“We will rest up for a while and hope it moves on.” Vinesse eventually said.

It’s not a bad plan. I’m all for it. I can barely hold my own against a normal person, let alone whatever that was.

Please don’t let this turn into another fish-situation. I don’t even have my emotional support rat.

We all tended to our wounds and ate what little provisions any of us had brought with us. Krah was the envy of all, as a rich smell of roasted meat filled the air when he opened one of his satchels. He saw everybody eying his modest amount of meat and after some bargaining and prodding, he gave a sliver to Moggen and Vinesse.

Ritz shook his head. “Pocket meat. Ingenious. Could’ve thought of it myself.”

I had prepared about as well as anybody could, having taken a pouch of dried spider legs with me. They were chewy and smelled overly sour. The taste was something I’d recommend to my nemesis, if I had one.

Maybe Glom counts towards that. She is a toad after all. If she apologizes for calling me a worm, I'll apologize for calling her ass fat and slimy

I noticed a sheepish and equally bad smelling Avice sit herself down next to me and just stare to the side for a while. She spoke up long after the whole air around us had gotten awkward. “Sorry.” She proffered a ball of Wyckwax.

I took it and started dressing my wounds. “Sorry for what?”

“I should not have brought you with on this expedition.”

“Why not?”

“Because… because I knew it was dangerous. I knew I was no good.”

I shrugged. “I’m no good either. Almost got my butt handed to me by those rats and a single dude with bugs for an arm almost caved my skull in.”

Ok. Maybe I shouldn’t have phrased it that way, because Avice looks visibly worse now.

“But, but, buuut, I’m still here. Alive and well. Mostly well. Because you did step forward and kill him in the end.”

She didn’t seem to take it much as praise.

“I should be better than this.” She finally admitted. “I have a responsibility to be.”

That sounded… very familiar. Am I certain that we weren’t sisters separated at birth? Pretty sure, I’d remember someone with three arms.

“Well, you don’t have to fight your battles with a spear, right?” I asked.

She huffed and lowered her voice to a whisper. “Oh, yes. Let me fully adopt my ‘humble merchant’ persona as my real one. Dedicate my life to selling pelts and belts.”

“I mean, that’s one way to go about it.”

She sighed. “Sadly, full-time-merchant is not a profitable station. I would require a steady influx of wares from outside and if I did not gather them myself, I would fail to make much of a profit. Not enough to live safely. I have no idea how Harris manages it. The man has some sort of trick he must be withholding.”

“Maybe he just knows what people want?”

I bit into a piece of spider-leg-jerky and pondered the whole situation a bit. In this world without light, what kind of jobs could anyone even have?

Farmers don’t exist anymore I assume. No light and all. Metalsmiths might have died out as well with glassmakers and other craftsmen that needed to burn coal or wood. Hunters are probably a thing. Though I guess everyone is a hunter now, because where else do you get your food from?

On a different note, I still don’t know what exactly is attracted by the smell of woodfire. Harris’ warning combined with the fact that no one has tried to light their own fire in the temple leads me to believe that it’s bad enough to stop people from casually ignoring those warnings.

Might be demons. Then again, I’m not in hell. Pretty sure I’m not.

“Did you know about the soul-tax, Rye?”

I inhaled a piece of spider and fell into a violent fit of coughing.

“What? What do you mean, ‘soul-tax’?”

She paused for a second, then took up a rock and started scratching something into the rocky floor.

“I first noticed it when someone attempted to trade with me. Nobody talks about it much. People do not care, or do not seem ready to accept this is all, well… real. Or that anything matters and they are not just on a small stop on the way to the afterlife.”

“You don’t think so?”

She looked me square in the face. “There is not supposed to be any pain in the afterlife. Sun or hell, it does not matter. It first struck me that I was not in hell when I almost lost my head.”

She lifted her mask just far enough for me to see the tip of the nasty gash that crept from the top to the bottom her face. It never really closed up and I got a glimpse at the place where her tooth was still missing.

I wonder if she can whistle through that hole?

Wait, no. Inappropriate thought. Bad. Box.

“Moving on.” She said. “When I first traded for soul, we agreed on a price and my customer gave it to me in full. Or so I thought initially. But when the transfer was complete, I was missing roughly a tenth of what I was owed.”

A whole hecking tenth.

“Where’d it go?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Not a clue. My customer lost the amount in full, yet the transfer simply took a slice out of it. Whether it was Glom who gained the rest, whether it was someone else or if it was simply consigned to oblivion, I do not know.”

That sure as hell put another damper on my already non-existent wishes to ever screw around with soulstuff. Who knows what you could lose besides some light.

On the other hand, magic. Which was one hell of a good argument. I knew I didn’t have the time to study for years on end like Lohan once had. Or Vinesse. If a boon could gift me magic, then I’d be truly tempted. Or if it offered a way to heal my arm. For that alone, I’d give up much.

“Well. Guess the world just isn’t fair to humble merchants.” I concluded.

She nodded and we continued to eat in silence. During the hour that passed by, we dressed our wounds and kept an eye out for whatever was lurking outside should it try to sneak up on us.

It didn’t, but after over an hour had passed, we all heard something this time.

It sounded like a chitter-chatter and a yowl. Then a scuffle, right upon the roof. Small stones fell from the crumbly holes in the ceiling. Everyone stood up and brandished their weapons. A few moments of tense silence. Then the sound of feet clacking on the stone roof and wings beating quickly growing distant before disappearing fully.

“Krah?” Vinesse asked.

“All gone. Both thing.”

“Thank Ruthe.” Said Ritz. “Are we waiting a bit longer or are we going out right now?”

Vinesse judged the situation for some time.

“Five minutes.” She eventually said. “Then we leave post haste. With any luck, we’ll be back at the temple in under forty minutes.”

Everybody liked the idea of waiting for a bit longer. As that time too went by we carefully made our way forward the way we had come, Moggen and Ritz up front, me and Avice in the back, Vinesse and Krah in the middle.

Once under the clear dark sky, I felt that feeling of being vulnerable and exposed again.

“A-anybody else feel that?” an uncertain Avice asked.

Vinesse strained her eyes to see past the dark. “We all do. But for now, a feeling is all it remains. Stay sharp. We’re picking up the pace.”

And then we started our brisk walk back to the temple. I was glad for once that I had done nothing but train my stamina for the past few months. Finally at least some of my hard work was paying off. Though three people were noticeably slowing us down.

Avice, because she didn’t do much in the first few months and only joined me on my runs quite recently.

Moggen, because in spite of his strength and his broad frame, even he had to admit that heavy armor was not ideal for long-distance runs. There might've been something bent on a knee joint as well, I couldn't tell.

And… Vinesse? She wasn't all that armored besides her chest plate, but she was sweating a lot.

Wait, where did that leg-wound come from?

It seemed as though she failed to tell anyone about it, on purpose or by accident. It wasn’t bleeding too much, probably due to having put a bit of wyckwax on it. But one thing was for certain. We wouldn’t be able to make the full journey without pause.

When we were more than halfway there, things truly started looking up. I first noticed a tree and a marker by the wayside that seemed familiar. We passed the hill I slid down on my first day in this place.

It can’t be far now. Fifteen minutes of normal walking at most. And we’re mostly holding up, though going a bit slower than normal. We can do this.

However, we were making an awful lot of noise. As if our lights weren’t enough to draw the attention of all that lurked in the dark.

The small bristle spiders were the first warning sign of what was to come. A small wave of them rolled down a hill to our left, swarming out of the underbrush. They flooded the road and instantly, everyone stopped thinking about running forward and started stabbing at all the little critters that looked like they were going to cover us in a tide of bristly legs.

Gah! Die! Die! Die!

With every smack of my club, I killed a bristle-spider. On one occasion, I even got two as one was climbing over his much slower cousin.

“Where the hell are they all coming from?” Moggen yelled as Krah swept past him, cutting swaths out of the critters with every quick swing.

A hiss sounded out and a gout of boiling steam washed over a good portion of them. Vinesse concentrated hard in her attempt to cook all these spiderlings alive, but the stream was sputtering. I stepped closer to her, swatting one aside that had been making its way up her pants. Her expression didn’t change until the gout of steam ceased and she was breathing even heavier than before.

Avice meanwhile was frozen entirely solid. Maybe the world decided enough was enough, because while the spiders ran all over her feet and lower legs, they mostly treated her like they did any skinny tree on their path.

Wait.

They’re not actually swarming us.

We’re just in the way.

A few of the others caught on as quickly as I had as well. They only swatted at the errant skitterling trying to scale their legs past the comfort zone of their leather boots. Soon enough, the wave passed us by and only a few stragglers crept over the stained stone road.

The air was absolutely filled with the smell of burnt pepper.

Vinesse started taking stock of the situation. “Anyone got stung?”

A bunch of no’s rang out from everyone. Krah looked all weird and loopy again after his short rampage and Vinesse still had a posture like she’d been running while carrying a bag of bricks.

“We got off lightly then.” She said and jinxed us all.

No one had any time to regret her words, as in that moment everyone felt rather than heard or saw something big barrel down the slope and right towards us. Rustling and rumbling and skittering on over like death on too many legs.

Bristle momma looks to be out for a feast.

“Shitstic–“ was all Ritz said before he got barreled over, one of the legs striking him like a tree-sized branch snapping back.

Krah practically flung himself to the side, hissing as he narrowly avoided the feet-long bristles like swords covering its body.

Moggen yelled something that I didn’t quite get as he braced his shield against it. Vines grew out from his legs and burrowed into the ground. He held for a few heartbeats against the mass pushing him back, the roots tearing large furrows out of the stone road.

Eventually, Bristle momma decided he was immovable enough and simply climbed over him with one side of her legs.

She’s coming right for me. Shit. Why me? Why always me?

Despite the fear coursing outwards from my unfortunate little heart, I stood my ground and held my arms up in an unsteady guard. Not that it would do me any good.

Two hisses sounded out near simultaneously. The first came from my side, turning the air hot and humid, while the second reminded me of how I’d thought exercising a ghost or a demon would probably sound like. It was a decidedly too human scream from a very non-human creature.

The giant bristle spider skidded to a halt as Vinesse blasted its face with a steady stream of dense boiling vapor.

“Surround it!” she yelled, defiant.

With so much contempt, the stream burnt away at its eyes and bristles before slowly stuttering out. One of its stubbier forelimbs kicked upwards and caught me under my guard. It blew the air from my lungs and actually launched me back before I hit someone standing behind me.

They stumbled but cushioned my fall without toppling themselves. I looked up and saw the impassive stone mask of Avice staring back at me.

“A–are you alright?” she asked.

I wheezed and coughed heavily as an answer, but there was no trace of blood. I gently felt for my chestplate where I was half expecting a giant hole.

All still there. "I–I'm good."

I pushed myself back to my feet as the screeching became more frustrated than pained. Moggen was still standing, threatening its rear. Ritz was still on the ground, though he was moving a bit. He got stuck by a lot of those bristles.

“Rye.” I heard Vinesse yell between labored breaths. “Front. Avice, side.”

“Ma’am?” we both asked at the same time.

“Do it! If all you can do is hold your spear menacingly, then at least menace it!”

She was actually trying to fight this beast. No matter that even with its spider-like body it stood a foot or two above her head. No matter that it probably outweighed her ten times over. No matter that one of her companions was already down, wounded horribly and possibly dying.

Wait, maybe that’s the point. If we run, we have to leave Ritz behind. Or someone else, to hold its attention. To be bait. To be food.

A sacrifice.

I looked at her, then at my hands again. Shaking.

Shit. Shit, not another decision like this. Do I have to throw myself against this thing as well? There’s no Wolf to save me now. This is what it always boils down to when I can’t do anything besides stand there like a scarecrow with a wooden plank shield and useless weapon. This is what happens when I’m not good enough.

If we had six people like Vinesse, it would work out. Six people with magic. Six people to hold their own.

Right now, we’ve got one Vinesse.

One Moggen, who can hold his own and doesn’t stop.

One Ritz, a good enough spearman, though he’s down and out. Even with only five, I think the spider would buckle and break before we did.

One Krah who does… deadly Krah things. The forest of bristle-swords are keeping him at bay.

An Avice who is… herself. And by that margin, not exactly helpful in these circumstances.

And then we’ve got me. Discount Moggen. Less armor. Less weight. Can’t attack, can barely defend. I’m a rock with legs. A pebble. Barely an obstacle. I’m basically being protected by Vinesse and the sheer weight that everyone else is capable of carrying in my place.

Fuck. I will not be a burden.

I stepped forward and immediately got decked by another disregarding slap by one of its limbs. My shield blocked it this time, but with half of my arm unresponsive, it just flung my limb above my head and then not so gently cuffed me in the chin.

I thought it was enough. I thought I trained well. That the Wolf’s advice would suffice. Even though I ignored half of it.

I was arrogant.

I need something. Something to one-up everyone else. Anything really.

I focused my gaze even as the stars returned at the corner of my eyes. Then, I saw it. A roughly foot-and-a-half long gash on its underbelly, poorly healed. There was a moment where I could have run for it, and damn the cost. However, Vinesse had already seen it long before with her eagle eyes.

A long icicle shot past me and flew directly towards the weak spot. It missed its mark by half a foot, simply clattering off the side of the creature’s butt-armor.

That sounded metal-like. How tough is this spider’s armor?

“Rye! Keep its attention. Krah! Underbelly, left, big gash.” She said, holding out her shivering copper staff.

What? Attention? Me? How!?

Her gaze didn’t waver, kept focused on the creature before me. I already heard Krah howl something in what was probably a language I didn’t understand and shoot forward at his target.

No time. No choice.

I took a leap of faith. It pushed me right in front of the giant bristle spider, so close I could smell its breath. It was foul and made my eyes water as I stood there, right in its face, my presence taunting the monster to do something about it. That was when I got my first good look at its front portion.

I had seen spiders before. Their eight eyes on their forehead didn’t really bother me much. This spider however, its eyes were large, the size of my closed fist. They stared unblinking at me as all eight pupils turned to focus on mine.

In that moment, it almost had a look that was human. Scared almost. However, not as scared as me.

PleaseDon’tKillMePleaseDon’tKillMeOhGodsOhFuck!

It lunged forward and against all reason, I closed my eyes.

Its teeth dug through my battered shield and hooked themselves behind my shoulder plate. It pulled back, twisting and lifting me before–

Then it shuddered and screeched. It shook and I fell to the ground with a smack, battered, but alive.

NotSpiderFoodNotSpiderFoodNotSpiderFood!

It recoiled and screeched before turning its body away from me. I tried to regain control of myself, drop in the ocean and all, but in that moment, a panting and bloodied Krah skidded on past me from under its rump, riddled with spider-bristles. A green-blackish blood trailed after him and he dug his claws into the ground before turning around and nearly launching himself back at it again.

The only circumstance that prevented him from doing so was that the spider had finally run in the other direction, shoving Moggen to the side once more and ignoring all the rest of us. Instead of finishing him or Ritz off, it simply barreled a few dozen meters down the road before screeching loudly and disappearing off into the darkness to our right.

Holy fuck. We won. I’m alive. We drove it off.

It was too early to celebrate. An exhausted Vinesse went to check on Ritz while Krah sped over to where Moggen lay toppled over. He mewled and whined as he tried to shake him awake but got brushed off as Moggen quickly regained his senses and stood back up on his own again.

“Wound check.” Vinesse said, but we were all too tired to organize much of what we said.

The general gist was that I was fine enough, Moggen hurt his leg but was otherwise alright and Krah and Ritz had pretty much turned into a pincushion for momma spider’s bristles.

“Moggen.” Ritz said, weakly. “Remember when we had that talk? About onions?”

The armored man moved over to him and looked as if he was beholding a dying friend.

“Well, turns out… I‘ve got layers too!” He said and dropped the dying-man façade before standing up again. He pulled up a chainmail undershirt and grinned.

He got some pretty nasty glares from everyone.

“H-hey, I still got stuck pretty good. Look at my arm! Oh, the indignity, I’ve seen shantytown whores pierced less than I.”

...phrasing aside, it was true. The longest of the bristle-thorns was still sticking out of his upper left arm like some freshly planted sapling. While Vinesse briskly uprooted the bugger, causing him to yelp like a girl, Avice and I approached the rest of the group as well.

“We’re almost there. Maybe ten minutes of walking.” I noted.

“As long as nothing else ambushes us.”

“Ma’am? Ow – did you really have to go and say that? Now I feel something watching us again.” Said Ritz.

“Yes. Because you and Moggen are too superstitious for your own good. There is no jinxing. There are no omens, bad or good. No prophecy, no fate. Nothing. And there will not be any talk of inane and frankly unhelpful ‘I called it’ and 'jinxed', capiche?”

No one was convinced, though everyone tried their best not to show it. We waited in tired anticipation for the world to kick us in the ass again, only to be sorely disappointed. At least for the moment. Krah’s ears flicked back and forth but he didn’t say much as he waddled over to Moggen and basically stood in his face until he started pulling out the bristles from his body, too.

We took a few moments to bandage our wounds and count ourselves lucky. The giant spider momma was way out of our league, though apparently it was also quite cowardly with how it retreated after only suffering a single injury.

“Up and about everyone.” A tired Vinesse said. “Today was bad luck. We’ll fair better next time. Let’s get back to the temple. I need a bath.”

We all did. It was a short adventure, barely three or four hours long. But it took a lot out of me. I think over the course of it, I realized a few important things. I simply wasn’t good enough to hold my own. I only really managed to attack the giant rats. I need a new shield. Maybe a new weapon. And something needs to be done about my arm and pronto.

So fixated was I on what I needed and what had to be done that only when we nearly reached the bridge did I finally notice the strong smell of wet, burning wood coming from up ahead.