Shalace - A World of Fae

Spider of the Labyrinth

Chapter 34

(Spider of the Labyrinth)

The teenager walked around for almost an hour before coming to a clearing. Suddenly she had almost a football field of space in front of her and six different paths she could take. “Climb a…” Turning around she found a stone wall suddenly there. “So much for climbing a tree.” The princess turned back around to look at the six different paths. “I could use my basketball about now.”

“I wonder which path is the right one,” Lady Marissa remarked watching her friend.

“Three of them will move her forward. Two will move her back and one will end the game,” Aidan said not taking his eyes off the image of his bride.

“Already?” Amara asked.

“You don’t realize just how well she is doing,” The Goblin King informed both her and the other occupants. Seeing several questioning faces he continued to speak. “The princess seems to have an unusually high ability to choose the most direct paths. At this time if she keeps it up the princess will win within the next few hours.”

“This should be interesting.” Everyone looked at the mirror just in time to see the path Callista walked down suddenly transform into a slide of mud.

“She chose wrong,” Amara said disappointed.

“No. Any of the three continuing paths would have done what is happening. But she has chosen the path that has the most danger,” The Goblin King replied.

Callista slid down the muddy path until it suddenly gave out and she was dropped into a large brown pond.

“Then she still chose wrong,” Will remarked.

“Depends on how you look at it,” Aidan replied. “She chose the path with the most danger but she also chose the shortest route.”

The princess swam to the side of the pond and made her way out. She coughed out some muddy water and brushed her muddy wet pony tail behind her. “Well that was interesting.” There was only one path so she began walking down a dirt path. There were tall trees and Callista decided it was best to see if she could get her Barings. She went to the closest tall pine tree and began to climb.

It took her a little time but she reached the top and looked out. The castle was closer than she had anticipated but still a ways away. Pleased she looked over the area. She could see more forest and what looked like an area of cliffs in the distance.

“Something tells me I might have picked the shortest route but not the safest,” She sighed. “Good thing the wedding is a while away. I might need recovery time.” Feeling a pain she looked at her right shoulder. There was a cut and she was pretty sure a bruise was forming. “Well if I’m still too beat up ill wear long sleeves.” She smiled and headed back down the tree.

Callista walked through several more trees before she noticed webbing. “That’s a big spider web,” She commented looking at web that was at least 5 feet all the way around. “Great. Giant spiders are one thing; giant spiders in the labyrinth probably mean blood sucking venomous spiders that would like to eat me. Great! Hope they have anti venom at the castle I may need it.”

“Aidan..” Soren began.

“If the spider bites her game over,” Aidan replied. “But it has to actually bite her.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Amara asked.

“If the spider attacks but doesn’t bite she’ll be fine. The spiders are deadly. If she is bitten we will have to end the game to give her the serum to keep her from dying,” The Goblin King informed them. “It isn’t easy but she can get through the area without being bitten.”

“Did you?” Cavin asked.

Aidan nodded. “I almost lost. I barely made it out,” He admitted. Soren looked at him with concern. “Your daughter is very resourceful. If it will make you feel better you might be interested to know she has reached this area sooner than I did.”

The teenage girl walked carefully around the many webs she encountered. She watched constantly and checked out the slightest of sounds. Hearing movement above her she looked up just in time to see a spider descending. “Shit!” Callista grabbed the biggest stick and clubbed the enormous spider. The spider let out a squeal. “Okay not the best idea!” Turning she ran.

Callista didn’t look back as she ran dodging spider webs. Behind her more and more spiders were descending. Above her they were trying to get ahead of her. The teenager ran even harder. She was almost out when a spider jumped out in front of her. Callista couldn’t stop and ran into the spider causing them both to tumble out of the forest of webs and down a hill covered by rocks.

The teenager had barely landed when she heard a squeal. The spider came toward her but she grabbed a rock and jumped and landed on its back. As hard as she could she began hitting the spider in the head. It squealed in agony several times before disappearing from existence beneath her. No longer supported by the spider she fell and landed on a mound of dirt and rocks.

She grimaced before standing up. Looking down she found her knees were very scraped up and bleeding. Callista didn’t cry out but she was in pain. Forcing herself to walk she continued on until she was further from the webbed forest. Tired she sat down. Her breathing began to slow and she began to hope for another adrenaline rush. Now that the rush of adrenaline had ended she was feeling more and more pain.

Callista touched her shoulder to find her jersey ripped and her shoulder bleeding. The teenager shook her head with a sigh, “After this I am going to take a nice long bath and eat the biggest Sunday of my life. Win or lose I deserve it!” Getting up she forced herself to continue on.

She walked down the rock filled hills and could see the castle in the distance. A smile graced her face for a moment as she looked at the Goblin Castle. “Labyrinth you really are amazing.” With that she continued on.

The princess had made it down a few hills and was heading down another when she suddenly felt like she was being watched. She looked back just in time to see a large bird dive for her. “Great! Nowhere to hide!” Callista did what her instincts said and she grabbed a few rocks and threw them at the bird hitting it causing it to retreat. Instantly she began running down the side of the hill. She heard the bird coming again and hit the ground causing it to miss her.

“Damn!” She said as she watched the bird rise back into the air. “I think I should’ve asked what kinds of creatures were in the labyrinth!” “Crap!” She said hearing another one. “Well I wanted another adrenaline rush.” Getting up she grabbed another rock. She hit one and as the other bird flew by she grabbed its feathers and ended up on its back.

“Shit! What do I do now?!” The teenager said realizing her idea to rip its feathers out had backfired. “AHHH!” She screamed as it sped down towards the ground.  Before impact she jumped and tumbled over several feet of ground. Hearing a squawk she jumped up and ran through an out cove.

“Is she safe?” Moryn inquired.

“It…what is that?” Aidan said as his gaze fell on the windows on the other side of the room.