Orc and Bunny
Chapter 12 - Webs of Illusion
Illusprady the Venomous loathed bugs. It was perhaps slightly ironic then that she was descended from spiders, who, while not quite bugs, many considered of a not dissimilar nature. The thought of this vexed her greatly.
Her musings were interrupted quite impolitely by the groaning rattle of her latest toy on his deathbed. She found the man wrapped in her magnificent webbing, choking. She swatted at the flies swarming around it. While the fantasies that had existed in its mind had been diverting for a while she found herself affronted when the unceasing pleas to free it had begun. She was unsure why her toys always did this in their final days, but it was unamusing.
It reminded her of dreadful times in her unfortunate past. On her hatching, far from her current more pleasant surrounds, she had been set upon by her own kin, the hungerous, monstrous brutes. She fled, desperately, and was nearly accosted several times, but gratefully she found herself beyond that horrendous feast.
A shiver involuntarily forced itself down her spine at the memory of the most unpleasant crunching that had accosted her sensitive young ears. Her eventful exodus had, she thought at the time leastwise, ended on a ship bountiful with food in the form of rats, which she trapped and ate gladly. When boredom inevitably found her, she had watched on in endless fascination at the wizard apprentice on the ship who wove the most illustrious fantasms. She was delighted when she found herself gaining the same ability, and was devotedly studious in her copying her unwitting master.
The crew in gratitude kept her around, until her growing presence suited them ill. She was then forced from her home, in abominable fashion. The torches and shouting had awoken her quite suddenly, and the weapons wielded drove her from the dark recesses of her shipboard dwelling, and out into the cold indifference of a wild world.
Gratefully, the gods saw fit to bless her wanderings with her new verdant home. Here an abundance of toys and food allowed her to thrive, and evolve. No longer was she the tiny frightened creature of her unfortunate birth. She blotted away her hateable past with an unseemly shake of her head, and set herself to completing the task at hand: setting her beloved broken toy to his final resting place. She lugged his body through the lush forest and to the edge of a rock face which overlooked a great lake, and where her refuse was neatly out of sight and mind.
With a final shove, the man’s body alighted from the cliff, and landed with an uncouth splashing into the water below. As if the gods knew of the recent absence she had suffered, Illusprady the Venomous felt a tantalizing vibration from the network of discreet webs she had planted through the woods near her secluded abode. She set herself to the task of finding its source.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Why can’t she join us,” the toy with long rabbit-like ears sprouting from her head asked in dismay. Illusprady had never seen a toy with such a countenance. She found herself very much desiring to play with it.
“Analyze,” she whispered, knowing full well that verbalizing was of no practical use when a skill needed using but there was a rightness to doing so that she found quite pleasing.
A level N?a Abert cla$$ ^nkuom?n
Illusprady the Venomous disregarded the parts of the information that flowed into her head that came out ill. It seemed like no toy in this world had classes or levels, which she found queer but inconsequential. Yes, the spirit in this toy, the clear breeding was fascinating. She continued her eavesdropping from the branches above the trio of alluring young women.
The abert’s acquaintances were of a type she knew well. The britomite, both a race and religion, was well-built. Illusprady would find it necessary to bind her well. The other, a member of those accursed scouts, was not a usual toy but she had played with some like her in the past. Idly she wondered if this beautiful young woman was the child toy who so cleverly escaped her clutches many years ago. She didn’t believe so, after a moments thoughtfulness, for that toy she was certain had been male.
“Because she would be guilty of desertion,” the britomite said, “she has to at least go back and resign.”
“Ugh, you’re gonna make me go all the way back?” the demon whined, in what Illusprady thought a most unseemly manner, “Will you at least wait for me to get back?”
“Are you kidding, I don’t want to spend a second longer than I have to in this forest!” the britomite exclaimed.
“Why don’t we meet her in Farport,” the abert said, pleasing Illusprady. She was clearly a young woman of good breeding, and she found herself becoming desirous of her company, “that way we can all continue on together, but you don’t have to stay in the forest. Aren’t we nearly on the other side anyway?”
“That could work,” the britomite pondered the idea, and Illusprady found herself involuntarily urging them to do just that. Her odds of success increased greatly if they went their separate ways.
“Alright, but don’t leave Farport without me,” the demon warned, before jumping up into the lower branches of the tree where Illusprady had been eavesdropping. She fought her instinct to accost the demoness as soon as she was in range, instead concealing herself in the foliage by way of her magic. The demon leaped away from branch to branch.
Illusprady the Venomous found herself struggling against an impossible choice, should she invite the demon to her home, or the abert and her acquaintance. She did not have time to issue her invitation to all three, and the longer she took to puzzle it out the less likely she was to be successful. After a moment of desperation, her desire for novelty and refinement won out.
She consoled herself with thoughts that the demon may endeavor to locate her missing companions and she would be able to complete the set. The abert and britomite had all the seeming of being completely oblivious to the ill machinations that were being schemed behind them.
Illusprady the Venomous slowly stalked the two young women who were moving closer and closer to the boundary of the forest where they would forever be out of her reach.