Breathe. Relax.
I closed my eyes, switching my consciousness to one of my rabbits bounding down the cliff.
The world blurred for a moment—like stepping into a cold river—before my vision snapped into focus through new eyes.
The valley stretched ahead, my field of vision now lowered much more closer to ground level. Webs glimmered in the fading sunlight, tangled between rocky outcroppings. Below, the spiders stirred, their mandibles clicking as if sensing us.
I turned my rabbit's head, looking back at the group. They were coming down.
The walking tin can hauling a sick wolf on his back.The rookie knight, with a little girl clinging to him like a backpack. The lumberjack who still couldn't kill if his life depended on it. The useless pig and the slightly less useless wolf.
Who brings a pig to a fight? Seriously?
I hoped it got eaten.
Still, they weren't slowing me down.
I made my rabbit grunt, signaling to the others. They twitched in response. The attack starts now.
A spider lunged, mandibles clacking—
Thud. An arrow split its skull, impaling it to the dirt.
It twitched, struggling to move, but it was finished.
I turned my rabbit's head upward.
The elf stood on a ledge above, bow already knocked for another shot, a smirk tugging at her lips.
Hmph. I didn't like her. But that was impressive.
"Everyone, behind me!" Tin Can barked, planting his shield.
I ignored him. Instead, I shot forward like an arrow, smashing my foot into the next spider's skull. The force cracked through its exoskeleton, and it collapsed in a twitching heap.
More spiders surged forward.
My rabbits swarmed one, biting and clawing until it stopped moving. Lance slashed through another, his shield absorbing each attack like an iron wall. Kevin darted ahead, stabbing precisely, keeping the path clear. Hogan—hesitated.
Instead of killing, he hacked off legs, leaving the spiders writhing but alive.
I scowled. Even now?
Some people never change.
Some people never change.Some people never change.Some people never change.Some people never change.Some people never change.Some people never change.
The words rattled in my skull like loose stones. A voice—deep, sharp, familiar. A man? Or maybe not. It slipped away before I could grasp it.
Why couldn't I remember?
My vision snapped back into my own eyes. My rabbit—the one I had been using—was gone. Trapped between the fangs of a spider, legs kicking weakly before it was ground to nothing.
I felt nothing. Or at least, I told myself I did.
I shifted consciousness to another rabbit, trying to forget the weird thing that had just happened, and sent a wave of them forward, clawing at the spider's joints, swarming its legs. It collapsed under sheer numbers.
We reached the arch-rock, bent at an odd angle—a marker. One-third of the way through.
Three green spiders dropped from behind it, venom dripping from their fangs.
Three arrows pierced their skulls before they even landed, but not before they took two rabbits down with them.
Fee stood at the cliff's edge, knocking another arrow. She didn't waste time looking at me, didn't need to. She knew what she was doing—clearing the biggest threats so we could deal with the rest.
I still had no idea how she planned to get across when this was over. But she was the best shot we had.
"Want to actually join the fight?" Lance called over his shoulder, his voice straining as he crushed a spider against his shield.
I scowled but sent more rabbits his way. They slammed into the spiders swarming him, biting, clawing. The clicking of mandibles filled the air.
More bunny corpses littered the ground. Too many.
Lance must have caught my expression because he shouted, "Then let us help!"
As if he actually cared.
We reached the twin boulders—two-thirds in.
Lance pointed forward without stopping his sword. "That's our choke point. They're waiting for us."
I looked up. He was right. Spiders clung to the tops of the boulders, venom pooling at their fangs, waiting. They weren't mindless.
Fee's arrows couldn't get them all. If we walked straight in, we were dead.
Lance fell back beside me, parrying another set of fangs. "We go in as one unit."
I huffed, but he took that as permission to continue. "I hold the middle. Shield up. Hogan and Silver cover the rear. Your rabbits run interference. Kevin and you take the front."
I clicked my tongue. I hated taking orders. But I hated being eaten alive more.
We were close now. The spiders drooled, venom hissing against stone. It was time.
Lance braced his shield against the boulders, wedging himself in the center.
I split my rabbits—two-thirds to Hogan and Silver at the rear, the rest with me and the little knight. Only forty-four left. Too many had died already.
"Glad to have you in the fight," Kevin said, gripping his sword.
"I hope the spiders eat you," I muttered.
Before he could reply, we entered the bottleneck. The sun was sinking, and between the towering rock walls, shadows swallowed us whole.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The spiders dropped down. Legs scraped against stone. Fangs tapped metal. Their mandibles clicked in anticipation.
Lance dug in his heels, holding his shield overhead, bracing for impact. Spindly legs slammed into steel. Clawed at it. Thump. Thump. Hogan swung his axe—not to kill, but to cripple. Silver tore at anything that came close.
Kevin jabbed at their too many eyes, and I moved like lightning, legs coiled, striking, dodging, kicking.
It felt like an eternity, but then—
Light.
The end of the passage was in sight.
We ran.
No more fighting. No more killing. Just run.
I crouched, tensed my legs, and launched forward. My rabbits moved in sync, a blur of brown and white.
I should've hated relying on them. But for once, I wasn't sure we would've made it alone.
Some rabbits never made it. They were too fragile, crushed beneath spiders, their bodies torn apart in mid-air. But most survived. That was enough.
I reached the cliff first, leaping from rock to rock, bounding up ledges. My rabbits followed, scrambling after me.
The others weren't so lucky.
Kevin hauled Meili on his back, Ivory still strapped to Lance. Hogan and Silver held the rear. They climbed slowly, stopping to swat away spiders, panting hard.
Fee was still at her post, firing relentlessly. Every shot pierced its mark. Every spider that got too close collapsed before it could touch them.
The spiders realized they lost.
One by one, they scuttled back to their webs, returning to dissolve their prey. Finally, the others reached the top. Kevin collapsed on the stone, scratched, bruised, panting.
"You could have, you know, helped?" he wheezed.
I shrugged. "You made it." That's all that mattered.
Lance didn't respond. He was looking at the horizon, shoulders rising and falling with exhaustion.
"You're forgetting the only reason we made it," he said quietly.
I followed his gaze.
Fee.
Alone on the other side of the valley. Still standing. Still shooting. With no way across.