They came to another archway. While she threw her torch through it and got down
to look for another thread, Smhee held off the spiders.
‘There doesn’t seem to be any,’ she said.
‘Seem isn’t good enough,’ he said. ‘Hah, back, you creatures of evil! Look
closely! Can you see any thin lines in the floor itself? Minute cracks?’
After a few seconds, she said, ‘Yes. They form a square.’
‘A trapdoor to drop us into a pit,’ he said. ‘You jump past it. And let’s hope
there isn’t another trap just beyond it.’
She said that she’d need a little run to clear the line. He charged the spiders,
waving his torch furiously, and they backed away. When she called to him that
she was safe, he turned and ran and leaped. A hairy, many-legged thing dashed
through the entrance after him. Masha stepped up to the line and thrust her
brand at it. It stopped. Behind it were masses that moved, shadows of solidity.
Smhee leaped towards the foremost one and jammed the burning red of his brand
into the head. The stink of charred flesh assailed their nostrils. It ran
backwards but was stopped by those behind it. Then they retreated, and the
thing, its eyes burned out, began running around and around, finally
disappearing into the darkness. The others were now just beyond the doorway in
the other cave. Smhee threw his torch into it.
‘That’ll keep them from coming through!’ he said, panting. ‘I should have
brought some extra torches, but even the greatest mind sometimes slips. Notice
how the weight of those spiders didn’t make the trapdoor drop? It must have a