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She breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the thing plopped down on her bedroll from the limb above, soft and clumsy, like a kitten. She could faintly see grey hair in the moonlight. It stalked up the blanket toward her.
Daemona realized in horror this was no kitten. It had too many legs. It was the biggest spider she had ever seen.
“Spider!” she screamed.
The huge arachnid’s myriad eyes caught the moonlight in hungry anticipation as it shambled up Daemona’s blanket. Fangs dripped venom while the spindly legs pinched through the covers.
She kicked beneath her blankets, sending the thing flying through the air, where it fell into the red and grey coals. With a wretched twisting it caught fire and burned with a horrible stink.
Daemona shook in disgust and loathing. Harlin and Ghul Lykos were up in an instant with blades drawn.
“Where is it?”
“What happened?” they shouted in unison, glancing about for a foe.
“There, in the fire.” She pointed. The cringing form of the spider, large as her boot, smoked with its legs curling skyward.
“Not even a very big one,” said Harlin, shaking his head as he sheathed his sword.
“What? It’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen,” Daemona snapped.
“You’re a city girl,” retorted Harlin with a grin.
“You’ll see bigger tonight,” warned Ghul Lykos, directing their gazes to the top of the hill.
Something moved amongst the trees and underbrush. At first Daemona thought it was one of the stones resting half-sunken into the hillside, until she realized the tombstone-sized hunk of grey had legs big as a man’s and was rapidly waddling toward them.
“Goddess preserve us,” muttered Daemona as she drew her twin blades. Her eyes never left the glittering dark orbs of the giant spider.
“We need fire,” shouted Ghul Lykos.
Harlin said, “Daemona. I’ll attack its front. You port behind it and we’ll take this thing down.”
She didn’t answer; she couldn’t look away from the spider’s eyes.
A sudden weight landed on her shoulder. She wheeled, blades slashing.
Harlin leapt away, a blade almost slicing his arm. “It’s me. We have to focus. Did you hear me?”
“I’m here!” Daemona responded, glancing back to the spider.
Harlin held his longsword ready, while Ghul Lykos kindled a torch from the coals.
Daemona found herself stepping back and away from the looming monster. Nothing had ever driven such terror as this into her before. Those eyes—what is it about those glossy black eyes?
The spider crept forward, its legs scraping over stone and brush. About yard away from Harlin, its mandibles opened, and a wretched cry echoed from its cavernous maw.
Harlin sent his blade crashing down, but it was battered away by the massive spider’s forelegs. Ghul Lykos flashed his small torch toward the multi-eyed face, but he too was cast aside. The monster stepped toward Daemona and she blinked away.
The spider rocked to-and-fro looking for her. She reappeared behind to plunge her daggers down into its oily black abdomen. The blades only scratched its thick carapace, and instead of turning to face its attacker, the spider shot silk out and lassoed Daemona in a tangle of sticky webbing.
She tried to port away but was still bound by the silk clinging to her body like a second skin. The next spot she ported to, she unwillingly fell against the ground. She couldn’t roll or stand.
A tiny spider the size of her thumb crawled up to her face as if it were a conqueror and waggled its forelegs.
Daemona spit and ported a short distance away, still on her stomach and still on the ground and still thoroughly unable to free herself. She could hear the others shouting and the ominous scraping of the spider’s step.
