“This is a huge web of Frost Spiders,” The Commander said, “These are the relatively young ones. They are easy to kill. We went as far as the curve, and there was no sign of a matriarch.”

  They had got back with only one serious injury. Hadal had a broken arm and had frostbite. He might lose a couple of fingers.

  Eric was tending to him, “There is no way we can protect the Rock Eater; there are just not enough of us.”

  The Commander continued, “The only way we have a chance is if we can take out the matriarch, and I am not convinced we have much chance at that with the number of spiders.”

  “It might still be on the surface or near the surface,” Yoboc said. “It is possible only the small ones can negotiate the passage to the ceiling crack for now. With this number of spiders, I can find the entrance that leads to the crack in the ceiling. They will have left plenty of signs of their passing, and they may well be still on the surface.”

  “You didn’t find it scouting the surface, though,” the Commander said.

  “Frost spiders have senses we don’t. And it might be further away that I went. There could be a long network of tunnels. The tunnels are big enough for these spiders to get through. They might be widening it for the larger ones, including the Matriarch. We are lucky they haven't found our mine.” Yoboc said.

  “We are,” agreed the Commander. “This is beyond us. We need to scout and get as much information as we can, but I am going to set off the emergency beacon. Thomwea shouldn’t have left yet, and she will bring a larger force, possibly even the navy, if this is a significant enough mine, and it probably is.” He looked at Yoboc, “Scout only and report back. We will reinforce both mine entrances and hunker down to wait for Thomwea.”

  “I will take Goldie, plus the lad, as he is better on the surface than in the mine,” Yoboc said.

  The Commander nodded in agreement, “Tell Orir to pull back to the mine only. There is no sense in losing dogs. They will discover the entrance eventually. We may need to collapse part of it. We will leave a dwarf-sized gap if we have to do it before you get back.”

  “If you have to close the entrance, we won’t get through the spiders,” Yoboc said. “If we think they are close, we will just turn back, and the summer team can deal with it.”

  The commander nodded, “It is your call.”

  “Come on, you two,” Yoboc said.

  We went back to the staging area and loaded light emergency packs. You travel light when scouting. We took spare weapons. Yoboc stopped and talked to Orir, who hadn’t seen any spiders yet. I stayed away as I didn’t want him asking where Felix was. He was the beast master, and he would notice that sort of thing.

  Then we headed into the bush and up the mountain. After about two hours of hiking, Yoboc stopped.

  “See that?” He showed me and Goldie. “Frost spider tracks. They are very clear in the snow, so spend some time examining them so you can recognise them when they aren’t so clear. We will stop for a bite to eat.”

  “What is the plan?” I asked. “Are we just going to leave? The gear is in the other direction.”

  “We could circle back, pick up the gear and go. There is a hunting and fishing village 3-4 weeks hike south. I would prefer to leave at least some evidence of our death, and I really mean your death, Ivan,” Yoboc said.

  “It has to be all three of us, Yoboc. Otherwise, why didn’t we go back to the mine?” Goldie said. “Once the war starts, nobody will care, but that is probably a year or two away. That is a year for Military Intelligence to try to keep it a secret and stop any leaks. Two missing dwarves are a leak. We need to leave evidence of our deaths.”

  Yoboc stroked his beard in thought, “Yeah, you are right.” He sighed. “This is getting complicated.”

  “If we are heading to Obalno, we will spend six months getting there on foot,” Goldie said.

  “We will be recognised there,” Yoboc said. “There are other towns. You realise it will probably be two or three years before we can show our faces at home.”

  “We can kill Ivan and head back to the mine,” Goldie suggested.

  “I have wandered the Arctic alone before. I can do it again,” I said.

  “It won’t work,” Yoboc said. “As soon as Military Intelligence gets here, we will all be interviewed by somebody with a truth-sensing ability. It is all or none. Or Ivan goes wandering and doesn’t ever show himself in the kingdom. There will be a bounty put on him by the Mercenary Guild, and we will need to come clean that he did a runner.”

  I looked at them, “It is up to you two. I have no need to go to the kingdom.”

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  “Your affinity will come out, and you will be hunted,” Goldie said.

  I shrugged.

  They looked at each other.

  “I don’t want to be in the middle of a war or locked down here,” Goldie said. “I am a Forester, and that is what I want to do. Three of us together will have a better chance at survival than any of us alone.”

  “If we stay, we will be rich. If we go, there is nothing,” Yoboc said. “We could possibly get a ship to Obalno before the navy gets here. Thomwea will be bringing more than one ship this time.”

  “Thomwea is likely to be bringing the navy,” Goldie replied.

  Yoboc nodded, “She likely is, even for the Frost Spiders and a rich mine with Lightsteel ore. She definitely will if they worked out that the scales are Astral-aligned minerals.”

  “Undoth is smart, and he won’t be the only expert they have on it,” Goldie said. “He clicked right away that it was a creature and valuable.”

  “We run?” Yoboc asked.

  “We run,” Goldie confirmed. “And the fact I like Ivan’s hairy sexy ass has nothing to do with it.”

  “Of course not,” Yoboc said.

  “Your ass isn’t bad either,” she said.

  “That is good to know,” Yoboc said, “at least you will be invested in saving it.”

  “I will certainly be watching your ass,” she said.

  They were getting off track again. It is this sort of thing that made me think they were a couple, but I haven't seen anything else to support that. Also it is not my business.

  “So what is the plan?” I asked.

  “We continue to look for the entrance and get as close as possible. Preferably, kill a few spiders and leave evidence we were there, such as a ripped pack and its contents and dropped weapons. We then circle to the gear and Felix and head south,” Yoboc said.

  “Simple,” said Goldie.

  “And now you have cursed us,” Yoboc sighed.

  I didn’t really understand this cursing stuff. I have had it explained, and it is not real, but everyone believes it is? Bad things happen when you say they won’t? I don’t get it, yet I have done it. I chose to do what I had always done and ignored it.

  Yoboc led us off again. Now that we were confirmed in Spider territory, we were more cautious.

  I let my Cosmic Aura out to its fullest 5m range, and Spiritual Sensing filled it like before. I could sense further than 5m. It just cost me more energy. The energy cost is why people don’t have it on all the time. It is not like your physical senses, like ears and nose. They are always working at no cost. It costs to always have Spiritual Sensing on.

  Because of my Aura, I can have Spiritual Sensing on all the time. It is just limited to the size and shape of the aura. As the aura levels, it will be increasingly useful. I need to invest in my Spiritual Sensing and in my Spiritual Attributes to make the most of the energy increase.

  I am curious about the dimensional storage for which the Astral minerals are used. Will my affinity let me do something like that? I don’t know, and now is not the time to ask. I doubted Goldie and Yoboc would know anyway.

  We moved forward slowly, not together, but close enough to help each other if it became necessary. Yoboc sometimes ranged ahead. My stealth skill was stopped at the top of apprentice levels, and I am waiting for the bump to send it to Journeyman levels.

  Three more hours later, we crested a hill and found Yoboc waiting for us. “I found the entrance,” he said.

  “How far?” asked Goldie.

  “Step this way and see for yourself,” he replied.

  We moved to where there was a gap in the trees. I didn’t have Farsight, but I could even make out the Griffons circling and diving down. Some would fly back up with something in their claws. I assume Yoboc could see much better than I could and that they were preying on the spiders.

  “What now?” I asked.

  “If I were scouting, I would get closer and see if the matriarch was there,” Yoboc said. “Evidence of us in a griffon attack with the spiders turns a good death into a great death.” He looked at me, “What is your stealth like? Griffon's eyesight is renown.”

  “Top apprentice. Almost Journeyman.”

  He frowned. “I would have preferred Journeyman level. We can get closer, but if you feel uncomfortable, you stop and go into Arctic Camouflage. We can take your gear closer and leave it.” He looked at Goldie. “Empty what you want to keep into Ivan's pack. We will keep his pack and leave ours with a spear, a couple of axes, and a shield. We can possibly leave my bow as my spare is with the other gear. I like this bow, though.”

  We shuffled the gear around as some of my gear needed to be left. We kept all the food. And we have most of what we need at the backup site. Then we set off again. I am not sure that they just wanted me to carry the heaviest pack.

  We moved on again. Goldie was keeping a close eye on me. I am not sure if it was my ass or that I was carrying the food. It could be either.

  It was another four hours of slow, careful movement before we got close. My Stealth went to the Journeyman level. The griffons were still circling, but they were not diving as often. Have the spiders gone underground? The sun was on the horizon. Spring was on its way.

  I appreciated Yoboc’s leading as he took us around so that we were downwind. This meant my Olfactory was picking up all sorts of smells, including a lot of blood, and our smell was not in their noses.

  The first corpse I found was a spider that had been dropped from the air and did not survive the fall. I stopped and went into Arctic Camouflage and looked around. I had been doing this periodically.

  I watched as a griffon swooped down to land on a spider corpse to feed. I think this is my limit, or maybe I am past where I should have stopped. I waited in the shadow of a tree and watched.

  The griffon held the corpse steady with a front paw as the beak ripped open the carapace. It raised its head and swallowed some innards. As we are leaving, I will not get a chance to find out what parts of a spider are edible. As a scavenger, I have eaten lots of raw innards of many creatures.

  What happened next left me in shock.