Hadwin burst into the throne room, closely shadowed by Saurus on his heels. Most of the room lay concealed beneath a serious of blue flame candles. Hadwin could hear movement somewhere within and caught the outline of a woman. He gasped noticing she was impaled upon the tip of a long black spear which broke through her chest.

“Lady Black?” He realised moving forward instinctually.

“Wait!” Saurus ordered causing him to freeze. He watched as the limp body of Lady Black was hoisted up into the air. Hadwin paused, measuring the situation, and felt his twin grip tighten around his two battle axes. Behind the Lady Black, he saw what looked like a spider; one of its sharpened legs was the weapon Hadwin mistook for a spear. The spider lifted the corpse higher as if to get a better look at the chamber’s new arrivals. A circlet of eyes peered around the spider’s head watching them a moment before it flung the corpse down with blatant malice. The spider proceeded to wipe clean its bloodied leg using the leather armour at its feet like a rag as if the blood troubled it somehow. Hadwin pointed the tip of his axe at the creature, his face red and overcome by anger.

“Oh-ho, you better not try and flee now.”

The spider observed Hadwin intrigued then let out a howling hiss that could have been a laugh.

Hadwin could hear Saurus mumbling beside him, perhaps a prayer, and made his own prayer by beating his axes together. He strained his eyes around the room, suspiciously looking for traps during the brief respite that ensued. Apart from the ceiling that disappeared beyond a curtain of darkness, the throne room was mostly hidden in a light shadow. He did however notice an array of needles at his feet, a rotting corpse off to the side next to a pipe organ, and a single patch of webbing blotched on the ground.

“Wetbrook is destroyed, your city taken,” Saurus roared with an iron tongue. “your reign has ended...King of Spiders. Come forth and I will grant you a clean death.”

The spider let out another hiss of laughter, causing spittle to rain down on the stone to smoke.

“Forget it Saurus. You cannot reason with such vermin.” Hadwin bellowed.

The spider began to click its feet rhythmically against the floor as if clapping to an internal beat, then began its approach. Hadwin made his axes sing once more while Saurus raised his blade high, readying a strike. Cautiously aware of each other’s presence, Hadwin and Saurus moved forward in chorus to meet the creature. With every step, the fear seemed to leak out of Hadwin as body and mind became united under a single goal.

The spider pressed them lazily, not raising its legs to shield itself until the very last second as metal hissed against carapace, and the three of them danced. The spider appeared hesitant to respond with its own attack as he and Saurus continued their relentless assault, striking together patiently against a foe they both knew was dangerous. Hadwin saw Saurus strike low so went high, only for his axe to glance off the carapace with ease. It was like trying to kill an armoured rock with a blunted weapon; even the strikes that did land were easily deflected from inflicting any real bite.

Now the flirting was seemingly over as the spider began to respond with thrusts of its own, jabbing its two front legs with wicked speed. Hadwin grunted, feeling one of the spider’s legs graze the flesh of his left thigh. He staggered backwards, feeling hot blood drown his leg.

Saurus was on the back foot and trying to avoid the spiders taunting attacks. It hissed with delight as it pressed more and more, thrusting its legs like a wall of spears, before it eventually tucked one of its eight appendages under the foot of Saurus, tripping him. Hadwin propelled himself forward and landed a clean overhead on the creature’s hind with his axe. The axe shattered from the impact to send shards of steel to explode across the room. The spider hardly noticed the strike dealt by Hadwin and continued to arc its leg downwards at Saurus. Saurus raised his blade just in time but instead of parrying the blow, it simply cut through the steel. Half of Saurus’ blade spiralled across the room alone with half his nose, then the sound of something approaching from the hallway reached the spider's senses, freezing the arachnid in place. It paused above Saurus and watched as Sabrina dashed into the room with some haste. Saurus tried to crawl free through a puddle of his own blood.

Upon dashing into the room, Sabrina discounted the current conflict her father was instilled in and instead turned to quickly close the throne room doors behind her. She managed to just when the doors shook with the impact that might have been an enormous ram. Something suddenly let out a scream, high and shrill from the other side of the doors, unamused by the sudden obstruction. Another boom shifted the dust that was laid to rest on the doors hinges, sprinkling like fine snow.

“The city is lost.” Sabrina declared, hardly noticing the two men trying to kill her father. The spider paused, tapping a leg that broke stone beside Saurus’ face.

“Saurus get up,” Hadwin called out, seeing an opportunity while the spider was engaged. Sabrina turned at the name sharply, her eyes growing dark.

‘BOOM’ the door thundered.

“You want him?” The spider hissed irritated, clearly observing the crestfallen expression on his daughters face. Saurus got to his feet, spitting an ocean of blood to stain the ground when the spider suddenly flashed him a sideways strike. Saurus didn’t see the blow coming as he blinked away blood from his eyes and was knocked backwards, landing neatly at the feet of Sabrina.

‘BOOM’

Wood chips began to splinter from the door to shower Sabrina who slowly knelt beside Saurus. Her face contorting in anger at the sight of him. Hadwin saw the intent in her eyes and read her lips.

"You killed my mother." The lips said.

“No!” He yelled and felt his arm feebly launch his only remaining axe. The axe spun, cutting through the air with a resounding hum.

‘BOOM…CRACK’

The axe looked to hit when…It was caught. Sabrina held it firmly in a palm, staring momentarily at its curved edged that would have embedded itself in her skull. The spider spun, then hissed its amusement at the attempt. Hadwin fell to one knee, his other knee now beginning to throb from the pain.

‘CRACK’

Hadwin could see the splintered door reveal the antlers of a stag, desperate to come in. Sabrina raised Hadwin’s axe, inspecting it with great interest, before turning to face the man that threw it. She aimed then tossed it through the air in his direction. Hadwin leaned instinctually, then realised the axe was never meant for him and instead landed perfectly in the webbing strewed to the floor beside him. Hadwin gazed at the axe confused and thought a moment he heard something shatter within the webbing.

‘CRACK’

The doors to the throne room exploded inwards, burying Sabrina and Saurus under a cascade of broken wood. The stag charged in roaring and throwing its antlers around in great wild arcs. The beast seemed possessed by a fiery rage like non-other. Hadwin saw many new lacerations on the animal. Jets of steam issued from its foamed snout as it charged the first target it saw. The spider danced sideways, avoiding the stags mighty charge and Hadwin felt his legs move unconsciously beneath him.

He watched himself limp forward towards the axe buried in the webbing, felt his calloused hand gripping its hilt, watch his arm raise and release like before, only this time at the spider. It was a pointless attempt he knew, but in the heat of battle, with forces fighting all around him, he felt compelled to try anything.

After the axe was thrown, Hadwin returned to a kneeling position, his strength sapped from blood loss and his vision growing black; when a terrified screech like no other erupted all around.