There was a way to get around the bad wrist. But I doubt he would be willing to cut off his arm and wait for it to regrow. Even with healing to speed things it would take weeks. He didn’t strike me as the type who would have the guts or the friends to help him through.

  I heard him yelling curses at me as I made my way back towards the trail. I still stayed away following at a distance. However, with five people dispatched to eliminate me I suspected that there wouldn’t be any more opposition until I got closer to the bandit’s camp.

  Darkness was falling and moving through the dark was becoming an issue. I looked up and could see the twin moons rising. While one was full the other was not.

  “Is there any special event coming in the next few days?” I thought.

  “There will be a special double eclipse tomorrow night,” said my guide.

  I nodded. “Then that’s how long I will have at most.”

  “Quite likely,” she agreed.

  I decided to stop about a mile away from where I had encountered my ambushers. I stopped and set down my pack to wait.

  “You’re not going to press on?” said my guide.

  “No. I don’t see that well in the dark and if there are any other ambushers, they would have a real advantage. Besides, if a patrol comes to relieve the men who attacked me, I will have the advantage of darkness and surprise over them. They are bandits, I doubt any of them have night vision.”

  I reached into my pack and pulled out a blanket, spread it on the ground and stretched out. At first I was afraid I might fall asleep, but my senses were so keyed up that I soon realized it was unlikely.

  “I am curious about something that I noticed.”

  “What is that?”

  I thought about how to frame the question.

  “Normally when I hurt a monster or most of the bandits, I am told I have hit a “bandit” or a “rat”. However, when I hit the bowman he was referred to as an “opponent”. Why was that?”

  There was a long pause. Then my guide began to speak.

  “There are three different kinds creatures that inhabit the lands of Taea. Some, like you, can return from death many times with the memories of there past journeys intact. Some return with no memory except their occupation or trade. For them, a return from death seems like waking up from a sound sleep to go back to a normal day. For most, there is no return at all. Occasionally, some may even come back in a different body with memories of former lives. “

  I nodded, and she continued.

  “For people who return with their memories intact, grudges can be carried over from one passing to the next. When this happens they are deemed opponents to distinguish them from others who simply return.”

  “I see. So how does…”

  I heard movement on the path below. Three men were running down the trail. They were holding torches.

  “Do you think we lost her?” said the tallest one.

  “I think she stopped when she got Arcal,” said the second. He was of average height and looked to be in good shape.

  “What the hell was that thing?” Said the first speaker. The second responded again.

  “Dust spider. Nasty critters. They have two kinds of poison. One paralyzes you so they can eat you slowly. The second venom is an acid that eats living tissue. Their bite injects it into the body. You don’t live long, but you scream the entire time you die.”

  He paused gasping for breath.

  “They say matrons can even spit the stuff.”

  “You’ve never heard of them?” said the third man. He was short and fat and out of breath.

  “They don’t have anything like that in the lands to the north,” replied the tall man.

  “Well, they don’t go out much in daylight. They like to hunt at night. Generally, their victims are paralyzed and slowly digested over the course of a night. In the morning they inject the second venom which dissolves the bodies into dust which blows away hiding any evidence of their presence.”

  “Their webbing is strong said the third. Hope you never get entangled. They don’t see well but if you blunder into a web, they can find you very quickly. They can move across a web in the blink of an eye.”

  He shuddered.

  “Arcal wasn’t dead. Maybe we shouldn’t have left him,” said the fat man.

  “Well, no one will be going back for him tonight. Nobody is safe in the dark with dust spiders around.”

  I could see the glint of teeth in the torchlight.

  “But all his gear will be there in the morning to pick up. Dust spiders nest in darker areas, not on a trail. Once the sun is up, we can get his gear and split it.”

  The other two laughed and nodded. I wanted to spit out bile at the callous way they treated a former companion.

  “How far to the others?” Said the tall man.

  “I’d guess another mile or so,” said the second.

  “Think they are ready to give up?” Said the fat man. The second man took a deep breath.

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  “That guy Carlos sure isn’t. I saw his eyes when he saw the other bowman. There’s a lot of hate there. He’ll want to have us stay.”

  “Well, he got the woman for the cleric. That’s something.”

  “Yeah, but he said his brother isn’t coming back. Said he was done. Not sure what happened to them both but it must have been pretty awful.”

  I had risen very slowly and drawn my first arrow. I sighted carefully at the tall man who was furthest in shadow. I released and heard the thunk as the arrow struck flesh.

  Ranged shot! You have hit a bandit! 23 points of damage! The bandit has died! 25 experience points!

  “What the hells! Ambush!”

  The second man tossed away his torch, but it was already too late. I had his position, and an arrow sped on its way. He fell with a sad cry.

  Ranged shot! You have hit a bandit! 24 points of damage! The bandit has died! 25 experience points!

  The fat man started running down the trail back the way he came. He was panicked and still held his torch. I began to sight on him when I saw him suddenly run into something which entangled him. He struggled. And his torch flailed and seemed to catch in the air. I could see it sag as it burned, something invisible holding it as it twisted toward the ground.

  “No! He screamed as a large black shape descended swiftly from the treetop above him. I had nocked my third arrow but held my shot. The man still had one arm free, and he drew a sword and drove it at the dark shape.

  I heard a high-pitched squeal of pain and anger. Then the creature lunged forward, and I saw large mandibles close on the struggling man. He let out a shriek of pain that turned into a long wail of agony. He struck once more with the sword but it had no strength behind it and it did only a glancing blow to one of the creatures eight legs.

  I hesitated for a minute, then sighted on the head of the giant arachnid. I released, and the arrow drove into the creatures eye blinding it.

  Aimed Shot! You hit giant matron dust spider - Critical Hit - 30 points of damage!

  I could see the spider against the light of the torch. It was an immense black shadow with two giant mandibles and hair on its body and legs. It shook its head and I could see that my arrow had punctured an eye which was slowly covered in a film of blood. It gave out a shriek of rage and turned from side to side trying to spot its attacker.

  In spite of the critical hit I could see that the creature was far from done. It was moving aggressively from side to side trying to find me.

  I glanced over to the man who had been bitten and wished I hadn’t.

  In the torchlight his face was contorted in agony. As I watched, his skin began to sag in on itself as flesh and even bone was consumed by the acid the matron had secreted into him.

  I turned back and saw the spider was beginning to spin a new web to catch its next victim. I drew an arrow determined to finish the creature before the torch went out and I was left in darkness.

  With her back to me I released an arrow at her bulbous rear segment hoping to do some bleeding damage.

  Aimed Shot! You hit the Giant Matron Dust Spider - Backstab! - Double damage! 60 points of damage!

  The creature gave another long shriek of rage and this time turned and released a large glob of something that flew directly towards where I was standing. I ducked, and it flew over my head and struck the tree behind me. I looked back. I could see the tree beginning to sizzle as acid ate away at the trunk.

  I looked up to see the matron moving towards me rapidly her eight legs eating up the space between us. I considered running but realized that she would soon catch me.

  Instead I drew another arrow and aimed at the eye that was now focused on me with such venomous hatred. I released, and the arrow flew.

  A leg brushed it to one side, and it glanced away harmlessly.

  I dodged behind a large tree to its blinded side and the spider crashed into it. I rolled forward as legs circled the tree trying to strike me. One of those legs could do serious damage. The spider rose from the collision and tried to maneuver around the tree. It could not see me as I stayed on its blind side but I didn’t dare try to run. Legs came around the tree from different sides trying to strike me or push me away from the tree. For my part I tried to keep the tree between me and the creature while not getting within range of those long legs or within sight of the remaining eye. I was sure at this range a second shot of venom would likely be a hit.

  The tree between us wasn’t very large, so I was surprised when the matron suddenly tried to climb up. Understanding dawned as I saw her try unsuccessfully to drag the arrow out of her rear abdomen. She hissed as the arrow twisted but refused to come free.

  Matron Dust Spider has Bleeding Damage! 10 points of damage!

  She dropped back down, and I realized that she was slowly losing speed. I nocked another arrow and watched for an opening. Suddenly she lunged forward and the giant mandible closed on the tree. I heard a screech and then venom was injected into the tree. It hissed and bubbled and the tree began to sway ominously.

  I realized if it fell it would cut off my retreat. If I ran to the back where it was falling it would land on me. If I tried to run in front of it, she would be waiting.

  “Clever girl,” I thought.

  But, I still had a chance. I would have one moment when the tree was falling when she would be clearly visible. She wasn’t as healthy as when the fight started. I might have a chance to get in a killing shot.

  I heard a crack, and the tree began to fall. I watched as it came down to see which way the spider would move.

  It stayed perfectly still. The tree caught in some branches as it fell and it twisted to one side no longer falling directly towards me.

  The spider saw me and immediately spit at me. I dove forward and huddled the base of the tree as the acid sprayed above me. Then I rose in one swift motion to fire.

  She was already lunging towards me two legs driving towards my chest.

  I fired and tried to jump backwards.

  The shaft drove straight into her other eye just a two powerful legs hit me. I flew backwards through sizzling pine branches tumbling helplessly.

  Her strike cracked bones and the flight through the tree limbs broke more. My bow fell where she struck me and my quiver came off some time midway through my helpless tumble. I landed and rolled like a broken doll ending up on my back in the clearing around the base of another pine tree.

  Fortunately, the small amount of acid I did encounter landed on my leather armor. For some reason the treated leather resisted the acid. I instinctively wanted to brush off some on my chest but fortunately resisted the urge. The arm I tried to use refused to move.

  “You have sustained 56 points of bludgeoning damage. Health below 2%

  The Matron was thrashing about now screeching and hissing. I realized she was still far from dead despite the extensive damage she had taken.

  I opened my inventory. I had only two major healing potions left.

  I took out one and checked to make sure nothing was sticking through me I would have to remove. My blood loss was reaching a critical stage. I was lying in the open flat on my back. My back and legs were broken, my ribs were badly damaged. One arm was twisted completely in the wrong direction.

  “You are slipping into heart arrest. Health at 1%”

  No other choice. I swallowed the potion.

  Midway through the healing process I used my good arm to turn my other arm back, so it was facing correctly. I pushed at ribs to get them to line up correctly. I couldn’t do anything about my legs until my back was repaired. But as soon as I could feel them I could tell that they were healing properly. I lay quietly, unmoving, while the spider thrashed about hunting for me and smashing at anything her legs brushed against.

  She bit at trees and her acid caused several to fall.

  Then she seemed to slow and changed tactics. She began to spin a web around herself in a giant dome. I watched as she worked, spinning and connecting pieces of the dome to tiny strands touching her legs.

  Once a branch fell from one of the damaged trees and hit the dome. Her leg twitched, and she whirled; a stream of acid came out striking the branch. It sizzled and burned to ash in moments.

  As I marveled at her cleverness, I realized something else. Her wounds were slowly closing and her strength was coming back. I couldn’t be sure, but I suspected in time even her eyes might regenerate. I couldn’t take that chance.

  Somehow I had to finish her.