A Flick of the Tongue

"Braggs, calm down," I said.

The woods were thick, but the trail spread wide enough for a few people to walk side by side comfortably. Braggs took up about a few inches wide, so that didn't matter, and my skinny ass wasn't taking up much more.

My parents often joke that I could run through a rainstorm without getting wet. It was a jab at my thinness, and college had helped me put on a few pounds, but that was because I learned about resistance training.

It helped with the magic since using too much wore me out. I was still thin but used the word lean regarding my weight and patience. As much as I loved college and my friends, some classes tested my love for protecting humanity.

"I can't calm down, Damian. How big of a spider do you think did this?" He asked.

The question was more of a metaphor than anything, but he mentioned I was quietly denying it. I should've paid more attention to biology class. Like everyone on the planet, I was not too fond of spiders.

Most were harmless, but I carried this irrational fear of them. I'd stare down the barrel of a gun before I let a spider crawl on me. A shiver ran across my body at that thought.

"We don't know if it's a spider, and it could be many spiders," I said to sound reassuring to Braggs.

As soon as the words came out, I realized how badly they had worsened the situation. Another shiver ran down my spine. Fear was a contagious rash, with brief moments of relief when I didn't talk about spiders.

Other textures mingled with the fear that crippled my mind. Water drops fell from above, and leftovers from last night's rain hit my head. As I followed the webbing, the crinkling of dead leaves and scraping of my shoes on the dirt path echoed much louder than I preferred.

The forest's clean smell held the subtle decay scent in its otherwise vibrant atmosphere. This would be a bad day for anyone to take a mental health walk through nature, and an average person would see all the webbing and go back inside.

Leave, Damian. You know nothing good will come of this. My thoughts betrayed me as usual, but I needed to press on. There was more than my fear in these woods, and it watched me.

Thousands of eyes focused on me, sent a sliver of panic through my system, and it crept up from the back of my mind. They watched me from the darkness, leering. Their gaze sent a bit of panic through me, but I knew strange thoughts were always closer than I realized. I had to break that thought of eyes watching me get my mind back under my control.

It didn't take long for my imagination to run wild. I stopped and closed my eyes, hoping to get myself under control, but their teeth were vast and sharp in my mind. I could still visualize them, big enough to tear my head from my body.

Wrap me in its web, a cocoon that would soon become my coffin as it drained the fluids from my body, feasting on my soul slowly. Only madness would save me and not my magic.

A tug at my leg tore me from that visual. Braggs pointed at the side of the path, and it was the body of a desiccated dog, and Webbing covered it with puncture bites on its side.

The body was shrunken, like a deflated balloon, with hair in lumps along the web. The dried skin pulled back along its muzzle gave the animal an eternal and soundless snarl.

It smelled of musty old paper and death. The sweetness drifted to my nose, making me cringe slightly. It was so intense that I could taste the bitterness in my throat, like fine dust, after running sandpaper over the wood.

"We need to go back, Damian," Bragg's said.

"Yeah, you may be right. This could be too much for me to handle."

Whatever did this wasn't an ordinary spider or a typical tarantula. I've seen enough monster movies to know to turn back and run, but I froze in place. Paralyzed. Damian, get the fuck out of there!

At this moment, I became the stereotypical B-Movie victim. I waited for the monster to show up, but I heard many clicking sounds as the corpse of the dog moved slightly.

My eyes widened in fear as black spiders with bodies the size of my fist moved across the dog. Their mandibles clicked open and close as they all faced me one by one, their hairy legs quivering with anticipation of their next meal.

Braggs was in full panic mode. "Run, Damian!" he shouted, but I couldn't move. It seemed like time had stopped, and I was stuck in this nightmare.

One of them leaped at me, and I swiped it to the side with my wand. The rest swarmed toward me like a tide; all they wanted to do was pull me under and feast.

I stumbled backward, trying to escape them, but they kept coming closer. Finally, I tripped over a root and fell hard on my back. They jumped on top of me and started biting into my skin.

I screamed as loud as I could, calling out with my magic. Fire seared my body as my magic torched each one, turning them into dust. Brushing myself off, I staggered a bit as I realized their poison was still in my system.

"Braggs, I've been poisoned," I said, dropping to one knee.

"How many bit you?" He asked.

"There were at least a dozen, but I lost count. Got any Fae magic to get it out of me?"

"Some, but it won't be as strong as it needs to be. Maybe combine it with yours," Braggs said, leaping onto my knee. "After we're done, we go."

My breath came out like a rasp. "Yeah. We can get a pizza."

I closed his eyes and touched my wand. We combined our magic before, which got us some spectacular results, but never with healing. No matter how much magic we had at our disposal, the common cold was incurable. Hopefully, poison from supernatural arachnids is.

My wand glowed a reddish color as Braggs channeled his energy into it. After he let go, he opened his eyes and sighed.

"It's not much, but it may be enough to get back to the crime scene and hope the ambulance is still there," he said.

"For sure."

I pressed the wand against the bite and willed the poison out of me. After a few seconds, the strange liquid that resembled a tear on the man at the crime scene ran out.

I braced for the pain, but to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I had expected. The dizziness dissipated, and my breathing returned to normal.

I couldn't believe I was still alive. After a few minutes of rest, I stood up and felt strangely energized.

"Thanks, Braggs," I said, feeling awe. "That was amazing."

He nodded his head, looking almost proud of himself. "It's not every day you get to help someone escape an attack from supernatural arachnids," he said before grabbing my arm and helping me walk.

"Let's get out of here. I need to read up on what creatures these are, and I may even need to call my parents for help. They know people," I said.

"You ordering out for the pizza?" Braggs asked.

"Definitely."

I kicked a rock at the webbing, which vibrated, sending an airy sound. It was like an ethereal hum that faded softly in the air as it traveled down the path before growing silent as the distance stretched from me.

"I think that was a mistake," I said, stepping away from the web.

I didn't want any more small spiders, let alone alert their pissed-off mother, to come charging down the path toward me. Goosebumps rose on my skin as more than one shiver raced through my body.

"A big fucking mistake. Braggs, let's get out of here."

Thanks for reading this chapter of A Flick of the Tongue. I have more chapters and books coming up in the Steel City Wizard series. Please like and comment.

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