"We've lit you a path back Master Perseus," the captain leaned towards, the spider gunk covered, Perseus, "the number of flares you lot were firing up had us worried. We figured either you wanted a fancy firework show or you were in the shit…" he broke off at the sight of the giant spiders. 

"What on Zeus is that monstrosity, what beastly evil is this?" He cried incredulously. "Shit, if we knew them giant spiders were out here, I don't think I would have convinced my crews to touch a foot on land, don't let 'em see it." 

Perseus approached and greeted him with a warm shake of hands. 

"Captain, are we glad to see you,"

"Glad maybe, but we wants us paying for this, we figured we can't have you dying and not getting us paid," he grimaced and started their way back down the path, which his sailors were busily hacking clear of undergrowth with long blades. 

The Sergeant immediately started to withdraw his troops under the cover of fire torches.

The giant spiders pursued them for some time, keeping a distance from the torchlight, but they gave up chase immediately when the woodland thinned out. 

The roars of relief as they trod on the sand was palpable. 

They set up a temporary defence on the beach, the sea lapped behind them. Moonlight danced across the waves. The sail ships, masts dropped, were silhouetted in the distance against the horizon of the moonlight night.  

"Back to the boats, I say," the captain encouraged. "Shall we call this madness off Master Perseus? We can find you a nice lass elsewhere, somewhere without this kind of business, what say you, Sir?" 

"We lost very good men tonight, too many Sir," the Sergeant grimaced as he looked between them. "I haven't done no headcount yet, but not even mentioning the wounded I reckon we've lost at least a fifth of my men."

Perseus visibly paled in the moonlight. 

"We must go on chaps, for glory, we must kill this Medusa. The witch is undoubtedly behind this abhorrent evil here. We cannot let it stand," Perseus spoke boldly.

"Then let's go back to the mainland and assemble a proper army Sir, I'll help you recruit it," the Sergeant responded with a glower.

"With what money?" Perseus glowered. "This expedition is all my money, let's return to the boats and make a new plan. There was a desert on the other side of the island. Let's try that approach tomorrow, I doubt the spiders will be out in the open in daylight. Perhaps we can find another route to Medusa's cave."

The Sergeant grimaced but nodded. 

"Right lads, we're loading onto the boats, salted meat for all tonight," there was a tired cheer from the troop and they got straight to work. 

*

Azrael panted, leaning against the stone outcropping of the cave entrance. 

He looked back over his shoulder; down the very steep scree incline of the rocky hill he had climbed. 

The cave entrance was embedded and carved through the cliff rockface. He looked across the vista of the treetop canopy, he could see the deep, dark and dense woodland that he had lightly sprinted through. 

He could see the glowing torches of the troop following their withdrawal back towards the beach, the path of torches was starting to extinguish itself through the woodland back to the beach. 

He knew that he was alone up here now. He regained his breath. 

He had split up from Lander several marks after leaving the troop, they had decided it would be faster to reconnoitre ahead separately. 

Azrael had not come into contact with anything, he had heard the oddest sounds in the wood though, he had heard scrabbling and shuffling along the ground and the trees; but he had left it all behind as soon as he reached the rocky climb of the hill.

He had heard Lander's scream and then the sounds of battle behind him, but by then he had been too deep into the woodland already to turn back.

He knew not what had caused the kerfuffle; but he knew that the troop had come under some strain when the flagship catapult had been called in to provide artillery support. That was some expensive payload they had launched. They didn’t call on that kind of firepower lightly.

The withdrawal of the troop to the beach was also unexpected, he had never witnessed their troop having to retreat from a fight before; without a severe reason. They were a battle-hardened bunch, as hardened as mercenaries came. A worthy foe was in that woodland, perhaps their adversary had set an ambush and the troop was regrouping. 

However, he knew that his mission was to locate the cave, Medusa's cave.  

He looked at the wall entrance and saw intricate patterns carved into the walls. 

It looked like he had come to the right place, it appears that humans or something sentient dwelled here; or had dwelled here.

He glared inside but could only see darkness ahead of him. He could feel warm air drifting out from the cave entrance.

He reached for his bow and quickly lit a flare arrow. 

He drew his bow and fired the flare into the air above him. 

*

An hour or two into the work of loading onto the boats one of their scouts spotted a fire arrow arcing through the air, a flare, right far up the hill in the distance, right up by the caves that were their ultimate destination. 

"Look," Perseus pointed in surprise. "Is it possible that is one of ours?"

"Very possible," the Sergeant looked up in amazement, "I'd be willing to bet my entire expedition pay on that flare being the work of Azrael, our finest scout," they made eye contact. 

"That must mean…"

"It's possible to get up to them caves without being munched right up by a herd of them giant spiders," the Sergeant finished Perseus' thought process. He nodded. 

"Yes, but perhaps it's easier for one light footed man, than a whole troop of soldiers tramping through the wood," Perseus stated. 

"There weren't no tramping goin’ on boy, it's the sheer size of our troop, my men be the finest…" 

"I know, but my point being that if we go much more quietly, then we stand a chance… perhaps I should just go alone…" Perseus started forwards with a look that the Sergeant knew far too well. 

"Strike that insane brave look off your young face Sir, I know you be my boss on this expedition, you're the employer sir, but I ain't having you trampling through the woodland on ye own," he grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him back and shook him slightly. "Get that thought outta ye head Sir," the Sergeant had never called him Sir before, the best he had got was Master or Laddie. Had he earned a glimmer of respect from the Sergeant at arms? 

"But I can't risk the deaths of all of these men, whether I'm paying or not. I didn't know that there would be these giant creatures here. The most I thought would be here would be a fire vagabonds, some pirate encampment, squatters… you know, the like," 

"None of us knew that," the Sergeant looked at him for an instant as an equal. "I suspect that the benevolent king who sent you on this fool's errand is the only one who knew how treacherous it was. Is there a chance mayhap that he doesn't want you to succeed on this foolish endeavour?"

Perseus tore his eyes away from the hill and made eye contact with the Sergeant. He nodded lightly. The Sergeant didn’t mince his words.

"It's possible… yes, but what about Azrael?"

"He's a strong lad, as you've just witnessed, but I can't risk marching me whole troop through that cursed woodland again tonight. Not just for one man, if it were me up there, I'd expect the same…" his eyes grew distant for a moment, perhaps an old memory plagued him there and then. 

"No, sir, we'll respond with an arrow, tell him we've seen him, but we're loading on them boats, and we are going to plan a sensible approach once day breaks, not before and we are going to plan a sensible approach."

*

Azrael watched the troop at the beach for a few moments and saw a fiery streak shoot up from the ground into the sky. They had seen his flare. They knew his position. 

Azreal glanced back into the cave, considering his next move. 

Something called to him from within. 

"Azrael," the voice called. "Azrael…" it sounded like the wind, but he swore he heard his name. 

"Who's there?" He called out. There was silence, but he felt a sudden urge to enter the cave.

He resisted, he stood firm, he would stand his post until the troop guided him in. 

"Azrael, the brave, come, come within," the voice called, compelling him. The urge grew stronger, it felt like it was almost literally tugging him inside. 

Azrael lifted a torch which was strapped to his belt and struck an igniter, lighting the torch. It spluttered to life with a dancing orange flame. 

The firelight flickered eerie shadows which jumped and shifted across the cave walls. Azrael took a tentative step forward. Then another step, and then some more, until he was working his way through the twisting and turning stone corridor.