Free Elvenshore: 01 - The Dwarves of Elvenshore by Clark Graham

what he could for them.  There were no cuts or stabs, but there were a lot of spider bites. Karl was the human that had been attached to the patrol.  He was the first to report.
    “Baby spiders, just as big as a hand, thousands of them.   Weapons were useless against them, so we sat there kicking, slapping and stomping.  They would bite every time they got on you.  It didn’t do much until we started getting four or five bites each, then you started to feel it.  A great headache and dizziness. The more bites, the dizzier you got.  Warriors started to go down, but we didn’t know how to retreat, if we stopped and turned, they would have been up our backs and would have taken us all down.  So we slapped and stomped till our hands were bleeding and our feet were bruised.  Finally we could see an end and the rest of the spiders fled.  Twelve had fallen, and the rest of us were too sick to drag them out, so we waited until most of the dizziness subsided. When we started back everyone was able to walk, but then they started dropping.  We could carry a few, but when more than half were down we would stop again until we could all walk.”
    “Were you followed?” Sarchise asked.
    “Don’t know, I don’t think so, the spiders left in all directions, I don’t think that they were going to regroup.  They were not smart, just babies.”
    “Do you have the strength to take me back to where they attacked you?”
    Karl shook his head. “No, the others had to carry me for a while.”
    “So we can go again,” Turning, Sarchise shouted, “Hemlot, get together a stretcher party and a hundred warriors, we have found the enemy!”
    They retraced the steps of the patrol.  They saw where they had paused.  They had paused many times, which made Sarchise think that he should have let Karl rest more than he had. He seemed ok as he was carried back to where the battle took place.  As they approached they could smell a thick sickly odor of spider ooze. They came across mounds of dead, crushed spiders.  They were ankle deep and you could see where each dwarf had stood. 
    The ones that were in back had smaller mounds of dead spiders than the ones that had stood in front. They checked to make sure all of the spiders were dead and not just wounded.  One could hear an occasional stomp, when a live spider was found.  After a few hours they moved on, trying to track where the spiders had come from.  They traced it for miles until they found that they were way beyond their patrol area. Sarchise was tempted with continuing on, but finally listened to Hemlot and turned towards the outpost.  It was full dark when they finally made it back to the watchtower. Karl was sleeping by this point.  He did not look so good, and Sarchise felt guilty of taking him out to begin with, and for taking him so far.
    The healer took one look at Karl and then started patching his many bites with herbs and then covered them with mud.  “You should have left him here,” he said to Sarchise.  “His wounds are infecting.”
    This didn’t ease Sarchise’s guilt any.
    Ermort came down from the watchtower.  “We have seen five large spiders that were searching the woods. We saw them at a great distance away and sent out archers to kill them.  They are searching for us. They know that we destroyed the nursery.  They will not be out for food, but for revenge.”
    “Let them come, we will set out a trap for them,” Sarchise commented.
    Ermort nodded and climbed back up the tree. Sarchise called for runners and sent messages out in both directions. “Make no noise, they will be looking for you.” He cautioned the runners as they left.
    For two days the army waited. Sending out patrols, but having no more contact with the enemy.  When the sun sat at its highest, there came a shout from the tower.  “A runner approaches”
    Sarchise looked up from his lunch, “From High Mountain?”
    “No, Sir, from Cazz.”
    The exhausted runner stumbled