She was overseeing her precious cargo—large hampers made of wicker. It wasn’t unheard of that a tooth could get through the baskets, penetrating the hands of laborers. And of course, the poison was deadly. Normally the witch wouldn’t mind. Her pets needed the feeding, but laborers willing to handle such dangerous creatures were hard to come by, and this time they happened to be the incognito samurai of the First Spear. Usually she just used slaves.

The First Spear… Hukama, the legendary general of Kachiiwara.

Ladya didn’t care for whatever his aims here were, though she admitted to herself a certain excitement at the prospects of what might happen. Right now she needed coin and she was offering a service for that payment. Nothing more.

But the chaos of war will surely allow me to work unmolested.

She had traveled with the foreign commander’s soldiers, posing as his paramour, he as a rich summerer coming into the city. His soldiers wore the livery of house servants. It was a good ruse, but Ladya didn’t much like her part. He was shorter than she was. She stood a full head taller than he.

And he’s ancient.

Normally she didn’t care what others thought of her. In fact, she preferred to stay out of the public eye completely. But after her castle had been raided, she had no choice but to gather coin and rebuild. The agents of The Purging Flame are relentless!

She found herself scowling in silence, arms crossed as the liveried soldiers unloaded the baskets from the back of the wagon. She abruptly straightened her features. She had to stop doing that, otherwise she would become a wrinkled old hag.

Disgusting. Ladya would be beautiful forever!

One of the “servants” fumbled with his basket, the corner dropping from one hand and hitting the cobbled ground. The enclosure abruptly shook, though no other sounds issued from it.

The witch involuntarily clenched her fingers as if about to claw a man’s face off. “Careful, you mongrels! They’re not war dogs!”

Several of the men gave pause and looked at her, then went back to working. Samurai didn’t much like epithets hurled at them, but how else would Ladya impress upon them the severity of their stupidity?

The First Spear raised an eyebrow at her outburst. “Be careful,” he said to his soldiers, not rumpling his demeanor.

Perhaps Ladya overreacted. But her beasts were delicate. “They’re meant to hide in the shadows, strike unawares and by doing so, cause rumor and fear.”

As she said the words she couldn’t help but feel arousal. There was much work to do tonight. She would satisfy her needs after engorging her sadism later. Her horrors were to be unleashed very soon. And when the eggs hatched, then the people of this city would know the fears of the night!

“We’ll have to destroy them once we’ve taken the city,” the First Spear said coolly.

Ladya grit her teeth. She hated when her spiders were killed. Breeding them was not easy. Acquiring warm bodies to feed them was expensive. They needed to have a taste for human blood.

The crates stuffed with straw and egg sacks were now being unloaded. She laughed, unable to stifle her excitement.

That laugh had been the outburst of a woman on the verge of horrendous deeds of terror. Her excitement quickly turned to anger as she silently bemoaned the loss of her keep to those filthy warriors of steel and fire. Spiders hated fire.

Bayule curse the souls of those magic haters.

If Hukama wanted her spiders destroyed, that would be acceptable, so long as she could use them for her purpose.

This country was overflowing with individuals with magical aura. Legends as they were oftentimes called. She could sense them, and even now her apprentice Kat was about the city searching them out. Yukai was rife for her needs.