Another thing...I've decided not to prolong the Elandai series any longer. So basically, this book will turn into the last. Don't worry, I'll make it as good as I can!
Oh, and one other thing--click HERE to see my last chapter. I was reading through it, and I was like, "Man, I wrote this?" I think my writing style has matured a little.
Chapter 8
Ben started as Kaela screamed. Not because he had been scared (although that certainly had happened), it was because he had run into something that felt uncomfortably like a spiderweb.
He wasn't paranoid of spiders like his sister was, but this was a very large spiderweb. Ben frantically swiped at his arms, trying to get the sticky strands away from him. He gave a small yelp as he touched a strand--it was thicker than a piece of yarn and it burned his hand.
Trying to jerk away from the burning, acidic web, he blundered straight into another one. Except this one had a resident living in it.
Ah, so that was what Kaela was screaming about, Ben mumbled to himself. He was staring straight into a pair of glowing balls that he knew were eyes. The scary thing was, the eyes were the size of oranges.
Kaela had dropped her sword when she had nearly walked into the web. The spider sitting in the middle of it reached out grossly-large, hairy legs toward her face.
Behind her, Lisa saw it and jerked Kaela back, who had been frozen in terror. Then she too gave a screech.
Both Ben and Kaela's swords--one dropped and one still held in a webbed-up hand--had suddenly been extinguished.
Lerin, who had been behind the others, hadn't yet reached the spiderwebs. All of the children heard him as he called out, "What's wrong? What's going on?"
"Help?" Ben groaned. Over at the edge of the path where he was, the spider had begun making him into a cocoon. He jerked out an arm and struck out at the spider, but it merely hissed and avoided it. Trying to move his sword, he found that he was too webbed up to do it. When the webbing gets past my jeans and my shirt, it will be rather painful on my arms and face, Ben reminded himself, redoubling his efforts to get free.
Kaela never knew how she did it, but with a high and shaky yell, she picked up her sword once more and lunged at the spider closest to Ben.
It was one of those moments where she felt that someone else had climbed into her body and was making it move, and all she had to do was sit back and watch. With a move she had not told herself to do, she sliced right through the spider's middle. Blood that looked black in the dark, but could have been a different color in better lighting, spilled out as the spider shriveled up and flopped dead onto the ground.
She shivered--the spider was close to the size of a pony--but her arm continued on in it's seemingly unassigned work. Her sword cut through the webbing around Ben as quickly as if the strands were water, and so neatly that Kaela was startled. She could never do that!
But the main point was that Ben was safe now, rubbing his arms and trying to get that horrible spidery sensation out of them. And there were many more spiders, creeping just outside the ring of light.
Light? Kaela caught herself. Yes, light was once again coming from her sword, and in the glow she could see Lerin in the act of kicking at a spider, trying to fend it off.
Ben was off like a shot, his sword drawn and shedding light again. But as he went by Kaela, he muttered "Thanks!"
Behind her, Lisa called out, "Kaela?" There was panic in her voice.
Kaela swung around, thinking that her friend was entangled in a web. But instead Lisa was distractedly beating a spider with a stick.
"Did you see that?" Lisa gave the spider one more whack and it curled up, stone dead. Kaela realized that she was not talking about how she had defeated the monstrous arachnid.
"See what?"
"Right over there by the edge of the light--I saw something like a...a man!" She pointed with a shaky hand.
Kaela knew what was going through Lisa's head right now; the stories Ben and her had recited about the Ogres and other things from the times they had been to Elandai before. "I don't think--" she began, but then stopped with a small squeak.
A spider had just dropped from a tree overhead, obviously aiming for Kaela's head. Unfortunately for it (and very fortunately for her), it has missed by a hairsbreadth and instead impaled itself on her sword. There was a squeaky hiss, and then dark blood spattered Kaela as the spider shriveled up on the blade.
For one startled moment, she stood there with her mouth open, staring right into huge orbs dimmed by death. Then Lisa broke her silence.
"Well...I guess that's one spider that won't jump again."
For some insane reason (and it wasn't hysteria) Kaela broke out into laughter. From that moment onward, she looked at spiders much differently. Even years later, she would remember the time when a spider had jumped onto her blade, and fear of them would no longer bother her.
Lisa laughed with her, and then the two girls--one with a sword (now without the ornament of a spider) and one with a stick--set out to shrivel some more spiders.
Ben had just stuck his sword into the last spider when a voice said from the edge of the dark, "Well, we came to help you, but I believe you do not need our assistance."
Lerin jumped and shouted, "Outlaws!", Lisa screamed, "Ogres!", and Ben and Kaela eagerly toward the sound of the voice.
"Who's there?" Ben called out.
In answer, the owner of the voice stepped into the voice.
He was tall and strong-looking, with green eyes that twinkled with supressed merriment. His beard, brown and curly, made him look like the Elandaian version of Robin Hood. He was not dressed in green though; instead his garb was a light brown tunic and boots and leggings of the same material. And instead of being armed with a bow and a quiver, at his waist was tied a sling, a bag of stones --and a sword that looked remarkably like Ben and Kaela's.
The man surveyed the little group with a smile. "My, my, two ladies, one young sir, and a another sir who looks like he fought his last battle decades ago defeating this rabble of spiders. My thanks we owe you, strangers. These spiders have been plaguing us for some time. No doubt set here by the Dark One, they have been carrying off those of us who stray out at night--young ones, older children, even grown men."
Kaela decided that she liked this man who had just appeared out of the darkness. Although he didn't bring the assurance that she knew only one would bring, it was still a comfort to have another human around--one who looked like he knew something about mountain survival.
Ben, however, caught something that his sister missed. "Hold on. Who's 'we' and 'us'?"
The man's eyebrows leapt up in approval. "Rather sharp young man, aren't you. And I see that your sword shed light." He gave a slow whistle.
Men materialized around the small group, revealing the fact that throughout most of the fight with the spiders, they had been surrounded. The men were dressed much like their leader, although (with the exception of the swords) they were armed differently.
The man who had first appeared drew his sword. It glowed, warm and mellow, showing that he was a 'follower', or one that Adonai had set aside as his own.
Lerin was looking accusingly at the man. "You are outlaws, aren't you?" he demanded. "This army proves it!"
Looking around at his men, the man nodded. "I see a band, not an army, but one cannot be too exact in words. So I suppose you could call us outlaws, yes."
--- --- ---
There. I maybe could have done better on this chapter--it's hard to write an attack by huge spiders when you're listening to 'Let it Snow' by Celtic Woman!
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