Too late for that.
From out of the gloom there’s a sudden screech, made infinitely more terrifying by the way it echoes against the slick, curved walls of the cave. Like nails on steel, the skittering of dozens of legs follows the inhuman howling, clattering closer with each heartbeat that thunders through Jaylie’s chest.
“Fuck fuckfuck,get ready!” she warns.
The light between her palms spreads in a gentle circle around them. She sees the beady eyes first, then the oily shine of fangs, and lastly the furred, spiny bodies with far too many legs attached.
Of course it had to be spiders.
Of course it had to begiantfucking spiders.
Which makes it all the more astonishing when Jaylie and her companions cut through their ranks like knives through butter.
Surprisingly Loren steps forward first, lute held before him. With a strum of his strings, tongues of fire leap from the bowl ofthe instrument and set each creature aflame. Morgana sinks her knives into several pairs of eyes, popping them like wet black bubbles. Kain follows soon after, and one swing of his axe is enough to take off at least six waving legs. With Kain crouched in a defensive stance, Jaylie focuses a preemptive healing spell on him, forming a shield of pink light.
But he never needs it.
In less than a minute the spiders are sprawled dead in a semicircle around them, limbs and eyes and legs scattered in puddles of black and orange goo. Quickly Jaylie scans her companions for any sign of injury, but no one has been touched.
“Damn, maybe we’re actually good at this.” Even spoken in a breathless whisper, Morgana’s words are easy to hear in the stunned silence that follows the slaughter. Jaylie lets out a relieved laugh.
“Hellyeah,we are,” Loren boasts.
And as they delve deeper into the cave, it only gets easier.
Kain carves through hordes of spiders while Loren plays a purposefully misleading tune that causes a group of reptilian kobolds to distractedly turn down a side tunnel, avoiding confrontation with them entirely. All the while Jaylie consults the map she hastily drew using Alastair’s descriptions of the cave system, directing the party closer and closer to their goal.
With only a few tunnels left between them and the crystal, the caves grow quieter. Pressure builds in Jaylie’s ears, and her breaths become quick and shallow regardless of how hard she tries to keep them even and slow.
“We’ve already traveled a great deal,” she says eventually, sighing and slowing to a halt.
Loren and the others continue ahead before they realize that the sphere of light from her spell has stopped along with her, no longer illuminating the way forward.
“Perhaps we should stop for a while,” Jaylie suggests. “Take a rest.”
Kain frowns. “You want to quit already? Are you losing your nerve?”
Loren frowns at his tone and turns to Jaylie. “Are your spell reserves low?”
Jaylie tugs lightly at her holy symbol, twisting it between her fingers. She can perform only so many feats of magic per day, and although the path has been easy on them so far, she’s not sure how much more she can manage. “Not completely, but if things go badly, we’ll be in trouble.”
“But this has been a walk in the park. If we stop now, we risk giving whatever shit crawls these tunnels a chance to regroup and attack again,” Kain says, crossing his arms over his broad chest.
That seems to put Morgana on edge; she casts a wary glance over her shoulder. Loren regards Jaylie with his brows drawn low over serious green eyes. “I think it’s up to our lovely priestess. She’s the one keeping us all alive.” He raises his voice and turns to the rest of the group with his hands on his hips. When Jaylie doesn’t move, Morgana winces, and Kain audibly groans as he rolls his black gaze to the ceiling, which is thick with dripping stalactites.
Frustrated, Jaylie shakes her head, causing the gold coin charms woven into her braids to tinkle gently. “It’s fine. We can continue.” She tightens her grip on the holy symbol. “Just don’t get too hurt, all right?”
Please, my Lady, watch over us. We’re nearly there.
Loren studies her for a moment, but his mouth twists toward a frown as his gaze slides past her to take in their ugly surroundings. He’s eager to leave this place, too. “We’ll make quick work of it, then. I’ve also got a few healing spells up my sleeve, just in case.”
The light from Jaylie’s spell catches on one of Kain’s fangs as he grins. “Let’s fuck ’em up.”
They continue forward, and although Jaylie’s steps are slower than before, she follows. Eventually they arrive at a narrow passageway in the wall at the end of the cave, just barely tall enoughto accommodate Kain’s height—horns and all. Its walls are covered in a blood-red moss, and the water running in rivulets down its surface makes it look like an open wound. Jaylie wrinkles her nose delicately.
“This is where the crystal should be,” she says.
“One at a time, then,” Kain grunts.
