“We’re in this together, but I’m not sure I can trust you,” he confessed under his breath.

Sword held high over his head, Jurad crept forward, me following closely behind, dagger in hand.

“Is now really the time to discuss semantics?” I hissed. “You need me, and I need you. We need to help each other to get out of here. Case closed.”

We both froze at a sound from the far end of the cavernous tunnel we were in. After a few moments of baited breath, we began creeping forward again.

“It matters,” he muttered begrudgingly, “because it’s extremely likely that we’ll see battle before the end of this, and I don’t know if you’ll help me or run me through with a sword.”

I side stepped a large puddle of blackened liquid and replied sweetly, “I know which one I’d like to do.”

He cast a disapproving glance over his shoulder, as if to say I was proving his point.

As the tunnel stretched on, the floor began tilting steadily upwards. After such an extended time in the caves, it seems we were finally beginning to creep back towards open air.

The path curved back on itself more times than I could count, fully disorienting my sense of direction. I struggled to recall even how long we had been traversing the caves now.

We crept to the edge of a large cavern, wide enough across that the caves odd mists obscured the other side. Deep enough that we would need to climb down to continue forward.

“Ladies first,” he motioned to the caverns depths, smirking at me. I glared back.

“Very chivalrous of you.” Sighing, I sheathed one of my daggers to free a hand and scale the perilous wall before me. “Stay close.”

We carefully picked our way down the wall, searching out the smallest of crevices to cling on to as we descended. In a matter of minutes we were on flat ground again, yet something inside me felt uneasy down at this depth, my skin prickling uncomfortably.

“Is it just me or-“

“I feel it too,” he said, frowning as he looked around. The mists obscured much; I could make out very little of our surroundings.

I opened my mouth to suggest we stick to the sides to make our way around instead of across, but the words failed in my throat. It was as if the muscles that allowed speech had suddenly disappeared.

Turning to Jurad, I saw him clawing not at his throat as I’d expected, but his ears. Speaking too loudly for the space we were in, he yelled, “Why has everything gone quiet? What’s going on?”

I cocked my head at him, then reached out and snapped my fingers directly next to his ears. His eyes went wide and filled with panic. “Can you still hear?”

Nodding, I then pantomimed speech, touching my lips and then mouthing words. His brow furrowed as he tried to understand. “But you can’t speak?”

Behind me, I heard the faint whisper of movement against rock, an eerie, slithering sound, like a cloak brushing against the dry leaves of a forest bed. I swung around, both daggers back in hand, motioning for Juran to stand behind me. Without hearing, he was more of a liability than anything else.

He of course, did not pay my instruction any heed. Moving to my side, his eyes scanned the bleak, misty backdrop, searching as mine did for any hint of danger.

I felt it wash over me - chills along the length of my body, the feeling of eyes on me. Slowly, a shape began to emerge from the dark, taking form before our eyes.

The creature was a monstrous spider, twice as tall as a man and with more predatory intent shining in its eyes than I had ever seen in a living thing.

It cocked its head as it came to rest several feet in front of us, its large eyes shining milkily in the near darkness.

After a long beat of us taking in the sudden appearance of the spider, and it appearing to do the same, it opened its wide, beaked mouth - and spoke.

“It has been many of your lifetimes since I have had humans in my home.”

I tried to catch Juran’s eye, but he of course had not heard what the beast had said. He stood, silently prepared for battle, not giving a hint to his opponent that he was hindered. It would be up to me to parlay with the hideous monster.

“We’re looking for something. Once we’ve retrieved it, we’ll be out of your..home.”

The pincers clicked rapidly, as if in laughter. “It will be quite the challenge to find your way, with one deaf and one mute.”

The words sunk in, filling me with a raging indignation. “You mean - did you somehow do this?”

A slight incline of the massive head confirmed my suspicions. “How?”

“My kin have long been blessed with extraordinary magick. When I am lucky enough to have new prey, I like to…prolong the hunt.”

My skin crawled at her words. She had done this to make a game of it, before she ultimately feasted; a cat playing with a mouse. Our lives nothing but amusement to her.

The spider inched closer. I gripped my daggers ever tighter. When she inclined her head and spoke, I felt the amusement in her words as she said “Run.”