sorry this one is kind of long...
Chapter 13
Spider yawned and stretched in his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. It was morning so he slid down off the bed and headed outside. The rest of the village was still asleep, save for those on guard and patrol duty, so he decided to go ahead and hunt himself some breakfast….
Later he was at a river, cleaning himself up after catching and eating a young scrab. After he was done he tried to take a short nap, but he was restless for some reason and decided to take a walk.
As he walked along the river edge, he thought about what to do with his life now. The talk he had with Bea the night before had helped him feel better and more confident, but he was still unsure as to what he was going to do with himself.
Just what IS my purpose in life now? he thought with a sigh as he looked out over the river. He cocked his head suddenly, thinking he heard something. He stood quietly, listening intently, then he heard it again. It was a series of small, panicked sounding, squeals. Curious, he followed the sounds. He found a small crate just inside the water not far away, it had the words 'Live Cargo' on the side and the squealing was coming from within.
Suddenly filled with a sense of urgency, Spider pulled the crate out of the water and onto dry land. He then literally tore the top off and looked in. Inside the crate, was a trio of sliglets. He blinked in surprise at them and they stared back at him, huddled all together, frightened and cold from the water. Not knowing what came over him, he rumbled at them softly and nuzzled them with his snout. One of them responded by grabbing onto one of his face tentacles, causing him to recoil in surprise somewhat. The sliglet squeaked at him, and nuzzled him with its snout. The other two followed suit and grabbed on to his face tentacles as well. He blinked in surprise again, then he smiled and chuckled softly. He lifted his head back out and lowered his head til they were almost touching the ground. The sliglets dropped off and huddled together again, shivering.
They’re still cold… Spider thought as he wondered what to do next. He laid down and wrapped his arms around them, being careful not to crush them. The sliglets pressed themselves up against him, taking in his body heat. Spider smiled again and rumbled in content. He didn’t know why he was reacting to them this way…but he didn’t care, he felt happy.
After a little while they were good and warm again and they were starting to crawl all over him. One of them suddenly slipped and fell off and gave a short squeal of distress. Spider immediately turned to it and nuzzled it comfortingly. It wasn’t injured, just stunned and it quickly got up and started wrestling with one of the others. It wasn’t long before the third joined in. They rolled and tumbled until they had exhausted themselves and promptly fell asleep in a bundle. Now Spider had a problem…how was he going to get these three back to the village?
He looked back over at the crate, it wasn’t very big, it barely held the three sliglets. He pulled it over in front of him, thinking. It had 12 air holes, 3 on each side and none of the sides were as wide as his chest. He looked up and pulled off a length of vine. He slipped on end of the vine through one of the air holes and tied it off. He did the same with the other end and experimentally slipped the resulting handle over his neck and stood up. The knots held and the crate didn’t hinder his movement.
This should do.. he thought as he moved over to were the sliglets were sleeping. Gently he picked up each one and put it back into the crate, none of them stirred. Then with a content sigh, Spider started making his way back to the village….
Spider got some odd looks as he entered the village, but he ignored them. He spotted Bea in the center talking to Xar and he walked over to them. He glared briefly at Xar, who just glared back at him (Spider never did learn to trust medics again…), before setting the crate gently down on the bench Bea was sitting on.
“Spider what do you have here?” Bea asked curiously as she looked in. “Well now…” she said as she reached in and lifted out one of the sliglets and put it on her lap, “where did you find these little guys?”
“Found ‘em at the river. Don’ know how they got there…” Spider answered.
“Must have been part of a shipment that was takin’ ‘em ter ‘nother factory.” Xar mused as he went to pick up one of the other sliglets, only having to take a sudden step back when he got snapped at by Spider. “What’s up with yer?” he scowled, “I was only going ter…’
“Yer are not touchin’ ‘em!” Spider growled, baring his teeth.
“Actually, “ Bea said, “I think you should allow Xar to look them over. To make sure there is nothing wrong with them.”
Spider growled again, but said reluctantly, “Alright…” and settled himself down not far away, keeping an eye on Xar the whole time he was checking the sliglets.
He has a very strong parental instinct… Bea thought, Why do I get the feeling some people are going to end up getting hurt by him over these little guys?
It turned out Bea was right. Just that afternoon Spider was resting in the village center, watching the sliglets wrestle and chase each other around. A grown slig staggered into the area, obviously having had one to many. He sneered at the sliglets. Spider looked up at him warily, growling slightly.
"Jus’ what we don’ need… more mouths ter feed..." he growled as he kicked the nearest sliglet.
Spider's reaction was immediate, he charged at the offending slig with an angry howl and backhanded him, sending him flying into tree, stunning him. He then went over to the injured sliglet, rumbling comfortingly to it. Fortunately the sliglet wasn't hurt and it righted its self and joined its pack mates underneath Spider, all huddled together frightened. Spider rumbled softly to them reassuringly, then looked back up at the slig that attacked his 'brood' and growled furiously at him.
"If yer even so much as look at them the wrong way again…" he growled threateningly, "I'll rip yer head off..."
And everyone could tell that Spider was dead serious...
[ June 24, 2001: Message edited by: Dragadon ]
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