I appreciated Moose’s speed. Whether he had a rider or not, he outpaced the Skymirror Carriage by a good amount. With someone as light as a Halfling on his back, he was basically unburdened and free to do as he pleased.

  Which was more than I could say for Winleshire.

  The tangled black web became thicker and more unruly as we got closer to the town. It was everywhere, and not even the road was safe. Every so often, we passed through a gap that had no strings whatsoever. As if the webs suddenly stopped existing for a few feet before reappearing. That was curious.

  Regardless, Moose simply put his head down and powered through the same as he had at the blockade. A Dread Weaver’s web actually wasn’t all that strong compared to, say, a Giant Spider of comparable size. Its main use was as a delivery system for its hallucinogenic and paralytic spores while being hard to see in the dark. If you got enough of them on you, then it was basically as bad as getting wrapped up.

  We had both drunk a magical anti-fungal to keep the spores our passage kicked up from affecting us. The cloud we left behind was vast, spreading out easily to catch anything in our wake as well as easily mark our trail.

  “How come you were able to get free so easily?” I asked as I kept a tight grip.

  “I was affected just like you,” Moose answered as he followed the gently curving road. “Only, I escaped when everyone else was looking at the first monument. Was it a group of nine orbs for you?”

  “Yes,” I confirmed with a frown. “The purple one was the most prominent.”

  The healer nodded. “That’s the very one. I immediately felt like something was wrong, if only because of how Cojisto reacted.”

  “Of course.”

  “He really does have a wisdom about him, Inspector.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I said, trying not to spit it out. “He’s very empathetic, and makes friends easily. The kid’s just not my cup of tea, though I’ve gotten used to him.”

  “I’m sure he’ll be very happy to hear that,” Moose replied smugly. “But, back to your question. I believe that I have too foreign a mind for the Dread Weaver, if that is what this creature is, to get a grasp on. The moment Cojisto said something strange, it was like cold water doused my mind and I woke up. I was on my side, partially crushing my friend’s leg, and the carriage had disappeared. When I called out, only Himia answered.”

  “I deeply regret not being able to warn you of this trap,” the Information Elemental said from the hilt of the crystalline sword. “It is… frustrating not being able to gather intelligence as I normally do, and by the time I realized something was wrong it was too late to say anything.”

  “We’ll just have to be more careful,” I stated, waving a hand dismissively. “You’ve been a great help, but CC clearly knows how to keep things from you. We won’t be caught like this again even if it means I need to go and scout for myself.”

  “Alternatively, Inspector,” Himia started, a slight hesitancy to her voice. “You can always use the HMIA the way it was intended to—”

  “Stop reminding me that I can fuse your casing to my spine,” I interrupted, scowling as I rolled my eyes. “You can talk about how it’ll help all you want, but I am not comfortable with it, nor will I ever be. We are doing fine enough while separated.”

  There was a pause. “Very well, Inspector. You know that the option exists, so I will stop bringing it up.”

  “Thank you,” I huffed before shaking my head.

  Putting any thought of unity out of my mind, I turned my attention back to our surroundings. The gates were already in sight thanks to Moose’s quick gait, so we were making good time. There was a slight scratching noise coming from behind us. It started off quiet, barely noticeable compared to the sound of healer’s hooves hitting the now brick road, but it had gotten louder.

  I turned to see that several of the black web tumbleweeds Moose had taken care of back where we woke up were following after us to the best of their ability. They weren’t nearly as fast, but we had somehow collected an entire line of them well past the curve we had just been on. The scene was eerily quiet for how many there are, which was nothing good for us.

  If we were to stop or even slow, they would quickly overtake and smother us.

  “We’ve got more of those tumbleweeds following us,” I announced with a click of my tongue. “Himia, can you at least tell us how many are back there?”

  “It is hard to tell as some bodies make up multiple tangles, but I am sensing at least two hundred of them and counting,” the Information Elemental answered.

  “I don’t like those odds, Inspector,” Moose remarked.

  “Neither do I,” I grumbled back before looking ahead.

  The brick wall around the gate was just as dilapidated as the hamlets we saw on the way to town. It was barely standing, and the iron doors were rusted and askew. They really seemed to be ready to fall at any moment. The only thing keeping them up was black webbing that had been wrapped around the structure so many times that it seemed to be turned into a spool.

  “If it’s webbing covered in Dread Weaver spores, then it should be flammable,” I reasoned.

  Moose turned his head so he could look back at me. “Do you really want to start a fire when we’re amongst the webbing, Inspector?”

  “I have a spell that can keep you safe from the heat,” I replied. “Thankfully, you’re tall and I should be safe from on top of your back. Can you jump that gate?”

  The healer returned his eyes forward, and I could mentally feel him sizing it up. “Yes.”

  “Good. I’ll light it on fire after you pass it,” I continued, looking back again. “I’m not sure how fast it’ll spread, but it’ll give all of those black web tumbleweeds something to run into.”

  “And if all it does is light them on fire while they continue to chase us?” Moose asked hesitantly.

  “Then it’s a good thing we know you’re faster than they are,” I answered seriously. He looked back at me again before shaking his head. I laid a hand on the back of his neck as I cast a spell in the divine tongue. “Resist Fire.”

  Mana flowed from my body to his as the magic took hold. He glowed red for a moment before the light was absorbed into his fur. It wasn’t an invincible spell, but it was still one I liked to keep ready for a reason.

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  Reaching into my Dimensional Pocket, I pulled out a vial of thin glass containing a bright orange liquid inside. The container was filled to the brim with no amount of space left inside. Regardless, I was careful with it. The motion of Moose running was already enough to agitate its contents and I didn’t want it going off prematurely.

  I had put a lot of faith in Moose’s claim that he could jump the gate. When they had been fastened to the wall in my dream, they appeared to have been at least twelve feet tall. They were crooked now, falling due to the ravages of time, but they weren’t much shorter than they were in their prime.

  But, faith was faith, and he said he could do it.

  Lowering his head a few inches more, the healer managed to eke out a little more speed from his legs as we came closer to the gate. His whole body tensed as it lowered, muscles preparing for what was to come, and we leapt into the air.

  I held on a little tighter.

  Moose sailed through the air, tucking his legs close to his body. The black webbing underneath us was thick even before we reached where the gate was all wrapped up, but his hooves didn’t get caught on any of it.

  At the apex of our jump, I tossed the bottle upwards and back to account for our forward momentum. It tumbled through the air before falling directly towards one of the iron gates. An explosion washed over us just as we landed, propelling even the heavy moose forward slightly faster.

  Alchemist’s Fire wasn’t usually so potent, but there were always ways to make it better. Usually such methods were dubious at best, but my position at the Department of Dungeons gave me access to a lot of folks I normally wouldn’t and I knew a guy. This was the kind of thing that I didn’t break out unless the circumstances were right.

  Despite the distance, the alchemical bomb singed my skin, hair, and jacket, but I didn’t catch on fire. A quick look over Moose showed that he was mostly fine. The spell I cast did its job admirably. There was one thing that I didn’t anticipate, however.

  “Moose, I believe it would be wise to continue moving at top speed,” Himia said. “The fire is catching up at a rapid pace.”

  We both turned to look, and my eyes went wide at the sight. The tangle of webs holding the gate together was basically a bonfire, but the fire was spreading much faster than I could have reasonably guessed it would. Every string that was attached or even close went up in flames, and it followed those new lines out to who knew where.

  Even if we would be fine from the heat, the smoke was a different story. It was black, thick, and sooty. Not only were the spores coating the webs apparently as flammable as one would expect oil to be, but the amount of smoke it put out was unreasonable. Our lungs would not like us breathing that in.

  “Run!” I yelled.

  “What do you think I’m doing!?” Moose retorted, his legs pumping harder than ever.

  “We shouldn’t have to go too much farther!” I shouted, my eyes scanning the environment.

  “Do you have evidence for that, Inspector?”

  “Trust me!”

  Moose grunted, but kept running. Not that there was much of a choice.

  Behind us, the fire was still giving chase. It was spreading throughout the town, and the smoke was already starting to blot out the sun behind us. The worst part was that it was not only flammable, but it continued to burn. They were less like oiled strings and more like logs for a campfire.

  Even though the web had a surprising amount of durability, I wasn’t too concerned about Winleshire burning down. The buildings, and Gnomish architecture in general, was made to last. They would still take damage, especially with how old they are, but it looked like this would have been the quickest way to remove the webs for anyone who might want to settle the land anyway.

  In order to do that, we would first need to kill the damn spider. Or spiders, plural, based on how many webs there were. To do that, we would need to outpace the fire. I grabbed my Hilt of Holding and cycled through the different blades. Once I got the one I wanted, I started climbing up Moose’s neck.

  A sight distracted me for a moment, if only because I only had a moment to see it before we raced from one end of the plaza to the other. The monument in our dream, the Nine Sacred Orbs of the Creator, was right there. It was covered in black webs, the fountain was dry, and the colors had peeled off, but there was no mistaking it.

  It also appeared as though the purple orb had been smashed so hard that most of the column it had been resting on was gone. I might have gotten the angle wrong on which one it had been, though. We were moving pretty fast.

  Just not fast enough. The webs Moose had collected and were trailing behind us like streamers caught on fire. Since these were moving at our speed, they easily caught up, burning against his chest and legs while spreading out into the strings ahead of us.

  I clambered onto Moose’s head, grabbing his antlers with my free hand, and thumbed the rune on my weapon. The rapier popped out, and I shoved the hilt in front of the healer’s face. “Take it!” I ordered before coughing as I took in a lungful of smoke.

  He stared at it for a moment before opening his mouth and clamping down on the hilt. His legs sped up by a noticeable margin, causing me to have to hold on tightly in order to keep from flying off. Moose grunted, but I couldn’t understand him with the sword in his mouth.

  The speed-enhancing rapier was a great boon, and I was once again glad that I had taken the time and money to get it fixed. With the boost, Moose was fast enough that he could outpace the fire even as he caused it, leaving the smoke safely behind us.

  And, thankfully, we weren’t too far from where I knew we would be safe. I pointed up ahead. “Once we make it to that street, make an immediate turn! Left or right, doesn’t matter!”

  Moose’s head raised a little bit as if he finally saw what I had been noticing since outside of Winleshire, and he nodded. I gripped on a little tighter in order to compensate for the movement.

  Thankfully, there weren't a lot of hazards in the way from here to there. All the debris left in the road was easily dodged, and the webs continued to give way against Moose’s bulk even as they lit on fire. I looked down to see that the flaming strings were coating him from his chest to his hooves. Hopefully, it burned off clean, but I’d help if it left some sticky residue afterwards.

  The street I had pointed out was completely devoid of black webs. He took a hard left, jumping to avoid a dilapidated wagon, and seemed hesitant to stop. There were no webs here in either direction as far as I could see. The only ones were those that we brought with us.

  “Okay, we’re good,” I said, patting Moose on the neck.

  He immediately started to slow down to a trot until he came to a complete stop. The healer was panting, and I had to wonder if it was harder running through all those webs than I thought. It probably was, now that I was considering it, but he had made it look easy.

  I dismounted and retrieved my sword from Moose’s mouth. It was covered in saliva, but that was a small price to pay. While I cleaned that off with a handkerchief from my Pocket, I turned to see the flames.

  They would have caught up with us if it weren’t for the firebreak. The Dread Weavers, as I now assumed there were several by volume alone, knew that their webs were incredibly flammable and had set up several areas where fire wouldn’t be able to make it across.

  Anyone starting from the outer edges would have to slowly burn their way through, repeating the process quite a few times while giving the spiders plenty of time to prepare. That is, if they were immune to the dream trap or whatever that was.

  “Inspector, you’re going to want to take a look at this,” Moose said, his voice low.

  Gripping my weapon tight, I turned around to see what he was talking about. I winced as I saw that the black web was receding here, becoming thinner as it got closer to what I assumed was the town center. If I hadn’t been so concerned with the fire, I probably would have noticed this first.

  “That… is a lot of bodies,” I remarked.

  Skeletons and desiccated corpses filled the streets and buildings for as far as I could see. Not just Gnomes as there were quite a few monstrous forms in there as well. No Trolls or Ogres, but many of the smaller races we had seen coming in. The Imps and Gremlins. Those with a small amount of magic that were known to become casters.

  My eyes focused as I took in the sights. There wasn’t a single piece of heavy armor amongst them, but I did see wands, rods, staffs, and the odd tattered remains of once-thick robes. Not all of it was old, either.

  I cleared my throat, the act turning into a full-blown coughing fit before Moose cleansed us with magic, and I nodded my thanks before asking the question that was foremost on my mind. “Himia, could this be why there was a lack of magical resistance when we passed the blockade?”

  “Yes, Inspector,” she answered when I trailed off. “This appears to be a spellcaster graveyard. It seems as though these spiders are a dreadfully ravenous bunch.”

  “Utterly fantastic.”