Moth Ch. 013

"He," snarled the man's voice, prolonging the word to a hiss, "was following you."

"Help me," insisted Keme. He had meant to yell it, but it was hardly more than a whisper.

"Let go of him," said the moth in a demanding tone.

The spider's hold on him was removed.

"Keme?" asked the moth and turned him over.

Keme felt sick and would have lost the contents of his stomach if he hadn't been so unbelievably scared.

"Keme?" asked the moth and touched his cheek. Her patterned face filled his field of vision. "Are you allright?"

"Spider," whispered Keme. "Did you kill it?"

"Why did you follow her?" snarled the man from before.

Keme turned his eyes toward the sound and screamed. Where a man should be there was a spider. A huge, black, deadly, spider.

"Spider," huffed Keme, and tried to worm backward away from the thing.

"Calm down," soothed the moth. Her back was to the creature, she obviously hadn't seen it.

"SPIDER," screamed Keme, trying to make the woman realise the danger. The beast was crawling toward them. Reached them. Raised its body over the them, its legs moving on both sides of them. Everything went black.

Keme was waking to the sound of a woman's voice.

"Keme?"

He had had a really nasty nightmare. He took his hand to his forehead. He didn't feel too good.

"I can't believe he fainted," snarled a man. "What a wimp."

"Oh shut up, Black," scolded the woman.

Keme knew that voice from somewhere.

"Keme, how are you feeling?" asked the woman.

"Lei?" asked Keme, opening his eyes to see a white face with black stripes. "What happened?"

"Apparently," said the young moth-woman, "you were following me."

"I..." Keme remember that he had been following her. "Was there a spider?"

"There is a spider," said Lei. "But he is not going to hurt you. He is my friend."

"Spider?" asked Keme. Nothing made sense.

"A spider with mind," said Lei with emphasis. "Not a spider-beast. He is not going to hurt you."

"Don't be too sure about that," snarled the man from before.

Keme kept his eyes on Lei's.

"A spider with mind?" he said, refusing to move his eyes to the monster. He felt sick.

"Yes," said Lei.

"It wrapped me in web, didn't it?"

Copyright of Nanna Marker 2010.

"He wrapped you in web to protect me," said Lei with emphasis on 'he'. "We cut you out of it while you were out."

"Why are you being so nice to him," snarled the man's voice. No. The thing's voice. "He can't be trusted. They sent him out to follow you."

"Well, it was the right thing of them to do," snapped the moth. "They think I am a thief." Then in a milder tone she said, "Isn't that how it is, Keme?"

"We don't think you are a thief," said Keme. "We think..." A thought occurred to him: Straight from a spider's butt. "Never mind what we thought."

Keme slowly sat up, making sure not to look toward the monster.

"You're not going to let it hurt me, are you?" he whispered to the moth.

"Black is a man," stated the moth, hard reprimand in her voice. "Not a beast. And if you don't start treating him with respect, I might ask him to cut off your head and suck the juice of life right out of you."

Keme's breath stuck in his throat.

"And you told me not to scare him again when he woke up," commented the monster.

"Well I didn't know he was an idiot," snapped the moth.

"Can we go home now?" asked the monster.

"Go fetch the full-ball," said the moth.

"Since when do you give me orders?" snarled the monster.

Keme cringed, fearing the thing would tear off the moth's head. Once it did that, it would probably do something far worse to him.

"Please, fetch the full-ball, Black," said the moth. She sounded, and looked, annoyed.

"I'm not your slave, you know," snarled the monster.

Keme was breathing too fast, but he struggled to keep a calm face, and kept his eyes on the moth.

"You, termite..." snarled the monster, and tapped a leg against Keme's back-plating.

By holding his breath, and swallowing hard, Keme managed not to scream.

"...I'll be gone a little while." The monster's voice had death in it. "If you even think of hurting my friend while I'm gone, then you, and everyone back in your camp, will be dead before dawn." The monster tapped him again. "Do you understand?"

"Yes," said Keme. He had never before heard his own voice quiver that hard.

The spider jumped off. Keme felt a rush of wind pass him as air filled the spot the spider had jumped from. Now that it was gone he could breathe again.

"Please tell him not to hurt my family," said Keme to the moth, taking great care not to refer to it as 'it'.

"He won't hurt your family," said the moth. "He is just trying to protect me."

"Why?" Keme hadn't meant to ask. It had just popped out.

"Because he is my friend. Friends protect each other."

"Aren't you afraid that he will eat you?"

"Don't be stupid, Keme. People don't eat people," said the moth.

"Allright," said Keme, and nervously licked his lips. It was wiser not to argue with the person who could send the monster off on errands. "Would you mind if I fly home now?"

"Please stay till Black returns."

"I'd really like to go home now," pleaded Keme.

"Don't be such a whimp," snapped the moth.

"Allright," said Keme, and went quiet. The last thing he wanted was for an angry moth and her pet monster to follow him back to his family.

Keme nearly fainted again when, after mere minutes, the monster returned, landing right next to them with a thump. He hadn't seen it coming.

The monster handed the moth a package. Keme again kept his eyes peeled to the moth. If he looked straight at the monster he'd lose control of his fear and try to flee, and he daren't think what they'd do to him if he did. The moth unpacked the package, revealing a large white ball.

"This is the full-ball of spider-silk-thread I've been trying to trade to your father," said the moth. "It's not stolen goods. Black made it for me."

"Allright," said Keme, impressed with himself for that his voice almost sounded normal.

The moth handed him the ball and Keme accepted it. Not sure what she wanted him to do with it. He just held on to it with two hands and stared at it.

"Tell your father that if he still wants to trade, then he can leave my wares behind when your caravan moves on," instructed the moth.

"Allright," said Keme. If the moth had told him to, he would have begged his father to leave everything their giant beetle carried not to have to face the monster again. Having been exposed to the strength and speed of the thing, Keme had no desire to fight it. Not even with weapon in hand and comrades at his side.

"If your father no longer wants to trade, then he can leave the full-ball behind when your caravan moves on."

"Allright," said Keme.

"Any questions?" asked the moth.

"No."

For a moment there was silence. Keme remained absolutely still.

"You can go home now if you like," urged the moth.

That was all Keme needed to hear.

---==(o)==---

"Travelling termites don't usually travel at night," said Lei, gazing down at the caravan that had just started moving.

"I have that effect on people," said Black, tonelessly.

"I never knew termites were such cowards." Lei was disappointed.

"It's not just termites," said Black.

Lei remembered her own family aiming their bows at her and Oli.

"I guess you are right," she said, and then noticed that the caravan was leaving a neat pile of small boxes behind. "Look." She pointed excitedly. "They left me my wares."

*

Posted on literotica.com with permission of author: Nanna Marker; literotica ID ellynei.