Thalina ducked, barely dodging another sticky strand of web that whizzed past her ear.
"Hold still, female!" the spider hissed, its voice scratchy like rusted metal scraping together. "You're making this harder than it needs to be!"
Thalina scoffed, darting behind a tree, her braid whipping behind her. "Excuse me!? You're the one throwing web at me like some deranged tailor!"
Fwip! Another sticky thread shot toward her. Thalina twisted her body, arching her back like a dancer, letting the silk slap against a nearby rock instead.
"Of course, I can speak," the spider snapped, its eight legs clicking against the ground as it stalked toward her. "Do I look like some mindless wild beast to you!?"
Thalina wrinkled her nose. "Honestly? Yes. You look like a horror story that crawled out of someone's nightmare."
The spider twitched.
It twitched.
"You rude little—!" It lunged forward, but Thalina dodged again, narrowly slipping between two trees.
