"IDIOT! STUPID, SELFISH BRAT! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE!"

Of all things to describe Bella, she knew the words weak and timid never made the list. She was fearsome and was more than happy to put those who had stepped out of line into place. It was even better when they were young cadets. Ignorant and cocky, they deserved every slap and blow that careered their way. The elven woman in front of her might not have been a city watch cadet, but she was an idiot.

After the frankly amazing shot from Hel, felling the beast like an axe to a tree, the armour-plated captain wasted no time in walking up to the slender girl and punching her square in the jaw. She then seized hold of the small figure and shook her so violently her head almost became a blur, bellowing insults the entire time. When she was eventually released, the rogue fell back in shock and fear as Bella's tirade continued.

The others could only watch as this display was going on. All of them unsure whether or not they should let this verbal assault continue or intervene at the risk of Bella's seemingly unending wrath being redirected at them. For a human, she was ferocious, like a wolf. She had truthfully considered the path of a barbarian, calling upon her pent up rage as Janus did. Still, the more elegant and dignified road had called to her instead.

When the onslaught ended and the well of insults on her tongue finally dried, Bella stepped away, momentarily looking at the boys who quickly averted their gaze and breathed deeply. Assassins, thieves and murderers, the bane of her previous existence and she despised them all. They were reckless, careless of others and purposefully endangered others to fuel their own ego's and fill their purses with gold. The actions of one had nearly doomed them all.

Alicia could have been killed, ripped limb from limb, like a fool in the fighting pit. That could have resulted in the deaths of all of them. If they had all struck as one, then the creature would have been weakened or possibly even killed outright without the monster even knowing they were there. Instead, injuries had been sustained, especially to Aldrich. He was a fool as well for leaping onto the bear, but he had been lectured by Hel and Carnate instead, so she decided against wasting her breath. Besides, even after being shot and having a hatchet buried into his neck Aldrich had clung onto bucking monstrosity for such a long time, which she had to admit was rather impressive.

Despite seeming severe, the injuries to Aldrich and Janus were not as grave as they appeared to be. Thick fur and adrenaline had numbed the pain for the cat, while the wound from the axe had not been deep enough to sustain any permanent damage. They'd both wear light scars for a few months, but they were used to that form of injury. Scars bothered none of them.

Bella had seen worse injuries following a Friday night in Otrallia. Faces lacerated with cuts from shattered glasses, broken bones, missing teeth were the standard affair in the heaving tavern districts. Her mother actually had a saying for it, 'any man is simply three tankards away from a riot'. A statement verified on many an occasion.

She looked towards the corpse of the great beast. Hel had been ripping it apart for the last ten minutes, using a dagger to saw around the jaw and cut the fingers from the paw. Blood pooled around his feet, the grey feathers of the owlbear steadily turning the same shade of red wine that had been spilt on fine linen. The cuts were not clean, and one paw could only have been considered lost to the battle, the claws nothing more than sharp stumps. The other paw was extracted perfectly with each weapon carefully pulled from the base. The two finest were set aside for their employer while the other three were placed within Hel's pocket. The beak came away quickly from the clump of severed flesh, but the damage sustained in battle resulted in low quality, but it seemed saleable.

Then he did something rather peculiar. After plucking a few pounds of feathers, arrow fletching Bella presumed, the young half-elf placed a hand inside the dead creature's mouth and peered inside. He actually used his dagger as a prop and pulled the bleeding tongue into the light. She was taken aback at the sight of it. It didn't look normal. Enormous green sores coated the muscle, and when he pierced one of them with his knife, pus leaked from the cut.

The image looked familiar, as if from a book in her family library. She tried to rack her mind for the memory, but nothing revealed itself. Most likely, it was from the section her grandfather had jealously hoarded that she had sneaked a peek when his back was turned. But other than that, it was just a faint recollection. Her education had been one of etiquette and mannerisms, and she cursed her father for it. And her step-brothers as well.

Bella turned back to the others, with Hel scraping a sample of the liquid into the empty potion vial. Alicia had since pried her dagger from the tree, the last bandages and stitches applied to the wounded and Carnate was gazing into the treeline, his mismatched eyes fractured in the dark. He was looking for something or had seen something in the night. She squinted, but her human eyes failed her.

"So, what now?" Aldrich said gruffly, nursing his thigh.

A flash of arcane light indicated that Hel had sent off their second offering to the Beast Master and the young man joined the rest of the group. "It depends," he said, "do you fancy spiders or goblins?"

Spiders would be trickier to find but easier to kill. On the other hand, Goblins moved in large packs; their destruction acted as a trail, but catching two or more off guard would be nearly impossible. Bella pondered for a moment. "I say spiders; we just have to locate a nest, torch it and raid the ruins. No casualties and easy pickings."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy," Hel said. She couldn't help but wonder if he was thinking about the strange infection on the owlbear.

Janus placed his axe over his shoulders and grinned. "When is it ever easy pointy-ears? But that's what makes it fun."

"This isn't a game," Bella snapped.

Alicia grunted but said nothing.

He shrugged, "whatever," he said lazily. "Let's just get this over with."

At that exact moment, something plunged out of the branches. Four sets of weapons were drawn, but Hel and Carnate remained defenceless. A small bat-like creature flapped its papery wings and landed on Carnate's arm, and started chirruping and clicking its tongue in a basic form of draconic. Carnate conversed for a moment before nodding. The now recognisable pseudodragon hopped up onto his shoulder and tucked its head into its wing. "He doesn't like the woods," Carnate said. "There's another wolf pack to the south, and there are signs of a worg being close by. We need to get out of here as soon as possible."

"An' precisely how are ya plannin' to do that? Ya jus' goin' to pick a direction and start walkin'? You're stupider than ya look."

Carnate's scales rattled, but he didn't retaliate by some force of sheer willpower. Instead, he raised his arm, shaking Fenrin awake and, in the harsh tongue of draconic, said, "Tokeqwin." The pseudodragon bowed his small, scaled head and leapt into the sky. He soared upwards until he was fifty feet above the crowd, circled the trees slowly and glided effortlessly back to his perch.

"That way," Carnate pointed northwards into the bushes.

Aldrich scoffed, "are you insane?"

His golden brow furrowed. "Tokeqwin," he explained slowly as if he were speaking to a child, "means safety, you ignorant twat. He flew up and identified a town about five...sorry, seven miles away, which is the only option we have for now that doesn't involve heading south to Wildport. So unless you have a better idea, shorty, I suggest we follow the only route we have."

The dwarf turned the colour of a ripe tomato. "Short?! Let's see who's calling who short when I cut your legs off at the knees!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Bella roared. Silence descended immediately.

During this time, however, Janus decided to do something stupid. He opened his mouth. "You're saying that thing can guide us?" He gestured to the tiny dragon. "It looks like a deflating bagpipe."

Fenrin didn't take too kindly to being referred to as a deflating bagpipe. He was, in fact, a very proud little creature who didn't take too kindly to being insulted at all, so he did the only thing he could think of. Quick as lightning, he flew over and bit Janus on the nose. Hard. He retreated back to his master as soon as the tabaxi started flailing in pain, and blood began to seep from the rows of tiny puncture wounds. Bella swore she heard the dragonborn say 'good boy' to his little pet as the group, abandoning the tabaxi to his ailments, started their long trek towards sanctuary.

***

It had poisoned him. Of course, it had the little flying rat, shot right over to him and injected its venom into his face, and he was probably going to die from it. It figures. Janus Embari, lover, fighter, dismemberer of limbs, was brought down by a glorified bat. The others didn't seem to care that the spot where the beastly beast, called Fenrin apparently, had sunk its teeth in had swollen roughly to the size of an egg. To make matters worse, it was filled with strange green gunk even though his owner had assured him that his pet wasn't venomous.

He'd asked Hel for the health potion, but the selfish bastard had refused on account of, "it's not life-threatening stop being such a drama queen." How insulting. He was a drama king, to be precise, far more fabulous. He'd wanted to break it open, but when the golden boy said it would get infected, Janus decided to not use an axe on his face. It was his most important feature, after all.

Still, it was rather embarrassing for his reputation as they strolled into town after an hour of cutting through thick brambles, covered in scratches and with an enormous wart on his nose. He needed a distraction, so as soon as a tavern was located and rooms were bartered for, Janus wandered upstairs and paid for the company to go with it. He did pop the spot before she arrived and covered it with a bandage so he would look a bit more battle-hardened rather than poisoned to death. Not that the lovely young genasi minded a few minutes later.

He woke up the following morning with a splitting headache and a very sore back from last night's activities. Had he gone to the bar first or afterwards? Or had he gone in between sessions? That wasn't important, but now he was hungry for whatever could cure a hangover, so he merrily skipped down to breakfast, a grin plastered across his face. How dull, the rest of them looked miserable as they sat around a small table, not speaking at all. That will have to be sorted out quickly.

"Good morning, everyone!" he announced. "Have a good night's rest, I imagine?"

"Too early, cat," Aldrich nursed his glass of water.

"Where were you last night?" Hel snapped.

Huh? Oh yes, he had paid for his bed for the night. Oops. "I was upstairs enjoying the facilities. What was her name again? Glint? Or was it Gasp? Then again, that might have been my doing."

Alicia snorted in disgust. "You're disgusting."

"Don't knock it till you try it, baby," and he winked for the extra flair. Eyes were rolled, but at least nothing was thrown. Today was going to be a good day. He made his way to a seat, aiming a kick at the leathery lump by Carnate's feet on his way past, and attacked the plate of sausages in front of him with great gusto.

The others talked about something or the other; the pint of ale and plate of pork in front of his whiskers was far more entertaining and watching the pretty elf girl. She was insanely attractive. Porcelain skin, light blonde hair that fell to the small of her back, and those eyes...maneater eyes, he thought dreamily. Perhaps a little too dreamily as he didn't hear his name being called until Shorty McGrumpyface stabbed him in the ribs with a fork.

"What?"

"Do we have your attention now?" Alicia snapped.

He didn't answer, but he decided that full attention should be given to avoid another stabbing.

She sighed irritably. "As I was saying, where are we going to find these creatures? I've never seen a giant spider in my life."

"Bet you've seen a few goblins, though," Janus muttered.

She rounded on him, eyes blazing with fury. "What's that supposed to mean?"

He shrugged. He wasn't sure yet, but sweet little Alicia reminded him of a specific type of woman he'd met after a long day of fighting. So long as you didn't mess with them, you'd leave with your manhood still intact, but if you did? You'd be found in the river with your eyes plucked out three days later, and those girls would never be suspected. Every institution had at least one femme fatale, and he had a sneaking suspicion that the elf fit the bill.

"Anyway..." hazel eyes flicked between the two figures lock in a standoff, "you're not wrong. They like the dark."

"If you think I'm going into the Underdark–" Aldrich began.

"We are not going down there," Hel continued. "But a forest or desert cave should do the trick. I suggest we ask the locals, somethings bound to show up because I don't fancy a trip to the Torrdaris Timberland to find the damn things."

Ah, the Torrdaris Timberlands, Janus thought. It was also known as the location where all the beasties were dragged kicking and screaming for the monthly Monster Monday. Janus didn't like having to battle the creatures in the arena, let alone their home turf, so unprompted by the others, the young man got up. He waltzed out the front door into the small settlement of Vusone.

As he strolled down the main road, tail swishing in the morning breeze, Janus basked in all the stares and attention he was getting from the locals. All eyes were on him, and so long as no stones started to get thrown, all was well. The first port of call he took was to the guards at the main gate. They usually knew what was going on, but they seemed to take offence to him as an individual, so Janus stepped away empty-handed. The same occurred at the tavern, the butchers, the bakers, the candlestick makers and the church, who blatantly refused to let him and threw holy water at him through the peephole.

In other words, a typical Tuesday.

Soggy and drastically running out of patience, Janus made one final call at the blacksmiths. It was a small, ramshackle workshop called Thomun & Kivinen's, with its anvil and red hot coal fire billowing heat into the otherwise fresh morning air. A fine layer of black dust covered everything from the tools to the old donkey attached to the wheel, which, according to the name on its harness, was called Badger. Brilliant.

"Can I help you, sir?"

Stepping out of a backroom, covered in the same coal dust as the rest of her shop, was a dwarf. She was shorter than his travelling companion but just as muscular. Massive scars covered her arms, fingers and face while her black beaded hair was tied into a thick plait that fell about halfway down her back. She looked at him with caution and doubt written clear on her face, but Janus tried to remember his manners and bowed low.

"Good morning, my name is Janus Embari, and my axe needs a re-sharpening if you could be so kind." His axe was fine, albeit a little dull, but he just needed an excuse to talk.

"Embari? Heh, names Edri. Edri Thomun and are you capable of paying for my services? I see no coin purse on you, and I charge five silver for a job like that."

Ah, payment. As a matter of fact, Janus was broke, but maybe he could get away with it. He pulled a gold coin from his pocket and flashed it to the blacksmith. "Don't you worry about payment, darling. I'll give you this in exchange for the axe and some information. How does that sound?"

Don't call my bluff, don't call my bluff, don't call my bluff.

She frowned. "That's a lot of money to go flashing around. What sort of information?"

"All in good time," and he handed her his greataxe. To her credit in the strange situation, she beckoned for Janus to follow her into the shop.

The interior of the establishment was pitch black with coal dust and burn marks, to the point that Janus couldn't imagine what it had looked like that initially. Edri Thomun walked over to a grinding stone the size of a cartwheel and set it in motion, shards of dust flinging out at all angles, a banshee-like screeching ripping from the mechanism. Janus tried not to wince. That was the problem with being an apex predator with senses that would make a human being weep; everything was amplified to an extreme level.

It was almost impossible to be heard over the din of metal and whetstone. Still, Edri managed to make herself heard with surprising ease. It seemed that all dwarves came with an in-built feature of shouting over anything they deemed fit. "So, watcha after?"

"My companions and I are in the trade of harvesting," Janus yelled over the racket. "Creature bits if you want to be specific, and so far, we've managed quite well considering the time frame. Three dire wolves and an owlbear." He waited for a reaction of awe, for her to leap up and beg for the whole tale in blood-soaked glory. No response. Tough crowd, huh? "Ehem, where was I? Oh yes, despite doing so marvellously, if I do say so myself, we've run into a bit of a roadblock-"

"Get to the point!"

"Spiders! Big ones. Or a horde of goblins, take your pick."

The machine stopped whirring, and its operator looked up in surprise. "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

He shrugged and flicked his tail. "By birth or business, you'd be correct."

The machine growled to life again, and Edri began her shouting for a second time. "Well, either way, if you want the eight-legged buggers, Wallingdurn's your best bet."

"Wallydurn?"

"Wall-ing-durn," she said slowly. "They're a network of caverns to the west of here. Used to be packed with coal, a thriving mine before they moved in. Now you can't move for the cobwebs, and whenever someone tries to clear the nest, they don't tend to come back out, savvy?"

"Understood. Loud and clear. Aye, aye, captain."

"But, I suppose if you just need one or two of the bastards, pulling them out shouldn't be too difficult. As for goblins? Couldn't care less. Just whack a few of 'em, and I'll be happy." With that, the grinder died, and the blacksmith removed his greataxe from the whetstone. He had to admit, she'd done an excellent job with it. Sharp enough to slice through bone and not a trace of blood to be seen. It's a shame he was about to do what he was going to do.

"Would that be all, mister Embari?"

He nodded and pulled the gold coin from his pack and palmed it. "Yes, ma'am, this will do nicely, and I believe that this will more than cover the costs for the splendid job, and the wealth of information you have so diligently provided me with will certainly aid in our quest. Good day."

In one fluid motion, he tossed her the coin and twisted on his heel to walk away, counting the paces as he went. Five feet, he was out of the shop. In ten, he was round the corner. Twenty feet–

"OI! COME BACK HERE, YOU BOTTOM FEEDING THIEF!"

He was over the wall faster than a demon on the holy ground, but he didn't stop running. His paws barely touched the ground as he ran. Fences and buildings were nothing more than obstacles to his nimble footing and claws acting as built-in pitons to rappel him ever upwards. Even when the guard was called, they didn't have a chance. They could ask whoever they wanted, all the people who had leapt aside to avoid him, nobody thought to look up.

Janus held his breath from his sheltered vantage point on the roof. The loose tile didn't shift under his paws, and the early morning shadows didn't betray his position from on high. He rested his head back against the tiles and grinned. Oh, he'd missed this. The adrenaline pumping through his blood, the roaring of his heart, the feeling of breathless satisfaction of outrunning someone who wanted your hide. Five years on this stupid continent and no one had got him yet.

Yet.

He looked at the gold coin in his palm and sighed. It was a simple trick, a light enchantment that he and the other gladiators had exploited endlessly after a long day in the fighting pits. All it took was a willing mage, a blacksmith and a gullible barkeep, and they could easily spend hours getting drunk on the house. Janus flipped his coin, so it landed on tails. He felt guilty about tricking people like that; then again, even if the coin hadn't returned to his hand, it wasn't even worth its own weight. Just steel painted gold.

Janus waited until he was absolutely sure that the guards hadn't seen him. He had a pretty hefty price on his head without this town getting involved but didn't drop down from the roof. Instead, he dashed along rooftops, swung from gutters and effortlessly hopped from ledge to ledge with only a few people looking up to wonder if a pigeon had flown into a window.

He kept this approach up until the main gates loomed into view. There were two guards stationed by the entrance looking bored out of their minds, but luckily for Janus, they looked unalerted and not on the lookout for him. Still, he didn't risk it and instead crept quietly along the edge until the rest of the party, standing off to the side of the road, came into view.

With one final check over his shoulder to make sure no one was about to start shooting, Janus threw his weight forwards and landed in a silent crouch that made at least three of them jump.

"Mornin' laddies. How are we all doing this glorious day?"

"Why did you come over the wall?" Carnate asked.

"Gates are for people who have no imagination," he said casually. He was ever so slightly aware of the shouting men in the distance.

Alicia narrowed her eyes, "what have you done?"

"Nothing, how dare you suggest otherwise!"

The two narrowed their eyes at each other, trying to work the other out like they were attempting to see into the other head. Janus was reasonably sure that this strange and dangerous woman knew what he had done while Alicia, on her part, could tell he was lying. The two of them, the gladiator and the prostitute, were far more similar than the two cared to realise. Both were running from the law and the aspects of history that they wanted to forget about.

"Whatever, I have some valuable insight," he said grandly. "The name of the place is Wallingdurn Caverns, and apparently, the area is crawling with the creepy variety. Big ones, I've been told."

"That matches what the rest of us have heard then," Bella said. "Men go in, and they don't come out."

"But those who do report bugs the size o' dogs, even as big as 'orses. Definitely fits the description of giant spiders." Aldrich beat his hammer against the palm of his hand and grinned wickedly. "Splatting them will be fun."

"Wallingdurn it is then," said Hel.

"Excellent," Janus twirled his newly sharpened axe, ignoring the pang of guilt in his chest, "let's kill the bastards. And may I suggest we do that quickly. The locals didn't really take a shine to me."

Alicia scoffed. "I wonder why."

"As do I, sweetheart. As do I."