Excerpt from Alexan’s Eighth Journal, Tour of the Crags and Builders.

Ahh, that takes me back. It’s been quite some time since I encountered bristlebacks in Linavrone. Didn’t like them much then and I don’t like them much now either.

But it is nice to be able to spot them before they can become a problem, and spot them as quickly as the guide no less. I’m told some Gnomes use these monsters as beasts of burden. Partly to move cargo around at great heights, and partly to string together large cities with the benefit of the bristleback webs. I’m not sure I want to visit such a place.

Still, as bad as the bristlebacks are, I will always hold a greater dislike of snakes.

Unnamed Talkarn

The three-petal door of the Twist stood open before them.

Weldy stood back with a collection of Gnomes young and old. Before them stood Easil, cane in hand with the two Gnomish healers flanking him. He still had the heavy wrap around his head.

Easil looked up to Tal, clearly unhappy that he couldn’t accompany his son into danger.

“You’re not allowed to die, you hear me?” Easil commanded, pointing at Tal. “Now come down here.”

Tal knelt low, going so far as to lean on his elbow so Easil could get close. His small father hugged Tal’s arm, reaching as high as he could to pat Tal’s shoulder. “Take care.”

“I will,” Tal replied, “I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah.”

Tal stood up and rolled his shoulders to adjust the pack hanging from his back. He turned around to face Nolsa and Perkay. “Thank you.”

Nolsa smiled and Perkay grunted.

The old Erkin turned and looked over his shoulder. “Let’s get goin’ already.”

Tal pulled his new Gnome-made mask over his mouth, “Right behind you.”

A feathered head poked itself out from the flap of Tal’s backpack, [And I’m behind you!]

Tal turned his head and shared one last wave with the Gnome who’d adopted him, taking on a burden so much larger than himself.

Warden Seft

An old grumbling voice. A dignified woman. An unsure teenager.

That’s what the wardens were hunting for, those three voices. And it seemed as if they’d been found. Warden Basattare had sent out the signal to gather around the southern side of the upper trunk. He was on the trail, he claimed.

Except that that wasn’t quite right. Seft had heard three different sets of voices that might be the hunted.

And one set had sounded wrong, their voices warped strangely. Either Perkay had found a way to cast echoes, which was unlikely, or they had acquired Gnomish help. He expected the latter.

As far as Seft could guess, the voices were Gnomes who were warping their voices. Or they were carrying echoes taken from Tal, Nolsa, and Perkay.

“Are we going to join them? They put out a call to gather.”

Seft glanced at his first companion as she spoke. Hadasa looked at him with nervous eyes. Nurkan grumbled from behind them, clearly upset with having Seft acting as a babysitter.

“As per the plan, we will pursue trails within our territory,” Seft replied. The next thing he said made her slowly shrink with every word. “Going out of our way is sure to invite trouble if we cannot be certain of the results. We are the safety net.”

There was a huff from behind them, and Nurkan’s grumbling stopped. He’d start up soon enough though. The young warden was slow to learn.

Seft waited a moment, then whispered into her ear with magic,“Besides, they aren’t over there,” Seft continued.

“You’re sure?” Hadasa whispered back.

“I am,” Seft replied, “good job informing Perkay. Was Nurkan difficult to manipulate?”

Hadasa shifted uncomfortably as she replied under her breath, “He wasn’t hard to trick,” she admitted. “He just needed a little buttering up.”

Seft nodded. “I appreciate it, I just hope our efforts pay off. I’m tired of living in the dark.”

Nurkan’s oblivious grumbling started up again.

Unnamed Talkarn

“Well, you did warn me,” Perkay grumbled.

Tal twitched as the old man’s voice sounded from the wooden cap over his ear.

“It’s not too late to pick a different route?” Nolsa suggested again.

[If it is any consolation, I never knew what nauseous meant until I encountered the rot,] the Sentinel spoke from over Tal’s shoulder. [I can nott smell it, but the rot is aetheric in nature, and makes me feel ill as well.]

“Misery loves company?” Tal offered.

Perkay grunted from above, and Nolsa offered no response at all.

Of the three of them, Nolsa was the most reluctant to climb the rotten tunnel. The first time had been bad enough, but Tal was pretty sure the tunnel was in worse shape this time around. Rotten chunks of greenery were coming loose from the walls and the roots, forcing them to take some of the rot with them. Perkay, Tal and Nolsa, every one of them stopped occasionally to try and shake the gruesome stuff from hand, foot or hoof. The effort was rarely all that successful.

The slime of the decaying plant matter also made hand and foot-holds all the more dangerous.

“The sooner we get there, the better,” Perkay replied, dashing her hopes once again. He paused in his climb and glanced down at Nolsa to tease her. “Besides, Alamia would be game for this.”

“No she wouldn’t,” Nolsa argued. “She doesn’t mind dirt and compost, but this is different! It’s worse than excrement!”

“Heh, fair enough,” Perkay laughed.

Tal just grit his teeth and concentrated on pulling himself up, one hand at a time. It was slower going this time around, but while unpleasant, they were still making upwards progress.

Hand over hand, just keep moving. Just keep moving.

Somehow, Tal had lost himself in the task of climbing. So numbed by the horrible reek of the rotting wood, his mind shut off while the rest of him did the work of climbing.

He only woke up when instead of grabbing a root, he grabbed Nolsa’s ankle instead.

“Eeek!”

The sound of her high-pitched exclamation stunned Tal as he looked up. Reflexively, he let her go without hesitation, but the sound had already been made.

“Eek?” Perkay asked as he looked back down, barely restraining a laugh.

“Tal grabbed my ankle!” Nolsa defended.

“It was an accident,” Tal hastened to add.

“Tal had some slime on his hand!” Nolsa protested further before Perkay could say anything else.

“Eek.” Perkay repeated. Nothing more needed to be said.

“It’s not funny.” Nolsa muttered, the mask ensuring Tal and Perkay wouldn’t miss her complaints.

Tal had to control himself. He’d never heard that sort of sound out of the impeccably mature Nolsa before.

“As you say, Nolsa,” Perkay said, amusement still clear in his tone. “Anyways, we’re at the farming grove. Only use this thick root here to climb; the rest are too flimsy.” Perkay waited until both Nolsa and Tal could see which root he was talking about, then resumed climbing.

The root hung off the backside of the tunnel, making it hard for Tal to look as they carefully climbed upwards. Tal did get one glance as they passed the hole into the rotted underglade through which Tal had previously fallen. Even wearing the goggles given to him by Perkay, he could see little more than ruined plots and fragments of burnt buildings amidst the waterways.

Tal concentrated on the climb.

The stronger roots all seemed to be stuck in the most inconvenient places, resulting in the three of them now climbing up the roof of the incline. The difficult angle forced several more rests as they advanced up through the tunnel.

It was a relief when they finally made it to the end of the rot. Or at least it should have been.

“How far past the glade does the tunnel go?” Perkay asked.

“Not far; we should be there really,” Nolsa replied. “The tunnels near to the Heart aren’t prone to shifting like the upper trunk is likely to do.”

[That always annoyed me,] the Sentinel admitted.

“Well, that must be it then.” Perkay shifted so Nolsa and Tal could see past him.

“It’s webbed in,” Tal observed.

“Yes, it is,” Perkay agreed. The old Erlkin slowly climbed higher until the white silvery mess of strands was in reach, then shifted around until he could comfortably hold his position with only one hand. He reached down to the dagger at his waist and pulled the weapon loose.

Tal had never seen a blade that smoked with dark mana before.

Perkay sliced through the webbing above him with ease, the fibers parting like water. He cut around the right half of the circle above them, so that a large flap of the webbing hung off to the side. That done, he resheathed the weapon at his side. “Here’s the fun part,” Perkay commented as he climbed upwards.

Nolsa shared a look of trepidation with Tal before moving upwards. She stopped just at the lip, taking another breath to steel herself before climbing over the edge to join Perkay.

Tal climbed up afterwards, his relief at ending the climb stronger than any fear of the spiders ahead.

Although, he personally had never had to meet a bristleback.

Tal wondered if they were anything like the green tarantulas that lived in some of the upper branches. The spiders gave many Erlkin and Gnomish ladies the shivers, but the ‘tiny monsters’ were incredibly fragile.

Even as Tal climbed over the edge, Perkay was already pulling something from his backpack. Happy to be on solid ground, Tal stretched his arms up into the air, shivering as he pushed as far as he could with a groan. As he relaxed, Perkay shoved one of the sticks into his hands.

It wasn’t anything complicated. A simple wand with a very small gem fruit pit at the end of it. Such pits didn’t see much use due to low capacity limiting their applications, but for what they were doing was fine. Tal trickled a bit of aether into the pit to activate the waiting enchantment. Nolsa did the same with the one she’d received.

Perkay then quickly pulled on his wooden gauntlets, now that he didn’t have to worry about having to climb slippery roots. That done, the old Erlkin lit his wand as well. The mana torches ignited into orbs of light and warmth. Flames, but without the fire, they still created warmth, but not enough to create any accidents by touching the webbing.

With the orange light active, Tal could see the mass of mana hanging above Nolsa’s head. It didn’t show up clearly under mundane light, but he could see it clearly in the light of the mana torches. In this light, it seemed heavy and pulsed with a steady rhythm. Looking at the mass caused Tal to glance at her braid. The grey had climbed much higher and now he could see streaks of that grey that went all the way to Nolsa’s temples.

At least she still had a decent amount of black left. Tal could thank Perkay for that. Every time Tal noticed, he was grateful for it again.

“You are certain this will work?” Nolsa asked, not quite masking the quiver in her voice.

“No,” Perkay admitted as his other hand fished around in one of his pouches. “It’s Weldy who said the spiders can detect heat and actively avoid it; we’re depending on the Gnomes for this.” He pulled his hand out to reveal another of his disks. He stuck the butt of his wand in his armpit as he played with the disk, mounting a needle on it that wobbled in place before rotating off to the side.

Tal spent the moment looking around, enjoying the light of the wands. The orange of the light gave the confined world around them a splash of colour he was starting to miss after only being able to see with the goggles.

Not that this place was all that promising. Where they’d found themselves wasn’t a simple tunnel, it looked more like the area they’d arrived at when escaping the heart. A large cavity with bundles and walls of roots connecting the floor and the ceiling. At least, that was Tal’s guess. It was hard to tell with all the floor-to-ceiling webbing obscuring it all. Tal could see one wall of wood next to them and a few other strands of roots, but otherwise they were surrounded by web, the strands covering everything from floor to ceiling.

“What is that?” Nolsa asked.

“Mana compass,” Perkay replied. “It will always point towards the thickest mass of mana nearby. Which for us means that it always points towards the Heart. We’re going that... ”

Perkay looked up in the direction of the needle to see a big wooden wall. He turned slightly one way and then the other. Pulling the wand from his armpit, Perkay gestured before him, “That way seems closer.”

With him in the lead, Tal and Nolsa followed close behind. Tal pulled his hollow wand out from the wrist pouch. Nolsa already held her char wand in her right hand with the mana torch in her left.

They each held their wands outwards in the hopes of fending off any unwelcome surprises.

Walking in relative silence, the only thing Tal could hear besides his own breath was the subtle movements of Perkay and Nolsa. Not even their footsteps made a sound, the thick webbing providing a squishy floor that deadened any noise.

Tal flinched. He could have sworn something rustled above and behind him, but when he looked, nothing could be seen under the orange glow of his light.

Nolsa twitched, her head glancing to the side. Her head constantly jerked around, pivoting to look at anything she imagined might be something watching them.

“Are you okay, Nolsa?” Tal asked.

“No, I’m not, but I’m adult enough to admit it,” Nolsa replied. She’d crept closer to Tal in the short amount of time they’d been walking.

“You’ve seen bristlebacks before?” Perkay guessed. “You knew they were here after all.”

“I grew up in the Heart, and I did like to explore, until I arrived in this place.” Nolsa replied. “I didn’t want to explore much after that.”

Perkay laughed, “I suppose I can’t bl-aaAHH!”

The old Erlkin shouted in sudden surprise and dove to the side, just barely avoiding the lunge of the giant fangs coming from the floor. A flap of webbing rose up as the bristleback came into view, the massive spider snapping at where Perkay had been.

Coming face to face with the thing, Nolsa froze.

Reflexively, Tal threw his torch at the spider, causing it to flinch and hiss in surprise. It was like a spider, but not. The shape was similar but instead of sticks for legs, Tal could see muscle and fur like a beast, that fur thick and covered by heavy bristles. It’s form was otherwise identical, eight legs supporting a body that disappeared into the tunnel behind it, the hint of a large abdomen hidden behind it. Eight eyes stared at them: two large eyes facing forward, with more placed around its head for a wide field of view. The massive fangs dripped with fluid, a gnashing mouth full of teeth behind them.

“Nolsa!” Tal shouted. As he called to her, he gathered a heavy ball of mana at the end of his hollow wand, forming a bullet of mana and firing it as soon as it seemed complete. Most of the spell scattered, but a pebble of darkness still struck the spider in the eye, causing it to screech and retreat into its trap door. The mass of webbling and sticks slammed shut.

Perkay grunted as he regained his feet, dagger in hand. The blade shimmered in the orange light of the torches. “Hnrgh, well, they hide like that. Good to know.” He stepped around the trapdoor to retrieve his compass.

Tal put a hand on Nolsa shoulder and shook her. “Nolsa?”

She stood with her eyes squeezed shut, her whole body tensed with fear. With another shake from Tal and a squeeze of her hand on her shoulder, she cracked an eye open. “That’s worse than I remember,” she whispered with horror. Tal took hold of her arm and pulled her away from the trapdoor.

Tal glanced at his wand. The handle was actually under the edge of the trapdoor, only the glowing end-piece remaining outside the spider’s home.

Perkay followed Tal’s line of sight, “Don’t worry about it Tal, it’s gone now.”

“It sure is,” Tal agreed. “I guess I’ll just have to stick close to Nolsa instead.”

“A good plan all around,” Perkay handed the compass over to Tal. “I’ll have you hold this. As long as you feed it a trickle of mana, it’ll continue to point the way. I’m going to keep this out.” Perkay pulled his dagger back out. “At least now we know what to look out for.”

[Hmm, I suppose I could have warned you all about that,] the Sentinel admitted.

Tal stared straight forward, but only because he couldn’t join Perkay and Nolsa in glaring at the forgetful bird just behind him.

[I hadn’t realized you weren’t that familiar with them. An oversight.]

In order to get past the awkward moment, Tal put his wand back into the wrist pouch and accepted the disk, although he couldn’t help but glance at the barely visible hidden door they’d stepped away from as he did so. He took another step and did as Perkay advised, threading a touch of aether into the compass. The needle bobbed and shook, then oriented itself.

“That way,” Tal indicated with the hand holding the compass. With his other hand still on her arm, Tal could feel Nolsa shivering.

“Then that way we go,” Perkay replied.

End Chapter