Kirilamei climbed around a tree trunk twenty feet above the ground. She gazed down for signs of the Erythrai or their servants patrolling the area. The plot of land was under her care. So they wouldn’t attack her, but she would lose any element of surprise in reaching the spider’s nest.

She peered ahead through the thicket of trees, gauging the swiftest route. The consequences of following the wrong branch were great. She might end up on a branch that could not carry her to the next, forcing her to backtrack or climb down and continue on foot. In the worst case it might break off and she would tumble to the ground.

Confident that she mapped out a proper course, she crawled to the edge of the branch. Kiri made herself small and kicked back, launching herself into the air. Wind mixed with rain brushed against her face. She made out the orange haze of Tamulan in the distance. As she fell, she stretched out her arms and latched herself on to the nearest branch. Kiri used the momentum to sling herself forward with practiced ease and land on her feet on a higher branch.

Kiri took a moment to fix her chestnut colored hair back into a bun. Several hours passed since she saw the Erythrai and the spiders carry the humans through the forest. The humans were doomed if she waited for Lefaljac to settle the matter. The chances of her finding them alive grew more dim with each passing minute.

The knot in her chest tightened for not taking immediate action. Still, a part of her felt she was betraying Lefaljac and the Alseid way by taking matters into her own hands.

She pressed on, covering a great distance without having to leap again. Kiri reached the end of the jungle within the next hour. There, in a small crevice, she found the spider nest with some fifty cocoons.

Kiri removed a leaf, wrapped it into a cone and added a pellet of water inside her makeshift scope. She held it up to her eye and studied the nest. Nothing stirred in the darkness, not even the cocoons. Spiders were protective of their nests and the queen that resided in them, which made it odd that she hadn’t spotted a single one lurking around. She tried to determine where they might have wandered off to. Even if the children left, the queen would remain to look after the nest.

A fresh patch of silk hinted that they might have fled towards the west and away from Tamulan. It was in that direction the spiders normally ventured for hunting rodents and other smaller animals.

Kiri unwrapped her scope and gulped down the water. The humidity carried the heat and kept her warm at all times of the day. She snatched a vine and slid down to the ground. Kiri approached the nest in a crouch, ears attuned for any warnings the wind might carry.

With a blink, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, thus allowing her to keep a careful watch of the various holes dug into the earth. She glanced over her shoulder to confirm that her escape route was still open. Her plan was straight forward, free the humans and leave before the spiders returned.

Spiders were deadly predators and could set a wide array of traps that would ensnare her. They wouldn’t spare an Alseid that wandered into their nest.

Kiri neared the first set of cocoons and pulled out the small blade she kept strapped to her ankle. She moved in to cut it open along the side but halted as she noticed it to be empty. The next one was also bare. Kiri ducked and weaved between rocks to remain out of sight on her way to the next set of cocoons. These had burnt ridges and a small pool of acidic remains at the bottom.

“Mother Nature,” Kiri said, covering her mouth with her hands. She'd come too late to save them from being devoured. Images of the humans being eaten alive played through her mind and she tried to suppress them by telling herself that she did what she could by going after them.

Zafira and the Erythrai had not only broken their agreement with Lefaljac but wandered down a path from which there was no turning back.

Kiri sheathed her dagger. She decided to report her findings to Lefaljac, even if it meant having to work in the Grove for the next thousand years. She couldn’t let Zafira get away with murder. With that in mind, she turned on her heel and headed towards the trees. An oddity caught her attention from the corner of her eye. She paused mid-step and glanced towards her right where two cocoons had been torn open.

Brute force wouldn’t have left such clean cuts. Whoever had opened the cocoon had used a knife. Which meant that there might still be more humans alive.

Kiri crouched down and inspected the soil. Sure enough there may have been hundreds of spider tracks but at least two pairs of legs that wandered out of the nest. Odd shaped tracks that preferred to walk on the heel. Kiri looked up, following the trail eastward with her eyes. They went to Tamulan.

Rocks broke off to her side and tumbled down the cliff. She ducked, placing herself between two cocoons and out of sight.

A soft click was her only warning, she leapt over the cocoon and dashed as fast as she could towards the center.

The spider that had been sneaking up from behind took after her with great strides. From all sides its brethren swarmed over the cliffside and down into the small nesting valley they had built up. Soon enough, she became outnumbered by at least sixty spiders. While Kiri could defend herself against an attack, the Alseid way forbade her from harming the spiders. They were an essential part of the ecosystem and separating any single part of it would disrupt the entire chain. Nymphs protected the chain.

Kiri halted and held out her hand up towards the distant trees. Too far her to reach and the way there was cut off by a pair of nasty arachnids. Kiri tapped into her bio-ethereal basin and lured in a vine with the promise of its energy. It broke free of its hold and swung down. Kiri jumped up, the tips of her fingers brushing against the rough surface as she wrapped her hand around it. The vine quickly lost its momentum and began to drift back, putting her within striking distance of the hunter spiders. The spiders leapt and came within inches of her legs as she frantically climbed the vine to escape.