thanks for the sympathy...I'm not alone

I never got deadly gifts so I have not used traps at all. The game has been very entertaining and fun up until this point.
I went to some sites to see how to beat this one and one fellow said he just runs up to her and wails on her and she dies easily. She just runs from me and does the hell spikes over and over until I'm toast.
I keep loading it up, hoping that something changed overnight, to see if I can get past it. I don't know where I can go to get more experience so that I can get another spell book.
Maybe I'll just start over and be a warrior. I have a better idea how the game plays and what I need to do to get through it.
Thanks for the help everyone.