The Dragonwalk Highway: The Fellowship of Thirteen

18 - The Arachnites

The woods grew thicker and darker and more woodsier. Vines and moss hung down from the treetops, blotting out the sun. The quartet passed by cracks in the earth that vomited hot steam into the air. The overgrown highway branched off often and each time Oron seemed to lead the group deeper into the woods.

"Do you know where you're going?" Zelda asked.

"Absolutely," Oron said.

Then he led them deeper into the woods.

A bat flew through the branches overhead and Carl yelped and dove behind the Princess. The Princess shoved him away.

"By the Creator, I'm surrounded by heroes..."

Mo grazed against Zelda's leg. "I've got your back, Princess."

Zelda ran her hand over Mo's back. "Glad to see someone's a real man around here."

The vines overhead grew longer and the moss grew thicker until the group was walking in near darkness. Oron felt Zelda moving closer and closer until she was right on top of him. He knew the proximity had nothing to do with anything besides fear.

"You mightn't be afraid now, would you, Princess?"

She thought about lying but instead laughed it off as best she could. "Not much scares me. Royalty doesn't have the luxury of fear. But, as a child, the stories my brother would tell me about what lived out in these woods—well, they made an impression."

"Ah, you be talkin' 'bout the Arachnites."

She glanced around as if mentioning them might make them appear. "Yes. We're not-uh—passing anywhere near their lands, are we?"

"The Arachnites? No. Definitely not."

The ground beneath them suddenly gave way and Oron, Zelda, Mo, and Carl plummeted into a deep pit. Their fall was interrupted by a giant spiderweb spun across the chasm. The web was springy but firm and easily held their combined weight. The webbing was so sticky it held their limbs where they landed. When the web stopped bouncing, Zelda found herself staring at Oron, the side of her head stuck to the web.

"Hmm," Oron said. "Looks like they've shifted their territory."

Carl screamed in a high-pitched, shrill voice. He had landed next to a stag that lay motionless in the web. Carl thrashed and flailed wildly but he only managed to get himself more tangled in the web.

"You're only making things worse, you filthy mingebag!" Oron shouted over to him. "Quit squirming and shut your trap!"

Carl either couldn't hear the advice or chose to ignore it. He continued to scream and flail as he turned himself into a cocoon of webbing. Oron, Zelda, and Mo had fallen a few dongs away from the yelling ninny so they were able to speak over his continued shrieking.

"Can you reach your sword?" Zelda asked.

Oron didn't even attempt to move. "Nope. You?"

Zelda tried to move her arm but only became more entangled. "No luck."

Mo was plastered to the web by his entire side so he couldn't move a ting. He uttered a tiny helpless bleat that summed up their entire ordeal.

"So what do we do now?" Zelda asked.

"Now—we wait."

And wait they did. An hour passed, then two. Oron and Mo passed the time playing "I Spy" but after a few rounds of "I see something grey" (the sky...the sky...the sky...) they finally called it quits. Mo fell asleep. Carl continued to screech until his voice finally gave out. Zelda lay replaying the journey over and over again in her mind thinking about how it all could have turned out differently.