Page 10 of The Glass Unicorn: Part 2
The next second, the werespider grabbed Thornhold in his arms, yanking him toward his mouth. bent over him, mouthopen wide. It was then that I noticed needle sharp teeth lining the creature’s mouth. He was going to bite!
I took aim and let out my breath as I shot. The arrow flew high, but my aim was true, and it spiraled toward the werespider, hitting him directly in the chest. The spider lurched, and Geoff took that moment to dive in with a quick jab. He managed to slash the spider across the front of the abdomen, where the guy’s loins would be if he weren’t a monster.
The spider let out a high-pitched screech and stumbled again.
The other werespider—the female—turned at the noise and, her eyes flashing, began to race back to her mate. At least, I assumed he was her mate. As she turned, Reggie cast a spell and a blinding flash lit up the hallway as an arrow of energy shot toward her, hitting her directly in the back. She staggered as the arrow blazed and then vanished, but the wound on her back looked very real, and very dangerous. It had left an open hole, and she was hemorrhaging blood.
The spider turned, but the flow of blood only increased. Brynn grabbed the chance, while the spider was distracted, to launch an assault. She swung her sword, hard, and it gashed a wound so strong she eviscerated it.
I grimaced, but my fear of the spiders replaced my disgust, and I nocked another arrow and turned back toward the werespider on Thornhold. I aimed and shot, this time landing the arrow directly in his chest. Thornhold took another swing at the spider with his axe, hitting him square where my arrow had landed. The blow cleaved my arrow in half, but left a deep gash, and the spider tripped, and tipped over on his back. Another moment, and both werespiders were dead.
Breathing hard, I leaned against the wall. We’d lucked out so far, with minimal damage. I knew it couldn’t last forever,but we were batting a thousand right now and that was all that mattered.
“Search them,” I said. Werespiders, unlike zombies, probably carried something of value. “Then let’s get back to those stairs. How far down did you make it, Geoff?”
“Half way,” he said. “I think you could jump the rest of the way without much damage, but there might be something beneath the bottom floor plate, so let’s toss something heavy down there first, to trigger it if there is.”
“What about one of these?” I pointed to the two werespiders.
Geoff wrinkled his nose, but shrugged. “If we can drag them. They’re pretty heavy. Those bulbous asses of theirs aren’t hollow like a camel’s humps.”
“Camel humps aren’t hollow,” I said. “They’re filled with fatty tissue.”
“Well, then…the more you know.”
With a grin, Geoff and Brynn began rifling through the gear the spiders had. They both had packs that they’d thrown on the floor to better fight us, and we hit the jackpot, relatively speaking.
“A total of thirty-seven gold, two hundred silver coins, twenty bronze. Rope, three potions of unknown origin, and these handy swords, along with a few daggers, and two very nice bows. I think the bows are magical,” Geoff said. “You want one? It’s better than the one you have.”
I hefted the bow, admiring the ornamental curves and design. When I tested it, pulling back the string, I found that I could pull it back easier, and targeting was much more accurate.
“Yeah, do they have arrows to go with it? Mine won’t fit, I don’t think.”
“They do, two quivers, full. I think they’re poison, though, so don’t prick yourself on the tips.” Geoff handed me one of the quivers and I changed out my old one for it. I also took one ofthe swords, and Ray took the other. They were lightweight and well-balanced.
We divided the treasure up as equally as we could, then dragged the nearest body—the female—to the stairs. Thornhold and Brynn grunted, picking her up, and they heaved her down the stairs to the bottom. The body landed with a thud, and nothing happened.
“I guess we can take a leap over the bottom half of the stairs, though the thought of landing on that freaking monster gives me the creeps,” I said.
“I’ll go first,” Geoff said. Before I could reply, he dashed down to the last step he’d been able to examine, then, leaning down into a squat, he launched himself into the air, clearing the rest of the steps. He landed on the belly of the werespider, groaning as a jet of fluid sprayed out. But he managed to avoid getting hit by it.
“All right, I’m dragging her out of the way,” he said.
I wanted to tell him to be quiet, but given the fight we’d just had, every creature within earshot would already know we were here.
“Go on,” I called back.
As Geoff dragged her body away, I wondered—what would we find waiting for us on the next level? And would our luck hold?
