“Slow down Eshanai, we’re not as adept at moving through the woods as you are.” Lito was saying from behind me.

“I told you we shouldn’t have trusted her, she can escape us anytime she wants, who knows what she’ll do once she finds Lilian.” This was Jared's voice, and I stopped to let them catch up to me. All three of them emerged from the underbrush, panting heavily they stopped when they saw I was waiting.

“You said might be danger, find her fast as possible,” I was trying to reassure them, Lito and Bernie seemed to understand, but Jared just refused to trust me, glaring at me when he got his breath back.

“Listen here you big snake, I won’t let you eat my daughter. We might need you right now, but as soon as I know my child is safe, you can go back to whatever hole you climbed out of.” Jared, waiving his ax in my face with every word, was practically spitting in my face he was so mad. This man was really trying my patience, and I was seriously considering biting him so he couldn’t follow me through the woods. He could be as angry as he wanted when I returned with his daughter safe and sound.

Calm down, it is only words, you are ten times the person this man is. You have to understand that he his worried about his daughter, he hasn’t attacked you yet. As long as he doesn’t turn physical, I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt. My mood cooled at the mention of the child from Lubus, but I almost wished that Jared would do something rash. Then I would have an excuse to use my venom on him, and I wouldn’t have to listen to him anymore.

If having a child turns you this overprotective I don’t know if it’s worth it, I observed to Lubus.

Everyone’s different, was the answer I got.

“She has a point, Jared, we seem to be only slowing her down. Eshanai could find Lilian much faster by herself,” at least all of the men weren’t as thoughtless as Jared, and I smiled at Lito, trying to show my appreciation, he seemed to understand and smiled back at me.

“Shut up Lito, stay behind if you like, but I’m not letting the snake out of my sight,” Jared said quickly, without even seeming to be thinking about it. Jared’s stubbornness was getting in the way, he would knowingly slow us down even to the detriment of his daughter. Suddenly there was a thumping sound and Jared's unconscious body hit the ground. Behind him stood Barnie wielding a big stick, he shrugged at Lito and me as we looked at him and gestured for me to get going.

“Bernie’s right, go find Lilian, and we’ll stay here and take care of Jared. He will be livid I suspect when he wakes up, but he will thank us when you come back with his daughter safe and sound,” Lito looked at me pointedly than before he said. “So you better get going and bring her back safe and sound,” I nodded my understanding and flicking my tongue in the air I found the scent again and followed it deeper into the woods. The trail led me past the spring river and curved further south than I had been before, well I guess I had been here when the troll came through here carrying Lubus and me. I was still in a forest with mostly needle trees by the time it started to get dark, I had no idea how the troll had traveled so fast, but I should be seeing more leafy trees by now, perhaps it had used magic or something to move, I didn’t know.

The scent of the girl grew stronger but became mixed with the smell of another creature I couldn’t recognize, as I came upon a strange burrow in the ground, it looked like some animal had dug it but what looked like spider’s silk covered the entrance. The trail led down the whole together with the scent of the other creature I had smelled before, so whatever had dug this strange burrow must have caught the girl. I could only hope whatever it was, it was keeping her alive down there.

Hey Lubus, do you know what might have dug this hole? The trail leads down there, and I’d rather know what I’m facing before I proceed. I asked, Lubus was a perfectly good source of information, and I planned to get every advantage I could.

Well, the only thing I know of that digs these types of burrows are wolf spiders, they are big spiders, about half as big as an average adult. Their only association with wolves though is the fact that they hunt in packs. Be careful Eshanai, they are usually venomous and will use their webbing to try and trap you. Lubus answered, and now I felt a bit more comfortable.

I decided to try and thin out their numbers a bit, and why would I fight them in their territory when I could make them come to me. I also wanted to take the opportunity to test the dungeon a bit, and as I thought ‘Bow’ as clearly as I could in my mind, the weapon appeared in my hand strung and ready to be used a quiver of arrows buckled itself to my back leaving behind a quickly fading red glow. I tested the bow a bit by knocking an arrow and pulling back the string, it was a bit easier to pull back than what I was used to, but it would have to do.

I pounded on the side of the entrance and yelled into the whole to make sure the spiders knew someone was here. I quickly slithered back to a safe distance and aimed the whole, keeping the bow drawn and an arrow knocked. I could keep it pulled for a good long while, and the fact that the bow was a bit easier to pull back didn’t hurt either, but I would have to see if it had enough power to kill one of these big spiders.

I didn’t have to wait long for the first many-legged and many-eyed spider to appear, and as soon as I saw it emerge, I loosed an arrow at it. The arrow flew straight and true speaking to the craftsmanship of the weapon it lodged itself deeply between the spider's eyes. It lay still in the entrance, blocking the path for the other who was trying to get out. This was a bit of an unintended boon as it gave me time to ready another arrow. The corpse was shoved out of the way, and three more spiders skittered out of the opening, the first got an arrow to the face if spiders even had faces. I only managed to hit the second one on the side, but it slowed it down enough for me to have time to deal with the last one who had jumped at me. I brought my tail around and swatted it to the ground in mid-air, crushing it instantly with a satisfying crunch and spider guts splashing everywhere. No more spiders emerged, so I quickly finished off the injured one with another arrow. I flicked my tail to get rid of as much spider goo as possible, and it splashed on the ground in a goody mess ‘I could really use a bath after this.’

‘Heavy armor’ was what I thought next and what I now knew to be steel plate mail appeared on my body with all the buckles and straps already tied in place. I didn’t want to leave myself completely defenseless, so I didn’t dismiss the bow immediately but placed it on the ground beside me, even though I didn’t think these spiders were smart enough to recognize when I was vulnerable I didn’t want to make the mistake of underestimating them and getting surprised later.

‘Shield’ and ‘Spear’ was the next in line, and like the bow and armor, they appeared in my hands ready to be used with the shield already strapped to my arm with a fading red glow. ‘Unequip’ I thought next but sort of towards the bow, as I did with Lubus when I wanted to talk to him. To my pleasant surprise, it worked, with the bow and quiver of arrows turning into red motes of light and flying towards my belly where the core absorbed them. I was left with my armor and weapons still in place, it would be really inconvenient if I would have to absorb everything just because I wanted to switch weapons, especially in the middle of a fight.

Getting on with what I came here to do I slithered up to the hole and peered inside, it was a bit hard to fit the shield inside but once through I had enough room to stand upright. The burrow consisted of silk-lined tunnels leading off in many different directions, my sense of smell helped me orient myself and keeping my tail close in the case of an ambush I followed the scent of the girl until I came to a more open cavern. What looked like cocoons of silk hung from the ceiling and were strapped to the tunnel walls, but what really got my attention was the myriad eyes staring at me from holes in the walls.

The scent had led me here so the girl must be in here somewhere, but as I moved further in the spiders emerged from their hiding places and arrayed themselves in front of me. There must have been at least a dozen of them, and I raised my shield and readied my spear, but no attack came. They just stood there and looked at me with their unblinking eyes, if they wanted me to start this so be it. I moved forward, but they only backed away, and before I knew it I had been surrounded.

The first attack came from the front, but it was not what I had expected, one of the spiders had shot a sticky rope of silk at me. It stuck to my shield, and the spider tried to pull it from my grasp. It was strapped to my arm through, and as I pulled back, the spider came sailing towards me. I raised my spear, and it got impaled as it landed, quickly freeing my weapon I readied myself again. It was a good thing I did too as the spider's death seemed to trigger the others as more sticky ropes were launched from all around me. Some stuck to my armor and held me in place, but more hit my shield. I managed the same trick a couple more times, and as spiders were pulled through the air towards me, they got impaled just like the first.

Eventually, I let go of the shield to let them have it, they seemed to like that as they all swarmed towards me. I thought furiously with both tail and spear, but I couldn’t face all directions at once. Some of them found the weak points between the plates in my armor, and I could feel them inject their venom into my body.

The last spider was finally smashed to a green pulp under my tail, but it was a shortlived victory. My body had grown sluggish from the spider’s venom that now flowed through me and my eyes closed of their own accord as my body fell to the ground, unconscious.

My eyes snapped open, and I sat up in alarm, my hands traveled up and down my body, swatting away imaginary spider. I came to my senses a moment later and got up off the floor, I still wore my armor, and I could see the spear and shield laying close by.

Vessel restored

Appeared in my vision and confused I sought Lubus. What happened, how long was I out?

Well, when I managed to remove the venom finally, the dungeon started healing you. It was lucky too as I had no idea how to do that. Lubus answered it has only been a couple of minutes since you passed out.

Oh, ok, thank you for that, I suspect it would have been a hassle finding an antidote in the middle of the spider’s lair.

Your welcome, and yes you are right, especially since I can’t move on my own. We should look for that girl now. I nodded my understanding and looked around the room, the cocoons were the most likely place. I approached them, dodging spider bodies on the way, and examined them. Some were warmer than others, and I started opening them, most contained various animals. What lifted my spirits was the fact that most of them were still alive, just unconscious as I had been a moment ago.

As I cut into another cocoon a human girl fell out, I caught her before she could hit the ground, by the smell of her we had found the right person. She was still breathing, if shallowly and to my surprise, she seemed to be awake still. She looked at me with half-lidded eyes seemingly afraid and too week to talk and even move she just looked at me. She didn’t seem to be scared of me per se, more of this whole situation.

“Lilian it’s ok, your father sent me, waiting by the wagon,” I said trying to calm her down. Extreme relief showed in her eyes and tears started streaming down her cheeks.

Lubus, can you do something for her? Remove the venom maybe, as you did for me.

Yes, I’m trying, she is in my bubble of influence, but it’s slow going compared to you. Try touching her skin, I need to make a stronger link. I did as Lubus suggested and removing my armored glove I placed it on her cheek, wiping away her tears. She looked at me again then, and I smiled at her trying to reassure her. Yes, that’s much clearer, almost there and... done. I can not do anything about the damage the venom has already caused. The dungeon might be able to, but I would hesitate to ask it for favors.

Will she live? I asked.

Possibly, but without a healer, she will most likely have trouble walking for the rest of her life. The damage to her nervous system is pretty extensive. Lubus answered, and I looked down at the girl struggling to move in my arms. This girl had many more years in front of her, and I couldn’t picture her spending them sitting down. Maybe she would become a great hunter like me someday, but then she needed the chance to be able to try. ‘What does it hurt to ask’ I thought and since the dungeon could most likely read my thoughts anyway I talked to it as I did with Lubus, or at least tried to.

Hey Dungeon, could you heal this girl of her injuries, please? I tried, it never hurt to be polite. After a long moment, words appeared in front of me.

Why?

How to answer that, the dungeon was logical at its core, so I had to be too.

Because it will help us get into town easier.

You plan to destroy me, I have seen it in your thoughts. Why should I help you with your goals?

Had it started to develop a personality already, this could get… awkward.

I admit that I thought about destroying you, but that was in the past, what is it that you want? Maybe we could come to some sort of agreement.

What I want, I want… I want, I, I… I!

Something is wrong

Memory corrupted

Don’t know what I want

Like to categorize, yes, want to see, I want to gain knowledge.

Ok, that doesn’t seem so bad. How would you gain this knowledge?

Don’t know

Need to move

Would prefer staying bonded to the vessel

This was the very thing we were trying to prevent but did I really mind being bonded to the dungeon. So far it had been really helpful, apart from all the pain.

I can see your thoughts, and I find them agreeable

I will not cause more pain or problems

If you promise to let me absorb your fallen foes

Deal?

I thought it over for a moment before saying in my mind.

Deal, at my words red light exited my belly and entered the girl, I could see the effect it had on hear as she visibly grew more healthy looking. The light stopped, and the girl lay in my arms asleep but fully healed now.

Lubus, did it work?

Yes, I can find no trace of the damage I saw before, she should make a full recovery. All she needs now is rest.