As the gray-green orb of water spat forth from the tip of Aethel's pocked wand, Johnathan sprinted forward — the breeze whipping around him like a dervish as he closed the distance between him and his five trapped rams; Dolly following as closely as a pregnant ram could. Before he had gotten half-way across the wind-shorn hilltop the aged ewe bleated out a distressed call.

He turned his head just in time to see a white strand of web spit out from the grass towards him. He twisted his body out of the way – the brunt of the web whistling by as it tore through the current of wind whipping around him where his head had just been. He held his palm out in front of him. The wind that had been whirling around him came to a stand still as a small, whirling tornado formed in front of his hand.

“Whirlwind” he managed to whisper as the air caught in his lungs struggled inside of his chest to join the whorl and the feeling of fire raged through his body.

His breath returned and the fire in his chest soothed as the whorl ripped free of his grasp and hurtled towards the patch of grass where the strand of web had shot out from. The small tornado in his hand expanded into a column of air about as tall as he was. It shone a shimmering white as the mist like strands of web that had been caught in its fierce currents reflected the light of the midday sun as it tore through the land; ripping and roaring through the grass. The mist-spinner hidden within the wild growing grass's shadow tried to leap out of the way, but the drag caught it and whipped it around and around. The current of wind seeped its way into every joint of the large spider and pulled them in untold directions as each of its legs, and each of its sections came undone while in the air; its torn remains depositing on the ground as the whorl dissipated into the peaceful breeze. He stared at the creature's remains, dumbfounded. Normally, the force of that spell was only enough to lift up and toss the wolves and such that came after his rams; sending them limping and yelping back to wherever their packs lay waiting. A part of him still expected the creature to get back up and spring at him, but that fear was quickly laid to rest when the creature's blue green blood began falling over him like a light rain.

The shepherd's shoulder jolted back as another web slammed into him. He could feel a bruise beginning to form on his shoulder. His hand jolted towards the sheathed dagger, and just as quickly it slid out of it's leather holdings. One of the tendrils of the heavy white web; as if guided by some malevolent intelligence, found its way to the ground. As soon as the tendril touched the earth, he once again felt the familiar feeling of his strength draining out into the earth. His body crumpled, and his back slumped against the ground. He brought the edge of the knife to the strand and just as he was about to cut it a thought crossed his mind and he waited.

Just as he thought, it didn't take long for the mist spinner to crawl from its hiding place, and he felt the creature's weight against his leg. Every instinct he had told him to cut the web off, but still, he held. When those coal black eyes once more looked down over him the familiar terror ran wild through his mind. This time, however, he was ready. The black knife cut through the web, and in the same motion, drove the dagger into the creature's eyes.

The mist-spinner screamed in pain, and its pincers clacked as they tried to clamp around Johnathan's head, but he pushed against the creature, raising up his knee to join his forearm to hold the creature at bay as he drove the knife into the creature's head over and over again. The pushing got lighter as the weight on his arm got heavier and the thrashing of its giant legs slowed to a squirm. He pushed the spider off of him and sprung to his feet. The spinner tried, weakly, to stand but was stopped with a heavy stomp to its midsection.

During his fight, two strands of web shot out from the grass towards Dolly, in a coordinated attack to down the two of them together. Before either of them could reach her, however, the air around her began to change. Orange sparks formed as an arc of lightning danced in the air around her horns like a halo and ignited the mist like strands of web. Both of the thicker strands of web blackened and curled up on themselves as they caught just as the lighter ones in the air, and fell to the ground in a pile of gray ash.

One of the spinners tried desperately to cut the burning web free as the flame found its way to it like a candle's wick to its end. The fire swept through its spinneret and it screamed in pain as it writhed on the ground as it tried to put it out. It spread and soon spread inside of its carapace and it died in pain.

Another milky strand of web shot from a different patch of grass, only to be stopped by the halo of blue lightning that danced around the ram's horns. The spinner tried to fire another strand, but couldn't form it as it's mana pool had run dry, so instead it charged through the grass towards the ram. Dolly tried to form another bolt of lightning, but was unable to as the wolf-pup sized spider pulled its pincers back and clacked them at her.

The two pincers latched onto one of her horns and she bleated defiantly as she pulled and pushed against the creature that held fast, hooked onto her. It squeezed down and a fracture began to spread out from the point of contact. She bleated a distressed call as she kicked and tried to shake the spider free.

As soon as Johnathan was free, and the mist spinner that had crawled on top of him was dead he sprinted towards Dolly and plunged the knife into the creature's armored head. The knife tore through it like it was cutting through wood. The mist-spinner didn't relinquish its hold, however so he did it again, and again. Each time he brought it down the metal tang shifted inside of the wooden handle, until it slipped out and the wooden hold of the knife splintered — leaving the knife firmly embedded in the creature's head.

A spider's web of cracks formed from the spider's pincers grip on Dolly's right horn — panic etched into every wrinkle on the ram's paling face as it bleated louder and louder.

“Let go!” Johnathan shouted.

He bent down and dug a rock out of the ground with his trembling fingers and beat the bent metal tang of the knife like it was the stake of a tent into the spinner's head. The carapace around it fractured and soon the creature went slack as the point of the knife found its brain. Johnathan grabbed hold of the spider's pincer — ignoring the blood forming on his hand as the tiny, unseen thorns on the carapaces appendage tore away at the skin of his palms. He was able to pull them apart enough for the ram to pull herself free, stumbling backwards. He let go and wrapped his arms around the wooly ram's neck to stop her from falling onto the ground.