21. The Endless DarkAriane stopped by the entrance to the caves beneath Islagray. “Will we need the spiders in our hair again?”
A large, iron cage hung from a hook beside the door. Inside was a dark, rustling mass of leaves and cobwebs and the purple legs of the archive's spiders. The creatures knew the endless, twisting tunnels intimately. If Ariane or Hellen took one with them it would play out a gossamer thread they could follow back to the entrance if they got lost. A thread that wasn't really there: a shimmering line of magical light.
Hellen poked a finger through the bars to stroke one of the creatures. It stamped a striped leg as if waving at her.
“No,” she said. “Where we're going is beyond even their knowledge. They'd be as lost as we'll be.”
“Well, that sounds promising,” sai
