Page 51 of In Darkness Forged
Aislin stopped breathing.
“Aye, don’t worry, lovey. I’ll be giving you the little one later. No magic on her. Just blood. I could smell it spilling on the stone where she fell. You’ll eat, and soon enough.”
Who was the old woman talking to?
A second shape moved silently into the cave, at first only a murky shadow in the dim light. It was as tall as the old woman, but huge and velvety dark, gliding forward on… it couldn’t be. Nothing that big could have that many legs.
Aislin blinked and begged her eyes to change what they were telling her, but they did not lie. Horror swelled as she absorbed the sight of a bulbous, swollen body suspended between eight arching appendages, each one tapping the floor as they folded themselves closer to fit in the tiny cavern.
The instinctive urge to scream sucked air into her lungs, but terror swallowed the sound.
She was dreaming. She’d never awakened after the fall, and none of this was real.
That thing… It was a spider. And it followed on the night elf’s heels like a dog. It even wore… Was that aharness?
The dragging sound. They’d been speaking of a meal, probably some other poor lost soul they’d found in the cave and dragged home.
Just like they’d dragged her.
For one sickening moment, Aislin’s imagination showed her bumping along the cave floor, wrapped in sticky white rope, towed by the monstrosity the old woman called Crow. It had probably touched her with those legs.
Somehow, she did not vomit. Not even when the old woman’s words caught up with her, and she realized she was likely the “little one.” The one with no magic. The one intended to feed her pet.
And the other prisoner who would last for months? He was meant to feed the old woman. “Full of power,” she’d said…
The old night elf ate magic.
A shudder rippled down Aislin’s spine. She refused to die like that, no better than a fly in a web. And yet, how could she escape? Once she left this cave, it would be utterly dark.
Perhaps if she could free the other prisoner. If it was a night elf, he could likely see well enough to find their way out.
If only Talyn… But no. She dared not waste time or energy wishing that he would find her. Even if he was the sort of person to come after her, there was no reason for him to stumble across this particular cavern by chance. And now that she was gone, he would doubtless continue on his solitary way, in relentless pursuit of the revenge he’d been promised.
And she wouldn’t even blame him, except… She’d almost thought he was beginning to hate her less. He’d apologized. Even used her name. As if he finally saw her as a person.
But wishing and regret would only weigh her down. She had to save her strength to plan.
The only thing she’d had on her when she fell was her hatchet, and oddly enough, she could feel the wooden handle beneath her hip. Why had the old woman not taken her weapon? Trying to remain mostly still, Aislin turned her head slowly and watched as the night elf moved about the cavern, fetching jars, preparing ingredients, and filling baskets while the… while her pet waited.
There was something odd about the way she moved, feeling each jar and touching the edges of the table as she went. Finally, she turned justso, and Aislin saw the dim purple light reflecting off blank white irises.
The old woman was blind. But she could smell blood, and no doubt could hear keenly as well, so escaping while she was still in the room was out of the question. Aislin would have to wait for her chance and hope that one presented itself before the monster could no longer wait for its meal.
* * *
It was cold, lying on that stone floor—cold and painful. Aislin had been lying as still as one dead for hours when the old woman finally seemed to finish her tasks. She turned to her pet and stroked the dark mass of its body as if it were simply an enormous dog.
“Off to gather bloodwing, my lovely. Come be my eyes, and when we return, you’ll feast.”
She picked up a bag, slung it over her shoulder, and shuffled out of the cavern. Aislin breathed a sigh of relief as “Crow” followed, folding himself tightly to fit through the narrow entrance before moving out of sight as silently as a shadow.
Aislin tried to swallow her instinctive terror at the sight of those many-jointed legs, but even when the creature was gone, she did not make her bid for freedom right away. The old woman’s hearing was likely to be quite acute, and if she were anywhere nearby, she would know the moment Aislin moved. So she waited, and as the minutes ticked by, she realized that fear held her even tighter than caution. If she made any sound, they might come back, and she could not face that again…
But she might not get another chance. Gritting her teeth, Aislin sat up and focused almost fiercely on the cloth wrapped around her arms. The knot was loose now, so it took only a few tugs before her hands were finally free. After rubbing them together briskly to restore warmth, she pushed herself into a crouch and bit back a scream at the pain from her injured ribs. They might even be broken, but it wasn’t as if she could do anything about it. If she didn’t move fast, that pain would be the least of her worries.
Staggering to her feet, Aislin steadied herself on the stone table until the cavern stopped spinning around her. Her head still pounded, and when she put her fingers to her temple, there was a lump covered in crusted blood. But that was another problem for later.
For now, what she needed was light. She could find no hearth or fireplace, but when she searched the walls for the source of that purple glow, she quickly determined that it was, in fact, alive and growing. Feeding off whatever nutrients were provided by the water trickling through the cracks.