Chapter 169: Book 8 Chapter 4

Joan didn’t like this. Joan didn’t like this AT ALL.

As terrible as coming down all the webbing to get to the doorway had been, she hadn’t expected this, how could she? She didn’t know why she hadn’t thought this part through. Instead, now she just internally screamed whime her ‘mount’ slowly carried her up the cavern, towards the light of way. She should be thankful, she knew. Logically, she was. Incredibly thankful.

But she could feel the spider’s hairs brushing against her, feel the smaller spiders crawling over her skin, feel every single twitch of the spider’s legs as they climbed up the webbing and she clung to its back. See the way the orb of light made its small, beady red eyes glimmer in the light. Its massive… what were those? Mandibles? Teeth? Whatever they were on its face she DIDN’T LIKE THEM.

How much longer did she have to endure? Bit by bit they went up the cavern and she clung to the body of the spider, struggling to resist the urge to scream.

Besides her, Lich wouldn’t shut up. She didn’t know if that was good or bad. Likely good, because it at least reminded her that she wasn’t alone for this ordeal. Bad, because apparently he knew quite a bit about these spiders and just had to keep talking about them.

“The weavers really are quite fascinating when you consider how they have aided us over the years. While the larger ones do often take living prey, they almost never harm elves unless incredibly hungry. In fact, dwarves used to often keep them as pets and the largest were used as mounts, their webbing incredibly useful for keeping tunnels secure at times, as well as allowing them to travel vertically through tunnels incredibly quickly. This breed of spider was often nicknamed a ‘tunnel-nid’. Its venom is actually incredibly weak to creatures like, well, you. I suppose venom wouldn’t affect me now. But they often move amongst trees and hills, pouncing from above on their prey, before wrapping around them and biting. While it wouldn’t do much to you other than make you a bit itchy, it is incredibly toxic to demons and can kill some of the larger ones in moments. However, while they will often assault four legged demons, they almost never attack demonkin. Now, some believe this is because they were, supposedly, minions of the fates and so they will never attack fates servants. However, I think it’s actually a learned behavior, namely because they rarely attack demons that walk on two legs unless directed.”

Joan wondered if she could just shove him off the spider and how far he would fall. Probably not far, while the webbing wouldn’t stick to her, he’d already gotten stuck on it almost four times.

Which was even worse, because each time more of the spiders descended on them and had to help pull him free.

They were helpful. They were nice. They were AIDING HER IN SAVING THE WORLD. She had NOTHING TO FEAR.

Joan wanted so desperately to just scream.

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“Joan? Are you okay?” Bauteut asked.

“I just need a moment,” Joan said softly before glancing back towards the tunnel. “He’s here, though. He’s uhhh, wellll…”

“A lich? You warned us already,” Korgron said, tapping her foot impatiently. “Where is he?”

“He just wanted to be sure that you were going to be okay and not like… destroy him,” Joan said softly. “Chosen and all.”

“Joan, you’re pale as snow,” Myrin said softly.

“I’m fine,” Joan said. “So, who wants to go say hi to the lich and bring him out? He’s calling himself Lich for now, so--” She was cut off by a hand on her shoulder and she looked back towards the hand. Hardwin?

“Joan?” Hardwin asked.

Joan blinked and then glanced around, eyeing Zapper who was now in a small box to be taken back to Zorn. Very slowly she reached up and took the bracer off. “It’s nothing, I’m fine. We have a lot to do.”

“You don’t look fine,” Chase said. “That’s a hell of a mask.”

“I… I…” Joan said before finally it crumbled. She tore the bracer off and let it fall to the ground before she just let out a shriek and hugged Hardwin. “It was terrible! It was horrible and awful and the worst thing ever!” she yelled, sobbing against him. “I could feel them crawling all over me and I could see them and I even KNEW they wouldn’t hurt me and they were good and safe and not going to do anything but it didn’t FEEL that way and I hated it and it was awful and I never ever ever want to go there again!” she yelled, unable to stop herself from crying.

“Uhhhh… there… there,” Hardwin said nervously, very gently patting her on the back. “Help?” he asked the others.

“I’ll go get the lich,” Andreas said.

“I’ll come with you,” Thalgren said quickly, the two all but fleeing.

“Really?” Korgron said before giving a light sigh. “Well, Hardwin, it’s time to be the dad. Let’s see what you can do.”

“What?” Hardwin asked before looking down at her. “Uhhhh… we… warned you that you shouldn’t have gone down there without us, you insisted. You told us to--”

“I know what I said!” Joan yelled, clutching him. “I know what I said. I know it was the right thing to do. I know they weren’t dangerous and I know it’s stupid to feel this way but I do and I don’t know how to stop!” she yelled, clutching him and lightly sobbing. “I shouldn’t feel this way but I do and I can’t make it stop and I’m sorry!”

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She heard a sigh from behind her followed by Myrin’s voice. “Allow me,” the elf said before a hand gently pat her on the head. “Joan? Dear?”

“What? I’m sorry,” Joan said again, struggling to try and control herself. She shouldn’t, couldn’t feel this way. She had a lot more important things to do. She felt hands on her own, gently tugging her off Hardwin. She resisted for a moment, but then gave in and released him. He fled like a wounded animal, but she was turned around and pulled into a gentle hug by Myrin.

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Myrin said softly. “We all have fears and worries, even if they don’t make rationale sense.”

“But I--”

“Even Korgron does, I’m sure,” Myrin said in a teasing tone.

“What? Hey, I’m amazing!” Korgron said defiantly.

“Not even half as much as you think,” Bauteut said. “Who was it who kept coming out of that ‘Dream Realm’ to see if Joan was back yet?”

“It’s okay that you don’t like spiders,” Myrin said in a soft, soothing tone as she gently stroked her hair. “Lots of people are frightened by them. You did what you believed you had to do, none the less.”

“B-but I’m just… I need to… we need to get to work, there’s still so much to do,” Joan said softly, another sob wracking her body. “I-I need to tell you e-everything. I need to… I…”

“There’s always going to be a lot to do,” Chase said. “Putting on a brave mask all the time is just going to make you crack when we need you. Listen, we’re the Chosen. If there’s a problem so severe that we can’t take a few minutes to just let you cry it out, then we’re probably all doomed anyway.”

“I-it is,” Joan said softly. “W-we need to move. T-the Demon Lord, he’s, he’s got o-obsidian trolls. H-hundreds of them.”

That, at least, seemed to cause a reaction. She could feel Myrin tense up and hear Korgron give a light gasp.

“Hundreds of them?” Bauteut asked. “As in, the massive, destructive, fire covered things that nearly killed you?”

“Y-yes,” Joan said softly. “A-an army of them. I-I need to--”

“Then we’ll deal with that when it comes,” Myrin said. “But we’ll need you for it. And, right now? You need a moment.”

“But—”

“We’ll deal with it,” Searle said, firmly. “We’re the Chosen. It doesn’t matter if there’s a hundred of them, a thousand of them or a million of them. We’ll break through them if we have to to save this world. Besides, what did you say they were? The ‘bare minimum’?”

Hardwin gave a light huff at that. “Please don’t encourage her in thinking that.”

“We’ll deal with it,” Searle said. “We’ve come too far to let them stop us. Besides, you’ve helped us every step of the way. Trust us, like we trust you.”

“You know, for once I really have nothing to add here,” Bauteut said. “They’ve got this, Joan. So just trust them. More than that, just let them help you. Let yourself be scared and let them comfort you.”

Myrin gave a small, gentle chuckle and continued to soothingly stroke her hair. “You were very brave, Joan. That couldn’t have been easy. Chosen or not, I know I wouldn’t have wanted to go down there. But we all trusted you to do it and to come back to us. So trust us to deal with this threat and let us help you. Please?”

Joan shivered, but very, very slowly she gave a nod.

They were the Chosen, they could handle anything. Even her.

Especially her.

She clutched Myrin tighter and just wailed, letting all of her fear and anxiety out… Which only got louder when another small spider slipped out from her tunic and crawled down her arm.