The Shapeshifter

"Why did you make it sound like that?"

"Like what?", Alex responded.

"Yeah. Perhaps you're afraid with spiders?", another one of the group also chimed in.

"What? Me? No, of course not!"

The way in which Alex denied it made the group laugh at him, since being afraid of spiders isn't really common around these parts of Sherwood.

They have basically seen all kinds of insects there is, much less their new and gigantic size; much less tiny spiders.

After having a good laugh, Alex suddenly asked, "So, what do we do now?".

They descended into silence. Then one by one, everyone looked at Reynard who then fell into contemplation.

After a minute or so of deliberation, Reynard asked Alex for his opinion.

"What do you think we should do?"

"Well, we could thin out the horde of spiders in a safe distance and just maybe provoke their ire and then we'll be back into running once more.

"Or we could move behind us where there are no spiders, but obviously has something that even the spiders are afraid of. I'm okay with both choices, since we can only survive this by helping each other."

"Since the spiders are numerous and probably dangerous, we shall head deeper in this forest to find salvation.", Reynard replied.

Reynard instructed everyone to have a quick rest and they should move. After all, no one knows when the insects would turn crazy and start running towards them.

As they were resting, they kept a good eye on the spiders at the vicinity. When there weren't any anomalies, they were able to rest and recuperate in a much better state.

It didn't take them long and finally they would start moving as Reynard stood up and ushered the group to follow him.

The teens stood up begrudgingly and followed Reynard, as they slowly trekked the forest.

The sun was still unable to penetrate the foliage of tree leaves. The slightly dark and foggy forest was still the current setting.

However, this time there are no chirping birds and only the crunching footsteps of the group could heard.

As the leader of the group, Reynard thought that the spider's numbers couldn't be that big and won't be able to cover this whole part of the forest. Therefore he decided to just circ.u.mvent along the area.

Although they have to enter a bit deeper into the forest, it was still the safest route that they could take at the moment.

A long time of walking and silence has made the group mentally tired. When someone finally spoke. Everyone stood silently to the side and listened.

"I can see the spiders and they are blocking the way.", Reynard said gravely.

"What?!"

The group was shocked. They were already exhausted and cannot fight anymore. They were just teens with no formal training. They can't possibly have that much stamina as the Knights do.

"It seems to me that they are intentionally blocking the place." Alex chimed in.

"Yeah, it seems like they are forcing us back deeper into the forest.", Reynard replied. "I know a cave nearby. It's pretty safe there near its entrance. Follow me.", he added.

The teens who didn't have the mental resilience to cope up with their current situation were still standing rooted on the ground. It wasn't until Reynard shook them off that they snapped back from their almost collapsing thoughts.

As they were walking back, none of them noticed that the spiders were receding and slowly melding to the trees.

They then arrived at the entrance of the cave.

The cave's mouth wasn't particularly big. It was just enough to fit at least a person in it, so they might have to enter one by one.

"I should enter first and then you guys could follow me after.", Reynard said.

After all, Reynard is the strongest in the group and he was the one who suggested they entered the cave.

Reynard didn't dilly-dallied and quickly entered the darkness depths of the cave.

After a few seconds, Reynard's voice sounded out and told them to enter.

The teens immediately entered one by one and Alex was the last to go in.

When he entered the cave, there was a clear change in the smell of the surroundings. Although it was quite faint, the scent has become more earthy and moldy like.

His eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness of the cave.

There he saw the group huddled together leaning on the rough walls of the cave. While Reynard was looking deep into the darkness of the cave.

When Reynard saw Alex looking over, he flashed a smile and said, "Is this your first time inside one?"

"Yeah. I've been mostly inside our village and I was just recently in the desert. Now here I am, in a cave. Quite fun actually, to go out every once in a while."

When the two of them were talking, the teens were also having conversations. It was like they just passed a huge ordeal and was feeling quite safe. Their voices grew as they accustomed to the surroundings.

"Ah. It's quite dark here. Should we light up a torch or something?", one of them said.

"No one should light a fire and lower your voices! I bet we're not the only one's in here."

Reynard was quick to stop the teens from making foolish mistakes. He was a veteran who has traversed the forest the most amongst their tribe. So he knows the dos and don'ts in this forest.

It was at this moment that a sound entered his ears.

'Scratch! Scratch!'

"Quiet!"

The group didn't speak as they felt that they were being scolded and Reynard was mad at them. Then the sound became clearer as the noise made by the teens subsided.

'Scratch! Scratch!'

The noise from the depths of the cave was being amplified. All of them could hear that the scratching was getting near.

"It's getting closer! Be prepared!", Reynard said.