The girl's weight was shifting. She was about to fall. Yet, Will tensed up.
'I don't want this to happen. But if she falls I'll survive a bit longer.'
"Shadows!"
A shout ripped Will out of his thoughts. The girl's weight also shifted back so that she wasn't about to fall off.
Will regained a bit of strength as even more adrenalin was rushing through his veins. He looked around but his view was limited. The shout came from above but that did not mean that the attack would also come out of this direction.
"Take cover! They have range attacks."
This time the shout came from below. Will's head followed the shouting. While he looked above he had not seen any Shadows. He was about to look down when something shot right past him.
Will immediately got closer to the tree.
'Fuck, we are sitting on a silver platter here. I have to do something.'
Will looked down and tried to see where the enemy was. He tried to make out their position so he followed the path of the projectile that shot past him mere moments ago.
His gaze finally settled on a black spot. It was a completely black spiderlike entity. It had the body of a spider without eyes. It also had a tail like a scorpion.
The hatless guy was fighting the creature. He held onto the tree with only one hand and used his other hand to battle the tail with his sword. The creature wasn't sitting still during this process it attacked also with its many legs.
'What can I do? If I throw something it could take the spider down with it. The girl?'
An arrow shot past Will and hit the tail of the spider.
The man above Will finally joined the battle.
'Maybe the two of them are enough to deal with the spiders.'
"There is a second one to your left!"
The shout came from above.
The girl meanwhile clung to Will. She had abandoned her previous plan and wanted to live. Well, at least the plan Will thought she had. In fact, she clung to life more than ever cutting off Will's air supply.
"Girl... calm down. I can't breathe."
Will's hoarse voice didn't achieve anything.
'I'm going to lose consciousness in a couple of seconds.' He looked around feverishly. 'The man above me can't help me.' He was busy drawing another arrow. His foot was stuck in the bark, allowing him to stay at a 90-degree angle compared to the tree. Below him was the other Listener who was now fighting two spiders. He too wasn't holding on to the tree but he was not standing at a 90-degree angle. That was Will's escape.
'I am going crazy but that is my only way out of this.'
With his last strength in his body, Will let go of the tree and jumped towards the spiders.
To Will's surprise, the world did not slow down. It happened all too fast he was flying for only a second and then hit his target. Will's world started to spin but it did not turn dark.
His fall abruptly ended as he landed on the spider. He almost jumped down 10 meters. The acceleration and his jump added up to a force that killed the first spider. They were currently laying on the dead spider which was crushed between Will and a tree branch.
Will correctly guessed the position of this branch by interpreting the stance of the hat-less military guy. He was not holding onto the tree and his feet were not locked in the bark. Will concluded that because he was not standing horizontally like his partner. But he was still standing meaning that there had to be a tree branch, allowing him to stand.
The fight however was still going the other spider was still alive. The sudden change in the fight shortly confused the two Listeners. So the spider, that was left, exploited an opening created by Will and stung the hat-less military guy in the shoulder.
A short yelp escaped his mouth. Yet, the two Listeners were trained professionals and quickly regained their footing. The man grabbed the tail of the spider that was stuck in his shoulders.
It could not escape any longer. Two arrows finished the spider that was stuck in place. The fight ended.
Will, however, was still dizzy. His world stopped spinning but the feeling that he was about to vomit did not stop.
He slowly stood up again and faced the hat-less guy. He immediately turned around and started to puke.
In response, the military guy also turned around and started to vomit.
"What? You are a Listener and can't take it when someone vomits next to you."
The military did not look too well and slowly turned around. He was wight as snow.
"No, that can't be it."
He turned around again and tried to vomit again. His stomach was already empty and so only a grotesque sound came out of him.
"It is probably the spider. Venom or something like that." He tried to vomit again. He slowly turned around and smiled at Will.
"You are not looking too good either. You probably got a concussion from that jump of yours."
"Yeah. I don't feel so good."
"It's alright. Do you see my partner up there? Maybe you saw his hat with the little cross emblem on it. That means he has healing abilities."
Just as he said that his partner arrived next to them.
"Shit, Steven are you alright?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. The damn spider stung me and from what I know, she probably poisoned me."
"Alright, I'll quickly use my ability and then you should be able to fight again. I can't promise that this will cure all the damage you took. So, you know, be careful. I'll take the lead from now on."
"Thank you, Karl. I mean it. Can you also do me a favour?"
"Sure, anything for you Steve."
"Please heal that boy as well. He kind of saved me."
"What?"
At that moment the spider Will crushed moved a little bit. Both Listeners changed their stance to be ready for another attack. It never came. The little girl, all roughed up, crawled out of the mess that was left of the spider. She survived with bad bruises. Her little shirt was now soaked in blood.
"Are you alright?" Will asked.
The girl slowly nodded.
"My ability only works twice."
'Do I have to take the bullet again? I am gonna die here if he doesn't fix me up.'