Headed By A Snake

Justus felt his blood freeze. What... what could that mean?

"--I inspected the cave two suns prior. I was searching for the Manticore"s nest," Zehr continued. "I found none."

Sixtus frowned. He was staring with disgust at his rations, at which point, Zehr offered some of his dried fruits, "My thanks, Duplicarius. Tell me, did you go alone? That was quite reckless of you."

"Of course not, Optio." The visored Zehr smiled. "I took one of my Munifices, Modestus, with me."

Justus grinned. Finally, the nagging feeling in his brain that something was wrong could be quashed by logic. Modestus was rather grumpy, as of late-- and it seemed that the Duplicarius dragging him off was probably the reason for it. He was a little hurt that he wasn"t invited, but thinking two suns prior... he was still in a deep state of mourning.

"Very well," Sixtus nodded in contentment. "Tyrion military doctrine holds lessons which I value greatly."

"Indeed. They"re good lessons-- the few that I know, I keep close to heart," Zehr agreed.

Justus furrowed his brows as he ate his rations. Those two really seemed like they could be friends. That would be good-- Zehr could use someone to talk to, not even about anything in particular. Someone that he could speak with freely could distract him from Rena"s death.

It was human to mourn. If the Duplicarius were to bottle up his emotions, it wouldn"t be healthy for his psyche. Justus" own heart still ached-- he missed Rena terribly. He couldn"t imagine what it was like in Zehr"s mind.

"Give us a report--" Cyrac commanded, "Ah, no need to stand at attention. We"re on break, after all."

"Oh. My thanks, Centurion," Zehr offered the last of the dried fruit to Cyrac. The old man accepted, almost gleefully.

...Being in a military environment was strange. Back home, he was taught it was polite to refuse gifts at first, but no one had declined Zehr"s offer.

"Signs of enemies ahead. Thick webbing, strong enough to entangle a Rhodok," Zehr reported.

"Giant spiders, then?" Cyrac crossed his arms.

"I would like to burn everything in this cave, thank you," Fortuna added.

Justus frowned. The half-elf had taken most of the dried fruit. He wanted at least one more piece...

Zehr placed his hand on his chin, "There are many spiders... some of them the size of a kobold."

"That doesn"t sound too difficult-- Bronze-Ranks at best..." Sixtus remarked. "Unless you think there"s something else, Duplicarius?"

Zehr nodded, "I do. With the number of them, all in one place... there could be a Spider Breeder. Admittedly, I do not know much about the habits of the particular spider species-- they could just be pack creatures."

Pack creatures? Spider Breeders? Justus felt a chill run down his spine. Neither of those sounded good. Glancing at the sweating and panicking Fortuna, he was glad that he wasn"t as bad off as she was.

"Zehr, what"s... a Spider Breeder? Is that a... cla.s.s?"

The Duplicarius shook his head, "It"s a type of creature-- a man-sized, bipedal one."

"--with a habit of breeding spiders," Cyrac grimaced.

"Naturally," Zehr responded.

The old Centurion nodded, "Ran into a few in my younger days-- they"re Iron-Rank, but the webs and their "pets" make them not so simple."

"Have you any plans?" Sixtus asked.

"Burn it with fire," Fortuna offered with a scowl. She was being quite forceful of her opinion.

Sixtus frowned at the half-elf, "I would *prefer* an expert"s opinion, before we brainstorm for ideas."

"Fortuna"s plan is sound," Zehr stated.

"Of course it is!" She hmphed... "Wait, is it really?"

"Following signs of bat droppings, I found numerous holes which they fly out of, to hunt," Zehr explained. "--We"ll be able to use fire. The webs will burn quickly and the smoke will rise out of the vents."

Cyrac sighed, "We can tear strips of our tunics to wrap our mouths and prevent the smoke inhalation..."

Justus pursed his lips, "Centurion... Why do you sound so down?"

The old man gave a weak smile, "Thank you for worrying, young Deca.n.u.s... It"s just-- replacing our tunics is another unwelcome blow to our coffers..."

...

A few streams of light spilled through from the cracks overhead. They had reached the webbed area, finding where the bats had gone. They were wrapped up in the webs, unmoving.

Optio Sixtus got to work, lighting a torch with a flint and tinder. He and a small team of s.h.i.+eld-bearers began to ignite the webs, each web burning quickly in spectacular fas.h.i.+on.

The remaining forward team, as well as Centurion Cyrac, held back, ready to support.

Justus found it odd seeing the shortbow in Zehr"s hands. He had seen him with sword, s.h.i.+eld, and pilum. He was probably just as good with that...

It was... peculiar that Zehr was pus.h.i.+ng this particular pa.s.sageway. Usually, the Duplicarius had done his best to lead the Rhodoks to avoid combat. As they walked, there were at least three or four different tunnels. Did Zehr... check them all?

"Zehr, why are you so intent on going down this path?" He asked.

"Excellent question, young Deca.n.u.s." The Duplicarius nodded solemnly, "The quest of our Rhodok company has to do with a large-scaled creature. Though the mission doesn"t explicitly state its size, it seemed prudent to choose the largest of the pa.s.sages."

"But there are webs?" Justus asked.

Zehr paused, "And what of them?"

"Doesn"t that mean... the pa.s.sageway is unused? At least by the scaled monster?"

Zehr chuckled to himself, "Quite the opposite, actually. Webs mean that prey comes and goes. Anyroad, webs don"t take very long to form-- maybe a bell or so for a single spider."

"Eeee..." Fortuna s.h.i.+vered. "Can we talk about something else, please? We don"t have to talk about work all the time."

Zehr frowned, "Everything we are discussing is contextually relevant to our situation."

"I don"t want to hear it!!" The half-elf shouted.

Justus turned towards the sudden noise-- the skittering of hundreds of clicking legs came at Fortuna"s call.

"Rhodoks!" Sixtus called back, "To me!"

Centurion Cyrac tapped Justus" chestplate, "Shall we?"

He nodded, "Yes, Centurion!"