She beckoned frantically to the others to join her. Ruan and Suveer were last, fighting a rearguard action to keep from being bitten. Bitten more, Aderyn amended; their clothes bore small tears in places, and the cast of their dark skin was greenish as if they were poisoned.

  “All right, let’s back up some more,” she said when they were all together. “We need to find the narrowest spot⁠—”

  “Aderyn, they’re leaving,” Owen said.

  Aderyn stopped going farther down the new passageway and looked over her shoulder. Then she turned around entirely. The flood of white skitterlings had become a barely-moving tide, as creature after creature backed away from their group.

  “They must be smart enough to know we have the upper hand now,” Livia said.

  Aderyn shook her head. “No. Vermin can’t reason that way. They act on instinct.” She looked around again. The passage where they stood was completely free of webbing. “They never come here. They never come here because⁠—”

  Livia held up her hand for silence. “Something’s approaching. I feel it in the stone.”

  Something moved farther down the passage, out of range of Livia’s lights. Something big.

  “They never come here,” Aderyn finished, “because there’s something here that scares them.”

  The sound of hissing filled the air, not a snake’s hiss or the hiss of air escaping a bladder but the hiss of something breathing out, long and low. An enormous black shape emerged from the darkness. Eight monstrous multijointed legs, longer than Weston was tall, that terminated in sharp pointed claws supported a bulging black abdomen, shiny and streaked with red. A dozen lidless black eyes that shone like oil focused on the humans cowering below. Mandibles clashed, dripping a viscous, clear substance that stank of decay.

  The giant spider paused in front of them, its terrifying eyes as focused as if it was capable of Assessing. It worked its mandibles again, once, twice. It hissed again, and pounced.

  Everyone scattered. The spider landed where Aderyn had been, hissing and dribbling gouts of stinking saliva that spattered the stone and intensified the stink. Aderyn hadn’t needed [See It Coming] to know to get out of the way. She pressed her back to the wall and Assessed the monster.

  Name: Darkshroud

  Type: Abomination

  Power level: 20

  Terrain: subterranean

  Attack(s): claw x4, bite, stinger, special

  Immune to: poison, acid, [Outflank]

  Resistant to: mind control magic and effects, bludgeoning weapon damage

  Vulnerable to: none

  Special: venom, acid, shadowstep

  Run, Aderyn. Run now.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  “Run!” Aderyn screamed. “Follow me!”

  She scrambled away from the wall seconds before a sharp-clawed limb struck where she’d been, sending up a spray of sparks and chips of stone. Darkshroud hissed and darted after Aderyn, forcing her to sidle along more slowly than she wanted. She didn’t dare turn her back on the spider and lose the advantage of [See It Coming].

  She heard the others scattering, and the thuds of weapons striking the skitterlings’ bodies. She wanted to scream with frustration at how the small monsters were probably going to get her friends killed by Darkshroud. The spider aimed another spear of a limb at Aderyn, and in the moment after it missed, she took a quick look around. Ruan was fighting skitterlings with Suveer providing distractions. Livia and Weston were back to back, protecting Isold, who laid about with the . And Owen was making his way around behind Darkshroud, trying to [Outflank] the creature.

  Aderyn held back another scream. They couldn’t fight this thing! But [Read Body Language] told Aderyn as clearly as if he’d announced it that Owen was terrified and was dealing with his fear the only way he knew how, by attacking the source. She couldn’t communicate the need to flee without drawing Darkshroud’s attention to her husband. So she stopped backing away and deflected the next strike with her sword.

  She’d never been so grateful for [See It Coming]. Though this was the fastest thing she’d ever had to defend against, she knocked every blow aside and had enough time for [Discern Weakness]. The swollen abdomen shone red, warning of its resistance to attacks, and tiny blue specks shone at every joint of the terrible legs. Her arms were tiring from how rapidly she had to react, but she told herself this wasn’t impossible.

  “Aderyn!” Owen shouted. “[Outflank] isn’t working!”

  Aderyn silently cursed herself for forgetting to communicate what she’d read in the Assessment. She met the spider’s many inhuman eyes, black and glistening like a dozen tiny oil slicks and malevolent as nothing else she’d ever seen. She slapped aside another blow, and let out a pained cry when the second followed the first too quickly and cut a gash in her thigh, just below the bottom of her mail shirt. “Owen, we can’t fight this!”

  Darkshroud hissed again and reared up, raising four black legs high in the air. Desperate and in pain, Aderyn bolted for the exit, staggered on her wounded leg, and fell to her knees. She rolled onto her back for what protection that would give. She wasn’t going to die without facing her enemy.

  Then Owen was there, putting himself between her and the spider. Darkshroud reared back again, this time apparently unsettled by the glowing . It took a few steps backward, into the darkness. Then it vanished.

  Owen didn’t lower his sword. “Are you okay?”

  “Just a minor wound. Where did the spider go?”

  “I don’t know. I think it retreated.”

  “It disappeared, Owen.” Terror shot through Aderyn’s veins. “It’s invisible!”

  “Wouldn’t you see through that, with [Truesight]?” Owen backed up and then gave Aderyn a hand up. “Or at least know something was wrong?”

  “That’s right.” Aderyn turned around. There weren’t many skitterlings left. Most had fled, though a few crushed white bodies blended with the webbing. The others gathered around, and Isold exclaimed over Aderyn’s leg and drew out the .

  “The big spider is gone,” Owen said. Aderyn knew she was the only one who heard the tremor in his voice. “But it’s not dead, and I’m sure it hasn’t given up on killing us. We need to be especially careful. Aderyn, which way now?”

  The orb’s weight steadied Aderyn’s hands, which were shaking with the aftermath of fear and adrenalin. “That way.” Despite her conviction that Darkshroud wasn’t in its cavern anymore, she was just as happy the directed her away from it, down the one clear passage.

  She moved slowly, with Weston beside her, her skin crawling at every echo, every distant sound. The new passage was darker than the others thanks to being free of skitterling webs, and Aderyn was about to suggest Livia create more orbs of light when the back of her neck tingled with [Sense Ambush]. She stopped and grabbed Weston’s arm. “Something’s about to attack us.”

  Weston nodded. “There’s not much we can do to avoid it. Prepare to attack?”

  “Let’s see what’s up there,” Aderyn agreed.

  She took another step. The swollen black shape of Darkshroud lunged at her, its mandibles clashing.

  Weston shoved Aderyn out of the way and raised his rapier, but it was too late—the spider’s mandibles closed on his shoulder. Weston screamed. Aderyn recovered her balance and chased Darkshroud as it dragged Weston backward.

  “I don’t care if we can’t fight it! I need to know more, now!” she shrieked, and Assessed the spider again.

  She skimmed past the information about the creature’s attacks and devoured the new text appearing below.

  If you’re going to persist in fighting this creature, I’ll give you what help I can. What you’ve likely already noticed is that Darkshroud’s shadowstep ability lets her teleport, short-range, between areas of darkness. Deprive her of those, and she’s not so maneuverable.

  Darkshroud’s many eyes means [Outflank] will give you no advantage, but [See It Coming] is faster than her clawed legs. Remember the vulnerable spots revealed by [Discern Weakness]. Depriving Darkshroud of some of her attacks will make a huge difference.

  Darkshroud’s bite is laced with acidic saliva, which is strong enough to melt stone—oh, you noticed that? I’m glad you don’t depend solely on my advice. Here’s something you’d better not ignore: Do not get hit by that stinger. In addition to doing physical damage, it injects a poison that rots your body from the inside, liquefying it so Darkshroud can sip your remains at her leisure. Are you scared yet? Fear is a powerful motivator if you master it, and I believe you have.

  The knowledge that as long as the light following her kept the darkness from being complete, Darkshroud couldn’t shadowstep away with Weston, gave Aderyn fresh speed. Pounding footsteps coming up behind her sounded like Livia had discovered motivation to run. “Livia, we need sunburst now!”

  The welcome sound of nonsense words were followed by a burst of light so brilliant Aderyn involuntarily closed her eyes. Darkshroud hissed again, and this time it sounded furious. The spider stopped moving. Its mandibles closed harder on Weston’s shoulder, and he screamed again, this time weakly, as thick saliva coursed over his upper body.

  Ruan ran past, shouting and wielding his greatsword, with Suveer hurrying close behind. “Don’t bother with [Outflank], Ruan, it’s immune! Everyone, listen up—if we can cut off some of those leg joints, we stand a chance against it. The bite is acidic, the stinger is powerful poison, but keep the creature out of the dark places and maybe we won’t all die!”

  As stirring speeches went, that one wouldn’t go down in history, but with Weston still in Darkshroud’s grip, it was all Aderyn could manage.

  She followed Owen and Ruan. Ruan had switched to attacking the leg joints, but he wasn’t making much progress. She left him to it and hurried to free Weston, but Livia beat her there. The Earthbreaker wound up and punched Darkshroud in the middle of its small, many-eyed head. Two of its lidless eyes popped like blisters, and Darkshroud shrieked, a thin but penetrating sound. It dropped Weston and backed away, hissing.

  “That’s right, I’m coming for you,” Livia growled. She punched again, but Darkshroud dodged the blow. Then it leaped over the four of them, nearly taking Ruan’s sword with it, and landed near Isold. Isold reacted by taking a step back and holding a hand up, palm first. In a calm voice that resonated with compelling harmonics, he said, “Sit.”

  Giant spiders aren’t made for sitting. This one tried anyway.

  Isold dodged the tangle of limbs and ran for Weston, pulling out the . “Take its legs while it’s down!” he shouted.

  Ruan slammed the against one leg like sectioning a chicken. “Hah!” he exclaimed as the joint neatly severed, and Darkshroud shuddered. “I can do that all day!”

  Owen aimed for another leg joint, against which the looked impressively brilliant. The leg snapped. Owen darted backward. “It’s getting up! Watch out!”

  Aderyn saw the rear of the abdomen for the first time. The stinger was barely noticeable against the black carapace, not very large compared to the hideous weapon the waspnettle queen had wielded. But the description of the stinger’s poison did not leave her inclined to discount its danger. “Stay away⁠—”

  Darkshroud whipped around, almost too fast to see. Aderyn dropped, and the whiff of stinking air that blew past her head and the brush of hard exoskeleton against her hair told her she almost hadn’t gotten out of the way in time. She aimed a blow at the abdomen and scored a hit that made Darkshroud hiss again. Rolling to her feet, she pursued the spider as it lurched from one side of the passage to another. Two of its horrible clawed feet were missing, but it still ran lightly, if awkwardly.

  Livia chanted again, and the stone of the passage flowed like water to engulf two rear legs. The stone hardened around them in the moment before Darkshroud sprang again, this time aiming for Ruan. The grasp of immobilize met the force with which Darkshroud propelled itself. Darkshroud leapt, jerked, and shrieked again as it dislocated those rear legs. Owen scrambled up the stone pillars and slashed again and again at one of the dislocated joints until he severed it.

  This time, the scream was weaker. Darkshroud struggled free of immobilize. Its head swayed, surveying its enemies. Then it leaped again, past Ruan, and tried to scramble away.

  “Stop it! If it reaches a dark space, it can teleport away and this battle will never end,” Aderyn shouted.

  Ruan and Owen together pelted after the limping spider. Ruan dove beneath its abdomen, avoiding the stinger. Owen clambered one-handed up the spider’s back, balancing carefully as its lopsided movement threatened to throw him off. He slid down the abdomen to the head, inserted the tip of the into the gap between head and body as if he had all the time in the world, and drove the blade home.

  Darkshroud’s body contracted in a spasm that did toss Owen off, wrenching the sword from his grip. He landed neatly and ran back to try again, but Darkshroud jerked again and sagged. Ruan shouted and slid away from beneath the monster.

  Congratulations! You have defeated [Darkshroud].

  You have earned [52,000 XP]

  Owen stopped moving, breathing heavily. His shoulders shook with what to Aderyn looked like residual terror, but he didn’t otherwise look unnerved. “Sorry,” he told Ruan. “I honestly didn’t think about experience, just about killing that thing.”

  “It’s all right.” Ruan sheathed his sword. “Somebody had to get the final blow.”

  “Suveer’s in trouble,” Isold said.

  Aderyn whipped around. She’d lost track of Suveer in the fighting, but he’d been near her when the stinger nearly struck. Now he lay on the rounded floor of the passage, breathing shallowly and trembling. Black veins pulsing with fluid threaded across his normally warmly-brown skin. Terrible foreboding filled her. “The stinger hit him. How long ago was that?”

  “It’s only been a few seconds,” Isold said, palming the . “He’ll be fine.”

  “No. The poison is stronger than that. Stronger than the one that nearly killed Livia.” What were the odds the one of them who hadn’t taken the Miracle Meal was the one Darkshroud had stung? Aderyn stripped off the and felt around inside. Isold had two, but she had one⁠—

  She pulled out the and uncorked it. “Help him sit up a bit, Ruan.” Careful not to spill, she set the bottle’s lip against Suveer’s mouth.

  Suveer shook his head. “Not yet,” he whispered. “Not ready yet. Stronger.”

  “What?” Impatience replaced fear. “You have to drink this soon or you will die, Suveer!”

  “Endurance breeds… stronger… more skills…” Suveer’s voice grew fainter.

  Aderyn lost her patience. She pinched Suveer’s nose shut, then, when he opened his mouth to breathe, released his nose to grip his jaw. With a deft motion, she poured the potion down his throat, shaping his mouth so the liquid wouldn’t dribble out. Suveer gasped, choked, and gagged the potion down.

  Brilliant green light exploded from every inch of Suveer’s skin. Suveer arched his back, wrenching out of his brother’s hands and falling to lie on his side. Again, his breathing grew heavy, but the black veins shrank to thin lines and then vanished. Slowly, Suveer relaxed out of the tension that gripped him. One hand lifted to touch his face below the missing eye. Then he said, “What did that do?”

  “It’s a ,” Aderyn said, absently tucking the empty bulb into her knapsack. “Darkshroud’s poison rots your insides. Liquefies them. I don’t know what in thunder you were playing at, Suveer⁠—”

  “Don’t yell at him, Aderyn, he gets it,” Owen said. He gently rested his arm around her shoulders. He was still trembling, but his voice was strong. “I can’t believe we survived that.”

  Suveer sat up, still lightly brushing his fingertips over his skin and then the scar tissue. His whole attention was on Aderyn. “You used something that powerful on someone not in your team? On me?”

  “Like we’re going to let a companion rot, no matter whose team he’s on,” Weston said. He was naked from the waist up and held a crumpled bundle of fabric and leather scraps. “That acid did a number on my clothing. Is there enough left for repair to work, dearest?”

  “We’ll see.” Livia’s voice was shaking. No one drew attention to it.

  For a while, no one spoke except Livia muttering the repair spell under her breath. Aderyn watched the fabric and armor ripple into existence and let the magic calm her. Repair always looked as though it was revealing something that already was there, like removing invisibility, though when she’d asked Livia about it Livia had said it was a complicated thing even she didn’t understand.

  Finally, Livia tossed the clothing and armor to Weston and said, “We need to move on. This isn’t one of those rapid-respawn dungeons, is it? Like the Ivory Palace?”

  “No. Just the timer.” Aderyn couldn’t help herself; she looked at the counter with its white-light numbers. It stunned her how little time that had taken. “It hasn’t even been an hour. Darkshroud felt like it took forever to kill.”

  “It had a name?” Owen shuddered. “I don’t think I needed to know that. Aderyn, are we going the right way?”

  Aderyn focused on the , which radiated red immediately. “There’s another exit back there, I think down that second passage that didn’t have webs. But the one ahead of us is closer. I’m—” She closed her eyes and compared her mental picture of the outside of Charnel Keep, what little she’d seen, with the picture the was building for her. “If this is as simple as I believe, then there are three exits for sure. One is the hole we came in by, and the other two are the doors in the base at the front of the keep. There might be other hidden exits, but my guess is we’re headed for the smaller of those doors.”

 

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