Chapter 51

 

Day 11 since entering the gnomes’ warren…

 

I awoke startled when there was a rushing of booted feet all around. The gnomes were all in a flurry like a bees’ or ants’ nest that was being attacked. They were also emotionally riled up with wild looks on their faces of panic. Just the look on their faces you could see vividly something really awful was happening.

I shot up sitting up straight from the bed area. I was still in the field hospital tent but it’d also been converted into some kind of troop gathering area too, since it was a symbol of hope.

“What’s going on?” I asked some of them that were running by.

It’s obvious that something bad is happening.

I hurt really bad but managed to sit up. The pain spurts didn’t feel good. I had to move slowly. But at least I’d healed up some. I could also see I wasn’t bleeding anymore but there were a lot of bandages on me.

I cast another heal on myself to be safe.

“Big spiders are coming,” one of the elders just said.

“But how can that be? I don’t understand what he means,” Vira says in a panicked voice. It’s the first time I notice she’s sitting near me on another cot. But unlike me, she wasn’t asleep. We didn’t have a lot of other spare clothes or equipment but somehow she’s also gotten some kind of homemade shin guards on. They look kind of shabby though, so I doubt they will add much protection to her gnome overalls.

“What?” I was confused.

“Spiders have breached our underground entrance,” one of the guards said seriously. The meaning of what he’d just said overruled my thoughts about why a guard gnome would be able to understand our language when most of them can’t.

“Eh?! How can that be?” I exclaim.

“It’s true, we’ve already had training meetings for this sort of thing. Apparently it’s happened before,” Vira said to confirm.

She was getting up and looking out the front tent door flaps to keep an eye on things. “We had anti-spider drills for the last few days. They apparently sneak in here often.”

I thought this place was safe?” I exclaimed.

“It normally is. But there are underground predators like the spider’s nest nearby,” The gnome guard said. It was the same one that had been keeping an eye on me yesterday.

“Damn,” I accidentally curse.

The gnomes were still running all about around us. Slowly they were all getting into weapons and armor. But armor took time to get into and that required help too. Normally people needed an assistant to also get into a set of armor since there were a lot of straps and buckles, plus feeling the weight while you were trying to move around. Then they had to test it for movement and making sure nothing would shake lose.

The gnomes were making a formation but it wasn’t going quick enough. It felt really slow.

Only about twelve of them were ready in full gear.

“Hurry, they are coming,” the gnome guard said.

We left the tent together with the gnome troops, with me and Vira in tow. Somehow I felt like I should be involved with keeping an eye on them. If anyone had a good chance at surviving it would the ones with a healer in the back row even if I wasn’t at full strength.

The gnomes had been using some type of mirrors and lights for signaling each other noiselessly. They are smarter than I thought, and highly organized actually.

I cast heal one more time, and then twice over my wound. Since I’d been asleep just this much maybe would at least let me fight defensively. I still didn’t feel good though. It was like I was hobbling around. But the seriousness of the situation was such that even the young kids were being armed.

The kid with the mangled arm moved inward to where the gnome kids were. Apparently somehow the gnomes trusted him, while I stayed with Vira and the gnome soldiers.

“They’ve cut off section B-3,” one of the gnomes said.

Vira’s eyes widened. “That’s where the camps are from our people!” she said.

“What?” I exclaim.

“We have to do something!” she said.

Another gnome guard spoke up. “Easy does it. Stay calm. We have another guard that’s evacuated the humans to another section. They’re in a siege bunker. They moved everyone that they could.”

“I didn’t know the gnomes had stuff like that,” I said.

“Aye, dwarven inventions they are,” another guard confirmed.

“Siege bunker? Do you know anything about it? Is it good enough to keep our people alive?” I asked to Vira.

She nodded, “the gnomes use bunkers and have them throughout the warren for something like this happening.

“Ready the bait,” One of the gnome guards said.

They then unlatch some kind of special chest, and open it in the center of the room while the gnomes get their pole arms ready. But they regard the chest carefully, almost like its poison. They are afraid of touching it directly and use wrenches when they have to.

“What is that?” I whisper.

“It’s a type of monster scent. It draws them in and makes them crazy so they can be baited and taken down quickly,” Vira said while we watch the guards surround the entrance to this tunnel in ambush formation.

“What’s it made of?” I ask.

“I’m not sure on the specifics, but it’s some kind of blend of blood and spider sexual gland scents mixed together. It makes them go bat shit crazy. If you get any on yourself it’s a death sentence if they are anywhere nearby,” she said.

“It’s working, here he comes!” one of the guards called. “Pull back! Ready the gauntlet.”

Other guards echoed the command right after, down the line in the dark of the caverns.

There was skittering sound and a huge screeching as a huge black spider ran through the tunnel, shooting out the opening closest to us as fast as a small car trying to tear at the open chest. Its pincers and legs were a glossy shiny black chitin that seemed to be darkly beautiful in a way. They struck at the chest lightning fast like a viper’s strike, fortunately they’d anchored the chest to the floor, but the iron rings and chains strained at the stakes that held it in place. Where the legs of the huge spider extended they were also covered with strange spiky long hairs. But what was the most surprising was how huge the body was being able to move like that so quickly. This thing was not only as fast as a small car, but about the size of a tiny coupe sized car when its legs were extended outward and with a big thick abdomen.

“Dang,” I heard someone whisper, and then realized it had come from my own mouth.

The box got bit up and chewed quickly within just three seconds with all kinds of pincer bites and leg punches. It had broken wooden slats all over but was held together by metal corners and strong rivet work. The eerie smell was stronger now with the wooden chest all chewed up.

Still…it was now shabby looking and looked like any new hits might crack it to pieces finally.

Suddenly the spider screeched even louder as the gnomes punctured its body with their shiny pointed pole arms stabbing into it. With that many gnomes on it straining their muscles to poke at it, it died quickly while its huge legs and body thrashed about. It collapsed into a series of twitching seizures.

The sound of its death was something that sounded very sad despite it not being human,“kwyeeeeehhh.”

The gnomes cheered.

“Still a bit early to cheer,” I heard Vira grumble.

We didn’t understand what most of them were saying but it looked like pat on the backs for all living and getting their first kill. Some of them puffed up their chests with pride and trying to look bad ass. It seemed funny though, given their small size.

“Stop, get ready there are more! Don’t relax now when the trouble has just started!” their leader warned.

“Eh? This many of them can use the language enchant? I swear that’s like the fourth one here that can do it,” I said.

“Eh? I thought they had a few but not that many. Gnomes sure are secretive huh,” Vira said.

“Normally there’s more than one…” one of the gnomes said overhearing us.

“I hope their nest of eggs didn’t hatch recently,” another said.

That sounds bad too.

They duplicated the same positioning with the chest still open.

But unlike before two more spiders came out. The first died right away being jabbed full of holes and leaking some kind of pussy putrid liquids; but the second one realized the trap and went for one of the gnome guards. Its pincers bit his shield in half and then went for his face.

He screamed in fear and tried to get away but there wasn’t time. The spider was too fast and too strong. The others couldn’t get there in time and he was decapitated with surprising speed and ferocity. A small spigot of red started shooting blood up like fountain where his neck ended. Then he fell to the ground. But it didn’t stop there. It kept chewing on him and bit open his abdomen below the stomach and started ripping out intestines with a weird sound that seemed like drunken laughter of monsters.

The one gnome guard was already dead so it wouldn’t be possible to try to heal a decapitation.

“What the frick?” Vira said in shock.

Vira also charged in using her sword and some kind of holy light she’d held up in her other hand. The light was somewhat sparkly and to me felt good and filled the cavern with a nice warm feeling. The gnomes also felt the light, but for some reason it seemed harsh and glaring to the spiders. There was a feel too like the light was very penetrating somehow, but it wasn’t easy to put into logic why.

That must be the paladin skill. But I wasn’t sure how it worked yet.

They couldn’t get anywhere close to Vira with it up, I noticed after watching them in action. It slowed down their fighting back at us considerably. The closer they got to it the more intense the effects seemed to be.

As the first spider died, and while the second spider was fighting they were blinded by the paladin’s light. It was unable to do several gnome executions in this way. Many gnomes were kept alive. I discovered I really liked this skill, seeing her in action.

I watched the light carefully, trying to see how it worked.

Was this a holy power? They used it to fight? It was really strong! The spider kept wanting to advance and strike but the light made it not only afraid but seemed like it was almost as if to burn it. The spider was pushed back but kept its balance.

Still it refused to give up. That by itself was giving it an edge it facing the glare that threatened it. Sure enough too even if a car driver was blinded driving into the sunset, he would still try to move even if he couldn’t see. The same thing was currently starting to happen with the spider.

The gnomes fought and bit at the spider, but even with the paladin light they were being pushed back. Sometimes the spider would kick out with its legs and hit their little shields bowling them over with sheer force. The blows were absorbed by the shield but then the gnome would be thrown against the wall or the cavern. Some of them sustained injuries despite well designed arm guards with leather cushioning and well crafted braces.

“Stay back,” the gnomes warned. “Something this tough is too much for weak humans!” the leader warned.

But it didn’t look like the gnomes would make it without us even if we were considered weak.

Still Vira held up the holy light and stayed behind the gnome shields despite having to dodge some well timed attacks from the spider. She’d still helped though because the spider hated getting its face and many eyes near the light. With that many eyes, a blinding light was very intense because of having all eight eyes exposed.

But something that deadly and big wasn’t easily killed and had already known how to blind fight.

So the spider circled instead. It tried to go around the burning light, to go after guards that were at the edge of the paladin’s light instead.

So we started a game of circling. The spider then faked us out trying to go for another gnome instead. Its blow connected and instantly another gnome was killed with lightning fast precision. It was more agile than us so it was impossible to have a perfect defense, once it was onto us.

But it was hard to even keep up with seeing something that could move that fast.

“Damn! It got Beedun,” one of the guards cried out in anguish.

The gnomes then threw some types of throwing knives since they couldn’t get a clear shot to use their pole arms yet. The knives were thrown at the face while the spider used its front legs to cover its face.

“We need to hurry, before the scent draws more of them!” one of the lieutenants warned.

“************** ****** *******!” some of them exclaimed. I had no idea what the bulk of them were saying.

They kept chattering in this way. After all they were excited and fighting for their lives. Some of them were crying out in fear but others were revenge oriented by the look of their faces.

“**************************** **** * *************”

“****************************************”

Sure enough in the distance other skitters could be heard.

Oh shit!

The gnomes kept trying to take it down, but I noticed this third spider wasn’t like the others. It had a lot of scars all over its body and was some kind of survivor type. It tried to kick another gnome to death, but then a shower of crossbow bolts from two guards in the back halted its progress as it had to protect its head instead.

The attack was stopped but unfortunately the damage was almost nothing. There was no blood on the spider anywhere yet.

It then tried to go for the ones that shot at it, by spraying some kind of web. One of them was entrapped and pinned to the floor but was still alive. The spider couldn’t go after it because of the gnome shield formation.

“Stay together! If we are one, then we can push it back,” their leader cheered.

“***********” the gnomes chanted in unison.

They tried to chop at its legs with the pole arms, since they could both pierce and do a long chop slash. One of the legs was severed but overall it wasn’t much damage, considering it had taken all of them to manage that blow and the spider had pushed back or deflected the other attacks.

Part of the problem was the reaction speed difference. A spider that big, strong, and that fast, could both attack and defend with the same amount of time it was taking the gnomes to be able to pull off one move.

While the others were engaged I managed to pull my axe out of the demon box and close it before they noticed. I kept it ready. Though I wasn’t in any shape to fight, I would have to if the spider got through the guards.

This hurt bad. But how can you ignore others dying?

“We have to help or they’ll die,” Vira exclaimed.

“No wait!” I said, but it was too late. She was heading right into a trap! She was right about helping but it was clear the spider intended to draw her in and probably cut off her light. I could see it, but she didn’t listen to me.

The spider tried to stab at her, but she jumped over it avoiding the blow that would have probably have taken off her right leg. And with her light she tried to push it right into the spider’s face.

It cried out in annoyance but wasn’t put down properly yet.

The gnomes used the maneuver to focus their attacks.

They managed to take down another front leg this time by coming in at the right moment. The spider cried out with its weird little chirps in a long string of hate.

But it’d been going after the paladin light now after changing its strategy from going after the gnomes. The paladin holy light was the best weapon against it, at least that’s the way it seemed; but now it was somehow adapting to account for it in such a short amount of time. It continued to be afraid of it and be pushed back while the gnomes tried to look for openings to both protect the paladin light and stay alive. Unfortunately this spider had learned the trick of batting away human and demi-human weapon swings too.

It was a very cunning beast and way above the combat experience of others of its kind.

One of the gnomes had his pole arm disarmed and had to fall back with only the small buckler.

I pulled back Vira just as a spider leg swiped where her chest used to be. The attack missed by inches but then another attack came at us.

Still the paladin light protected us as we managed to somehow get out of the way in time. It was also a narrow escape.

We kept trying to fight it back. It then tripped several gnomes and killed another one when its back was exposed. The gnomes got up then before another of their brother’s could be killed. It was tough work. The struggle kept going like this for several minutes, while I tried to bide my time. I was too weak to be on the front and always attacking so I’d have to look for a moment of opportunity.

They swung again. The spider jumped back. He got a mouth full of the gnome’s shield but had to spit out chunks of wood.

“Damn, he got part of the bait, stop him!” the gnomes cried out.

The gnomes then let loose a volley of crossbow bolts from the three snipers that they’d positioned for a surprise attack in the back. They had only gotten here within the last minute, having arrived in the tunnel to reinforce them.

But the spider held its ground. It wasn’t only good at attacking but could shift to a defensive position easily with so many legs to use. It swiped the bolts away like it was playing a game with us. Only one of the first bolts managed to get through, and it was sticking only partway into the black chitin armor.

“How come it won’t retreat?! They never get this far in!” one of the gnome guards said.

Then I was surprised again as the gnome continued to press forward. The paladin light was its target again. It tried to sever Vira’s hand where she held up the magic light. I deflected the blade with a last ditch effort to get my axe blade up. It worked! But Vira was horrified and cried out, when she’d almost lost her hand.

But before I could enjoy the success we had to jump back again as it swiped its leg out again. It was fearfully strong and probably even on the same level as the first orc boss we’d fought.

“Amazing! This one is so strong!” Vira cried out.

“Don’t praise it! End it quickly!” I argued back.

More throwing weapons were used to no effect. It batted away about eighty percent of them and most of the rest bounced off the black chitin armor.

It went after Vira again and both of us ducked behind the gnomes and their little shields. It felt like being naked though because they were so short and their shields so small.

Then it did something unexpected. It grabbed one of the gnomes and threw him into us with ferocious strength and speed. The gnome and Vira were knocked together head to head with intense pain before they could try to deflect part of the impact.

It was like slow motion as both of them were falling to the ground.

Oh shit! That was seriously bad.

I moved to catch Vira, grabbing her waist so she didn’t hit her head on the ground hard. But it was too late. She was out cold. Her body was already slumping and prone.

Her paladin light was starting to blink out as her hand hung by her side….

If that light were to fail, we would surely die.