Chapter 2 Part 5

Ruk contemplated his fate that night. He had been traveling alone for a long time, following his personal quest. It was almost as if he were playing a part in a theater production how he had happened to be serving on the very ship that Armegon and his companions had chosen to travel by. Humankind called it fate. But in Minotaan society, it was something deeper, something more spiritual when events fell into place to bring a life quest to its fruition.

Ruk felt a great amount of gratitude, admiration, and fellowship towards his new comrades which stemmed from their unquestioning acceptance of him. Throughout his travels, he had been victimized by people for many reasons. Many of the human and demihuman races were prejudiced against his people. He had often wondered what horrible stories about his homeland of Minota prompted such a reaction. And yet his new compatriots cared nothing for his physical differences. They treated him as an individual and gave him a level of respect that he had never before experienced in his life.

Ruk had not only made a close friend with Calista, the young human female, but had also befriended the halfelf ranger as well. And although he considered Armegon his master, for that was who he served, he was continuously treated as an equal by the mage.

Ultrecht was a master of magic and deserving of treatment comparable to that of a visiting dignitary, but acted as if Ruk was an old drinking companion. Was any of this any more surprising than the way they treated Ganatar, a unicorn--one of the most mystical and revered creatures in all the world? They showed him neither scorn nor did they cater to him. They let the unicorn stand on his own merits. How could Ruk have anything but total admiration for his new friends.

When the time came for the change of the watch, Ruk woke Ultrecht. The mage had volunteered to take the late watch stating that he wanted to do some early morning reading. The exchange took place with very few words. The mage climbed out of his bedroll and donned his robe and boots. He then took several long droughts of water and returned to his blanket. He folded the covering treble, making a mat upon which he sat cross legged and began reading from a leather-bound book he extracted from an inner pocket.

As the minotaan bedded down for the rest of the night, his thoughts changed from the past to the future. In his heart was a knot of fear for the unseen dangers that seemed to be aimed for the people he had become attached to, but his soul felt a peculiar fire for the adventure ahead. Either way, he would complete his quest one way or the other.

In his dreams the minotaan saw the face of the old sage woman who had given him his life's mission. He remembered his excitement at hearing from her that he would travel far to the north. In his dream he relived the cold chill when she told him that after he found his quest, he might never lay eyes on his homeland again. The minotaan knew that his quest could end in his own death.

When Calista awoke, Ultrecht was nursing a pot of coffee. Avery and Ganatar were at the edge of the firelight doing something, and Armegon and Ruk were still asleep.

"Good morning," Ultrecht greeted her.

"How do you know?" Calista asked peering about in the gloom of the cave.

Ultrecht jerked a thumb indicating the ranger. "He told me."

"Oh." Calista stretched. "Where do we go today?"

"Well as soon as those two," he nodded at Ruk and Armegon, "wake, we will travel on up cave. Avery said that it narrows too much to allow Ganatar to travel, so he will stay here with the supplies. The rest of us will press on. We hope that the cave somehow takes us to the Tower."

An hour later they were all awake and two torches were lighted. Armed and armored, the five bipedal members of the group marched on into the cave leaving behind a nervous unicorn and enough firewood to last several hours.

Ruk, axe at the ready, lead the way with the torch carrying Armegon following closely. Calista and Ultrecht trailed side by side while Avery carrying the second torch brought up the rear.

After their last journey in a similar environment, they were almost expecting an ambush. What they did discover was therefore not totally surprising. It was no more than an hour and a half of crawling up the winding passage when they emerged into a gallery filled with sticky vinelike cables. It did not take an experienced traveler to recognize the characteristic work of a spider. The size of the webbing, however indicated a creature of immense size.

"Wonderful," Armegon muttered as he stared up into the gloom. The webbing vanished into the darkness beyond the illumination of the torches with no hint of thinning. "This is just what we need. There is no telling how many of these things there are here."

Avery held a torch close to the web and inspected it closely. "It has moisture on it," he reported. "That means it’s relatively new."

Calista reached out to touch it when the ranger's own hand reached out and slapped at her wrist knocking it away. She stifled a yelp.

"Sorry," he said. "Don't touch it. Not only is it very sticky, but the slightest touch will alert the spiders to your presence."

"What about the torches? We used fire to keep those things back the last time," Ruk asked.

"Possibly," Avery agreed. "But I’d rather we didn't rely on it. Let's avoid a confrontation altogether if we can."

"I’m not certain how easy that’s going to be," Armegon said from the front. "This stuff gets pretty thick up ahead. I don't know if it’s going to be possible to weave through it without tagging the web at least one or two times."

"Spiders tend to be docile for the most part," Ultrecht said. "But if we vibrate the web they will come to the attack."

"We might try a decoy," Calista suggested. "We could set fire to the web, or we might try to lure them into a trap."

"Those are good ideas," Armegon commended. "We may try one of them yet, but without knowing how many we’ll have to face, the trap would be a terrible gamble."

"Setting fire to the web is a distinct possibility," Ultrecht mused. "We could light it and take shelter in the cave. When the fire reaches them, they’ll be at a disadvantage. Some may even fall to the ground and get killed."

"I agree," Armegon said. "It appears to be a foregone conclusion that we’ll have to face them sooner or later. This way, at least we can force it on our terms."

"Okay," Avery said hefting his torch. "I’ll set the web afire and we can take up defensive positions in the cavern. If they attack, Ultrecht can hold the torches while the rest of us stand ready to fight."

Calista and Ultrecht took up positions in the cave entrance. Ruk hefted his battle ax while Armegon and Avery set the lower webs on fire. The moist adhesive secretion burned readily and soon the flames were tracing orange lies of fire spiraling upwards. Avery and Armegon passed their torches to Ultrecht then drew their own weapons while Calista braced her bow and notched an arrow.

Several long minutes passed before a crescendo of clicking and squealing like old rusty doors drifted down from above. It was immediately followed by the frantic shaking of the lower parts of the web.

"I would venture to guess that we’ve disturbed their slumber," Armegon joked nervously. No one replied, for the noise grew louder and the chamber floor was becoming littered with falling bits of flaming webbing.

Suddenly to one side, a large burning shape fell to the floor and bounced once. An acrid odor of burned flesh drifted about them as a second body fell not far away.

A few moments later and a third spider lowered itself to the floor by a freshly spun web. It was followed by three more in quick succession. Within moments, four huge arachnids were scurrying about avoiding falling debris and seeking shelter. Two of the spiders chose the cave for their retreat while the other two undoubtedly sought the shelter of another sanctuary.

As the creatures, each easily twice the size of Ruk drew close, the minotaan and halfelves attacked. The chamber was fairly illuminated by the fire from above as the trio burst outward and swarmed over the nearest creature.

Calista did her part as well. Two well placed arrows embedded in the eye clusters of the second spider caused it to slow and hesitate in rendering aid to its web mate.

Ruk charged into the waiting arms of the monster. The huge axe bit deeply, severing one of the eight limbs and causing the spider to leap backward in surprise. Armegon stood at Ruk's left and chopped lightly at another leg. The cold saber drew a gash in the hairy flesh, but contributed pain only to the monster.

The creature reared up and back raising its remaining foreleg and extending a pair of half meter long fangs like a pair of twin ebony swords oozing with a sickly yellow gel. Ruk braced himself for the rush and met the spider's forward lunge with a great sweeping over-the-shoulder blow. The razor sharp edge of the ax clove neatly between the eye clusters and into the head of the creature--driven by the monster's own forward momentum. The shock of the blow bowled Ruk over on his back and likewise knocked Armegon to the floor as the monster rolled over them.

Avery was playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the second spider. Though wounded and partially blinded by Calista's arrows, the creature could still detect movement well enough to know where the ranger was. The slim blade of Liberator flicked gracefully at the legs of the beast inflicting great amounts of impeding but non-lethal damage. Of the other two spiders, there was no sign.

Avery and the bison-sized tarantula continued their dance in a circle until as Avery had planned, the monster turned it's blind side to the others. When the spider drew back to dodge a false lunge, Avery unwisely spared a quick glance over his shoulder to make sure the other spiders were not in sight. The move almost cost him his life. He sensed the motion and ducked as the spider bolted forward sensing an advantage. The huge fangs missed impaling him by scant inches as the monster's forelegs knocked him to the ground and pinned him there.

A double thunking sound heralded the arrival of two more of Calista's arrows, but their impact was no more than a minor irritation in the armored backside of the spider.
With his sword arm hopelessly pinned, Avery struggled vainly to squirm out of the creatures many-limbed grasp. He gazed up at the mechanical workings of the jaws as saliva dripped down on his chest and the nightmarish head lowered to make a poisonous bite.

Suddenly the spider reared back again and the pressure was gone. Avery sat up and saw the minotaan straddled across the creature's back. The huge ax rose and fell rhythmically cleaving the monster's skull in two.

"Where are the other two," Armegon said as he helped Avery to his feet.
"I don't know," Avery replied.

Ruk untangled himself from the second corpse. "I think they went that way," he announced. "When the fire was brighter, there were a collection of several cave openings there."

"How much do you want to bet that we’ll have to go through one of them?" Ultrecht asked as he and Calista approached.

"That would be a fool's bet," Armegon replied sheathing his weapon.

"I think we were lucky no one was hurt in that skirmish," Avery replied. These spiders have some ugly fangs. There’s no telling how toxic the venom is and without our healing magic, that would have been a nasty situation."

"Venom?" Ultrecht asked curiously and knelt to inspect the dead creature's offensive weaponry.

"Don't get too carried away with your experiments," Armegon warned. "We still have an unknown number of these things to contend with."

"Some of the webs did not burn," Calista noted. "Do you think there may still be some of those spiders aloft?"

"I wouldn't discount it," Ruk muttered as he too looked up. The flames were mostly gone, but there were still enough of them to see some structures among the webbing. "At least it appears as if something is up there. At least it is not moving."

"I suggest we try to find the passage we need to take us on up into the cliff side," Armegon said. "Come on Ultrecht. You can check this thing out on the way back."

Ultrecht had a long thin dagger out and was cutting at the base of one of the dead spider's fangs. "Hold on," he pleaded. "This will take only a moment. I think these things use a powerful neurotoxin in their venom. I haven't seen anything like it. I must get a sample."

Armegon folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "It can't wait?"

Ultrecht sliced at the base of one of the fangs and caught a trickle of the sap like yellow liquid in a small vial. "It doesn't have to wait," he said standing. "I'm done." Ultrecht sealed the vial with a stopper and wrapped it in a fold of cloth before returning it to his knapsack.

Ruk and Armegon headed off towards the distant openings and Ultrecht and Calista followed. Avery stayed back for a few moments to make sure the objects in the web overhead did not move, then he trotted after his companions.

It took several long moments to cross the chamber. It appeared to be larger than it really was. Before long they were cautiously drawing close to the first opening. "I don't know which one of these the other spiders ran into. We had better treat each one as if the spiders are in there," Ruk suggested.

"Maybe we can find out," Calista said unslinging her bow and notching an arrow. She took a breath and fired into the dark tunnel. The arrow made a few sounds as it rebounded off several walls before going silent.

"That was a good idea," Avery commended. "But what if you just plain out missed?"
Calista responded by firing two more arrows at slightly different angles into the dark hole. Both resulted in the same sequence of ricochets and silence.

"Each shot increases the probability that the cave is vacant, or that the spider is very far back up the tunnel. Either way we get a safe entrance," Ultrecht noted.

"I could still find some flaws in that logic," Avery argued, "but it would be a moot point. We have to check the cave out regardless."

"Then let's go," Ruk said impatiently. He gave his axe a few practice swings.

Armegon took a torch in one hand and adjusted the grip on his saber with the other. Side by side they cautiously entered the cave. Ultrecht took the second torch when Avery passed it to him and with Calista, bow at the ready, followed a few paces behind the vanguard. Avery checked their rear once more then entered the cave.

"Well now," Ultrecht's voice sang happily. "This side trip may be quite profitable after all."
Avery entered the cave. Except that it wasn't really a cave. The tunnel appeared to be nothing more than a deeply recessed alcove in the stone. What was so interesting to Ultrecht, however, was the vein of gold running through the rock.

"We don’t have time to start a major excavation," Armegon reminded him.

"Yeah," Calista added. "We’re trying to save someone. Remember?"

Ultrecht looked hurt. He had not forgotten their mission and was insulted that they should believe him capable of it. "Don't worry, Cal," he assured her. "I haven't forgotten Sam. I just meant that this may be worth remembering if we ever get a chance to come back here."

"I’m not sure I would want to," Ruk said. "One does not willingly walk into a prison."

"Well we’ll see." Ultrecht smiled. "Who knows? Cal and Sam may want to move here. Remember the inhabitants do not die of natural causes. This place may be the answer Sam needs. He and Cal could live hundreds of years here."

Calista grew dreamy. "Hundreds of years," she repeated. "But we couldn't have children."
"Have them before you come back," Armegon suggested.

"That sounds good, but a prison is still a prison."

Ultrecht patted her on the shoulder. "Maybe we’ll be able to find an easier way into and out of this place." He fingered the streak of yellow metal on the wall. "It certainly would be profitable."

"We can discuss this another time," Avery said from the mouth of the alcove. "Right now we have a visitor."

The others hurried to the opening and watched as one of the huge spiders crept across the open chamber. "Does he see us?" Ruk asked.

"Probably," Avery replied. "Chances are that he has but doesn't think of us as dangerous or worth his time. If we play this right, he’ll continue to ignore us and we can avoid another fight."

They watched silently. No one moved very much. Though they were certain of their ability to defeat the single creature, they acknowledged the fact that they had gotten lucky in their fight in that no one had been seriously injured. It was true that death by natural causes was unknown in the realm, but death by combat was anything but natural, and they had been told that in a Tower one could die.

The arachnid crawled across the gallery floor to one of the intact web anchors and began an ascent to the elevated dwelling. When it had disappeared into the gloomy altitude, the five watchers emerged from the alcove. Keeping in mind that at least one more spider was unaccounted for, they edged along the wall towards the next opening.

This time there was no question. They heard the scuttling about within well before the creature charged them. Fortunately they were well prepared. The fight was brief and pitiful. The spider was drastically out numbered and over matched. Ruk made a merciful end to the creature. Distracted by Armegon and Avery, it never saw the black minotaan coming until it was too late. The huge battle-ax neatly separated its thorax from its abdomen. After that there was no resistance.

This time the opening led to a winding tunnel that meandered back into the rock several hundred meters. Finally, though, it ended in a small room filled with a littering of bones and spider carcasses. This was apparently where the dead were dumped.
"A dead end," Ruk said with a hint of a smile. That drew a sour look from Calista.

"'Dead end?'" she repeated. "Are you trying to be funny?"

Armegon and Ultrecht looked at each other. Avery simply shook his head. "It is contagious," he said. "It has to be. No one can pick up puns like that genetically."

"I thought it was a good one," Ruk chuckled.

Calista groaned as did Armegon and Avery. Ultrecht on the other hand leaned closer and whispered. "It was good," he said confidentially, "but they won't admit it."

"That still leaves us with a major problem," Avery reminded them as they emerged from the passage. "There aren’t any more tunnels. And we still haven't found a way up."

"Maybe that is what we have to do," Ultrecht suggested. "Climb."

"Hoo boy," Ruk said. "I don't really like climbing. Especially when it is in a web full of spiders."

"Speaking of which, where did that other spider go?" Armegon asked.

"I spied her near the far wall just before we had that last fight," Calista said with a giggle.

"You what?" Ruk asked.

"I spied her ..."

"ENOUGH WITH THE PUNS!!" Armegon's voice rang out and bounced about the room. His face turned red and he hung his head. "Sorry," he apologized. "But could we please cut out the humor? We’ve got way too much to do."

"Okay," Avery cut in. "First things first. Since there aren’t any more passages on this level, we have to face the possibility that we’re going to have to climb up. But first let's get some idea as to where we need to climb and what we might encounter in the rafters up there." He took his torch and passed it to Ultrecht. Then he motioned Calista over. "Let's put together a little reconnaissance arrow," he said.

He took one of her arrows and wrapped its shaft in a winding of cloth. Then he doused the cloth with oil from a bladder he had in his own knapsack. Passing the arrow back to Calista, he urged her to draw the bow as best she could. Then under his direction she aimed for as much height as possible. Avery took the torch again and held it so that the arrow would pass through the flame as it left the bow.

When she released the arrow, it ignited and dragged a small trail of light in a high arc; illuminating the gallery walls revealing a large opening and at least three more spiders which scampered irritably at the intrusion of their privacy. In addition the light revealed what appeared to be a huge cocoon.

"Wonderful," Armegon groaned. "How do we get past that?"

"We could set the rest of the web on fire," Calista suggested.

"Then what do we use to climb with?" Ruk sighed. "What is that large bubble thing?" he asked referring to the cocoon.

"Probably an egg sack," Avery hypothesized.

"Then let's set that on fire." Armegon said. "It’ll burn from that level up but some of the lower webs will remain intact and you know how that will affect them. They’ll try to save it and most of them will get killed in the process."

Avery thought about it. "Unless someone has a better suggestion," he said. "At least it's something. It sure beats doing nothing."

Again Calista was asked to fire her bow, but this time the cargo was two arrows and this time there was a definite target. Her aim was true and the two flaming arrows bit deeply near the bottom of the cocoon. The fire spread rapidly lighting up the upper web.

To avoid falling flames and spiders, Calista and the others again took refuge at the cave entrance. This time the results of their action was more dramatic. If soon began to rain spiders. The egg sack must have ruptured and poured forth as stream of young spiders. Most of them died upon impact. The few that didn't were crushed by others falling on them.

After about ten minutes the rain of debris ceased. There were a great number of bodies and scorched strands of web littering the floor. So cautiously did Avery and Ruk emerge from the cave that it took several minutes before they were satisfied that all of the corpses in the vicinity were indeed dead.

The egg sack was a huge glowing mass of smoldering thread high over their heads. Still it emitted enough light to show them the nightmare descending carefully from the heights. A gasp from some one behind told the ranger that the others too had seen the monster.

It was apparent that the spiders they had fought up until now were also very young, because the monstrosity lowering itself via the thread it was spinning was easily the size of a small house.

"This may be inappropriate," Armegon said slowly, "but I think we’re in deep trouble."

"There may be a bright side to this, Ultrecht observed. "If we beat this one the others will leave us alone."

"'If' is a very big word," Armegon muttered.

Ruk hefted his ax once again. "This will be a battle worth remembering," he announced. "We could certainly use the magic of your sword, Avery."

"No can do," the ranger replied regretfully. "This is their domain and we are the intruders. The sword refuses to do more than defend. I can protect Ultrecht and Cal, but the offensive work must be done by you and Armegon."

The other halfelf drew his saber. "Cal," he called over his shoulder as he stepped to Ruk's side. "See if you can land some blows before it gets to the ground."

The hickory bow sang with the sound of the string and the whiz of arrows whistled through the air. Ultrecht held both torches as high and far apart as possible. Without magic, he was essentially a spectator. Avery had dropped Liberator and was rummaging through his pack. He located several bundles and began to unwind cloth wrappings from them to reveal fragile looking ceramic flasks.

By the time the monster reached the ground, four arrows had embedded themselves into the joints of the legs whereas almost a dozen others had rebounded harmlessly from the armored hide.

Eight legs like tree trunks and their accompanying claws dug into the ground carrying the huge body toward the defenders. Fangs like spears and the many eyes reflected the torch light as if warning beacons that the beast's head was a place of great danger.

Coming face to face with a horror of such proportions had an effect on each of them. Ruk knew only resolve whereas Armegon came to grip on a side of himself he had never before seen. Magicless he faced a creature with only his fighting skill and a blade of metal to defend his life's blood. The result was traumatic. Armegon froze and the saber dropped loosely to the ground.

Avery, accustomed to not depending on magic for his defense, reacted differently. He was a survivalist and as the horror of nature closed the distance, he scooped up two of the small flasks and heaved them at the lumbering body. They both shattered near the point where the head joined the thorax. Calista, under Ultrecht's direction loosed a flaming arrow at the same point. The arrow failed to penetrate the hide, but the flame erupted as the splattered oil ignited.

No weapon wielded by man or minotaan had ever generated the reaction as the most ancient enemy of all living creatures. The behemoth reacted violently as the flames covered the head and flowed beneath the body feasting on the dripping oil slick.

Ruk staggered back as the heat of the flames struck at him like a hammer. He and Armegon tumbled to the floor as they blindly entangled each other in retreat. The monstrosity took no notice. It leaped and twisted in the air as the flames found their way into the crevasses in the tough armor and penetrated to the soft, vulnerable flesh inside.

Ruk disengaged himself from the fear paralyzed halfelf and retrieved his ax. He was soon joined by Avery who scooped Armegon's saber from the floor and followed Ruk as the two cautiously closed the distance to their foe.

As the fire died down enough for them to attack without getting burned, the spider, still hampered by the searing pain where the fire was scalding the inner flesh beneath the exoskeleton, was not unaware of their approach. With a quickness that seemed almost impossible for such bulk, the creature snapped a foreleg out and only the lightning like reflexes of the ranger kept his head on his shoulders as the serrated claw severed the empty air where Avery's head had moments before been.

The ranger ducked and rolled forward reflexively. Without the benefit of forethought, he suddenly found himself kneeling beneath the abdomen of the tremendous body. He hesitated not a single second but used all his strength to drive the saber to the hilt into the swollen lower body. An off white pasty fluid dripped out and the sword was suddenly wrenched from his hand as the large body vaulted skyward. Avery responded by diving safely away from the area.

The spider, burned and impaled, now regarded its foes respectfully. Ruk placed his form between his comrades and the wounded monster. Avery could have predicted the animal's response, but it was fairly obvious. The creature charged wildly.

Ruk simply had not the size to stand against such an onslaught of claws and fangs. He didn't. At the last moment, Ruk too dived forward and rolled coming to his feet beneath the monster's body and heaved the huge double bladed ax into the slimy wound already opened by Avery's previous attack. The larger cutting edge of the ax opened a slit almost a meter in length as the minotaan dragged the razor edge along the underside of the spider's body. The saber dislodged and fell to the floor with a clang that seemed to punctuate the severity of the wound.

The fairly disemboweled spider staggered back, now considering its chances to flee. Ruk, however had other ideas. He charged and waved his ax in a sequence of double handed sweeping cuts that cleft the claws off two of the creatures legs.

The spider, now desperately seeking escape made the mistake of turning its back to the ever resourceful ranger. Avery, again with Armegon's sword, leaped atop the creatures back and buried the weapon deeply into the armored flesh. A quivering beneath his legs told him that the battle was over as the spider, in a final denial of the inevitable weakly attempted to leap away and failed miserably. Ruk delivered the final blow as he neatly cleaved the spider's head.

Avery slid to the ground after freeing the saber. He and Ruk carefully studied the fallen creature's corps.

"Well," Avery said between breaths, "that was amusing."

"What happened to Armegon?" the minotaan asked.

Avery glanced back over his shoulder. Armegon was huddled up in the fetal position. "Something we thought was long gone," he explained. "Apparently it isn't."

It took almost an hour before Armegon would even acknowledge the existence of the others. When he finally did, it was almost as if nothing had happened. Alarmingly, though, he could not remember the attack of the giant spider, and when pressed, he avoided the topic. Ultrecht and Avery elected not to pursue the topic.

They took another ten minutes to recollect themselves before they addressed the task of where to go next. It was finally decided that they should try to climb the web. They let Avery take the lead and the ranger bounded lightly up and down on the strong, sticky cable, purposely alerting any other spiders of their presence. He stated that if there were any other spiders left in the web, he wanted to know while they were still on the ground. His actions got no response and the ranger proceeded to climb upwards followed by Armegon who seemed to be unshaken. Then followed Calista, Ultrecht, and Ruk, who brought up the rear.

"What was wrong with Armegon?" Calista whispered to Ultrecht at one point when Armegon and Avery were discussing the path ahead.

Ultrecht glanced briefly ahead then replied. "Long ago, when we first met, Armegon had a weird fear of spiders. The actual term is arachnophobia." He studied the layer of sticky adhesive on his hand for a moment. "We don't really know where it came from, but it was rather obnoxious so Avery and I worked on him to block whatever memories it was that caused the disorder. It worked quite well actually. For the last century or so, he has shown no anxiety whatsoever over spiders and the like. I don’t know why it suddenly decided to reappear."

"Perhaps this place has caused his fear to resurface," Ruk suggested. "This whole realm is so strange. Anything must be possible."

"Not to worry," Ultrecht said. "Unless we run into more spiders."

"A distinct possibility," Ruk noted.

"Avery doesn't think there are anymore, or that if there are they are not going to show themselves."

Avery led them up continuously staying on webs with as shallow a slope as possible until they had drawn even with the charred remains of the giant egg sack. Avery signaled for the others to hold their position while he moved ahead to investigate.

Ruk watched interestedly as the ranger cautiously entered the web spun cocoon. He soon reemerged and motioned for the others to join him. They all made their way into the large structure amazed at the work its construction must have involved. The walls were formed of hardened web material except that it was much more closely woven and intermingled. On the floor was a littering of bones, and rubbish. Also there on the floor was an intact skeleton encased in a partial cocoon of its own. The skeleton was wearing a jeweled amulet. At one side was a dusty book and a small cloth bundle.

Calista and Ruk inspected the cloth while Ultrecht examined the book. Avery and Armegon removed the amulet and searched the rest of the locale. Their scouring turned up a handful of gemstones and a ring with a star shaped ruby cluster and a ceramic coin made of porcelain.

"Now that is an oddity," Ultrecht wondered as he examined the coin in Armegon's hand. "Did you hear anything from your coin dealer in Allentown about a clay coin?"

"No," Armegon admitted. "But if it’s worth anything, I’ll find out." He pocketed the trinket. "What about the book?"

Ultrecht shook his head. "I can't read it. We’ll have to wait until we can activate a magical comprehension spell before we can translate it."

"Is it magic?" Ruk asked.

Ultrecht shrugged. "Without magic I can't tell."

"How about that ring?" Calista pointed to the ring Avery was admiring. Avery smiled and passed it to her.

"You can have it," he told her.

"Let's not worry about anything that we have found," Armegon suggested, "until we can test all of it for magic."

Calista unwrapped the cloth bundle. "Well look at what I found," she announced happily. She held her prize up for the others to see. The object was immediately recognized. It was a small octahedron, an identical twin to the object that had activated the powerful magical pump on the island.

"Can we assume that all we have to do now is find the mechanism and start the device?" Ultrecht asked.

"It would seem so," Armegon said. "After all, now we have the key." He took one last look around the chamber. "Let's get out of here," he said. "This place gives me the creeps."

Avery and Ruk led them back the way they had come, back out to the web. They climbed another dozen meters higher and transferred to a different strand that was anchored to the wall near a jagged opening. In just a few moments, they were safe and sound on solid rock. Armegon and Ruk again took the lead and with torch in hand blazed a trail into the rock.

The tunnel was fairly straight and took on the appearance of carved rock. It soon ended in a room. They were apparently in the second Tower. The room had an opening directly opposite that of the tunnel as well as an open ceiling. The white cloudless and sunless sky could be observed through the opening. In the center of the room, on the floor, was a shallow dome of onyx. The polished black surface was like a mirror.

Ruk and Armegon conversed briefly then continued down the opening on the far side of the room. Almost immediately they recognized the unmistakable signs of technomystical structure. Stone steps led upwards in a tight helical manner. Soon they emerged on a platform landing near a corner that had daylight shining in around it.

Almost cheerfully they hurried to the corner, like moths to a flame. As they rounded the turn they stepped out onto a ledge similar in design to the one that housed the machinery in the mountain on the island.

The blast of frigid air struck them with the force of a battering ram. Staggering under the blizzardly onslaught, they were rescued as Avery, once more protected by the magic of his enchanted weapon, led them back around the corner.

"I would have thought that the illusion would not be in operation at this far from the ground," Avery commented as he watched the others trying to keep warm. Even with the illusion out of sight, they knew that it was there, and so they were still under its influence. He took the octahedral key to the mechanism and stuck it in a pocket. "I think I had better activate this thing before you all freeze to death."

Avery once more rounded the corner. The illusion was still there, but he easily ignored it. The platform was occupied by a marble cylindrical pedestal upon which sat what appeared to be a cube made of pure glass. It was some unknown mineral crystal, of that he was sure. There was nothing above the cube, but behind it was a highly polished mirror, and on the side of the cube facing the outside in the exact center was a smaller mirror.

Avery took in the sight quickly. He was searching for the key mechanism, like the one on the island. It was no where to be seen. The only thing else in the room was a tapestry, a copy of the other one, and a door.

The door had to be the answer. He trotted across the balcony to the door and grasped the handle. The door opened readily. Apparently, he thought to himself, the builders figured that anyone who could get through the illusion and the guardians would not be hindered by some old door. The chamber beyond the door held the device he was seeking. It also held a wall full of runes, scriptures and magical equations. Ultrecht would kill him should he pass up the opportunity to record this find, so Avery postponed his duties long enough to copy the writing onto the back of a map. When he finished, he rolled the map up and drew the key from his pocket.

In the corner of the room a small stand stood exposed revealing a plain gray metal disk. In the center of the disk was a depression molded, it seemed, to be an exact fit for the key. Slowly, almost as if afraid, Avery placed the key in its receptacle. The key slid home. For a long moment there was no sign that anything was happening. Avery was about to remove the crystal from the slot when suddenly the pedestal slowly retracted into the floor.

Satisfied that the machine had been activated, Avery retreated from the room. As he crossed the ledge, he felt the hairs on his arms rise even though he could not hear or see any evidence that any energy was being manipulated.

When Avery rejoined the others, they all retreated back along the passage they had come. Once away from the lighted ledge, the others were freed of the illusion's spell. "What happened?" Ultrecht asked.

Avery shrugged. "What is there to say? I found the starter and put the key in it. It was designed a little differently as was the transmitter. Remember the last one was a tetrahedron? Well this one was a cube."

"Both are regular polyhedrons," Armegon observed. "Does this mean that the next one will be a dodecahedron?"

"That would be a logical conclusion," Ultrecht said, "the faces of a dodecahedron are pentagons, and the map showed pentagons in the desert." He followed Ruk into the small room that had the onyx dome in the center. This time, though the onyx dome was rotating, and a shaft of light was gyrating up through the ceiling opening. The room reverberated with a buzzing like the hum of a bee hive, only louder.

Ultrecht expressed some desire to wait around and see what the thing was going to do, but he was easily outvoted. Once more they followed Ruk until they again were face to face with the giant network of spider webs.

Excitement aside, they carefully made their way down to the bottom. After all that they had gone through it would be a shame to fall at that point. They also kept a sharp eye open for any unwanted visitors, but none appeared and soon they were on the ground and were marching back down the tunnel they originally had entered through. Soon they were greeting a worried and lonely, but otherwise unmolested Ganatar.

By the time they were settling down for a rest, the very rock of the caverns was humming at a low, dim, but persistent buzz. Armegon and Ultrecht glanced at the writings Avery had copied.

"I can't make out the language," Ultrecht said. "Just hang on to it and we will deal with it when we get home."

Armegon snapped his fingers. There was a tiny flash of light and his thumb caught fire. He quickly blew it out. "The magic is back on," he announced. "At least for a while," he added as an afterthought. It would be handy for the moment, but before long they would be without it again. "We can do away with the illusion problem now."

"Let's wait until we have had a chance to rest," Calista begged. "I'm pooped. We’ve been going all day."

"She’s probably right," Avery agreed. "I think we can assume that we’re relatively safe here. Let's catch some shut-eye. We can move on later." No one was really in a mood to argue the point as they were all fairly tired and fatigued. Ganatar volunteered to take the watch since he had been in place all day and was if anything simply bored stiff. He confessed that to pass the time he had taken several naps.

With the unicorn watching over their affairs, the band of travelers bedded down for several hours. Even though they really had no idea about how long they slept, Avery roughly guessed that they had slept on into the night and through to the next morning. He could not explain his estimate, but as they approached the exit to the tunnel, the light of day assaulted their eyes. Instantly the light was followed by the bitter cold of the illusion.

This time, though Ultrecht used his magic to expand the enchanted sword's true vision to the whole group and the ice fairly vanished from sight. Only by looking very carefully and partially attempting to convince ones self that the ice was there could one actually make the illusionary substance out.

"Well at least we have magic back for a while," Armegon commented.

"Which way now?" Ultrecht said as he gazed skyward. The ledge spat forth a steady azure shaft of light towards the distant horizon.
Avery pointed to his left as he faced the direction of the central mountain. "The map says that there is a desert there. The third tower should be there. I presume that’s our next target."

"That can wait," Armegon interrupted. "First let's take a look at some of the things we picked up in the spider kingdom back there," he said nodding back up the tunnel.

"That is a good idea," Ultrecht agreed. "Now that we have a little of our magic back we can investigate those acquisitions."

"Plus we need to work up some water carriers if we’re going to cross desert," Ruk added. He shook his canteen. The sloshing water sounded low. "These small canteens won't see us very far from a water source."

Armegon asked Calista for the ring and she begrudgingly gave it up. The mage then spread a cloth on the ground and placed the trinket on the cloth along with the ceramic coin and the book. He then knelt before the arrangement and muttered a few words to himself. A calm fell across him and his face went blank. With unblinking eyes he gazed across the display of merchandise.

Quickly he reached out and took the ring. Slipping it on his finger he then reached into a spell pouch and pulled out a velvet rag. Unfolding the rag, he exposed a trio of tiny but beautiful pearls. He removed one and returned the others to their pouch. This pearl he placed in a small bowl and to Ruk, Calista, and Ganatar's dismay crushed the valuable orb to a powder and sprinkled it over the ring.

Calista and Ruk looked at each other, but neither knew what was going on. She was about to ask one of the others what was happening when Armegon suddenly spoke in a trance-like voice. "Pyrus," he whispered. Alarmingly, the ring flared into a circlet of flame around his finger briefly then extinguished. Armegon responded by removing the ring and placing it back on the cloth.

He then picked up the book. Slowly he opened the cover. There was a pause, and without warning, the mage screamed a bloodcurdling howl of agony and the book dropped from his fingers. He hands flew to the temples of his head and he flopped back writhing in pain.

Avery was instantly there and the healer stuffed a piece of plant into the mages mouth. Then he placed his hands on Armegon's. "He'll be all right in a few moments," he informed the concerned audience. "Whatever he read in that book overloaded his protection. The pain was a reflexive defense mechanism. It made him abort the spell before the book could harm him."

Armegon nodded slowly. "I feel miserable," he added.

"What happened?" Ultrecht asked.

"The book is definitely a spell book of great power. It’s too powerful to read here. We’ll have to wait until we get back and can generate more powerful protection spells."

"The book attacked you?" Ruk asked amazed.

"Essentially that is what happened," Ultrecht explained. "A spell book resists attempts to read it by anyone other than the writer. The more powerful the spells within, the more powerful the resistance."

"Didn't you once tell me that you read the Tome of Creation?" Calista asked. "Didn't it resist you?"

Ultrecht nodded. "I didn’t try to read any of the spells," he explained. "Spell books hold more than just spells. They also have information, equations and formula that explain how the spells work. Some even have history or letters or mementos in them. What ever the writer sees fit to put in them is there. The magical defenses of the book are usually not activated against the reading of those pages. I even read a recipe for ginger bread in a spell book once."

Avery interrupted. "Okay so we wait until another day to work with the book. What about the ring?"

Armegon thumbed the ring. "It is a ring of elemental control; fire elementals, that is," he added. "The command word is 'Pyrus'. But it is pretty useless here. We are too cut off from the lateral elemental planes."

"And the coin?" Ultrecht asked.

"A coin," Armegon informed him.

"No magic? No hidden secrets?"

"That’s it," Armegon assured Ultrecht.

"You mean the only thing I get out of this whole venture is a lousy ceramic coin?" Ultrecht was visibly upset.

"That’s about the size of it," Armegon replied. "But this isn’t over yet. You may well find something later."

Avery passed the ring back to Calista. "Here," he said. "You can have this. These two don't need it, and it might even save your life one day. Remind us when we get home and we’ll show you how to use it. But be sure not to use the command word until you learn how to use it."

"This has been very entertaining and educational," Ganatar said, "but do you not think we had better get going? We have a desert to cross."

"Right," Ruk agreed, "and if the pattern follows, we’ll have some obstacle to pass in order to get to the desert Tower."

"Obstacle?" Ganatar asked.

"The acid lake was an obstacle hindering our efforts to get to the island," Ruk pointed out. "The ice was a hindrance to the cliff wall. I expect there’s going to be something in our way crossing the desert."

"Maybe it’s the desert itself," Calista suggested.

"It may be." Ruk agreed. "But either way we won’t know until we get there."

"A hint if ever I heard one," Avery said as he shouldered his pack. The others did likewise and soon they were underway with Avery and Ruk in the lead.

They traveled for about six hours when Calista broke the silence. "Is anyone else getting cold?"

"Now that you mention it," Ruk admitted, "I am a little chilly."

"I was afraid of that," Ultrecht said as he signaled for a stop. "We’ve gotten far enough from the Tower that my magic is beginning to fail."

"The illusion will soon reinstate itself," Armegon predicted.

"That sounds reasonable,"" Ultrecht agreed. "I suggest we use what magic we have left to prepare for traveling through the ice and desert."

"What did you have in mind?" Avery asked.

"Well," Armegon suggested, "we can enlarge some of our blankets and make robes and cloaks. That’s a very weak spell but it should do the job."

Ultrecht agreed and he and Armegon began working their magics on a pair of spare blankets. The garments soon quadrupled in size. Avery then took a long knife and cut the blankets into ponchos and wraps. He urged everyone to wrap themselves in layers of cloth. "The dead airspace between the layers will keep you warm as easily as an extra blanket."

Clothed in their makeshift arctic clothing, they decided to spend the night on location while they were still partially protected against the cold by Ultrecht's magic. The next day they would try to sustain a forced march out of the ice. With any luck they would see the desert by the end of the next night.