Kardol hesitated for the briefest of moments before signalling us to follow them. I rolled my neck and unsheathed my knife, I followed my dwarven friends down into the darkness. I froze in my tracks as bloodcurdling screams of terror resonated from the tunnel they had charged into. Unintelligible shouting, screams of fear and pain. Neither of those things one normally hears from the mouth of a dark-spawn. Tension ramped up as we held our weapons in a white-knuckled grip. Curiosity killed the cat and soon enough we would follow. The dwarves continued their quiet march deeper into the darkness, their eyes vigilant as they scanned ahead. They kept an eye on the walls, the ceiling and the floor. For in the deep roads one’s enemy could appear from any direction.

Heart clenching seconds turned into minutes as we meticulously made our way. My breath started becoming more shallow, my hands trembling slightly. Anticipation like this was way worse than any battle ever could be. Fear of the unknown, an expression that finally made sense to me. I forced a proper exhale, needed to focus, needed to be ready. Maybe I should whisper a joke to lighten the atmosphere, would if I could. It's taking every single part of my mind to focus on the task at hand. I forced another deep exhale. Noticing something shimmering white in the corner of my eye, I glanced at it and curse beneath my breath. The dwarves glance at me with questioning gazes, I motioned towards the shimmering silver-white and got another round of curses as answer.

Spider webs, which meant giant fucking spiders. An enemy one could find in just about any fantasy game, nothing that important, scary or dangerous. Until you had to face them in real-life. Many people feared the smaller spiders. What if those were the size of a pony, what if instead of imagined, the danger they posed on your life was very real. I could already picture their glimmering beady little eyes, their snapping mandibles. Drool dripping from the darkest of voids I could imagine. I muttered another curse, I shook my limbs to get rid of some of the tension as we continued forward. I was now sincerely doubting the decision to follow these darkspawn, whatever lay ahead would no doubt be a horrible place to set up camp.

Then an explosion of sound filled my eardroms, the sound resonating off of the caverns walls. My eyes widened, I knew that sound, a gunshot! FUCK, EVE! I sprinted past the row of dwarves, my previous fear forgotten, the rest was safe after death. The fate that could await Eve at either the hands of the darkspawn or the glimmering claws of spiders made my heart grow cold. The dwarves called for me to come back, they cursed as I ran past them. I heard them hesitate then follow behind me, yet they did not rush at a break-neck speed like I did. They kept their sanity, their eyes shooting towards any dark crevice in the search for danger.

The mouth of the cavern opened up into an area covered in the silver silk, I glanced around and saw the group of darkspawn struggling to get free. Wrapped in thick strands of a spider’s web, almost dead-center of the room stood a familiar sight that glimmered between visible and invisible. I grinned as I saw her, even more so when I noticed how relaxed she looked.

“Eve!” I called out.

She turned around and start screaming to something, “Friendly! He's a friend!”

I froze when I heard her words and glanced around, then the largest spider I would ever see in my life appeared from behind a small mountain of silver cocoons. Seven beady black eyes, one of them a milky white as it seemed to be recovering from an injury. Eight hairy, massive legs, each the length of an average schoolbus. I swallowed as I forced my body to remain still. From the corner of my eye I saw Eve running towards me. She quickly stood up next to me and faced the spider, I glanced at her.

“Should we run? I think we should run, yup definitely run!”

“Calm down and let her look at you!” Eve whispered at me as she glared. I blanched at her stare, how in the name of anything glorious was I supposed to be calm when faced with a creature of this magnitude. Of this sheer amount of mortifying pressure.

“Kardol!” I shouted instead, “Stay where you are, for the love of the ancestors don't come here!”

“Who's Kardol?” Eve asked as she stood there calmly.

“A dwarf I met, he's a lieutenant in the Legion of the Dead.” I answered as I kept my gaze locked on the spider.

“Legion Of Dead” The words echoed through my skull, a voice with a hint of femininity dominated the space inside my mind. Drowning out any other thoughts, “They kill the twisted, fight... the... taint.”

Each word was strangely enunciated, the voice spoke slowly, carefully. She had an accent that reminded me of something. It spoke in the same strange way as the Spirit of Carnán from the game Shadow of war. It was similar yet, so very different. This voice was deeper, darker. It had the smoothness of silk. It held the wisdom of countless ages. I blinked as realisation hit me, it was the arachnid before me.

I stared at the spider, “Are you the voice speaking in my mind?” I asked as my fingers clenched around the handle of my knife, sweat dropping from my brow as my body was loaded to the brim with tension.

“I am spider, Queen of Arachnids is what i am cal-led.” The near alien way of her speaking was entrancing. The words flowed, the subtle sound of the S lingered. It was beautiful, in a mortally implicit kind of way. The beauty of finality. It sang to my soul, her speech soothened the tension in my body. While her presence stacked upon the feeling of imminent annihilation.

I released a breath I did not know I had been holding. “Woaw” I whispered as I stared at her.

“I know right?” Eve whispered as she looked at the spider.

“This human be kin of yours?” The arachnid asked as her gaze snapped towards Eve.

Eve nodded, “We came here together, the rest of our brethren died in the fight against the tainted ones. I thought all had perished in the battle, it seems I was mistaken.”

“The stench of taint-ed death lingers around this one.” The arachnid spoke, her gaze swiveling between me and Eve. “Many of the taint this one has murder-ed”

Then the queen lowered her massive body and got close to me, her eyes analysing my body. Her inquisitive gaze caused my heart to pound blood like never before. I could hardly hear her next words over the rushing sound of blood.

“It this one and the allies of which it speaks of no threat to me?” The queen asked as she kept her eyes on me.

“I don't know about his allies but his only enemy should be those that try to kill him. Darkspawn are at the top of the list, same as me.” Eve said in an attempt to reassure her.

“Sstrange one, call upon those allies of yours to show themselves. We will determine if there is a threat to us or not.” The arachnid backed away from me and 'sat' down. It sat as much as any spider could, I supposed it was to make it seem less threatening. Not that it worked with a spider the size of a small building.

I coughed a few times in an attempt to get my voice back enough to call out. “Uuuuuhhhh.... Kardol! You can come in but... Don't freak out! She's friendly.” I heard the shuffling of feet as the dwarves came into the cavern. “I think....” I added in a whisper to myself.

The dwarves froze as they saw the spider, the spider gazed at them but did not move. The dwarves clenched their hands around their weapons and stayed near the entrance. I couldn't blame them, they were far enough from the spider that they had a chance to run away should it prove to be hostile.

Kardol continued staring at the creature then glanced quickly at me before staring back at the Arachnid. “Human, what in the blazes have you gotten us into.”

I coughed, “Good question, to which I have no answer.”

“Right....” Kardol muttered. He shrugged his shoulder, keeping his shield between him and the spider. For all the good a shield would do.

“So these be the small ones that fight the taint” She spoke again, the effect of her voice visible on the dwarves. They froze, their eyes widened and their jaws dropped, even with their helmets on I could almost see their surprise.

I smiled, perhaps a little bit smug. “Yup.”

“By all my holy ancestors....” I heard Kormik mutter.

Quiet fell over the cavern as everyone just stood there in silence. I glanced at Eva and she just shrugged. I cleared my throat, everyone’s eyes swiveled to me and I blanched for a brief second. “So what do we do now?”

“The tainted ones came to erase me from the world. They send many, they send strong. I watch them come. Then out of air you and the one that is hard to see appear with your comrades. You kill the tainted ones that were sent to kill me.” The spider moved, the dwarves blanched but I just watched in interest. So those horde of darkspawn we came across were not headed for us, they were headed for the Spider.

“How did you appear, how did you, small and small in number fight so well against the tainted ones. We wondered, then the remainder of their forces came. They try to burn my webs, they kill my children. Then the one that is hard to see comes. She kills the tainted ones, she saves my children from the fire.” The spider looked at Eva, who just shrugged.

“I always liked spiders, figured the enemy of my enemy is my friend. I was in need of allies and as always God provides.” I stared at her with wide eyes. I was a bit confused how god would appear in the form of a monstrous spider that murdered darkspawn. But hey, who was I to question religion.

“God works in mysterious ways,” I muttered more to myself than anyone else. I saw Eva nod in agreement. I sighed.

“The dwarves and I are looking for a place for their force to set up camp. They are striving to push back the tainted ones, take back their home of old. They have brought many for this purpose. If the death of the Darkspawn is what you seek, then those you see here are your allies.”

The spider eyed the dwarves, the dwarves in turn twitched at the attention but held their ground. The spider seemed to nod, her massive body moving up and down at the attempt.

“Then perhaps I can work with the small ones.” Her voice spread to all of us, “I know of a place where those you bring can reside. I will tell the one that is hard to see of the path to take. You can follow her, I will guide your people around my brood. I do not want my children to come to harm.” I nodded and sighed in relief. The dwarves seemed skeptical. They talked between themselves for a moment, then Kardol nodded and said he would take a look.

We left the Spider’s presence, releasing a breath we didn't know we had been holding. Now that had been an experience I had not expected. I glanced at Eva, “How are you going to show us the way though?”

The dwarves glanced at us, wondering the same thing. A spider appeared on her shoulder, it was big, the size of a cat perhaps. I blanched at the sight and saw from the corner of my eyes how the dwarves flinched. Eva however did not seem to be even slightly bothered by the spider’s presence.

“When I saved some of her brood me and Venatoria kind of bonded?” I blinked as she said that, standing at her.

“Well we connected, I can feel her from here and we can still talk and such. Honestly I don’t get how we bonded this soon but she says she feels the need for connection. I just assumed it meant God was at work.” I stared at her for a while longer, she seemed to take the whole bonding with a gigantic spider thing in stride.

“Well, forgive me for delaying introductions but I should introduce you.” I pointed to Kardol, “This is Kardol, leader of this expedition and a lieutenant in the Legion.” Then I pointed to Dromgar, “That is Dromgar, he doesn't really speak.”

I pointed at the siblings. “Then these siblings are Kormik, Thorik and Korma!” Kormik greeted her, Thorik said hi and gave her a idiotic grin. Korma waved at her excitedly but Eva just stared at her then back at me with an raised eyebrow. “They are siblings?...” She asked.

“Yea Korma is the youngest of the siblings. She is a crack shot with her crossbow, I want one of those myself. Thorik is a demolition guy and Kormik is the strong silent type!”

The others shuffled a bit, Korma blushed at the compliment and the others frowned as if they were uncomfortable. Eva stared at me strangely, then she put on a smile and we headed back to the camp.

---Kardol POV---

As they re-entered the camp, Zoa went to set up their camp. Kardol headed towards Eva, “It is a pleasure to meet you she-human, but I have a few questions I must ask.”

“I have a few of those myself...” She muttered as she glanced at Zoa.

“Has your friend always been like this?” Kardol asked carefully, watching her face for any reaction.

Eva shook her head, “This is the first I have seen of it.”

Kardol rolled his shoulders. “To be honest he makes the men uncomfortable, he is a great shot with that crossbow and he is friendly enough. I get along with him fine, but we worry the taint may be the reason for this. It is dangerous for us to bring him on the mission. He performs well, yet his... problems... affect the morale.”

Eva looked at the dwarf, “To be honest I'm not sure why you brought such a high risk with you on a scouting mission.”

Kardol grunted, “It was the commander’s orders, we dwarves strive to improve our relationship with humans. It has been... rocky... In the past. Then we find a human who has survived down here on his own. We think he may have been a Grey Warden who has lost some of his mind to the taint. Because of the Warden’s actions in uniting the dwarven lands and the fact that he gave our lives back to us, we owe humans and we owe wardens. Even if most of us shall never admit it. Yet even if he is not a warden, he fights well. He has killed more spawn than most of my soldiers.”

He sat down and pointed to a chair, Eva took a seat.

“The commander ordered me to keep an eye on the human, we have sent a messenger to the Wardens and are waiting for a response. They come down here when they are ready to die. The taint affects their mind eventually. Such is the warden way.”

Eva glanced over at Zoa, she watched him talk animatedly with the air around him, then she watched as he turned his head towards empty space and continued talking excitedly. She flinched as she saw it.

“Who are these dwarves he speaks of?” Eva asked carefully.

“We do not know, there is no Korma in our army. Nor a Kormik and Thorik, there are siblings with similar names but even then but two of them. We have seen many cases of the Blight Sickness, but this case is odd even then.” Kardol sighed and stroked his beard, “We are troubled she-human. We do not know what to do with him, we cannot send him to his death. Yet he might prove to be a danger to us.”

Eva stared back at Zoa, watching him talk with a figment of his imagination. She gathered took a breath.

“I will talk to him...” She stood up, heading towards what was probably the scariest conversation she expected to ever have.