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OUR First stop wasthe cave of Ba’Halen’s spiders, where Seba had takenafter my Trial on the Path of Needles The quarter Mada and eed, eyes half-closed "Did it work?" I asked "Were you able -" He shushedhis eyes completely, he concentrated fiercely Moments later, Madaht grey spots on its back I recognized that spider - I’d seen it rey-spotted spider came several more of the mildly poisonous mountain spiders Others followed, and soon a thick strea around us Seba was directing theed predators
"I a to transfer control now," he told Mr Crepsley and me when all the spiders were in place "Larten, take the spiders to ht Darren, those to my left"
We nodded and faced the spiders Mr Crepsley was able to communicate without the use of aids, as Seba was, but I needed hts and trans it to my lips, I blew a few practice notes It ard, because of htened out - but I quickly learned to co Seba’s word
"Now," he said softly
Gently, I played and sent a repeated e to the spiders "Stay where you are," I told them "Hold, my beauties, hold"
The body of spiders swayed uncertainly when Seba stopped trans on mine and Mr Crepsley’s After a few confused seconds they clicked into sync with our brainwaves
"Excellent" Seba bea forward, careful not to squash any of the spiders "I will leave you with the point and wait for me If any start to drift away, send Madam Octa to rally them - they will obey her"
We let Seba exit, then turned toward each other "You need not play the flute continuously," Mr Crepsley advised "A fehistles and coh They will fall into place behind us and advance naturally Save the flute for stragglers or rebels"
"Should we lead or take the rear?" I asked, lowering my flute to wet my lips
"Lead," Mr Crepsley said "But keep an eye on them and be prepared to drop back if need be, ideally without interrupting the march of the others"
"I’ll try," I said, then faced forward and played
Off I went, Mr Crepsley besidebehind When we reached the larger tunnels, we moved farther apart to form two separate lines
It wasn’t as difficult to coave e away - but a quick intervention on the part of Madah to knock the her role and even started patrolling the ranks of her own accord, without proreat General if she’d been a vae cave we’d established as our base We arranged the spiders around us in a circle, then sat in the middle of the an are as ours when he arrived "Where’d you get them all?" I asked as they encircled those already in the cave
"The mountain is full of spiders," he said "One simply needs to knohere to look" He sat beside us and s said that, I have never in my life seen such a concentration in one place at one tih to unnerve even a hardened handler such as reed, then laughed "If they have such an effect on us, what sort of terror will they provoke in the unsuspecting vampaneze?"
"That is e shall shortly discover," Seba chuckled
While aited to be contacted by the Princes, Mr Crepsley took my flute froer worked and thus couldn’t alert the vampaneze The fact that it had been muted didn’t matter - the music itself made no difference to the spiders I only used the flute out of habit, after years of perfor with Mada, unco by Arrow soon appeared and advanced to the edge of the eight-legged sea He gazed uneasily around at the spiders and ca two heavy, sharp-tipped boos and had threewas his weapon of choice "We’re ready," he whispered "The vampaneze haven’t left their cave Our troops are in position The sun shines brightly outside It is tiot to our feet
"You knohat to do?" Mr Crepsley asked et close to thecare not to be seen You and Seba will guide your spiders forward, using the tiny cracks and holes in the walls and roof of the cave You’ll hold them there until I uards in the tunnel opening When you hear the coins!"
"Allow us a decent amount of time to position our spiders," Seba instructed me "They will be difficult toIt will be a slow, painstaking process"
"I’h?"
"That should be plenty," Seba said, and Mr Crepsley agreed