"I told you. Didn't I tell you? We'd be taking the stupid western road." Triss complained.

  “Can we gag her? I feel like that would make this trip far more tolerable.” Naiela said from behind her. Triss turned her head to stick her tongue out, but halfway through a thick spiderweb caught across the side of her face.

  “EW EW EW!” She shrieked, wiping the thick, sticky webs off her face with her sleeve. She took a deep, calming breath. “Reginald, you need to carry a stick over your head. That way you can get these gross webs before I run into them!” She whined.

  “Baby.” Naiela said.

  “Fuck you. You want to switch places? Then you can keep getting a face full of spider webs.”

  “I swear, if you two keep it up I’m going to gag the both of you!” Reginald spun around, anger blazing in his eyes. He stared at them both for a long moment, as though daring either to speak. Finally he nodded, more to himself than to them, and turned and began striding back down the tunnel.

  Aleen had floated a large stone out of the back of his fireplace to reveal steps chiseled into the rock leading down into darkness. He’d promised to have their horses delivered in a few days, and then begged them to visit again on their way home. Triss had hugged him and promised she would. She was shocked when Naiela hugged the old man as well. Then she glared at Triss as though daring her to say something. Then they had descended the stairs into an ancient tunnel, the ceiling dripping with brownish water and filled completely with spiderwebs. The smell of musty cold earth and ancient fungus filled the air, and it reminded Triss of the smell from her grandfather’s funeral. It had been a cold, rainy November day, and the pile of dirt next to the deep hole had smelled a little like this tunnel.

  Triss held her light orb up in front of her now, trying to see if anymore cobwebs were coming. She couldn’t see far past Reginald, his own orb floating just over his shoulder. Only about ten feet of earthen tunnel was visible. “How much further?” Triss asked.

  Reginald’s shoulders slumped at the question. He took a deep breath and sighed before responding. “Are you going to ask that the whole way?”

  “I only asked it once before.”

  “And my answer will always be the same. We’ll be at the end when we get there.”

  “I can cut a strip off my robe if you need a gag.” Naiela added.

  “You know what? I think you need a gag!” Triss shot back.

  “Try it. I dare you. Try it.”

  “Shhh.” Reginald whispered, holding a finger up. He slowed his pace, turning his head to hear better.

  “What is it?” Triss whispered.

  “I don’t know. Just…just keep it down, ok?” He whispered back.

  They travelled down the tunnel in silence for several long, agonizing minutes. “Do you still hear it?” Triss whispered.

  “I just did again. Shhhh.” Reginald picked up the pace slightly and Triss quickly matched him.

  “What did it sound like?” Triss hissed a few minutes later.

  “Like an apprentice that makes too much noise.” Reginald replied, shooting her a quick grin.

  Triss scowled back at him. “You know, you think you’re funny, but you’re not.”

  “I thought it was funny.” Naiela said.

  “No one cares what you think.” Triss snapped.

  “Shhhh. There it is again.” Reginald said in a low voice.

  “Not funny.”

  “Not joking. I do hear something ahead. Keep it down.” Reginald dimmed his orb and then changed it’s colour to a deep ominous red. “Lights off. Follow me.”

  “What else am I going to do? Run ahead?” Triss muttered. She dismissed her light spell, and the tunnel was plunged into dim crimson. They walked for another five minutes, and Triss was just about to summon her light orb spell again when Reginald suddenly stopped. She barely managed to avoid runnning into his back. Naiela obviously wasn’t paying as close attention, and she collided into Triss’s back, sending her into Reginald.

  “Watch it!” He hissed.

  “I didn’t do it!” She replied angrily. “Naiela ran into me!”

  “You stopped!”

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “Enough!” Reginald’s voice rang out. He slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes going wide. For a second nobody moved. Then a whispering shuffling noise sounded ahead in the tunnel. Slowly the sound grew louder, shuffling and clicking. “Shit.” Reginald said, turning to face the sound. Dry rustling clicks echoed up and down the tunnel, growing closer and closer. The smell in the tunnel began to change, a sickly sweet rotten smell rising until it was almost unbearable. Triss pulled her wand out and covered her nose with her sleeve, heart thumping wildly in her ears. Her breathing quickened, and she heard the same from Naiela. Suddenly the sound stopped. The tunnel was perfectly silent except for the breathing of the three travellers. Reginald slowly lifted his hand, sending his orb a few feet forward. Then he twisted his hand, and the light turned a brilliant white, banishing the shadows and revealing…nothing. The tunnel was completely empty ahead. Triss was beginning to relax, when she saw it. A half dozen tiny points of light sitting in the air just beyond the orb’s glow.

  Run! Grounth shouted in her head. Triss took a step back, bumping into Naiela. What was that? She stared at the tiny lights. They reminded her of something. Run you blasted idiot!

  “I think we should back up.” Triss whispered, staring at the lights. Then they moved, just a little bit, just a step closer. Thats when it hit her.

  Those weren’t lights. Those were reflections. The light was reflecting off a set of eyes. “Run!” Reginald screamed, lifting his wand and aiming it down the tunnel. Triss began scrambling backwards, wand pointed down the tunnel over Reginald’s head. Naiela wasn’t also moving, and Triss’s progress wasn’t hampered this time. Sharp clicking noises filled the tunnel as the creature came into the light.

  A long, chitinous leg, black and covered with thin red hairs stepped smoothly into the pool of light. Triss saw at least five joints on the leg, and two were hinged the opposite way. Her stomach roiled at the sight, but it instantly got worse as the creature continued forward. At least four more unearthly legs came, then a head on a long, sinuous neck. The head of the creature looked like a strange cross between a dragon and a spider, with a long snout, eight black eyes, and sharp white teeth that dripped an oily green substance. As the light revealed more of its disturbing body, Triss realized that a cross between a spider and drag one was the best way to describe it. It had a bulbous abdomen like a spider, at least ten legs, and its neck and upper body were covered in shiny black scales. It nearly filled the eight foot tall tunnel. “What the fuck is that?”

  “Chtonarach!” Naiela screamed.

  At her word the creature leapt forward, covering the twenty feet between them in a heartbeat. It lashed out at Reginald with black legs that skittered across a blue energy shield that appeared at the last second. Triss aimed her wand at the eyes and cast firestarter, hoping there was something flammable there. A blue spark flew over her head, striking the chtonarach in the mouth. The spark exploded in a shower of tiny blue lights, and the monster shook its head. Then it snapped it’s jaws in the air and lashed out again at Reginald with a leg. The same thing happened, the leg skittering across Reginald’s energy shield. Triss wasn’t idle, preparing her fireworks spell. The red light flew into the creature’s eyes and exploded in a shower of glittering sparks. “Yes!” She shouted, pumping her fist.

  Then she realized the creature hadn’t been injured. Instead, it was looking past Reginald, staring directly at her. “Oh shit.” The creature moved impossibly fast, leaping over Reginald and right at her. She threw her hands up as the creature’s head lunged forward, its open maw heading straight for her head.

  It closed onto a blue energy shield, teeth sparking with little electric currents and green liquid running down the gentle curve of the shield to drop on the floor. It hissed as it struck the tunnel floor. Reginald screamed in pain. Triss looked and saw one of the creature’s back legs had landed on him, stabbing right through his leg. The creature was rearing back for another strike at her, and she jumped back to try and avoid it.

  An arcing blast of lightning shot past her, slamming into the chtonarach’s chest. It reared back, a horrifying high pitched scream emanating from it. The smell of ozone and burnt hair filled the tunnel. Triss continued scrambling back as the creature’s legs slammed into the tunnel. It shook its head, then focused again on Triss. “Kill it!” She screamed, levelling her wand at it. What could she do? She only knew three spells by heart. She’d learned plenty, but all the others she needed to look up first! She cast her soap spell anyways, covering the creature in foamy suds. It paused, hissing and snapping at the bubbles coving it’s body.

  “Good, at least we’ll be killed by a clean monster!” Naiela screamed. She thrust her hands forward and another bolt of lightning struck the creature. It screamed that unnerving high pitched scream again, then started rushing at it’s attacker. Triss fell backwards as she tried to get away, landing on her back in the center of the dirty tunnel. She scrabbled backwards in the dirt as the creature reared above her.

  Then it screamed, higher and louder than before. Triss kept going backwards until she was out of it’s deadly shadow. It was still rearing up in the air, four front legs thrashing wildly at the air. Its head waved back and forth as it screamed, occasionally slamming against the tunnel walls and causing small cascades of loose dirt to shower over its body. The screaming sound slowly faded, and the chtonarach collapsed to the tunnel floor. On the other side of the dead monster, Reginald stood with a grim look on his face. A purple rod of energy stuck out the front of his wand, piercing the creature’s abdomen from behind. “Come to this side.” He said calmly. Triss just looked at him, a stunned expression on her face. “Come on now. It’s safe, but it won’t be safe to come once I dismiss this spell.”

  Triss stood and slowly inched her way past the creature’s corpse, hugging her back against the wall to stay as far away as she could. Naiela followed the same way, a look of fear and disgust on her face. As soon as they were past, Reginald dismissed the spell. The purple rod disappeared, and a gout of greenish fluid poured out of the hole in the chtonarach, hissing and smoking as it hit the dirt floor. “Don’t touch that.” Reginald said, pointing at the liquid.

  “Really? I was thinking it would be a good exfoliating cream.” Triss replied sarcastically.

  Reginald chuckled, and the familiar sound eased Triss’s heart. “I expect it would make an excellent exfoliator. Maybe too good.”

  “You’re both insane.” Naiela said. They both turned to look at her, and Triss was surprised to see she had a grin plastered on her face. “It’s a hair removal cream.”

  Laughter filled the tunnel, and Triss nearly doubled over from the relief of being alive. When they finally settled down, she looked at Reginald. “So. Are we there yet?"