There are many thrills that one can endure in life. However, not many people consider hunting giant seven foot tarantulas “fun”. Theynore does. About four months after he had joined Kantare and Justyne at Poverty Flatts, he and Joshuel, one of Justyne’s rebellious characters, were hiking out to the Crags of the Spiders when there was a strange occurance.
“Why do I have to go with you?” Joshuel complained.
He had been quite upset about the whole Hunting Giant Spiders trip and really didn’t want to go.
“Because,” Theynore said as he re-slung the rifle over his shoulder, “Jordään was busy helping Justyne with the dinner tonight, and Thoene is gone with Kantare fishing. Besides, you got in trouble last week for failing to help re-shingle the roof. Remember?”
Joshuel only grumbled and kept walking in silence. They reached the Crags around noon and began climbing one of the biggest rocks as to get a good view for killing the beasts. It took diligence and a near scare, but they climbed it in no time and began setting up. Theynore began going about, clucking like a mother hen while setting up camouflage and the rifle position he was to be in. Joshuel just sat and moped on one of the rocks that sat on top. Now, it was not a normal formation at the top of this giant rock, for it had a small alcove, and a few small boulders - perfect for a day of sniping.
It was almost an hour past when they got on top when Theynore was finished. He sighed in satisfaction and lay down. Joshuel got off of his rock and came over.
“What do you need me for?” Joshuel asked with a sigh.
“Here,” Theynore said as he handed Joshuel a pair of field glasses, “I need you to spot for me. No sense in us not knowing if these beasts are dead if we can’t see for ourselves.” He sunk back to the rifle and brought it to his shoulder. There was one of the furry vermin out at almost three hundred yards, but because it wasn’t quite moving he couldn’t tell for sure if it was alive.
Joshuel gasped and said, “It’s…it’s moving!”
Theynore could see clearly that it was indeed moving. He centered his crosshairs on the beast’s biggest eye and squeezed the trigger oh so diligently. BOOM!!!! The shot echoed across the valley, and the report came back crisp and clear.
“YOU HIT IT! YOU HIT IT!” Joshuel said jumping up and down in excitement. He was finally seeing the good side of this.
Theynore only smiled and re-chambered a round; waiting for some of the other beasts to swarm their fallen comrade to eat what was left of him. They did not have to wait long, as some of the beasts began to swarm in groups of two.
“Second on the left,” Theynore said, “tell me when you have him.”
“Got hi…” Joshuel said, not getting out the second word.
BOOM!!!!
The shot resounded again, as the monster dropped hard. The rattle of the bolt working was the only sound they heard for a second. A dull roar was heard, and Joshuel thought it to be the monsters screaming in their early lunch, but then it didn’t sound like it was coming from that direction. Joshuel turned around and put the glasses to his eyes and looked out. He then saw it. About six hundred yards out there was one of the spiders, but it was chasing something. He then could make it out. It was a girl, no, two of them, both looking to be just about Justyne’s age, running away from the great beast.
“Theynore!” Joshuel said, “A spider is chasing two girls!”
“How far?” Theynore asked as he turned around.
“I don’t know, farther than those other spiders.” Joshuel said.
Theynore leaned into the scope and looked at the giant beast, then to the maidens it was chasing. They did look strikingly about his age, but he knew he couldn’t shoot at the spider without possibly missing. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and began to climb down.
“Where are you going?” Joshuel questioned, “Can’t you shoot the beast from here?”
“No,” Theynore said, “if I do that I might hit them. We go in, now!”
Joshuel only groaned and climbed down behind Theynore. They reached the bottom of the Crag they were on and peered around cautiously; one can never tell when one of the giant monsters would strike.
Though she had never been the girly sort who cringed at battles and adventure, or dangers at every turn, there was one thing Isilwen had never been able to bear, and that was spiders. And so when she had seen the spider chasing the young girl she was nearly tempted to turn and flee, but she knew he could not do that.
So she had done the only thing she could think of at the moment, she had thrown her dagger at it and drawn her sword, though when the spider had come at her she knew she could not stand and fight it.
One look from its hideous eyes, and her legs and turned to jelly. She started to tremble and probably would have been a gonner had not the girl thrown a rock at the beast and yelled loudly.
The spider, in a moment of confusion, stared from one girl to the other, and then had done something Isilwen would never forget. Shooting out a leg he had knocked her from the rock she was on and sent her tumbling down beside the girl who had helped her to her feet just as the spider came at them again.
Knowing her long sword would only slow them down, Isilwen had sheathed it, and grabbing the girl's hand, they had turned and fled though everyone knows you cannot outrun a seven foot spider, especially one with a bad temper who has been wounded.
"You should not have done that!" the girl at Isilwen's side panted as they ran.
Isilwen shuddered when she heard the pounding of eight feet behind them and said, "Nor should you!" Meaning she should not have thrown the rock. Both girls smiled then and continued running, bearing each other up.
They felt ready to collapse when they heard the rifle shots. Hope filled them and they began to yell in the hopes that whoever was shooting would hear and come to their aid. However, they soon found one could not yell and run at the same time and so they gave up on that and only concentrated on running.
Suddenly Isilwen tripped over a rock and fell. The girl stopped to help her up though they knew there was no point in it; the spider was nearly upon them.
"Run!" Isilwen told the girl. The girl ignored her and pulled her to her feet as the spider rushed up to them and knocked them both flat and then stood over them.
Isilwen lost all her nerve them and screamed as the beast looked down at her. The girl screamed as well, obviously not caring for spiders any more then Isilwen. It was now bending over them; they could see its hideous fangs.
Isilwen drew her sword as did the girl, though by then Isilwen was shaking too badly to even hold her sword. And she closed her eyes, unable to bear the thought of having to see the spider any longer. Let it eat her, just as long as she did not have to look upon it!
But the thought of it was no better, and so it was that just as a rifle shot rang through the air Isilwen, for the first time in her life, fainted.
Joshuel began falling behind Theynore; it seemed like they were never going to make it in time. He saw Theynore stop, and nearly yelled at him, knowing the peril both those young ladies were in, but he saw him lift the rifle to his shoulder, and then he heard the shot. The spider looked dazed and turned towards them.
“NOW YOU’VE DONE IT!” Joshuel shouted in impertinence.
But as the beast looked like it would charge Joshuel wished he could take back his words. Slowly the monster sank onto its feet and collapsed. Joshuel looked over at the two, and the second one he had seen was already up. But the other maiden was not! He rushed past Theynore to see if he could revive the young woman who, it seems, had fainted. Theynore came walking up slower than Joshuel, and he wondered why he would take his time.
“Hurry up Theynore! Can’t you see she’s unconscious!?” Joshuel yelled.
“Would you hold your horses Joshuel! I will get there in due time!” Theynore hollered back.
Theynore walked up calmly and slid his rifle off of his shoulder. He leaned it against a tree that was near by and walked over to the lady that was still unconscious on the ground. He checked her pulse to make sure that she was not dead and walked then over to the spider. Joshuel continued to grow impatient, but this was the last straw.
“THIS IS NO TIME TO BE LOOKING OVER YOUR TROPHY THEYNORE!” Joshuel bellowed in anxious wait.
“I am not looking over my trophy Joshuel!” Theynore shouted back, “It just so happens that one of the best smelling salts in the world comes from the blood of these tarantulas.”
Theynore drew a knife that quite resembled an elfin blade from Lord of the Rings. He slashed the beast's side and the blood, or goop, whichever you prefer, slowly poured out. He took one of the cups from the pack he had been carrying and filled it with some of this goop. Calmly he placed it under the maiden’s nose and said, “Breathe.” She gasped and shot upwards, nearly knocking the blood cup from his hand.
“Whoa there!” Theynore said as he urged her backwards, “Take it easy! I’m not going to hurt you.”
Isilwen blinked and stared wide-eyed at the young man before her, and then her eyes drifted over to the spider and she shuddered as she said, "I hate spiders!"
The young man smiled and the other who was standing beside her laughed with relief. The girl came up beside her as well and smiled and Isilwen asked, "But who are all of you?"
"My name is Theynore, and this is Joshuel."
Isilwen bowed her head to both of them and then looked at the girl. "And you are?" she asked.
The girl smiled shyly and said, "My name is Ninwaii."
Isilwen stood up as did Theynore. She smiled at Ninwaii and said, "I am pleased to meet you, and I thank you, Joshuel and Theynore, for saving our lives."
Both smiled as Ninwaii added her thanks. "I shall be forever grateful."
Both young men smiled and Joshuel turned to Isilwen and said, "You have yet to tell us your name."
Isilwen grinned. "I suppose I have, not that it matters much, for I am not even sure it is mine."
"What do you mean?" Ninwaii asked.
"I can remember nothing as to who I am," Isilwen said. "All I can really remember is the past two years of my life. I do not even know my real name, but I gave myself the name of Isilwen, and that is the name I go by."
Theynore grinned. "Then we are pleased to meet you Isilwen."
Isilwen grinned again, and then her smile faded when she heard a roar that she knew could be nothing other then more spiders. They had smelled their dead companion and where coming.
Theynore removed his rifle from his shoulder as Ninwaii reached for her bow and arrows and Isilwen wished she had her dagger though she was not up for a fight with spiders. Joshuel just shook his head and drew his sword as they came closer.
The spiders came, though not in large numbers as Theynore had come to expect. The first one to round the bend met with an untimely demise as one of Ninwaii’s arrows struck its eye squarely.
“That should give us some time!” Joshuel remarked quite sarcastically.
Another came to feast on its brethren and met the same fate, only this time at the hand of Theynore’s rifle. The didn’t seem to be coming in the flood that Joshuel and Theynore expected they would, so they had a small amount of time to plan what to do next.
“We should start moving off,” Theynore said.
Joshuel began to object, but one look from Theynore silenced him. The girls were a bit hesitant, but there was no other plan in their futures, so they agreed. Joshuel started off through the boulders behind them, and slowly they each fell back. As they were a hundred yards through the boulders they heard the familiar scurrying and blood curdling scream of the spiders as they came to the dead, and began feasting on their flesh. It took them a little under an hour to make their way through the boulders back around to the rock that Joshuel and Theynore had stationed themselves on top of.
“What do we do now?” asked Ninwaii.
“We get the stuff we left on top,” Joshuel said, “then we make sure the coast is clear and make it back to the Flatt.”
He continued up the cliff and the others followed. The sight from the top was spectacular, and Theynore had wondered a little why it seemed this way. He shook his head out of the daze he was in and went about packing up the things they took out when they got there that morning. The Flatt looked quite peaceful in the morning light, and there was some light smoke curling from the chimney.
Isilwen stared openly at the place. It had a homely look about it and she wondered who lived there. Theynore and his family perhaps.
"Shall, shall your mother or father mind us just coming in?" Isilwen asked almost frighteningly.
"My parents won't care," Theynore said as he shifted his rife to his other shoulder. "See, I live here with my brother and sister, and our characters."
Isilwen looked sideways at Ninwaii who looked as nervous as she felt. "They shan't mind us coming in, shall they?" Ninwaii asked.
Theynore shook his head and grinned. "Not at all!"
And so they went toward the house, Theynore leading the way with Joshuel and Ninwaii coming behind him and Isilwen at the rear.
On entering the house Theynore loudly announced he was back and a girl called back that she was in the kitchen. "Did you get anything?" she yelled as a boy came walking up to Theynore and looking at the girls yelled, "Yeah he did, just not what you were thinking!"
Isilwen scowled at the boy and demanded, "What is that supposed to mean?" while Ninwaii smiled shyly.
The boy grinned at Isilwen as Theynore said, "This is Kantare, Justyne is in the kitchen. Kantare, this is Ninwaii and Isilwen; the spiders were after them."
Kantare laughed. "We seem to just find siblings that way!"
"Siblings?" Isilwen asked. "And who would be siblings with you?"
Kantare just shook his head as Justyne came out of the kitchen.
“Oh,” Justyne said, “and who might these lovely young ladies be, Joshuel?”
Isilwen and Ninwaii both blushed and curtseyed. There was a bit of awkward silence until Jonathan and Jordään walked in. They looked from one group to the other, hoping to get an idea of what on earth was going on.
“Um,” Jonathan started, “what exactly is going on?”
“Theynore can explain it. Can’t you?” Joshuel piped up.
Theynore cast him a look that silenced him and made him bow his head in shame at the remark. Theynore adjusted his rifle strap and set down some of the equipment and began.
“Well, first off, we should begin with introductions.” He said as he walked between Isilwen and Ninwaii. “For starters, this is Ninwaii,” he laid his left hand on her shoulder and placed his right on Isilwen, “and this is Isilwen. They were in a bit of trouble when we saw them, and we helped them out.”
They all shook hands and then stood in awkward silence. Theynore was the first to come back to his senses and stepped forward into the middle of the crowd.
“I would like to suggest something to everyone’s thinking,” he said, “Since Ninwaii and Isilwen are both new to these parts, and it seems they know not where they have come from or how to return, I would suggest that we should adopt them, as you two - here he nodded to Kantare and Justyne - adopted each other and then took me in. What say ye?”
The Characters and Authors convened themselves while Isilwen and Ninwaii stood there, looking at each other in confusion. The small convention lasted only a couple of minutes and when they all stood up they were smiling.
“If you will accept it,” Justyne said, “You may join our little band of ‘brothers’ into the clan of Inkfire. If not, we will give you food and shelter until you decide to go on.”
With confused smiles Ninwaii and Isilwen looked at each other, and then back at the group. They decided to have their own little meeting to decide their fate. Both looked back and proudly announced they would take up Justyne and the rest on their offer. It would be a very interesting adventure on the roads ahead for these new Authors in the Poverty Flatts.
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