That night the knights and squires went to bed early. They wanted to get an early start in the morning.
Two of the three sentries that night fell asleep. The third one, on the southwest side of camp, had no clue of what was coming, so the spidrens were able to enter camp easily on the northern side. No one knew what was about to happen.
The Lioness woke with a gasp her hands on the ember stone around her neck. The ember was growing brighter and brighter. She turned around and grabbed Kel. She shook Kel until she started yelling that she was awake.
"Kel, something's wrong! My ember is going haywire!"
Kel looked at her with a strange expression on her face. Alanna explained her ember impatiently, "My ember tells me when magic or something bad is near. I don't think it's magic because I haven't sneezed yet, which I do when I'm near evil spells."
"Well, then we'd better get up and see what it is," Kel said simply, while pulling on her breeches and shirt. Alanna followed the younger girl's example. They grabbed their swords, and were about to open the tent flap when a thick, black, hairy leg came into view.