“Run,” Emrys said, tugging Trystan’s arm. He turned and ran, trusting that Trystan and Marc would be right behind him.
As Marc ran toward him, Trystan caught sight of another wooden spider creature jumping from a tree toward him. He aimed his bow and let loose an arrow. As it was about to land on Marc’s shoulder, the arrow penetrated the middle of the creature and carried it off into the rocks.
By the time Trystan turned to run, Marc was on his heels. Emrys had already taken off ahead of him, but at least Trystan knew which way to run. Behind them, the creatures hissed as they scuttled over the rocks, their twig-like legs scraping and tapping as they moved.
Trystan glanced behind him. The creatures were quickly catching up with them. His heart pounding, he tried not to panic.
“I don’t think we can outrun them!” Trystan yelled, dodging trees and hopping small boulders in their path.
The spidery beasts clawed at their heels.
“Trystan!” Marc yelled, sheathing his sword. “When I give the word, I want you to turn around quickly to face me.”
“What? Are you crazy?” Trystan shouted, his breath ragged. He was not used to running so fast for so long, and the lack of sleep only drained his strength faster. Marc, however, sounded like he was having no trouble at all.
“Just trust me. And have that bow of yours ready.”
“I trust you,” he yelled back, continuing to run and duck branches here and there, trying not to trip over anything.
Seeing a clear path now ahead of them, Marc called to him. “All right—now!”
Trystan stopped and turned in an instant. His eyes widened. Marc was right there. Running into him, Marc bent down just enough and picked him up, lifting him so that his hips were at his shoulders. Trystan stiffened his body against Marc, aimed his bow, and sent an arrow flying into one of the larger spiders closing in. Then another, and another, but the spiders closed in faster than he could take them down.
Trystan’s memory sparked. He recalled how Emrys told him that the bow would create its own arrows. All he had to do was will it. Trystan pulled back on the bow and focused on what he wanted. An arrow of pure light appeared. He let it loose. It hit one of the creatures and when it did, it lit up and shattered into ash.
Astonished, relief flashed through him. No longer needing to pull arrows from the quiver, Trystan shot them off faster. He released them as fast as he possibly could, each arrow hitting its intended target. All around them, one-by-one, the creatures lit up and exploded into ash.
More kept on coming. Unrelenting, they swarmed closer.
One of the larger spiders climbed a tree as they ran past. It lunged down toward him. Without hesitation, Trystan pulled Excalibur from its sheath on Marc’s back and plunged it into the belly of the beast as it descended upon them. The weight of the creature knocked them down and sent them both tumbling to the ground. The spiders slowed and closed in around them, hissing and biting at each other.
Trystan and Marc scrambled to their feet, positioning themselves defensively with their backs to one another. While Trystan still had his bow in his hand, he had lost his grip on the sword. It lay on the ground just steps away.
“Keep your back to me,” Marc said. “I need to get the sword.”
Trystan stayed close to him as he held his bow up ready to shoot again. “What do we do now?”
A creature lunged forward, and he let loose his arrow, destroying it. Another from the side did the same, and Marc swung around with Excalibur and sliced right through it, leaving it to wriggle and screech in pain. The smaller spiderlings devoured it like nasty scavengers, leaving no remains.
“I don’t know,” Marc responded. He sensed the fear in Trystan’s voice, yet he didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to save him. “You should have run and stayed with Emrys.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you.”
Trystan and Marc kept the cursed things at bay for several minutes, killing the creatures one by one. Time was running out, however. The gap between them and the spiders grew smaller.
“Marc, they’re closing in.”
A spider charged at Marc and, instead of swinging the sword to slice through it, he plunged it straight down into the back of the creature. His powerful attack penetrated the little beast entirely and pinned its body to the earth briefly before it exploded into ash. The pointed blade of Excalibur pierced the ashen ground beneath it.
A pale green glow began to emanate from the sword, forming a runic circle of light on the ground around them. Marc started to withdraw the sword to continue fighting, but Trystan stopped him.
“No. Leave it,” he said, watching as the creatures would not cross onto the ground where the light emanated. “They can’t seem to cross.”
“What now?”
“I don’t know, but it’s bought us a little more time to figure it out.”
“I don’t think it bought us much,” Marc said, looking up. The spiders were climbing the trees around them. Marc pulled the sword from Trystan’s side—the extra he had insisted on him carrying—and prepared himself.
