Princess of Amathar by Wesley Allison Page B

anyway?" I asked him. "Why would you be sentenced to death for eating something that wasn't yours?"
    "We eat any live flesh,” he explained, "but thinking, speaking creatures are reserved for the leader and the hive elder."
    "That hardly seems fair. Why, a fellow like you... what was your name?"
    "Vvvv."
    "Why,” I continued, "I would much rather be eaten by a fine fellow like you than almost anyone else. What about you, Malagor?"
    "Indeed,” said my companion. "It would be an honor to be eaten by Vvvv."
    "You must surely be the finest of the Pell,” I said. "In fact, now that I think about it, why aren't you the leader?"
    "I should be!" squealed the spider, puffing himself up larger. "I have always known that I should be leader! Even the lower forms can see it!"
    "Just let us out of these cocoons. Free us from this web, and we will kill the leader for you."
    "You must kill the hive elder too,” hissed Vvvv.
    "Of course we will,” I assured him. "Won't we Norar Remontar?" The Amatharian looked blankly at me. I continued.
    "Then the rightful ruler of the Pell will be able to take command."
    "You must hurry,” said Malagor. "The rain is beginning to stop. Soon the other Pell will return."
    "I will do it!" shouted Vvvv. "You promise to kill them both?"
    "We will,” I asserted.
    The spider quickly crawled over to Malagor and using his vertical mouth snipped through the webbing. Norar Remontar was freed next and finally me. I was free no more than a second before I lost my balance, not being particularly arboreal. Flailing my arms wildly, I fell from the webbing, thirty feet down toward the ground, and landed in a sitting position right upon the back of the largest spider creature in the settlement.
    Chapter Eight: Pursued
    I felt a crushing, squishing sound, as the life and the insides were crushed out of the giant spider upon which I had landed. Jumping to my feet, I found the hulking arachnid looking much like a very small one looks, after it has been stepped upon. The many other spider beings of the compound stood completely still for what must have been several minutes, enough time for Norar Remontar and Malagor to clamber down from the web. They were standing by my side, as was our liberator Vvvv, when the Pell began once again to move. They did not move toward us, or attempt to attack, but instead simply spun around in a bizarre dance as if they had lost their minds. Vvvv seemed immune to this behavior.
    "Now would be a great time to leave,” I said.
    "We have fulfilled only half of our commitment,” said Norar Remontar, and drawing his sword, leapt toward the Pell whom I had earlier enjoyed spitting upon. As he raised his sword above his head, it began to provide a lovely pale illumination, and as he sliced through the body of the monster, the body hairs and flesh sizzled as if the weapon had been a hot brand. The Amatharian moved quickly away from the arachnids and began a trot toward the forest. Malagor and I followed.
    "It's all yours, Vvvv!" I called out, stopping to look back from the forest edge. The Pell who had freed us positioned himself upon a large rock and began speaking to his fellows in the whistling language of their kind. Presumably he was presenting his credentials to be leader, or urging them to some sort of action. The other spiders listened for a moment, then with a swift and determined viciousness, set upon him with their stingers and their fangs. In scant seconds, the hapless Vvvv had been torn to pieces. Then the entire horde turned toward me.
    I quickly took off after my companions who were several hundred feet ahead of me by now. It didn't take me long, with my gravity enhanced muscles, to catch up with them. I quickly relayed the events going on behind us, and we all redoubled our efforts to get away from the area. I of course, had no trouble in trotting along at quite a good pace, and Norar Remontar seemed to be quite the long-distance runner, but my friend Malagor, though he was quite