Did it have to be spiders? (Entry 96)

by Hayley Thomas

Dear diary,

It seems the time between my entries in this journal grows longer and longer. Not for lack of hours in the day, but because little has happened worth committing to parchment. Life, for a brief moment, decided to resemble something close to normal.

The past two weeks were spent in Tarn. Not fighting, not scheming—simply living. We helped the villagers raise new homes from timber and stone, marked plots of land for gardens, and turned empty ground into the promise of harvest. It is strange work for people like us, but satisfying in a quiet way. A town that once struggled to house its own people now shelters refugees from two ruined settlements. Watching the streets fill with laughter instead of fear felt… right.

At the same time, we began reaching outward. If we truly intend to challenge both Hillfield and Keralon, then stubborn courage alone will not be enough. We need allies.

So messages were sent to distant cities—Latebra Velora and Arca Valon among them—offering trade, cooperation, and perhaps the beginning of something stronger. Trade caravans make far better foundations for alliances than battle plans do.

Still, peace rarely lasts long in our lives.

After those two weeks, we decided it was time to return to Hillfield and deal with Lady Magnolia once and for all. If she truly is the source of the enchantment blanketing the city, then breaking her influence could change everything.

The journey took three days.

When we passed near Rosebloom, Gael suggested we try speaking with Eileen Inkheart again—perhaps renegotiate the terms of the agreement we had made. The suggestion did not survive long. Without an alternative that would free the villagers without condemning Luke and Liliana to their suffering, the idea went nowhere.

Still… the thought lingered in my mind.

Perhaps the others cannot see a way forward yet. Perhaps I do.
If there is a solution to be found with Inkheart, it may be something I must pursue alone.

We arrived at the outskirts of Hillfield on the evening of the eleventh and immediately began searching for the entrance to the old mines. They have been abandoned for years, but such places rarely lose their usefulness entirely. If the tunnels still connect to the city, they could give us a way inside without passing the gates.

In the end, it was Gael who solved the problem. He spoke to the nearby animals in that quiet, uncanny way of his, and before long a small bird fluttered down to guide us.
It showed us the entrance easily enough.
But not before issuing a warning.

According to the little creature, something very dangerous now lives in those tunnels.

I suppose that should not have surprised any of us. Places that humans abandon rarely stay empty for long.

Still, warnings from animals tend to carry a certain honesty.

We decided not to press our luck in the dark and made camp nearby instead. While the rest of us settled in, Gael took a careful look at the mine entrance and the surrounding ground.

When he returned, his expression had tightened.

“Spiders,” he said.

Not the small kind.
Large ones.

The next morning we entered the mines.

Every step past the threshold felt like crossing into a place that no longer belonged to the world above. The air was colder, stale with the scent of damp stone and old dust. Somewhere deeper in the tunnels, something skittered—rapid, scratching sounds echoing through the darkness just beyond the reach of our light.

But before we had even taken more than a few steps inside, something else caught our attention. Scattered near the entrance was a strange little collection of objects: a few coins, small carved fetishes, bits of polished bone and trinkets that looked as though they had been deliberately placed there.

Offerings.

I crouched beside them for a moment, studying the arrangement.

“Someone’s been paying tribute,” I murmured.

“To spiders?” someone behind me asked.

I shrugged lightly. “Or to whatever the spiders answer to.”

No one seemed particularly comforted by that possibility.

We moved on.

The tunnels twisted deeper into the earth, our footsteps echoing softly off the rock walls. Eventually one passage opened into a wide chamber where the mine shaft plunged straight down into darkness. Suspended over it was an old elevator platform, its chains disappearing into the black below.

Luke stepped forward immediately, examining the mechanism with the careful focus he gives anything that might explode, collapse, or otherwise ruin our day.

While he worked, my stomach suddenly growled. Loudly.

I frowned to myself. I had eaten that morning—my usual breakfast before setting out. It made no sense for hunger to hit me so suddenly. With Luke still fussing over the controls and the others scanning the shadows, I simply reached into my pouch and popped one of Gael’s enchanted berries into my mouth.

The familiar sweetness spread across my tongue.

Problem solved.
Or so I thought.

The elevator groaned as it carried us down to the next level, chains rattling softly as we descended into deeper darkness. When it finally stopped, we stepped off into another set of tunnels, older and more decayed than the ones above.

It didn’t take long before we found the body. Or what remained of it.
The corpse lay slumped against the wall, dried to little more than parchment and bone. The clothing suggested a miner—or perhaps an explorer who had come down here after the mines were abandoned. Time had erased most other details.
We knelt to investigate.

And then the hunger returned.
Sharp. Suddenly. Almost painful.
I felt it twist in my stomach like an empty pit. Judging by the expressions around me, I was not the only one feeling it this time.

Once could be a coincidence.
Twice, especially after eating one of Gael’s magical berries, was something else entirely.

“Something’s wrong,” I said quietly.

Luke didn’t argue. He began weaving a detection spell, the faint shimmer of magic gathering around his hands as he searched for whatever unseen influence was pressing against us.
But before the spell could fully settle—

We heard footsteps echoing down the tunnel toward us.
The footsteps belonged to things that were once—perhaps—human.

Grey, hunched figures stumbled into the light, their skin stretched tight over gaunt bones. Their hands were webbed like something that had crawled out of the deep sea, and their mouths… their mouths were far too large for their faces. Each one gaped open in a silent, ravenous hunger, teeth glistening as if they had not eaten in years.

Yet the look in their eyes said the opposite.
They were starving.

They lurched toward us the moment they saw us.

Steel came free of scabbards, spells began forming in practiced hands—and the fight began.

In the chaos of those first seconds, Ileas suddenly darted away, vanishing into one of the side tunnels before anyone could stop him.

For a heartbeat I simply stared after him.
Had the creatures frightened him?

Unlikely. The little satyr had stood his ground against things far worse than this. Whatever drove him to run had to be something else entirely.

Unfortunately, his sudden disappearance had consequences.

From somewhere deeper in the tunnels came a high, piercing screech.

A summons.

Moments later we heard the unmistakable skitter of many legs approaching at speed.

Spiders.
Of course.

There was no time to dwell on it. The creatures emerging from the tunnels were all coming from the same side of the small grotto we had stumbled into, which at least gave us one advantage.

I raised my hands and traced a pattern in the air I knew well.

The spell answered eagerly.

A thick cloud of toxic mist erupted across that entire side of the chamber, a roiling curtain of green vapour that swallowed the incoming creatures whole. Those already inside the grotto choked and staggered within it, while the ones still pushing through the tunnels had a choice to make: retreat… or walk through the poison to reach us.

They chose hunger.

Which meant they walked straight into death.

The fight was brutal but controlled. Forced into narrow passages and choking fumes, our attackers had little room to maneuver. One by one they either collapsed inside the cloud or stumbled out of it only to meet the waiting blades of our warriors.

Then the spiders arrived.

The first dropped from the ceiling like a living nightmare—far larger than any creature with that many legs should be. Others followed, their bodies thudding onto the stone floor as they lunged for us.

But by then the tide had already turned.

Poison, steel, and magic did their work.

Soon enough the grotto fell silent again, broken only by the faint hiss of the lingering mist.

Bodies lay scattered across the stone—grey humanoids twisted in death, spiders sprawled with their legs curled inward.

And just as the last of the spiders hit the ground—

Ileas stepped back out of the tunnel he had vanished into, holding a lyre.

The satyr looked… embarrassed.

Under normal circumstances I might have been less patient about his sudden disappearance during a battle. But when he explained what had happened, even I had to pause.
Apparently a female satyr had appeared deeper in the tunnel and lured him away.
Led him straight to the lyre he was now holding.

His uncle’s lyre.

Yes.
That uncle.

None of us felt particularly eager to unpack that entire story in the middle of a spider-infested mine. So we left the matter there. Ileas clutched the instrument carefully, and we took a short rest to gather our strength.

Then we continued exploring.

The level we were on revealed little else of interest. No new passages, no hidden chambers—just dead tunnels and old mining scars in the stone. Eventually we returned to the elevator and descended further.

Level after level passed.
A few tunnels branched away from the shaft here and there, but none of them led anywhere meaningful. Either they had collapsed long ago or ended in abandoned digging attempts.

At last, we reached the bottom.

Immediately something felt different.

The tunnels here were newer. Narrower. The stone showed cleaner tool marks, as if someone had begun digging again after the mines were abandoned.

And the spiderwebs…
They were everywhere.
Thick strands stretched across the passages like ropes, clinging to the walls and ceiling in dense layers.
Far thicker than anything the spiders we had just fought could have produced.

I paused beside one of the strands and touched it lightly with the tip of my dagger.

It barely moved.

Whatever spun these webs…
was much larger than the creatures we had already encountered.

“Careful,” I murmured quietly.

Because down here, in the deepest tunnels of the mine, it seemed very likely that we were no longer the hunters.

The tunnel eventually opened into a cavern far larger than any we had seen so far.

A jagged crevice split the chamber straight down the middle like a wound in the earth. The drop was deep enough that our light barely reached the bottom. On the far side, half-hidden in shadow and old stonework, I could make out something unmistakable—arched brickwork and the dark mouths of drainage channels.

The foundations of the city’s sewers.
We had done it.
A way into Hillfield, hidden beneath the city itself.

Crossing the crevice was another matter entirely.

I reached for the Heart of Water and called upon its power. The air chilled instantly as frost spread outward, and with a slow grinding sound a bridge of ice formed across the gap, solid and pale in the dim light.

Liliana stepped onto it first.

She had taken perhaps three strides when the ceiling exploded into motion.

A phase spider the size of a small house dropped down directly onto the bridge, its massive legs slamming against the ice as it lunged for her.

“Of course,” I muttered.

As if one nightmare was not enough, the noise drew attention from the sewer tunnels across the cavern. More creatures came spilling out—long, writhing shapes with too many legs and too many feelers.
Carrion crawlers.

The cavern erupted into chaos.

Alistan and Liliana held the sewer entrance, blades flashing as they kept the crawlers from swarming us. The rest of us focused everything we had on the spider. The creature shifted in and out of visibility, its body flickering as it slipped between the material world and the ethereal.

Steel and magic struck where we could, each blow landing just before it vanished again.

Eventually the monster began to falter.
And that was when it made its final move.

With terrifying speed it lunged forward, snatched Ileas in its mandibles, and shifted fully into the ethereal plane—vanishing from sight as if it had never been there.

The spider, no doubt, believed itself safe.

Unfortunately for it, Luke is many things—but predictable is not one of them.
The mage calmly adjusted his spellwork, reached across the veil between planes, and finished the creature where it hid.
The spider died.

Which left us with a new problem.
Ileas was still very much not on our plane.

For a moment we all stared at each other, silently acknowledging that retrieving someone from the ethereal plane was not exactly a standard procedure.

Then Liliana proposed a solution.

An absurd one.

But at that point, absurd was better than impossible.

A smaller phase spider skittered nearby, lurking along the cavern wall. Liliana decided that perhaps—perhaps—she could convince it to help us retrieve Ileas.
The attempt… did not go as intended.

Instead of cooperating, the spider immediately lunged at Ileas on the ethereal side.
Fortunately for him, Ileas is a bard—and a satyr—and apparently capable of dodging even an ethereal spider when sufficiently motivated.

He avoided the attack.
Then, thinking faster than I would have given him credit for, he grappled the creature.

The spider panicked.
And in its panic, it did what phase spiders do when frightened.
It shifted back to the material plane.
Taking Ileas with it.

The two of them appeared in the cavern in a tangled heap of limbs and legs.
Alistan solved the rest of the problem with a single decisive strike.

And just like that, our missing satyr was back.

We all stood there for a moment, processing the sheer absurdity of what had just happened.

Then we laughed.

The cavern was quiet again after that. Between the day’s exploration and the two battles we had fought, exhaustion had finally begun to catch up with us.
Rather than push forward into the sewers immediately, we decided to make camp in the cavern. Luke wove his protective magic around our resting place. For the first time since entering the mines, we could finally rest without listening for skittering in the dark.

Continue reading...

Entry one: The trials

Entry two: The bramble

Entry 3: Rosebloom

Entry 4: Hearts and Dreams

Entry 5: of ghosts and wolves

Entry 6: Hillfield and Deals with Fae

Entry 7: mysteries and pastries

Entry 8: The scarecrow ruse
6th of Lug, 121 Year of the Tree

Entry 9: A betrayal of satyrs
7th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 10: The fate of twins
8th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 11: Cursed twins
10th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 12: Loss and despair
11th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Hayley's rules to being a Witch

Entry 13: the price of safety
12th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 14: A golden cage and fiery tower
13th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 15: A trial by fire
14th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Entry 16: Keralon
15th of Lug, 121 year of the Tree

Letter to Luke 1

Letter to Luke 2

Letter to Luke 3

Letter to Luke 4

Letter to Luke 5

Letter to Luke 6

Entry 17: I shall wear midnight
1st of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 18: peace in our time
2nd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 19: Caern Fussil falls
3rd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 20: I see fire
4th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 21: Cultists twarted
10th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 22: Ravensfield
14th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 23: The Hollow Hill Horror
15th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 24: Burn your village
16th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 25: Ravensfield burns
17th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 26: There will be blood!
21st of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 27: A happy reunion
22nd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 28: The embassy ball
23rd of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 29: The fate of Robert Talespinner
24th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 30: A royal summons
28th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 31: of Dogville and Geese
29th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 32: A boggle named Pim
30th of Nuan, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 33: A deal broken
1st of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 34: The cost of doing what is right
2nd of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 35: A dish best served cold
9th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

entry 36: Cornu returns?
10th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 37: A letter from Amarra
11th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 38: The case of the (not) missing villagers
14th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 39: A curse broken
15th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 40: Into the Lorewood
18th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 41: Cabin in the Woods
19th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 42: Myrdin and Anaya
20th of Aran, 126 Era of the Tree

Entry 43: Into the Immerglade
21st of Aran, 127 Era of the Tree

Entry 44: A tale as old as time
22nd of Aran, 127 Era of the Tree

Entry 45: The truth
23rd of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 46: Luke's Ordeal
24th of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 47: The festival
26th of Aran, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 48: Trouble at the Cathedral
2nd of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 49: Quinn's court
4th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 50: onwards to Latebra Velora
5th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 51: Where is my cow?
6th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 52: Here be dragons
7th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 53: Dragon hoard with a side of scarabs
8th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 54: Leave the basilisks alone
9th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 55: Return to Ravensfield
10th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 56: The needs of the many...
11th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 57: Dreams of Sister Willow
12th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 58: wetlands be wet
13th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 59: Baron Perenolde
14th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 60: Talebra Velora and the lady Morenthene
15th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 61: Cypria
16th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 62: Dragon takes Knight
17th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 63: Return to Talebra Velora
18th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 64: Your presence is “requested”
19th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 65: I stand alone
20th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 66: A day of normalcy
21th of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 67: Into the Neverhold
22nd of Brigan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 68: The Warg King

Entry 69: Chased by birds

Entry 70: Whitewail

Entry 71: Nimmerhold

Entry 72: The menagerie
29th of Gobu, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 73: To the library!
30th of Gobu, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 74: The people's tournament
First of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 75: Nimmerhold party
First of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 76, The return home
Second of Mannan, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 77: A week of peace
10th of Mannan

Entry 78: The tomb of the First King
11th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 79: I had a dream
12th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 80: The ritual for Sister Willow
14th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 81: Trouble at the Briar Ring
15th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Entry 82: My day as a crocodile
21st of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

The return of the twins (Entry 83)
22nd of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Earth and Sky (Entry 84)
26th of Mannon, 128 Era of the Tree

Wolf's Rest betrayed (entry 85)
30th of Mannon

The end of a chapter (entry 86)
first of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

On the road (Entry 87)
second of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

The Red Knight (Entry 88)
7th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Dear uncle… (Entry 89)
8th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Cut the bridge (Entry 90)
10th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Home (Entry 91)
13th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

A tale of two shadows (Entry 92)
16th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Eileen Inkheart and the cursed village (Entry 93)
17th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Nidhog at the end of the world (Entry 94)
18th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Into Hillfield (Entry 95)
24th of Edon, 128 Era of the Tree

Did it have to be spiders? (Entry 96)
12th of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

The burning tree (Entry 97)
13th of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

Deep down the city (Entry 98)
14th of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

Heavy is the crown (Entry 99)
21st of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

Genie in a bottle (Entry 100)
24th of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

Bad blood (Entry 101)
27th of Duna, 128 Era of the Tree

Think about it (Entry 102)
2nd of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Arca Valon (Entry 103)
6th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Myrddin's grand plan (Entry 104)
10th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Nearly lost you (Entry 105)
11th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Who let the dogs out? (Entry 106)
18th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Land of confusion (Entry 107)
19th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Running up that hill (Entry 108)
20th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

I know what I am (Entry 109)
24th of Hagan, 128 Era of the Tree

Welcome to paradise (Entry 110)
1st of solstice, 129 Era of the Tree

Come out and play (Entry 111)
1sh of Solstice, 129 Era of the Tree

This is war (Entry 112)
2nd of Solstice, 129 Era of the Tree

Good things go (Entry 113)
3rd of Solstice, 127 Era of the Tree

Did it have to be spiders? (Entry 96)

Continue reading...

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