Spiders on a Train

The Whistle Mountains were a major source for amber mining. The trees themselves continued to seep out sap, which created all the amber.

The mountains became a popular tourist spot due to the wide range of glistening trees with golden sap. Lots of elevated walkways and lookout points were built on the sides. And of course, tourists came for the reason why the mountains got their name.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH. Kah, kah!”

Marigold screamed from the top of her lungs until she coughed.

“I don’t hear anything, Marigold,” Kitezh said, as if she knew she was going to be disappointed by the false advertisement.

“We’re probably at the wrong angle. I’ll be trying again once we reach the top.”

“On second thought, I want to stay down here,” said Jadwiga.

“Hey! It’s an upward battle, remember? If we want to stop the phenomenon, who is probably your ex-commander, we need to be standing as queens of this world!” Kitezh motivated.

Kitezh began to run ahead along the stone tile path, followed by Marigold and Jadwiga out of curiosity.

They saw a wooden building with a glass dome on top. Protruding out of the building was a steep ramp with rails on it. At the end of the ramp was a pitch black tunnel through one of the mountains.

“Here it is, the funicular! Let’s go!” shouted Marigold.

“Why do you keep screaming? Do you want the spiders to hear you and come down to lay eggs inside you?”

Marigold spun around and stopped in front of Jadwiga.

“According to what I learned, they have no sense of hearing. So, I have no fear of being filled up by spider eggs right now!” Marigold explained with a cute smile.

“And the phenomenon? As far as I know, especially Kitezh, he has functioning ears,” said Jadwiga.

“I don’t know about you, but unless you want to carry the two of us to the top of your mountain with your grappling hook thing, the funicular is the way up to the top. It doesn’t matter how much he hears us. If we’re higher, we’ve got the advantage,” reassured Kitezh.

“Once we’re up there, my magic will blast them all the way down,” Marigold followed up.

“You two sound like you’re pumped for this. Were you having some bunkbed talk about this last night?” Jadwiga asked, even more perplexed by their attitudes, particularly Kitezh’s.

“Trust us. We’ll be able to handle the spiders and the phenomenon, too!” said Kitezh, as she grabbed Jadwiga’s hand to drag her to the station.

TWEEEEEET!

A man in a blue constable outfit suddenly came out of the station, blowing a whistle.

“No one is allowed to ride the funicular. There is a major threat from the demon lord attacking the mountains,” said the guard.

“Actually, we are the ones who took the quest to stop the demon lord’s threats at the mountains. Please let us through now,” demanded Kitezh.

Kitezh handed the quest papers to the guard. His face frowned, and looked up at the party of three.

“Wait, why are you taking the funicular then? Don’t you realize how dangerous it is going through that tunnel with those monsters? They’ll be all over your car! Every member of the guild should know how absolutely insane that would be!” the guard reprimanded.

“Alright, I don’t feel like arguing.”

Kitezh grabbed Marigold and Jadwiga. All three of their colors melted away without warning. She then pulled them by their hands into the funicular car. Kitezh pulled a lever, and took a seat in the funicular. The car started to slowly ascend.

“Hey, what the hell just happened. Where are you girls? Who started the funicular?!” the guard panicked.

He tried to go after the car, but just stood his ground, as there was too much for him to process.

Inside the funicular car had a wooden staircase going parallel to the car, as it was steeply sloped with the track it was going up. There were wooden seats with cushions on both sides. Oil lamps were hanging from the ceiling.

Kitezh removed the invisibility on the party and sat on one side.

“Kitezh, there could be spider monsters in that tunnel. Are we going to be safe inside here? That guard had a point, you know? This idea is lunacy!” Jadwiga childishly complained.

“Oh, no. This funicular is not safe at all,” Kitezh responded casually.

“NOT SAFE?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU-“

“Yeah, Marigold and I lied.”

“WAIT, MARIGOLD IS IN ON THIS TOO?!”

“It was actually Marigold’s idea, and I thought it was a cool idea. I came up with the idea of lying because I knew you’d hate it.”

“I’ve been learning some new skills, and this was the perfect opportunity to do them. Oh, I hope it works. Kitezh herself approved it!” said Marigold, as she gripped her wand.

“What happened to teamwork?!” whined Jadwiga.

“Don’t forget we’re still both on neutral ground. I’m helping you, but don’t want you to sabotage it. We will demonstrate first of how capable we are with this.” Replied Kitezh.

GRRRRRRRN!

The funicular car slowed down, as the wheels strained against the rails. Then funicular suddenly jerked forward, which made the girls fling forward against the seat in front.

“The funicular works by having the car on top have water poured into a chamber underneath. It acts as the counterweight to the car we’re in. Heavy car goes down, light car goes up,” explained Kitezh.

“Though, if there were something like say, spider webs blocking the path, it would impede the car on top, making us go slower like right now.” Kitezh continued.

“If the cars are running into the web, isn’t that just going to attract the spiders down here? They’re going after anything that destroys their traps. I am a master of traps, so I know this,” said Jadwiga.

“Exactly. The spiders will follow the funicular coming down the track. But look up ahead!”

Marigold pointed to the tunnel they were being pulled into. Darkness engulfed the funicular car. The lights from the oil lamps lit up the car like it was a jack-o-lantern.

“Normally, I would use invisibility here, but the darkness will already shield us,” said Kitezh, as she turned the light off one of the oil lamps.

Kitezh and Marigold turned all the lamps off. Turning it into a pitch black vehicle ascending through a tunnel.

“Jadwiga, make sure to watch your step. Do not get into Marigold’s way for this.” Kitezh said, as she was slapping away through the air, until she smothered her hand against Jadwiga’s face.

“I am sitting down! But are we just going up to the top in silence? If those spiders are coming down, they’re going to attack the people below!”

SMACK!

Marigold also started swatting the air until she slapped Jadwiga’s face.

“This last part is going to be important. Do you hear that?” asked Marigold.

They could only hear the rumbling of the funicular as it ascended, but eventually another sound began to grow louder.

“The other funicular is coming about now. There’s going to be giant spiders crawling on it, and probably encasing it with web like a poor, giant caterpillar. But if you remember from earlier, spiders cannot hear a thing. They have no idea we’re coming up,” Marigold explained, as she kept irritatingly rubbing her hand on Jadwiga’s face.

The sound of the descending funicular grew louder, but also the sounds of hissing, like someone was spraying something. The clattering of metal echoed in the tunnel. Yet, no one could see a single thing.

“There is one thing a spider will notice,” Marigold said as she readied her other hand.

“It’s a big flash bang!”

BOOM!

A bright white flash of light exploded in the ascending funicular. It was the ultimate attack against the pure darkness

“HIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” screamed a high-pitched, monstrous voice.

The light began to dim down, revealing the source to be Marigold’s wand. She used a spell to create an extremely bright light source.

Marigold’s hand was actually covering up Jadwiga’s eyes. Kitezh was squinting the whole time.

As the three uncovered their eyes, and looked outside to see what they have startled.

“OH MY GOD!” Marigold shrieked in absolute fear.

Large, brown spiders half the size of the funicular were violently shaking around another funicular car. They were all having a seizure from the sudden blast of light on their sensitive eyes.

Lots of white, glistening web covered the descending funicular car. Additionally, there were trails of web woven on the walls and ceiling of the tunnel.

“A-All of them are down n-now!” Marigold stuttered, and she nervously opened one of the windows of the funicular.

Marigold’s wand, which was still emitting light, began to glow pale blue.

“N-Now… DIE DIE DIE!”

Marigold shut her eyes.

ZAP!

“HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII”

BOOM!

Marigold shot a blast of electricity at the descending funicular covered in spiders. The electricity surged through all the webs covering the train, as well as the ones covering the tunnel walls. Finally, the electricity coursed through all the spiders, making them spaz out their limbs, and explode into guts and skeletons.

“Woohoo! Mission is now complete! I did it!” Marigold cheered to herself as she pranced around the funicular.

THUMP!

“Ow!”

Then she forgot there was no light source, and tripped on the stairs of the funicular.

“By my calculations, that should’ve killed all the demon lord’s spiders. They all swarmed into this tunnel in an attempt to kill us, or reach for the threat below. They tried to win an uphill battle. Ironically, we did it by going uphill ourselves,” Kitezh cheekily surmised.

“That could not have been all of them! Plus, what about that phenomenon?!” panicked Jadwiga.

Marigold turned on the oil lamps and peered out the windows. She could see a bunch of scrunched-up giant brown spider bits all over the walls and tracks.

“That’s a lot of spiders, though. And I’m ready to kill more any chance I see one squirm!” Marigold said maliciously.

The funicular was glowing again. However, something else began to glow brighter outside, which caught everyone’s attention. Jadwiga descended the stairs inside the funicular car.

“Marigold, I see the other funicular continuing to go down. Though I see something shining inside of it. It’s almost like-“

BANG!

A sudden burst of flames blew out of the descending funicular. The fire did not stop there. They could see the tunnel itself glow red, as the fires spread to the spider bodies and webs.

“Oh shit, the tunnel is on fire!” cried Jadwiga.

“K-Kitezh, we’re almost to the top, right? So, it won’t matter… right?!” asked as panicked Marigold, as she tugged on Kitezh’s clothes.

“Burning alive isn’t the issue, Marigold. The real issue that is happening is the smoke.”

The red glow of the tunnel began to darken. Black smoke began to fog up the windows.

SLAM!

Kitezh shut the window that Marigold had left open before more could billow into the cabin. However, as more of it clouded up the outside, it began to slowly creep into the car.

“Kah! Shit, you’re right! I-I don’t know what h-happened down there. Kah! B-but something is incinerating things down there. We’re g-going to suffocate from the fiery smoke!” gasped Kitezh.