The hunting party stayed silent as they rode through the woods. Dodson and Cedric rode side-by-side directly behind the king. The Lioness was on his right, Raoul on his left, and Gareth the Younger on Raoul's left. Behind the main group was a squad of the King's Own and the rest of King Jon's council.
As the trees started to thicken and no noise could be heard from the palace, everyone slowed to a walk. Raoul of Goldenlake stood in his stirrups to wipe a gloved hand on a drooping tree branch. With a grimace he inspected his finger. It was sticky with a pinkish, threadlike substance.
"Spidren web," he announced. "We must be getting close. This is fresh."
The party murmured complaints or prayers. Spidrens usually kept to the trees, throwing down webs at unsuspecting victims. The King's group was all but unsuspecting.
"Let's spread out," Jon ordered. "Get in groups of two. One person look ahead and behind, the other keep your eyes to the trees. Three soldiers were carried away by spidrens two days past. The webs caught them from above. If you hear the horn blown, regroup to wherever I am. I you are being attacked, yell for help, but you should be able to fight them off. That's why you're here. I didn't bring any burdening, soft-stomached sissies. We're on a spidren hunt. Move out!"
Silent again, the majority of the group paired up and spread out in an arc through the trees. Crossbows were loaded and swords drawn. The few with the Gift scanned around them for traces of the immortals.
Jonathan beckoned his squires over to him, where he, Alanna, Raoul, and Gary still waited. Alanna and Raoul both watched the foliage overhead warily.
"I want you two close by," Jon instructed. "I know you can take care of yourselves pretty well, and I often forget that you are both new squires. However, we must take care, so would you please always keep my me or either Raoul, Alanna, or Gary." He nodded curtly and nudged his midnight-black horse to take a step forward. The stallion, sensing the immortals, flared his nostrils and rolled his eyes wildly, but obeyed his rider. Raoul followed the king. Alanna and Gary paired up and went left, where the leaves were thicker and the shadows were bolder, covering the ground and shading the tree limbs until they were dark and uninviting. After a moment of peering up into the darkness, Alanna muttered something under her breath and a small portion of the woods was lit with purple light. Gary resettled his sword belt and followed her.
Dodson and Cedric both remained at ease in their saddles. Around them were soldiers and experienced fighters. Neither of the boys felt as if they were in any extreme danger.
Looking to his right, Cedric briefly caught a glimpse of shadows shifting in a nearby oak. Before he could shout a warning to the others, a feral shriek split the air. The nobles gasped and unsheathed their swords. They were poorly prepared when at least twenty spidrens dropped from the branches on sticky, thick webs. Soon the air was thick was the blur of swords and spears, flying webs, and large spidren bodies. Nothing had reached the two boys yet when they heard a cry coming from the woods in front of them. Realizing that no one would miss them for the moment, so they followed the noise. Unfortunately their loyal horses wouldn't go further. Finding a sheltered, quiet place they dismounted and tied their mounts to a low tree branch, and continued walking to where they figured the sound had come from.
"Hello?" Dodson pushed through the bushes and ducked under a branch. "Who screamed?"
The found themselves in a clearing with a small, shallow creek that ran past a large pit in the ground. Hearing squeaks emitting from the pit, Dodson and Cedric gingerly waded through the water and trotted to its edge. The sight hat awaited them made Cedric gasp. Dodson drew his sword.
Dozens of shrieking baby spidrens swarmed over a young woman's body, baring tiny fangs. The woman looked--and smelled--like she had been in the pit for a while. She sported many gashes on her body, signs of spidrens. She stared unblinkingly at the sky with lifeless eyes. She was dead.
Dodson winced and covered his mouth and nose with his free hand. Cedric coughed. The boy that had been crouching next to the girl, unnoticed, looked up. He had snarled, chin-length hair that might be brown if it was clean. He stared up at them with dark, sunken eyes set in a gaunt, dirty face, He too sported spidren scratches.
"Are you okay?" Cedric called down. "We have to get you out. Spidrens are everywhere." For a moment the boy looked up at them, and Dodson wondered if he understood what Cedric was saying. Finally he nodded.
"My sister," he croaked in accented common, jerking his head at the dead girl's body.
Dodson nodded sympathetically. "I'm sorry. We're going to throw you a rope so you can climb out. Hold on." He rummaged through his pack for a moment before finding the coil of rope. He tossed is to Cedric, who was better at knots. The blond boy deftly tied a loop into the hemp roped and tossed it into the pit.
Immediately the tiny spidrens clambered up the rope. Despite the fact that they were a scant four inches tall, the squires had a hard time warding them off. Finally the boy managed to haul himself up, despite the fact that his arms were frail and weak. He was very scrawny, but looked to be a year or two older than Dodson and Cedric.
"What's your name, lad?" Dodson questioned him.
The boy stared at the ground. His many cuts bled sluggishly. "Olaf," he finally mumbled.
"Hello Olaf," Cedric said cheerfully. "I'm Cedric, and this is Dodson."
Dodson smiled and handed Olaf his water flask. Olaf nodded his thanks and drank deeply before splashing his face. Silently Cedric went to refill the canteen.
When Olaf splashed his face Dodson realized by his golden skin that the boy could not be Tortallan.
"Where are you from?" He asked quietly.
"The Copper Isles," Olaf replied shortly. Dodson didn't pursue the question.
As soon as Olaf had eaten something and they were all rested the three boys made their way back to where the horses were picketed. Cedric let Olaf ride Rafe, and he led the gelding. As they neared the spot where the hunting party had been, they heard no sounds of battle. Dodson prayed that the fight had not moved elsewhere. He didn't want to lose the group. Luckily, when at last he could see through the trees, he saw the King's group resting against trees, tending wounds, or watering their horses.
Jon heard footsteps and he looked up, his face etched with worry. When he saw Dodson, Cedric, and Olaf, relief spread over his features.
"Mithros be praised," he said when they came close enough to hear. "You boys are alive! I thought the spidrens had…"
Dodson bowed. "Never, my Lord. We're too ornery to get killed or carried off. In fact, we brought a victim back for you clutching embrace."
"Sorry if we gave you a scare, sir," Cedric amended. He helped Olaf off of the horse.
"I'm just glad you two are alright," he said quickly. "We were lucky. No casualties. Not that I expected them from the beginning, but when I saw how many…It was close. Who's this now?"
He looked at Olaf. "This is Olaf, my Lord," Dodson explained.
"Hello, Olaf," Jon said kindly. "I'm King Jonathan of Conté ." At this Olaf's eyes brightened with what looked like enthusiasm or interest. "Why Don't you come with me and we can see Lady Alanna about your injuries." Gently he guided the younger man to where Alanna was inspecting Lord Martin's injured arm.
"He talks to Olaf like he's simple," Dodson whispered to Cedric behind his hand.
"Well, Olaf does act the part," Cedric insisted. "I mean, he just stands there, not talking. His appearance doesn't help matters, either."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally the weary group make it back to the palace. They were greeted by soldiers, commoners, and nobles alike at the Palace gates. At Jon's command the soldiers split the throng so the hunting party could pass and retire for the night. Once inside, they left their horses to the hostlers and the squires and Olaf followed Jon inside to his counsel room.
"You two did a man's work today." Jon smiled at them. "There's not much I can say that you don't already know, just that I'm sorry you won't get more real combat as Royal Squires. But, like I said, you'll be functioning practically as knights. Now, I'll get Olaf settled. You can go tell your friends all about the hunt."
They bowed and exited the room. Without bothering to change, (their scratched faces and mussed tunics were a proclamation of their heroic battle) they dashed to the mess hall just in time to walk in on the middle of a prayer. Sourly Wyldon finished his blessings and fixed them with a stern glare.
"You boys look…dirty," he observed with a vexed tone.
"So sorry Sir, but there was this big spidren attack, we just got back in time to grace you with our presence." (A/n: can you guess who said that?) Dodson said with a flourished bow.
Yule stood and everyone fell silent again. "Let's hear it for our glorious protectors, the Royal Squires!" he proclaimed.
All of the pages and squires cheered and clapped. Except for two. Foster and Markus stubbornly sat with their arms crossed and wearing bitter expressions.
When Dodson and Cedric finally sat down, Foster was waiting for them.
"We've decided," he said quickly without looking at them, "that Markus will do the joust and I will fence." He tried desperately not to grow pale as Dodson sniggered. Failing, he fled.
(A/n: WHOO! 3 pages. K that's long. Now that I've gone through all this work, I STILL cant believe that I only have 2 reviews. *cries* k PLEASE review!)
