The Phoenix Stone

Chapter Seven

Later that night I had already gone to bed, claiming that the drugs were still making me sleepy. Once everyone else had gone to sleep I carefully gathered my satchel and quietly snuck out of the clearing. The night was chilly so I was glad that I had worn my new cloak as I crept through the underbrush to the main trail. A long time ago I had heard that Brimsbury Woods wasn't safe at night but all thought of safety left my mind. The only thought in my head was to get as far away from the trio as I could.

I was so focused on getting away from them that I didn't even hear the strange rustling in the trees above the trail. The further I walked into the woods the louder the rustling got but I didn't notice. I was stuck in tunnel vision.

When I finally noticed the rustling it had gotten to the point where there was absolutely no turning back. Now that I had noticed the rustling it was getting on my nerves and I could feel that a jumpscare was about to take place.

Suddenly, as I looked around, the rustling stopped and I could see hundreds of tiny red eyes peering at me from the darkness. I realize now that I should've used my magic to help myself in that situation but every conscious thought except for absolute terror had left my mind at that point. In fact, I was so scared that I couldn't even scream for help. Instead I ran. Full out sprinting away from the eyes that seemed to follow every movement. Unconsciously I ran in the direction of where the trio were camping.

I was right by the campsite when the spiders caught up to me and I think I woke up the entire world with my screams. The spiders were absolutely humongous, completely black except for their beady red eyes, and had extremely poisonous mandibles that glistened in the moonlight. I was cornered against a seemingly vast tree trunk with about seven giant spiders crowded around me. I tried to scramble away but they had completely surrounded me and I couldn't move.

One spider, much larger than the other spiders, slunk out of the bushes towards me. It was obviously the leader. Its mandibles were dripping with poison and its hard exoskeleton was shining in the moonlight. I screamed again. The spider was so close that I could feel its gigantic presence looming over me, blocking the full moon from my view. I felt a splatter of something wet on my arm but I didn't register what it was until it started burning. Poison. That was how close the spider was to me. Close enough to drip poison on me.

My vision was suddenly enhanced and I could see everything. My magic had just worked by itself again. I could see the spider's beady little eyes and its dripping poisonous fangs clearly and the bushes in the background were clear as day.

I focused back on the spider as it moved even closer, its mouth opening wider with every passing second. Slowly it leaned closer and put its mouth onto my skin, preparing to bite down.

As it started to bite down onto my skin, something whooshed over my shoulder and hit the spider right in the centre of its head. It was an arrow. The spider reared up in pain, a soundless scream being emitted from its mouth. I glanced behind me, narrowly dodging a second arrow sent after it. Izel was standing about twenty metres behind me and was sending arrows towards the pack of spiders. Evander and Kael were nowhere to be seen.

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" she yelled to me, gesturing wildly for me to move to the side again.

I did better than that. I side-rolled under another spider's gangly legs and bounced up on the other side. The spider leader had recovered from Izel's attack and was now coming for me at an alarming rate. I could hear its feet clacking on the forest floor and crackling in the fallen leaves as I ran.

The spider leapt at me, narrowly missing my head and instead managed to lightly clip me on my back. I screamed in pain. As the small dose of poison ran into my blood I could feel my limbs go limp and almost unmovable. The feeling was similar to the feeling I had experienced when the Enchantiss had taken my grandmother except this time I had a genuine reason to not move. The poison also made my vision cloud, and I could barely see my hand in front of my face and I pulled myself away from where the giant spider was recovering from its tree encounter and towards a very spiky looking thorn bush. I knew I would be safe if I could get inside it.

As I was pulling myself, I felt the spider's presence once again.

"Oh come on," I slurred, my lips not really working. Before I could turn around to look at the spider I felt its sharp foot dig into my back. It had pinned me to the ground and now it was going to bite me again. I knew that one more bite from the spider would knock me unconscious and it would take me back to its cave to eat me there.

I could almost feel myself fall unconscious and I was just drifting off when I realized that the spider wasn't standing on my back anymore. I could also hear distant shouting through the fogginess of my brain. Through blurry eyes I watched as Evander and Kael fought until they were surrounded by a ring of spiders, all poised for attack. The giant spider was lying dead a few feet from the ring with a glinting sword hilt sticking out of its abdomen. Black blood was spraying from the wound.

The haziness was getting worse but I blinked rapidly, straining to see what was happening with Evander and Kael. Just before I blacked out I saw a spider leap at Evander and he fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. Then the world turned black and I couldn't feel myself or my own thoughts. Absolutely nothing.