Seriphyn Knight Chronicles 36 Chapter 36: The Banshee

He eventually stopped his touches to a section of wall near the south of where I stood. Removed a small clear quartz shard from an inner pocket of his overcoat. He placed the shard on a part of the wall to transform it into an opening.

We entered an obsidian stone corridor with the occasional red brick on the walls, and walked in a direction that I hoped led us back to Trix, Leinard and Death.

Colin paused a few steps ahead and sniffed the air. I guess he had also noticed the weak smell of iron and an astringent odor in the air.

"Is this an unusual smell?" I signed and received a nod for a confirmation. It made me gulp with an uneasy thought.

He motioned for us to continue in our direction. But cautiously with as little sound as possible. We paused at the sight of thin silver threads strewn, messily, across the walls.

"What's wrong Small Cap?" I asked when I noticed him trembling from the belt pouch.

"Me don't like web-spinners. Scary." His voice trembled in my head.

Colin expressed interest in my concerns. I informed him of how Small Cap was spooked by 'web-spinners'.

"Web-spinners? Who's Small Cap?" Colin's hands calmly signed his questions.

He stifled a cry of shock at the sight of Small Cap's head poking out of the belt pouch.

"So, he thinks another spider is up ahead?" He signed with smooth and swift hand movements. He released a few purposed breaths.

"A web-spinner type." My fingers trembled in response.

Like Small Cap, I didn't fancy those type of spiders either. Having been bitten a few times by the poisonous ones. It was because of those scary spiders, I had realised my fast healing ability. Albeit in a very painful way.

"We better find a path around those creatures." Colin glanced around the corridor.

He motioned for me to keep still and close to his side. We stood in one spot for a while. Waiting for something to happen.

I made a weird noise when the black walls of the corridor grunted and ground loudly as they broke away, a brick at a time.

Colin signalled to take four steps to the right, six steps back, one to the left and then stay still. He a.s.sumed the step directly in front of me.

We waited and watched the black and red bricks of the corridor walls rebuild itself, like a jigsaw puzzle, into a new path that we were facing. The old path was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's go and quickly. I estimate another twenty minutes for a new path formation." His hands sped through.

He led the way, with quick strides, down the path.

Small Cap and I sighed with relief when the new path didn't show the tell-tale signs of a web-spinner.

It looked like Colin had found a path around such a creature's lair, so we had thought.

I ran into his back when he suddenly stopped. The sight he was seeing made me whimper. We reached a dead end of red-brick cavern.

"This is strange. I followed the gold path that should take us back to the Lotus Bridge." His hands stoically explained.

He added (after some coaxing) that the Lotus Bridge was the platform area with the gold coin olive tree.

He released a few deep breaths and closed his eyes as if to calm himself. If he was doing his best to keep calm, both Small Cap and I were ready to wet ourselves. I cowardly clung behind the good knight's back.

The entire black wall was covered, disgustingly, with white silk webbing and messily wrapped coc.o.o.ns that had the tops of black shrivelled (I presumed) heads poking out.

"Me don't like web-spinners," Small Cap said, frightened.

The great huntsman spider cowered further in the belt pouch.

"Sheesh. A spider afraid of a spider. s.h.i.+t, those heads are creeping me out!" I tried to sound tough and failed.

I clung closer to Colin's back that heaved with a heavy sigh.

"Aah, who enters my lair?" A deep and smooth voice resonated around the cavern.

It sent a mad flurry of chills up and down my spine. Panic sent my heart pounding madly against my chest, beads of sweat trickled down the sides of my neck.

Colin unsheathed a pair of short swords from his belt. He braced himself for a fight.

I took a few steps back and calmed my panic with a few deep breaths, convincing myself that it was just a spider. I've faced far worse and have lived to tell the tale.

"Well, well, some nice guests have arrived." The deep voice spoke next to my ear.

I trembled and mumbled incomprehensible nonsense when I realised the voice was above me.

He raised his swords before the web-spinner, which was nothing like the types I had come across before.

It was ten times worse.

I felt that now was the most appropriate time to confess my sins and brace myself for Buddha.

My body shook from the heavy thud the web-spinner's body caused when it dropped to the ground to stand before us.

"Mr Black Spider. My you doth look radiant today." I formally addressed the black spider with a red stripe on its back. I gulped at the sight of its long legs, the span of two men, ending in razor-sharp points.

Its eyes were barely visible on its head. A sharp stinger twitched animatedly at its backside. Similar to how a man would flex his muscles before dealing a lethal punch. It towered over us with twice the height of Colin.

"Spider? Ho, ho, ho, I see you're not the educated one." The spider let out a sinister chuckle. "I'm a banshee, but I suppose that information is irrelevant."

I gulped down my fear, instinctively recalling as the banshee advanced with teasing and testing steps.

"He's gonna wait one, maybe, two breaths then pounce if he's like me." Small Cap calmly informed me whilst burying himself deeper in my belt pouch.

I tapped Colin's shoulder to get his attention and quickly summarized this fact with my hands.

This made him readjust his attack strategy.

He pulled out a red ball and smashed to the ground to create a cloud of smoke we could hide behind.

I was pulled into a frantic run around the cavern; through narrower paths and pockets that we hoped would take us out into a clearing.

My panic increased when everywhere I looked was more webbing. It was sticking to our boots and slowing down our plight.

He paused to pull me behind him again.

I clung to his back.

"Buddha!" I screamed pitifully when our bodies were jolted by the heavy landing the banshee's body to the ground before us.

The cavern echoed with the spider's triumph laughter. Along with many agitated scratching and tapping noises on the rock walls.

We were totally screwed.