“NO!” she bellowed, but it was already too late. Spike’s claws ripped into the thick woven fabric… and began cutting through the faded, worn, priceless treasure far more easily than he had hoped. He actually fell some distance, dragging huge rents into the tapestry from behind as he went. He hurriedly dug into the tapestry to arrest his descent and began climbing again, hoping that Meranax’s reluctance to simply lift up the tapestry would preclude her destroying it in order to get to him. Worse, she could simply beat it back against the cavern wall and crush him against it.