Runefall
an excerpt

“Giant spider!” Norman suddenly yelped in warning.

“Hey, you already tried to trick me once.” Diamystic frowned. "I'm not falling for it again!"

“No, you dummy!” Norman growled, turning him around. “I mean giant spider!”

“Eep!” Diamystic stiffened when he saw there was actually a giant spider standing in the only exit behind them. “Giant spider! I hate spiders! And it’s a cow-sized one!”

“Oh, that’s not very nice.” the spider pouted.

It was a really big spider, and not a pleasant looking one either. It had a thick, sleek black body with almost clear knobby legs whose joints rose higher then its body. Thin fangs clicked together around it’s mouth area as it stared at them with all eight, mirror black eyes.

“Sorry about him.” Gwen apologized nervously. “My shapeshifter just happens to be an idiot.”

“Hey!” Diamystic protested.

“I can see that.” the spider sniffed. “Now may I ask what you’re all doing in my lair?”

“This is your lair?” Diamystic squeaked. Being trapped in a spider lair wasn’t something he really wanted.

“Yes. And you’re in it. And all this talking is making me hungry, so hurry up and tell me your excuse.” the spider’s eyes glinted hungrily.

“Well, see, there was this book here,” Diamystic nervously held up the tome, “and we needed to find it, but we found it, so we’ll be on our way and not bother you any longer.”

“You actually think that you can just waltz into my lair and leave without payment?” the spider frowned.

“Payment?” Gwen asked suspiciously. “What d’ya want?”

The spider looked them over, then finally nodded. “One of you stays as payment. The rest of you may go.”

“What?!” Rusty squeaked in terror, quickly hiding behind Norman.

“Are you crazy! Never!” Gwen snarled, drawing her sword.

“Hey, I’m hungry, okay?” the spider snapped back. “Anybody except the Deathvine will do fine.”

“What? Why does Norman get off so easily?” Diamystic complained.

“Think, dummy! I’m a plant! Spiders aren’t big salad eaters.” Norman snapped. “On the other hand, I heard they’re rather fond of shapeshifters. It seems like you’re the most logical to volunteer to become lunch, Diamystic. After all, as their magical creatures, we're supposed to protect our humans. We can't let them get eaten, so you're the only one left. Rest assured your sacrifice won’t be forgotten.” he patted Diamystic on the back.

Diamystic whimpered. “But I don’t like spiders! I don’t wanna be eaten by one!”

“Hey, nobody’s going to get eaten, understand?” Gwen snapped.

“I beg to differ.” the spider said silkily.

“What are we going to do, Gwen?” Rusty whimpered.

“Well, we’re not going to let him eat us, that’s for sure.” Gwen snarled, holding her sword tightly as she glared the creature down.

“Well, if you insist on doing things the hard way, then all of you can be my meal!” the spider snarled, lunging forward.

“I don’t think so, you eight-legged freak!” Gwen met his charge with her sword drawn, leaping aside nimbly and slashing.

Her sword caught one of the clear, dead-looking legs, and the spider let out a shrill shriek as the sharp metal bit into the leg.

Gwen stood ready for the spider’s next attack, her sword poised above her head.

“Ow! Owowowow!” the spider sobbed, examining it’s wounded leg. “You stabbed me!”

“Um... Pardon?” That really wasn’t the response Gwen had been expecting.

“You’re such a bully! I mean, I have to eat too, you know!” the spider sat down and continued to sob. “And then you come along, barge into my home, and, to top it off, try to chop off my leg!”

“He’s right. We did.” Rusty pointed out.

“Hey! Who’s side are you on?!” Gwen snapped at him.

“What if it gets infected? I could DIE!” the spider wailed piteously as it examined it’s leg.

“Hey, come now.” Diamystic felt bad enough that he tried to comfort the creature. “The wound’s not that bad. It should heal over eventually.”

Unfortunately, his act of kindness backfired on him, as the spider mistook it as an invitation for a shoulder to cry on. It only sobbed louder as it suddenly reached out and pulled the startled shifter closer and leaned on him.

“It’s so hard being a giant spider!” the giant spider wept into the terrified Diamystic’s chest. “Everybody’s like ‘Ew, gross! A giant spider!’. Nobody ever wants to be your friend. It gets so lonely!”

“Somebody help me...” Diamystic whimpered, stuck in the spider's tight hug.

“And every time you do meet somebody, they either try to kill you, or you eat them. Life’s so unfair sometimes!” the giant spider blubbered.

“Here.” Rusty came over to offer the spider a handkerchief.

“Thank you.” the spider sniffed, reaching out and taking it with one of it’s legs. It carefully wiped all its eyes and, quite disturbingly, somehow blew it’s unseen nose before sniffling and attempting to hand the handkerchief back.

Rusty eyed it distastefully. “No, that’s okay. You can keep it.”

“Hey!” Gwen protested angrily. “Don’t try playing the sympathy game with me! You tried to eat us!”

“S-s-spider!” Diamystic, still caught in the spider’s hug, was very close to panicking.

“Aw, come on, Gwen. Show a little sympathy for the poor guy.” Rusty pointed out, patting the spider comfortingly on the back.

“C-can’t breathe!” Diamystic gasped. “Help!”

“Well, as funny as I find this,” Norman coughed, “I think we should probably be going now? You know, above ground? Where there’s sun? And fresh air? And we don’t need to worry about the torches going out?”

“Good idea.” Gwen nodded.

“Don’t leave me! Please!” the spider wailed, pulling Diamystic closer. “You’re the only people that have ever understood me!”

“Ack!” Diamystic’s eyes almost bugged out. “No! Help! S-spider!”

“We can’t stay. You’ll eat us.” Gwen pointed out.

“I’m sorry. I can’t help it if I get hungry.” the spider sniffled.

“We can’t just leave him here alone!” Rusty argued.

“Yes we can.” Norman yawned.

“B-B-B-B-Big S-s-sp-spider!” Diamystic stammered, sweat beading on his brow.

“You hurt him.” Rusty pointed to the injured leg.

“It’s just a scratch.” Gwen huffed.

“Hey, I got an idea!” Rusty said happily. “First, we’ll bandage up his wound.” He pulled some bandages out of their packs and handed them to Gwen.

“What? Me? Why?” Gwen growled, taking the bandages.

“Because you were the one who hurt him.” Rusty said matter of factly.

“Fine.” Gwen grumbled, turning to the spider and starting to attend to his wounded leg. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“Thank you.” the spider sniffed piteously, holding out his trembling injured leg to her while clutching the pale, trembling Diamystic closer like a comforting teddy bear. Diamystic looked like he was going to throw up.

While Gwen was doing that, Rusty set of searching through the cave, working on something.

Finally Gwen finished and stepped back. “There.”

“Thank you.” the spider nodded tearfully, examining the bandage.

“Um, you can let go of Diamystic now.” she reminded him. “It looks like he’s going to hyperventilate soon.”

“What?” the spider looked down at the shivering, terrified shifter in its arms.

“You see, he’s kinda scared of spiders.” Gwen explained.

“Leave him.” Norman grinned. “I wanna see what he’ll do.”

“Norman, that’s mean!” Gwen scolded him.

“P-p-please?” Diamystic begged.

“Oh. Okay.” the spider said sadly, releasing the shifter, who immediately took to his squirrel form and scrambled to hide under Gwen’s hair on her shoulders, shivering.

“Here. I got something for you anyways.” Rusty offered.

The spider perked up. “What?”

“Ta-da!” Rusty held up a stone with two eyes crudely drawn on it with charcoal. “A pet rock! I made it for you!”

“A what?” the spider took the rock from Rusty and glanced it over, confused.

“A pet rock.” Rusty explained. “It’s not scared of you, and you can’t eat it. It’s your perfect friend!”

“You have got to be kidding me!” Norman said in disbelief.

The spider examined the rock for a moment, then slowly began to smile, a very unnerving sight. “A... pet rock, eh?” He cradled it close to his body. “You know, I think you might have something there. I think... I shall name it... Fritz.”

“Well, I’m sure you and ‘Fritz’ will be very happy together. May we leave now?” Gwen asked, Diamystic’s dark squirrel tail wrapped around her neck.

The spider nodded absently, still studying his new friend.

“Good. Let’s go.” Gwen nodded, clutching the tome. Diamystic the squirrel merely shivered, hiding traumatized in her hair.

“There’s no way that should’ve worked.” Norman snorted as they left. “I mean, a pet rock?!”

“Bye, giant spider! I hope you’ll be happy now!” Rusty waved to the creature as they started to walk away.

“Bye!” the spider called out as he waved back, still holding Fritz. “And thank you!”