Drachne

Author's Note: Timeline-wise, Drachne Ch. 06 is sitting in-between Toofy Ch 02. and Ch. 03. (As Toofy Ch. 03 begins with a timeskip.)

Warning: This chapter features sex scenes of non-consensual or dubious consent.

---

"Truly, tis a fine day to walk upon the sky, and see all that the queen commands. This is the Empire of Shadow, of the glory of the kind and generous arachne that commands all that walks upon this world, bar those who call us beasts."

Flick looked beside her at the adderan, barely believing that something like him actually existed, and then back out at the forest. "You really think Drachne's a knowitall goddess or some shit, don't you?"

"The Great and Wondrous Palantok resides in the shadows of her most joyous glory." He replied quietly, in awe.

The tanukiki blew at the leaf sitting on her forehead and looked out at the forest again. "Yup. You're just downright nuts."

"Fruitcake has fewer nuts than the snake." A voice whispered, and Flick ran to the edge of the castle and stared downwards. She saw the arachne lying in a sling of a web right up against the edge of the building.

Flick laughed weakly, "Bed not comfortable enough for you?"

"Go ahead and sleep in a building made by a madman, filled with ancient and fucking crazy if you want." Drachne scoffed, "I ain't looking to be their queen. Which means, sooner or later, they're going to try and kill me. Just like everyone else."

The tanukiki leaned on the ledge and sighed, "Even your boyfriend is fucking crazy."

"That... He is. But that's my fault. I changed him." The eight-eyed woman sighed heavily, "All I want... No one ever listens to what I want. Even when they're obsessed with me. Nothing ever changes."

She sniffed, trying to smell the woman. Her scent was weak, unlike her marking pheromones. So weak that the doggirl could barely pick it up at all. To be expected from nature's ultimate predator, she supposed.

"How's the kidnapping me plan, going?" Flick said with a tiny bit of spite, waving off in the direction of the elvish encampment. That could probably see the bloody huge fortress that the snake had summoned.

Drachne leaned up on two of her arms, stretching the others, "Shittily. Which I suppose means you can take off, now, if you want. I've caught two of the hawks the elves tried to send. They've asked for a monster hunter. Thankfully, the only one that's killed an arachne before is Elan. The guy whose life I fucked up, but is now screwing me."

The self-loathing in this woman was almost enough to make Flick forgive her. Almost.

"They'll burn down the forest hunting you. So I guess I'm friggin' stuck where it doesn't burn. Right here." Flick blew at her leaf, "With you, and your eggbearer, the nutso snake and... Does that frog bastard even have a name?"

"He's never given me one. It's annoying." Drachne yawned, and turned, "Say... I'm hungry. You hunt, don't you? I saw you had wolf in your shack. If I ask the others, they'll bring it to me... Alive. Which is... Eh. I don't need more reason to think of myself as a monster."

Flick scratched at her head, "You... Want me to teach you to hunt?"

"I'm an assassin." Drachne laughed and shook her head, "It's just... Maybe I can... Say sorry? A little? Also escape the crazies, who will shadow us, for five minutes."

The tanukiki sighed and tiredly rubbed her face, "You trying to be my friend, spiderqueen?"

"Kinda. Never had a friend before. Wasn't allowed them." She said with a heavy sigh, "I miss Cookie. And Raltin. And Finia... They didn't even know I was alive, but... I miss 'em. Especially Cookie... That cat... Cute and stupid, but brave."

"A race, then." The doggirl swung her legs over and sat on the edge of the stonework. "First one to bring back breakfast, wins."

Flick wasn't sure exactly why she was humouring the arachne. They may have said she was free to leave, but she wasn't. The spider had destroyed even the fragile chance of peace that the tanukiki could experience in the Tangles.

Not a single damn chance that this wasn't the Golden Kitsune's doing.

Drachne stood up, her feet easily balancing on her web, and the woman grinned. A horrifying sight, what with the fangs sticking out of her mouth and clacking excitedly, whilst dripping with a green venom.

Flick steeled herself, and braced her feet against the wall of the building, "Take it, you're in?"

"I can see seven wolves from here." The spiderqueen pointed them out, even though Flick still couldn't see any of them. Disturbingly accurate eyesight. "That one seems to be the pack leader. Avoid it. We don't need to antagonise them."

"I think I've hunted wolves more often than the assassin." She rolled her eyes.

The arachne laughed, "Probably true. Sorry. I just feel like I have the unfair advantage. I can see their heartbeats. Feel their paws on the ground. You're just lucky. Need to make it at least feel fair, don't I?"

"Don't pity me." Flick sneered.

Drachne shrugged, "Wasn't. I don't. I don't really know what pity feels like. I've been killing people since I hatched, girl. I've never really hesitated."

"You did, once."

"Me leg?" The woman glanced down, "Actually, stray fireball. Didn't realise the mage was actually willing to blow himself to hell just to kill me. Learned not to underestimate desperate, that day."

"Fire... Ball." Flick swallowed, feeling her heartrate shoot through the roof, "You... Took a fireball... And... Only lost a leg?"

The arachne grinned, "I'm... Limber."

"A military crowd-clearing spell."

Drachne shrugged, "We hunting, now?"

Before Flick could answer, the woman sprang up from the web, arms and legs spreading slightly, before she was suddenly swinging away on a white strand and down towards the forest. The figure almost seeming to float in the air.

Flick blew at her leaf and bounded off the wall and into the trees. She landed on a branch with hands and feet, scrabbling as she kicked bark flying.

Her nose twitched as she ran. She could smell the arachne's claim on the territory, mostly. It made tracking down the prey harder, but she could still pluck the threads out of the air.

She had no idea where Drachne had gone, which did make her wonder if this was just a ploy to make Flick into her fun hunt... But the woman didn't seem completely monstrous. Nothing like the stories.

She eventually caught the scent of a particular wolf strongly enough that she could trail it. She continued running over the branches. She might be a dog, but she wasn't dumb as a mutt. She kept to the high ground.

Flick's eyes spotted the wolf, and she went still. Crouching and drawing her knife from her hip. The creature was sniffing the air cautiously, tail tucked in under itself. It could smell almost as well as she could, probably knew the arachne was somewhere close at hand.

A tiny arrow, less than a handspan long, snapped out of the undergrowth. The wolf collapsed and went still. An elf walked out arrogantly, placing a bow with some kind of mechanism over their shoulder. "Help me with this, would ya?"

Another elf, with a similar weapon, walked over, and the two began to heave the prey onto a stretcher. "Gods, I hate wolf."

"Meat is meat. Better than listening to you bitch and moan." The first said.

The second shrugged as they started moving it, "Ya really think there's a spiderqueen out here? Leolian not just being paranoid?"

"Dunno. Don't really believe in arachne." The first shrugged, "But something set the rattan bitch off. That, I believe in. The Tangles... It'll chew you up and spit you out. Like gristle between its teeth."

Flick idly scratched her face with a foot as she watched them. They might have stolen her hunt, but they had no idea where she was, and she was just fine with that.

As the two elves left her vision, still grumbling, a soft hand clamped over Flick's mouth and a knife poked into her side. She tried to bite down on the hand, but the knife jabbed through her clothing and into her skin.

Her eyes watered in pain and she let out a long whine.

A male voice spoke calmly in her ear, "Where's the arachne?"

She shrugged and gestured vaguely around them.

"Do you know why she's here, tanukiki?" The voice menaced her.

Flick laughed and shook her head.

"Last question. Are you her prisoner?"

It took her by surprise, but Flick swallowed and gave a small nod. The knife receded, and she turned to find a grim faced elf standing on the branch. He eyed her carefully, and slipped the knife away.

He frowned, "After she built the fortress... I need to know what I'm hunting. Will you help me?"

Flick stared, "You want me... A wild bitch... To help you... Kill a temple-trained assassin, who is an arachne capable of biting me and turning me into a demented lich? No. No, I'm not suicidal."

"Temple trained?" He said urgently. "She have a name?"

"Drachne. Apparently." Flick shrugged.

He rubbed his face tiredly, "I warned that cocksucking priest... Fuck. Well, thank you. You've been most helpful. Try not to get dead."

With that, he was gone. Running silently through the trees. Flick blew at her leaf, and then winced and touched her side. The cut was shallow, but it was still a godsdamned knife wound. She needed to deal with it.

---

Aless sat in the middle of the bed, her arms tucked into her wings with her knees, as she sobbed silently. Her eyes were still seeing stars from the blast of light that her girlfriend had used to shock her senseless before taking off on her own.

The harpy was at a loss, not knowing what to do.

She'd been independent, living her life as best she could, before she met Kisten. However, everything since that day had revolved around the white salamander. She had fallen so deeply into love that she didn't know how to live without them.

Both of them had known that the moment that Kisten ran, she was sealing her fate. The spiderqueen wasn't going to forgive the death of her brother. Aless could still remember it, the flames.

The elf who had relentlessly hunted down the salamander.

Aless had been a scout for the elves. She had been the one to find the salamander bleeding out, and to tell the elf that he'd won. Hiding Kisten's survival as best she could.

The elf had earned his title by crushing a defenceless egg. The arachne inside had tried to put up a fight, escaping and burrowing into a cave. A cave that had been flooded with magefire until those inside were dead or dying.

Kisten had abandoned her charge, and so she was alive.

Whereas the boy had his skull preserved and in the Golden Mountain. A symbol of all of those who stood against the crumbling elven empire. A vassal state of the humans.

Humans who didn't need birdgirls in their army. Aless hadn't had a chance to become a deserter. The humans had ordered everyone put to the sword, not understanding one of those had been the dragonking, Irrlichdan.

In the chaos of his rage, Aless had escaped.

Survived.

Now, she lived in a shitty shack in the Tangles. Terrified that the humans or elves would find her, finish the job. She wasn't some born-to-fight warrior. She was as delicate as porcelain.

Her arms were fragile, hollow. Her ribs couldn't take a punch without cracking. It wasn't her fault that she was born to fly, not born to hunt. Sure, her talons could cut metal, but that was useless if anyone saw her first.

She simply wasn't a fighter.

Which meant that there was exactly nothing that Aless could do to save her girlfriend, except go to the arachne and ask for a life for a life. She didn't know of any myth where an arachne was merciful, but she had to hope. Had to hold tight to the belief that even an arachne is a person, with hopes and dreams. Feelings of romance, an empathy for love.

Aless sniffled and hopped out of the bed. Her talons clicked on the floor as she crossed to her kitchen. She scratched her head, not knowing what an arachne ate, and then gave up and started baking the only thing she could think of.

The offering wasn't exactly gold or silver, but in Aless' experience you never approached a predator without a gift. Whether they were a human warlord, elven empress, or even a canidae. They needed an excuse not to pluck your feathers or eyeballs.

Her small arms strained with the wooden spoon as the dough became firm, and she tossed it upwards before pounding it down onto her benchtop. She grabbed a rolling pin, squishing it flat, before slicing it into squares.

Aless grabbed a small sheet of bamboo, tearing off symbols that had been written there, and folding the squares of dough around the lettering before putting them onto a nearby tray.

She put the traditional harpy treats into her oven, and stoked the flames. Sparks sprayed, falling onto her feathers where they extinguished themselves. She used one of her hands to flick sweat from her forehead at the heat.

She fell back, pacing.

Aless' eyes moved to where her old scout gear was hanging on the wall. Eyeing the two small and curved blades that she had never mastered the use of. She wished that she could fight.

Kill the arachne, and save Kisten.

Never going to happen.

---

Drachne laughed beside her, as the two arrived back at the castle. Flick's side stinging almost as much as her pride. She had only managed to catch a single wolf.

On the other hand, the arachne was somehow carrying one over each of her shoulders and walking upright. Flick could barely drag hers along behind her.

Well, until they got near.

Then the insane adderan grabbed all three, hurled them into the air and disappeared with them. The froggod arrived shortly after, bowing and scraping as Drachne clacked her fangs in irritation and annoyance. Complaining that she could cook for herself.

Flick felt strangely calm in all of this. It felt less like a bunch of insane monsters hanging out in a magically grown castle, attempting to form a kingdom, and more like... The strangest fucking family in the world.

She'd never had a family, before.

"Your dog is hurt." A forked tongue flicked the air, and the snakewoman coiled around Flick. Enormous breasts shoved into her face, as her legs were trapped by the big heavy and red-scaled tail.

The spider glared over, crossing two of her arms angrily, "She's mine, Vestra. Back off."

"I wasn't going to hurt her." The lamia laughed softly. Two delicate hands, with incredibly long claws, grasping Flick's face. The woman leaned into her, kissing her forehead, "Can't let your plaything get hurt. Especially by an elven blade."

Drachne's eyes all flicked over, and green venom spilled down her fangs. Sizzling as it struck the wet ground beneath them. She glared, "Take your hands off my woman, snake, before I skin you."

Vestra laughed loudly, but unwound and slithered backwards a pace or two away. The lamia gestured towards Flick's leg, "She needs healing. An elven blade is anything but... Kind. It soaks into the blood, as dangerous as your venom, my queen."

"He barely cut me." Flick muttered, blowing at her leaf, "And before you lot kill me as some kind of traitor -"

"Oh, shut it." Drachne snapped, "I was about two handspans above your head when he asked you to help kill me. If I thought you were a godsdamned threat, I would've ended you on the spot."

She felt her tail curl up between her legs, "You were what?"

"I'm an arachne. I can see frantic heartbeats, magical auras. Seeing a bunch of elven hunters trying to distract me so he could get the drop on you was nothing but amusing. Still hoping I can talk my way out of that one." She shook her head, "Now... Vestra... Get the fuck away from her."

The lamia chuckled, "May I be the first to congratulate you, my queen. You have selected your eggbearer."

"Yay. More shit I don't understand." Drachne clicked her fangs, "Now... If you stay anywhere near my girl..."

The forest around Flick plunged into darkness, and the arachne roared with a voice that shook the ground, "I will rip the soul from your fragile mortal husk!"

She heard the lamia leaving, at an incredible pace.

The shadows clung to the ground, wavering like wisps of Drachne's web in the breeze. They didn't fade, or disappear. Flick's tail curled in tight against her underwear, and she let out a low whine.

The ethereal fog stank, smelling like sulphur and rotting flesh. It was almost enough to make Flick lose the contents of her stomach.

"Yeah, yeah." Drachne whispered from somewhere nearby, "If I knew how to stop it, I already would have. It's not like I'm casting a spell or any shit like that."

Flick breathed out nervously, "Okay... So um... What the fuck does eggbearer mean?"

"It means... I..." Drachne swung an arm over her shoulders, nearly making Flick take off running. "So... This is going to be weird. And I don't really understand it. Not altogether."

She shrugged and blew at her leaf, "I'm crapping myself, right now. Are you about to eat me or something?"

"Gross." Drachne replied callously, "So. Back to weird. Uh... After the last time I bedded my elf... My... Um... Lady parts? They sealed. Like a flower blooming, but in reverse."

Flick shivered, "That's fucking weird. And way too much information."

"You're telling me. I'm the one it fucking happened to." The arachne snarled, clicking her fangs, "Anyways... Apparently that means... My body wants to get pregnant. It was waiting for... You. Apparently. 'Cause when I told Vestra to fuck the void off... I... Opened up, again."

"Ew."

Drachne laughed, "Yeah, my response, too. I'm not supposed to be a bloody flower! Not... Down there. As to what eggbearer actually means, I have a disturbing feeling it means my body wants to make... You... Pregnant."

Flick bolted.

---

The salamander shot through the air, her scales spread to guide the currents over her slim body. She peered into the wind, eyes barely protected by her clear set of eyelids, as she continued to try and accelerate, pushing herself to the limit.

She was just clearing the Tangles, flying high above everything and hoping nobody was searching the skies and that her pale complexion hid her against the clouds. Another half hour or so and she'd be clear of elven territory and approaching the coast.

There was shit-all there, but she'd be able to hunker down until the arachne came for her.

That... That was inevitable. The queen would come for her, and she would die. However, she would die a long way from Aless. She would protect the harpy from the wrath of a creature that was not aware of the concept of mercy.

The apocalyptic judgement of the queen of darkness had once come close to ending the world. It had taken an immortal unigrad to slay the queen, and even then... Kisten didn't know if he had even managed to survive.

Killing an arachne wasn't the problem.

Anyone can die at anytime.

The issue with killing an arachne, is if you expect to survive. You can destroy a spiderqueen, easily enough. All you have to be willing to sacrifice is entire armies of people. Entire cities and civilisations.

If you can give that up, soak the ground in bloodshed until it becomes a flood that drowns the surrounding countryside, then an arachne is easy to defeat. Sacrifice your nation, and you can kill the queen.

Kisten shivered at the thought, and tried to increase her speed.

The air went from swimming through thick air, to ploughing through molasses, and then trying to headbutt her way through solid stone. Flying went from propelling herself forwards, to desperately trying to claw towards the limits. To break through the barrier, to make it through and to a tomorrow.

The salamander snarled, trails of light falling from her jaws as she tried to push beyond her limits. Trying to break free of the guilt of her past, wishing that she knew a way forward, any way forward, that wouldn't end with the land fertilised with the dead.