Maddison felt his body shake as the commander landed another blow on his sword. Exhaustion was foreign to the man’s strikes, but it was most certainly catching up to Maddison. He had delivered a few more shallow cuts, and they clotted the same each time. The rest of his strikes were dulled by the defensive enchantments that had been soaked in the man’s armour.

  In his tired state, he had focused on conserving his energy. Most of that involved stepping on the commander’s flowy cloak whenever he could to trip the man up and restrict his swings. The one in control of his body hadn’t thought to discard the obstacle.

  Sword fighting was a matter of killing, not teasing to piss off the man trying to cut you down. But it was really all he could manage without magics or poisons that would afflict the undead. For once, he was hoping for some backup before the guest in the tower joined the scuffle.

  His prayers were answered by a shuffle at the hatchway to the attic. A head full of blonde hair popped through, one of the twins staring at him with dish eyes as they pulled themselves up through the hatch.

  His hopes faded as no one followed the kid except a small brown bird that was nesting on his head. There were quite a few ways to express a greeting or ask about the split company, but thinking too hard on trivialities while trying not to be sliced in half by a zombified commander was beyond Maddison’s capabilities.

  He barely deflected another strike to his side, his shoulder spiking in pain. He shot Tim a glare, “Where’s the warlock?!”

  Tim flinched at the tone, a snarky reply dying in his throat. “He…” Tim’s gaze darted around the attic in confusion, his hands flexing around a shiny, woven metal ball. “He said it was a fairy domain…”

  He sighed. What was he supposed to do with that information? So the sky was blue, kittens purred, and the unusually large spider could use magic. The best way to kill a fairy was to stab it through with iron, not play games with it.

  He planted his foot on the commander’s cloak, shoving the man’s back to force him to stumble. The commander dropped to his knees, flipping around to swing his blade before Maddison could deliver a strike with his sword.

  “Tell him to come up here and then go hide!” Maddison boomed.

  “I don’t know where he went.” Tim squeaked, scrabbling on top of some wooden boxes in the corner as the commander’s sword struck the flooring a few feet from him. “I thought he was up here.”

  Maddison grabbed the man, trying to lock him in a bear hug and drag him away from the frightened child. “How’d you lose track of him? He glows!”

  “I’m just a kid! Stop yellin' at me!”

  “And you’ll only ever be a kid if you don’t come back up those stairs with a warlock!”

  Timber didn’t move, even as Maddison cleared the space for him to slip back down the hatch. He met the mercenaries burning glare with near tears in his eyes. “I’m not going back down there, Cindy’s on the loose!”

  The little bird swooped in front of the man, flapping in place for a few seconds as if inspecting him. The commander tried to swipe the creature out of the air, forcing it to swoop away with panicked chirps. Maddison saw the small creature pass his right, soaring to the dark wooden beams holding up the ceiling.

  Maddison’s attention went right back to fending off the commander as he tried another sloppy strike at the mercenary. But from the dark rafters came a loud squelch, and a chilling crack of bones as the bird turned into something else. Maddison clicked in when he heard a small and familiar voice in his head.

  “Step back.”

  Maddison listened this time, taking a healthy step back as a shadow dropped on the commander, flattening him to the floorboards. Two massive paws pinned the commander stomach-down, the beast’s short golden fur covering everything but its feathery mane and large brown wings.

  The creature let out a warbling coo in the commander’s ear, met with silence as the man still tried to wiggle out from under the weight of an adolescent gryphon.

  Maddison kicked the commander’s sword away, making sure the struggling foe didn't have the strength to escape. He finally lowered his guard, too exhausted to care about the shapeshifter in front of him as he sat on the closest box to catch his breath. Tim didn’t move from the box he had huddled atop, splitting his attention between gaping at the gryphon and watching Maddison uncap a vial of gooey blue paste and smear it all over his sword.

  The commander’s struggles stilled by the time Maddison had something to say to his guests. “Unless you have some firepower we need to get the warlock.”

  Tim scoffed at the comment. “What you mean? Squirrel just did yer job.”

  Maddison eyed the shapeshifter, smearing the blue paste down the other side of his sword. Despite being very young, he would be a fool to assume the shapeshifter hadn’t eaten the heart of a creature that could turn the tide in their favour. “Can you get any bigger than that?”

  The gryphon cooed, its feathery ears dropping as it shook its head.

  “Keep that one pinned.” Maddison ordered, giving his back a stiff stretch before waving Timber to the hatch. “We’ll find you a place to hide and get that damn warlock.”

  Timber wordlessly complied, lingering by the hatch while Maddison crossed the room. But something caught his eye as he stared at the colourful lighting the stained glass window behind him cast on the floor. Something long, and dark, moved. Cutting through the colourful shapes.

  They all stopped. Timber and Squirrel in confusion at the long and thin shape of the shadows, and Maddison in dread. Its spindly legs tapped on the fragile glass, teasing the barrier before one of the arms speared through it and shattered it. Timber barely threw himself back in time as it stabbed for the hatchway, the appendage hovering near their only escape route as the spider poked the front half of its body into the attic, and with it, three more bladed legs.

  The next arm tried at Squirrel, the girl thinking quickly and shrinking back into the small brown bird before the pointed leg could skewer her side. She twirled around the dangerous legs, finding refuge on Maddison’s shoulder as he used a wooden crate as a temporary barrier. The commander did not move from the ground, now a limp puppet with the strings cut.

  The spider stabbed right through the crate, barely scathing Maddison’s back as he jumped away, regrettably closer to the snapping mandibles of the creature. It bit down on his sword, trying to wrestle the object out of Maddison’s hands. He held onto it like the last stick of candy on earth, failing to deter the creature with a few punches to its eyes. The beast readjusted its mandibles, finding his forearm and easily sinking a fang through the soft leather. With a pained grunt, Maddison unsheathed the enchanted dagger at his waist, finally finding some success as it easily cut right into the spider’s eye.

  The beast shrieked in pain and relented, Maddison not sparing a second to rip his blade and arm loose and scramble to the other side of the room. Halfway there, he met Timber’s terrified gaze, the boy pointing past him with a shout that he couldn’t make out past the spider’s cries.

  Obviously, there was a spider behind him. He knew that.

  Maddison felt a harsh tug at his cloak as the fabric clotheslined him and threw his feet out from under him. He struck the ground, twisting to dodge the spider as it tried to stab his legs. With a painful twist, he eyed what had caught his cloak, glaring at the leg that had pegged it to the floor as the spider, blueish blood oozing from the side of its face, let out a mix between a hiss and a laugh.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  He unclipped the cloak, and after a choice gesture, Maddison repaid the attack in kind, driving his sword into a soft joint on the spider’s armoured leg. It ripped it back with another cry of pain, and Maddison scooped the cloak off the ground, running to join Timber on the stack of boxes on the opposite side of the room.

  The creature hadn’t pushed its way in enough to reach them with its legs yet, trying to anchor itself with its three working legs by driving them into the wooden floor. The final limb sat paralyzed from the strike Maddison had delivered, but there was no telling how quickly the poison he had coated his blade with would spread.

  He squeezed his arm, feeling the tingle in it gradually grow to a sharp pain. The poison on his blade would definitely spread slower than whatever the spider had gotten him with. He hated the thought of depending on the warlock. But then again, no one had stuck a spider the size of a bedroom on the wanted poster.

  But first, someone had to make it to the hatch. It was either going to be Timber or the shapeshifter.

  He eyed the shapeshifter curiously as it formed into a small child to hide next to Timber. The familiar child. He felt some relief that they were alright. At least one had survived from the Heroguard squadron.

  Maddison stared at the little metal ball glowing in Timber's hands, the small shards of flint packed inside of it glowing red with runes that had been scratched into their surfaces. It was definitely a rushed job, but he had a good idea as to what it was. “Where did you get that?”

  Tim eyed the ball, paying Maddison an uncertain shrug. “That warlock handed it to me. Said to throw it if something starts chasing us.”

  Maddison grabbed the ball, the terror rising in Tim’s eyes as he knew what the mercenary intended to do.

  “No, he said to make sure we’re far away!”

  “Far enough.”

  The spider shrieked as it saw the ball, the entire attic shaking as it rammed its body against the window to try and tear a larger hole. As Maddison raised to throw it, its legs drew back, perfectly lining up to a defensive wall in front of its face.

  But that wasn’t the target.

  With all the strength he had, he threw the ball through the tower door, hoping the little shake would help the lopsided tower along.

  White stones erupted outwards in a wall of flames, Squirrel transforming again and shoving everyone down to wrap them in her wings as the debris flew. Even above the sounds of the explosion, the spider's cries could be heard as the white tower crumbled on top of it, spilling its heavy debris across the front of the house and shaking the wooden structure to its foundations.

  Even after the stones had finished falling, the wooden supports of the house whined from the damage. The explosion had hopefully crushed the large guest, and most of its family inside the tower. There were a few little blue specks Maddison could see skittering between the rocks, and he aimed his steps for them wherever he could. The rocks had covered most of the window, the sunlight just strong enough to guide the rattled group to the hatch. Squirrel sluggishly pushed the debris away from it, shrinking back into a tired brown bird that cuddled into Tim’s cupped hands when the route was cleared.

  He didn’t protest as Maddison went down the hatch first, the mercenary, in his exhaustion, was even less amicable to conversation as he headed down the hall with slow and heavy steps. Tim kept to his side, until he eyed the open study room. Maddison greeted the look Timber tossed him with a tired scowl, shaking his head.

  His father had been trapped in a room with the zombified corpse that wanted nothing but a painful end for the man.

  He was most certainly dead, and very likely not in one piece.

  But Timber didn’t move, clearly still pulled to check.

  “Stairs,” Maddison growled, shaking some of the temptation out of him. Timber stopped, looking up at Maddison with pleading eyes.

  And then came a sound that no one wanted to hear. A howling roar, from the winged beast they had forgotten outside. The entire house rocked as something struck it. With the spellcaster disposed of, the barrier on the house had died. But some enchantments lingered longer than anyone liked.

  “Stairs. NOW.”

  Timber scrabbled down the steps as a voice echoed up, Sariel meeting them halfway with a cry of relief and excitement. Cody was at the bottom of the steps, just finishing cutting through Sajus’ ties as he met Maddison’s gaze. Unlike the disgust that usually peppered his face, he beheld him with both shock, and some concern when he saw the handful of wounds the spider had delivered to Maddison.

  “Thanks for the ball,” Maddison muttered. He didn’t have the energy to engage more, giving him a dead stare as he passed him for the back door and kicked it wide open.

  The building shook again as the dragon struck it, everyone squeezing out of the house to a temporary freedom. Cody sized up the fenced backyard, waving the group to a small wooden shed peeking from behind a fat pine tree. It was coverage. Not for a dragon, just for hopeful idiots.

  And right now, Maddison was amongst such company.

  Maddison relaxed against the shed as soon as they reached it, the pain in his arm now reaching his shoulder with a burning tingle. He definitely wasn’t swinging a sword with that arm anymore. Not that it would do skat against a dragon.

  He found the leather tie of his pauldron, pulling it tight to cut the circulation.

  Cody plopped down beside him, still a healthy enough distance to be clear that it was to hold his attention and not a show of camaraderie. “Did you get the source?”

  “Yeah, giant gods damned spider. Dragon’s spell will wear out when it runs out of magic.”

  “I know you’re in there somewhere.” The Spinner hissed, its voice now booming from an unlikely source that hardly had the tongue to talk. The dragon craned its neck around the house, poking its snout through a window as its lips moved in tune with the words coming out of it. “Come out and play, the game is almost over.”

  Maddison and Cody swore in synchronization.

  The anchor of the spell had moved.

  Maddison chanced a better look at the beast, getting everything he needed when he looked at a deep gouge in its back where one of its wings seemed to have been ripped out, white stones lodged in the crevice of an injury to spell fault.

  It wasn’t healing anymore.

  He turned to Cody. “Any more explosives?”

  Cody made a face, pouring out his satchel to skim through a few spare rocks. “Fifteen minutes?”

  Maddison gave him a dead look. “Does that dragon look like it will take more than fifteen minutes to find us?”

  Sariel hummed in disappointment, holding the empty crossbow in her lap. “Sorry, Mr. Sungard. Used the last arrow on that Cindy lady. Was chasin’ Cody around.”

  “Hord’anne might be able to help if I can reach him.”

  Maddison exchanged glances with the rest of the group. No one had heard the beast since the dragon bit down on its back. But no one wanted to speak the truth to Cody’s hopefulness.

  Cody caught the obvious looks and returned them with a frown, “He’s probably fine.”

  “Before the dragon eats you, do you have any antivenom?”

  Cody scrunched his nose at Maddison. “For what?”

  Maddison tugged off his bracer, flaunting the deep gouge in his forearm that the spider had graciously given him. Aside from the thick saliva dripping off of it, the wound had gone a sickly green, whatever blood was meant to pour out congealed by the venom.

  Cody grimaced at the slimy wound, cringing away and holding his tome tight as if it could somehow harm it. "Why would you show me that?”

  “I got somethin!” Sariel burst, the doubt even finding its way onto Cody’s face as she untied a little leather flask from her belt. She wrestled the cap off it, splashing the clear liquid over Maddison’s arm until the contents were entirely emptied.

  Maddison stared at his soaked arm, waiting for some kind of sensation that wasn’t coming. The only thing his skin felt was cold mixed with the same stabbing pain. He looked at Sariel. “And what’s that?”

  “Water, sir.”

  Maddison let out a deep sigh. “Sariel…”

  “Yeah?”

  He gave her a hard, long stare, catching that same dumb innocence through the slot of her helmet. “Nothing. Thanks.”

  Tim looked between them all, his hands fidgeting on his knees as the little brown bird slept in his lap. “Are we going to die?”

  “No, the dragon’s just going to take us to a nicer place,” Maddison replied, resting his head against the shed and closing his eyes in defeat.

  Hope withered quickly after that, everyone stewing in their own bubbles of silence. The dragon came closer as it fully rounded the mansion, its scarred and bloodied tail in their sights as it swayed about the backyard. That was, until a sound carved through the dragon’s destruction.

  It started in a tuned bellow that trailed high like a trumpet. Maddison didn’t like the noise, except at this very moment. Even the dragon recognised it. What stood of the mansion groaned as it moved its weight off the debris to follow the noise, a string of curses dripping off its tongue like a mother that had just heard a glass shatter.

  It was a signal of entrance the Heroguard used.

  Reinforcements had arrived.