Constans slammed his borrowed staff down on the third stunned spider just as it began to squirm, recovering from the magic that stunned it. Its legs twitched wildly in its death throes; Constans watched it with a grimace of disgust, tearing his eyes away only to follow Bethen in their rapid retreat.
He hadn't realized before just how far back into the caverns they'd wound up. Now it seemed that the spiders had been busy cutting them off from the exit for some time now, if the encroaching cobwebs in this part of the tunnel said anything about the seriousness of their situation. Although Bethen seemed to be getting the worst of it, blazing their trail through the fresh curtains of webbing, Constans still found himself covered in the stuff as the frayed strands she left behind (and those too tall for her to have disturbed) clung to his robes and his skin. As if it wasn't already hard enough to see in the tunnels without the torches, the gently wafting shapes of webbing around and behind the pair of teenagers made Constans increasingly paranoid. He saw movement from the corners of his eyes, felt the brush of cobwebs on his hair and face, plucking delicately like spider feet. The thought made him shiver in revulsion and step quicker, trailing at Bethen's heels.
They neared a bend in the tunnel. Certain he'd heard something just behind him, Constans spun protectively to examine the corridor they'd put to their backs, one white-knuckled hand gripping his borrowed staff. Aware that Bethen gained ground on him every moment he remained, he backed up carefully as he examined the darkness for movement, expecting to something to lunge out at him the second he let down his guard.
From behind him a burst of pale light illuminated the cave. Constans whipped his head back around, distracted from his vigil just in time to witness Bethen's newest friend shattered spectacularly by a flying rock. He grinned, wanting to congratulate her on spells well executed; although he was frightened, his heart hammering, a part of him still thought this was great fun. That part (the part that baited Templars and sassed Chantry sisters for the fun of the chase; the part that once slipped out onto the narrow ledge outside a window at the very top of the tower, stood hidden there for over an hour with his heels digging desperately into no more than two spare inches of masonry as his heart soared in his chest) undoubtedly jinxed them both. The teenaged mage no sooner opened his mouth and uttered a cheeky, "Not bad-" when a truly massive spider bubbled up out of the shadows, lunging down upon her. She screamed and was on the floor in a split second, the monster hovering over her with snapping fangs, prepared to bite.
He had to do something! His automatic impulse was fire, that element coming so naturally to him, but the tunnel around the creature was wreathed by layers of spider silk and the whole place could easily be set ablaze. If that happened Bethen, trapped in the middle of it, would only be in even greater danger- and anyway with her almost directly under it, he might very well hit her. He barely hesitated, instead charging forward and thrusting his free right hand toward the beast, trying to harness his own confusion into a force he could use. A pinkish ball of light coalesced in his palm and shot forward, diffusing through the huge arachnid’s frame as it reared back to strike. It issued a horrible, shrill noise, pedipalps waving wildly in the air, and stumbled over Bethen’s prone form with one great, shuddering lunge of its bulk toward its new attacker. Constans dove aside and it rushed blindly past him, slamming against the opposite wall with enough force to shake a fine spray of dust from the tunnel ceiling. The spider shrieked again, straining to stand on eight legs that seemed to all be in disagreement with the others.