The Hunter's Apprentice by Mark Stentson

hand.
    -Don’t let go of my hand if you don’t want to land in a completely different lair.
    Aerys nodded and readied himself. The hunter walked through the portal and his body disappeared. Aerys felt a pull on his hand and he entered after him anxiously. He fell. Everything was dark around him and he felt like he was falling in an endless pit. He felt the hunter’s hand tightening and then it was over. His feet touched the floor and he found himself in a well lit cave. He saw that the floor was covered with great amount of gold and treasures which shone brightly. However something else caught his eye.
    He shuddered as he noticed an immense form sitting on a throne at the center of the cave. There was a roar and the form stood up. Aerys heart froze. He had never seen something like this. It was huge and its body was covered with black scales. It had large wings on its back and horns on its forehead. Was that a Zorg? It resembled the demons sketches that Aerys had seen in Master’s Elric books. The hunter patted him on the shoulder and walked forward.
    -Find the artifact lad, he whispered as he walked towards the Zorg who roared loudly and a dark sword appeared in its right hand. The fight started immediately. Aerys watched as the hunter attracted the Zorg away from him.
    The cave trembled as the fight grew in intensity. Aerys watched in apprehension as they clashed again and again. He could see that both the fighters were on par. No one was on top and the battle raged on with no one taking the advantage. However something troubled him. He had the impression that the Zorg was slowly getting stronger. It was almost imperceptible but he definitely noticed it. Its speed was increasing and the power of its hits was getting stronger and stronger.
    He forced himself to look away and focused on the search of the artifact. The whole place was literally covered by dozens of swords stuck in the ground. How was he to find the real one amongst them? He walked amongst them. They were all similar. He knew that he could not waste any more time and so he grabbed the first sword he saw and pulled it out of the ground. He immediately knew that he had done a mistake. The sword disappeared in his hand and a big spider the size of his hand appeared by magic in front of him.
    Aerys shivered. He hated spiders and the size of this one was anything but natural. He tried to frighten it but it did not go away. Instead it launched itself against him. It climbed on him and Aerys stumbled down shuddering. He kicked it off him and quickly scrambled up. He took out the little sword the hunter had given him and when the spider attacked again, he cut it in a single strike. He backed a bit breathlessly. The spider lay dead on the ground and he kicked it away.
    There was then a deafening sound and he heard the hunter shout loudly at him.
    -Hurry damn it…hurry lad, he shouted as he parried a devastating strike by the Zorg. The shock of the two blades caused a shock wave that resounded in the whole cave and the ground trembled worryingly.
    Aerys turned towards the swords and gathered his courage. If other spiders were to appear each time he took a wrong sword out, he would just have to kill them. He walked towards the next sword and took it out. It disappeared again and another spider appeared but this time much to Aerys horror, the spider was twice as big as the previous one. He tried to keep his calm despite his fear. The spider attacked as the previous one and he dodged to the side and cut it. It was not a mortal wound though and he had to strike again to kill it.
    He was breathing heavily and he was already covered in sweat. He grabbed the next sword and pulled it off again. The spider was half his size. He attacked it without thinking but this time, his adversary was stronger. It dodged his attack as it moved quickly to the side and launched a counter attack. Luckily Aerys had now mastered the defensive stance that the hunter had taught him and he