A half an hour later, I was sitting in a heap on the ground, bawling my eyes out.

It’s one thing to say you’re going to stay calm in when lost in a forest, and another thing entirely to actually do it. There were things all around me, making sounds in the bushes and in the treetops above me, and I swore I kept seeing yellow, luminous eyes following me everywhere I went.

Besides, this wasn’t a regular forest like that kind I was used to, whose biggest dangers were unsteady ground and the occasional mountain lion.

This forest had all the usual dangers: unsteady ground, wolves, probably bears; plus extra. Witches, trolls, ogres, giant spiders, and who knew what else.

If exposure didn’t get me first, something way worse would, I was sure of that.

So I gave up, and I sat down, and I cried.

It wasn’t my proudest moment in my adventuring career, but right then, I didn’t really give a crap. I just wanted to be home, safe in my own bed in my own apartment, where my biggest worry was making sure my bills were paid on time, not that something with a lot of teeth was going to shred me limb from limb.

But my sobs were suddenly broken off mid-gasp for air, as I very distinctly heard a branch crack not far from where I was sitting.

I immediately quieted down as much as I was able to, furiously wiping away the wet tear tracks on my cheeks and the drops clinging to my eyelashes so I could see a little clearer. It didn’t help much, the darkness was pressing, absolute.

Silence reigned. There was one lonely bird, either nocturnal or confused, chirping alone in a nearby tree, but other than that, nothing.

And then it came again; a crack of a single twig snapping under someone—or something’s weight; just a small sound, but resounding in the oppressive quiet of the forest.

I scrambled to my feet, stooping to blindly reach for something, anything, that I could use as a weapon. My hand passed over a few branches, too thin to offer any defense, and finally closed around a rock about the size of my fist. I hefted it in my hand, and waited.

It wasn’t a giant spider, I told myself. I mean, what were the odds that it would be a giant spider? Sure, Erik had said they were out here, but I’d spent hours worrying about them specifically. It’s like talking about being in a plane crash while on a plane. The odds of it actually happening after you’ve talked about

it are minuscule. Right?

Right?

I held my breath, terrified that whatever it was in the woods would be able to hear my short, fearful gasps for air. A bush rustled, and something large suddenly pushed its way through the forest growth, heading straight at me.

It was too dark and the thing moved too fast for me to be able to see it clearly, but I could tell that it was huge and black and had too many hairy legs to count. I screamed, high and shrill, and threw the rock, just pulling my arm back and hurling blindly in the general direction of the creature. I missed, and the stone bounced useless off of a tree trunk as the monster barreled down upon me. I tried to back away, to turn to run, but the forest was too dense and I hit a tree almost immediately. All I could do was fall to the ground, still screaming, and try to shield my head with my arms.

I could actually hear the snapping of it’s pincers and see the glint of moonlight that pierced the forest canopy in shafts in its eight bulging eyes as it loomed over me, its forelegs pawing spastically at the air, when it suddenly gave a strange hissing shriek and shied away to one side.

I shrieked again as well, thinking that the massive spider was about to turn around so it could cocoon me in its web or something, but then it began to retreat, still hissing and shrieking, its attention gone from me now and focused instead on something else that was advancing upon it from the left.

I heard a fwhump as something whizzed by at breakneck speed, hitting the tree just over my neck, and close enough to nearly graze one of the spider’s twitching legs.

There was a shout, and though I was too terrified and addled to make out the words, it was definitely recognizably human.

Then there was another sound of something flying past us, a second cry of angry words, and the spider evidently decided that this meal wasn’t worth the trouble, turned, and fled.

I remained where I was, my heart pounding so loudly in my ears that it drowned out all other sounds, and my breathes coming in quick, shallow gasps.

You’re hyperventilating, an oddly calm voice in my head said, and I struggled to take deeper, slower breaths before I made myself pass out.

And then suddenly, something else was crouching above me, and I gave another cry of fear and lashed out.

The figure ducked, barely avoiding being smacked right in the face by my windmilling fists.

“Wait!” it said. “Don’t be afraid, I’m here to help you!”

I froze, my arms still raised in a pathetic approximation of attack, and tried to blink away the darkness of the night and the tunnel vision that had belatedly set in in my panic.

It was indeed a person, a young man crouching in front of me, using a longbow for balance.

“W-who are you?” I demanded, in a shaky voice. ‘Thank you’ probably would have been more polite, but fear was making me paranoid, and all I could think was that humans could be just as dangerous as wild animals, and that these woods were full of bandits and witches, according to Erik.

“I’m a huntsman traveling through these lands with my men,” the person said, their voice deep and commanding—though there was something slightly usual about it that I couldn’t quite place. “We’re camped not far from here. We woke in the night to find that same giant spider silently wrapping up one of my men to carry him off. We chased it away not five minutes ago. And that was when we heard a scream; your scream, I presume. We must have chased it right into your path.”

“Uh… oh,” I said, still confused and in shock, and not at all what to do or say now. “Are there… are there any more of them around?” I asked.

“It is unlikely,” the huntsman replied. “They are solitary creatures, and fairly territorial. They are opportunistic hunters, who prefer to hunt prey who are entirely unaware, or take victims who travel alone and unarmed. It’s unlikely it will return, but it would be unwise to remain here. Are you alone out here? Lost? You ought to return with me to my camp.”

“To your camp… with you? And your men?” Oh jeeze, was I about to be ambushed by a band of robbers? I looked around the darkness to see if I could spot any unsavory looking characters lurking in the shadows. “How many?”

The huntsman gave a rather lilting laugh. “There are 12 of us, including myself, but you have no need to fear us. No harm will come to you at our hands, I can assure you of that.”

I wasn’t exactly eager to admit to a strange man I’d just met in a forest that I was lost and, at this moment at least, entirely alone and unarmed, but it didn’t look like I really had much other choice. I had to get back to Erik and Jack somehow. “Well, I am lost, but I’m not alone. Actually I am alone at this exact second, but I’m here with…” I paused, looking for the right word. “…Companions. We set up camp on the path, but I got lost, and can’t find my way back. They probably think I’ve been eaten by something by now.”

I wondered if Jack and Erik had come looking for me. Maybe, I suddenly realized for the first time, I should have just stayed put the moment I realized I was lost, instead of wandering around like an idiot, getting myself further and further from the path. Maybe they were out in the woods too, searching for me right now.

Maybe they were lost themselves.

No. I shook that thought from my head. Erik wouldn’t get lost out here, he knew this place too well, knew how to survive too well. I just had to get back to our campsite, and even if they weren’t there because they were out looking for me, they’d have to return eventually.

“Do you think you could help me find the way back to the path?” I asked the huntsman. “I can find my way from there—I think.”

“It would be my pleasure,” the huntsman replied with a smile, and then he put two fingers to his lips and whistled, a long piercing note.

Less than a minute later, the rest of his men joined him: eleven others, leading horses and all dressed in almost identical clothes—long earth-toned tunics, tights with high leather riding boots, and Robinhood-esque caps set at jaunty angles.

Even more surprising than the unusually coordinated outfits was the fact that all eleven of the newcomers looked almost exactly like the first man I had met. It was uncanny; they were all precisely the same height and build, all their hair cut to the same length and a shade of dusty blond, all their features close enough in appearance that they could be siblings.

They weren’t quite identical, and after a few moments of confused blinking I was sure that I wasn’t looking at a set of… dodeca-lets? Whatever twelve twins would be called. Just twelve, presumably unrelated, individuals who happened to look so similar that they could be each other’s stunt doubles. Not weird at all. Maybe it was a club, and they wandered the countryside looking for body doubles to join.

Well, it wasn’t any of my business, as long as they didn’t try to drag me into their weirdness. “Hi,” I said, with an awkward wave. Most of the newcomers nodded or waved back, and all eyes turned to the first huntsman, who appeared to be the leader.

“This young lady needs our help in getting back to the path, and finding her companions. Quick, let’s be on our way before the night grow too late.”

I still hesitated a moment, all of my mother’s lessons about not going places with strange men lest you end up a body in a ditch echoing in my head, but is the huntsman had wanted to attack me, he could have done it right after the spider attack without all the polite conversation. Besides, alone and scared and having just been attacked by a gargantuan arachnid, I was willing to put my faith in basic human kindness in order to get the hell out of these wood.

I squared my shoulders, nodded at him, and with that, the leader of the huntsman led the way, me at his heels, and a parade of eleven others trailing after.