No sooner Does Gawain set out when, as if a vast invisible Tarot card is turned, he finds himself trapped upside down in a spiders web.
First kicking and twisting like a helpless beetle in his armour, he then relaxes and enters into a profound meditation. Going inward to banish the toxic attempts to poison him into a tortured agnony, he skillfully avoids the sharp barbs that the spider occasionally thows his way to test his readiness to be eaten.
The spider wears the face of the Holy Grail, the one girl that he first loved, a sacred image but now hideous. The face melts in a stupified saddness that belies its murderous stupor. Gawain banishes the last of his boyhood projections of the female.
How did he get here?
The last thing he recalled was offering his aid to a damsel in distress who promised him the greatest love since story books were written; he knew it was a lie but felt compelled to try to rescue this pitiful creature. He had reached out and the moment that contact was made he was pulled into a sticky web... a web that stank of death. A stench that unerved him more than anything he could imagine.
He recalled a sword hilt... broken in his hand. He called upon this sword and with the blade that remained began to cut himself free and defend against the incroachment of the spider-woman. He was not alone.
After a long defense and lengthy repose in silence he was afforded the aid of the Lords in Red and their hunters. They assisted Gawain in killing the spider and took him to see the Tia who was in a very bad sullen state.