Paraworld Zero (39 page)

    “Wow!” Dr. Troodle exclaimed as the mouth of the cave sucked away the blue
fumes. “If we would have fed your people to the dragunos, I bet you really would be the last one
standing! Tell me, are you familiar with the boxing tournaments?”

    “
Father!
” Thornapple scolded.

    “Just wondering.”

    After entering the damp cave, Simon removed his gas mask and took a deep
breath of the foul air. Everyone else removed their masks and followed the young wizard down the
dark tunnel. The ancient runes on the walls, as well as the holographic light from Holo-649, gave
them just enough light to see.

    “Watch out for spiders,” Simon warned.

    “Oh, spiders don’t bother me,” Dr. Troodle boasted. “In fact, I love spiders,
especially with a nice vinaigrette sauce—
mmm
, and garlic! Of course, you can’t ever have enough—”

    He stopped in midsentence. They had come upon the giant spider that had
attacked Simon earlier. The enormous creature’s back was cracked open, and its tissues were
already starting to decay.

    “What in the world is this?” Mayor Gordon gasped. “I’ve never seen anything
like it.”

    “Well, I accidentally cast a growing spell on it,” Simon admitted. “But I
think it was around seven feet tall before the spell.”

    “
Crazy!
” Thornapple said. “What could have caused it to grow seven feet in the first
place?”

    “Some sort of mutation, I bet,” Mayor Gordon said, examining one of the legs.
“Or maybe it’s a new species we’ve never discovered before.”

    “Let’s not just stand around speculating,” Dr. Troodle said. “May I remind
you that we have a pack of dragunos on our tail?”

    The spider blocked most of the tunnel, so the party was forced to crawl over
it… or, more specifically,
through
it. Simon climbed up the hairy body and crawled over the muscular tissue of the
spider’s broken back. The ceiling pressed closely against him as he made his way through the
crack in the hard shell. Part of the exoskeleton peeled away in his hand, revealing hundreds of
maggots feasting on the spider’s tender insides.

    Tonya was next. She almost turned back when she got to the top of the spider
and saw the bloody carcass she was supposed to crawl through. Her hair changed to a muddy brown
color as her foot sank into the decaying flesh.

    “
Eewww!
” she cried. “This better not leave a stain.”

    With one hand holding up her hair and the other pulling herself forward, she
crawled over the sticky flesh. One by one, the rest of the party followed suit, until they were
all on the other side.

    “That was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever done,” Thorn declared. “I can’t
wait to go back!”

    Tonya rolled her eyes in response.

    Simon walked up to the ledge and looked down. A gust of hot wind filled his
nostrils and stung his eyes. He could see the faint glow of the hot lava below.

    “How are we going to get to the other side?” Thornapple moaned.

    “With this,” Simon answered, picking up the spider web that dangled over the
ledge—the same web that had saved his life earlier. The acidic thread reacted to the moisture in
his hand as he touched it; however, it had also been badly scorched, and most of the stickiness
was gone. “Come on, guys, help me pull it up.”

    Simon found that if he didn’t touch the web in one place too long, the pain
became more manageable. Soon, the thin strand lay in a bundle at his feet.

    “Harr, please tell me you have something in your pouch we could use to
grapple the other end of the pit?”

    The giant opened his leather sack and pulled out some fishing sinkers and a
very large hook.

    “My goodness,” Dr. Troodle exclaimed. “What type of fish do you normally try
to catch?”

    “Big fish.”

    “Very big,” Grog added with a smile.

    “That’s excellent,” Simon cheered. “Now tie it to the end of this
thread.”

    Harr quickly threaded the hook with the end of the singed spider web. After
completing the knot, he licked his burning fingers—then yelped because his tongue now stung from
the acid.

    “Dumb ox,” mumbled Dr. Troodle.

    “Holo, could we have a little more light?” asked Simon.

    “Certainly, Master Simon.” The little hologram flickered for a second and
then cast a holographic light across the chasm. “How’s that?”

    “Perfect! Now, Harr, do you think you could throw that hook to the other side
of the pit?”

    “Harr will try.”

    The skilled fisherman cast out the line with all his strength. Surprisingly,
on his first try, it sailed across the chasm and landed securely between two rocks that jutted up
next to each other.

    “Fantastic throw!” Mayor Gordon said.

    Harr rubbed his broken rib and smiled.

    “Ah, you were just lucky,” said Dr. Troodle. “So, Simon, you don’t really
expect us to burn our hands off climbing that spider web, do you? I don’t think I’m… I mean, I
don’t know if my son is strong enough to make it across.”

    Thornapple shot him a dirty look.

    “Well, since you’re the lightest adult here, I was hoping you could carry
Harr’s rope across.”

    “Me?” he stammered. “I don’t know about that. My hands are very sensitive.
I’m a surgeon, you know, not an acrobat.”

    “Here,” Harr said, pulling out some plastic gloves from his leather pouch.
The gloves were several sizes too big, but the little man tried them on anyway.

    “Thanks… Thanks a lot.”

    Harr fastened a loop around the spider web with his rope so that the doctor
wouldn’t have to carry all of his weight as he crossed.

    “Watch where you’re touching me, you big oaf,” Dr. Troodle whined as Harr
tied the rope around the little man’s waist and legs.

    “Don’t worry,” Simon said. “If the spider web breaks, we can still pull you
back up with the rope.”

    “Oh, that’s comforting.”

    “We’re going to give you a little push, okay?”

    The doctor started to protest, but Grog picked him up anyway and gave him a
gigantic shove. Harr held the line high above his head to make the little Pud slide even
farther.

    Yelling at the top of his lungs, Dr. Troodle slid all the way to the edge of
the opposite precipice. Harr promptly tied the spider web around a stalagmite jutting from the
floor.

    The doctor climbed onto the ledge. “Grog, you idiot” he yelled. “I could’ve
been killed!” He attempted to get out of the makeshift harness but had trouble untying the
knots.

    “Please hurry, Dr. Troodle,” Tonya urged nervously.

    Hissing sounds came from within the tunnel.

    “I’m going as fast as I can. If that stupid Pud wouldn’t have tied this so
tight, I’d be finished by now,” he yelled in frustration. “Harr, when we get out of here, I’m
going to send your whole family to the mines!”

    The doctor looked across the chasm just in time to see Harr snatch his son’s
spear and launch it across the pit. The tiny man screamed as the projectile whistled through the
air with tremendous force. Then, with happy relief, he watched as the spear passed over his
head.

    “Hah! You missed!”

    He turned around to see a huge black spider pinned to the wall behind him.
Its legs were still twitching.

    “You… you just saved my life.”

    “Tie rope,” was the giant’s stern response.

    Dr. Troodle wrapped the rope around a large rock and tied it with a surgical
knot. Then Harr pulled the rope tight and secured it to an icicle-shaped stalactite hanging from
the limestone ceiling.

    Fighting back her fear of heights, Tonya grabbed the rope above her waist and
stepped onto the thin web, but after only a few steps, she lost her footing and slipped. Like a
guitar string being plucked, the silky thread sprang up and down wildly. Still clinging to Harr’s
rope, she reached for the spider web with her foot.

    “Slide your feet, Butblacruze!”

    Tonya turned her head and scowled at the small boy. The elastic strand
stopped vibrating when she stepped back onto it. This time she turned to the side and slid her
feet.

    A great commotion sounded from behind. The dragunos had gotten past the vault
door! Simon looked back into the tunnel to see the dead spider rocking back and forth as the
giant lizards gorged on the rancid meat.

    “We have to go across,” Mayor Gordon yelled.

    “Will the rope hold?” Tonya yelled back.

    “We don’t have a choice!”

    Grog grabbed the rope and began to cross the chasm with surprisingly great
speed. Simon quickly put Holo-649 into his shirt pocket and followed the mayor. Thorn was next,
and then Little Har and his father.

    “Hurry,” Dr. Troodle shouted.

    Simon was about three-fourths of the way across when he felt something wet
and sticky fall on his cheek. He looked up to see a group of giant spiders dangling about twenty
feet above him. Saliva dropped from their vicious mouths.

    “Spiders!” he shouted.

    At that same moment, a throng of dragunos rushed into the cavern, but in
their haste, several ran off the edge of the cliff. Like a herd of lemmings, the dragunos
continued to push each other forward, forcing a dozen more lizards to fall down the pit and into
the hot lava.

    Suddenly, the spider web snapped and fell away. This time, Tonya screamed
when the thread disappeared beneath her feet, but, fortunately, neither she nor anyone else lost
his or her grip on the rope.

    “I can’t hold on!” Thornapple shrieked.

    The giant spiders were starting to descend.

    Without warning, the rope slid a few inches down the stalactite. Tonya
screamed even more loudly. Then the rope slipped again until it was dangerously close to coming
off entirely.

    “This just can’t get any worse,” yelled Mayor Gordon in despair.

    Just then, a group of savage-looking red dragunos appeared at the
ledge.

    “Master Simon,” Holo said quickly from within Simon’s pocket, “did I fail to
mention about the red dragunos?”

    “Yes, what about them?”

    The red dragunos opened their mouths and took a deep breath.

    “They breathe fire.”

Chapter 25
    

    

    “
Ahhhh!
” screamed Thornapple as the red lizards sprayed a barrage of fire from their
mouths.

    The first stream hit the spiders above, but the second one headed right
towards the party. Before the flame made contact, the rope slipped off the stalactite, and the
group swung towards the other side of the cliff. Just as they struck the wall, Harr extended his
legs and absorbed most of the blow, but upon impact, Thornapple lost his grip and fell. With
quick reflexes, Little Har shot out his hand and grabbed the small boy in midair.

    “Hold on,” Har said slowly as he pulled Thornapple onto his back.

    “That was a close one. You saved me!”

    “Go!” Grog urged Tonya to climb.

    She peered down at the hot lava and clung desperately to the rope. “I can’t,”
she cried. “I’m not strong enough.”

    “It okay,” Grog said, pulling himself up the rope. He climbed past Tonya
without even using his legs and got onto the ledge above. “I help.”

    The giant man grabbed the rope and started to pull the entire party upwards.
His enormous muscles flexed as he heaved, and beads of sweat ran down his face. Dr. Troodle just
stood there and watched the amazing feat in awe.

    Suddenly, a spider web wrapped around the giant’s bare arm. He looked up just
in time to see another thread strike his shoulder. The acidic web steamed as it burned into his
flesh.

    Grog grabbed the thin strand on his shoulder and gave it a good snap, which
in turn threw the web’s owner into the neighboring spiders. He continued to make the spiders
collide into each other by whipping the thread around and around.

    “Little man,” he barked at Dr. Troodle, “get knife!”

    Dr. Troodle grabbed the dagger from Grog’s belt and jumped on the man’s back.
“I promise I’ll never eat another one of you again,” he vowed while cutting vigorously at the
white thread attached to the giant’s shoulder.

    When the doctor had finally severed the web, Grog gave the remaining strand a
huge tug, which caused the silky thread to release itself from the ceiling. The unsuspecting
arachnid fell down the cliff but stopped before hitting the lake, while the rest of the spiders
scattered.