Page 107 of When Ashes Fall

He returned far faster than I’d anticipated with a small pot filled with the vials of oils I’d requested. As Zephyr set it on the ground, the spider freed itself from the hole it had created in my pants.

My leg burned, and my skin sizzled as I focused on making a cleansing potion for Gizzi. Knox had barred me from making any potions when the roses started dying, but I didn’t care about his orders right now.

Before it could get away, I snatched the spider up and put it in my other pocket.

“You’re hurting yourself!” Zephyr exclaimed.

“I’m fine. I’ll put a poultice on it later.”

“I’ll get another container for it,” Zephyr said and flew away again.

My hand trembled, and my skin sizzled as I poured the oils into the container before stirring them with my finger. When the healing properties of the oils caressed my flesh, I poured some of my energy into them to strengthen them.

When I finished, the soothing properties of the oils clung to my finger as I removed it from the pot. The spider broke free again when I set the mixture before Gizzi.

“Can you get some of this in your mouth? Don’t swallow it; just let it sit there so it can help heal the blisters.”

“I can try.”

The pained tone of his voice was more intolerable than my burning legs. Still, I scooped the spider off the ground as Gizzi stuck his head in the pot and opened his mouth.

“That’s good,” I said as I rubbed his fur. “Thank you for catching the spider, but you should have released it the second it started burning you.”

“I did it for you.”

“I know, and I love you for it, but you shouldn’t have done that to yourself.”

“You would have done it for me.”

“Oh, Gizzi.”

The spider struggled in my fingers. When it released more acid, my thumb sizzled and burned, but I didn’t let it go. Its wretched poison or acid or whatever it was could burn me to the bone, and I wouldn’t let it go.

When Zephyr returned with a metal container, I placed the spider inside. He slid the lid closed, blocking my view of the creature. Its legs ticked and scratched against the metal container as it sought to break free, but so far, the container was holding.

“Is this what’s killing the plants?” Zephyr asked.

“Yes, and I suspect there’s a lot more than one.”

“You said silkfangs were good.”

“This isn’t a silkfang. It’s a gorman.”

“What is a gorman?” Zephyr asked.

Gizzi gasped when he came up for air. He gripped the side of the bowl and blinked up at me before ducking his head again.

“Casters create gorman to do their bidding. They can look like anything, but they’re usually so small they mostly go unnoticed. They can contain the poison or acid of the spell used to create it, but most often, they’re used to spy on others.

“The gorman has a connection to the caster who creates it; they can relay what they hear in real time to their creator. So if the casters are listening, they know what’s going on and that we’ve discovered their secret.”

“Oh,” Zephyr breathed. “That’s creepy.”

And then, as my words sank in, it hit me like a hammer between the eyes. Unable to stop myself, I fell on my ass from where I was kneeling beside Gizzi. Sitting there, I stared at the metal container as I recalled the silkfangs in the tunnels of No Man’s Land.

No one would ever suspect the coveted spiders of being the enemy. They were good, and this was an environment conducive to their reproduction and growth… and so was No Man’s Land.

That’s why I hadn’t questioned their appearance in Wildwood, and they’d already made thousands of webs in the tunnels of No Man’s Land before I arrived. But if gorman mixed in with the silkfang already in the tunnels, I never would have noticed.