They tore through a mass of thick cobwebs on the way down to the second level, and then ran into their second welcoming party―not ghosts this time, but spiders. Julia whined as she let go of the blanket, grabbed Falcon’s arm, and half-hid behind him. She could faced trolls and minotaurs without showing much fear, but spiders… she whimpered and clung to him. What was it with girls and spiders? Falcon wondered. Not that they thrilled him either, but they were hardly worth falling to pieces over.

These were at least more scare-worthy than the jungle spider had been, these at three feet across and about a foot high. Twenty-eight of them were coming down the hall. Their many legs tapping against the stone floor sounded like a miniature army marching toward them.

“Jules,” Falcon said, prying off her right hand and pointing it at the spiders, “a fireball might work better than clawing my arm.”

“Sorry,” she mumbled.

“Any time now,” he told her. The spiders were thirty feet away, but Julia had yet to cast one fireball. He was sure Cael could have been doing something, but the ranger just stood there, keeping an eye on the approaching creatures and Julia.

Falcon looked at Julia’s face; she was obviously too scared of them to concentrate on casting. He stepped behind her and covered her eyes with his hand.

She let out a soft, fearful moan.

“Shh. Stay still,” he told her, his voice reassuring. “Keep your hand out where it is and just shoot. I’ll tell you if they get too close. Trust me. Just fire.” He could see Cael’s amused smile out of the corner of his eye, but it worked. The fireball shot into the spiders, blasting three at once. “Again.” They were now ten feet away. She did it again and then he released her. “Okay, sword time.” He pulled his weapon out, stepped in front of her, and started stabbing.

Julia managed one more fireball. It shot past him and took out a few more. Then she screamed; he knew that some had gotten close to her, but he was too busy to help. “Jules,” he called back to her, “just kill them.” She continued squealing, but he could hear the slight crunching sound of their bodies being crushed behind him, so he didn’t worry.

Finally, when the floor was strewn with dead spiders, he turned around. She was a little ways up the stairway with wide eyes, her arms wrapped around herself.

Cael, moving inhumanly fast, reached her before Falcon could even take a step. “Julia,” he said calmly, though his tone was hard as steel. “Control yourself. You are an adult and a mage. You are not a helpless child. Make your will stronger than your fear. Greater terrors will come, and you will not cower from them.”

She gazed at him with that lost-little-girl look, her eyes filled with tears. It pulled at Falcon’s heart, though Cael seemed unmoved. Finally, she nodded.

“Good. Now go,” Cael commanded. “You will lead the way.”

That made it so that she would have to be the first to walk through the dead spiders, and be on the front line should there be another attack. It was sink or swim. Falcon’s gut twisted; he wanted to protect her, but Cael was right―worse things could come, and probably would come. Babying her wouldn’t help.

Cael went to stand beside Falcon. At first, Julia was frowning, looking abashed. Then she took a deep breath, grabbed hold of the blanket of bones, and charged steadily through the spiders. She kept her head up, probably more in an attempt to not look at them than to show determination. The others followed silently after her.

They turned down two hallways before more of the hairy black spiders appeared—these slightly small, only about a foot wide. There were only seven this time. Cael gave Falcon a look, silently telling him to stand his ground. Falcon nodded once, but held his breath as they got closer.

They were ten feet from Julia before she shot a fireball. It hit three of them. Another blast took out three more, but the last one reached her too quickly; it grabbed on to her pants and started to crawl up her. She whined in spite of her determination. It continued to climb as she whimpered and started to hyperventilate, waving her arms wildly in an attempt to get away from it.

It made it to her chest before she grabbed it with a forceful yell and threw it down. She jumped on it repeatedly, crushing it into the ground until it was dead five times over.

Falcon sighed in relief as she stepped away from the gooey mess. She stood there for a long moment, and he saw a shudder go through her body.

Cael stepped up and gave her shoulder a single pat. “Good,” he said, still using that firm tone. He moved past her and took the lead again.

Falcon wrapped an arm around her, gave her a half hug, and kissed the side of her head. She took a deep, shaky breath and wiped the tears from her face. She nodded, and they followed after Cael.

“You should be more careful,” Cael told them as they walked.

“What?” Falcon asked.

“Is your trust in me so great when you barely know me?” he asked calmly. “Those spiders could have been poisonous, deadly even.”

“If they were… even if you weren’t sure,” Julia said, “you wouldn’t have let me go first.”

Cael stopped and turned to face her. “How do you know that?”

She met his gaze evenly. “Because you’re good.”

“You are so sure after I told you what happened to other people who trusted my judgment?”

She smiled. “You wouldn’t have told us if you believed you couldn’t be trusted. And I might not be the smartest around, but I know good people from bad.”

Falcon nodded. “I agree with her. Besides, the best leaders are those who have made mistakes and learned from them. And those who have experience―unlike either of us.”

Cael smiled and nodded before turning around, and continuing to lead them down the hallway. Falcon knew that he was making sure they trusted him; regardless of how recently they had met, they were on this quest together now and had to look out for each other. Trust was important… but Falcon also thought that there might be a little insecurity under Cael’s cool exterior.

They made it past three more groups of spiders before they came to the next set of stairs. When they reached the bottom, nothing greeted them this time. They walked down several hallways filled with shelves, each one holding a sarcophagus, but none were empty.

After a while, they found a corridor filled with doorways, each leading to a square room with a sarcophagus in the middle, and several more on shelves around it. All of these were empty. When all of the bones were closed into their tombs, the ghosts appeared once more. They emerged from the walls and surrounded them.

“Did we get all the bones?” Julia asked.

“Yes,” they answered in unison. “We can rest now.”

She smiled. “I’m glad.”

“Follow,” they commanded, and left the room, turning left down the hall―the opposite direction from where they had come.

Julia went without hesitation, Falcon and Cael right behind her. They walked in silence until they came to a large room similar to the main room on the first floor, but without statues. The ghosts drifted to the far wall, and the sound of stone against stone filled the room. Outlines of a door became visible. It slowly opened in two halves, disappearing into the walls beside it.

“Here is a token of our gratitude,” the ghosts said, all as one. “You may each take one item.”

“Thank you,” Julia told them.

Falcon noticed the bones inside the room, which looked like an armory and a treasure room all in one. “Are those the people who got greedy?” he wondered.

But the ghosts ignored him. “Thank you,” they said to Julia. “We are free. To find the orb piece, continue west and take the second stairway.” Then they faded into nothing with a sound like a long sigh. The cries also disappeared, leaving the place as silent as… well, a tomb.

“The spirits of the Shia’Lan suffer no more,” Cael said.

Falcon smiled affectionately at Julia. “As I said―amazing.”

She rolled her eyes and waved him off. “We did it together,” she said. “Go get a prize.”

The room had shelves on every wall, a table in the center, and several chests here and there. Every inch was filled with prizes―piles of gold pieces, gemstones as big as your fist, ornate jewelry, and every treasure a person could want. Falcon and Cael immediately went for the wall of weapons.

“Can you tell if any are enchanted?” Falcon asked him.

Cael grinned in return. “All of them.”

They were kids in a candy store. “Only one,” Julia reminded them with a smirk.

Falcon picked up a long sword that had a golden hilt with embedded emeralds. “Can you tell what each one does?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Cael laughed. “Try reading the tag.”

Falcon chuckled. “Good idea,” he said, now noticing the little piece of paper that was attached to the sword with a thin string. He lifted it. “Acid blade. Nice,” he murmured to himself, then curiously touched its edge with his fingertips. Just like Julia’s magic didn’t harm her, the sword did nothing to him while he was the one wielding it.

They spent almost an hour in the treasure room, wanting to read every tag and find the best item. Julia decided on a pair of green spell-caster bracers that gave her the ability to throw her spells further, and gave them a little more power. Cael took a silver lightning bow, which gave his arrows extra speed and his enemies an additional, magical shock. He let Falcon have his old bow, which was beautiful and very well made. Falcon happily accepted it, since his own had been lost back in the cave.

Falcon traded his ordinary sword for a frost sword. The silver grip fit perfectly in his hand; its guard was ornately carved with swirly elven designs, and embedded in the middle was a light blue gem. The long blade was a frosted silver with the slightest hint of blue. And, of course, the best thing about the sword was the additional ice damage it would inflict.

Finally, they pulled themselves from the room and watched as it resealed itself, leaving no evidence that it was there at all.

Falcon helped Julia put on her bracers. She complained that they were pinching her, but he continued to lace them just as tightly, explaining that she didn’t want them to slip during a fight.

“Why are there metal plates on the top?” she asked.

Cael, who also wore bracers, went to her. He raised his arm and then brought it down to hit her. She gasped and instinctively blocked. The metal from his bracer hit hers, and she cringed. “Ow,” she said automatically, but then laughed. “Hey, that didn’t hurt at all.”

He just smiled and nodded.

They continued west until they reached the second stairway and descended. In this part of the fourth level, there was only one way to go, so they followed the path until Cael stopped before a narrower hallway. Along each wall there where ten evenly placed, long, vertical slits.

“Swinging blades?” Falcon guessed.

Cael nodded, then took a step forward. Nothing. He took another step, bringing him to stand right before the first of the slits. A massive blade, like an upside-down double-edged axe, swung out of the wall and into the slit on the opposite side. The blade was hung just right so that it lightly slid across the floor as it crossed. The floor in here was metal, probably to make the sound more frightening. It was like the sharpening of knives, making a long sssshhhhiiiinng sound.

Seconds later, it came back. Cael took one step forward immediately after the blade passed in front of him.

Falcon had always loved this part in video games, and here was the real life version. He had to admit it was very intimidating in person. He let Julia follow after Cael, feeling better if he could see her―not that he would be able to do anything if her step faltered.

They each stepped past one blade at a time, waiting and then taking a step forward as soon as it passed. It was easy, but terrifying. With each step, a new blade released, adding one more sssshhhhiiiinng to the deadly melody. These traps were meant for fools who rushed in, or those who would turn and run in fear. They were neither.

When they finally made it through, they came into a long room. The stone-tiled floor narrowed slightly into a bridge. It was twelve feet across and more than fifty feet long, at least until it arced and disappeared from sight. The four feet on either side, between the walkway and ribbed stone walls, was a drop into the unknown with no rails to prevent a fall. It was impossible to tell how far the down it went, as thick mist filled the space, moving as if it were a river that the bridge crossed over.

They walked slowly, eyes darting back and forth, waiting for something to happen. Falcon had a bad feeling. Of course, mist always brought with it an ominous atmosphere, and it didn’t help that the blades continued to grate against the floor behind them.

They were to the top of the arc before they saw it. “The guardian,” Cael said quietly, nodding toward the other end of the bridge. Standing in front of another doorway stood a strange-looking giant. It was a man-shaped thing, about eleven feet tall, with a body that seemed entirely made out of junkyard scrap. It had a wide metal chest that looked like the hood of a car, a helmet-like head with no facial features but a thin horizontal slit for eyes; and it wore a heavy red amulet on a chain around its thick neck.

It came to life when Cael spoke, and didn’t hesitate to start stomping toward the group. Julia, back to her normal, non-spider fighting style, threw a fireball immediately. It burst as it collided with its chest. The impact made it stagger slightly, but then it continued forward. She sent an ice shard next, and it was the same―though the force of the spell pushed it back, it didn’t seem to do any damage.

Cael shot, but the arrow deflected off its armored chest. It continued forward slowly, its heavy footsteps filling the room with a loud BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.

“Try your shock spell when it gets close enough,” Falcon told her.

She looked back at him, her expression scared, but nodded.

He gripped his sword and took a deep breath. Cael, who was closest to the thing, was the first to hit; his sword struck its shoulder. The thing’s step faltered for a second before it swung at the ranger. Cael dodged as the other two moved up to join the melee.

Moments later, the sound of stone against stone and a slight click behind them caught Falcon’s attention. He had played too many games to not know that sound. Filled with icy dread, he turned to see the depressed tile under Julia’s foot.

It was a trap.

Julia turned toward the sound of something speeding through the air, and then an arrow hit her, embedding itself in her chest. The force of it spun her body and knocked her back, over the edge and into the mist. She was gone before she even had time to cry out.

Falcon ran to the edge of the bridge and threw himself onto his stomach. He reached a hand into the mist, waving it back and forth, trying to see past it.

He caught a glimpse of her. She was about five feet below him, lying as still as the stone beneath her.

"Jules?"

She didn’t stir, but he could see the slight rise and fall of her chest.

“Falcon!” Cael called.

He looked over just in time to see Cael knocked down by a powerful blow. Lifting himself off the floor, he ran and slashed at the guardian, but it didn’t seem to do much damage. Falcon joined Cael, and together they managed to beat the thing back a few steps.

“Can’t you use some magic?” Falcon asked, aiming a stab at the slit in the guardian’s head but missing.

“It is not magic,” Cael said, as if now were the time to remind him of that. “I can ask nature,” he added between blows.

“So why aren’t you?”

“Do you see any plants”―hit―“or animals”―dodge―“in here?”

“Air.”

Cael actually smiled. “Yes. Push it back over there.” He motioned to the south end of the hall.

They fought, and dodged, and took their share of blows. Eventually they backed the guardian into the next room, which was as wide as the hall behind them but only twenty feet long. In the middle was the usual pedestal with the purple pillow and the orb piece sitting on top.

“Now I can do this.” Cael held his two swords in his left hand, then sliced through the air with his right as if he were going to backhand the monster. He didn’t make contact, but the thing was thrown back by a sudden gust of wind, and landed hard on the ground several feet away.

“Why,” Falcon said, panting, “didn’t you do that before?”

“I was going to, but then it might have fallen over the edge,” he said, not breathing hard at all. “Once Julia fell, it was not worth taking the chance.”

The guardian returned to its feet, so Cael sent another gust of wind at it, throwing it down again.

“Good point,” Falcon said.

Cael slashed his hand through the air again. “This is only keeping it at bay for the time being.”

Falcon nodded. “Maybe we can get the orb, and then trap it in here somehow.”

Cael didn’t say anything, keeping up the wind attacks while they thought.

Falcon looked around, but the place was barren. Trapping it didn’t seem likely. They would probably be able to outrun it, but they needed to get back to Julia. He returned his attention to the guardian. It had to have a weakness. The way it looked and moved, it seemed almost like a robot, he thought. Maybe there was a way to deactivate it.

And then it dawned on him. “The amulet!”

Cael smiled. “Yes.” He slashed through the air one last time. “Go!” he said when it was once again on its back.

They both darted forward. It flailed its arms, and one connected with Falcon’s ankle, knocking him to the ground. Cael used its diverted attention to thrust his sword down into the amulet lying on the guardian’s chest. As soon as the blade tip broke the red stone, the monster stilled.

“Well, that was fun,” Cael said.

Falcon laughed dryly. “Tons.” Suddenly he sobered and jumped to his feet. “Can you heal?” he asked.

Cael nodded.

“Good. Come on.”

He ran back to where Julia had fallen, jumped down, and knelt beside her. She was unconscious and very pale, but still breathing. Thankfully the arrow had embedded itself near her shoulder and away from anything vital.

“We will have to push it through,” Cael said, echoing what Falcon was thinking. “I cannot heal her until it is out. Hold her steady.”

Falcon nodded, and hoped she would remain unconscious for this.