The plan was to get several of the baby dust spiders to follow me to the outskirts of the camp. The spiders seemed to react to motion and sound and I hoped to draw them away from me at a critical point. I arranged the rope so I could cause it to pull the bush towards the camp along the ground creating a lot of noise. While the men in camp fought the spiders, I would try to sneak around and free Cassana.

  The plan went a little better than expected.

  When I returned to the nest I found a number had already hatched and were prowling around the nest. The sun was just setting when I swept a large tree branch through the thin threads to draw down several of the spiders. Instead, I got an avalanche of activity. The initial movement of the spiders who were attached to the threads was followed by the rest. I found myself being chased by a horde of small dog sized eight-legged horrors.

  In the dim light I ran as fast as I could. Fortunately I had enough of a lead that when I reached the rocky outcropping where I intended to lose them, none were too close. I began to pull on the rope I had looped around a tree near the camp then back to my outcrop where I tied it to the bush.

  The bush was pulled noisily across the ground and the spiders cut across the field in an attempt to catch up. I grabbed the rope and ran as fast as I could towards the other side of the camp using my boots to help keep me silent. The noise of the bush drew out two guards to see what was going on.

  Panic ensued as the guards blundered into almost thirty baby dust spiders.

  Their screams brought the camp awake and men scrambled to defend the camp. The insects, sensing food, pounced on the men eagerly.

  With my distraction more than complete, I dropped the rope and approached the other side of the camp. The big man emerged from the tent and loped towards the fight wielding a huge axe. However, the man in robes remained by the tent.

  I waited a few moments to make sure that there were no others about and then drew back one of my arrows. it was dipped in the paralytic poison I retrieved from the spider. As the robed man turned to go back into the tent I fired. He whirled a second too late, and the arrow caught him in the shoulder. He fell with a soft cry.

  You hit cleric with arachnid paralyzing arrow - 5 points of damage. Paralyzing poison. You opponent is paralyzed.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Immediately a second man appeared from the second tent. I drew quickly and fired. This arrow had the acid venom. It struck the man in the leg and he let out a high-pitched scream. I looked to the sounds of the fighting but the leader was roaring at his men to form a defensive line against the spiders and he missed the guard’s cry. The man gave one more gurgling cry and collapsed before my eyes.

  You hit bandit with arachnid acid arrow. Bandit dies! 25 Experience points!

  I raced up and used inspect on the man in robes.

  Your opponent is paralyzed!

  I considered killing him as he lay on the ground but I wasn’t sure how long he would take to reappear. The poison would take a while to work through his system so it seemed the better choice.

  The guard was rapidly turning to ash, and I did not hang around to watch.

  I opened the first tent prepared to fire but saw no one. I quickly went to the second tent and opened it.

  A guard stood next to Cassana, who was tied to a tent pole beside a rough stone altar. How they got an altar to the spot I wasn’t sure. Maybe some magic of the cleric? It didn’t matter.

  The man stood with a heavy crossbow aimed straight at me. Just as he went to fire, Cassana leaped up kicked at him with tied feet and he lurched. I threw myself to the side and his shot went wide.

  The man stood up, dropped the crossbow, and pulled a long knife. Before he could decide who to attack the arrow left my bow and struck him. I was falling at an awkward angle and my shoulder hit the ground as I released.

  It grazed him in the calf.

  You graze the bandit guard with an arachnid acid arrow. 1 point of damage.

  He smiled. “You missed,” he said.

  “No. I didn’t.”

  His smile faded as the pain began.

  The acid ate into his leg and he wailed in agony. The knife dropped from his hand and he fell to the ground screaming. I raced over to Cassana drawing my knife. I began sawing at the ropes holding her wrists.

  “Can you run?”

  She nodded.

  I cut the rope holding her arms and began working on her legs as she worked the rope around her waist free.

  She was free in moments.

  “Out the back,” I said.

  And I drove my knife into the tent fabric and sliced it open. She snatched up the knife from the ground and turned to the guard whose face was twisted in agony. He was taking longer to die than the first man. Perhaps he had gotten less of the poison into his system. She looked at him briefly then drove the knife up under his throat and into his brain killing him instantly.

  “A more merciful death than you would have given me,” she said, and pulling the knife out of the dead man, she darted out of the tent. I followed.

  Behind us, I could hear the shouts of men approaching and the leader ordering his men to spread out to stop us.

  But Cassana grabbed my hand and led me through the woods for several minutes, her night vision able to pick out the way through the brush and trees as if it was daylight.

  She stopped after a few minutes and we listened as the sounds of pursuit came close then faded. They had lost us.

  We were safe, for now.