The Daughters Daring (The Daughters Daring & The Enchanted Forest Book 1) by Steven J. Thompson

witch’s lair. Something large had been knocked over, followed by glass shattering on stone. The spider-witch shrieked, and the sound of her awkward movements grew louder.
         Elizabeth looked at strand of webbing leading down into the chamber. She had climbed ropes before, but this was from a much greater height. She felt her heart pounding, and her hands starting to sweat, as she looked down below.
         “We're trapped!” Elizabeth said. “I can’t go down that way!”
         “Yes you can Liz!” Emily answered. “We’re the Daughters Daring, we can do this!”
    Grabbing the long thick strand of web that trailed down into the lower cave, Emily wrapped her arms and legs around it and slid down. Seeing her sister’s courage, Elizabeth grabbed the web and slid down after her. Neither could resist screaming on the way down.
         The sight of two human girls sliding down from the witch's lair was strange to the goblins. They had been told to guard the entrances, but not the witch's lair. Still, goblins were not trusting of humans and they picked up sticks and rocks to meet these new foes. By the time both girls had landed, they were surrounded.
         The goblins paused momentarily regarding the two. Emily and Elizabeth stood poised, weapons ready, but the silence was broken by the echoing shriek of the spider-witch above them.
         “Goblins!” Elizabeth shouted, “The witch has been attacked by a giant spider, and now it is coming for you!”
         At that moment, the spider-witch emerged and started climbing down the web. The goblins went into a panic at the sight of the creature descending through the ceiling. They had never seen such a gigantic spider. They ran in terror, falling over each other in their effort to flee.
         Emily and Elizabeth took advantage of the confusion and made their way to the upper tunnel leading out. Behind them, several of the braver goblins had taken up arms against their giant foe. One of them even managed to climb up on the spider witch's back, and was hanging on for his life as the furious spider witch bucked and jumped and tried to shake him off. It was such a sight that the other goblins stopped running around to watch and cheer for their heroic fellow goblin. It was a giant spider rodeo. The furious spider-witch kicked at them, at first, then began wrapping them in sticky web.
         “Let’s get out of here.”
     

Chapter 11
     
         Duchess Daring walked cautiously into the Enchanted Forest. She had taken a secret path into the forest that neither her daughters nor her husband knew about. She knew all the paths leading into the forest, and many of the paths within. Still, she walked with caution. Anyone who truly knew the forest knew the paths were the only way of safety, while even a step or two off the path placed the traveler at the whim of the forest itself.
         There was also the matter of the ogres. She had avoided the gate where they were launching their attack, but she could not be sure they wouldn't have scouts surrounding The Shining City. It was unlikely though, that they knew of this particular path, and so far she had seen no sign of them.
         As she ventured farther she passed beautiful forest flowers. Trillium and cardinals, Violets and hepatica, and even bloodroot. Under other circumstances she might run her fingers through them and collect some for her apothecary shelf, but the circumstances now were most dire. Her kingdom, her home, and most importantly her daughters, were in grave danger.
         It had pained her to leave Joseph with a governess, but it would have been too dangerous to bring him with her. If she was successful The Shining City would soon be much safer. For now, she had to put aside her thoughts of her home and her son, for her daughters and her kingdom needed her.
         The duchess soon came to an ancient tree, a towering Highcynder Oak. Its branches reached up into the sky