Chapter Five

Webfarmer squirmed along the tunnel on knees and elbows, following the cave spider and trying not to kick the small excited goblin child in the face when it followed too close.
“Are you sure I’ll fit?” She asked. “Goblins aren’t as small as spiders, even very big ones.”
The spider looked back at her as it continued on its corkscrew path, somehow rolling its eyes. The child prodded her foot.
“Found this tunnel ages ago!” It announced proudly. “Goes all the way to the outside.”
“I am beginning to think,” Webfarmer muttered, “That we need to keep a better eye on what the children are doing and where they’re going.”
The spider paused, turning back slightly, then pointed a leg at her and nodded in what could surely only be a gesture of agreement.
—–
The trio emerged onto a shallow ledge, level with the treetops, looking out towards the last rays of the setting sun. The cave spider chittered in annoyance and scuttled into the shade behind Webfarmer, who held out a fold of robe as a sunshade.
“Here you go; Does this help?”
The spider crept into the pocket of shade and chittered again, somehow in a more positive tone, twisting to look up at Webfarmer.
“You’re welcome.”
They looked down on the cave entrance, directly below them.
“What in the Sleeping One’s name happened here?” Muttered Webfarmer. “Or is still happening here, I suppose.”
The goblin child and the cave spider both started to speak, or chitter in the spider’s case. The paused, looked at each other, and the spider gestured to the child with a leg in a clear ‘Go ahead’ gesture.
“Invaders cut tree and fought big bugs!” The child pointed. “Then spiders and bees and moss and toadstools fought big bugs!”
The spider tapped Webfarmer on the ankle and pointed down. Following the line of its leg, she could just make out the remains of the hornet nest.
“Those aren’t part of the Sleeping One’s domain, are they?” She asked. “They’re invaders of a sort?”
An emphatic nod from the spider.
“And the trees aren’t part of it either, so …” She paused for thought. “Did they think they were gathering but got the wrong place?”
“Tried gathering inside, but gathered toadstools!” The child contributed, then made exaggerated vomiting noises.
The cave spider nodded, then made a noise somewhere between a chitter and a snigger at the child’s antics, using a couple of legs to produce a very expressive vomiting gesture. Webfarmer chuckled, then went still and silent as she spotted movement below.
One of the figures by the fire, roused by the noises, had twisted around to look up. As she watched, it spotted her and stumbled to its feet, clumsily shrugging off a blanket and grabbing an axe.
“Shhhh!” Webfarmer hissed, pushing the child down into a crouch. “Stay down, stay quiet!”
The figure frantically looked all around, eyes wide, trying to simultaneously watch Webfarmer and look into every shadow and at every tree. It raised the axe in a far too tight grip and glanced at the other blanket wrapped figures, then into the cave.
Webfarmer slowly raised her hands and tried to make gentle calming motions. The axe welding figure relaxed slightly. As though the weather had been waiting for a signal, it started to rain.
After a few moments in the rain, both Webfarmer and the figure slumped slightly, sharing a look of annoyance. The figure took one hand off its axe and pointed towards the cave mouth, shrugging. Webfarmer pointed behind her to the tunnel, also shrugging.
Slowly, clearly waiting for something to happen, the figure moved back towards the shelter of the cave mouth, then darted back out into the clearing, waving upward.
Webfarmer leaned out to look, as the figure gestured wildly out towards the dark forest outside the cave.
“I have no idea what this thing means.” She muttered to the spider and the child as the rain got heavier. “Get inside, you idiot.”
She made eye contact, pointed firmly at the figure, then at the others still dozing by their fire, then towards the cave mouth below her.
As the figure nodded and walked into the cave mouth, nudging the others awake, the cave spider uncoiled from it’s crouch and stared at the air above the clearing, making a loud hissing noise, then twisted to look up at Webfarmer.
“What?” She asked.
The spider prodded Webfarmer and the child back towards the tunnel, turning for a last look at the dark clearing before following them in.
—–
The group of goblins stared as the cave spider chittered and pointed. There was a long pause.
“I’m sorry,” Said Webfarmer. “But I didn’t understand any of that.”
She looked around the group.
“Anyone?” She asked the ring of baffled faces, getting a series of serious looks and shaken heads.
“Something in the air, going into the cave?”
“Maybe it’s describing the hornets you mentioned.”
“Or the new people; It’s the biggest cave spider I’ve ever seen, but it’s still shorter than them.”
With an exasperated sigh, the goblin child squatted down in front of Webfarmer, facing the spider.
“You lead, I follow?”
The spider chittered and climbed up the wall, vanishing into a crack in the roof. A moment later a leg stuck out and made a beckoning motion.
“Where does that one go, … Uhhh …” Webfarmer was still blanking on the child’s name.
“Big cavern, by toadstools.” Came the reply as the child grabbed he sleeve and started leading her. “We go this way.”
“Is this going to be another tunnel I need to crawl through?” Webfarmer sighed. “Or can we walk like regular goblins?”
“Yes!” Came the enthusiastic response.
“Very well then, … ” She paused for the child’s name, annoyed. “Very well then, Tunnelfinder; Show us the way.”
Webfarmer grinned to herself as the goblin child stood up straighter and started marching with obvious pride at having been given a proper Name.