Free The Necromancer's Nephew by Andrew Hunter Page B

from his belt and brandishing the torch with his other hand. "Marla, get behind me!"
    She gave him an exasperated look, but did as he said. Warren had abandoned his tirade in favor of leaping to join his friends. He swung his arm in a scooping motion and sent one of the creatures flying. It bounced off the ceiling and rolled away in a ball only to unfurl its legs, right itself and join the scurrying crowd of arachnids now advancing upon the intruders.
    "Let's go back!" Garrett said.
    "There's more of them coming from that way too," Marla said. She brought her foot down hard on a spider's back. It made an awful wet crunching sound and lay twitching on the floor.
    Garrett grunted with effort as he bashed one of the creatures with his torch. It scrabbled away in panic with tongues of witchfire flickering over its glossy carapace.
    Warren had the worst of them. The ghoul roared as he pinwheeled his arms, batting the spiders away with such force that soon many of them lay curled into balls upon the floor.
    Garrett yelped as a spider lunged forward to sink its fangs into his leg, or rather his boot. As uncomfortable as necromancer boots could be at times, he was at least grateful for their rugged craftsmanship. The spider's fangs could not penetrate the thick leather. Garrett jammed his knife through the monster's thorax and pried it off. He pushed it away. His skin crawled at the sight of the slimy goo that now coated the blade of his dagger.
    He looked back at Marla. His heart leapt with fear to see that she no longer stood behind him. Then, suddenly, she was there again, and just as suddenly gone once more. The girl moved with such speed that he only really saw her when she stopped to choose a new target. He watched her in bemused silence. She was amazing .
    Marla paused long enough to frown back at him, and then she was once again a blur of gray. She ripped a large spider off of Garrett's back and hurled it into the shadows. She stopped again, her hand on Garrett's arm, and a little smile on her face. "Can I borrow your torch, dear?"
    "...Yeah," Garrett slowly lifted his hand to offer her the witchfire torch, but it wasn't in his hand anymore. Marla had it.
    She spun and danced among the spiders, trailing witchfire in shimmering arcs and crazy swirls of emerald light. The thick impact of blows on spider bodies punctuated the roiling, crackling whoosh of the torch as Marla beat them back. Garrett smiled in spite of his fear to witness the fiery beauty of Marla's defense .
    Warren growled. Garrett turned to see his friend who was now completely covered in spiders. The ghoul flailed wildly, tearing the creatures free and casting them away. More scuttled in as quickly as he could knock them off. The spiders jabbed their fangs against the ghoul's thick hide, unable to penetrate it, but causing him considerable misery .
    Garrett leapt forward, slashing with his knife at one of the creatures clinging to his friend's leg, but the blade glanced harmlessly off its leathery back .
    Then Marla appeared, wreathed in arcs of green flame as she swept the spiders from Warren's back with savage blows from her torch .
    A moment later, Warren stood, free of the beasts, yet still swinging drunkenly at empty air. He paused, opened his eyes and brushed his paws over his shoulders, checking his back for spiders .
    Marla twirled the torch between her fingers and smiled up at him .
    Warren shuddered, wiping his palms on his shaggy haunches. He looked at Marla in wonder then glanced down, shamefaced .
    "Thanks," Warren said quietly .
    "Yeah, thanks Marla," Garrett said, "You were amazing!"
    Marla grinned, shifting her weight from foot to foot. "Thanks for letting me borrow your torch, Garrett." She offered it back to him .
    "Uh, you'd better let her keep it," Warren said. He jabbed Garrett in the shoulder to get his attention and pointed further up the hallway .
    At the edge of the firelight, dozens of huge scuttling spiders hung back, watching them.