AN: Wow, it's been a while and I'm VERY sorry. As per suggestion, I've decided to change Jenny's name to Jennae. I agree with BranMuffinPower, it sounds way cooler and more Diablo-esque. Sorry again for the delay, I just got a new computer and I moved cross country for a new job. My old comp completely fried out, hence another reason for the long delay, but that's just as well because it couldn't play Diablo 3 anyway. On top of everything else I just graduated my community college and started into a 4-year university, so I've had a lot going on! I hope the length of this chapter will make up for keeping you all waiting. Enjoy you guys and thanks so much for all of you reading and reviewing 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Diablo, Diablo 2, or Diablo 3. All copyrights are still in effect and property of Blizzard Entertainment.

The Crossing of the Bows

Chyemme

" What nonsense are you blathering out now, Amazon?" Piricus growled at me as he turned briskly and started walking away. "If I'd seen something of that nature I'd have blasted it to the tail of Trag 'Oul by now."

"M' not buyin' it," Alminus furthered with a snort. "Ya were lookin' at Chyemme li' she'd jus' sprouted antlers!"

"No one asked you for your opinion, you mindless laggard," Piricus hissed at him sourly. "And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your wasted words to yourself for the remainder of the time you spend in my presence."

Alminus dismissed Piricus' less than polite response with a yawn as he stretched his massive arms over his head. The rippling muscles underneath his skin flexed in the dim light as he rolled his giant axe over his shoulders into a carrying position. "Wha'ever. Les' jus' go n' get 'is done."

"Stay in touch," Vendra reminded Sovellis as our group broke apart from the others and began moving in the opposite direction. "If I don't hear from you," she started with light-hearted sarcasm.

"Then likely we no hear from you either," Sovellis joked, though the humor contained an element of dark seriousness.

"Don't get eaten," Vendra razzed back. "Or come back wrapped up in spider string. This place would likely go up in a blink trying to burn it off you. Not to mention it's just plain disgusting and there's really no place to clean off around here. I'm not going to stomach the smell."

"You no have to tell me, feisty one," he assured and as we rounded the bend, I saw them share a tender glance. I didn't need any extra-sensory perceptions to tell me that they'd shared some other, unspoken goodbye between them. A small smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. Watching the two of them lately was endearing; Ever since their brush with death at the hands of Horazon's false summoner, they seemed to be growing closer by the day.

Their behavior was something I could easily understand. You don't share your soul with someone and not become close, even if you had a powerful connection beforehand. That's not to mention the fact that they virtually grew up together. As I thought about Vendra and Sovellis, I recalled something I'd gained a glimpse of from Adria's mind back in Lut Gholeign. The words of Celeste, Marcus, and Cyrim replayed in my mind and like it often did, curiosity got the better of me.

In all the time we'd traveled together and out of all the people I'd travelled with, I realized that I knew Sovellis the least. I mean, I knew his personality, the things he liked and didn't like, I knew his fighting style, and I knew some of his quirks from what Vendra told us, but when it came down to it, I knew absolutely nothing about his history. It was an odd realization, because everyone else in the group had already told me at least a little of their stories.

Well, I recollected grimly, that wasn't entirely true. I knew something of him. I'd learned from Vendra and Maria in Westmarch that his parents were corrupted sorcerers and had been killed by the Viz-Jaq'Taar. Vendra had explained that the Zhan-Esu were an order of only women, but somehow Sovellis had been granted an exception for the first and probably the only time in all of history. I couldn't help but wonder why that was and the more and more I thought on it, I wondered what the man named Cyrim had to do with all of this, if anything.

I started to ask him, but was distracted by Laurella and Jennae as they rejoined us at the edge of the docks. I blinked, not recognizing Jennae at first. She'd tied her thin hair back, exposing her gaunt cheeks and half-starved features. Her face, when not framed by her oily hair, was quite haunting. However, the most striking change in her appearance was due to the fact she'd donned a few pieces of leather armor. A leather cuirass adorned the upper part of her chest over her ratty shirt and she was wearing greaves to anchor her knee-high boots into place. Judging by the way her feet were sliding around in the bottom of the boots, they were too big for her and must have been Laurella's previously. But even shoes that didn't fit were substantially better than the sparse strips of water-rotted leather that had been on her feet before. Bright red bracers covered her forearms and I recognized the crest of the rogue sisterhood emblazoned upon them. I noticed immediately that Laurella's own forearms were bare, which surprised me some. She'd given up an essential component of her own armor to protect Jennae. On Jennae's waist hung Laurella's fully-stocked quiver from earlier and she held Laurella's maple-wood bow in her right hand. Laurella herself didn't look much different minus her bracers and in place of her bow, I recognized the mahogany-hued crossbow that once belonged to Celeste, the Blood Raven.

"If you're finished staring, we should go now," Laurella growled at me as they joined us.

"Play nice," Sovellis reproached, though in a civil voice. "You set example now," he reminded, giving Jennae an approving nod as he eyed her new attire.

"Those boots are too big for you," Cloudyous remarked as he eyed them. "Remind me when we get a moment and I will make you some that fit. I've got some spare leather in my bag," he offered politely.

"Thank you," Jennae accepted graciously. "That would be a big blessing. But that's not to say I'm ungrateful for your shoes, Laurella," she added quickly, shooting the older archer an apologetic glance. Clearly she thought her last comment might have been an insult.

Laurella remained indifferent. " Makes sense. Take him up on it."

I watched as Belthem cautiously made his way up to Jennae from behind. Though he'd spent the night outside of our sleeping space and been in Jennae's presence before, he was obviously unsure of what to think of her now. He wrinkled his nose when he sniffed her tatty shirt tail and then nudged the loose rim of her cuirass with the tip of his muzzle, causing the whole piece to slide. Jennae jumped as she felt the unexpected shift of her armor and Belthem's nose on her body. In turn, Belthem scuttled backwards with a mistrusting yelp, startled by her reaction and the noise.

Gaia the grizzly growled loudly, displeased with the sudden commotion. She turned her massive head in Jennae's direction and scoured her with unstable golden eyes. The behemoth bear's unsettling gaze caused Jennae to tense and reflexively reach for an arrow.

"Don't," Cloudyous commanded, though he remained calm. As Jennae hesitated, he made a bear-like noise himself from the depths of his throat, encouraging Gaia to settle down. The grizzly grunted with discontent, but then resumed standing by idly.

Jennae nervously lowered her arm with an apologetic frown, and then turned to look at the two wolves.

Belthem remained on edge for a second more until Sky walked over and licked his ear. The brown wolf also eyed Jennae oddly from where she lingered by Belthem's side, and I could sense the vibes of unease coming off our latest addition to the group.

Cloudyous gave them both a disapproving glare, saying something in the wolves' wild language.

"What are you saying to them?" Jennae asked with a slight bit of tense uncertainty as she observed.

The two wolves relaxed instantly upon Cloudyous' chiding and he clarified for the rest of us. "I told Belthem that he should have approached you from the front, even wolves get jumpy when something comes up behind them."

"What upset him? Is it me?" Jennae asked, a forlorn tone coming to her voice. "They don't seem to like me very much."

Cloudyous shook his head. "No. He said you're fine, he's just not used to the noise your armor makes. It's too big for you and the sound it makes when it slides around reminds him of an unpleasant experience he had when he was a pup. That, and the shirt you're wearing smells like demons. He was trying to make sure you weren't one. And Gaia," he said looking at the bear, "doesn't really like anyone but me. She also abhors loud noises. I wouldn't take it personally."

"My shirt smells like demons?" she asked, confused. "I don't smell anything."

"Wolves can smell things more than ten-fold what we can. Belthem smells the demons from last night, which is reasonable because you're wearing the same shirt. But," he explained, hesitating before he continued with a strange expression, "he also said you're marked, though I have no idea what that means."

"Marked? How so?" I asked, started to feel troubled in my gut. In all the time I'd accompanied my druid friend and his animals, I'd yet to hear of anything like this. "Belthem's never said anything like that before?" I furthered, trying to gain clarification. It was a proven fact that Cloudyous had conversations with the animals that we never would, and perhaps something like this had occurred previously in another conversation unheard to all of us. Cloudyous' answer didn't put my mind at ease.

Cloudyous shook his head. "No. He hasn't."

"Is it putting us in danger?" Laurella asked, trying to glean more from Cloudyous' expression.

"I don't know, seeing as I don't know what it means and he's having trouble explaining it. Jennae's not a threat to us, if that's what you mean. I think we should just move on for now," he answered, though he seemed totally confident that Jennae was trustworthy.

Cloudyous was confident, and so was I. Jennae had, after all, saved my life and the life of another girl yesterday. She'd given me and Piricus a safe place to stay and saved Scorpious when we first came to Kurast. I didn't doubt her character, but the unique circumstances and unanswered questions still weren't resting well with me. I'd had quite enough of secrets recently, so I decided to see if my inner sight could tell me more. I directed it at her subtly as we walked, searching her energies for anything that might provide more information. While we walked, Sovellis asked a pertinent question.

"Jennae, you know what happen to Xialah? She supposed to come with us and she no here," he inquired.

Jennae sighed sadly. "No, I don't. I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday night."

"Speaking of that," I added while still employing my inner sight subliminally, "What was that about anyway? She was really intent on saving you the second the demons took you and she seemed so relieved you were alright when we found you. You two obviously have some sort of close bond, but she suddenly flipped a switch when she found out you knew a paladin aura and ran off like a seething cellar cat," I recalled, snorting at the thought of the obnoxious mercenary. "What's the story between you two, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jennae stared at the ground as we walked, apparently very upset as she considered my request.

"Chyemme's being nosy," Laurella grunted with venom towards me. "It's a habit of hers. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to, it's your private life," she reminded.

I caught myself before the childish retort about rudeness being one of Laurella's traits escaped my mouth and luckily, Jennae's response intervened before any more remarks could fly.

"No, no, it won't hurt anything to share this with you and I might as well. Xialah was one of the Iron Wolves that found me after the council demon chased me to the Kurast Docks. After they saved me and brought me into the town, I had nothing. Not that it's unusual here, but I had no surviving family to care for me and no money to my name. I didn't know anyone and for a few days I tried to scrape a living off the streets. I even ate a cockroach," she said with a grimace, "because I couldn't find anything else to eat and I was starving. Anyway, there really isn't much more to tell. Xialah saw how much I was struggling and felt sorry for me, I guess. She sort of took me in you could say. She's the one who talked Asheara into letting me sleep in the old wine-cellar so I wasn't on the streets at night and she normally shares her rations with me. She's like the older sister I never had; she looks after me when she's not busy with the Iron Wolves and makes sure I eat," she explained, though the moment she'd finished speaking my psychic senses alerted me that there was somehow much more to the story than this.

For a moment, I strongly considered pressing her about it; rarely did I ever get an impulse this overwhelming that didn't turn out to be true. I parted my lips to speak, but then Laurella's snarky comment about noisiness being one of my traits resurfaced, ringing in my ears alongside some of her other, juvenile taunts. I growled inwardly when I realized her petulant comment did have an air of truth about it. Given the events of the recent past, I decided to remain silent for the time being. Listening to the conversations of others and inquiring about personal problems had led to some severely complicated and costly situations, some of which I was still presently dealing with. I sated my curiosity with the knowledge that Jennae had been forthcoming about everything else so far. Jennae was the type of person that would speak about whatever she was holding back when she was ready, of this I was sure. I stopped discreetly scanning her energy and instead, I asked a different question aloud.

"To be honest, that surprises me, especially with the way Xialah comes off. But that still doesn't explain her reaction to your paladin abilities. Why did she get so upset? She knows you aren't a demon or in any danger of becoming one," I pointed out, trying to be sympathetic and contain the blatant distaste I felt for the mercenary in my tone.

Jennae frowned deeply, and I could tell she was still thinking about whatever it was she'd yet to reveal to us. Laurella glowered at me, about to say something, and Jennae took notice. Not unlike Scorpious would have, she responded to keep the peace.

"Although we're close, Xialah rarely talks to me about her past," Jennae admitted. "To be honest, you probably know about as much of her history as I do. I try not to pry because I can tell her life's been hard and whatever happened is still painful for her to speak about. I can relate, and that's part of the reason we get along so well. From what I can gather, Xialah had some unpleasant encounters with paladins in the past and she doesn't like them very much. That might be why she got so angry when she found out I can use Zakarum abilities, but I really don't think that's why... I told her my story a long time ago and she knew I came from a paladin background," she recalled. "It didn't bother her before..."

"I no think so either," Sovellis agreed. "She rude to Scorpious, but she rude to everyone else also. She no treat him special."

"Scorpious is one of her clients," Laurella said with a discrediting snort. "Regardless of how she feels, he's paying her."

"In all reality, she probably got so angry because she feels like I lied to her," Jennae speculated. "Like I said, we're close, so she probably thought she knew everything about me and with the way she feels about paladins, it was an awful surprise. But I didn't lie to her," she declared in sincerity. "She never asked me about it. I guess she figured I was too young to be one. But apart from all that, I kept my paladin abilities a secret from everyone, not just her. The people here would have gone berserk and murdered me if they found out. You all already saw how they acted when they saw Scorpious..." Jennae reminded. "That, and I guess another reason why I never told Xialah was because didn't want to lose her. She's all I have left and the thought of her abandoning me because of my abilities...it hurts me so much," she concluded with a pained squeak. "That's why I never mentioned it. The truth's out now though, and I have no idea what will happen when we talk next, if we ever do," the girl lamented in misery.

Cloudyous placed his hand on her shoulder reassuringly. "I wouldn't worry too much," he consoled. "I have a feeling that she'll be able to get past this."

"And how is it that you know this, Cloudyous?" I asked, endeavoring hard to sequester my skepticism.

"Please don't take offense to this," he pleaded with Jennae, "but it's because wolves don't abandon members of their pack. They're family for life and Xialah acts a lot like Belthem and Sky most of the time."

I couldn't contain the hysterical laughter that burst from my mouth. Inappropriate as it was in Jennae's presence, I continued to do so until I was out of breath. It didn't take me long to realize that Sovellis was laughing too, and even Cloudyous had loosed a mirthful chuckle from behind his apologetic grin. I knew that Cloudyous had been genuinely trying to comfort Jennae, however it was clear he was more adept with the social norms of animal communication than he was with human customs. I think he truly meant the reasoning behind his remark, and to him such a thing would make sense. However it was an extremely awkward thing to say to someone that wasn't a druid. Awkward, but hilarious...

Laurella wasn't amused and she crisply reprimanded the lot of us. "Shut up," she demanded, glowering at us. "You don't talk about someone's sister that way in front of them," she hissed hotly. "You upset her," she rebuked harshly as she eyed Jennae's troubled expression.

"That wasn't my intention," Cloudyous offered in verity. "I was trying to find the right words and it's obvious I don't have them."

"It's...fine," Jennae replied, still frowning. "I know you weren't trying to be mean and Xialah can be really hard to get along with..."
"More like impossible to get along with," I muttered under my breath, though I know my comment went unheard.

"Let's focus on something else," Laurella suggested, changing topics with a final smoldering glare at the three of us humans. "Why doesn't Cloudyous get back to leading us," she insisted suggestively in a flat voice, " and while we walk you can practice your archery."

Jennae fingered the feathered tips of the arrows in her quiver, hesitating. "But wouldn't that be wasteful?" she asked with uncertainty. "We only have so many."

"Not if we retrieve them afterwards and your targets are going to be close," she answered. "Cloudyous," Laurella added, though her earlier venom was gone, " you should tell Bibo to watch where she flies. In fact, it would probably be better if she just rides on your shoulder for the time being while Jennae practices."

Cloudyous nodded appreciatively and whistled from the roof of his mouth, calling Bibo down to him. The ebony raven eyed Jennae curiously as she landed on Cloudyous' fur-padded shoulder and watched her pull and arrow from her quiver.

I watched Jennae struggle when she tried to notch an arrow upon the bow string; several times the arrow slipped off the grip and the fletching frayed as she rubbed the feathers across the rough string trying to steady it. Her fingers were slow and clumsy; she fumbled with the projectile for a few more seconds before Laurella repositioned her hands into the proper places.

"Like this," she corrected, and pulled on two of Jennae's fingers. "Your target will be that tree over there. Any part of it," Laurella clarified, gesturing to an enormous trunk about fifteen feet away to our left. "Now, bring it to the ready, just like I showed you earlier," she reminded as Jennae carefully brought the bow to eye level. "Pull the string back, by your cheek," she instructed.

Jennae had to give the taught string a few preemptory pulls as she settled into the required position, but she was doing well so far.

"Keep both eyes open, look where you want the arrow to go. Got it?" Laurella asked, checking her stance over once more.

Jennae nodded shakily as she concentrated her gaze on the tree. "I think so."

"Then let it go whenever you're ready," Laurella prompted.

"Right," Jennae answered and released the arrow.

I knew the mistake she made instants before she made it, being an expert archer myself. Jennae let go of the arrow with her entire hand instead of just the fingers Laurella had shown her. The result was instant. The arrow plopped violently off of the string and clattered to the ground a foot away.

Jennae grimaced apologetically. "Sorry," she said as she leaned over and picked up the arrow.

Laurella shook her head, patiently responding. "Don't worry about it. That happens to everybody when they first start out. You let go with your whole hand. Try to just release the arrow with your fingers next time. I know it feels strange, but you'll get used to it. Try it again. Set yourself up the same as before," she encouraged without any hint of her recent adolescent attitude.

By this time, we'd already passed Laurella's designated tree as we walked, so the she gave Jennae another target. "Shoot for that bush over to the right," Laurella suggested as Jennae took aim once more.

Jennae was more aware of her hands this time; she didn't let go with her entire hand, but her inexperienced fingers were delayed in their release this go round. Instead of letting go with both of them, she released one finger before the other, creating a shot similar to her last.

She retrieved the arrow and tried a few more times under Laurella's careful expertise. After four more rounds of fire, she finally managed to launch the arrow off the bow. It wobbled through the air and landed in the dirt five feet shy of the target.

Laurella nodded, acknowledging her improvement. "That's better, but put more muscle into it. Don't be afraid to pull the string back a little further," she critiqued.

Jennae pulled a second arrow from her quiver as we approached the area where the first had fallen. The sound of running water met our ears and as Jennae moved into her archery stance, Cloudyous stopped to examine the river in front of us. He grunted to Gaia, apparently asking her something. The grizzly sauntered over to the edge of the water and inhaled deeply, taking in the numerous smells my human nose would never perceive. After a moment, Gaia nudged Cloudyous' elbow with her huge muzzle; she seemed satisfied with whatever results she'd found.

Cloudyous placed his hand palm-down into the water, submerging it up to his wrist. He closed his eyes, focusing solely on his tactile senses. After a moment, he removed his hand and gave it a shake, flinging droplets of rank jungle water from his skin.

"According to the currents and all other sources of information, the Spider Caverns are this way," he announced and turned to the right. "We're going to follow the river, so be alert. Gaia doesn't smell any of them right now, but there might be more of those frog demons from yesterday lurking under the water," he cautioned.

"Frog demons?" Jennae asked as she searched the area with her eyes.

"They like they sound. Trust me, you no miss them, they huge. Just stay away from water and you be fine," Sovellis answered her, scanning the slow, gurgling waterway beside us.

"I'm going to send Bibo to keep an eye on the river from above. You won't be shooting in that direction and she'll be able to see into the water. If there's anything unusual in there, she'll let us know," Cloudyous decided as we proceeded. He locked his vision into Bibo's for a moment and then launched her off of his arm.

"Right then," Laurella stated as she watched the raven fly off to the right. "Try aiming for that log over there," she instructed, resuming Jennae's archery lesson. "And put more draw behind the string this time."

Jennae did as she was told, and drew the bowstring back even with the base of her jaw. I winced the instant she released the string. She'd pulled too hard, and still wasn't quite grasping the arrow hold Laurella was trying to teach her. Her fingers had trembled under the pressure and twitched at the last second, setting a sideways course for the string. The bowstring thwacked across the exposed skin on her face and then into the bracer on her left arm. She cried out in pain and dropped the bow, clutching at her face and the angry, red welt that was starting to swell up underneath her hand.

"Are you alright?" I asked, moving toward her to survey the damage and lend a helping hand.

Laurella beat me there and knelt down beside her. "Let me see," she asked, moving Jennae's hand aside.

A purple bruise was already starting to form at the edges of the reddened friction burn, and I knew how painful such an injury must have been. I'd done the exact same thing in the beginning of my archery training. I'd taken me almost a week for the twinge to die off and my injury only ceased to hurt completely when my mother applied chilled Cervati leaves. As I recalled the memory, the painful sting dwelt on my skin once more. I rubbed my cheek reflexively, experiencing sympathy pains. It was a pity that I didn't have the foresight to stock up on more of the native Skovos flora before I left the isles. Felph flowers were all well and good for fighting, but not much good for anything else. If I had some Cervati leaves, this would have been an injury easily forgotten. Yep, definitely a pity. Well, that was a mistake you only make once when you learn.

I watched Jennae in commiseration as she gingerly rubbed the sore spot, trying not to let tears of pain escape her eyes. I had to laugh when my eyes moved a little past Jennae and onto the growing vine behind her. I think it must have been a gift from Zerae due to the perfect timing, but there were four blue Cervati leaves budding right there.

I walked over and picked a few, causing my comrades to watch me curiously.

"What you do, Chyemme?" Sovellis asked with interest.

"Here, Sovellis can you lightly frost these?" I requested, pulling the serrated leaves apart at the tips and holding them out to him.

"Oh," Cloudyous remarked, recognition dawning. He smiled. "That's really lucky. Finding Cervati leaves out here."

"What kind of leaves?" Laurella asked him, scouring me with a mistrusting expression.

"They have an anti-inflammatory property when they're frozen. They secrete an acid that dulls pain and stops swelling. They're native to jungle regions, but they're really small in comparison with the co-inhabiting vegetation and often difficult to spot. Those ought to help Jennae feel better in no time," he explained, sharing his botanic knowledge with everyone else.

"It not be problem," Sovellis assured, taking the leaves in his hands. A pale vapor misted from his dark hands, coating the leaves in frost before he gave them back to me.

I walked over and placed them face down against the multicolored laceration on Jennae's face. Her relief was almost instantaneous. After three or four seconds, she stood and rubbed the area. Though yellowed tinges of the bruising were still visible, the area was longer swollen.

"Thank you," she said graciously. "Now that I know not to do that again, I guess I'd better get back to practice," she added, picking up her discarded bow and setting up for another shot as we walked.

"Can I make a suggestion?" I interjected quickly, seeing that she was about to make the same painful mistake.

"Yes," Jennae agreed as she lowered her bow.

Laurella shot me a spiteful scowl as she walked over. She'd been about to say something as well, but I just happened to speak first. "What's your problem?" she growled. "She was doing fine!"

"She's getting twisted up in the grip," I told Laurella frankly. "I was going to show her another way of holding the arrow. I think it might be easier on her for now because she has a tendency to release with her whole hand anyway."

"Stay out of this, Chyemme," Laurella demanded with malcontent. "The way I showed her is the proper archery technique and it's the one that all the rogue sisters use. It just takes practice to get it down. If you show her something else you'll only confuse her!" she insisted in a stand-offish tone.

"Proper is subjective, Laurella," I reminded. "The Rogue style is one that works well, I'm not arguing about that, but it isn't the only way. We have a few different forms of archery on the Amazonian isles and the one I have in mind is generally easier to learn if you're a pure novice like Jennae. We're probably going to see combat soon and she needs to be able to hit something more than two feet away, otherwise I might as well just give her my sword," I refuted with defiance. "Here, Jennae. Let me show you," I offered again, reaching for her bow.

"No you don't!" Laurella snorted with hostility as she stepped between us. "She's my pupil and I'm not letting you just bowl me over and assume command just because you think you're better than me!" she half-snarled on her last three words.

"I didn't say that!" I snapped angrily, my patience starting to reaching its limits at long last.

"You're implying it!" Laurella protested with venom.

"No, I'm really not," I spat, undeterred. "I'm being practical."

"The hell you are! You're just trying to show me up!" Laurella snarled. "Maybe I should just go ahead and let you, seeing as I'm better than you anyway. You'll fuck this up and then maybe learn your lesson about sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, you sorry blonde trollwart," she sneered at me with antipathy. "Then everyone can see how great you really are!"

"Why don't you let Jennae act like more of an adult than you claim to be and decide for herself what she wants to learn?" I huffed between my gritted teeth, trying desperately one last time to control my flaring temper in spite of Laurella's long-standing disrespect and petty insults. I waited for Jennae's response as I turned to her, trying to ignore Laurella. This jealous behavior of Laurella's was completely and utterly foolish and I was at my wits end with it. I was convinced that my way WAS better than Laurella's in Jennae's case, and I wasn't about to let Laurella's falsely-wounded pride be the reason Jennae met her death out here. "Jennae," I repeated with gravelly calm in my voice, "would you like me to show you a different way?"

"Don't listen to her," Laurella commanded one more time. "She's only going to mess you up!"

Jennae looked between the two of us with clear uncertainty, and clutched the bow to her chest protectively as if the both of us were suddenly going to jump on top of her and rip her apart.

"I..." she mumbled fearfully the two of us continued to stare her down from opposite sides, awaiting her decision. "Aren't you two supposed to be friends? What happened?" she squeaked with intimidation.

"Yeah, we were friends," Laurella hissed bitterly. "Until I found out that Chyemme was a two-faced liar that somehow has everyone wrapped around her little finger. You'd better be careful, Jennae. She'll get you to trust her and then stab you in the back and none of your other 'friends' will stick up for you. She'll take away what you love most and then lie to you ever-so-sweetly and pretend to be your friend while she goes around acting all high and mighty like she owns the whole damn world!"

"I never lied to you about anything!" I exclaimed furiously, feeling the muscles in my arms and neck start to twitch in unchecked agitation. "If there's anyone here that's two-faced, it's you, you little brat! You say you're an adult, that you're all grown up, but then you act like a spoiled little baby when you find out that Ryelass doesn't return your affections and start belittling me when I HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS DECISION! And just so you know, I DON'T SEE HIM THAT WAY!" I shouted, exasperated. "I just happened to be walking by obliviously when that whole mess exploded! But no, you're so eager to blame everyone but him, that you take all your girlish garbage out on me when I've done nothing wrong! And you're so insecure about yourself that you're going to stand there and prevent Jennae from learning something that will help her stay alive! Are you really that self-absorbed? You're disgusting!" I thundered, setting all of my repressed emotions free. "Yeah, we used to be friends," I repeated snidely, "Then Laurella became a selfish, whining child that can't separate fact from fiction!"

Laurella's silver eyes narrowed at me dangerously as she swept past Jennae altogether and into my personal space. I was fully aware of the loaded crossbow she held in her left hand as she leaned up on her toes, getting into my face.

"Back up," I insisted with a baleful tone in my voice as my fists clenched by my sides. I was not intimidated by this little whelp's antics in the least. In fact, with every second that passed, she only made me increasingly angry.

"Why don't you make me?" she challenged, glaring at me.

"I'm thinking about it," I informed with a growl. "I'm only going to tell you one more time. Get out of my face," I repeated, seething with silent rage.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she shot back. "I dare you to take a swing," she continued, taunting me.

"One would be all it takes," I snorted sarcastically, fighting back the nearly overwhelming impulse to call her out and punch her in the face.

"Hang on second! Let not do this!" Sovellis interrupted, moving swiftly to stand beside both of us.

"Stay out of this," Laurella and I growled at him simultaneously before shooting each other loathing scowls across the four inch distance between us.

"Be calm, I beg you both. This not way to solve problem! You no need to fight! We find different way to solve!" Sovellis continued, slipping his tall body between us and forcing us apart. Starting to become furious with Sovellis and thoroughly irate with his interruption, I made to shove past him. Laurella had a similar idea and attempted to lunge around him. Though he was thin and I could easily get at Laurella around his body, Sovellis' long, lanky appendages and sheer height did prove to be a considerable barrier. Being mindful of where he placed his hands, my mage friend grabbed a piece of Laurella's brown undershirt that was protruding up from her armor around the collar in one hand and the top of my leather breastplate with his other. He pushed the pair of us in opposing directions, using the length of his arms to put a sizeable three foot distance between us. We both struggled against him and it became increasingly difficult for him to hang on. I could see the strain we were placing on the long muscles underneath his dark skin. Pleasingly, I noted he was having much more trouble restraining me and my muscular frame than he was with tiny, wispy Laurella. I scoffed as I eyed her from around Sovellis' midnight blue robes. Did she have any idea what would happen to her if she really did pick a fist fight with me? I'd crush her in half without any sort of issue, that's what. I'd taken on warriors twice her size and caliber in the past and come out victorious, not to mention some of the demons I'd bested. Take away Laurella's bow and she really had nothing left.

"This foolish, and embarrassing. You both make selves look dumb. Let not do this. Please, I beg both once more, calm down," Sovellis tried one more time, berating both of us as I finally wrestled out of his grip. Surprisingly, he made no further attempt to contain me after I broke loose and he released Laurella as well, though he still stood rooted to the spot between us.

"I agree," Cloudyous added, walking over with a serious expression after having watched Sovellis' failed attempt at playing peacemaker between us. "We need to find a different, more peaceful solution to this conflict. I think the first step is for you two to put some physical distance between you," he suggested, "and Laurella put your crossbow away."

"Don't tell me what to do and ignore Chyemme," she spat at him crossly, refusing to budge from her spot directly in front of Sovellis.

"That wasn't a request," Cloudyous insisted in an even voice. "And it was directed at both of you."

"I'm not moving until she does," I protested, still feeling indignant over our verbal skirmish and now egged on even more so by her physical attempt to get back into my space from across Sovellis. I definitely wasn't going to be the first to back down, even though Cloudyous' words were sound in sense. This was a matter of pride and I was finally at the breaking point with it. I remained rooted where I was, glowering at him obstinately and when Laurella didn't budge either, Cloudyous tried again.

"I don't think I need to remind either of you that this entire landscape is radiating demon energy worse than an exploding volcano and I think it's getting to the two of you. I don't know if it's because you two are psychically gifted or because this is a long-standing conflict, but neither of you are exercising good judgment right now. Separate," he repeated.

It took me a surprised moment to realize it because I'd never heard my druid friend make one before, but Cloudyous had just issued a threat.

"Is that a threat?" Laurella and I asked together: her with petulance and me with my own agitation.

In reply, we were both promptly silenced as Gaia took a massive step in our direction and loosed a savage roar that shook the surrounding area. The sound was more than enough persuasion for Laurella; she stiffly lowered her weapon and took three furious strides backward. She crossed her arms with a stubborn, childish posture, but at least she was now angling her weapon into the soggy jungle dirt.

Likewise, Gaia's bellowing challenge also changed my attitude. The sound alone had set my blonde hair to whipping in the air for the sheer force and I wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight with a fully mature grizzly if I didn't have to. I muttered my discontent under my breath, but walked over to lean against a fallen tree.

"Now then," Cloudyous tried again. "Let's think of a different way to settle this. I'm up for hearing any practical suggestions that don't involve a physical altercation between the two of you."

"I have no idea then," Laurella hissed through gritted teeth.

I stared at Laurella furiously with an unblinking gaze, trying to determine a solution through my abundant anger that didn't include beating her to a pulp. Her eyes were icy and malicious, and for a moment, I couldn't help but think of Piricus due to the similarity in expression. I wonder what he would have said if he were here? I wonder what he would have done? He probably would have goaded the two of us into fighting in the first place and then taunted me for losing my temper while saying something like 'Oh finally lost it have you, Amazon?' Or 'How pathetic, you let a child's words get the best of you'. I scowled at the thought. Yeah, to that I would have responded 'And you're any better? Challenging Ryelass to a petty pissing contest.' I could just see the dark light flickering behind his emerald eyes now as he made some stupid threat...

My imaginary argument with Piricus suddenly gave me an idea. A contest. It was the perfect answer, and given my heritage, I was surprised I hadn't thought of it sooner. On the Amazonian Isles it was ancient tradition that disputes between two warriors be settled with a trial known as the Crossing of the Bows. A test in one's archery skill, two disagreeing Amazons of the warrior caste would both be sent into the wilderness, each alongside a fair and impartial judge appointed by the tribal leaders, to hunt as many animals as they could during a set time frame. When the time limit was reached, both parties would head back to the tribe and the judges would recount the tales and present the kills before the Queen's Battle Maiden. The animals killed during this trial would provide necessary supplies for our people, and therefore the Amazon with the greatest bounty would be declared the biggest asset to our people and ergo the winner of the dispute. The winner of this contest was entitled to full repayment of any and all material debts in question and in matters where pride and reputation were on the line, the winner also had the right to demand public recompense from their defeated foes. For us Amazons, that usually meant the loser humbles themselves in front of the tribe by becoming a temporary servant to their victor and publicly takes back whatever offensive thing they said. In this case, I would be demanding an apology to myself, Jennae, and to Ryelass. I honestly didn't think I could stomach having Laurella follow me around with an even more bitter attitude, and therefore if she agreed to this, when I won, I'd forego that right. There was also one more trying aspect to this competition. The use of inner sight was strictly forbidden.

"I have an idea," I offered, still steaming with antipathy as I explained the concept to Laurella and everyone else present. When I was finished Laurella scoffed.

"A fair and impartial judge? Where the hell would I find one of those? Everyone here is on your side," she spat.

"It doesn't have to be someone from this group," I shot back hotly. "I'll even let you go back to town and pick someone. So what do you think, Laurella?" I demanded. "Are you going to accept my challenge or back down like a little cur?"

I could have repressed that last insult if I'd really wanted to, I guess. But truth be told, I just didn't feel like it right now. With as many cheap shots as she'd taken at me recently, I figured I was entitled to at least one of my own. Just as expected, Laurella took the bait.

"I'm going to make you eat that," Laurella snarled. "Hell yes I accept! And just to make sure you don't cheat, I'll even let you use my bow. Give Jennae your sword," Laurella insisted with a testy voice.

"Done," I agreed, removing my crystal blade and its sheath. I handed both to Jennae a little more rough than I'd intended and I almost knocked her over. "Sorry," I apologized in a breath, hearing the misdirected briskness in my tone and not caring for once, as Jennae traded me her quiver and bow.

Jennae unsheathed the crystalline sword as I rearmed myself and marveled at its shimmering edge. "This is beautiful," she said in admiration. "A blade like this could buy a city! Look at how thick the crystal is!"

"It's also sharper than a razor, be extremely careful," I admonished, starting to feel a tiny pang of guilt for my attitude half a second ago. I shouldn't have snapped at Jennae, but I was so irritated I really couldn't help myself. I fastened the final latch of the quiver into my belt while still addressing her. "That's probably be better for you to use anyway, seeing as you've already had some sword training," I added, watching her give it a test swing that sliced cleanly through a cluster of intertwined vines and into the trunk of a tree behind it.

"It feels a little more familiar at least," Jennae admitted with a small amount of confidence.

"So who be judge of contest?" Sovellis asked, looking between Laurella and I.

"We're only going to need one judge, because it's not advisable for us to split up. We'll be fighting in a tight space anyway from the feel of things, and one person will be able to watch you both from the back, so one judge should be sufficient. But it will have to be someone with a spiritual sense," Cloudyous reminded, "Seeing as neither of them are allowed to use inner sight. It would have to be someone that can sense it's use, so that's not me. I'm going to suggest that you judge this contest, Sovellis. You have more attuned perceptions and we really don't have time to be running back to the docks. The others are relying on us to get our relic and meet back with them as soon as possible," he finished.

"That's fine with me," I concurred. I looked to Laurella, expectant that she would pitch some sort of ill-tempered protest.

She shrugged, though there was a level of insolence in the gesture."Out of everyone," she said with a grumble, "he's probably the one I'd call the most impartial. Fine by me."

"Well it's a good thing that's settled," Cloudyous announced, stopping in front of an extremely large outcropping of mossy rock, "Because we're here."

"You no look pleased," Sovellis noted, seeing an unpleasant expression cross our druid friend's face.

"What's wrong?" Jennae asked him with seriousness, inspecting the forty-foot rock for herself.

Nothing appeared out of the ordinary; the rock was solidly settled into the mushy ground about thirty feet inland and the last ten or so feet on the right were halfway submerged in the river. The river itself showed no signs of disturbance and I couldn't physically see anything out of place around the rock either. I instinctively started to scan the area with my inner sight but abruptly stopped myself. The Crossing of the Bows hadn't officially started, but it would the moment I fired my first arrow and it couldn't be one under the guidance of inner sight or I'd forfeit immediately.

Cloudyous pressed his hand firmly against the side of the rock and I watched the subtle brown energy of his druidic magic work its way into the grooves. He closed his eyes, considering to himself for a moment.

"The entrance into the cavern has been sealed. I don't know if it was a natural cave in or a demon's attempt to block our path that closed it, but I'm not seeing an immediate way inside," Cloudyous answered, surveying the area more closely.

"Can we use one of these holes?" Jennae asked, peering over the edge of a large sinkhole she'd discovered three feet in front of her.

"How'd you find that?" Laurella asked her, leery.

"It was just here under all these leaves," Jennae answered. "There are a few more of them over there," she answered, gesturing around.

Suspicious, I made my way to her side and looked around. As I examined the area, I noticed there were multiple gaps in the mud around the base of the rock, each about ten feet from the next and each about four feet wide. They were covered extremely well, my trained eyes had trouble unmasking their locations from the jungle floor. Moss and decaying foliage obscured the majority of what I instantly knew to be spider traps. I grabbed Jennae's arm and pulled her away from the hole wordlessly. Instinct, and the claw-marks just visible at the edge sight within the hole we'd just been looking down told me this trap had very recently snared some live prey.

It wasn't a moment too soon. A split second after we'd absconded that space, a long, spindly leg appeared from within the hole tentatively probing the area we'd been standing moments before.

I fluidly strung an arrow to Laurella's bow, aiming at the base of the hole. I knew what was coming next and I wasn't disappointed. A gargantuan, hairy spider half the size of Gaia came skittering soundlessly out of the ground. I only took enough of a discerning look to determine where the middle of its head was. I fired, flawlessly nailing an arrow into the middle of its face and rupturing one of the faceted eyeballs that lie next to my mark. Black blood poured over the area and the creature clacked its grotesque jaws together one final time before slumping back into its burrow lifelessly.

"Hey Sovellis," I called over, "Did you catch that? That's one for me."

The smell of smoke preceded his answer. "Yes Chyemme. I saw spider. But I think this one bigger!" he called over his shoulder, launching a fireball into a sinkhole and onto the face of an enormous arachnid that had appeared from within.

I turned and fired, hitting another spider that was surfacing next to Cloudyous in one of its skittering front legs. In a cacophony of mandibular clacks and shrill screeches, the overgrown spider staggered backward disoriented by pain and slid a small distance back into the ground. The distraction and loss of traction on behalf of the spider was enough to give Cloudyous the necessary time to react. Whistling and wringing ice from the arctic winds on his palms, my druid friend blasted the encroaching arachnid over the thorax, successfully freezing its legs into its body. Unable to climb any further, the creature disappeared as it plummeted back into its burrow and out of my eyesight underneath the ground. I could tell though, by heavy thuds sounding a short ways down, that the spider Cloudyous and I tag-teamed had collided with and possibly killed several more attempting to climb aground out of the same burrow.

"That doesn't count," Laurella grunted from somewhere behind me. Apparently she'd seen the string of spiders Cloudyous and I had just finished.

Ignoring the instincts of the trained warrior in me, I allowed my attention to drift away from the battle for a moment and instead I permitted myself to indulge in the indignant irritation that was usurping my focus.

"He didn't say it did!" I snapped back loudly, turning to look at her with hostility.

"We just needed to be clear," Laurella huffed as her eyes scanned the burrows for more spiders. I could tell, judging by the way her upper lip twitched as she looked around, that she was sorely missing her inner sight and had probably considered using it at least once.

Sheesh. What a novice. Couldn't even go one fight on observation alone. And this little whelp thought she could up me in anything? A half-formed scoff escaped my mouth but was quickly replaced by a cocky grin. In a movement I wasn't even sure Laurella could register, I reloaded the bow and fired, hitting a spider that was emerging near her left foot. My arrow impaled the animal cleanly through side of its face and it died without ever making a sound. To my further pleasure, Laurella seemed to have noticed this spider too, but she had been much slower reacting to it. Her crossbow bolt landed in its eye several seconds too late.

"Hey Laurella," I jeered. "That one counts. Just so we're clear," I added sounding more than slightly arrogant. I turned to Sovellis expectantly, waiting for his confirmation.

"You can't be serious!" Laurella snarled with spite. "That one was mine!"

Our mage friend had a strange look on his face as he turned to the pair of us and eyed the two projectiles embedded in the dead arachnid dubiously.

"I hit it first," I snapped, trying to clear up the obvious uncertainty in his mind.

Sovellis sighed. "I guess so," he declared after a moment of hesitation.

"This is ridiculous!" Laurella thundered. "It's at MY feet!"

"Yeah it is ridiculous," I found myself laughing cynically. "You have a crossbow which fires with the pull of a trigger. It's faster than a bow and I STILL beat you to it."

"Stop it you two-" Cloudyous growled from beside me. He was interrupted midsentence as four, reddish brown spiders, dark and stripped like tigers with ebony streaks, appeared from seemingly nowhere atop the large rock we'd been examining earlier.

Without further ado, one launched itself off the rock and toward Cloudyous. He turned to strike the creature with his spiked club, but in so doing he left his back wide open. Another of the four monsters actually stumbled over top of one of its fellows in order to make the most of the opportunity.

Belthem snarled with savagery and lunged through the air to his human friend's defense but let out a loud yelp when he was snagged around one of his back feet by a burrowing spider that had used the wolf's own preoccupation to strike from below. Sky, Cloudyous' brown wolf, surged forward, growling and barking at the spider that snagged Belthem, but part way to her pack-mate's side, she darted sideways, watching the other spider attacking Cloudyous with her wild gaze. The she-wolf weaved hesitantly, clearly unsure which member of her pack needed her more and it was a hesitation that cost her dearly. A third spider from the group up top pounced on her and landed a pincer in her side as it knocked her over.

Everyone was already moving: Sovellis had taken aim for the spider at Cloudyous' backside as Bibo swooped in from above and tried to distract it to buy him more time. Laurella was trying to help Belthem, seeing as he was the closest to her. Putting my jibes at Laurella momentarily out of my mind, I aimed for the spider attacking Sky. However, I was forced to redirect immediately when Jennae ran out in front of me, sword held high. Her intentions may have been noble but unfortunately her movements were ill-timed. The fourth and final red spider took her sudden jerky run to Sky's aid as a signal of fleeing prey and it sprang off the rock after her.

Everything after that seemed to happen in slow motion. I released an arrow from my bowstring aimed to protect Jennae, but it seems Laurella had the same idea. At least, my mind muttered grimly in the exaggerated moments that followed, it wasn't a selfish notion. My arrow collided with Laurella's bolt, seeing as they were on the same course, and both of the missiles violently splintered apart several feet shy of the target.

Jennae twirled mid-run, seeing the dark shadow of the spider just a second too late. Though she pulled my crystal blade with her in the motion, striking as she did so, she only managed to cut off a single, spindly leg before she disappeared beneath the bulk of the enormous spider. She yelped loudly in surprise; a sound I'm sure that was originally a startled scream and ended up muffled underneath the monster's mass.

To make matters worse, Sovellis, upon hearing Jennae's distressed cries, had turned his attention at precisely the wrong moment and missed with the ice bolt he'd cast to save Cloudyous. Bibo barely had time to swerve around the errant bolt of magic, she darted upwards at the last possible second with a loud caw. Out of reach, the raven could only watch as the second attacking spider descended on top of my druid friend, tearing savagely at anything it could reach. Fur went flying from the back of his muskrat shawl before the large predator completely obscured my view of him also.

Gaia stormed forward, seeing the peril that all of her companions were in and tackled the first spider Cloudyous had been fighting around the midsection. Her razor-sharp claws mangled the squishy flesh of the red spider as she slashed at anything she could reach. She bit and mauled her way through the entire body of the monster in seconds, but not before receiving a nasty surprise. Her massive jaws crunched down on something at least semi-solid, judging by the sound, and a small fire erupted over her muzzle.

Likewise, judging by the howls and the smoke I was starting to see through the mass of legs, jaws, and spider bodies, Sky's fur was also on fire. I grimaced as I remembered what Cloudyous had spoken back at dockside. These red spiders apparently ate some type of flammable ore and could breathe fire if I remembered him correctly...

"Gaetreth," I hissed under my breath, using the harsh Amazionian curse word for the first time since I left home. I was never one for overt swearing, but more and more, events and people just seemed to make this foul oath the most appropriate thing to describe these circumstances.

"Laurella, help Cloudyous!" I insisted as I took aim for the spider that was atop Jennae.

"Why don't you?" she hissed, miffed as she aimed for my same target. "I invited Jennae along and I'll take care of her. I'm not giving you another opportunity to ridicule me."

"You're closer-" I started to protest, but before I could finish, a bolt whizzed by me so close to my nose it actually tickled. The spider Jennae had disappeared underneath howled in agony as the bolt embedded into the center of its back. It bucked and flailed, and when it reared I breathed a nanosecond's worth of relief. Jennae was still alive beneath the thing, she had the sword I'd lent her lodged like a bar between the spider's clacking jaws and her vivid, fire-repulsing aura was present around her, stealing the monster's fire out of its dripping jaws and channeling it harmlessly around to the sides of her body.

I didn't have time to yell at Laurella about the crossfire she'd created, I had to help Cloudyous, and fast. Despite the dire situation, intellect and pride hadn't completely deserted me. Legend has it that over a hundred years ago, the best Amazon archer in the world, Palashia, developed a secret technique that enabled her to use her own energy to split one arrow into many. Rumor also has it that she used the technique to best several rivals in an archery contest. Here's a funny thing about rumors. Some of them are true. The higher orders of Amazonian priestesses and most especially the elite fighters of the warrior caste are privy to this particular technique. I remember learning it under my mother when I was only ten. Though I am and always was more inept with spear-class weapons, my archery skills are far from dismal. I concentrated on the feel of the wooden arrow in my grip, I felt for the grains in the wood with my mind. I made the connection and fired my projectile, pulling the wood apart with my mind as it flew. The arrow split into two halves; the first half severed the head of the spider attacking Cloudyous and as it did so, I directed the secondary half with my mind into the spider attacking Sky.

The secondary arrow sliced cleanly through the spider's midriff, killing it after several more moments of screeches, thrashes and wails. In the time it took me to kill two spiders, Laurella managed to finish off the one attacking Jennae by shooting it through four of its eyes. While we were preoccupied, Sovellis had regained enough of a grip on the situation to blast the flameless spider attacking Belthem into pieces with a fireball, thus ending the threat for the moment.

I looked around sharply, trying to assess not only the damage done to my companions, but make double sure there weren't any more spiders immediately around. I won't lie, doing so would have been much easier and more accurate using my inner sight and the instinct to use it almost kicked in. I growled in disgust as the wafting smell of burnt fur and flesh passed under my nose, reminding me that I was still engaged in a contest that I didn't want to forfeit.

I turned to Sovellis, whom was already moving to extinguish the flames around Sky's side, he was blowing misty vapor from his mouth into her fur as he knelt over the wolf. Cloudyous stood up swiftly and tossed his flaming fur shawl onto the ground. He stomped on it several times, extinguishing the blaze. There was no question in my mind as I looked at what remained of the shredded and charred piece of hide, that if Cloudyous hadn't been wearing it, he'd have been dead right now. Fortunately, it seemed that in spite of everything that just transpired, he was completely unharmed.

The same seemed to hold true for Jennae, further compounding my relief. Other than being coated in some revolting globules of spider saliva, she seemed fine. In fact, she didn't even appear shaken. Jennae graciously accepted Laurella's hand up when she walked over and then promptly set her aura around Gaia, putting out the blaze on the grizzly's maw.

Cloudyous' face soured as he looked around himself at each of his animal companions. Of the four of them, Bibo had obviously faired the best. She wasn't injured at all, but the raven's nervous and flittering mannerisms as she perched in the tree overhead suggested she was upset regardless. Belthem limped over to Cloudyous' side, sniffing him and some of the minor scorch marks present in his ripped and dirtied linens. Apparently content that the druid wasn't injured, he turned to the tear in his rear haunch and licked it sorely as he sat down.

Sky and Gaia both looked a little worse for wear. Sky was missing a patch of fur on her side and had a significant puncture under one of her ribs. She was in great pain too; the she-wolf paced a circle tightly and was panting hard. This made twice I'd seen Sky suffer a burn-type injury, though admittedly this time she'd fared a little better. I looked over, examining Gaia in more detail next. True to any bear, Gaia seemed to just shirk off her burns. She licked her blackened muzzle tenderly and exhaled a deep, displeased snort, but otherwise seemed unfazed.

"Poor thing," Jennae said with a frown as she watched Sky. "Is there anything we can do to help her?"

"She's a bit roughed up," Cloudyous admitted with a hardened expression as he watched the brown wolf also, "but wolves are resilient and she'll be able to hold out until we can treat her with some salves and the like later. Belthem on the other hand, needs a bandage. Sovellis may I have one out of the pouch?" he requested.

Sovellis nodded and removed a dull-colored strip of linen from a satchel at his belt. He handed it to Cloudyous and as he started to bind Sky's wounds, Sovellis turned to Laurella and I.

"What's the score?" I asked, keenly interested and not wanting to allow him the reprimand he was about to give us.

Sovellis slouched. "Is such really what most important to you?" he asked with dismay.

"Right now it is," Laurella affirmed, "Now that everyone is okay."

"You say that like nothing happened," I growled, turning to glare at her. "Your crossfire could have gotten us all killed! And not to mention the next time you fire that close to my face on purpose, contest or no, I'm going to bend that crossbow around your neck," I threatened with animosity.

Laurella started to retort, but Sovellis intervened, bringing our attentions back to him. "The score be this. Chyemme kill four spider so far. Laurella kill two. One she kill while you busy Chyemme," Sovellis explained before I could protest or ask about it.

I grinned heartily upon hearing the news. "Doesn't matter to me, I trust you to be fair Sovellis," I reaffirmed, willing the very statement to stir the ire in Laurella.

"I'm just going to remind everyone to be more alert," Cloudyous added with a displeased grunt as he finished bandaging Belthem's leg. As an ominous reminder, which I knew to be aimed at Laurella and myself and not actually everyone, he shook the tattered ruins of his shawl before discarding it into the dirt.

I could feel my ears twitch ever so slightly, and even as Cloudyous said the words, I strung my bow. "Speaking of which," I began as Laurella loaded her crossbow simultaneously.

"Don't even think about it," Laurella snorted as we loosed our projectiles at the same time.

I snorted. To hell with that. My arrow was going to hit first, of that I was sure. And if her bolt hit too, it wouldn't really matter much, there'd be nothing left of that spider. I'd already outdone her. I smiled as my arrow burst into flame and embedded itself into the face of the emerging spider, pinning it against the wall of the sinkhole.

My smile quickly turned into a cringe when I realized a little too late what I'd just overlooked in my pride. The resulting explosion blasted me and everyone else off of our feet. My left temple struck the filthy, wet ground with a sizeable force and for a moment my ears were ringing and all I could see were shapeless blobs of color. My head throbbed in agony as I made to move, whether I was able to sit or stand I still couldn't tell. My circlet had protected me from landing unconscious, but flesh striking against the inside metal wasn't a productive sensation either. I remained motionless for several moments, woozy and unable to clearly hear or see anything. I closed my eyes as all of my senses screamed in unison.

Something pulled me to my feet, and I felt a strong pressure under my arms and across my back. I could vaguely discern Cloudyous' voice next to me. His tone was hurried and low, and judging by the quickness of his garbled words, he was really angry.

"I can't believe...you of...what the...why...pride...ore...flammable...now...spiders!" were among a few of the words I was able to make out as my hearing returned and my vision stabilized.

When I regained my visual focus and everything settled, I cursed again. Spiders...spiders were everywhere. There had to be almost seventy or eighty of them and all of them were swarming forth from the glowing gap in the earth I'd just so foolishly created like ants from a disturbed bed. I'd never held any love for spiders and seeing this many all swarm together at once was enough to turn my stomach. My knees quaked together in a subconscious revulsion I couldn't control.

"Chyemme?! Can you understand me?!" Cloudyous prompted as he turned me to look at him.

I nodded, bring searing pain to my forehead and its many muscles as I did so. "Yes, I can..." I mumbled regrettably.

"Thank the stars," he sighed. "That was one hell of an explosion you and Laurella created," he grumbled, still cross as he helped me walk backwards. In fact, as I looked behind me, I realized he'd been helping me toward the edge of the darkened river.

"Laurella?" I asked, still disoriented a bit.

"Yes," Cloudyous growled in a gruff voice. "You and Laurella both conveniently had the oversight to forget that the ore in the caverns below is highly volatile and in your haste to kill one spider, you both shot fire arrows and blew it tree-high!"

"You're right," I sighed with my head feeling like it too was about to explode, "that was pretty damn stupid."

"Yes, it was," he snapped, more brisk than I'd ever heard him. "The mother tree truly blessed and protected us, because luckily this short-sighted folly didn't get anyone killed. What the hell did I just say about being aware?" he huffed, starting to sound somewhat like Scorpious. Now that I thought about it, Piricus was right. Scorpious did tell us to be careful a lot. Maybe this had happened because he wasn't here this time to say it, I thought with dark humor to myself as the mountain of spiders sighted us simultaneously and began the charge.

"I can walk by myself," I insisted, shaking loose of Cloudyous' arm. "What now?" I asked, groping for the bow I'd been lent in the spot where my javelins were. My fingers traced the metallic tips of my throwing weapons, but the bow was nowhere to be found.

"Belthem has the bow. He picked it up after the explosion," Cloudyous supplied as he watched me. "I swear by Scosglen that animals are so much smarter than people on most occasions," he seethed, trying to contain his temper.

As unusual as it was to see Cloudyous angry, I really couldn't blame him. He was right. We'd been EXTREMELY fortunate in surviving the explosion, but we'd made a bad situation worse regardless.

"We're headed into the water. These spiders can't swim, and the water will protect us from the flames. There's also an underwater entrance to the caves a short way up. I was about to explain that when the spiders attacked in the first place," Cloudyous furthered, returning to my original question.

"Fine," I concluded, though I was apologetic in my tone as I backed into the sickly- looking river water. Everything about this waterway was rank. I'd expected such a shadowy place to be cold, but the dusky, brackish water was sticky and almost hot, like tar. The smell of death emanated up from the riverbed as my feet stirred the squalid mud and decaying foliage of its bottom. Not only were the physical sensations of the water disgusting, but the further back I went into the water, the more an unearthly chill swept over my skin. My soaked leather armor clung tightly to my body as I followed Cloudyous' lead and submersed myself up to my shoulders in the murk. I prayed to Zerae that there weren't any of the demon frogs lurking around as the weight of my metal thigh-armor and weapons anchored me into place in the water and hindered my forward momentum. If they attacked, I definitely wasn't going anywhere fast.

After a few moments, we rejoined with the others, even Gaia, whom waded in the shallows a few hundred feet downstream. It looked to me like Sovellis was holding Laurella afloat; her expression suggested strongly that she had been likewise stunned by the explosion we'd created. She gave me a malcontented glare as we approached, but said nothing.

"So," Jennae began with a humorous tone as she sensed the tension, wobbling in and out of the weak current, "who got that one?"

I snorted, extremely displeased. I didn't find that joke the slightest bit funny and neither did Laurella. We both glowered at her, but Sovellis broke out laughing.

"Me say, spider win that one," he said with a smirk.

"No kidding," Cloudyous scoffed, an uncharacteristic thing for him.

"Aww, come now. Even feisty one laugh at joke and she no even here," Sovellis protested, giving Jennae a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Frankly, I think Vendra might be having a better day than I am so far," Cloudyous countered, though some of his good-natured self returned to his voice.

"And why that be? We still alive, no? And spider no swim, so say I we have really good day," Sovellis returned with a smile.

"A spider ruined my favorite shawl, among other things," Cloudyous snorted, though Sovellis' good humor was starting to relieve his sour mood.

Something hard and sticky landed in the water next to us, and looking up, I couldn't help but be disgusted. The spiders were all clamoring over each other on the riverbank lining up and spewing string from the spinnerets on their rears.

"That's revolting," I spat as a shiver passed up my spine.

"It's also dangerous," Cloudyous remarked with displeasure. "Their webbing is like fishing line. If they snag you with it, they'll pull you right to shore faster than we can react."

"I burn webbing and create fire shield from side," Sovellis offered as he conjured a small flame around his wrist.

"A wise idea," Cloudyous agreed. "The tunnel is about fifty feet this way," he added, pointing to the portion of the boulder that lay in the water. "At the base."

Sovellis wasted no time in forming a semi-circular barrier of fire in the air above the water, projecting it shore-side with his right hand. Several strands of webbing hit the shield and were burnt away with an acrid odor as we all started to wade through the river toward the clandestine opening beneath the water.

I couldn't help it. As we walked I could tell that something wasn't right. I'm not a druid, but there were several patches of cold mixed into the heated water that sent pinpricks over my skin. There were more than a handful of times that I could have sworn something was moving besides the current in the water around me and more and more the paranoia increased until I stopped walking. We were only a few feet from the rock, and Cloudyous was preparing to dive when he noticed my hesitation.

"What's wrong Chyemme?" he asked, reading my face expertly.

"There's something here in the water with us," Jennae finished for me as she eyed the water around her with mistrust. I noticed that she'd pulled the crystal blade from underneath the water and was holding it at ready.

"Are sure? I feel nothing and animal no make notice either," Sovellis asked, turning to us briefly while maintaining his magical shield.

My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach as the water next to Jennae's head began to break and what resembled a sunken, rotted human face missing several of its key components appeared.

"That's because they're zombies and the water masked their smell!" I hissed and reached for a javelin. To hell with the contest, right now I had no other weapon anyway.

I took aim at the repulsive creature, but Jennae beat me to it. In a move that would have made Scorpious and Khalim proud, she turned and brought the sword down overhead, cleaving the undead atrocity in half with a splash.

As if the acknowledgement was all they needed, more of the water-logged undead started to surface around us in a ring. I inhaled sharply as something out of eyesight within the depths of the water grabbed at my ankle. Trusting the feel of my boots around my foot to let me know where not to place my strike, I stabbed downward into the water with my javelin and felt the metal lance something fleshy. That fleshy something then started to wriggle like a monstrous fish and thrash around beneath me.

Whatever I'd ensnared, presumably a zombie, rolled under the water and dragged me with it. I managed to suck in a deep breath just before I was plunged into the gross, dim river. Brackish fluid was forced up my nose and the filth stung at my eyes as I struggled to determine what I was currently fighting with. However, even underneath the water and being much closer to my target, I still couldn't see anything. All I could make out was some dark shape about a foot below me on the very bed of the river as it moved. I tried to tighten my grip on the javelin connected into whatever was below me, and use the vibrations to tell me more information. After a few more seconds of opposition and wasted breath, I couldn't help but realize how foolish this was. I wasn't going to be able to do anything without being able to see and for all I knew, this thing was going to injure or kill me any moment. I quickly reached out with my inner sight, not enough to really cause a shine, but just a small glimmer. Like my lungs which were depraved of oxygen, my distanced mind welcomed even the slightest touch of my mental gifting that I'd grown so accustomed to using. To tell the truth, not using it was actually a greater challenge than I'd expected.

Instantly receiving feedback from my psychic senses, I was able to determine that what I stabbed was indeed a zombie. Well, at least the upper half of one. My inner sight also told me that this detached torso was dangerously close to grabbing the back of my throat and that my javelin had gone through only one of its arms. I quickly rectified that mistake. I slammed my foot down on its neck as best I was able from my awkward side-position in the water and then plunged another of my javelins through the back of the carcass' skull, stilling it permanently. I grabbed both javelins and yanked them from the lifeless upper body just as I expended the last bit of breath I was holding. I put my feet firmly back on the bottom of the river and pushed up, though it was difficult with the weight of all my armor and weaponry. I broke the surface of the water and the last glimmer of my inner sight told me to duck back under. One of Laurella's bolts went whizzing over the surface of the water where my head had just been.

When I was sure it was safe, I came up fuming. "What the hell are you doing!?" I screamed irately as slime, mud, and dirty water slid out of my long hair. I was vaguely aware of moving one of my javelins into a throwing position, an instinct fueled by the rage I was feeling.

"Relax Chyemme!" Cloudyous' voice pleaded. "We all thought you were a zombie coming up, it wasn't just Laurella," he added quickly and as I looked around I noticed the sincerity of his statement.

Everyone was tense and had weapons drawn, not just Laurella, though she didn't seem rueful in the slightest that she could have just killed me. I snorted angrily as I looked around.

"We weren't sure what was you and what was undead," Jennae reaffirmed apologetically, as for some reason, I'd chosen to settle my gaze on her.

"This is stupid," I growled, sweeping my eyes over all of my companions. "If we could use inner sight this wouldn't have happened."

"You seem to be forgetting that this is your contest," Laurella scoffed with cynicism. "You set the terms. Maybe you should have thought twice before you took away something you knew you couldn't do without. Speaking of which," Laurella snickered, "I'm now at seven enemies killed."

What little of my indignation that was dying away rekindled in a spark of hostility. Literally. A spark of lightning across my javelin threatened to electrocute all of us in the water. "What?! You can't count that! I didn't even have a bow! That's not fair at all!" I spat, turning to Sovellis who shrugged.

"You say in contest rules whatever she kill with crossbow counts. It not Laurella's fault you no hold onto you weapon," he reminded fairly.

"Well did you count the one I just killed?" I snipped, feeling more than slightly cheated. In the very back of my mind, I was also feeling guilty and panicked. If Sovellis or any of the others found out what I'd done under the water, I'd lose automatically and I'd never live such a loss down. Especially, I thought as a mortified shiver passed over my skin, when Piricus and all the others found out.

Sovellis shook his head. "Sorry Chyemme, you no kill zombie with bow so I can no count."

"Unbelievable," I snarled, hearing and feeling the venom in my own voice.

"Yeah it is believable. That you do something stupid and lose your weapon when any warrior knows not to. Try that on for size," Laurella retorted. "Speaking of which, where is MY bow that I lent your sorry ass to begin with? If you lose it or break it, it'll be blows no matter what," she sneered.

"Belthem has it," I shot back with antipathy.

Laurella gave a taunting laugh when she caught sight of the weapon in Belthem's jaws. "Even a dog knows how to use that better than you."

"You haven't seen anything yet you little brat," I hissed. "Cloudyous where the hell is the entrance to this cave? Let's hurry up before a spider thread hooks Laurella and it eats her. I wouldn't want to win by default," I retorted harshly.

"Down here," Cloudyous said, pointing at the very base of the rock. "Let me see if I can't make this a little easier," he mumbled and started chanting something. Green light illuminated the black water and in a few moments, solid rock sprang up around either side of Cloudyous, as tall as a person. These new spires of earth redirected the flow of the river so that it swirled around them and between the two pillars, a partially-flooded hole was revealed.

"This way," Cloudyous beckoned as he stepped up to his waist in water and disappeared into the darkness under the rock. I was the last one inside the tight, dank space and after a few steps we were all completely shrouded in darkness. I could smell the metallic ore in the cavern walls and it contrasted horribly with the stale, pungent air and the odor of decay. I coughed, unable to stop myself. I was going to need a bath like nobody's business once this was over.

The sound of my cough reverberated off of the cavern walls and shot out in all directions, startling everyone in front of me. I even heard Gaia growl, and her sound of discontent added a threatening backdrop to the already echoing noise.

Sovellis whispered something in the dark, and I felt a chill pass over me. I heard the sound of flapping fur, and knew one or both of the wolves were shivering too.

"It safe for us to speak now," Sovellis announced. "I cast spell to shield voices. I think Jennae should make aura, it protect us and give light," he suggested.

"I agree," Jennae affirmed, though with a slight moment of hesitation. "It just might take me a minute, I've never protected so many people at once."

"You'll get it," Laurella encouraged from somewhere in the dark. "Scorpious does it all the time, so it can't be that hard."

"I don't know," Jennae replied as a muted orange glow started to pulse out weakly from around our waists. "Scorpious has had many years of practice and he's formally trained."

"You seem to be doing fine," I added, whisking my fingers through the faint, but steady aura. "It feels like his do," I continued, embellishing the comment slightly so as to give her more confidence. The truth lie halfway. Her aura did feel like it would act the same as one of Scorpious' but it was much weaker than I was used to feeling.

I heard Laurella scoff from somewhere; she obviously knew the truth as well, but for Jennae's sake, she remained silent thereafter.

Slowly, bit by bit, Jennae's aura gave light to our surroundings. It was just enough to see by and when I could see I almost cried for our misfortune. Ten or more of the red spiders were dangling on the ceiling some ten feet above us, their numerous faceted eyes glimmered like jewels in the dim light. A glob of spider spit hit my left pauldron and in the following seconds, I lunged for the bow Belthem had relinquished in the water close by.

The spider overhead dropped into the shallows where I'd just been standing just as my fingers wrapped around the grip of Laurella's bow.

"No fire!" Cloudyous reminded sternly in a loud voice just before the battle erupted.

I reached into the quiver at my waist and used the worst word I knew for the third time in one day. In my underwater grappling match with the zombie, I'd lost over half my arrows in the river. By my passing glance I only had ten or so left. I didn't need to look at Laurella to know her quiver contained vastly more ammunition than mine. Though I knew I could use my own energy as arrows, I wasn't sure that would count in this contest so I'd have to be careful. I scowled as I rolled out of the way of the monstrous spider through the water and mud. I was afraid for a moment that the spiders would use their fire and blow the caverns sky high, but as moments passed and I dodged only pincers and legs in the confined space, it seemed these animals had at least that much self-preserving instinct. Graciously, none of them used any sort of flame.

I ducked under one of the spider's many legs and used the shaft of the bow to knock another three on the opposite side out from underneath the beast. At the very least, their legs were brittle and an exploitable weakness. The creature buckled and fell forward and as it did so I summoned up an extra dose of courage to climb atop its face and run it through with an arrow.

"Add one for Chyemme," I called out to Sovellis, whom was busy fending off two spiders with ice bolts and shielding himself with cold, crystalline mist.

"I will when this over," Sovellis promised, giving me an idea.

Using the arrow I'd just killed the last spider with, I moved into position behind the spiders attacking Sovellis and fired, adding an extra amount of my own energy behind it. Sure enough, a subtle blue glow passed over the shaft and the missile burned its way through both of the spiders in a straight line.

"Three for me," I called out into the din, aimed for Laurella. She and I were even now.

"Hah," Laurella yelled back from somewhere amidst the battle noises. "You think you're so clever. Eleven to seven!"

A mass of screeching told me that more than one spider had met a grisly end. I looked around for Laurella, and found her standing beside a pile of four spider corpses. Four...how the hell had that little upstart managed to kill four of them, when it'd taken me longer to kill three?

A sharp intake of breath to my right told me that Jennae was having a bit of trouble. I turned immediately to help her, seeing that two of the remaining three spiders were attacking her together. Jennae swung my sword out in an arc, causing the two arachnids approaching simultaneously to hiss and stagger backwards, but other than causing them to pause momentarily, the strikes weren't doing much good. I could see what Jennae meant when she said she hadn't received much training. Her strikes were basic: left, right, up, and down in straight lines. She was having trouble angling the blade in any direction that would help her hit anything critical. But, with that said, what she lacked in experience and technique, she made up for in bravado. She continued to lash out at the spiders like she feared nothing at all, and that was certainly admirable. What was more, she was still maintaining our auras even among the chaos.

I pulled an arrow from the quiver and split in into two halves like before, killing the spiders attacking her.

"I'm up to nine," I informed Sovellis, just in case he'd missed something.

"Great," Cloudyous called out sarcastically as he bashed the face of the last spider in with his club while it was distracted by Gaia and the two wolves. "And one for us."

"I no know why you complain, Cloudyous," Sovellis laughed as he brushed himself off and rung some of the water from the fabric of his robes, "They do hard part now, we just sit and watch. It as you say," Sovellis continued before either of us could ask him for the tally. "Laurella kill eleven, Chyemme kill nine."

"How'd she manage that?" I asked, surveying the pile of spider bodies suspiciously.

"You're not the only one that can use that fancy little trick," Laurella declared with obvious rudeness. Enacting her point, she caused four bolts to shimmer against the string of her crossbow. All of them had originated from one, solitary bolt. "Which is another point I'd like to make," she goaded. "How about this side-challenge, Chyemme? We'll see who can hit the most monsters with this technique."

Cloudyous sighed wearily upon hearing her remark. "Come on you two...really?"

"Yes," I snapped, accepting Laurella's challenge and telling Cloudyous off in the same breath.

"Sovellis, you're not going to let them keep adding competitions on top of each other, are you?" our druid companion asked in mild irritation. "This is already getting absurd as it is."

Sovellis shrugged. "I say why not? It like I say moment ago, you just stand back with me. You, Jennae, me, and all animals can watch and let other people fight for change."

"Perfect," I insisted. "More eyes to witness me win."

"Tssh," Laurella scoffed, unimpressed. "More eyes to see you lose. And now that it's just you and me, all the people that think you're so great will have no excuse not to know better."

"Stop talking, whelp. All anyone hears when your mouth moves is hot air rising," I sneered, sounding every bit like Piricus would have.

"Be nice, Chyemme. I speak for both feisty one and me when I say, we no need two of Piricus," Sovellis chastised mildly after hearing my nasty remark.

"If the shoe fits," I hissed in dismissal, eyeing my surroundings with an arrow notched to my bowstring. I struggled to refocus after several more petty insults and retorts played across my mind, begging to be used. I couldn't think about Laurella's words right now. What I did need to think about were her actions. Right now I was losing our contest, and didn't have any distinct advantage in our mini challenge either. I wasn't going to miss anything, any potential targets, because I was too distracted by superficial words.

"Where do we go from here?" Jennae asked as our cluster of party members regrouped in the center of the narrow space between the cavern walls. Laurella and I were in front, everyone else, as per suggestion, had fallen in behind us.

"That be good question," Sovellis acknowledged, looking to Laurella and I like we'd somehow have the answer.

"What are you looking at me for?" I asked him with displeasure. "I've never been in here before. How should I know?"

Laurella snickered from beside me. "Hah. Without your inner sight, you can't even walk a straight line."

I turned to her hotly. "Yeah? Well I don't see you offering us any helpful sense of direction either."

"This fighting is, once again, unnecessary," Cloudyous pointed out disparagingly. "There's only one way to go and that's ahead," he acknowledged, nodding toward the darkness ahead of us.

"I'll go first, since you seem to be as blind as a bat," Laurella mocked.

"The hell you will," I snapped, edging up so that I was shoulder to shoulder with the younger markswoman. "I'm not letting you go first just so you can have a head-start, even though Zerae knows how much you'll need it," I retorted, sounding petulant myself.

"You're all talk, as always," Laurella insisted as she used her shoulder to give me a antipathetic shove in the confined space.

"Don't push me," I warned, hearing the hostile edge in my own voice.

"Well then don't stand on top of me. Get your own space," Laurella sneered back as we moved awkwardly beside each other in the earthy wedge the cavern walls had created.

Laurella and I bumped into each other and her armor chafed against my elbow as we both struggled for entry into the next part of the caverns. The friction was more than simply physical as we finally managed to squeeze out through the limited hallway at the same time and into the room beyond.

The weak lighting from Jennae's aura did little to reveal what was around us, and twice Laurella and I crossed each other's line of sight as we took a preliminary look around. Nothing was apparent in the opaque blackness, and yet the hairs on the back of my neck tightened and began to rise. Something was in this room, and I knew, glancing at Laurella beside me, she sensed it too. Uncertain of what lie ahead, both us had paused. Neither of us seemingly wanted to press forward with such an ominous feeling and it wasn't until Sovellis bumped into the back of me that I stepped forward, more propelled by his movement than my own.

Something brittle and thin broke underneath my foot as I put it down, and a substance, thick and viscous, having the composition of slime, oozed up over my boot. Even though I was repulsed by the combination of disgusting sensations, I couldn't help but be curious as to what I'd just inadvertently stepped on. I crouched closer to the floor, only to reveal a cluster of broken spider sacs. Within the gelatinous debris, a baby spider that would have been considered of normal size for a regular arachnid, wriggled underneath my boot before finally stilling. A noise, something less than sonic, reverberated through the enclosed space. It was an inaudible sound, but somehow I'd heard it nonetheless. And I knew what it was. It was a dying cry, but more than that, it was a signal.

The roof of the caverns overhead began to shake and after a few seconds, every tangible surface of the place: the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and even some of the rocks just laying around began to quake and rattle. The culmination of these unsettling geographic movements were several, forcibly punctured holes in the rock surfaces all around us. Through these holes, a multitude of spiders, presumably the ones from above, started to pour through in great numbers.

There wasn't any time or consideration left for arguing or to designate who would be shooting at what. I turned to the nearest breach spewing spiders, and took aim. Being conscious of the fact that I only had a limited amount of ammo left, I waited until at least four spiders had plowed through the wall enough to be discernable. I loosed my projectile, killing all of my targets with my multiplying arrow.

I had no time to call a tally to Sovellis, whom I could clearly hear was busy behind me anyway. Five more spiders, intent on killing me, had just crawled frantically over the corpses of their fellows for a chance. Without thinking, I fired again, taking out four of the five. The fifth arrow had only managed to graze one of the spider's sides, and it reached striking distance, lashing out at me with its front legs. I dodged to the side, bringing the beast's front, which was trained to my movement, along with me. I carefully positioned this spider so that it became a blockade between me and the sizable number of its fellows behind it, and then, having a more direct shot, I fired my arrow with impaling force. I managed to kill three with that one, well-placed blow, however three more monsters had bubbled up in their place. I turned the bow in my hand horizontally, and brought it to eye-level. I took a split second to survey my surroundings, eagerly seeking anything in the room that could help me not only dispose of these spiders directly in front of me, but also stem the surge of predators coming in behind those. Luck happened to be on my side. There was a loose rock that I noted was holding several larger ones in place. Firing expertly, I hit the mark and toppled four large rocks on top of the group behind the three front-most spiders. The small boulders closed the hole that had opened up next to me, but still left me to deal with the three spiders originally encroaching on my position.

I was forced to move backwards as the three of them converged on me and at one particular instant, I was even reduced to brandishing my borrowed bow itself to stave off the spider on my left. I smashed the wooden shaft of the weapon into one of its eyes, causing it to stumble backwards briefly and swipe at the injured orb with one of its front legs. Moving into the space of the staggered spider to give myself more room away from the other two, I reached down to my quiver and removed three arrows. I simply did not have the time or the focus to split one into three before these animals would have been on top of me. I lined each arrow into a different angle, corresponding with the direction of my three assailants and let them fly. Icky, thick spider blood, somehow strewn with strands of spinning silk splattered over my legs and adhered itself to my armor and boots. Steam started to radiate off of the metal and for a moment I thought the spider blood might be acidic and be dissolving my armor. Fueled by this fear, I tried to take a step backwards and wipe at the restricting goo with the back of my right arm, but only succeeded in sticking to myself and entrapping my own arm to my leg.

I reached to my waist with my free hand for my sword, only to find it absent. That's right, I recalled with a sigh. I'd lent it to Jennae so that I might participate in this contest. I tried reaching around myself onto my back for one of my javelins, but the position I was in rendered this impossible. By my estimate, I could only reach to the upper part of my shoulder-blade. I glanced down my body and found to my relief that the spider blood wasn't acidic, the steam must have been due to the temperature difference between spider's blood and the chilly underground environment we were in. But that factor didn't resolve my sticky situation. I exhaled a deep, displeased breath when I found that I had only three arrows left in my quiver. I didn't have a choice; I grasped the brown, goose-feather fletching between my thumb and forefinger and pulled the arrow from its container. I worked as quickly as possible, positioning the arrow in my hand so that I could use the arrowhead as a chisel, and cut myself free. The iron of the arrowhead fractured as I made the final severing blow to the hardened spider- adhesive confining me. Great. Now I only had two arrows left and I had no idea how many monsters Laurella had killed in this most recent skirmish that was only just now starting to conclude.

I turned to look for the other members of my group, finding them backed together toward the entrance of the room. Dead, dying, and wounded spiders were strewn about the floor in every direction, so much so that there were actually heaps of carcasses at certain points in the room where they'd perished on top of each other. It was these masses of carnage, I noted, that had forced my companions together. They'd been killing spiders so close to each other that the bodies had taken up what little free space there had been before. I tried to make a passing evaluation of how many of the spiders had been killed by crossbow bolts, but it was a futile attempt in the dark and amongst the action still taking place.

I saw Jennae behead a spider that Belthem was distracting for her, and beside her Sovellis flung an ice spire into the chest of another, killing it. Cloudyous was hunkered against a wall flanked by Gaia and Sky, though the three of them appeared not to be engaged in combat at present. It occurred to me, looking at the trio, that Cloudyous must have left Bibo outside. The raven probably wouldn't have been able to come through the waterway we had entered through, even if Cloudyous had carried her. I didn't see Laurella anywhere, until the redheaded brat came sauntering out of the blackness, with her crossbow at ready.

I made to rejoin the group as the battle died away, but about ten feet from them, something suddenly snagged my thigh with tremendous force. I heard a metallic pop, and felt something sharp and powerful push into the plate on my left leg before I was pulled roughly sideways. Mid-stumble, I strung one of my remaining two arrows upon my bow and got just enough of a look to notice I'd been stabbed by the spinneret of a mortally wounded spider lying on its side as I'd tried to walk by. I dispatched the arrow into its exposed underside, stilling it permanently as the arrow made contact with spider's heart.

With an irate growl, I grabbed the base of the spider's stinger and pulled, dislodging it from the punctured metal frame of my armor. As cross as I was about the repairs that were going to have to take place, the fact that my flesh had been shielded and my leather underlays were still intact didn't go unappreciated. My armor had served its purpose. I didn't need Cloudyous to tell me that an actual stab wound by one of these things probably would have introduced that sticky toxin into my blood and caused instantaneous death by paralysis.

"Well that was graceful," Laurella snorted as I walked over.

I ignored her, more than a little embarrassed that I'd been caught unaware by a wounded spider like that. My mind protested the lack of inner sight, it was intent on reminding me that had I only used it, that potentially costly lack of observation wouldn't have happened. I stilled my thoughts by looking at Laurella. She appeared a little bruised herself, something had obviously knocked into her bare forearms with force. I also noted with keen interest as I approached, that her quiver, like mine, only contained one piece of ammunition. Now at least, we were evenly matched in that regard. However the question that nagged my mind with increasing dread was how many spiders had she killed? Each having one arrow could be a moot point depending on the body count now. I felt my gut clench and my heart lurch feebly in the direction of my feet. What if she'd already won? I shook my head slightly and bit my tongue, trying to dismiss the panic that was welling up within me. I hadn't heard the count yet. Maybe, on the flip side of things, I'd won the challenge. That thought made me grin. There would only be one way to find out, and that was to ask Sovellis. Surely we'd have a winner and I could go back to using my javelins either way. That was another thing that brought a gloat into my inner workings. I had my throwing weapons and melee skill to fall back on now. Having only one bolt left, and only one arrow if this contest was over, Laurella would be useless if further combat were to occur. Taking this into account, technically that fact did make me superior in a way, regardless of the outcome of this Crossing of the Bows.

Laurella shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as she sized me up in turn. Her grey eyes fixed on the sole remaining arrow in my quiver and I could read plainly in her face that she too was pondering the possibilities. If she was scared or nervous however, she didn't show it. She crossed her arms and turned expectantly to Sovellis, whom was checking Jennae's outstretched arm over.

"It be fine," he offered after touching a serious-looking bruise. "There no venom in wound. We clean when return and it no trouble you."

"Sovellis," I spoke out, getting his attention.

"Yes, Chyemme?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Who won?" Laurella demanded, cutting straight to the point.

Upon this one sentence, everyone's utmost attention seemed to hang. Even Sky, Belthem, and Gaia were gazing curiously at my mage friend.

Sovellis looked between us with an air of consideration. For a few moments, he didn't speak at all.

"Heh. Nervous?" Laurella asked me in an icy voice. "This is over and you know it."

"He hasn't said anything yet," I shot back, trying not to sound tense as I waited.

"Don't keep them in suspense, Sovellis. Just tell them already," Cloudyous interjected just as I was about to. He seemed annoyed by the suspense almost as much as Laurella and I were.

Sovellis observed the wreckage around us and began to count to himself silently, moving his long, dark-skinned fingers as he took a nameless tally. "Sorry," he apologized after a moment. "I make certain count be accurate. Chyemme kill one more just minute ago, so that mean...twelve...fifteen...twenty...nobody win," he concluded.

"Excuse me?" Laurella huffed. "What do you mean?" she asked, though her voice wasn't devoid of respect.

"Nobody win, yet," Sovellis clarified, "You tie so far. You each kill same number of monster."

Laurella and I stared at each other incredulously. Laurella's grey eyes had become more smoky than silver, giving me the distinct knowledge that she was not only dissatisfied with this, but also angered. It was a sentiment I shared. How in the name of Zerae had a statistical improbability become reality? The circumstances clearly favored only having one winner, and we'd encountered enough enemies to have had ample opportunity to end this challenge by now. So why was it that fate had decided to put everything on one final shot? My pride, which was virtually all anyone has next to their own life, was on the line. Couldn't my Goddess see that I'm obviously superior to a whining, misconstruing brat that was barely of age anyway? Even more than that, my cause was just, my honor was clean. I hadn't done anything to purposely elicit this behavior from Laurella. I hadn't lied to her and I wasn't in love with Ryelass and trying to steal his affections. I daresay I'd even treated her like a little sister in most regards up until this point. So by virtue of innocence, Zerae, Athula, and all of our other deities should have made me the victor in this. It was right, and the gods were always righteous, weren't they? This didn't make any sense, but then again things seldom did any more. I guessed I was just going to have to continue my faith in Zerae, and believe that I would win this because it was my right. I still could win after all, the only thing standing in the way was how many monsters I could kill with one arrow. If that was more than Laurella, everything would be right as rain.

Confidence started to seep back into me with the thought. I was at least six years Laurella's senior, and even though Laurella was from the Sightless Eye, I'd likely had more training regardless. There was no way Laurella would be able to employ Palashia, an amazon's, technique better than another amazon. I had this in the bag.

"So I guess that would also make our other challenge even now also, correct? Seeing as we each have one shot left?" I reiterated to Sovellis.

He nodded. "This be true."

"Whatever," Laurella replied with a bitter laugh, "One shot is all I ever need."

"Wow, this contest is really close," I heard Jennae whisper to Sovellis as our group prepared to move. "Who do you think will win?"

I paused where I stood, trying to be discreet as I listened for his answer. I never heard it. For some reason I couldn't explain, I suddenly began to feel very, very dizzy. The upper portion of my body started to feel like it vastly outweighed the bottom and I lurched forward, trying to find a point of stability on my own two feet. I staggered forward with three rough and uneven steps, managing to find a wall and lean on it with the last one. I endeavored with determination to stand up straight and look around, but as I tried, it felt like every vein in my face and neck was trying to explode. Horrible pain bubbled up from my sinuses, muscles, and even from my throat as I tried to speak or even cry out to the others. Whatever this was definitely wasn't normal. I hadn't, to my knowledge been injected by any of the spider's I'd fought previously and nothing out of the ordinary had happened in the last few minutes I'd been standing around.

Muted outcries of pain and confusion staggered into my ears, the sounds were just as broken as my attempts at locomotion had been. Some of them sounded as if they could belong to animals, others I perceived as vaguely human. Either way, this jumble of noise told me I wasn't the only one experiencing this tormenting sensation.

A prickle of ominous foreboding crept across my skin, returning with it the eerie feeling Laurella and I had felt when we first entered this place. Whatever we'd sensed before the deluge of spiders attacked was still in here. It had been quiet, lurking...Even in the midst of a clamorous battle the thing, whatever it was, had just sat there waiting and watching. It must have been clever, or maybe just a better predator.

"Jennae, is that you doing this? What's that light?" Cloudyous called out with ragged breath, calling my attention to a strange, grayish-yellow pattern that seemed to be pulsing out from sporadic places in the floor.

"No, it's not me!" the young girl's weak voice answered, hinting at the fact that she too was being disabled by whatever odd magic we were experiencing.

"Wait...what's that...it's another spider!" Laurella added in a tone of confusion that denoted her own struggle.

"And," I growled between gritted teeth as I strived to focus through the blurring pain, "It's using an aura somehow!" True enough, as I focused through my own haze, I could clearly begin to distinguish the form of an arachnid, subtly back-lighted by pallid beams of color.

"This not be aura of paladin kind! It be dark magic!" Sovellis observed from somewhere behind me.

"How do we stop it?" Jennae cried out.

"You have some paladin abilities, do you have any idea how to shut these things down?" Cloudyous asked swiftly, trying to keep his whole gaze on the newcomer monster.

"I don't think I can manipulate something like this. This is different than what I use...but..." she squeaked ambiguously.

"Tell us what you think, because it might be key to killing this thing-Cloudyous watch Gaia, it seems to be headed for her!" I yelled, attempting to both warn and encourage my companions to action.

"This feeling...is familiar somehow," Jennae confessed, though the tremor in her voice told me there was more to her feelings of familiarity than she was stating. She sounded disturbed.

"Vague feeling get us nowhere. Maybe this do!" Sovellis asserted as a shimmering, plasmic blue barrier burst to life about an inch in front of me. Protected behind Sovellis' mana shield, the painful sensations lessened and I was able to see clearly.

The spider that was nearly in reach of Gaia was actually a little smaller than the rest of the arachnids we'd encountered thus far today, and for some reason its skin held a blue tinge. This spider was spotted like a leopard instead of stripped, and within the rings composing the black markings there were light grey eyelets. The pattern on the skin of the creature, when combined with the magical illumination it was giving off, presented a startling visage. This monster looked as if it were, in fact, covered with eyes all over, not just the eight, multicolored lenses on its head. I said eight...I realized my error at the same time Jennae expressed her horror.

"Oh my God!" she yelped in a mixture of revulsion and emotional upset.

In the center of the creature's forehead, enfolded in an unnatural clumping of spider skin and exposed muscle sinew, was a ninth eye that I immediately knew did not belong on this beast. The eye completely lacked insect-like features, directly down to the shape and coloration. This artificially embedded orb wasn't faceted at all, but rather smooth and round and contained a pupil and a supernaturally bright blue iris. I realized grimly that this was a human eyeball, and judging by Jennae's reaction, it belonged to Khalim.

"That's one of Khalim's eyes..." Jennae cried in misery. "I'd know it anywhere!"

"How the hell did Khalim's eye end up inside the head of a spider?" Laurella spat as she stared the new beast down with a calculating air.

"I'm just going to be plain and state the obvious. This isn't a natural transplant," Cloudyous hissed, signaling to Gaia with some motion of his hands.

The grizzly growled from deep within her throat, giving him some form of acknowledgement. The bear took at step back and crouched low to the ground, looking as if she were about to pounce. The spider followed Gaia's every movement with all of its actual eyes and seemingly with the markings on its skin as well when it turned.

I observed with my own sense of repugnance, that somehow, though the eye of Khalim didn't biologically belong in the spider's body, the demonic beast was able to manipulate the gaze of the eye as if it did. Khalim's glassy, but otherwise intact eyeball tailed every movement that Gaia made right down to her pose on the ground. It tilted its head, shifting Khalim's eye to the side along with it to get a better look at the bear. The skin above the place Khalim's eye had been transfixed furrowed, momentarily giving the impression that the spider was quizzical. The jarringly human expression portrayed by this vile and unsettling mesh of man and beast was obvious. The spider was confused by Gaia's presence, curious even, as to what another species of predator was doing in its lair and also protecting what it thought was prey to them both. It made the association between Gaia and us, or at least Gaia and Cloudyous; this I knew by the way Khalim's eye, and all the spider eyes encircling it, flitted predominantly between him and her, but also the rest of us.

"What it do?" Sovellis asked, watching the spider, though his lips pursed tightly together after he'd spoken. Experience told me that while holding this strange aura at bay wasn't particularly draining on my mage friend, we only had a limited time in which to act.

"It's sizing Gaia up," Cloudyous discerned. " It's assessing her 'threat', that's why it hasn't attacked yet. There are a few types of bears native to this region and they often compete with spiders for territory. It's taking Gaia's presence as a challenge. Right now, I think it's making some assumption that we're like "cubs" to her, if I'm translating its language right, and thus it's not really interested in us at the moment. It thinks she's in charge and she's the one it wants to fight."

"It's speaking to you?" Laurella grunted in disgust.

"Not really to me and it isn't saying much that I can recognize either. This thing was just a normal, native arach at some point. Maybe it was a newer species or perhaps an evolved form of an old one, but either way, it's been tampered with by something outside the realm of nature. Look at the way the underlying tissues of the spider are protruding around the eye. It also looks as if something cut away a good deal of the thing's natural skin beneath the eye to create a sort of "socket" if you will. I can see that there's been damage to three of its eyes on the right side too, judging by the lack of luster and the muted colorations, though that might have been here before," he conjectured.

"Case and point?" I snapped, keeping one eye on Laurella. No matter what the hell was wrong with this spider I had to kill it to win our contest and so did she. I couldn't let her take a shot before I did, so as a precaution, I snaked two of my fingers furtively into the fletching of my last arrow and made ready to draw.

"A demon put Khalim's eye in the spider's face..." Jennae breathed meekly, summing up Cloudyous' information. "And it's using the energy of his eye to create this terrible aura."

"This not be surprise," Sovellis insisted, nonchalant. "Diablo know we hunt him. Diablo also know that relic of Khalim have great power. He no want us to get hold of. Ormus tell me that relic of Khalim have special use and not only Diablo fear it. He say thing also terrifies Mephisto, brother of Diablo. Whatever demon do this, it do to guard object. Why this spider? I no know, but me know for certain that spider special somehow."

"I've no intention of letting the thing live long enough to find out," Laurella hissed, glancing at me with one eye and the spider with the other. Her crossbow and my bow flew to the ready in precisely the same instant. I had to make this quick. Even the slightest slip of the finger would cost me dearly against the automatic firing mechanism of Laurella's crossbow.

Sensing our intentions, or perhaps just simply catching sight of us, the spider shifted its duplicated gazes from Gaia to us. The sky-hued eye of Khalim snapped completely open, expanding to its full size within the spider's face and suddenly all of the orb, whites included, radiated with an unearthly brilliance.

Something was terribly wrong and I knew it the minute my fingers froze upon the bowstring. I made to move my arms, but found that I couldn't. I tried to look down and see what was happening, but found that I couldn't peel my gaze out of the bizarre and intimidating stare Khalim's eye had locked me in. The baleful glare of the open eye held me as firmly in place as something physical would have and all I could manage to do was gaze back, psychically transfixed into the grotesqueness the human orb had become.

Disorienting pain flooded back into my limbs like a surge of needles. I didn't need to be told Sovellis had been ensnared by whatever power of the spider's this was and that his shield had faltered.

The only being apparently capable of resisting this magic was Gaia. The grizzly roared and pounced at the aberrational monster, though her massive frame was tight-pressed in the condensed space.

Not bothering to even move its head, the spider turned Khalim's eye toward the enormous bear leaping at it and "blinked" by covering the eye briefly with its displaced skin. I noticed that the eye had changed color when I saw it next, and so had the colors of the spider's aura. Instead of grey and yellow, it was now violently purple and beaming off the animal's entire body in waves. Gaia had aimed both of her front feet and her eager jaws toward the spider as she jumped, but as she landed on what should have been the monster, she fell straight through the beast and into a heap on the ground. Dazed, the grizzly lashed out toward the glowing spider with a massive paw, only to once again slice air where there should have been flesh.

I inhaled sharply when I realized that there were not one, but three of the same spider present now, and all three approached Gaia from different directions. Like a mirage in the desert, waves of distortion permeated the air around all three spiders, causing the refracted light to spawn still more spiders. The sensation was dizzying mentally as well as physically; the best way to describe what I was seeing would be to say that I was looking through several layers of fractured glass at once. Each fracture contained its own universe, it's own spider. Hell. This is probably what it felt like to be a spider and see through faceted eyes.

I pulled on my own arms and found that I could move them. I brought my bow to firing position, but was suddenly seeing about fifteen copies of the weapon and the arrow, all in different locations. I was utterly confused as I strained to decipher which spider was real and which one was a mirage. In every field of view, every spider was drawing dangerously close to lunging atop Gaia, but I had no idea how to help her. Within a second, the beast lashed out at her and the fight between the two erupted. The two animals became a multitude of brown and blue blurs indistinguishable from each other.

I had no longer had any idea what was Gaia and what was spider, let alone which dueling set was the real one and at what angle. I turned my head and found more than a dozen Laurellas equally perplexed. Her arms shifted in every direction as she tried to get a clear lock on her target.

My heart dropped into my feet as she somehow settled on one and prepared to fire. I haphazardly aimed my bow as well, praying in that instant that somehow I'd be the one to hit the real thing.

"DON'T!" Cloudyous thundered in alarm upon seeing us. "You'll hit Gaia! And even if you don't, we can't damage the eye!"

Startled by his voice, Laurella lost focus and lowered her weapon slightly. I was relieved, but then everything went to hell.

Gaia started to bellow in pain and all around me the image of spraying blood played in every field. She'd been badly wounded, I could tell from the tone of her roars.

Her pain stirred Cloudyous and the two wolves into action, but as they raced forward they tripped over each other and ended up in a tangled mass of human and animal limbs on the ground.

My stomach knotted when Gaia's huge body went limp in the following moments and the demon-spider clamored over her triumphantly, blood dripping from its multiple maws. It clacked the copies of its horrid fangs together, taking the sanguine fluid into its mouth and tasting it. The sensation must have been pleasing, because it sent the beast into a bloodlust. The monster didn't need any more of a chance to lunge after Cloudyous and the rest of his animal posse whom were helpless on the ground.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Jennae screeched, seeing the massacre that was about to unfold three feet from her. Somehow, she managed to keep herself upright as she stumbled toward the creature, swinging in every field of view with my crystal sword.

She must have missed the actual spider itself on multiple occasions, but in her flurry of aimless strikes, the blade bit flesh just in the nick of time. The spider gave a shrill hiss as black blood oozed from its abdomen. Having registered the pain and the attack made against it, the spider turned on Jennae.

Jennae swung wildly at all versions of the creature, but failed to make any more distinct strikes despite its close proximity to her. She froze as the beast faced her and encompassed her in the gaze of her mentor, Khalim. Paralyzed not by the aura I knew, but by the traumatic experience of seeing Khalim's expressive eye on her, her knees gave way and she fell to the ground at the spider's mercy in all visible directions.

I swore and so did Laurella and even Sovellis. The language used between the three of us was the same, despite the differing words uttered. Our swearing clearly suggested that nobody had a clear shot or even a guess as to what was the undeniable, real thing.

Laurella, once more, was the first to raise her weapon.

"You can't be serious!" I snarled in frank disbelief. There was no way that she could actually make out which one was real.

"I've got this," Laurella insisted with ice in her voice.

"No you don't!" I countered, fearful for Jennae's life on two fronts. I moved my gaze sharply between Laurella and Jennae. This was ludicrous. There was only one way to obtain a clear shot in this haze. And that was to use inner sight. If I used it, I could kill the spider and save Jennae, but I'd also forfeit this contest and everything it stood for. I can't deny there was a flicker of indignation in my mind as I debated with myself over this dilemma. What God, Goddess, human, or thing of nature had ever made me responsible for anyone else's life? Secondly, why was it always up to me to do the right thing? Why should I have to lose this important contest when someone else could just as easily save Jennae? The dark emotions brewed for a few more moments, and then my better self returned. A contest was, after all, just a contest. I could live with wounded pride. Was I really going to be so conceited as to allow someone to die for my pride? Especially someone that was still in essence, a child? Was a human life really worth that little? I scowled, decision made, though I was more than a little bitter over it in spite of the obvious morality.

"Shut up, Chyemme," Laurella retorted with venomous distain. Bluish white stars burst into being all around us and before I could blink properly, I heard the buzz of Laurella's bolt as it left the string. Stunned, I watched as the bolt, guided by Laurella's inner sight, sped through all of the visual dimensions present and landed in the spider's throat. The monster screeched and reared, flailing its front legs as it did so. One of the legs caught Jennae across the chest and sent her flying, sword and all, into a pile of nearby spider corpses.

Two things stunned me about what had just occurred. First, Laurella had just knowingly forfeited our contest by breaking the rules. Granted, I'd been about to do it myself, but the fact she'd beaten me to it genuinely shocked me. I hadn't thought she'd be willing to do it. Secondly, though Laurella had flawlessly landed her bolt in what should have been a vital spot to the spider, it was still alive. It was alive and coming after her with a vengeance.

In a series of confusing movements across many lines of sight, what was obviously the real spider lunged for her. Now completely out of bolts, Laurella was helpless, and could only thrash her crossbow in a futile attempt to keep the thing away. The spider snatched the weapon in its jaws and twisted its head, soon depriving her of even that miniscule defense. I could see every side of Laurella's face as the spider pounced. Suddenly there was no anger or resentment. All of her spite, bitterness, and petulance had faded. Whatever jealousy toward me she'd held overwhelmingly before was also gone and she didn't seem afraid either. In the seconds before what she clearly thought was going to be her death, I saw Laurella as she really was. On her face, there was only an immense sadness, a grief so profound that it seemed to me like she viewed death as a mercy. Regret and pain lined her young face as she closed her eyes expectant of the blow to come. In that moment, I remembered when I'd first truly met her back in the Rogue Lands. From the moment we pulled her nearly-lifeless frame off a stake in the mausoleum through the various parts of our journey together up until this moment, I was starting to understand how everything that transpired had taken its toll on her. She was broken and empty. Her love for Ryelass must have been all that was holding her together and now that she thought it was gone, she didn't have anything to live for. Even the way her eyelids rested resolutely closed told me she'd given up.

As if a reminder from a higher power, I suddenly recalled something the false Horazon had told Vendra about Laurella when she and I were trapped in his arcane sanctuary.

"I saw great pain in her soul and still more pain in her future. I thought it would have been more merciful to, as you say, put her out of her misery."

I knew I was just now coming to realize what Horazon had somehow known all along, and knowing this, I was deeply troubled. Part of me wondered for a moment if letting her die would actually be a kindness. I could see almost a longing on her face now as it was, and if Horazon's ominous warning were to come true, what then? What if it already had? Had he been talking about Ryelass' affections and the effect they would have on her?

I shook my head, clearing it. Something, and I couldn't say that it was a good thing, was beginning to happen in me. Just where had all of these morbid thoughts come from? Their onset felt as though it had been sudden, but at the same time it felt like I'd been going through this forever. What nonsense was this? First I'd debated letting Jennae die, however briskly, over a contest and now I was pondering letting a spider kill Laurella because she seemed sad. Zerae, Athula, and all the rest preserve me. I'd get to the bottom of this later, but for right now, I had more pressing concerns.

Concentrating my inner sight, I locked into the real spider's energy. Though I was still seeing numerous arachnids, I knew immediately where the real one was. Despite this, I was then faced with another serious problem. My inner sight told me that the best way to end this creature was to remove the eye from its face. Remove the eye and I'd remove the aura, but taking the eye out would require me to hit a miniscule area directly in contact beneath it. Normally this wouldn't have been an issue because I wouldn't have had to worry about damaging the eye I was removing. I had absolutely no idea how to accomplish this, save that this one shot I had would have to be the most accurate I'd ever made in my life. I grimaced; it was going to be next to impossible to make the shot in the next two seconds still seeing twenty spiders that were all moving. True enough that only one was real, but everything else was still a distraction. I did the only thing I could do in addition to using my psychic gifting for guidance. I prayed.

Miraculously, it worked. My vision cleared, leaving me with only one reality and one spider. I loosed my last arrow, no longer distracted and it sailed pristinely underneath the place Khalim's eye was lodged. To my delight, the arrow had somehow managed to even turn the right way; the arrowhead was horizontal despite being fired in a vertical manner. It was the keenest shot I'd ever fired and I couldn't help but smile. The iron of the arrowhead cleanly sliced Khalim's eye out of the demon spider's body. In the exact instant the eye was extracted, the magical glow faded from it altogether and it landed on the grungy cavern rock with a wet-sounding plop. After rolling about an inch, the eyeball lay glossy and dormant, looking like the normal body part it should have been to begin with.

The blue spider I'd just shot thrashed around madly, as if one of its real eyes had just been removed. The creature bucked, jumped, and turned in circles, falling over the dead bodies of the several other spiders we'd killed in our last encounter. It took me a moment to realize that this spider was totally blind without Khalim's eye, it couldn't see a thing. Its stumbles soon turned into full-faced collisions with the walls and floor. After a few seconds of panic however, the spider regained enough of itself to start feeling around on the floor in front of it. One of its legs brushed against Laurella, whom had just started to move out of the way.

Sensing her presence, the spider lunged sightless. A vengeful snarl told me that Gaia the grizzly would have none of it. I distinctly saw her massive body slam into the spider and in an impressive display of teeth and jaws, she savagely decapitated the beast after latching onto its neck from the side opposite Laurella's bolt. With a final squishing sound, Gaia spit the spider's corpse to the floor and then roared at it defiantly.

I was amazed to see the grizzly standing and when I looked her over, I noticed that she was indeed injured, however the dripping puncture wound wasn't as bad as I'd originally thought.

"Laurella, you okay?" Sovellis asked, rushing to her side to help her up.

"Fine," she replied with a sigh as she accepted his aid. "What's this light?" she continued, bringing our attention to a soft, orange glow pulsing out in a spiral around us.

"You can stop now Jennae," Cloudyous said to her. "Everyone is safe," he added with a clear compliment in his tone.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, turning to see what he meant.

Kneeling on the floor amidst the carcasses of four oozing spiders, Jennae had my sword held out in front of her with the point touching the ground. She was hunched forward with her head bowed, just barely touching the pommel and her lips were moving as she awkwardly chanted words that must have been new to her. I noticed that her thin body was shaking all over and causing her armor to rattle against her skin.

Cloudyous placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and only then did she seem to notice him. Sweat beaded her brow as she looked up. She lost her concentration and our auras faded.

In the absence of Jennae's latest aura, I felt as though I'd actually lost some of the superb skill I'd demonstrated minutes ago. I couldn't repress the disappointed sigh that escaped my lips when I realized what had truly happened. My improbable success was undoubtedly connected to Jennae's aura.

"It worked..." Jennae breathed in awe. "It actually worked!" she repeated, stronger this time, but she still held a clear tone of reverence.

"What did? The aura?" Laurella asked.

"Yes!" Jennae exclaimed, starting to become excited. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I saw you and Chyemme having trying to hit the spider, and when it attacked you, I saw Chyemme struggle to make the shot. I was so afraid and I didn't know what to do, and then I just had this strange feeling come over me. It was like someone or something was telling me what to do. I got on my knees and started praying in one of the paladin languages Khalim taught me, even though I don't know very many of the words. I was just chanting and asking Akarat to protect you, and all of a sudden we've all got this aura!" she explained, elated.

"You learn new aura in time of great need. This no small accomplishment. You do well," Sovellis offered with a smile.

Jennae was smiling too, until her eyes settled on Khalim's one on the floor. Her expression was a mixture of pain and pride as she stared into the lifeless globe. Now able to meet his gaze without terror, Jennae stood and walked over to the spot where the relic lay.

"I feel like part of my success was actually because he was watching me. I know that sounds strange, but even in the spider's face, it's like I could still see part of him looking out at me. Maybe by some part of Khalim being here and being a part of this situation it triggered something in me. Maybe," she surmised as she ripped off a part of her filthy sleeve and wrapped the eyeball gingerly in it, "it was him telling me what to do somehow. Do you guys think it's possible," she furthered after a pause, "that he's still looking after me?"

I nodded, speaking first. "They say that the eyes are a window to the soul, and that our soul still exists after death. I believe it."

"Don't get all preachy," Laurella scoffed at me nastily. "She doesn't need to go around thinking that an eyeball is somehow going to bring even a small piece of Khalim back, because it won't. If artifacts could bring people back," she continued nastily as she brandished her retrieved crossbow, "My sister would be alive fifty times over."

"I wasn't trying to make her believe something false," I started as Sovellis stepped between us.

"Well," he began, "I see you no have more arrows or bolts. This mean contest over."

"It was already over," Laurella snarled, the words falling from her lips like molten lead. They were hot, heavy, and full of displeasure. "I used inner sight and forfeited."

"But you did it to save me," Jennae supplied on her behalf, looking to Sovellis for understanding. "That shouldn't count."

Sovellis shrugged. "According to fair rules situation no matter. Laurella break rule. Laurella lose contest. I must declare Chyemme winner," he informed, though not without empathy.

The expression on Laurella's face couldn't have been nastier as he voiced those words. She looked for all the world like she was about to jump on top of me and start punching.

"Give me my bow and quiver back," she growled in a low tone, making her words sound more like a threat than a request. "Now," she hissed, snatching at them expectantly.

I relinquished them wordlessly and both of us continued to stand there in silence glaring at each other afterwards. A bit of guilt started to enter into me as Laurella and I glowered at each other. I'd used inner sight too, back in the water. Technically I'd lost this contest also, though the point could be debatable owing to the fact I'd used my javelins and not had a bow in that situation anyway. For a moment, I strongly considered confessing my slip up. Since we'd both used inner sight, we'd both forfeit, and then be back to square one as equals.

"Well, who won the side challenge? Just out of curiosity?" Cloudyous asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Laurella," Sovellis informed. "She kill six monster with arrow technique, Chyemme only kill five."

At this revelation all charity and fairness went out of me. My insides seethed with humiliation, though I did the best I could not to let it show outwardly. How the hell had Laurella managed that?! She had to have cheated somehow, but then again Sovellis would have noticed. Over and over, one thought circled through my mind. She beat me. The little whining brat, sad, broken, or whatever the hell she was, defeated me in an Amazonian contest of skill. The fact that we'd both have been disqualified meant nothing, because when it came down to it, Laurella had achieved that one clear victory and that one win tipped the tie in her favor. She was better than me. Better than me, an Amazon, a warrior of Zerae... If I was at home, this would have been devastating to my reputation. I'd be the laughing stock of the whole tribe. Me, who could defeat our Queen in battle, but not some half-grown upstart? Putting aside the cultural implications, my repute among our group would also be ruined if this got out. Worst of all, I could already start to hear Piricus' icy taunts echo in my ears. What would he think of me after a loss to a "little girl" as he'd called her? I'd definitely lose credibility and respect in his eyes. He'd think I was weak and pathetic, and he'd be right...Piricus loathed weak things. I knew this very well. If he thought I was weak, he'd never want to be close to me. Ever.

The thought of everything I was about to lose sealed my lips and my conscience closed. To hell with this, I thought sourly. As far as everyone else is concerned, I won the contest. She may have won a battle in this light, but I won the war. Nobody was going to know about this. Ever.

The news of her victory in at least that much did little to please Laurella. She was still seething and eyeing me with malice.

"Well, if it's any consolation, both of you did really well," Cloudyous placated. "You two decimated that group of spiders when they ambushed us in here."

"Say what you want," Laurella finally spat, taking a sweeping look around at all of us. "I beat you with your own famous Amazon technique," she sneered at me in passing. "And just remember Jennae," Laurella finalized, settling her gaze on the girl, "Who your friends are. I saved your life. I lost this contest because you are more important to me than winning. Can Chyemme say the same?"

I growled, feeling agitated by her insinuations and I made to retort when Sovellis cut me off.

" Laurella I sure that not full truth. But, come, let us go. I think on way back I tell you story. It kind of relate to contest. I think when you hear you may no feel so bad over what happen. Maybe it make you appreciate more. You both," he added to me and Laurella.

"How the hell do you think a story is going to make me feel better?" Laurella snapped, rolling her eyes.

"It story of sacrifice. It story of me, me sister, and my godfather," he explained ambiguously.

"Whatever, let's just get out of here. We have the eye and I don't want to look at any of you any more than I have to," Laurella replied.

"You sounded like Piricus just now," Cloudyous snorted with amusement, calling all of his animals to his side.

Sovellis suddenly stopped walking, an odd and troubled expression on his face.

Part of me knew automatically that Piricus had something to do with Sovellis' current countenance. I wasn't wrong.

"Feisty one say that Piricus no sound like anything. Not he and no Ryelass either. Something go wrong for feisty one's group and both of them be in trouble," he answered vaguely.

To hell with this indeed. The moment the words left Sovellis' mouth, I forgot about anything and everything Laurella and suddenly my whole world was Piricus.