In a small clearing, he found the wisp surrounded by the squirrels. He told the wisp about the final bit of agreements he had received from the Black Hand.
“Truce?” The wisp pulsed. “It is a fleeting thing. No human can be trusted." it grew in size to emphasize. "Ever.”
It was awfully sceptical about the truce.
“Yeah, but they at least stopped chopping the forest for now.”
“Yes, for now.” It stressed.
“If we play this well, I can’t see why it can’t be lasting.”
“Nothing is lasting. Nothing is forever. But, King of Spiders, you did well. We did win this time.”
“Yeah, I think it will be alright. I will leave them the cloth and we will see where it goes from there.” He scratched the back of his head. “Let’s release the captives. I have no need of them.”
The wisp didn’t comment on that.
“But you are right, a truce can last only so long and we still have to prepare for the unpleasant, whenever it comes. I think we should reinforce the forest border.”
“Already am. The squirrels planted new saplings.“ The wisp pulsed with pride.
“No, I mean something more serious.” He pulled out the thorn vine seed. “Let’s grow some barbed wire.”
“Barbed wire?” The wisp asked curious.
He planted a seed into the soil activating his Acclimate and Unnatural Selection perks.
“Yeah, a vine full of spiky thorns. It is near impossible to walk over it and it's hard to get rid of. It’s a near perfect barrier.”
“Then it’s similar to Vine Wall I have used to stop the humans. This is more permanent.”
“Exactly. Well, it still will take time to grow.”
“Not a problem, Grow.” The wisp showered the seed in green sparkles.
The seed exploded in a burst of growth, thick coils of vines extended crawling on the ground. Each had big and nasty thorns the size of daggers.
“That was impressive. I’ll leave you the whole bag, your squirrels can plant them in the clearing.”
“Thanks.” the wisp levitated the bag of seeds in the air.
With that he turned to leave the wisp, he kind of wanted to go back to the farm and check on how everyone was doing.
“King of Spiders?” The wisp asked just before he could leave.
“Yes?”
“Can you leave some of your spiders here? We worry that without their presence the humans might change their minds.”
“You’re right. But… They have been through a lot, so they earned some rest. I’ll ask the spider leader, it will be his choice.”
He went to see the spider in question.
“No Problem. We Stay.”
“Are you sure?” He asked again.
“No Problem.” It reaffirmed.
“Then I will send supplies and reinforcement to relieve you once I get back to the farm.”
“No Problem.”
The spider leader just had no problems, ever. Such an easy guy to work with.
With that out of the way, he instructed a few spiders to grab the volunteer humans and fetch the two to the farm. There was no way he could allow the pair to leave the forest. Plus, he will have someone to teach him how to write and other things about the local human kingdom.
“Shadow Walk.” He moved through darkness quicker than the wind.
…
He emerged from the dense jungle and into the familiar clearing; the sight of TomGrape vines and blue webs warmed his heart. He broke the spell so that he could walk casually and enjoy the sight. Spider farmers, big and small, greeted him with their iconic spider waving.
By the looks of it, nothing much has changed. Once he reached the centre of the farm, the place where all the buildings were, he noticed a change: a bunch of lamias were hanging from the IronOak in blue nets; captured or even imprisoned.
“What happened?” He asked the lamias but there was only silent uncomfortable squirming. They didn't even make an effort to look in his direction. "Odd."
So, he went to see the Lamia Queen. The Queen would often greet him with a warm smile, but not this time. There was worry tarnishing her otherwise perfect face.
“What happened?” He asked going straight to the point.
The Queen twirled her white long hair and began in a meek voice. “There was a mutiny... SSS. Just that you know-sss, I had nothing to do with that. Absolutely nothing! SSS!” She reiterated the point with newfound vigour. “That’s right, they did that-sss on their own. Sss-so ungrateful!”
“Did what? What's going on?”
“Oh! I thought-sss you already know and came to…” She gave him the look. “Never mind. It’s best if you go and sss-see for yourself.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“…?”
“To the caves-sss. To the sss-spring.”
“Something bad happened?”
The Queen deflected it with a shrug.
“Shadow Walk!” He turned into a swirling shadow and disappeared into the wall.
“SSS!!!” The Queen yelped in surprise. “By the bile of worms-sss, what was-sss that?!” She looked at the wall with big red eyes unable to believe what just happened. She even touched the wall to check if it was solid; it was.
…
Once he reached the caves he found that his skill was much less effective here because he couldn’t phase through metres of solid rock, nor could he move fast because of all the turns and twists. He sprinted at a brisk pace ever deeper into the caves. He even met some spiders on his way down.
“Everything. Fine.” The spider assured him.
But then why Lamia Queen was so worried?
He emerged into a large cavern, all the signs of myconid infestation were long gone. It was just a normal cavern with a normal spring. What was not normal was the humanoids bathing in the hot spring. He couldn’t recognise them.
“O King of Spiders, come join us. It has healing properties.” A bald ugly grey humanoid invited.
“Do I know you?” He asked curious.
“It’s me, The High Chief.” The grey humanoid pointed to his naked self giving a toothy smile. The mouth was full of needle-like teeth.
“I see…” He still didn’t recognise him.
“I must say, this spring is awesome. Thank you for giving us a new home. Oh, and thanks for sending the materials to construct our houses. We haven’t finished yet, but almost everyone has a house now.”
He looked to the side, indeed there were some constructions made out of fungi wood, only hovels really.
“Sorry. But, why are you bald and grey now?” He left the ugly part out.
“Oh, that… The ritual backfired and we aren’t elves any more. Simple as that.”
Did the High Chief get somehow corrupted by the spring, but the spring is clear now, so…
“So what are you?” He had to ask.
“Drow, I think.”
“Drow?”
“Yes, the elves of the caves. We even have Darkvision now. It’s amazing. Thanks again for our new home.”
“Congratulations? And you’re welcome… but I am afraid this is Lamia's home.”
“What? But they told us we can have it, as compensation for interrupting our ritual.” The High Chief jumped out of the water all flustered.
“Huh? Oh, the mutiny… There might have been a misunderstanding somewhere.”
“They made it quite clear that they don’t want this spring. They said it's useless to them and that we should just take it and settle here. The spiders even brought resources for that.” The High Chief frowned. “Did they do something without consulting with you? If so I apologise for taking something that isn’t mine.” The High Chief bowed.
“No, no. If the Lamia said you can have it, then you can.”
“Thank you, O Great King of Spiders and Drows.” He bowed again. “…and Lamia.” He added the last part in a whisper.
“Actually, I must thank you for cleansing this spring. I will make sure you are rewarded properly.”
He said what he had to say. The reality was that he still was somewhat confused. Then, why did he even need the spring cleansed if the Lamia didn’t want it anyway!!!
“I must go for now. Shadow Walk.” He disappeared, hit the wall in the tunnel, bent the helmet badly, learned the lesson and walked the rest of the way to the outside.
…
The two were bickering like a young couple:
“What do you mean you don’t want to go back to the caves?”
“I don’t want to!”
“But why? I’ve gone over all this trouble for you.”
“I just-sss don’t want to.”
“But lamias like the hot springs.”
“Dark Elves can have it. SSS!”
“They are Drow now, not dark elves.”
“Whatever-sss.”
"..."
"..."
“You sabotaged their ritual didn’t you.”
“SSS! No, I didn’t!”
“But you did!”
“No…”
“You made the High Chief bald!”
“…”
“His skin is grey, his body wiry, his face gaunt, back hunched and his eyes red. You changed their entire race into something else!”
“Sss-so what?”
“…”
“…”
“If you were happier here you could have just told me.”
“I am happy here. Can we sss-stay?” She looked with puppy-like eyes.
“Now… Now I don’t know, I don’t think you should. You’ve been making trouble for everyone.”
“Please. I’ll be good.”
“I don’t know.”
“Please, pretty plea-sss-e. I promise I won’t sss-steal slug jelly anymore.”
“…?”
“…and I won’t sss-steal your boars.”
She wasn’t finished.
“…and I won’t sss-sit on your throne then you are gone. And, and, amm… I won’t come to your room to watch you sss-sleep, yes! I will be good.”
“You what?!”
“I promise I will be good from now on.”
He learned more than he needed to know, but his intention never changed. “Fine, you can stay. I was just messing with you because you made trouble for others. That's it.”
“Yes-sss!” She jumped into the air, or tried to, she had a long tail after all.
“Oh, and don’t sit on my throne anymore.”
“Okay. Can I still watch you sss-sleep?”
“You are joking about that one, right? Right?!”
“He-he… Of course. SSS.” She gave her best smile. “Hey, wanna sss-see the babies? They had finally hatched.”
“Oh, really? Will they be alright here? And should they really be here and not in the caves?”
“As long as they don’t go into the light they will be fine. SSS. Come-sss.”
He was led to a hatchery, it was very dark inside, but he could see small forms slithering in the darkness.
The Queen lamia scooped a baby and raised it for him to see better. “Aren’t they cute?”
It was white and more snake than humanoid. It didn’t even have arms yet, only a very big head and long tail. It wasn’t even remotely cute. It was like a creature from a horror movie.
“Yeah, very cute.”
“SSS.” The baby lamia hissed angrily exposing the mouth already full of sharp teeth.
“Aww, it likes-sss you.”
Something cold and slimy was slithering over his ankle, he ignored the urge to run. “So is that a boy or a girl?” He tried to make small talk.
“You sss-silly, all Lamia are girls, I’ve told you.”
“I see… And how many are here?”
“About a hundred?”
“And they eat what?”
“What a sss-strange question. the sss-same stuff we do. You know nothing about babies-sss do you?”
“Nope. The spiders are just easy. They hatch and they go, already ready for work.”
“Well, these aren’t spiders-sss.” She put the baby down and it slithered away towards the dark corner.
“Is there anything I need to do to help you guys?”
“No, not really.”
“I guess we should make a dark den for the babies. They will need more space.”
“Yes, that would be good. They won’t be able to go into sss-sunlight for a while.”
He realised that his kingdom now will have not just spiders but probably the lamias living in it. It all was fine, he liked the company, but there was an issue. He was the King here, and then there was another ruler, the Lamia Queen; a kingdom within a kingdom was not a thing that worked well.
“Doesn't it bother you that you must follow my rules?”
“Sss?” Lamia looked curiously at him. “Your house your rules.”
“But you are the Queen of Lamia, doesn’t it look like I undermine your rule?”
“Why? I don’t understand-sss.”
“There can’t be two rulers in one kingdom. It will bring trouble.”
“He-he-sss.” She laughed heartily. “You silly, there can be a queen and a king.”
“No, that’s what I am saying. The spiders and lamias might get confused about whose orders to follow.”
“Yes-sss, I do ask your spiders for sss-some favours and you do ask Lamia for help, but there never is confusion.”
He looked at her thinking if he should remind her about the spring incident.
“Never mind, if we get along it’s all that matters.”
“Precisely, sss, my King.”
She grabbed for his hand surprising him. Two red eyes stared deep right into his trying to convey the hidden meaning.
“Am I the Lamia King now?!” The realisation hit him.
“You don’t want to?” She put on a fake pouting face but clung even closer.
“I guess, it solves the issue about the two rulers. The Drow called me their king and now you. So it’s the King of Spiders, the Drow and now the Lamia?”
“That old fart, sss, tried to marry you? SSS!” The lamia released his hand abruptly.
“Marry? I think you misunderstood something. They just decided to become my vassals, that’s it.”
The lamia wasn’t listening. “I sss-should have killed him there and then! SSS!”
“Hey, you told me you will be good!”
The evil expression on Queen Lamia's changed in an instant. “Oh, that’s-sss right. That sss-stinking dark elf can't be a Queen. SSS-safe…” She reached for his hand again. “I won’t kill him, I promise.”
He realised that since all lamia were women the Queen lamia must have misunderstood something about the High Chief.
“Are you… secretly evil or something?” He couldn’t help but wonder.
“Me?” She gestured at herself. “Never!”