Lost! [A Northworld Viking Saga]

Web!

Thorgaut stepped back to let the hatchlings come straight on through. Abyss Snarer backed up and started to turn, but by then they had already started crawling up her legs. She tried to shake them off and to run. Several small spiders began leaping over the heads of their siblings to get to her first. They grabbed on to keep her from getting away.

The hatchlings bowled her over and swarmed across her body. Thorgaut watched with satisfaction as the little spiders pulled her down. Justice served as the mean old spider deserved.

Several spiders grabbed each leg and helped pin it down. Others started weaving webs across her body to keep her down. A few of the spiders even attacked the exposed areas of her abdomen and neck. They tore into her with their fangs and injected their poison.

He watched as Abyss Snarer struggled under the growing number of baby spiders grabbing on to her. She was almost completely immobilized.

"Stop! Please," she wailed. "What have I ever done to you spiders?"

Thorgaut laughed out loud. "You killed their mother and their sister," he replied. "You don't think they're going to let you off that easy, do you?"

"I'm sorry," Abyss Spider screamed. "Wait. I can explain. Stop."

But the little hatchlings continued weaving her down into place with their webs. Svart looked on in shock at the terrifying scene. Thorgaut pulled him off to the side towards a rock. He didn't say anything, but instinctively pushed the idea of sitting into the boy's head.

Thorgaut caught himself with a chuckle. He kept forgetting that the boy wasn't a mind reader and wouldn't understand. He motioned to the rock with an outstretched hand.

"Have a seat," he said. "No need to watch the spiders avenging their mother's death."

"It's awful," the boy said. "I know she was bad and probably deserves it for the things she did. But still, she was a spider trying to survive."

"It's the law of nature, boy," Thorgaut replied. "The fittest will survive. And fortunately for us, we're still a part of the surviving group. She would have killed us if the little ones hadn't taken her down.

He left Svart sitting on the rock and walked back over to the cluster of spiders. They had surrounded Abyss Snarer. There were more spiders than he remembered. The eggs must still be hatching. He couldn't even see the giant spider under the teaming mass of bodies crawling over her.

Several more little spiders came spewing out of the opening in the crevice. They scampered over to get their pound of flesh. Thorgaut got glimpses of her between their shifting bodies. He could see that they had covered her with their silvery silk threads. After they finished, the spiderlings jumped off one-by-one and started spreading out.

Eventually, there were only a few of the little spiders left. They tugged at the threads to make sure they were secure. Here and there, they would spin out another string or two just to tighten down a loose end.

The little spiders mostly ignored him. They were careful to step aside or move out of the way when he got to close though.

Thorgaut tapped into their collective mind to see what was going to happen next. They didn't seem to be giving it much thought. They had each gone back to doing their own thing around the cave. Most were busy spinning webs in dark corners of the cave.

Every once in a while, one of the hatchlings would throw a bit of information into the pot. But that only happened when they got outside the current perimeter of the group.

Thorgaut wasn't sure what to do now or who to approach. He walked back over to Svart and threw himself down.

"Well, I guess all's well that ends well. Huh?" Thorgaut asked him with a grin.