Part 4
THE HEAD OF THE MEDUSA

"It looks like my place of birth." Tashmal said.
"Interesting," Dana answered. The strong wind was playing with her hair.
They were standing on the Elven-en-Woll, which was about 15 women lengths high and of tan Shagjat. The land beyond the wall was grassland littered with very large white rocks, on which green moss was growing. Farther north, the stony peaks of cliffs reached in the grey sky. It was raining slightly.
Tashmal looked out, lost in thought. Thinking of her childhood, the poor thing, Dana mused.
She reached out and stroke the brunettes hair, which was open today. Tashmal returned to the present and managed a smile at her blonde lover. They kissed tenderly.
Rowenn called from the ground:
"Sorry to interrupt you two, but the horses are ready. They will open the gate for us now."
Dana and Tashmal parted, their eyes, the blue and the black, locked.
"I expected you to say something like: Adventure here we come."
"No, Tashmal. I am not looking forward to this. I wish we were in your house in Lashayette, having one of your legendary breakfasts."
"So, no more career as warrior, as heroine? You have grown up very fast, my blonde. Sometimes you frighten me."
"You are joking.  Lets go down to join the others."
***

"Something is amiss," Dana said, "I can feel it."
Tashmal, riding beside her, looked around.
"There is nothing to be seen. But you should tell the Commanding Witch about it."
Dana rode ahead to the yellow clad witch in command of the expedition, a witch of the 16th grade with brown hair in two thick plaits. Her name was Erynn, but she didnt knew that Dana was aware of that. Sirf had told it to the blonde. The name of the second combat witch was Geehl, she had reddish hair, hold back by a yellow latexa band and was about Megans and Trishs age.
The ex maid reached Erynn and said:
"Commanding Witch, my senses tell me something is amiss."
The witch nodded. "My knight has already told me the reason. There is a large pack of hunting spiders in the vicinity. Seems they plan a feast."
"What is a LARGE pack exactly?"
"About 50 beasts. They normally hunt the deer herds living here. As there are no humans, and the elves are living from their stock of breed humans, there are many big herds of herbivores in Medusas head."
"I learned it is unusual for beasts of the wild to attack humans."
"Great spiders of all kinds are different. It is as if they like human flesh best. They always attack. We will have to fight. My knight is already searching for a good defensive position. They wont attack before nightfall."
Dana nodded to that and rode back to Tashmal and the others. It was the third day of their journey, which had been up to now uneventful. No elves had been seen by them. They had five more days to Ouch-od-Dry, the city of the Ancients.
She told her friends what she had heard. As usual, Marule the bard was afraid and looked about with wide eyes. Zusha said nothing, as Dana had expected. The brunette Achaian finally grimaced and hissed:
"Klish! I hate spiders. I hate them even more than fashion crimes or death knightresses."
"I have never seen a giant spider," Dana admitted.
"Lucky you. They are ugly, and all these legs, and the hair..." Tashmal shuddered.
Zusha suddenly said:
"I used to ride on spiders back at home. My people has a method of taming them. They are faster than horses. The big kind is used in the rondakian cultures as heavy war beast, breaking up cavalry ranks. "
Tashmal growled:
"I knew that. Please dont go into details, will you?"
Dana had to chuckle. She looked over to Sirf in his cushioned basket at Marules saddle. Marule had adopted the cat and was feeding and watering it in the evening. Sirf had advised Dana to keep their relationship an absolute secret.  Only the four witches knew it too, and, naturally, their four Con-fy-Deths.
Dana asked Zusha:
"Have you the possibility to control this pack?"
"No, Lady Dana, its not that easy. Can you control a herd of wild horses because you can ride?"
"Sorry, it was a stupid question."
"First the rain, then the fact that bondage games are forbidden as long as we are in Medusas head, and now spiders. I already have enough of this. No, I had enough on the first day already."
It was Tashmal, trying to light a cigarette while riding. A large raindrop landed on the cigarette, part of the paper dissolved, the tobacco under it wet with the water.
"Klish! Ruined! A good cigarette! Our supply is limited."
"So smoke less, my cute whore." Dana smiled.
"Once again, you seem not the least worried about the danger ahead, silly one."
Dana shrugged. "I cant change it. Why worry? Its a waste of energy."
"You sound like an old warrior, who has fought in a hundred battles."
"Lady Dana is right."
"I knew you would be on her side, Redskinn" Tashmal shot an angry glance at Zusha.
Marule said, fear in her voice:
"Can we repel their attack?"
"It will be hard work. We will have to kill them all, to the last beast," Zusha answered.

***
"Here they come," Rowenn said evenly, raising her longbow.
Dana, without knowledge or training in archery, readied her spear. The arrows as well as the blades of the heavy spears had been dipped into Ekla-Killa, a poison which killed big spiders very quickly.
Very quickly is relative, Dana thought now, and watched the spiders approach in a wave of quivering hairy bodies and twisting legs. No, Tashmal was right, they were decidedly not pretty. And they were very fast. The animals were about as large as a pony - their bodies that is, their legs were extra. Wonderful, Dana thought. This would really be hard work.
The group had taken up position on a hill, and they had formed a circle. The horses were in the middle of it. Only Tashmal and Dana were armed with spears now, the witches had their magic staffs ready, and the knights, weapon maids and Zusha would all fight with the longbows - at least as long as no spider reached their positions.
The beasts seemed not very clever, as they simply attacked in a large, single group on one side. So, their circle had been dissolved, and the women had formed a double line facing the advancing pack.
The Commanding witch, a dedicated combat witch, said loudly.
"Hold... hold... now, shoot!"
29 arrows were sent into the mass of spiders.  Altough all hit - it was difficult to miss - they seemed to have no effect at all.
"Wonderful," Dana thought again, this time saying it aloud. There was a small sound coming from Tashmal to her right, it was a whimper. Dana sent her a quick glance. Her lovers face was covered in sweat, and she had bite on her lips, even drawing blood. The Achaian was very much in fear, but she didnt leave her position, her spear pointing towards the advancing monsters.
A second wave of arrows rushed over to the spiders and hit the hairy bodies, gleaming eyes, and dripping fangs. A first spider stopped, swiveled onto her back, her legs twisting wildly in the air. A second one. So the poison was working after all. More spiders showed effect, but at least forty were still advancing - 43, as Dana knew somehow a second later.
A third and a fourth wave of arrows hit the pack. The spiders were two thirds up the hill after that, there were 27 left.
The four witches joined the fight. From the crystals of their staffs, lightning shoot into the advancing beasts, setting them aflame. The odor of burning flesh and other tissue added itself to the scene.
A fifth wave of arrows was sent. Only 14 spiders remained attacking. They would reach them   in moments.
"Draw swords!"
More lightning, at point blank range, 4 spiders burning, ten left. Then they were between them. Dana  thrust her spear into a spider attacking Zusha to her left, who had drawn her axe. Danas spear hit the body of the monster in the same moment as the Rondakas axe split its head. Tashmal was suddenly beside her, with a shrill cry thrusting her spear into the twitching body. Green and yellow tissue sprayed over the three friends. The spider was dead, mainly caused by Zushas axe. Dana drew her sword and looked about. The women, now clearly having a numerecial advantage, had gathered around the remaining beasts, hacking into their bodies and legs with their swords.   The witches tried to touch them with their staffs. She saw Megan do so and succeed, and the spider seemed to burn from within, flames were coming out of its mouths and numerous eyes, which exploded outward.
The spiders were all dead now. The small battle had lasted only about four minutes. No woman had even been wounded.
"Klish!" Tashmal screamed loudly behind her. Dana turned and saw her lover rubbing her face with one of her handkerchiefs, desperately so. She had gotten green spider blood directly in her face.
The blonde smiled and mouthed a cigarette. Good to know again that her evil achaian whore had weaknesses.
Sirf yawned in her head:
"Has anything happened? Whats that awful smell?"
"Toasted spider." Dana thought.
"I  dont know if I like your humor, young lady."
"You were not very helpful."
"What did you expect, I am only a cat. How should I kill a giant spider?"
"Apart from being able to speak and being a nuisance, are there any other powers of the Con-fy-Deth?"
"Who knows, young lady, who knows?"
***
Dana woke up in the tent. She had dreamed of elves. Two elves, hiding between the rocks and observing  their night camp.
She looked down on the sleeping Tashmal beside her. The Achaian opened her eyes, having sensed Danas sudden movement.
"What is it, Dana?"
"There are two elven scouts out there. They observe our camp."
Tashmal reached for her clothing. "Lets alert the Commanding witch."
Waking up the entire camp would have alerted the elves, so Dana and Tashmal only went over to Erynns tent and entered. The witch and her knight, a grey haired older woman with the mane in a tight knot, her name was Henna, were sleeping, but immediately woke up.
The four discussed matters and it was decided to capture the two scouts.
"What will we do with them?" Dana aked, fearing that Erynn wanted to ultimately kill them.
To her relief Erynn said:
"We will take them with us. Two weapon maids can carry them before them on their mounts, they laid over the saddles, on their stomachs. When we leave Medusas head, we will release them. Killing them would only anger the elves very much, to put it mildly. There is no "deal" with them like in Achaia, but a kind of truce out of habit. For about four years no elves have tried to cross the Elven-en-Woll. Their stocks of humans are probably large enough nowadays. "
Dana and Tashmal would do it. So, the two lovers left the camp on the opposite site in the cover of darkness, and made their way around the camp, to surprise the elves from behind. They had taken clubs, ropes and gags with them.
The blonde suddenly came to mind that it was unclear how they would keep the elves alive, as they fed only on living humans. But Erynn, who served for 10 years now at the Elven-en-Woll, had surely thought about that and knew a solution.
It took Tashmal and the blonde some time to reach the scouts from behind. The elves had very sharp ears and a good sense of smell, so they had to be careful. Tashmal was an expert in this, and Dana seemed to be doing it instinctively right. Her Krosa powers again, she assumed.
There they were. As Dana had already seen in her dreams, they had white skin and a green pattern painted on their bodies. Their curly long hair, which was of a light brown, was held back by leather strings from their faces. They were armed with short bows, axes and daggers, the blades being of the shiny black material looking similar to Shagjat.  In the dream Dana had also seen that their eyes without white where of a startling blue.
The lovers approached them, very carefully. On a hand signal of Tashmal, they rose and attacked the elves with their clubs. Tashmals elve was out cold immediately, but Danas one was able to rise halfway and draw her dagger. Danas club had only hit her shoulder. Tashmal kicked the elve against the head, and the creature groaned and sunk down on her knees. Dana hit her a second time on the head, and this elve was unconscious too.
Tashmal smiled: "Good to see that you are not already perfect, sugarmouth."
Dana breathed deeply. She hadnt noticed before that she had stopped breathing as her first attack had failed.
They serviced their "customers" quickly. They left them their loincloths, they wore nothing else, tied them up with rope and gagged them with latexa three part gags.
Tashmal called out to the camp, and Lady Knight Henna and four weapon maids came over. Two weapon maids each carried the packaged elves back to the camp. They had not yet awoken.
Back in the camp everyone seemed a bit agitated about the two captives. But Tashmal said to the blonde:
"Lets go back to bed. I want some sleep before the next day of riding and ruining my ass. "
"These ugly words again and again. Someone should smack your buttocks once in a while."
"Agreed, blonde beauty, that can be fun. But not know, my buttock cheeks hurt too much already."
"On our jorney from Moravan to Lashayette you never complained about that."
"Then I had to be your heroine. It would have been counterproductive to complain about a hurting ass."
"I see."
They had reentered their tent. Tashmal started to open her boots. 
"Dont despair, cute whore. Tomorrow is the last day. The commanding witch has said we will reach the ruins in the evening."
"I am not looking forward to that. In the ruins of the Ancients strange things happen to humans. Strange and dangerous things."
"No one has cared to tell me that until now. What strange things?"
"You will see for yourself. How did you say? No sense in worrying beforehand. And now lets sleep."
"You got me there, little mouse."