The pair ventured deep into the city, long past where Rowan felt safe being. He hadn't even noticed they'd reached the centre of the town until Gid pointed out that they had reached a clearing of sorts.
The silk hadn't grown any sparser in the clearing, in fact, it felt as though it had only grown denser the further they ventured into town. Rowan cleared a small circle around them as he attempted to see what was in the area, but found that he couldn't see any buildings through the silk.
"We should leave. We should leave now."
Rowan immediately turned to follow the path that had led them in, but made it no further than a few steps before he realised he couldn't see the path. Sure, they hadn't been going exactly straight, but at no point should he have gotten lost in the tunnel he had carved.
He cursed himself as he thought the words, but it almost felt as though the tunnel had been sealed up behind them. He stopped dead in his tracks, as he searched for any sign of the path they had come, but he couldn't see it.
"Shit! Damnit."
Rowan was growing more and more frantic as he ran around the bubble that he and Gid were stuck inside. Gid, on the other hand, was stood with a blank look on his face, his jaw dropped slightly open.
Ignoring him, Rowan began cutting through the silk, moving forward. If they were in the centre, any direction should take them away from the town. He no longer planned on sticking around for Gid's teammates, there was obviously something in here with them, and they had to leave now if they wanted to avoid it.
Rowan had made it a few metres before he checked over his shoulder, not having heard Gid move behind him. Sure enough, he was still in the bubble, and hadn't moved from his spot, and was panicking, looking around himself with twitchy movements.
"We have to go, now, Gid. I know you want to save your teammates, but we need to save ourselves first. When we get back to Cork, we can call a search party, but for now we have to flee. We can't fight whatever this is."
Gid's eyes snapped to Rowan's as he started gesturing wildly at his back, before he finally managed to speak.
"I-I can't move, I'm stuck or something to these stupid silk strands!"
'What? Is he tangled in them or something? Now, of all times!?'
Rowan stepped forward with his sword to cut away whatever it was Gid had gotten caught on, but instead saw the silk strands actually stuck to his back, and even as he cut them away from the wall, they still clung to Gid's back.
Looking down at his sword, Rowan felt a sinking dread as he realised it had a growing collection of silk attached to it. Or rather, now that it was sticky, a growing collection of web. He didn't say another word, and instead returned to where he had been cutting a path, but found that it had already been sealed up.
Whatever it was that was doing this, it was fast and quiet. Although, if it was able to move that quickly, it must not have been particularly strong, otherwise Rowan and Gid would have long died. It seemed to prioritise capturing them rather than killing them, and while that meant they still had a chance, Rowan imagined Leah, and how she had hosted those vines, and wondered if he would end up the same for the beast. Endlessly regenerating, endlessly devoured.
"Take this, you'll need it now."
Rowan passed Gid his dagger, and turned around, placing his back to Gid. If they were going to survive, both of them would need to be fighting. There was no other way, it seemed. They waited in silence, staring into the dark grey abyss as they waited for the beast to make its move. It had obviously found them, so there was no point in trying to escape when it could block their movements so easily.
Suddenly, a dark shape lunged down from above, and Rowan had to roll to the side to dodge as it descended through the web, uninhibited. Gid was slower to react, and a glistening fang caught him in the shoulder as he twisted away.
Immediately, his voice rang out in a scream, as he was hoisted up and away by the enormous monster. Within seconds, his screaming had stopped, and Rowan could only wait as the seconds passed without the beast reappearing.
'Did it only want Gid? Was it just after a damn snack? Where did it go!?'
He was too afraid to move, frozen in place with fear. He luckily still had the presence of mind to keep a watchful eye for moving shadows, but he couldn't convince his legs to move, or his mind to think of anything besides the fang embedded in Gid's shoulder.
After minutes of waiting, the beast returned, and Rowan faintly saw the silk and space around him darken, as the beast positioned itself overhead. Fighting against the part of him that was frozen in place, he decided to wait.
He would let it think it was safe, and then try to catch it unawares as it tried to bite him. But waiting for that moment was excruciating. Knowing how slim his chance of survival was, he found it difficult to keep his resolve steady, only faintly held firm by the idea that others were in danger, not just him.
'Gid's counting on me... C'mon beast. Fucking attack already!'
As if it heard his mental provocation, it lunged down, the silk parting as though it wasn't even there. Bracing, Rowan spun on his heel and thrust his sword up, feeling it crunch into where the beast's neck likely was.
Yet it continued unabated, its fangs raised, closing in on Rowan's shoulder. The piercing pain shot through his system, and he let out a pained shout as the fang hoisted his body through the silk immediately. Cursing, he fought to swing his sword at the spider, but found that it was firmly stuck in the beast's throat.
Unable to resist, he felt the fang in his shoulder let out a surge of venom, and passed out from the blinding pain.