Mark of the Ranger

XVIII. The Narrow Path

We slowly began to stroll towards the edge of Shamblethorn Wood. I vaguely remembered many old wive's tales about these woods, but the only thing I could think about was the many gruesome deaths. Many old wive's tales in the Outlands included gruesome deaths. Aside from the untimely demises, I couldn't remember any details, such as how they died or why they died. Even if Outlandish old wive's tales included gruesome deaths, there was always a reason for the gruesome deaths, and that was what I needed to remember.

As my teammates and our charge neared the first obstacle of our journey, I continued to rack my brain for the details of all the "tall" tales my mother told me when she tucked me in at night. However, they only things that I could think of for the life of me were two names: Boneshambler and Doomblossom. Those sounded like names for a rather deadly dragon, but I knew they weren't. The thing I especially needed to know was what those names were for. I thought to myself on what they possibly could have been, and there was only one conclusion: creatures that lived in the Shamblethorn Wood. I took that as my final answer.

"Well, are we ready, team?" David asked us. I hadn't even realized we had reached the forest. I looked back for what I hoped wasn't the final time and saw the magnificent castle that was the Wizarding Guild, the castle on the mountain. I almost felt I should have waved goodbye to it, but that might have been a bit too dramatic. I turned back towards the woods. "Yes," I finally answered my makeshift leader, then my teammates answered, one by one. Isabel nodded, the last to confirm that there was no turning back now. We stepped into the forest, David in front and Jeff in back, and the forest closed behind us.

The path was much more narrow than the cobblestone path outside. It was also a lot rougher, and definitely was the path less traveled--it seemed that people only took this path if they had to. If someone wanted to get from the Highlands to the Outlands, they would probably ride a bus, over the forest. I was right about the forest definitely being dark, as we could barely see anything. I looked into my messenger bag to see if anything could help. I rummaged for a second, and happened to find a pair of yellow-tinted pieces of glass. I showed them to the Grand Wizardess and asked her if she knew anything about them.

"I do believe those are Lenses of Sight," she answered. "If you remove those clear lenses on your mask and replace them with those, you should be able to see much better." With that, she took a pair of yellow-tinted spectacles out of her backpack and put them on. My teammates followed suit, popping out our clear lenses and replacing them with our new Lenses of Sight.

We immediately wished we hadn't.

Hanging directly in front of us was a large spider, not unlike the jewel spider in size. In appearance, however, the only similarity was how the body was built. The abdome of the spider was shaped like a human skull, and it seemed covered in some sort of bone armor. The spider dropped, making no noise. It looked at us with beady yellow eyes and raised its abdomen. Out of its back came two red pincers that looked like they were almost glowing. Considering the narrow path and the giant angered spider, I was definitely flashing back to the jewel spider battle. I shivered in fear.

David, who was in front, drew his echo blade, but the spider used one of its front legs to knock that to the side. Suddenly, I remembered what this was from all those old wive's tales. "This spider is what my mother called a Doomblossom," I muttered to my friends. The facts of the Doomblossom came rushing into my head. Those red pincers were one of the most venomous things in the Five Lands. The spider only killed if it wanted to lay eggs. It would inject human corpses--or living bodies--with an egg, which would then hatch, and transform the person into another Doomblossom within a matter of days. I relayed these facts to my teammates. I felt Elena shiver as I had, since I was standing right behind her.

"You know," Ko began uncertainly, "It would be absoluteley horrible if another one came right behind us." Jeff cleared his throat, and we turned around. Another Doomblossom was creeping up behind us, in the direction of the entrance. David and Jeff drew their weapons, and Isabel pulled out her staff. "Saggitari!" she shouted, and a yellow blast of light shot from the crystal end of her staff. It walloped the Doomblossom in front right on the head. It shook the blast off and struck for David.

Before we could gasp, Ko threw a knife at the expose underbelly of the Doomblossom. It stopped in midair and fell backwards, its underside up. David stabbed it right there, and stomped on its core. He picked up Ko's knife and threw it back to him.

The other Doomblossom, the one behind us, was wiser, however. It sidestepped into the bushes, leaving us alone on the path. As soon as we were going to continue our journey, the Doomblossom dashed out from the bushes, its red mandibles wide open. I drew my lance as quickly as possible and stabbed it in the eye. The Doomblossom reeled back, making a terrifying Eek! sound. It hissed at us aggresively and drew its abdomen up. That seemed to be its signal for go away or I will kill you, so help me. I drew my other lance and hissed aggresively at it. Elena snickered, so I nudged her. She drew her bow and shot a quick arrow at the Doomblossom.

Elena shot a few more arrows after she saw that the Doomblossom reeled back every time until it disappeared into the bushes. We turned an continued down the narrow path.