Stathis swooped down, wings blazing with light, banishing back the twilight gloom inside the cave. Creatures skittered away, hissing as they retreated, and she sliced through thick and soft strands of cobwebs, tatters of the stuff falling away.

A spider jumped at her, the size of her head, and she cut through it, the thing screeching as it struck the far wall, body severed in half, ichor oozing out, legs still twitching. At the back of the cave was something larger, long and furry legs waving around. It pounced, a spider larger than a horse, moving with impressive speed, forcing her to flutter upwards, feeling more web-strands snap against the force of her wings, trying not to get snarled. At least the cave was tall enough to let her move upwards, even if thick strands of web kept slowing her down.

Eight eyes gleamed, a fanged mouth opening to spit at her, a tangled bundle of strands shooting out and trying to envelop her. She sliced again, cutting the dense wad apart, some of it smearing onto her shield-arm, making it harder to move.

She dropped again, using the momentum of her dive to stab into the creature’s back, chitin unable to withstand the strike. As she cut along the fat bulb of the body, countless tiny spiders crawled out in a swarm, trying to rush up her and into her armour, but she twisted away, fluttering again.

It moved, far too damn fast, twirling on the spot and trying to bite at her, fangs bouncing off her armour.

In the hole it had pounced from, Stathis could see several shapes suspended from the ceiling, thick webbing around roughly humanoid forms, bound and contained within the silken strands. Hopefully she was quick enough to save them! Another blow, sword blazing with vivid sunlight energy, and she sheared through a leg, the limb falling to the ground, twitching even after being sliced off the main body. The creature’s screech hurt her ears, the shape of the cave focusing the sound, making her head throb, but she kept attacking, briefly touching onto the floor, feeling tiny spiders crunch beneath her feet.

It loomed up over her, ready to slam the bulk of it’s body onto her, but she thrust upwards, stabbing it in the jaw and slicing. More ichor splashed outwards, spilling over the cave floor, and she kept cutting, twisting her blade to deal as much damage as possible.

It tried to turn, in pain, wanting to retreat, but there was nowhere to go, Stathis raining blows down onto it’s large body. More small spiders oozed from the wounds, and she did what she could to avoid getting covered in them, but kept attacking, hacking and slicing through the meat.

It screeched again, toppling to the side, legs already starting to curl inwards. As a finishing blow, Stathis drew back and then thrust, straight into the centre of its body – did spiders even have a heart? – and penetrating straight through. It gave another, final, convulsion, and then went still.

She did what she could to try and deal with the small ones, stamping up and down, feeling them crunch beneath her weight, some dispersing back into the shadows to hide. Beneath her armour, she could feel that she had been bitten a few times, using her powers to flush the poison from her body, easing the stinging flares of pain.

With that done, it was time to check the cocooned figures – she flew over, slicing through the sticky strands, catching them as they fell to the ground. Two were clearly dead, their skin drawn, bodies partially melted from being digested, their blood sucked out from countless tiny bites. The other three looked unhealthy, bodies covered with bites, skin pale and breathing shallow, but were still alive – golden sunlight flowed from her hands as she healed them as best she could, their wounds closing up, strength getting more stable.

One of them was a young woman, wearing worn and battered leather armour, the stuff partially eaten and dissolved, but it had probably saved her life. There as a sheathe on her waist, empty, her blonde hair hacked short. She was the first to partially recover, eyelids fluttering open, gasping in a convulsive breath.

‘Don’t push yourself, you probably feel weak.’

They groaned, voice echoing around the cave, managing to push themselves upwards, forcing themselves to stand, before looking around cautiously. She saw the bulking mass of the dead spider.

‘It’s dead!’

‘I bloody hope so! I don’t think it can heal from that. I’ll send for help to try and flush out all the little ones, I don’t know how much they grow, probably best to deal with them now.’

They looked over at the others that Stathis had rescued, heaving a sigh of relief. ‘They’re safe! Although I wasn’t able to save everyone…’

‘I’m sorry. I came as fast as I could, but…’

The woman turned back to Stathis, looking at her properly for the first time, eyes going over the shining armour, taking in the fluttering wings of light, her tanned face going pale.

‘You don’t need to bow or anything!’ Too late – their body was already dipping into a vague bow-curtsey, partway between the two gestures, not quite either.

‘You must be Stathis! You… you didn’t need to trouble yourself for me!’

‘It’s what I do. Don’t worry – I was nearby. And you needed help.’ Stathis looked around, seeing something gleam in the shadows, going over and picking it up – a sword, old, but well-made, the blade and hilt both maintained and in good order. ‘Is this yours? It was brave of you to come and try and fight this thing.’

‘It was attacking my village! I couldn’t just let it be.’

‘Well, it’s a good thing you were sensible enough to call for help first. But your actions might have stopped it attacking anyone else first. I hope there haven’t been too many losses?’

‘It was animals at first – thought it was wolves, but they normally leaves bones. Then dogs started to go missing, and then cows. It’s been getting bolder and bolder.’

Stathis wiped the sword clean, before handing it over, the woman taking it and sheathing it in a smooth action. She’d had some practice, then. ‘These things normally work that way. I was nearby and saw the beacon, then managed to follow your tracks.’

‘But… you’re Stathis of the Iristari, the Lightbearer! You, you didn’t need to do this!’ Now they were recovered, shock was settling in, their eyes going wide.

‘Don’t worry about it! If it hadn’t been me, it would have taken longer, but some of the Winged Guard should be coming.’ She let her wings fade out, hoping that would help make her seem more normal. ‘If you’re feeling up to it, then help me move these two, they’ll recover faster in the sunlight.’

‘Yes, Sir Stathis!’ They leaped to obey, despite their clear tiredness, dragging one of them up onto their shoulders, Stathis taking the other. Small spiders were still skittering about underfoot, crunching beneath her boots with every step, and it was a relief to step back into the sunlight, leaves dappling the glow, warm against her face.

‘We can probably rest here a moment, before going back to your village. Do you have any family? They must be worried about you.’

She shook her head. ‘My Da passed last harvest. Been trying to work the farm myself since.’

‘Well, you could always join up. We’ll always looking for more people to help, and you’re certainly brave enough.’ She felt a tingle through her ring – Janaxia must be exerting herself somewhere, or getting nervous or excited before some diplomatic meeting. Hopefully she hadn’t been getting too stressed by Stathis’ recent exertions! ‘Not many are willing to try and face something like that by themselves.’

A horn sounded, birds scattering up from the trees.

‘We’re over here!’

The horn sounded again, followed by the sounds of metal clinking, boots and armour and hooves, an armoured troop appearing from the trees, all clad in Iristari blue. Their leader saluted at Stathis.

‘Commander! We were not expecting you, but saw the warning beacon.’

‘Giant demon-spider-thing. Pretty sure it’s dealt with, but if you have any wizards to go in and blast the cave, there’s a load of tiny ones to kill, in case they grow big. Or firepots, if you have any. Might be worth cutting off some bits to use as samples as well? Hakara and her research team will probably want them.’

‘Yes sir!’ Orders were given, soldiers dismounting, weapons getting readied, advancing towards the cave.

‘It can be a hard life, but if you’re willing to fight, and try and make things better, it can be worth it. Or join one of the other groups – I know Tunera is always looking for people with wilderness skills to join her rangers, if you don’t mind living out in the borderlands?’

‘I’ve heard tales of Lady Tunera, the ranger-knight! But she’d never accept someone like me.’

‘You don’t know until you try. And most of her rangers are woodfolk – farmers and the like. She says they’re better in the wilderness than someone that’s used to having a supply train and access to what they need. Lots of elves as well. They’re starting to rebuild Verinal in the elven style, it’s a lot larger than it used to be. Serve your time in the rangers, and you’ll even get some land to farm, I think. It’s a good deal. Or, as I say – join us. Could always do with another blade, if you’re willing.’

‘The perimeter is clear, Commander. Permission to deploy magical force?’

‘Granted.’

The order was relayed, and a moment later explosions sounded from the cave, dust and debris shooting outwards, along with a burst of vicious, stinging heat. Some of the other soldiers were carrying parts of the giant spider, wrapping the legs up in thick blankets.

The woman paused, before speaking again. ‘I… maybe. It’s true there’s little for me here.’

‘It’s your choice, I won’t force you. But better to try and make your own fate, then to wait for something to happen. These men will be riding back to the outpost once they’re done here – you can go with them if you want.’

‘Will you not accompany us?’

‘I’ll fly. It’s faster.’ She grimaced. ‘And I’ll be in trouble with Janaxia if I’m late! I think she’s got something special planned, it’s our anniversary. Or one of them, at least – I think she has different ones for all sorts of things, this is our official, wedding one.’

‘Your wedding! The day of black fire!’

Stathis winced and sighed at the memory. ‘Yes, we were attacked by Kotthus Vii Onitha, the lord of the obsidian fire. And a load of his minions and summoned creatures. Bloody annoying!’

‘I’ve heard the song! And that Lady Janaxia defeated him with her powers.’

‘She wasn’t happy at being upstaged! Not seen her that mad before, she almost destroyed the building as well! But we managed to defeat him, and bind him back into the tomb of ice eternal. It wasn’t just her though, I had to fight, and a lot of other people. She just paid the bard, so it sounds as though she did most of the work. I’ve got her this as a gift.’

Feeling awkward, Stathis reached into her belt-pouch, pulling out an intricately cut obsidian gem, set into a fat golden bracelet. ‘It’s the black heart of Karminkill the Titan. It was a bloody nuisance to get hold of, so I hope she likes it – her ancestor once owned it. Would have been a lot easier if he still did, then I could have just asked for it, but I managed to track it down to an abandoned castle over in the western islands.’

It sparkled in the light, drawing sunlight into itself, reflecting it within countless facets. The woman gasped. ‘Oh, I’m sure she’ll love it! But hasn’t she been in Setha-in-the-Ash, working with the devil-folk?’

‘Yeah, she’s been helping make their deserts fertile again. Although don’t call them that, they don’t really like it – they prefer to be called Sethans. Anyway, I don’t even pretend to understand the theory, but if you dump enough magic into the area, it permanently reverses the curse, so she’s been using her magic for that. It’s not much, yet, but it’s helping them out. And now the gateway between there and the otherworld is permanent, it’s a lot easier to get around. I’m hoping to be in Per Tolith in a few days. I’ll never hear the end of it if I’m late. But remember what I said – if you want to help, then think about it. Even just going through militia training and then coming back here, in case there’s anything like this again, would help.’

She let her wings reignite, sending a draught through the trees as she fluttered them. ‘Captain, any message for Per Tolith? Or anything that needs carrying back.’

‘No, Sir.’

She lifted herself up into the air, pulling herself up through the treeline. From the height of the sun, it was already late afternoon – she had a lot of ground to cover!

The woman unsheathed her blade and raised it in a salute. ‘Thank you, Stathis!’

Stathis saluted back, before she was up and away, flying through the sky, feeling the sun on her skin, as fast as she could manage, hoping to make a good distance before the sun went done.