Brigits Flame All Stars Entry - "Countdown"
Pushing the ale aside, she called out for hot water and pulled a satchel of herbs from her traveling pack, cursing to herself and the lean days that had brought her here. She tossed a black handful of her hair out of her face irritably. She'd never worked for so little-- especially with a wretched job like this.
The water came finally. Without bothering to taste it, Shale waved her hand over the cup, sprinkling a pinch of powder and whispering an arcane word. The water shimmered as the magic purified it. Adding herbs, she wiped the edge of the cup with a cloth and drank slowly. Not so good as ale, she thought, but it would do.
Despite her misgivings, Shale had known that she would have taken this job even when times were not so lean. She remembered the burning young eyes of that haggard widow, and before she'd spoken, Shale had already accepted the mission in her heart.
"You're not from around here." Shale looked up, startled. Next to her sat a tall, thin man with dark hair and startling green eyes. A wry grin flashed across his face as she looked over, as if he already knew that she wasn't used to being taken off guard.
"What makes you say that?" Shale hit him with her fiercest, most piercing look, but it just made his grin widen and his eyes twinkle.
"Because," he said, glancing around the room significantly, "you struck me as pleasantly out of place here."
Shale's eyes wandered down to his open white tunic, billowy black trousers, and merlot traveler's cloak with an acquiescent grin. "I'd hardly say that you blend in yourself, sir."
"Not when I don't want to," he said with a laugh, and leaned back in his chair. He suddenly grew serious, and looked hard at her. "What's brought you here?"
Suddenly suspicious, Shale fixed him with a long, studying gaze. "Work. The caves."
His smile returned again instantly, and he waved for new drinks. "Ah,then you're here to kill the Kumo. You're going to need some help. Lucky for you I just happen to be here looking for work myself."
Her head tilted with ire. Suddenly, the point of this little chat was becoming clear. "And what makes you think you'd be of any help?"
The bartender arrived almost immediately, carrying two cups of a wine that was well beyond anything she'd received earlier. Surprised, Shale picked up the cup, but he took it from her hand. "Because," he said, as a white cloth materialized in his hand, "I too am much more than I seem." He wiped the rim of the glass and set it down. As he did, he took her hand, kissing it and looking into her eyes. "Lukado Luminesti."
She let her hand linger. "Shale Kistal."
* * *
Clean, sweet-smelling sheets. After all these weeks, Shale couldn't believe it. She rolled on her back, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed. This was the first peace she'd felt since she'd left on this job. After a moment, she felt Lukado's wandering hands dancing on her skin, sending electric jolts of arousal and pleasure through her. She laughed spontaneously.
"You're full of surprises, you know that?" Lukado chuckled and rolled over to her, but she held him back, reluctantly, with one arm. "No, really, it wasn't natural. I could feel everything you felt. What did you do?"
Lukado nestled forward again, kissing her neck and sidling up to her. His hand wandered once more, and she nestled back to enjoy the sensations with a pleasurable groan. Lukado chuckled into her hair at this and lifted his head to look into her face. His eyes were bright with mischief as he shifted once more, causing her to gasp with pleasure. "You like it?"
Her eyes mirrored his good mood as she understood. "It's magic."
Lukado smiled. "In the flesh."
* * *
Long, lazy beams of morning sunlight stretched forth to touch their faces, waking them slowly with their caress. Shale woke and crawled forth, resting her head on Lukado's chest. Lukado slid his hand down her side, resting it on her hip. Shale closed her eyes and hummed happily to herself.
"Are you happy, lovely one?"
"I'm listening to your heart."
"You mean my countdown."
Shale turned her face to his and gave a questioning look.
"You see it as a heartbeat. Like I'm still going forward so long as my heart beats. But I see it as a countdown. I start with so many heartbeats, and I'm counting down to the end."
"Well, sure, that's true, but what a horrible way to see it!"
Lukado gave her that smile once again. "Not at all. It just helps me remember that each heartbeat is too valuable to waste."
"Lukado…"
"Yes?"
"I can't pay you well for your help. I'm hardly being paid for this myself."
A pause. "Hmm… business. Well, It's feeling pretty warm in here."
"Warm?"
"Yes… I'm thinking… seventy?"
Understanding suddenly, Shale laughed again. "Oh, no, definitely not. I'm feeling much colder. Maybe… twenty?"
"Now that's just silly. It's at least sixty."
"Lukado, it 's my job! I worked to get this! And I've been stalking this thing for weeks. You can have thirty."
"Fifty."
"Forty"
"Forty five."
Shale's heart sank. She'd be losing money on this one, but she knew she needed help. "Fine."
"Plus a little something on the side," Lukado said, rolling over to her once again with a grin. She smacked him in the face with a pillow.
* * *
The light of day could do nothing to cheer the cave's entrance that stood before them. The mouth of the cave was enshrouded in a malodorous fog , which seeped outwards to the battered foliage surrounding the cave's mouth. Drops of poison had burned the ground around the entrance, and poisoned remains of victims lay about the area. The entrance itself was tremendously large- bigger than a house. Much of it was covered in tattered webbing, which had helped to conceal the cave's size by collecting leaves and other debris. Standing before this, Shale couldn't help but shudder.
"Lukado, you do know what we're getting in to here, right?"
Lukado looked away, distracted. "Yeah, something about a big spider we're squashing."
Shale narrowed her eyes. "Lukado, this is more than just a big spider. I was tracking a Kumo to its lair. We need to be extremely careful if we're going to come out alive."
Lukado was unimpressed. "Why worry? Worrying brings you nothing."
Shale gritted her teeth. "Because," she said slowly, "If we're not careful, we'll die."
"Then we die. Getting upset just makes your heart beat faster, and you know what that does…"
Shale blinked. "What?"
"Wastes your countdown."
Shale opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. Clenching her jaw, she strode forth and into the cave.
What Shale saw wasn't nearly what she had expected. Other from being littered with webbing, the inside of the cave was quite beautiful. The walls were created with smooth, carefully chiseled stone and decorated with paint and inscriptions in an ancient, forgotten language. Tiny spiders lived throughout the cave, with strange webs that held a glowing orb of magic at their center. Collectively, these webs kept the cave bright enough to see. No dirt or debris littered the floor, and statues of ancient men with swan's wings stood fifteen feet tall in rows down the length of the cave. This was a place of old and enormous power.
Shale and Lukado had walked down the long, curving passage for perhaps ten minutes, when suddenly the cave opened up dramatically, creating a large bowl-shaped cavern. At the far end, two enormous iron doors hung battered and broken on their hinges- each one at least three hundred feet tall. Shale sucked in her breath when she saw it.
"Lukado, it's incredible. You could sail a ship through those doors! I can't believe that no one's found this place before!"
When there was no answer, she looked back. Lukado was gone. Shale spat on the floor.
"So much for taking it easy…"
Shale turned to go back, and stopped in surprise. The passage leading in was gone! She searched the wall for magical runes or traps and found none. She pawed frantically for hidden levers, trap doors, anything at all…
Finally, without any other options, she faced the giant iron doors.
Beyond the doors, she saw a sight so powerful that she had to steady herself against the wall. An enormous cavern lay before her, lit brightly by the same spider webs she'd seen on the way in. It spanned for miles around, housing the ruins of an ancient crumbling city. Stone archways and pillars stood in decay among crippled stone houses and mansions.
Spanning the width of the city, anchored on walls, stalagmites and buildings, was a tremendous web. It was as beautiful as it was terrible, with powerful, corded threads creating an elaborate tapestry that took her breath away. Instead of the spiral or haphazardness of most webs, it was formed into an enormous latticework art form. Each piece of the web told a tale of history, mythical creatures, and wonder. Shale thought that, were she to look long enough, she might find the history of the world told in the pictures before her.
Then, something in the center of the web struck her heart: there, struggling helplessly, was a brilliant white winged horse. She strained her ears and heard its desperate, wild cries as it thrashed about in the web, three of its legs and both wings caught already. Its mouth foamed with its panic. Shale's eyes narrowed.
"It's not coming to take its prey. It knows I'm here."
Shale stepped back then, and looked around. With so many houses and crevices, even an enormous Kumo could easily hide, especially one as smart as this. Looking down, Shale saw that the floor was covered with a blanket of thin webs, probably laid to sense the vibration of feet as they traveled. No matter where she went, Shale knew, it would know.
With no other option, she stepped forward, walking down a stone staircase into the dead city. She decided to head to what looked like the city's center. She didn't know what she expected to find, but a sixth sense she'd come to depend on told her that she would find something there.
Every step she took pushed her nerves closer to the edge. Smaller spiders of all shapes and colors swarmed webs around her, bustling with activity. Grisly, withered prizes hung from nets all around her: fairies, enormous centipedes, gremlins, and the hulking, putrid body of an enormous python, which dangled like a pendulum, swaying back and forth. Shale's heart raced, and she remembered Lukado's words grimly.
"Tick tock," she muttered grimly to herself.
In time, her march of death ended, and she reached the center of the city. There, hanging in the center of the city, she saw a long, black, body swaying back and forth. It had the body of a spider, with an enormous black stinger and eight limp arms dangling down. In the center of its body sprouted the body of a man, shrunken and withered as everything else in this place. Its skin was sallow and leathery; one of its arms had been bent back and broken nearly entirely off. It was entirely naked, and its long, flaccid penis dangled dead and obscene from its body. Black blood covered the floor, dried in deep pools and soaked into the concrete. Its face was skeletal, with red eyes fixed in terror and peering at nothing.
It's dead! What had killed her target? Shale's stomach twisted, and she turned away.
As she turned, she came face to face with something that would become the apparition of her nightmares for the rest of her life. Towering over her was an enormous spider, at least twice the size of the one she'd just witnessed. This one gleamed like the body of a black widow, and out of it sprouted the lithe, beautiful body of a black haired woman. She had penetrating black eyes and long hair that gleamed in the light of the spider orbs around her. Her body was long and muscular, and her hands were cruelly shaped, with each finger ending in a black, vicious nail. Shale shook with fear and took a step back.
Looking down at her curiously, the woman's mouth spoke in her language. "What have you brought me today, child?" The creature's eyes held Shale, and she stood spellbound.
"I… I came to kill you."
Anger flashed across its face, but it was soon replaced by amusement. "Really… alone?"
"N… no, highness." Shale fought for control, but she couldn't stop talking. "Another came with me, but he abandoned me at the entrance."
The thing laughed then, a strident, powerful laugh that rang off the edges of the cave. "You believe that, do you? No, he did not leave you, Little One." Suddenly, one of her legs shot out, viper quick, and caught at nothing. There was a surprised cry, and Lukado appeared, desperately trying to pry loose the pincer that was clenched around his neck. The creature laughed again and raised another leg to club him.
Shale found that she could move, so she reached quickly for her pouch. She grabbed a small potion and threw it desperately at the creature's torso. It exploded on contact, tearing a large, bleeding hole in the creature's fleshy human chest. The creature let out a piercing wail and threw Lukado to the ground, stinging him once before turning to Shale. Lukado howled with pain and slumped to the earth. As the creature turned, Shale was ready. She threw another potion from her vial at one of its legs. The potion broke open, changing part of the creature's leg to stone. The creature wailed once more, attempting to charge at her and breaking its leg away in the process. Shielding her eyes, Shale threw a third potion into the ground. It burst in a brilliant light-- one that blinded the Kumo's dark eyes.
Shale used the moment to run to Lukado, who lay, pale and vomiting, on the ground.
"Drink this-- it will heal you." Shale said, thrusting a potion into his hand. Lukado took the potion and thrust his other hand past her head, shouting arcane words. A bolt of fire sprung from his hands into the Kumo, who had come up behind her. It cried out furiously and batted at Shale with one leg, delivering a glancing blow to her head.
Shale shook her head, thinking. It found me from my vibrations! Stupid!
Shale stood slowly, head spinning. The spider was upon her again, clubbing her in the stomach. Shale staggered backwards, collapsing into a section of web. Frantically, she reached into her pouch, grasping three potions and blindly throwing them in the spider's direction. One potion shattered harmlessly against its black body. The second exploded, releasing a detonating noise that shook the cavern. The third released a potent acid on its body, melting away its outer carapace. Ignoring the pain, the creature charged on, beating Shale with its front legs again. The woman's face on its body was twisted with fury and rage, screaming at her in a horrid human voice. Shale's body was flung back and forth with each blow, and she hung limply on the web.
Then Lukado was on his feet, shouting words in the language of magic. Bolts of magic flew from his fingers, lancing through the air to pummel the creature from behind. It turned to look at him, and Shale hefted her entire potion satchel, throwing it towards the Kumo with the last of her strength. Shale's vision went dark before the satchel landed. She heard an eruption from somewhere far away, and then everything left her.
* * *
When Shale awoke, she'd forgotten where she was for a moment. Then she saw the remains of the Kumo, and her memories raced back to her. She moved to stand, but she found herself still attached to the web, with cords that were far too strong to break on her own. Taking her knife, she sawed her clothing off and cut her long hair away from the web. Free of the web, she hobbled to Lukado and checked for a pulse. He was still alive. Pulling his cape away, she covered her body as best she could, hoisted him over her shoulders, and walked, painfully, out of the cavern.
On the way out, she stopped to cut free the stingers of the two Kumo-- proof that her job was completed.
* * *
"Share that wine with a battered old man, woman!" Lukado, with laughing eyes once more, was draped, naked, in her bed.
"Get it yourself, old man. You're no cripple." Shale sipped the wine and turned to the washbasin, washing her face.
Lukado laughed, standing up. "I think I liked you better when I was cripped."
"Well, things were different back then."
"And how is that, my lovely lady?"
"That was before I found out you were cheating me."
"Cheating? No, no, lovely lady. Being paid twice for the same job is merely good business. I never asked for money from you, I simply didn't refuse it when you offered." Lukado tried to kiss her hand, but she pulled it away.
"You were paid three times! Once by me, once by the man who hired you to kill the Kumo yourself, and then again for the eggs!"
"Ah, good business as well. Who would have known I could make so much selling the Kumo's eggs?"
Shale laughed. "Well, then, at the very least, I can be angry for you disappearing on me." Shale glare towards the bed at him, but was surprised to find he wasn't there.
Lukado came up behind her, folding his arms around her and pressing up against her. He chuckled at her startled gasp. "Well, one of us had to be the bait, no?"
"Lukado, I could have died!"
"Worry not, my lovely. We're not creatures that were born to worry. It's all just part of the countdown."
Shale gave in then, and turned to embrace him. Taking their glasses of wine, the slipped into bed. "You're impossible," Shale said, wrapping the sheet around her seductively and blowing out her candle. "Well, then grant me this. No more illusions for tonight."
Lukado grinned widely and downed his wine in one gulp. "Fair enough, my lovely. No more illusions."
He blew out the candle.
The water came finally. Without bothering to taste it, Shale waved her hand over the cup, sprinkling a pinch of powder and whispering an arcane word. The water shimmered as the magic purified it. Adding herbs, she wiped the edge of the cup with a cloth and drank slowly. Not so good as ale, she thought, but it would do.
Despite her misgivings, Shale had known that she would have taken this job even when times were not so lean. She remembered the burning young eyes of that haggard widow, and before she'd spoken, Shale had already accepted the mission in her heart.
"You're not from around here." Shale looked up, startled. Next to her sat a tall, thin man with dark hair and startling green eyes. A wry grin flashed across his face as she looked over, as if he already knew that she wasn't used to being taken off guard.
"What makes you say that?" Shale hit him with her fiercest, most piercing look, but it just made his grin widen and his eyes twinkle.
"Because," he said, glancing around the room significantly, "you struck me as pleasantly out of place here."
Shale's eyes wandered down to his open white tunic, billowy black trousers, and merlot traveler's cloak with an acquiescent grin. "I'd hardly say that you blend in yourself, sir."
"Not when I don't want to," he said with a laugh, and leaned back in his chair. He suddenly grew serious, and looked hard at her. "What's brought you here?"
Suddenly suspicious, Shale fixed him with a long, studying gaze. "Work. The caves."
His smile returned again instantly, and he waved for new drinks. "Ah,then you're here to kill the Kumo. You're going to need some help. Lucky for you I just happen to be here looking for work myself."
Her head tilted with ire. Suddenly, the point of this little chat was becoming clear. "And what makes you think you'd be of any help?"
The bartender arrived almost immediately, carrying two cups of a wine that was well beyond anything she'd received earlier. Surprised, Shale picked up the cup, but he took it from her hand. "Because," he said, as a white cloth materialized in his hand, "I too am much more than I seem." He wiped the rim of the glass and set it down. As he did, he took her hand, kissing it and looking into her eyes. "Lukado Luminesti."
She let her hand linger. "Shale Kistal."
* * *
Clean, sweet-smelling sheets. After all these weeks, Shale couldn't believe it. She rolled on her back, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed. This was the first peace she'd felt since she'd left on this job. After a moment, she felt Lukado's wandering hands dancing on her skin, sending electric jolts of arousal and pleasure through her. She laughed spontaneously.
"You're full of surprises, you know that?" Lukado chuckled and rolled over to her, but she held him back, reluctantly, with one arm. "No, really, it wasn't natural. I could feel everything you felt. What did you do?"
Lukado nestled forward again, kissing her neck and sidling up to her. His hand wandered once more, and she nestled back to enjoy the sensations with a pleasurable groan. Lukado chuckled into her hair at this and lifted his head to look into her face. His eyes were bright with mischief as he shifted once more, causing her to gasp with pleasure. "You like it?"
Her eyes mirrored his good mood as she understood. "It's magic."
Lukado smiled. "In the flesh."
* * *
Long, lazy beams of morning sunlight stretched forth to touch their faces, waking them slowly with their caress. Shale woke and crawled forth, resting her head on Lukado's chest. Lukado slid his hand down her side, resting it on her hip. Shale closed her eyes and hummed happily to herself.
"Are you happy, lovely one?"
"I'm listening to your heart."
"You mean my countdown."
Shale turned her face to his and gave a questioning look.
"You see it as a heartbeat. Like I'm still going forward so long as my heart beats. But I see it as a countdown. I start with so many heartbeats, and I'm counting down to the end."
"Well, sure, that's true, but what a horrible way to see it!"
Lukado gave her that smile once again. "Not at all. It just helps me remember that each heartbeat is too valuable to waste."
"Lukado…"
"Yes?"
"I can't pay you well for your help. I'm hardly being paid for this myself."
A pause. "Hmm… business. Well, It's feeling pretty warm in here."
"Warm?"
"Yes… I'm thinking… seventy?"
Understanding suddenly, Shale laughed again. "Oh, no, definitely not. I'm feeling much colder. Maybe… twenty?"
"Now that's just silly. It's at least sixty."
"Lukado, it 's my job! I worked to get this! And I've been stalking this thing for weeks. You can have thirty."
"Fifty."
"Forty"
"Forty five."
Shale's heart sank. She'd be losing money on this one, but she knew she needed help. "Fine."
"Plus a little something on the side," Lukado said, rolling over to her once again with a grin. She smacked him in the face with a pillow.
* * *
The light of day could do nothing to cheer the cave's entrance that stood before them. The mouth of the cave was enshrouded in a malodorous fog , which seeped outwards to the battered foliage surrounding the cave's mouth. Drops of poison had burned the ground around the entrance, and poisoned remains of victims lay about the area. The entrance itself was tremendously large- bigger than a house. Much of it was covered in tattered webbing, which had helped to conceal the cave's size by collecting leaves and other debris. Standing before this, Shale couldn't help but shudder.
"Lukado, you do know what we're getting in to here, right?"
Lukado looked away, distracted. "Yeah, something about a big spider we're squashing."
Shale narrowed her eyes. "Lukado, this is more than just a big spider. I was tracking a Kumo to its lair. We need to be extremely careful if we're going to come out alive."
Lukado was unimpressed. "Why worry? Worrying brings you nothing."
Shale gritted her teeth. "Because," she said slowly, "If we're not careful, we'll die."
"Then we die. Getting upset just makes your heart beat faster, and you know what that does…"
Shale blinked. "What?"
"Wastes your countdown."
Shale opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. Clenching her jaw, she strode forth and into the cave.
What Shale saw wasn't nearly what she had expected. Other from being littered with webbing, the inside of the cave was quite beautiful. The walls were created with smooth, carefully chiseled stone and decorated with paint and inscriptions in an ancient, forgotten language. Tiny spiders lived throughout the cave, with strange webs that held a glowing orb of magic at their center. Collectively, these webs kept the cave bright enough to see. No dirt or debris littered the floor, and statues of ancient men with swan's wings stood fifteen feet tall in rows down the length of the cave. This was a place of old and enormous power.
Shale and Lukado had walked down the long, curving passage for perhaps ten minutes, when suddenly the cave opened up dramatically, creating a large bowl-shaped cavern. At the far end, two enormous iron doors hung battered and broken on their hinges- each one at least three hundred feet tall. Shale sucked in her breath when she saw it.
"Lukado, it's incredible. You could sail a ship through those doors! I can't believe that no one's found this place before!"
When there was no answer, she looked back. Lukado was gone. Shale spat on the floor.
"So much for taking it easy…"
Shale turned to go back, and stopped in surprise. The passage leading in was gone! She searched the wall for magical runes or traps and found none. She pawed frantically for hidden levers, trap doors, anything at all…
Finally, without any other options, she faced the giant iron doors.
Beyond the doors, she saw a sight so powerful that she had to steady herself against the wall. An enormous cavern lay before her, lit brightly by the same spider webs she'd seen on the way in. It spanned for miles around, housing the ruins of an ancient crumbling city. Stone archways and pillars stood in decay among crippled stone houses and mansions.
Spanning the width of the city, anchored on walls, stalagmites and buildings, was a tremendous web. It was as beautiful as it was terrible, with powerful, corded threads creating an elaborate tapestry that took her breath away. Instead of the spiral or haphazardness of most webs, it was formed into an enormous latticework art form. Each piece of the web told a tale of history, mythical creatures, and wonder. Shale thought that, were she to look long enough, she might find the history of the world told in the pictures before her.
Then, something in the center of the web struck her heart: there, struggling helplessly, was a brilliant white winged horse. She strained her ears and heard its desperate, wild cries as it thrashed about in the web, three of its legs and both wings caught already. Its mouth foamed with its panic. Shale's eyes narrowed.
"It's not coming to take its prey. It knows I'm here."
Shale stepped back then, and looked around. With so many houses and crevices, even an enormous Kumo could easily hide, especially one as smart as this. Looking down, Shale saw that the floor was covered with a blanket of thin webs, probably laid to sense the vibration of feet as they traveled. No matter where she went, Shale knew, it would know.
With no other option, she stepped forward, walking down a stone staircase into the dead city. She decided to head to what looked like the city's center. She didn't know what she expected to find, but a sixth sense she'd come to depend on told her that she would find something there.
Every step she took pushed her nerves closer to the edge. Smaller spiders of all shapes and colors swarmed webs around her, bustling with activity. Grisly, withered prizes hung from nets all around her: fairies, enormous centipedes, gremlins, and the hulking, putrid body of an enormous python, which dangled like a pendulum, swaying back and forth. Shale's heart raced, and she remembered Lukado's words grimly.
"Tick tock," she muttered grimly to herself.
In time, her march of death ended, and she reached the center of the city. There, hanging in the center of the city, she saw a long, black, body swaying back and forth. It had the body of a spider, with an enormous black stinger and eight limp arms dangling down. In the center of its body sprouted the body of a man, shrunken and withered as everything else in this place. Its skin was sallow and leathery; one of its arms had been bent back and broken nearly entirely off. It was entirely naked, and its long, flaccid penis dangled dead and obscene from its body. Black blood covered the floor, dried in deep pools and soaked into the concrete. Its face was skeletal, with red eyes fixed in terror and peering at nothing.
It's dead! What had killed her target? Shale's stomach twisted, and she turned away.
As she turned, she came face to face with something that would become the apparition of her nightmares for the rest of her life. Towering over her was an enormous spider, at least twice the size of the one she'd just witnessed. This one gleamed like the body of a black widow, and out of it sprouted the lithe, beautiful body of a black haired woman. She had penetrating black eyes and long hair that gleamed in the light of the spider orbs around her. Her body was long and muscular, and her hands were cruelly shaped, with each finger ending in a black, vicious nail. Shale shook with fear and took a step back.
Looking down at her curiously, the woman's mouth spoke in her language. "What have you brought me today, child?" The creature's eyes held Shale, and she stood spellbound.
"I… I came to kill you."
Anger flashed across its face, but it was soon replaced by amusement. "Really… alone?"
"N… no, highness." Shale fought for control, but she couldn't stop talking. "Another came with me, but he abandoned me at the entrance."
The thing laughed then, a strident, powerful laugh that rang off the edges of the cave. "You believe that, do you? No, he did not leave you, Little One." Suddenly, one of her legs shot out, viper quick, and caught at nothing. There was a surprised cry, and Lukado appeared, desperately trying to pry loose the pincer that was clenched around his neck. The creature laughed again and raised another leg to club him.
Shale found that she could move, so she reached quickly for her pouch. She grabbed a small potion and threw it desperately at the creature's torso. It exploded on contact, tearing a large, bleeding hole in the creature's fleshy human chest. The creature let out a piercing wail and threw Lukado to the ground, stinging him once before turning to Shale. Lukado howled with pain and slumped to the earth. As the creature turned, Shale was ready. She threw another potion from her vial at one of its legs. The potion broke open, changing part of the creature's leg to stone. The creature wailed once more, attempting to charge at her and breaking its leg away in the process. Shielding her eyes, Shale threw a third potion into the ground. It burst in a brilliant light-- one that blinded the Kumo's dark eyes.
Shale used the moment to run to Lukado, who lay, pale and vomiting, on the ground.
"Drink this-- it will heal you." Shale said, thrusting a potion into his hand. Lukado took the potion and thrust his other hand past her head, shouting arcane words. A bolt of fire sprung from his hands into the Kumo, who had come up behind her. It cried out furiously and batted at Shale with one leg, delivering a glancing blow to her head.
Shale shook her head, thinking. It found me from my vibrations! Stupid!
Shale stood slowly, head spinning. The spider was upon her again, clubbing her in the stomach. Shale staggered backwards, collapsing into a section of web. Frantically, she reached into her pouch, grasping three potions and blindly throwing them in the spider's direction. One potion shattered harmlessly against its black body. The second exploded, releasing a detonating noise that shook the cavern. The third released a potent acid on its body, melting away its outer carapace. Ignoring the pain, the creature charged on, beating Shale with its front legs again. The woman's face on its body was twisted with fury and rage, screaming at her in a horrid human voice. Shale's body was flung back and forth with each blow, and she hung limply on the web.
Then Lukado was on his feet, shouting words in the language of magic. Bolts of magic flew from his fingers, lancing through the air to pummel the creature from behind. It turned to look at him, and Shale hefted her entire potion satchel, throwing it towards the Kumo with the last of her strength. Shale's vision went dark before the satchel landed. She heard an eruption from somewhere far away, and then everything left her.
* * *
When Shale awoke, she'd forgotten where she was for a moment. Then she saw the remains of the Kumo, and her memories raced back to her. She moved to stand, but she found herself still attached to the web, with cords that were far too strong to break on her own. Taking her knife, she sawed her clothing off and cut her long hair away from the web. Free of the web, she hobbled to Lukado and checked for a pulse. He was still alive. Pulling his cape away, she covered her body as best she could, hoisted him over her shoulders, and walked, painfully, out of the cavern.
On the way out, she stopped to cut free the stingers of the two Kumo-- proof that her job was completed.
* * *
"Share that wine with a battered old man, woman!" Lukado, with laughing eyes once more, was draped, naked, in her bed.
"Get it yourself, old man. You're no cripple." Shale sipped the wine and turned to the washbasin, washing her face.
Lukado laughed, standing up. "I think I liked you better when I was cripped."
"Well, things were different back then."
"And how is that, my lovely lady?"
"That was before I found out you were cheating me."
"Cheating? No, no, lovely lady. Being paid twice for the same job is merely good business. I never asked for money from you, I simply didn't refuse it when you offered." Lukado tried to kiss her hand, but she pulled it away.
"You were paid three times! Once by me, once by the man who hired you to kill the Kumo yourself, and then again for the eggs!"
"Ah, good business as well. Who would have known I could make so much selling the Kumo's eggs?"
Shale laughed. "Well, then, at the very least, I can be angry for you disappearing on me." Shale glare towards the bed at him, but was surprised to find he wasn't there.
Lukado came up behind her, folding his arms around her and pressing up against her. He chuckled at her startled gasp. "Well, one of us had to be the bait, no?"
"Lukado, I could have died!"
"Worry not, my lovely. We're not creatures that were born to worry. It's all just part of the countdown."
Shale gave in then, and turned to embrace him. Taking their glasses of wine, the slipped into bed. "You're impossible," Shale said, wrapping the sheet around her seductively and blowing out her candle. "Well, then grant me this. No more illusions for tonight."
Lukado grinned widely and downed his wine in one gulp. "Fair enough, my lovely. No more illusions."
He blew out the candle.