Chapter 750: Strong Silk [Bonus - ]

Chapter 750: Strong Silk [Bonus Chapter]

He looked down at Mochi, watching her tiny legs twitch contentedly against his palm, and a practical thought crossed his mind.

’How long would it take for them to mature...?’ he wondered, his dark blue eyes narrowing slightly. ’They’re harmless and adorable right now, but royal bloodlines usually grow into something big... If they keep this fluff and grow into proper guardians, six royal spiders on our walls could shut down anything trying to sneak in.’

Reina noticed the sudden sharp shift in his gaze. She tilted her head, and her gray eyes crinkled at the corners in knowing amusement.

"Are you thinking about how long it’ll take for them to mature, Lord Silas?" she asked with a teasing lilt.

Silas blinked, caught off guard, and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Can you read minds now, or is my face really that easy to read?"

"A good Beast Tamer learns to read the faces of her herd, and Lords aren’t all that different from stubborn drakes..." Reina joked with a wink. "To answer your question, monsters usually take a lot less time to mature than normal beasts... According to a book I found in the Library, it’ll take them about a month to fully mature."

Silas nodded slowly, his fingers still stroking Mochi’s soft back.

’A month... That’s fast. In thirty days we’ll know exactly what kind of power they’re going to bring to Blessed Land.’

"Where are the other three, anyway?" he asked. "Did they wander off into the woods?"

"Oh, look up," Reina said, pointing a finger toward the shadowed inside of the pavilion.

Silas stepped past the gate and tipped his head back to peer into the cedar rafters forty feet overhead.

Strung between the heavy wooden crossbeams was an intricate, breathtaking web of thick pearly white silk.

It wasn’t like the sticky dusty cobwebs in abandoned cellars... These strands gleamed with a faint shimmer and caught the lantern light like polished silver cables woven through the dark wood.

Tucked inside two little hammock-like silk cradles near the ridge-pole were two more fluffy white balls, curled up tight with their eight legs folded under their bellies, fast asleep.

A third white spider hung upside down from a single glistening thread, swinging lazily back and forth like a pendulum and tapping a rafter with one fuzzy foot every time it swung past.

As Silas watched, it stopped mid-swing, spun slowly around on its thread and peered down at him with its two big purple eyes then it lifted one fuzzy leg and waved it at him.

Silas waved back before he even realized what he was doing.

"They’re troublemakers," Reina laughed, watching the swinging spider with fond exasperation. "They love climbing up into the highest rafters and dropping on anyone who walks through the door without looking up but they’re really cute, and they’re not bad at all... They haven’t nipped a single wolf, and they’ve been catching all the biting gnats that drift down off the crags. Honestly, I just hope they don’t get too big when that month is up... but even if they grow to the size of wagons, I’m sure they’ll still be cute... They’ll just be giant fluffy cushions that happen to climb walls."

Beside them, Lupina let out a pitiful shuddering groan as her knees finally started to give out.

"Please..." she whined, her voice cracking as Cotton began idly grooming the fur of her silver wolf ear. "Lord Silas... my knees are turning to water... take them away..."

Silas chuckled and stepped over to the trembling wolf-girl.

With practiced gentle care he reached up with both hands.

His right fingers scooped Cotton out of her hair while his left hand plucked Dumpling off the front of her top.

POP!

The tiny silk anchors the babies had laid against her shirt snapped cleanly, and the moment the weight left her chest Lupina let out an enormous shuddering sigh of relief.

Her knees gave out completely, and she tumbled backward into a soft fragrant pile of dry mountain hay and sprawled flat on her back with her arms flung wide and her chest heaving.

"I have survived..." she gasped up at the rafters, her tail thumping weakly against the straw. "The eight-legged demons have spared my life..."

"Dramatic as always," Silas laughed, walking back over to the cedar rail where Reina was waiting.

He carefully passed Mochi, Cotton and Dumpling back into the Beast Tamer’s open hands.

The three little white balls immediately piled together into one squirming mound of soft fur, chirping and nuzzling against each other in the safety of her palms.

Silas looked Reina in the eyes, and his expression turned sincere.

"Thank you for taking care of them, Reina," he said warmly, resting his hand on the top rail. "Seriously... You took six strange eggs that could’ve hatched into anything, kept them alive and turned them into healthy happy babies for the territory... That’s incredible work. Blessed Land is lucky to have you down here."

A faint pleased pink dusted Reina’s cheeks.

She dipped her head in a small bow, holding the bundle of baby spiders securely against her leather apron.

"It’s my job as a member of Blessed Land, Lord Silas," she said softly, her gray eyes shining with quiet devotion. "And more than that... I really enjoy being useful to you. Whenever you bring something back to this valley, whether it’s a hurt pup or an egg nobody else wants to touch, you trust me with it... That means everything to me."

She straightened up and tugged the strap of her apron with a bright energetic grin.

"I’ll finish the rest of the evening troughs," she said, nodding toward the wolves licking the last scraps off the wood, "and then I’ll wash up and come to the Keep shortly... I can’t wait to meet the Goddess of Beasts!"

"I’ll be expecting you," Silas said, waving to her as he turned away. "See you soon, Reina."

"See you soon, my Lord!" she called back, and carried the trio of chirping fluffballs off toward an insulated nesting box beside the hay storage.

Silas turned toward the hay pile, where Lupina was still sprawled out with her silver tail flopping lazily against the straw.

"Up on your feet," he said, amused. "We’ve got ground to cover."

Lupina scrambled out of the hay in an instant, shaking dry stalks out of her hair and her shorts like a dog shaking off pond water, and her ears perked upright as she hurried to fall into step beside him.

They left the pavilion gate and turned onto the wide dirt path that wound back toward the Keep.

The evening mist had grown thicker and hung between the tall pine trunks like gray curtains, and the distant lanterns of the settlement flickered through the haze like warm fireflies.

As they walked, Silas started making plans in his head.

’First, get Rika settled with the twelve beast eggs from Central City,’ he mapped out, his boots crunching steadily on the dirt. ’Then link her up with Reina... Decide the mining winners then head over to Aki’s territory before announcing the winners to the girls.’

He reached into his jacket pocket, and his fingers brushed against a small coil of glistening white thread he’d pulled loose from a broken anchor line on the lower pavilion beams before they left.

He drew out a twelve-inch strand of the pearly spider silk and held it up between his thumb and forefinger.

In the fading twilight it gleamed with a faint violet shimmer and looked as delicate and fragile as spun sugar.

Silas tossed the strand into the air between them and let it drift slowly down on the mountain draft.

"Lupina," he called out sharply. "Try to tear that apart."

Lupina’s eyes snapped onto the floating thread.

Her combat reflexes took over without a moment’s hesitation.

The muscles of her right arm tensed, and with a swift flick of her wrist her fingernails lengthened into four razor-sharp silver claws that whistled through the damp air.

SHING!

Her claws slashed straight through the space where the silk was drifting, with enough force behind them to open an armored goblin’s throat in a single clean pass.

TWANG!

The silk didn’t part like cut string...

It caught on the edges of her claws with a dull metallic vibration and stretched, bowing outward like a drawn bowstring, swallowing the whole force of her slash without snapping!

Lupina’s eyes went wide in sudden frustrated disbelief.

"What the—"

She slashed again, faster, this time with both hands in a crossing X!

SHING-SHING!

TWANG! TWANG!

The silk bent around both sets of claws like a fishing line around a stubborn pike and sprang right back into shape, it was still drifting lazily between them as if it were mocking her.

She grunted, planted her boots firmly in the dirt and caught the other end of the thread in her left hand.

She bared her sharp canines and flexed her forearms as she threw her whole body weight into ripping the tiny thread in two.

CREAK! STRAIN!

The impossibly fine silk fought back like tempered steel cable and Lupina’s breath hissed hard through her teeth.

Her muscles trembled under her skin as she fought the stretching tension for three long agonizing seconds before she finally found a tiny weak spot along the grain.

’It’s a thread!’ she thought furiously, her teeth gritted so hard her jaw ached. ’A baby spider made this...! I’m a Hero of Blessed Land and I’m losing a tug-of-war to a baby spider’s thread!’

SNAP!

The thread parted with a loud whip-crack that sent a stinging jolt shooting through her fingertips.

She stumbled back half a step, shaking her stinging hands wildly in the air as she stared at the two severed halves of silk with wide horrified eyes.

"What the hell kind of thread was that?!" she gasped, chest heaving as she rubbed her knuckles against her shorts. "It felt like sawing through an anchor chain with a butter knife! That came out of those tiny puffballs?!"

Silas caught the floating half of the silk in his palm and felt the cold smooth toughness of the fiber against his skin.

’They’re even stronger than I thought...’ he reflected, and a deep satisfaction spread through his chest. ’Barely out of the shell, and their silk can already take a full slash from a Hero without shearing. In a month this stuff is going to stop anything that hits it, even high-tier assault units. Armor lining, wall traps, bowstrings... This is good for their growth.’

He tucked the silk back into his pocket and turned to face Lupina, his expression relaxed and warm.

"Thanks for walking with me, Lupina," he said, resting his hand on her shoulder for a brief friendly moment. "You can head over to the Barracks for now... Get some hot food and wash the hay out of your hair. I’ve got something to handle in the Keep before I head over to Aki’s territory."

He paused, and his dark blue eyes met hers with complete sincerity.

"I meant what I said back at the tree," he added softly. "Once I’m back from everything I’m doing, I’m going to focus on you girls completely... You won’t have to hunt for scraps of my time anymore."

Lupina’s silver tail gave a quick involuntary twitch against her calves.

A bright genuine smile broke across her face and chased away the last traces of her earlier embarrassment.

She tipped her chin up with fond teasing warmth in her eyes.

"You better keep your promises, Lord Silas," she said with a playful warning in her voice. "Morrighan and I have very sharp claws, and we know which bedroom is yours..."

"I will," Silas chuckled, shaking his head. "I always pay my debts eventually."

Lupina took a step back, ready to spin on her heel and sprint down the side lane toward the Barracks.

"See you later, Lord—"

SWOOSH!

Before she could finish the sentence or kick off the dirt, Silas’s hand moved with terrifying casual precision.

His fingers slid under the thick silver fur of her tail and closed firmly around the velvety base right where it met her lower back, and he gave it another slow firm squeeze.

SQUEEZE!

"Nyaaaa-aaahn~!"

A sound that was half cat and half strangled songbird burst out of Lupina’s throat, louder and even more undignified than the first time.

Her back arched so hard that her shorts pulled tight, her knees wobbled in a frantic uncoordinated mess, and her silver ears flattened so violently that they vanished into her hair.

Silas grinned and let go just as quickly, his eyes dancing with pure mischief.

"I won’t miss it, Lupina. I wouldn’t dream of breaking a promise to a tail this soft."

He tilted his head and tapped his chin with a thoughtful hum, glancing at her trembling bright-red profile.

"Though, now that I think about it..." he murmured, his voice laced with wicked curiosity, "I wonder what Morrighan’s tail would feel like? Hers is smooth and has that sharp little spade at the tip... Is the base just as sensitive as yours?"

"Eeeeeeeeek!"

Lupina’s brain completely detonated.

She clamped both hands tight over her backside, let out an ear-piercing mortified wolf squeal that echoed through the misty pines and bolted down the dirt lane like a scalded hare.

Her boots kicked up a spray of loose gravel as she tore toward the Barracks at full speed and vanished around the corner of the building in the blink of an eye.

Silas stood in the middle of the path laughing until his ribs ached.

"Man, teasing beastkin never gets old," he murmured to himself, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye as he turned back toward the main road.

He walked up the broad stone avenue toward the center of the territory with his boots clicking on the cobblestones.

The Keep rose ahead of him against the darkening sky... five stories of solid stone, with warm yellow lantern light spilling from several of the ground-floor windows and laying long glowing rectangles across the courtyard pavers.

Suddenly, a strange turbulent vibration rolled through the mana in the air.

Silas stopped in the middle of the courtyard. His dark blue eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze toward the far eastern bluffs.

Far off in the distance, two big mana signatures were flaring hard against each other.

One was a fierce churning torrent of tidal water mana like storm waves crashing on a reef. The other was deep and green and ancient, rolling like the roots of a forest pushing up through the earth.

FZZZT! CRACKLE!