149 The Dark Stairway (1/2)

Ty's little display of power had scared off the giant spiders. Honestly, it had scared me a bit too.

I was used to seeing that level of power from Aura when she summoned her efreet but that thing was a spirit. Ty was human, and yet the traces of his magic were all around us. From the cold that chilled my face and hands to the numerous ice spikes jutting out of the rock.

Like me, the rest of my team took a few moments to process what they'd just seen, and I was reminded that they hadn't been around for the summoning of Samhain. Man, their jaws would have dropped to the floor on that one.

\”Dean, we have to keep moving,\” Aura insisted, although her eyes were glued to the icicle right above her head.

\”Alright, let's move out,\” I agreed.

An unconscious Ty was saddled over Shanks' shoulder like a sack of potatoes. I assumed his current condition was due to him overtaxing his magic, and I made a mental note to ask Aura to at least train him in the basics so he could manage his power and be more useful to us.

That thought made me hate myself. Here I was saving Ty from fairies who wanted to exploit him, and yet, I had the same thoughts of using him as a weapon like they did.

\”You okay?\” Luca asked after he'd noticed the anger stamped across my face.

\”I'm fine,\” I answered. \”Lead the way…\”

We continued up the staircase after Luca had shattered a few ice spikes that blocked the way. And our trip had turned relatively safe for the most part as the giant spiders kept their distance, although we still heard them close by.

Eventually, after what was a very long hike, we saw light above us that was a different shade from Aura's Hearthwood staff. Nothing so great as moonlight peeking into a cave opening, but definitely the light of open sky.

The sight of that dim light spurred us on, encouraging our tired legs to a second wind. It was also around this time that the giant spiders decided to make a second appearance. They came at us from below looking desperate now to keep us from escaping.

Their hunger must have overwritten their fear of Ty.

Unfortunately, Ty was still out cold so we couldn't expect another spell from our new glass cannon. Luckily, we didn't need him. Turned out, sylphs were also very powerful elementals like salamanders were.

With a wave of her hand, Zephyra turned the air into a weapon and sent it crashing into the closest spiders, sweeping them off the walls and slamming them against their comrades behind them.

If only that was enough to keep them away, but it seemed they weren't as frightened of the wind as they were of the ice.

More spiders spilled onto the stairway and walls behind us, climbing over their brethren that had been knocked over.

We doubled our speed up the steps without a care for falling back into the pitch blackness below. But the damned spiders were hot on our heels despite the occasional airstrike from Zephyra or arrows from Qwipps and Pike.

Aura couldn't attack as her magic was focused on illuminating our way. But Varda had already begun preparations to cast her Earthen Wall spell for the exact moment I needed it.

\”Just a bit more!\” Luca yelled to us from the front.

\”Go, go, go!\” I ordered.

It was the last leg of the climb and we were barely holding onto our lead.

Giant spiders were crawling over the walls around us now. Very soon, we'd be surrounded again.

\”Dean,\” Aura called, but I quickly responded with, \”No, Aura! We need your light or we're all going to die!\”

\”Muddamit!\” Qwipps yelled from his spot in the air adjacent to us, his gossamer wings flapping behind him. \”Who told us this route was safe?!\”

\”No one said that!\” Varda yelled back. \”We were all very clear on how dangerous this route was going to be!\”

\”Yeah, well, I don't recall—\”

\”Qwipps watch out!\” Pike yelled from a position slightly above him.

But Qwipps hadn't seen the spider webs launching at him in time and he was quickly covered in the stuff. This was very bad as his wings were pinned to his back, and without them flapping behind them, Qwipps was about to drop.

Quick as a panther, Enna launched herself from the staircase with her katana raised. As she crossed the air space to Qwipps, she managed to make several well-placed cuts that freed him from his bonds.

With his wings free, Qwipps was able to pull up and escape the clutches of even more spider webs launched at him.

\”Eugh… this white stuff is all over me,\” he complained.

Enna, on the other hand, continued to cross the gap to the wall on the other side. Her feet landed on the wall, and without missing a beat, she ran across it and made her way back to us with a second jump.

To say that I was very impressed with her ninja-like movements was one hell of an understatement, and I resolved to have her along more often now.