Chapter 60

They had passed Caridin's Cross and were now heading towards Emma's worst nightmare - Ortan Thaig. In view of what she was soon to face, she decided to give herself a pep talk. Spiders... watch out for the spiders. She rolled her eyes at that thought; it wasn't like you could miss the bloody things, considering their gigantic size. Why did it have to be spiders? Or, if it had to be spiders, then why couldn't they be smaller? Something like the size of a coin, a really small coin. But no, they had to be the size of a damn bronto! She looked around nervously when she recognised the area; they were getting close to the fight between the darkspawn and the spiders.

Five minutes later, the passage opened out into a large cavern and a scene of carnage. An ogre was beset by four massive spiders - the poisonous type. Great! It was bad enough that they were huge; now they had to be careful of the toxin in their bites as well. Emma couldn't suppress the shiver that crawled down her spine as the ogre grabbed a spider and lifted it up. A horrible, squealing noise escaped the eight-legged creature as it slashed at the ogre with sharp pincers. With a mighty roar, the ogre tore the arachnid in half and Emma nearly lost her breakfast as bloodied lumps of flesh flew in all directions.

Unfortunately, the ogre had made one fatal mistake - it had forgotten the three other spiders. These horrendous creatures sank vicious looking fangs into the ogre's thick legs, injecting poison with each bite. The huge, horned darkspawn staggered back a step, but then with a massive bellow, it lowered its head and charged. The spiders dodged with disturbing ease, and as the ogre turned to face them it swayed, looking disorientated. Emma felt a stab of pity for the horned darkspawn as it fell to its knees before dropping face first to the floor. She looked away as the spiders swarmed over the body; that wasn't an image she wanted in her brain.

"Heads up, people. They've spotted us," Aedan called out. Pulling in a deep breath, Emma grabbed her staff and moved back, allowing the rogues and warriors to step forward and take the brunt of the attack. The three mages spread out along the passage entrance and threw out spells, some destructive, some healing, and a few buffs for good measure. Leliana leapt onto a nearby ledge that jutted out from the stone and rained down arrows from her superior height. With the first wave of spiders taken care of, they moved further into the cavern and watched the darkspawn fight off their own attack from the arachnids. When the odds had evened out a bit, Aedan and his team joined in the fight, striking down both darkspawn and spiders alike.

By the time the combat was over, corpses littered the ground and everyone started to put away their weapons. "Wait," Emma said, turning to a dark, shadowed corner of the cave. "We have a few more to deal with." Her eyes met those of the Alpha shriek guarding a chest. It tipped back its head and let out an ear-piercing sound that Emma felt in her bones, then it charged forward. As it reached them, three more shrieks appeared out of thin air, their long talons slashing at Aedan and his group. The fight was ferocious but short, the Alpha giving them the most difficulty. However, it finally fell and the group took a well-earned rest. After wandering around the cave and looting any useful items, they set off once more for Ortan Thaig.

Upon reaching the lost thaig, Emma made a beeline for the chest that contained the records for Orta and put them in her pack. She jumped when a loud shout echoed through the cave, and turned just in time to see Ruck run down a side tunnel. She joined Aedan and the others as they followed the panicked dwarf. "Who are you?" Aedan asked. The dwarf babbled nonsensical words, then a familiar hiss from the rear of the group made everyone spin around, and draw their weapons in readiness.

The seemingly never-ending supply of spiders surged forward once more. Working as a team, Aedan and the others rapidly cut through them until the area was clear. Emma's eyes darted to and fro, looking for more spiders and her skin crawled at the thought of how close the nearest one might be to her. She was starting to feel more and more nervous with each arachnid that they encountered and drew in a fortifying breath; it's okay, you can do this Emma, not much further to go and you'll be past Ortan Thaig.

"How are you holding up, Angel?" She looked up into concerned eyes and forced a smile to her lips. "I'm all right. Thanks for checking though." He brushed a quick kiss to her lips and gave her one more appraising stare before taking the tunnel that Ruck had run into. They found the addled dwarf amidst the remains of a camp, and Emma heard Oghren say that they had stumbled upon one of Branka's sites. Emma stepped forward. "Your mother, Filda is worried about you." Ruck waved his hands frantically and started babbling. "No! No mother, no warm blanket and stew. Ruck doesn't deserve good memories." She held up placating hands. "It's okay, Ruck. Would you like me to tell her that you're dead? She deserves some kind of closure."
He nodded and curled his hands into his chest. "Pretty lady is kind. It not so bad down here once you eat... once you take in the darkness... you not miss the light so much." His small eyes peered closely at her. "You know, do you not? Ruck sees..." He stopped abruptly and leaned in even closer, sniffing at her. His eyes flew to Aedan and he took a tentative sniff at the air around him too, before moving to Alistair and repeating the process. He shambled back to Emma. "You all have a light in your darkness. Ruck not seen that before."

The three Grey Wardens exchanged puzzled glances. "Ruck not mean to offend," the dwarf said as he cowered away from them.
"It's fine, Ruck. No offence taken," Emma said. They traded goods with the tainted dwarf before leaving him to his solitary life. As they walked back the way they'd come, Alistair moved up beside Emma. "So, any idea what that crazy dwarf was talking about; and I don't mean Oghren."
"I heard that, you nug-humper!"
Alistair grinned before turning his attention back to Emma, who met his questioning gaze with a look of confusion. "I'm not sure. He didn't say what I was expecting him to say." She kept scanning overhead and around the walls, anticipating the reappearance of more spiders. There was no way she could focus on a conundrum like this at the moment, so she filed it away to examine later.

They exited the tunnel and their next battle awaited; golems and ghosts. Ah, well. At least there were no spiders around this time. Shale went toe to toe with the first golem and seemed to be enjoying herself as she yelled and pummelled at it. The rest of the group moved past and took on the ghostly dwarves. Emma kept her attention split between the battle going on in front of her and Shale's fight behind her. However, she needn't have worried because right then, Shale delivered a powerful uppercut and the enemy golem fell.

She stomped past Emma wearing what could only be described as a smug look. "These golems are terribly inferior. Such poor workmanship." Emma chuckled and followed Shale over the bridge, catching up with the others as they moved forward to take on the remaining golem and ghosts. With another fight out of the way, they took a break in order to rest their sore muscles and have something to eat and drink.

Emma's gaze kept sliding over to the dark passageway which led to their next destination, and her over-active imagination conjured up horrifying visions of spiders crawling over every inch of the tunnels. As she watched everyone prepare to leave, she tried desperately to keep her arachnophobia under control, but her eyes flitted around and her legs shook as they entered the passage.

Only a few steps into the tunnel and the first spider crawled up its thin web and curled itself up into the ceiling. Emma's muscles tightened with nerves as she approached the spot where the spider had disappeared; her mind kept replaying a scene where its large, grotesque body would fall down on her. Her eyes became glued to the ceiling, watching for a movement, waiting for it to reappear. As her limbs shook, she realised that she couldn't move. Fear had sunk its claws into her, and she couldn't find a way past it.