“PIP!” I yelled as the panic inside of me boiled over.

A horrific, SCREEEEEEEEEEEECH! was the only answer that came from whatever terror was down there. 

Oh, Matty no.

Please be alive, Pip.

“We need to get down there!” I said, trying to figure out if I could fit, somehow. Maybe if I took off my armor, I’d barely be able to fit?

Unless it got narrower at some point.

If it did, I’d be no help to anyone as a plug in the well.

“Calm down, Sir Krystal. I can see what you’re thinking and would advise against it. Rushing head-first into a situation could possibly put Pip in even more danger.” Sir Zantar put a hand on my shoulder. 

There wasn’t enough force in his grip to hold me back, but his feelings got through. There may have even been a slight tremble in his hand before he took it back, but I couldn’t quite tell.

“Leo, Vincent, does this creature sound familiar to either of you?” Sir Zantar continued, looking towards the two in question.

“From what Sir Pip reported, I would deduce that the creature in question has multiple self-reflecting or glowing eyes and is big enough for its breath to be confused with a breeze. From the rope we can deduce it can use acid as a form of attack. However, I regret to inform you that nothing comes to mind. It probably is a creature who lives underground and thus is rarely seen above.” Vincent said, his brain clearly working at full speed. “What is your interpretation, Sir Leo?”

“Oh! Maybe I do know! Possibly. The Molevarps of The Endless Caves once told me about a legend. The Disintegrating Nightweb.” He held up his hands and wiggled his fingers like we were talking about a scary children’s story and not something that could have eaten our friend. “‘With eyes glowing like a thousand lanterns, disintegrating everything it breathes upon. If you misbehave, the Disintegrating Nightweb will take you to its lair and you’ll be lucky if your bones are ever found.’ I wouldn’t want to meet one, myself.”

I stared at Leo with my mouth agape, along with Sir Zantar and Vincent who had the same exact expression as I had. It took Leo a few more seconds for it to register that this was not just story time.

“Oh. Oh no! Pip!” Leo yelled and ran to the well to look down, like we hadn’t checked if Pip was just hanging there.

Blaze was the only one not looking horrified. Instead, he pulled out every single one of his weapons and checked it before stashing it again. “Brilliant. It’s not every day I get to kill a legend!”

Didn’t he understand? We couldn’t even get to Pip! He might already be…

No, I couldn’t finish that thought.

“I’m going in!” I said with my patience running dry. If I got stuck, I got stuck. At least I didn’t walk away and let Pip get melted by… whatever this thing was. 

I began tugging at bits of my armor to pull them off, but Sir Zantar stopped me. 

“Hold on, Sir Krystal. We need to think about this rationally,” he said.

It took everything inside of me not to scream at him to let me go. But, perhaps he had a point. Rushing things hadn’t been great for us so far.

“Sir Leo, is there a known weakness to the Disintegrating Nightweb?” asked Vincent. 

I was practically shaking as I listened. I understood the importance of information but I couldn’t just stand still.

“No… It’s a legend… It’s not supposed to exist.” Leo said with eyes drooping like a puppy dog’s.

“Right. Glad we stalled for that. Now, let’s go,” I said and tried to head toward the well once more.

Sir Zantar once again stopped me.

“You can not risk jumping down there, Sir Krystal. Perhaps there is another way.” He then looked at Vincent, “Vincent, what do you think?”

“Sir Leo, how big is this legendary beast supposed to be?” Vincent asked the crestfallen Leo who continued to peer down the well every few seconds with hope.

“Huge,” Leo said and somehow more gloom rushed over him. At least he finally matched his book description.

“Then I would imagine there is a way for it to come and go as needed. A larger opening, somewhere. Perhaps near a river, as it would need water, or one near the mines where the land has already been dug deep,” Vincent said, pointing in two directions as he spoke, “perhaps both.”

“Okay, great. Then we split up,” I said, wanting to hurry things along. It would double our chances to find a way in and thus double our chances of going to help Pip.

“That sounds like the best course of action,” Sir Zantar agreed, “Vincent, you can come with me.”

“Great, I’m taking Leo and going this way,” I interrupted, grabbing Leo by the arm. He let me pull him along, and we both started walking in the direction of the river. I didn’t leave time for Sir Zantar to say anything different. Who knew how long this would take and better Leo than murder-happy Blaze.

“And Blaze, I suppose that leaves you with us as well,” Sir Zantar continued, mostly seeming unbothered by my interruption, but there was something else in his voice I couldn’t discern.

We were off. Fucking finally.

Pip, I’ll save you! Hang in there!

We walked a bit before I could hear hooves catching up to us. Prince! He followed all on his own. In my rush to get going and save Pip, I had somehow forgotten the love of my life. I was such a failure!

It surprised me how important Pip had become to me… even if he was only a character in a book…

“From the footprints here, I think we should go that way,” Leo said, pointing towards the earth and what just looked like small dots in the ground to me.

“What made them?” I couldn’t help but ask. If he wanted to go be friends with some other woodland killing machines, we didn’t have the time.

“These are made by Water Nymphs. Tiny beings who need water to survive, but they are very frail and can be easily killed, so they tend to go the safest and fastest route towards a body of water,” Leo explained.

Ah, that made sense. Safest and fastest route towards the water. Exactly what I wanted. Go Leo!

I definitely made the right call dragging him with me.

Leo walked with his eyes on the ground, tracking the nymphs like a bloodhound.

“How do you know so much about all of… this,” I asked after a minute, gesturing vaguely towards the ground and the forest as we continued walking, “it’s really impressive.”

“Oh, no, I just…” Leo got the blank stare I knew too well. Oh shit, did I go too off script again? Was his brain going to sizzle and burn?

“I just…” Leo tried again, the cogs in his head clearly churning so hard his head was about to explode. Something was clearly wrong here, but I felt like interrupting would only make things worse.

“I just… Really like nature…?” Leo asked.

“You’re asking me?” I clarified. Leo shook his head. There was clearly something going on here, but what?

“No. I just… for some reason I’m not sure,” he looked so confused. So… small all of a sudden. I wanted to hug him, but it would probably feel like a mosquito bite to him. Maybe only a tickle.

“You do seem to know a lot about nature. And want to be friends with the… things… living here. So it would make sense if you like it, I think.” I said, trying to give him an easy way out. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and set him off further.

“Yeah. I do. I do like nature. A lot.” Leo nodded along, seeming to come a bit out of the confusion he had. He continued to track the footsteps as he went on.

“I’ve always liked nature. I think… no, I know, I lived in a cottage in The Cozy Woods. With my… mom?” Leo stumbled through the words, still confused, but making progress. The sound of rushing water nearby started to fill the air. We were getting close.

I prompted Leo to go on as we walked, with a small nod and a smile.

“We were very alone there,” he said, “but it was okay, because my mom taught me to befriend the woodland creatures. She said someone as frail as me wouldn’t pose a threat to them, so I just had to be friendly and then they wouldn’t hurt me.”

Excuse me!? Leo? Frail? What?

“Leo, what do you mean with you being fr—” I couldn’t help but exclaim, but Prince whinnied and ran down to a beautiful river.

“Oh, we made it. Thank you Water Nymphs!” Leo cheered, smiling and looking too normal again. Our moment was clearly over.

I guess I wasn’t going to get an answer, but there were more important things to focus on, now, anyway.

“I think I can see an entrance!” Leo pointed toward a cave opening covered by leaves and branches. I would have never noticed it, even if I’d known exactly where it was.

Prince was already galloping towards the entrance, sniffed it once, and neigh’ed loudly. Leo and I followed, and as I got closer I saw something that should have been obvious from the name of the monster, but it hadn’t really clicked in my panic and fear for Pip.

The entrance was entirely covered by a thick, beautiful silver web.

Were we going to fight a fucking giant spider?