this sick tomorrow too.”

I sighed. Sticking my entire head in a bucket of ice water sounded like a wonderful idea, but the river would do in a pinch. “Is Lyre still at the river?” I asked. When she said he was and gestured to where, I wandered over. Lyre was laying on a large flat boulder that extended partially out into the current – he was on his back, his eyes closed, but he had one hand extended out moving slowly back and forth, fingers cutting through the water. I lay down next to him and dunked my head in the water, then sat up when I finally needed to breathe.

Lyre had opened his eyes, an amused expression on his face. “I saw your spider friend.”

“My what?” I asked, barely comprehending his words.

“The jumping spider. It’s been circling the camp, staying out of sight. I told the others to not hurt it.”

I shuddered. Even if it had helped us, my arachnophobia did not make this sound like good news. Changing the subject, I said, “Chase mentioned we might stay here tomorrow.”

Lyre frowned, sitting up. “We need to find Cassandra,” he said, suddenly all seriousness. He looked ready to march back into camp and demand we start going now, despite the dark.

“Are you two…” I paused, struggling to find the right word. Did they call it dating in fantasy realms? Would the concept translate if they didn’t? “Romantic?” I settled for the word belatedly, hating how it sounded but unsure of what else to say.

His mouth opened to respond, then snapped shut just as suddenly as he considered my question. “I care for her very deeply,” he said carefully. I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. “I am unsure how she feels,” he added, looking uncomfortable.

I nodded. “She’ll be fine,” I said after a moment. “We’ll find her in no time.” Then I stood to make my way back to my bedroll and some more disturbed sleep.

I had a dream of a dog my mom had when I was a kid – a large fuzzy mutt named Bane that was convinced he was a lap dog even though he had been nearly twice my size at the time. Bane loved to sleep right on top of me, leaving me uncomfortably warm and unable to move. It was such a convincing dream…

“And it’s not trying to hurt him?” A voice broke through my consciousness, and I tried to turn over in the bedroll. But something heavy was keeping me from moving. I opened my eyes.

The large, fuzzy thing on top of me wasn’t a dog. It was a spider.

I screamed.

It trilled and jumped. I sat up, my head twisting, trying to figure out which way it had gone. I could see that about half of the group around me were doing the same, but Peyton’s head was turned only in one direction. I followed her gaze, and could see the jumping spider duck out of sight in the branches of a tree. Several spots of light blinked into existence around me as my companions reached for their magic, and I heard the rasp of a blade leaving a sheathe. “Don’t hurt it!” I said, even though a part of my brain was screaming nonononokillit!

“Jeez, Lucas, you sounded like a little girl,” Lexie said, but I watched the light of magic disappear from her. She plopped back down into her bedroll and yawned loudly.

“I’m arachnophobic,” I said, maybe a bit defensively. Peyton smiled, then went back to the campfire – I could smell food cooking, and my stomach grumbled. I considered it a good sign that I was hungry – maybe I’d be able to hold it all down, and we could continue on our journey today.

We stayed in the gorge this time since we were already there, traveling in the shade of trees along the river’s edge. As we walked, I kept a nervous eye out for my new eight-legged friend, and thought I caught glimpses of it at times. I also held on to my magic and practiced summoning different elements as I walked. Raella was especially fascinated with my control of plants. Despite having never seen or heard of anything like it, I was able to intuitively grow vines to grasp or strike, grow flowers in the palm of my hand, and make wild vegetation flourish. “Can anyone else do stuff like this?” I asked her when I saw how interested she was in it.

“Nature magic isn’t unheard of, but nothing like this has existed in many years. It is considered truly divine – like the healing spell that Cassandra can use.” I handed the flower I had created over to Raella, and she studied it as it vined tenderly around her fingers until I let go – then it slowed and stopped growing just as it twisted around her wrist. “Any spell that proliferates life, whether it be flora or fauna, is divine.”

I considered that as I stared up at the leaves of the trees we were walking under. They were golden and red, fall colors. “When you say divine, does that mean there’s a god that oversees my abilities?” I asked.

She nodded. “I’ve studied the old gods most of my life. The texts naming them have mostly been lost to time, but some of the temple ruins still exist, and I have been able to guess at the domains of several. Far to the north, there is a land covered in ice that is nearly uninhabitable. But there is a small temple there that is warm and full of vegetation. There is a massive tree that grows there, and flowers bloom year round. I have seen it with my own eyes.” She lifted the small purple and gold flower that I had created. The gold glittered in the light of day as though it were made of something metallic, though the texture was soft and velvety. “Flowers like these.”

I considered that for a moment, staring at the flower thoughtfully. “What do you think that means? That the gods are returning?”

Her brow creased and she gently ran a finger along the edge of a petal. “Maybe,” she said thoughtfully.

It was a beautiful day but we lost daylight faster from being inside the gorge. Just as we were considering stopping to make camp, we ran into an obstacle – the gorge narrowed down quite suddenly, the river disappearing into an unforgiving cavern. “Maybe we could raft? Or swim?” Lexie suggested.

Raella shook her head. “No, that would require leaving the horses, and we’re not doing that. We’ll have to go up and around to continue our journey.”

Lyre frowned, turning to look at the edges of the gorge near us. “I don’t see an easy way up from here.”

“We may have to backtrack some,” Peyton pointed out. He groaned, turning to look back the way we came. “I suppose we’ll make camp here for the night?”

Lyre didn’t look happy about it, but we did stop for the evening there, deciding that we would travel the other direction tomorrow until we could find a place to exit the canyon and continue our travel from above. On the bright side, the compass spell showed that we were close. Lyre sat with the other former slaves, who seemed to be reassuring him that we were making the right decision although his expression was stormy.

I glanced around to the others in the camp. Lexie was chatting with Chase, who was preparing something for us to eat with Zolambi’s help. Greyjon was sitting near them, laughing at something that Lexie had said. Raella was sitting near the horses, reading a book. She had summoned a glowing orb to sit above her shoulder and provide light – it must not have needed her constant attention, because she was not surrounded by the light of magic.

Peyton had just finished laying out her bedroll, and stood – I thought she would join the others, but instead she walked over and plopped down next to me. She gave a brief, nearly imperceptible nod toward Lyre and the others. “I wonder what his relationship is with the other Grace. Cassandra.”

“I think he loves her, but he said he doesn’t know how she feels.”

Peyton turned to look at me in surprise. “Really? Did you ask him about it?”

I nodded. “The other night when we were having trouble sleeping. It kinda slipped out.” She studied me for a long moment, and I looked away, scanning the nearby trees for any sign of the spider. I hadn’t seen it in a couple of hours, and I wondered if it had maybe given up on following us. Strangely, as relieved as I would be at that, the thought was also a little sad.

As I turned back, I looked at Peyton – our eyes met. She opened her mouth as though she were about to say something, when Chase called out that the food was ready. Instead, her mouth snapped shut and she jumped up quickly, walking over to the others, jokingly shouting, “Finally!”

I stood and followed.

Since the former slaves had joined us, they had finally allowed Peyton, Lexie and I to help take a turn at watch. Mine was in the middle of the night, so my sleep was interrupted for a short stint of staring morosely into the night. The trickling of the water kept lulling me back to sleep, and it was a struggle to stay awake. Things seemed calm enough, and I was happy to go back to bed.

I woke in the morning feeling slightly jostled. I heard the familiar trill of the jumping spider, and sat up, rubbing at my eyes and trying to tamp down the flare of fear that rustled up my spine. I felt something fall off my chest and into my lap as I sat up, and I blinked down at it.

A dead rabbit.

I frowned down at it, wondering how it had gotten there, and then glanced up at the sound of the trill again. The spider was several feet away – I felt myself jerk back slightly despite myself, still completely terrified of the concept of a spider that large. It dipped its head very low to the ground, tapped its front legs several times and trilled at me again. Then it jumped away.

Raella and Peyton, who must have been on watch, approached me when it left. “What did it drop on you?” Peyton asked, sounding amused. I grabbed the dead rabbit by the ears and lifted it to show her. “Oh, it brought you a gift. Like a cat.” She laughed.

I sighed. “Think its safe to eat?” I asked.

Raella came forward and took it from me, twisting the rabbit as she studied it. “It didn’t bite it. Looks like it broke the back and the neck. Should be safe enough.”

Lexie wandered over at that point, and hearing Raella said, “Jumping spiders in our world don’t have poisonous venom. It just paralyzes.”

Raella scrunched her face. “Not sure I would risk eating something soaked in spider venom, even if it was merely paralytic.”

Lexie shrugged. “Fair,” she said. “So we’re having rabbit for breakfast?”

Raella nodded, tossing the rabbit back down into my lap. I sighed. “May as well not let it go to waste. A stew, perhaps?”

The others were stirring from their sleep. I felt a little guilty at the thought of just handing a dead rabbit to someone to take care of for me. “I don’t know how to…” I grabbed the rabbit, awkwardly holding it up, “to skin a rabbit?”

Peyton looked amused. “It’s not very hard. I’ll show you.” Of course she knows, I thought to myself. She went to grab a knife, and I finally pulled myself out of the bedroll. Raella drifted off to start waking the others.

“Think your spider friend is going to hunt for you every morning?” Lexie asked, plopping down on the foot of my abandoned bed.

“Maybe,” I said.

She nodded thoughtfully. “You should probably name it, if it sticks around.”

“Hmmm,” I considered. “Peter.”

Lexie frowned for a moment, then groaned and rolled her eyes. “You are such a nerd,” she said, having caught on. “What if it’s a girl spider? Are you gonna call it Gwen?”

“Or Jessica,” I countered, but shook my head. “Male or female, I think I’ll stick with Peter.” I glanced up to see that Peyton was gesturing for me to join her at the edge of the river. “How do you tell male spiders apart from female spiders anyway?” I asked as I started toward where she was. Lexie shrugged, then bounced up to join us.

I gave her a questioning look as she fell into step next to me. “I may as well learn too,” she said, though she didn’t look happy about it.

26. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

I don’t know how long I wandered. It could have been five minutes – it could have been fifty. I remember slipping into an alcove, a divot in the rock face, and finding myself on my hands and knees being violently ill. I closed my eyes and heaved until there was nothing left in my stomach. I wanted to lay down and sleep, but the smell was awful, so I shifted away and continued down the passage.

I found a chamber with more cocoons and a small pool of water. I collapsed next to the blessedly cool water and shoved my face into it – it smelled earthy and tasted like rock. I faintly wondered if it would make me sick, and then realized I didn’t care. I may have passed out momentarily.

I woke when I felt my body moving – something was dragging me, pulling me along by the hem of my shirt, pulling my face out of the water. I gasped, coughing on the water that threatened to fill my lungs, and pushed away from the edge. I wiped the wetness from my face. Feeling finally clear headed, I looked to see what had been pulling me.

Another spider. Fuzzy, striped like a tabby cat and about the size of a large dog, with two large front eyes that regarded me, its head tilting almost curiously. It seemed to be mostly legs and face. I screamed, and it jumped, back and up, landing on the ceiling far above and shifting out of sight behind a stalactite.

Some of the water I had inhaled wasn’t fully out of my system and the scream cut off into a coughing fit. I pulled myself back against the cavern wall, looking around at my surroundings. How had I gotten here? My mind traced back over recent events and I kept a wary eye on the stalactite the spider was hiding behind.

I could remember the attack on the camp. I had been bitten. I lifted my shirt and looked at the bite. In doing so, I remembered that I had also looked at the bite quite recently. It didn’t look as inflamed anymore. I poked one of the holes – it was sore, and I winced. I thought about when I had looked at it last. Lyre had cut me out of the cocoon I had been wrapped in.

Lyre! I dropped the shirt and looked around. He had helped me, and was trying to lead me to safety and I had wondered away in a haze. “Stupid, stupid,” I muttered to myself. “Damn it all,” I stood, wincing at the tenderness in my abdomen. How long had I wandered through these caves? How far had Lyre gotten before he realized I wasn’t following? Would he have come back for me, or continued to get the others and lead them back to help?

And what about the spiders? I glanced up at the ceiling again – the one that had dragged me out of the water had been poking its head out further, and dipped back into hiding as I turned toward it. It looked different than the ones that had attacked the camp – those had looked almost like wolf spiders, bristly and lean, with smaller eyes. This one had a broader face and larger eyes, and was fuzzier. I remembered the leap it had taken to reach the ceiling, and realized it was a jumping spider. A giant one. I shuddered in revulsion.

I hated spiders. My first serious girlfriend in college had raised jumping spiders, and I could acknowledge that they were cuter looking than most arachnids, but the instant chill of terror I had whenever there wasn’t any glass separating it from me was uncontrollable. She had built a terrarium for it, and had special ordered one that was quite colorful and large. But the moment she would pull the thing out of its enclosure so she could personally handle it, I would leave. She eventually dumped me for being, and I quote, “a pussy.”

I looked around the cave, and spied the opening I had originally come through. If I backtracked that way, maybe I could find Lyre? Or the way out? I drank some of the water one last time, and splashed some on my face and on my wound, the cold water a relief against the inflamed skin. Then I started out of the cavern. I glanced up at the ceiling where the jumping spider had continued to move, shifting out of my range of vision. I hoped it wouldn’t pursue me.

It was very dark just several steps into the passage. Turning back toward the cavern, I realized there was some lighting from within it, and my head swiveled, trying to locate the source. I finally figured out that the spider webbing glowed faintly. I gently ran my hand along a strand of it, and realized my fingertips tingled and numbed at the touch. I pulled my hand back quickly, wondering if the venom from the bite had caused my lapse in lucidity or the webbing itself.

Still, I needed the light source if I wanted to make my way out of this place. Feeling incredibly jealous of everyone else’s magical ability again, I poked one of the cocoons open very carefully with the toe of my boot, and found a longer piece of bone. I wondered what kind of creature it had belonged to. I wrapped one end in webbing, carefully, doing my best not to touch any of it with my bare skin. The entire time, I also carefully watched for any movement along the ceiling.

It was very dim light, but it was better than nothing. I started down the passage again. I vaguely remembered puking at some point along the way, and I kept the light low to the ground, looking for this sign of my previous passage. I walked quite far before I found it – maybe about thirty minutes away from the cavern with the pool. I sighed in distress as I kicked some dirt over it. So I had been wandering these caves for quite awhile.

I heard something skitter in the darkness, and felt my bowels twist in terror. “Please don’t shit yourself,” I said quietly to myself, lifting my dim torch up to try to locate the source of the sound. In the direction I was planning to go, the passage looked to be covered with many small glittering facets. I did not like it.

They moved toward me all at once, and as my eyes adjusted to the shapes around them, I realized they were the smaller cat-sized spiders I had seen before. I screamed – they were fast – and on me more quickly than I had anticipated. I slammed one off with the bone fragment, kicked another away from my feet. I felt something sharp pierce my hip, the flaring pain of the venom making me scream again as I batted the offending party off me. I slammed myself into the nearby wall, heard skittering and small screams and the disgustingly audible squishing noise some of them made as they died under my mad flailing.

Suddenly a loud hissing noise seemed to whoosh over my head, faintly ruffling my hair, and something larger than my attackers rolled into the fray. As I smashed another of the kitten sized ones under my boot with a squelch, I raised my light to see what was happening.

The jumping spider was attacking the other spiders. Several of them had turned to flee at its assault, and some of the others had decided to attack it instead. There was a mad scuffle, the smaller spiders making outright screaming noises as they fought – I watched the jumping spider rip one in half with its mandibles, and easily push the crushed remains of the body into its mouth. I shuddered and returned to smashing any that were near me.

It wasn’t long until I found myself twisting, trying to find any of the remaining little fucks to destroy, and realized they were all either dead or escaping. I could hear the jumping spider shifting in the dark behind me. I turned to see what it was doing. It was in the middle of eating some of the remains when my dim light fell on it, and it paused, turning to regard me carefully. I froze also, feeling the familiar tingle along the base of my neck, my unmitigated terror made physical. Something in the way my breathing hitched seemed to startle the spider, and it scooped up a few of the remaining bodies and jumped quickly out of sight.

It was so fast that I wasn’t certain if it had jumped back over me the way we had come or further back the way I wanted to go. I stared into the dark, feeling rooted to the spot. Everything about this was the worst waking nightmare I had ever faced.

After several long moments, I forced myself to move my feet, continuing along the passage. I had to get out of here.

I found the cavern where Lyre had freed me. The webbing covering it provided some degree of light, and I could see the cocoon that I had been freed from, slightly sunken in now that it didn’t hold a body. I stared at it for a moment, before moving on in the direction Lyre had been walking. I wasn’t sure how Lyre had chosen the direction, but I had an especially bad feeling as I continued. My makeshift light source was slowly becoming unnecessary, I realized, because the walls were more regularly coated in the webs.

The passage continued along a path, but opened on one side out into a small room. I realized the room was full of more cocoons, and what looked to be egg sacs. The chittering sounds of spiders echoed through the entire area. Everything seemed to be screaming that I was only walking further into the spider’s den. I stopped to investigate a couple of the cocoons, but nothing was really person shaped, and everything close enough in size was too desiccated to be alive still.

Now, more spaces opened here and there on both sides. It was almost actually bright. I continued to poke along, hoping to find Lyre. And then the passage ended.

It opened out onto a large cavern. I moved forward, bending low to the ground like that would hide me to whatever eyes existed in the cavern. Sounds echoed throughout – the space seemed vast. I moved quietly along the edge of the cavern, but could see a particularly bright spot out towards the center of the cavern – a whole concentrated nest of webbing.

Whimpering softly to myself, I moved toward it, and tripped. As I looked to see what I had tripped on, I found myself face to face with the jumping spider. I gasped and pulled away as it gestured frantically at me, and then I stood to run. As I got close to the more concentrated webbing, I could see a cocoon, half sliced open on the ground, a slouched figure sitting just within, eyes closed. I recognized Lexie.

For a moment forgetting my terror, I rushed forward and began pulling her the rest of the way out of the cocoon. Glancing around as I did so, keeping an eye out for any movement, I could see a rapier abandoned on the ground. Looking up, I saw another person shaped cocoon dangling above, attached to the side of a towering stalagmite. It shifted slightly.

Whatever inside was alive. Lyre, I realized. As I finished pulling Lexie from the cocoon and slung her over my shoulder, I heard the chittering grow loud around me. I reached for the rapier, standing to turn and look around. I watched as the shapes emerged from the darkness, the many eyes, the many legs. I felt my mouth gape open. There were so many of them! How had I even come this far without seeing any of them until now?

I could see the faint glow of webbing unfurling from the ceiling as some descended around me.  They all stayed a respectful distance away. I turned, intending to take the chance to look for a way to cut Lyre down, when from within the heart of the concentrated webbing, something huge shifted.

Massive. Larger than the ones that had attacked the camp and brought me back to this cursed place. Larger than an elephant. I boggled, wondering if it was even able to leave the cave system, or if the smaller spiders just brought it offerings. It looked as if it had been folded in tight at the heart of its lair, and had simply unfolded into a massive shadow. I stared into eyes the size of car tires and felt myself gulp, almost comically loud.

Just as it loomed over me, the familiar hissing of the jumping spider sounded. It jumped onto the back of its head, snapping at the large eyes. The massive spider let out a scream that shook the room, and everything got cacophonous as all the creatures around us screamed in response.

I turned back to the stalagmite, climbing up it just enough to reach Lyre’s cocoon. I swiped up with the blade madly, hoping I wouldn’t injure him. The cut was too shallow. Just at my feet, a spider the size of a mountain lion rammed into the rock below me, snapping at my boots. I kicked at it, screaming. It snapped again, and I timed jumping down onto its head with one of its forward lunges. The lunge carried me up, and I took a second desperate swipe at the cocoon in front of me.

Lyre tumbled out. I tossed the rapier, suddenly terrified of any of us landing on the blade in the fall, and Lyre, Lexie and I tumbled into a heap on top of the attacking spider. Several smaller spiders came rushing in, and I rolled, squashing as many as I could as I flailed.

All of the violent movement must have been enough to wake Lexie, who sat up, blinking groggily for a moment. As she took in her surroundings, her eyes widened in terror and surprise, and the glow of magic instantly surrounded her. “Yes!” I shouted happily as a burst of fire erupted, scorching the webs around us and sending spiders scattering and screaming. Then I realized the fireburst was large – too close, too out of control. I shouted, ducking away and shutting my eyes closed, waiting to feel the painful rush of the fire over my skin.

When it didn’t happen, I opened my eyes to see that the flames were crawling up the sides of some sort of glowing barrier. Glancing over, I could see that Lyre was standing over Lexie’s shoulder, his hand outstretched, and he was chanting, his voice resonant. As the flames died down, Lyre grabbed Lexie’s shoulder and said, “We need to go. Now!”

I nodded dumbly, starting to follow. But the scream of the massive spider caught my attention, and I turned to look – the jumping spider was almost impossible to see, it moved quickly, dodging the massive legs and mandibles, nipping at its larger opponent, and then jumping again. It was caught with the swipe of a massive limb mid-jump, and the massive spider moved to pin it where it landed. I watched the massive spider move forward to devour it.

The jumping spider hissed viciously, if ineffectually, in its enemy’s face. The thing had saved me a few separate times. It looked piteously small pinned under the legs of the terrifying visage that was moving in on it. Time seemed to slow for a moment as I stared, feeling an overwhelming surge of sympathy for the poor thing. I’m not even sure if I shouted words or just a random wordless cry, but I flung my hand out.

The light of magic sprung up around me. A strange sensation, a sense of power, swirled through me, filling me with a strangely euphoric feeling – it had been there all along, I realized vaguely, before I became engrossed with the effect.

Vines surged forth from the rocky cavern floors, a burst of unexpected greenery striking at the giant spider, eviscerating it. It screamed as it died on the ends of the plants, which continued to grow and carry it up bodily away from the floor of the cavern, spearing it into the ceiling above. Rocks crashed around us and sunlight flooded in from above, and as the sunlight fell on the vines flowers suddenly budded and bloomed all over.

I pushed forward, afraid for a moment at how much damage I had caused, but strangely there was one undisturbed portion of the ground. The jumping spider was surrounded by vines, but unharmed, standing in the middle of that spot. It twisted, first one way, then the other, waving its proboscis in the air as if in celebration. It tilted its head when it saw me, almost like a puppy. And then it jumped away, up through one of the openings, out of the caved in cavern and into the sunlight above.

I stared for a long moment, blinking against the bright light. I could still hear the skittering and screams of other spiders, but none of them seemed to be attacking. They were retreating, either further into the caves or out into the world above.

I felt suddenly and completely drained. I turned to see Lexie and Lyre climbing over some of the vines, looking around in awe. “You finally cast, Lucas!” Lexie said when she saw me. She looked pale, almost gray-toned. I nodded dumbly. And then I passed out.

25. Lucas

On By MaryIn 2023, WritingLeave a comment

Raella had us cast the compass spell immediately. The image appeared, strangely small for the first time in many days, and more southerly in the circle. Cassandra was laying down, either asleep or passed out – she was bleeding from the head, but it was hard to tell how badly she was wounded. The pale elf tensed visibly. “She’s hurt,” he said, his voice choking on the words with a surprising amount of anguish. I studied him curiously, wondering what kind of relationship they had formed in the brief time we had been here.

Raella let out an angry hiss. “How did she get so far?” she said. “There’s no way the river took her that far that quickly.”

We stood for several moments, staring at the glowing image on the ground. With a sigh, Chase finally broke the spell. “We should continue on,” she said resolutely. Then smiling, she turned toward the three elves we had just met. “If you want to come with us, I believe introductions are in order. My name is Chase Glenn. I am a student of the Imperial University.” She curtsied, dipping her head courteously.

The three looked at each other, then the larger elf with brown hair cautiously nodded. “My name is Silden Vi’Aphil. This is Larina Eth’Adiol,” he took the hand of the female elf, who had bright blue eyes and short red hair. She smiled timidly at us, gripping his hand tight in return. “And that is Lyre Ik’Abalin,” he gestured to the pale elf, who tilted his head forward politely at his name, regarding us with pale gray eyes.

“Slave names,” Zolambi noted. “I am Zolambi Demn.” The pale elf – Lyre – gave Zolambi an appraising look, perhaps also recognizing a fellow former slave by name. I wondered what distinguished the names as slave names, but the introductions were continuing.

Chase gestured to Peyton, Lexie and me. “These humans are like your friend… Peyton Hobbs, Lexie Saint, and Lucas Kearney.”

“They’re from her world?” Larina asked, and she and Silden studied us in awed fascination.

Chase glanced over at Raella, obviously surprised that they knew Cassandra wasn’t from this world, then nodded. “She… Cassandra told you where she was from?”

“Not initially. She was very cautious, and claimed to have amnesia when we met her,” Lyre said. He looked back down at the river far below us again, a slight frown on his face.

“I am Greyjon Pellort,” Greyjon said simply into the following silence.

“You fight well,” Silden said. “Thank you again for helping us.”  Greyjon smiled at him in acknowledgment.

“And I am Raella Harn, Professor of Ancient Divinity at the Imperial University,” Raella said. She looked around at us impatiently. “And I think anything else we can learn from you can be shared as we travel.”

“I agree,” Lyre said, finally looking back to the group. “Let’s be on our way.”

We continued along from the cliff above, walking along the edge of the ravine. There weren’t enough horses for all of us to ride, so we walked, talking as we went. Raella wanted the slaves (or former slaves) to tell her everything they had experienced with Cassandra from the moment they met her. Lyre had been closest to her, so he spoke the most, though it was Larina that initially described the beam of light that delivered Cassandra into what she called the Cursed Sea.

I walked behind Lyre, studying him as he spoke, and tried to imagine what it must have been like for Cassandra, to literally wake up in this world lost at sea and try to make the best of it. She had been lucky to find people that she had grown close to at least – people that apparently cared for her.

Raella listened very carefully, asking a few pointed questions throughout the telling. Early on, when Lyre described casting a translation spell for Cassandra, she said, “She wasn’t speaking Blest?”

Lyre shook his head. “No. I gave her language lessons so she has a decent grasp of it now, but she spoke another language at first. She called it English.” Peyton drifted closer to walk next to me, absorbed in what was being said. “I also taught her to read.” He glanced back at us, frowning. “Did you not have to do the same?”

I shook my head.

Lyre squinted, like he was trying to remember something. “Hello. My name is Lyre,” he said, forming the words slowly, carefully enunciating. Raella’s eyes boggled as she looked at him, like maybe he had grown an eye stalk from the middle of his head.

“Yes, I know,” I said, feeling like I ended the statement with a question mark.

“Were you speaking English just then?” Peyton asked, catching on more quickly than I had. He nodded. “It doesn’t distinguish for us. It all sounds like English, whether you speak normally or not.”

“So that is what an otherworlder language sounds like,” Raella said thoughtfully.

“What if I speak in the elven tongue?” Lyre asked, and he did – the language rolled off his tongue smoothly, sounding nearly as perfect as Zolambi did when he spoke in Primordial.

I shook my head this time. “No, Primordial doesn’t translate for us.”

“Primordial,” Lyre repeated.

Now Zolambi piped up from behind us. “Yes, friend. Our tongue is called Primordial in the Empire.”

Lyre nodded thoughtfully. “I’m sure there’s going to be a lot for us to learn as well,” he said. He continued, telling us about Cassandra’s deal with the ship captain, and how she had begun working to earn her passage. He described the moment that Cassandra had first cast, and the magic lessons he had given her afterward at her request, the escape from the ship, and their trek to and across the desert. “On occasion, she would instinctually cast a new spell. The spell that saved her when she fell off the cliff earlier was one, as well as a true healing spell and a sleep spell.”

“True healing?” Raella asked.

“Yes. She can knit broken bones and close wounded flesh, and we have seen her clear an infection,” Lyre responded. He raised and clenched his hands, which were glossy from a gel that Chase had spread across the wounds he had received in his earlier fight. “She would easily be able to heal these burns if she were here.”

“I see. A truly divine spell,” Raella said, sounding impressed for once. “Then the head wound she sustained should be no trouble at least.”

Lyre let his hands drop back to his side, frowning. “She can’t heal herself.”

Raella hmm’ed, pursing her lips. “That is unfortunate.”

Mostly, their escape to the Empire was a desperate bid to safety, but it was also a journey to find out why Cassandra may have come to this world. “If you were looking for her, then you must know her purpose here?” Lyre tentatively asked.

“You’ve never heard any stories regarding this?” Raella asked, frowning.

“Some. Vague fairy tales about otherworldly beings sealing away monsters,” Lyre said.

Raella nodded. “That’s close enough to true.” And she disclosed everything she had told us about our mission in their world, keeping it rather succinct. As she finished, she asked, “This is very important. The being we wish to seal has been known to reach out to the Graces when they arrive in our world. Has Cassandra mentioned hearing voices at all?”

Lyre shook his head. He had a thoughtful look on his face for a moment, but he simply said, “Never.”

When we stopped to rest and have a luncheon in the afternoon, we cast the compass spell again. Cassandra appeared to be awake now, and was sitting cross legged, a cloak wrapped around her. The head wound must not have been as serious as we thought, the blood having been wiped away. She looked to be lost in thought. “That is a very useful spell,” Lyre said as it was dropped. “Can you find anyone with it?”

Raella glanced at us briefly as she responded. “Not just anyone. It is a spell specifically to find someone from their world.”

Lyre nodded thoughtfully, taking note of Raella’s nervousness. He changed the subject, glancing over at Larina and Silden to say, “Was that the Hunter’s cloak?”

Larina shrugged, but Silden nodded. “It looked like it. Maybe he’s helping us now? He did fight off some of the hounds.” Lyre frowned more deeply, seeming disturbed. Seeing his expression, Silden said, “I’m sure she is safe.”

“You seem very concerned for her,” Peyton noted gently.

“I am,” Lyre said, but didn’t elaborate. We continued after eating.

Lexie spent her time walking very close to the edge of the cliff, which made me a bit nervous. It must have bothered Zolambi as well, because he trailed just behind her, seemingly coincidentally, or at least a lot less obvious than I would have been. As the afternoon gave way to evening, she gestured down below. “What is that?” she asked. I stepped closer to look, as did some of our other companions. Some sort of white string was spread across the cliff face. Even further down amongst the trees and the rock formations closer to the river, there were whole clumps of the stuff. There was only one thing I could think of as soon as I saw it, and it sent a shiver up my spine.

“Webbing?” Peyton asked.

“It’s a spider den,” Raella said. “Though I don’t see the spiders.”

We stared in silence, trying to spot any movement from below. “We should probably move further along before we make camp,” Greyjon said. “We don’t want to be nearby if they come out to hunt at night.” I shuddered at the thought.

“How big do they get?” Peyton asked.

“Judging by the nest below… Big,” Greyjon said, and left it at that.

It started to get dark an hour later, so we stopped to make camp, hoping that it would be far enough away from the webbed lair. Greyjon decided to take the first watch, and accepted Silden’s offer to help. The compass spell was cast, and we were thankfully closer to Cassandra now. She was still sitting, staring thoughtfully into the middle distance with the cloak wrapped around her. From the size of her image, I guessed it would only be a day or two of travel to find her.

We settled in for the evening, eating and setting up our bedrolls. It was decided if a few of us each took a turn at watch, the bedrolls could be shared with our new guests. As I lay down to sleep, I turned on my side and stared at the crackling fire, and tried not to think about an entire den of giant spiders existing just north of us. Every strange noise in the night made me shiver, even if it was obviously unspiderlike.

I was finally starting to snooze when a strange chittering sound from out in the dark got my attention. My eyes flashed open and I stared at the fire. That, I thought, was definitely spiderlike.

I could hear Silden whisper something to Greyjon in the dark, though I couldn’t hear what he said. I heard the soft whisper of Greyjon’s sword leaving its sheath. I turned over to look toward where they were sitting – both were surrounded by the light of magic. I sat up to stare into the dark. More chittering – louder this time. From multiple spots around the camp.

Greyjon waved a hand up, a bright spot of light appearing above him, lighting the darkness around us suddenly and exposing the nearby landscape. I watched in horror as kitten-sized eight-legged shadows skittered away. And then I screamed as I saw something with too many legs shift forward quickly – something massive, maybe slightly larger than a bear. Its many eyes glittered in the light.

There was movement all around the camp as at least three more massive spiders moved forward as well. The rest of the group woke at my screams – several lights flared around me as everyone else reached for their magic. Whatever else they were doing was lost to me, because one of the spiders was barreling straight at me, attracted to my screaming. I instinctively propelled myself back, almost directly into the fire, and screamed again as I felt the flames lick my palms and back.

Panicked, worried that I had caught fire, I rolled on the dirt away from the flames (stop, drop, and roll, the mantra ingrained from elementary school, drifted through my head). Unfortunately, the roll brought me back into the spider’s grasp. I punched up as the legs surrounded me, my fists connecting with the bristly, leathery skin of the thing, and realized I was screaming, “No no nonononONONO!” as I struggled against it.

I was pinned. Its head dipped so close to me that I was looking directly into at least three of its large, glimmering eyes. I felt large fangs puncture my abdomen, and suddenly it was like my entire body was on fire, like the flames I had almost fallen into had seeped into my very blood. I screamed even louder than I thought I knew how to, until suddenly my tongue grew numb and my limbs grew heavy and my head felt fuzzy. This quick, I thought. I die this quick.

I heard screams and explosions in the camp, and more chittering. I could hear my name being shouted. I felt myself being lifted and carried, like floating in a dream. Names, I realized. I could hear multiple names being shouted, not just mine. Lexie?

I woke cocooned in sticky silk. My first instinct was to begin screaming again. Something slapped me – hard – across the face, and I stopped mid-shout, dumbfounded. “Stop making so much noise,” I heard a voice whisper, very close to me. I recognized it as Lyre.

Despite myself, I moaned and began to mumble a whole slew of absurdities, trying to shift to rip myself out of the webbing. It was hard to break through. “Spider web is some of the toughest material,” I muttered, and laughed a little manically.

The point of a rapier slipped through the web, nearly piercing me. I quieted immediately, holding very still. After a moment, Lyre said, “I… didn’t just kill you, did I?”

“Oh. No. Please get me out.”

“Okay, hold still.”

“I mean… I was. For that purpose. Hurry.” He obliged, quickly slicing through. Once there was a large enough opening, it was easy to slide out. I felt nauseous and my entire body felt heavy and fuzzy at once, like I existed in a deep fog. I pulled up my shirt to look at the bite – there were two large spots on my abdomen, both red and very inflamed, but nothing looked necrotic, nothing was turning white or black.

Lyre was still holding the rapier a little awkwardly. He looked paler than normal, like a ghost, probably owing to the similar bite wound on his shoulder. “We should get out of here,” he said.

I nodded fervently, but the motion sent my head spinning, and I winced. We were in a cave of some sort, and I could hear chittering echoing from within. Everything was covered with webbing, and there were other cocoons in the chamber. I wanted desperately to be anywhere but here. Lyre chose a direction to walk in, and I followed, hoping that he knew where we were going. But I took three steps before I remembered that I had heard a voice – Peyton’s voice – shouting my name when I had been carried away. And not just my name. “What about Lexie?” I asked groggily.

Lyre must not have heard me. He continued walking ahead of me.

I felt myself shaking my head, almost like in a distant dream, and the world blurred with the motion, shifting uncomfortably. I had always hated spiders, but I couldn’t just leave a little girl to be devoured by them. I mumbled as much out loud, then I shifted away from Lyre, moving in the opposite direction, sure that he would agree and follow.