A Spider's Strand

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Isaac resisted the urge to groan out loud. This was the fourth day he and two companions had spent in the woods hunting the mythical womanspider, Arachne. The bounty was enormous, due to the value of her carcass and the imminent danger she imposed on all human villages in the area.

Sure, there weren't any dead bodies yet, but even a regular house spider would have dozens of children at once. If she had that many as well... They would be hungry. The village elders had felt certain that the abominations would attack the villages.

And so, they had been sent out to find it. But they had yet to see any sign of the fabled being. Isaac commented dryly, "So how are we supposed to kill a legendary monster? Should we have brought stakes? Or maybe some silver?"

"Oh please. What's the worst she could do? Shoot spiderweb out of her -"

"Look out!"

The stupid sod wasn't fast enough to dodge as the huge boar crashed into him, its left tusk impaling the thigh. The wild boar was larger than any pig he had seen. On all fours, it stood to Isaac's shoulder. Isaac and his uninjured companion both drew swords.

The boar turned at the sound, flinging the injured man into the dirt. Hardly a second passed before the boar charged again. Isaac leaped out of the way, but the boar still caught his ankle, sending him tumbling into the dirt, thankfully nothing broken.

The last man stabbed at the boar as it passed, the blade barely nicking the beast's flank. "It's skin is too thick for these swords! We can't fight it!"

Isaac yelled back, jerking his thumb at the unconscious man. "Well we can't just leave him here!" His mind churned as he tried to figure out a way to survive, while the boar began to turn once again.


(((Don't worry, this is just long as its the first post. Usually I keep it to 4-6 sentences.)))

 

[Reika]

The forest was growing darker as time passed and the creatures within that forest were getting irate with their tresspassings. The boar would have been more than happy to gore all three men, but the other two seemed more capable and quicker on their feet. The boar prepared to charge towards them, knowing that they'd tire before he would. He didn't want to eat them, but they angered him beyond belief, their life ending would be enough to please the angered creature. The boar began it's charge, his eyes lighting red it seemed. Their lives would end due to an angry pig?

Splat! A white ball zipped through the air and landed on the boar's face. It was, saliva; no, webbing? Wet webbing latched onto his face. The boar's charge continued, but luckily, it was off course. He stopped as several more balls shot out from trees overhead. Was this is it? The creature they hunted for? The boar's limbs were incapacitated, captured, and soon, a massive army of tiny spiders swept the ground, climbing onto the boar's living body. Someone jumped down from the tree, and landed in upright position. She ran her hand over her lips and turned towards the humans, no real expression on her face, more of a "What are you looking at?" sort of look.

 

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Isaac turned to to thank the woman, but his voice caught in his throat.

Eight eyes. Eight limbs. This girl before him was obviously Arachne, even though she wasn't the screaming, fanged monstrosity he'd half expected to slay.

Isaac began to move towards the fallen villager, never taking his eyes off of Arachne. He needed to help him immediately to keep the man from dying of blood loss, even if it meant moving closer to the spider queen.

"I'm just trying to help my friend," he said. However, he still kept his blade. She had saved their lives, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Reika]

The small spiders devoured the boar, draining it of all of it's plentiful fluids. Arachne stared at the man, threatened and insulted by his keeping of his blade.

"Do not go near them. If one of them gnicks you, you are as good as their next meal. Get out of my forest. This is no place for lowly villagers to be." She said calmly, the small spiders growing a bit fatter after their juicy meal, all that was left was a heap of flesh and bone.

 

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The other villager seemed dumbstruck, staring blatantly at the small army of spiders working on the last remnants of the boar.


Isaac knelt down in front of the injured man. He worked quickly to staunch the bleeding, stealing glances at the fabled Arachne. He thought, Ignore the extra eyes and arms, and she just looks like a normal, pretty girl. She doesn't look like she'd eat people... When he was finished bandaging him, he picked up the man. He began to back away slowly, gesturing for the other to follow him. Before he left, however, he asked a question that had been nagging him since the beginning of the strange encounter,

"Why did you save us? What could you possibly hope to gain?"

 

[Reika]

Arachne watched her spiders begin to crawl away. "Good. Now return to building. I got you the meal I promised you." She said, slowly turning towards the human's still polluting her forest.

"I do not want, nor need anything from you... any of you. I was going to feed my children and I did. It just so happened the beast I wanted, also wanted you." She spoke with a confident and sophisticated tone. Not too stuck up, while somewhat condescending. "I understand that your little... town, or village, or whatever you humans call them these days, are a little afraid of me. If you wander into my home, you must understand that everything in here belongs to me. The air you breath, the soil in which your companion has bled on, the boar that gored him. All mine. If you remain here. I'll make you a part of that collection. And that's no threat human... that's a promise. Now leave."