Interlude: Morana

The Town Hall was dark and heavy with silence when Morana entered, her steps slow and respectful. Disturbing her Master while he fed was unwise but failing to issue her report on time would be most unwise.

The Town Hall that once belonged to ‘Wetbrook’ now belonged to him, and him alone. It used to belong to an elder in servitude to the Empire all them many, many months ago; before she and her Master arrived. When the two sentries on night duty looked out over the walls of Wetbrook, their dim torchlights standing vigil amongst a sea of darkness; they would not have seen their invaders but heard them. A thousand spider legs thundered down from the east, their scurrying legs building to a wave of war drums in their magnitude.

When the first wave of spiders crashed against the cobblestone walls of Wetbrook, the sentries looked on in terror, trapped in a web of fear as the great spider host began to climb. The men on the wall dropped their torches and fled, disregarding their duty and the steel at their hips; but it would not serve them. The town was surrounded by an army of black death. The spiders climbed and swarmed, swallowing up the whole town in a matter of hours. Before the guards knew what was happening the enemy was upon them, ripping soldiers from their beds to feast, tearing children from the arms of their mothers, paralyzing those that did not fight back, and cocooning them for later.

By the time Morana and her Master arrived, the town had been taken and the last of the defenses had been quenched under the ocean of destruction. The town of Wetbrook became the new ‘Spider’s Lair’ and the Master set his sights on a more ambitious prize.

Morana halted in the Town Hall and awaited her master’s admittance. He was feeding, and Morana waited patiently, ignoring the sudden cries of agony ahead. Her Master liked to prick his prey while they were cocooned to liquefy their insides. The prey had to be alive during this process, of course, so much care had been taken to cocoon living prey during the sack of the town.

When the Master was done, Morana saw him skitter amongst his webbing, his large mass had grown to astonishing proportions, and his legs grew to the length of twenty feet. But as he charged Morana, his form suddenly changed. Her Master shrunk and coiled his legs tightly against his body until he was no bigger than a black boulder; a second later he transformed into a human and walked forward to meet Morana. Morana was impressed by his growing ability to shapeshift.

“Morana,” her Master said slowly as if relishing every syllable on his new tongue. Morana knelt like she always did in her master’s presence. The floor she knelt on was covered in webbing, and bits of bone stuck crudely about; the air in here was potent with the fragrance of decomposition.

“Inform me,” he said.

Morana looked up and gazed into the deep amethyst eyes of her Master, the eyes that always looked hungry for whatever they gazed upon.

“Your plan is coming to fruition,” Morana began. “The empire mobilizes in the west and has begun pulling levies from Leeside. The city will be weakened in the fortnight”

“Good,” her Master hissed. “And what of the wizard?”

Morana allowed herself to smile as she bowed her head low, like a girl hearing something naughty.

“Captured by the Webbed Children. He will be ready to perform the spell when the time comes”

Morana heard her Master cackle shrilly and felt her own pleasure in his contentment. She felt the gap between her thighs grow wet, it had been so long since her Master ‘rewarded’ her, and she longed for it.

“And what of our child?” her Master asked. The word ‘our’ made Morana gasp. As if it verified their unity.

“She’s alive and growing fast I’m told,” Morana said quickly. She wondered whether her Master would want to know their daughter's name, or rather, whether he would be fond of the name given to her.

“I will give her the city when it falls,” he said.

Morana looked up unable to resist anymore, her eyes were amethyst like his. But where his features were dark and gaunt, she still took the form of Olivia; that cleric her Master killed all of them months ago.

“Make me another child. Master” Morana said, hearing her voice stutter from exhilaration, her words came out breathless at the idea.

Her Master looked down at her and smiled. He cupped her head in his hand.

“Morana,” he said slowly again, “My Morana.” She felt her thighs grow damp and her body tremble, she needed him inside her right now. Right now. She touched his hand at her face, but he retrieved it in a flash; then he exploded into his spider form, large and magnificent. He was upon her, forcing himself onto her in an aggressive attack, and Morana fought; she wanted to fight back, she wanted to know just how strong her Master was.

His spider form engulfed her and pinned her to the webbed ground below, she was powerless and let out a scream when his stinger penetrated her in one precise stab. It penetrated her where she wanted, and she began to convulse in an uncontrolled spasm when she climaxed. She felt his venom and his seed enter her, burning her, but he didn’t stop and neither did her climax as he continued to force himself in her, again and again.

When it was over, he slowly withdrew. Morana lay there, unable to move. Her Master’s stinger was slick with her blood and his venom. Morana breathed rapidly, her eyes rolling back in pulses, her body twitching periodically, the echoes of her climax still very much alive within her. She thought about her child in Leeside, about Sabrina Black: the stranger daughter she had never met, and hoped she had another growing inside her.