Moon Chasers: Into the storm [Finished]

Chapter Twelve: Poisoned trap

"It was a trap!" realized Qa as five giant spiders the size of a horse closed on them.

They gathered themselves, what is five spider against the three warrior who had chased away a god? Eleon readied his bow, Qa lifted his sword in a defensive aggressive stance and Jory calmed his mind and reached for his necklace it was cold to his touch, now was not the time yet to call for chaos. The halfling drew his sword and got ready.

"Target the space between their joints" he said to his companions, they nodded in approval

The first spider jumped on them and Qa raised his sword but it's tip only grazed harmlessly the strong material. It was the sign for the other to jump into battle too. Eleon escaped a giant leg and shot an arrow. 

It bounced off and the elf cursed in elven. The spider was now well aware of where he was. It turned around and tried to cut the archer in half with its giant mandible. The elf barely escaped by jumping on the floor, his sides were lacerated, a bit of his armor hanged uselessly by his leg.

He tore it off and quickly regrouped with the two other. Qa handed him a small potion which the elf refused, poison wouldn't kill him better keep it for himself.

The fight seemed desperate, every time one of them would land a hit on one of the spider the weapon would only bounce of. Jory was having it a bit better than his friends, due to his small stature he could escape much more easily. He rolled on the filthy ground to move under one of the spider, perhaps like this he could finally reach the joints. The spider saw it and jumped away.

"Damn it !" Jory got back on his feet

The swordsman attempted an attack on the closest spider and to his surprise the blade pierced right in the first joint of its fore leg, the spider hissed in pain Eleon turned and using the time window when the spider is held in place by Qa blade shoot two arrow.

With a terrible crack the leg tore of the spider's body and with a final hiss the spider crawled back leaving behind its leg. Qa and Eleon take a second to celebrate but quickly go back to the fight.

"I'm going to try something, Qa give me some space !" Eleon got a knife out of his ample clothes

He then started to climb one of the tree, Jory could see his disgust when his skin would touch the sticky webs or the rotten wood. Qa joined Jory to fight side by side. They led two of the spider to them while above them a disgusted but determined Eleon got in place. 

A spider was waiting for its "turn" right under him, with a quick prayer to his ancestors the elf leapt of the hanging branch. Plunging right down on the juncture of the head and the body.

The blade went in like in warm butter, the spider made a sound very close to a scream, an ear piercing scream, all the spiders turned to him while to one under him tried to shake him off. He held on firmly.

He took the blade out and some substance spewed out on his forearms, the smell almost made him sick but with the strength of a desperate man he stabbed it again.

The spider struggled for a moment before going limp. The elf retrieved his knife and jumped off, the already curling spider.

So, they could be defeated. Qa felt a renew of strength and brandished his blade high above his head before attacking the spider in front of him, but the monster dodged it. Jory took the man arm and pulled him back just in time to allow him to escape an attack. The man thanked the halfling and they got back to the fight.

The Spiders were now wary of another attack for above and kept them all in their line of sight. That did not stop them from escaping their gaze from time to time to land numerous hit on them. They took two other down. Unfortunately three new spiders came to take their fallen comrades place.

Qa managed to cut the spiders legs and Jory tried to follow his technique. A legless spider is a soon to be dead spider! The small guy managed to be a good leg cutter to his surprise but it was slow work. 

They understood that they needed to either take them all out in one boom or to manage to scare them off, and both option were impossible to manage as long as Jory would be locked out of his powers. Qa understood that very well, but to ensure his survival he was ready to leave them behind as distraction while he took off on his own.

A spider jumped on him, he tried to escape but the monster was much faster than him and pinned him to the floor. He desperately tried to hit it with his sword but even if he managed to get it the blade stayed stuck in the thick hide. The man kicked and screamed but his friends were way too far to be of any help now.

One of his kick managed to hit the hilt of his sword, plunging it deeper in the spider. It hissed and screeched terribly, one of its leg pierced the man shoulder and a scream escaped his throat. Eleon was helpless, there was an entire army of giant spider between him and his dear friend. He called out but the man was far too scared and in pain to be able to answer.

The spider had him in its clutches but better than to eat him there it attacked him again, Qa tried to wiggle out but with his shoulder literally pinned to the floor it was impossible to escape, the spider lacerated his other shoulder. 

By doing this it gave Qa an opening, the man escaped leaving his sword behind. He backed away, scrambling out of the spider's grasp. Finally he was out. The arm with an hole in his shoulder was useless but the other could still be used albeit bleeding out. He grabbed a stone from the ground and got ready for his meeting with fate.

The spider jumped forth and with a swift move it attacked the swordsman.

"Nadh Raj !" Qa held his face in his hands blood flowing like torrents, he staggered for a moment before the spider spat its poison on him, the man screamed again before falling to the floor

"NO !" Screamed Jory and Eleon at the same time

"Don't you fucking dare!" yelled Jory as the injured spider started to flee.

The necklace was burning on his skin as he felt the magic overflow his system, he called for the sword to come to him as he made a motion, as if to grasp the air. his hands ignited with scorching fire as he directed it to the spiders in front of him with the ultimate goal of roasting the one that dared attack his friend.

Eleon backed him up with a triple arrow shot at the eyes of the spider he was just sparring with a few second ago. It hissed and ran away, and Eleon got to make the other spiders think twice about attacking them now.

Those which weren't burnt to a sensible crisp turned away and slowly left the scene, dinner would wait, perhaps they thought about collecting their bodies once they would have all bled out. Jory dragged himself to Qa and fell next to him weakly checking for his pulse and trying to get his hands on the antidote. Eleon rushed to their side and helped Jory administrate it to their comrade.