Page 85 of The Barbarian King's Assassin (Magic and Kings 1)
It occurred to me then how well I could see, the silk having taken on a luminescent quality that glowed white under the almost-full moon. In that ethereal light, the spider appeared. Not the kind I’d rescued and teased annoying children with. Nor the venomous version that sometimes helped me with my tasks.
The arachnid that appeared rivaled a horse in size.
It led to me grumbling, “Why is everything bigger in the west?”
Broon didn’t reply because, in that moment, he forgot to be a big bad warrior and uttered a terrified shriek. “Kill it! Kill it! Argh!”
Useless.
Or so I thought until the spider turned its attention on him.
While Broon played the convincing part of bait, it gave me time to saw through the parts of web I needed, leaving my ankles the only thing holding me from plummeting. I placed the sword between my thighs, gripped it tight, and then pulled myself up using my stomach. Not as easy as people thought. I grabbed the remaining silk and wrapped it around my wrist before my sword sliced through the stuff at my ankles.
I swung as soon as my legs dropped. A pendulum that drew the behemoth spider’s attention. My hope I’d be able to leap down safely disappeared. For one, that was a pretty steep drop with a lot of rocks and pointy bone shards. And second, the big spider was coming right for me, mandibles clacking.
As soon as it neared, I swung and hit a leg hard enough to sheer off the tip. Which only served to make it angry.
It recoiled and clacked, even hissed.
“Want another whack?” I taunted.
Hundreds of eyes watched me, refracting a warped version of my appearance. Hideous, but I kept its attention on me rather than the arriving giants, who trotted into the space below the web and fired spears.
Like me, they didn’t miss.
The spider squealed as the tips punctured its body, sending a gush of fluid to soak someone below.
“Ew! It burns,” someone yelled.
The spider tried to flee, crawling over Broon’s stuck body. He went from shrieking to sobbing hysterically.
The spears that fell loose to the ground were tossed again. Squealing followed the arachnid as it fell. The giants moved in to finish it off.
Excellent. I could free myself. Maybe.
I eyed my situation as Konstantin bellowed, “Don’t move, Ilyana. I’m coming.”
Stupid hero king. Trying to save me again.
I perversely cut the strands holding me.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
I plummetedfrom the web but didn’t crash. The king must have moved quickly because he caught me with ease.
“Joor is wrong; you’re not slow,” I teased.
The scowl displayed a lack of amusement. “Why are you always getting into trouble?”
“Who doesn’t mention the fact he has enormous spiders living in the woods?” I retorted.
“They’re rare.”
“Not an excuse. What other rare perils have you neglected to tell me about? And just where were you while I was being stung and then abducted by a monster spider?”
“Being guarded in the farthest corner of that cave by your father, who mumbled something about trying to preserve what little virtue you had left.”
I grimaced. “He should mind his business.”