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FANGFELT HAD BEEN EASY to find. Painful, but easy. The low mat of mossy plant that hid particularly spiky flowers, Fluppit had found by standing on it. As Sari took her pack off again to find the medicine bag, she vowed to keep the thing handy for the rest of the journey. She was also keeping more of the finished vials of the plants they’d collected already in her pack. This left enough room on the back of the trolley to sit while Sari extracted the guilty thorn from the sole of Fluppit’s boot with a pocketknife.
“Aand there, nasty thing,” Sari said. “Now, you rub this, quickly with one finger on the outside and inside of your boot where you feel the puncture while I do the same to your foot.”
“What is it?” said Fluppit.
“Glue.”
“You’re going to glue my foot?”
“No. I’m going disinfect your foot. You are going to glue your shoe.”
“Oh,” said Fluppit. “That makes more sense.”
They’d pulled the trolley into a side tunnel from the main river, it was slightly less draughty and smelled a bit musty. Sari had clearly decided it was time for a restand had started to break out filled houbous pockets from a side pocket of her backpack, “Well, that’s silkthorn, fangfelt and fleabane seeds we can cross off for day one. I would say that was a very good span’s work.”
“Good timing as well by the feel of the moisture coming down the tunnel.”
“I would say our river is going up,” said Sari.
“Should I worry yet?”
“No,” Sari handed over a pouch, the filling of which seemed to be food cubes by the texture, but not by the taste.
“Mmm,” said Fluppit, “these food cubes are different.”
“I find them rather bland if they’ve not had spices added.”
There was a click from behind them and a murmur of a fan somewhere farther on. A steady damp breeze started across them from the main corridor. Fluppit pulled the collar of her traveling coat up round her ears, taking care to leave room at the front to continue posting food in.
A tiny whirr in the main passage was followed by a second and a third. The tiny Air-sense blurs hovered at the mouth of the tunnel then were sucked by the air currents past them and on.
“Moths!” said Sari excitedly.
“Yay?” said Fluppit.
“Yes yay. Where there are moths there may be—?”
“Mothblossom!”
“Shall we follow them, then?”
The way was damp underfoot, but not wet, being at least two strides out of the water, even at this higher water level. Something squished under Fluppit’s foot as she faced the corridor ahead. She batted at an old strand of cobweb. Once she’d wafted it out of the way, her Air-sense picked up a sharp bend ten or so strides on. The moths had all rounded the corner. Ahead and to her right, Sari had knelt to feel along the wall in search of a plant on her list.
Fluppit twitched her ears. There was a snick-snick-snick ahead, she assumed it was Sari with her cutters taking a sample. Then she shook her ears out and listened again. The sharp noise was coming from round the bend, reflecting off the wall. And it wasn’t cutters. She opened her mouth to speak but froze. She could air-sense two sharp curved shapes.
“S- sari?” said Fluppit.
“Yes dear?” The tip of something furry felt its way toward Sari. Then another: legs then.
“Sari, move.”
“Pardon?”
“Come here. Please?”
“What’s wrong dear?” Sari unfolded her legs and took some steps towards Fluppit. Behind her rose an enormous fuzzy shape, the two sharp curves lifting sideways on a massive head, all supported on now, three, four furry legs. The hairs covering its body made it difficult to Air-sense the edges. It was rounding the passage on the right-hand side, exactly half-way up.
“Sp—” Fluppit reached out with her hands, hoping they’d obey her in a way that her tongue seemed not to. She reached out fingers then reflexively grabbed and pulled Sari towards her. The unnatural shape of the massive spider hanging on the side of the pipe, filling half of Fluppit’s senses as she dragged Sari towards her.
Something slid underfoot. Fluppit fell backwards, pulling Sari on top of her as she went. She landed backwards with a bump, then had all the air squished from her lungs when Sari fell on top, elbows first.
Now her Air-sense was filled with Sari, but she heard the clicking of the massive spider’s razor fangs. She scrabbled backwards on her elbows, pulling Sari with her.
“Oh—” said Sari.
The massive arachnid frame had flattened itself to the floor hissing, when Fluppit realised her mentor wasn’t moving towards her anymore. The creature’s fangs were in Sari’s leg.
“No!” yelled Fluppit. She booted out at where the fangs were, but they were firmly embedded in Sari’s leg, Sari gasped so Fluppit stopped. Sari tapped Fluppit’s hand, then placed something in it—her knife. Fluppit lunged and stabbed the blade into the first part of the spider she could find, “Get away from her!”
It hissed loudly withdrew its fangs and hunched defensively.
“Can you move?” But there was no reply, so scuffling and dragging, she struggled back up.
Her head met the trolley that they’d wedged sideways to prevent it rolling away into the river. The spider squared itself before them, turning its head this way and that. Fluppit had hurt it with the knife. She wasn’t all that sure it was the best plan now. She now had her entire back against the trolley, she pulled Sari up to sit between her legs. She moaned gently. The spider snicked.
Now they were really in trouble.
