Her Mythical Warriors (Book One)
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Trolling the Spiders

Akira opened her eyes and moaned when she could not move her arms or legs. She looked down and almost screamed. Her entire body, but for her head, was wrapped in silk. Like a huge ass spider had wrapped her in their web. She looked around and found that, indeed, she was in a huge ass web.

“Help!” Akira screamed.

“No one will hear you.”

Akira looked to her left when she heard the soft, female voice. She held back a scream when a giant spider came out from behind the tree. It had a beautiful woman’s face, and eight spider legs carried her quickly to where Akira was pinned to the web.

The Spider’s human torso, and arms, told Akira that this was an Arachne.

Akira has read about them but never saw one before. She looked around and found several beautifully crafted webs. She surely got her talent from her ancestor.

“I love to watch my prey while I feast on them,” she said, licking her lips.

“W-what is your name?” Akira asked, trying to stall the creature.

The spider stopped and watched Akira. “I don’t believe anyone has ever asked me that before.”

“I-I’m not just anyone,” Akira said.

The spider walked up to Akira and sniffed her neck. “You smell amazing. I had to have you the moment I smelt you. And when that wolf attacked you, I knew I could get him to drain you of all your energy, so I could take you.”

Akira blinked. So that is what happened. “Y-you took me from him?”

‘Keep her talking,’ Akira told herself.

“I saved you,” the spider said. “For he would have destroyed you. You are better off dying by my hands. Wolves are no good.”

Akira whimpered, “where I come from, not all wolves are bad. He is my…,” she did not get to finish.

The spider screeched and sunk her teeth into Akira’s throat. Akira screamed and convulsed as poison flowed through her veins.

“Mmm. You taste as good as you smell. I think I will make you last a bit longer,” the spider said as it stepped away from Akira.

“My wolf will replace you and kill you,” Akira whimpered.

The spider laughed. “My children will destroy him before he can replace you,” she said, then turned and scurried away on her eight legs.

Akira whimpered, her body throbbing from the poison. She could not touch the bite. Maybe she could heal herself without touching the point of entry since it is now flowing through her whole body. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the poison in her system. It took all the energy she had, but she healed herself of the poison.

Akira sighed with relief as she passed out into oblivion.

~⚔~

“I can smell her fear,” Wolfric said as he stopped walking.

Malique stopped and sniffed the air. “I smell it too. It is faint, but I can smell it.”

“I feel her fear as if it is my own,” Darius growled.

“This way,” Wolfric said, then turned down a different path from where they were headed.

~⚔~

Akira woke to the sound of a screech. She looked up and found the Arachne in front of her seething.

“Why are you not green?”

Akira smirked. So, the spider is angry that she is not still poisoned. The Arachne screeched as she got into Akira’s face.

“I will have to keep biting you until you are too weak. Clean blood is better than when it is poisoned anyways,” she sneered, then bit down on Akira’s neck.

Akira screamed. She had not been able to heal the bite marks from the last time, and they were tender and sore. Now they throbbed as the spider sucked more blood from her body. Akira may be able to dispel the poison, but she cannot replenish her blood.

The spider let go of Akira’s neck and smirked as she stepped away.

“Try healing yourself this time,” she said, then turned and scurried away.

Akira whimpered and closed her eyes. She concentrated on the poison in her blood and was able to dispel it again.

‘But can I do it a third time?’ she wondered, then passed out.

~⚔~

“Stop,” Darius said, holding his arms up for his fellow Warriors to halt. “There is something behind that bush.”

The three Warriors looked at the bush and jumped back when giant spiders came crawling out from several bushes.

“Of course, it’s spiders,” Wolfric said with a growl.

Malique hissed, “I feel like I’m in a Harry Potter movie.”

Wolfric snorted, “just kill the damn spiders.”

~⚔~

Akira woke to the sound of whispering voices. She opened her eyes but could not see anything.

“She’s awake,” one of the whispering voices said.

“That should make it easier,” the other said.

Something bounced on the web, and the next thing Akira knew, she was on the ground, on her face. She moaned as she tried to roll over.

“We will unwrap you, but you have to make a deal with us first.”

Akira lifted her head and came face to face with a Troll. Luckily, it was a small Troll. Not one that would want to cook her for dinner. But one who may be kind and help her.

But she will have to do them a favor in return.

“Yeah. We would like a favor from you,” the Troll who had cut her down said.

Akira turned her head and looked into the green eyes of a female Troll. She had long pink hair and looked like she could take down a giant if she had to. They must be Warrior Trolls.

“What is the favor?” Akira whispered.

“No. You have to agree to it first, then we will take you out of here,” the male Troll said.

The female Troll grunted. “Just say yes so we can cut you out of that,” she said, pointing to the web around Akira’s body.

Akira sighed. She would rather become a slave to a Troll than be eaten by an Arachne.

“Fine. Yes, I agree to return the favor,” Akira said with a nod.

Before Akira knew it, they had her sliced out of the web, and she was sitting up staring at the two Trolls.

“Don’t back out,” the male Troll said, pointing his sword at Akira’s face.

Akira shook her head. “Get me out of here before the spider comes back, and I will return the favor.”

The two Trolls looked at each other, then turned to Akira and nodded.

Akira got to her feet, and the Trolls led her away from the Arachne’s nest.

~⚔~

Wolfric slid his sword into the back of the last spider and wiped his face on his sleeve.

“I guess we’re on the right path,” Darius grumbled as he looked around them at the dead spiders.

“These are her babies,” Malique said. “I do believe our Havent was taken by an Arachne.”

Wolfric nodded. “I agree, my friend.”

The Warriors walked in the direction they had been heading before they had been attacked by spiders. They found the nest with giant spiderwebs everywhere. Some were very well made, and some looked to be assembled simply to hold prey. They found the cocoon which had held Akira and frowned.

“We’re too late,” Malique whispered.

Wolfric shook his head. “We would feel it if she was dead.”

“Where is my food?!”

The Warriors turned to the Arachne.

Wolfric snarled at the spider. “You did this,” he accused, pointing to where their Havent had once been.

The Arachne screeched and attacked him.

“She drank Akira’s blood,” Malique hissed. He could smell his Psychi’s blood in the beast.

“Take her down!” Darius bellowed.

“As punishment for trying to kill our Havent, we sentence you to death,” Malique growled.

The Arachne paused. “Havent?” she asked.

“That’s right,” Darius said with a smirk. “You are no longer protected by any God you may think protects you.”

The spider screamed and lashed out at Darius.

Darius flipped out of the way and pulled out his sword as Wolfric knocked her legs out from under her.

“How did you get my bite to control us like that?” Wolfric demanded.

The spider laughed as she tried to stand and Wolfric jumped onto her back, making her scream in pain.

“How?!” Wolfric growled, placing his sword against her throat.

“It was easy. You wanted her. I had one of my children bite you, which sent the little amount of poison through your system, which mixed with your bite.”

Wolfric growled, then let go of her and stood. She continued to laugh and taunt him about not having any restraint when it came to the girl. With a feral growl, Wolfric held his sword up, then slammed it down into the spider’s back.

The spider screamed as she flopped around.

Wolfric fell off her back, and before she could pull the sword from her, Darius lopped off her head. Wolfric growled as he pulled his sword from the spider. He cleaned it off on her backside, then slid it into its sheath.

“She’s right,” Malique said, looking at his friend.

Wolfric growled, and Malique held up his hands.

“But it is a good thing, Wolf. Any of us would have succumbed to it. She is our Havent, our Psychi, our soulmate.”

Wolfric took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “But neither of you have the bite.”

Darius smirked. “No, but I have plenty of sexual powers. The spiders could have affected me the same, and none of us would have known.”

Wolfric looked at him and smiled. ’Maybe they were right.’

“Let’s go replace our Havent,” Malique said, slapping Wolfric on the back. “Who knows what took her.”

“We can only hope that it was a friend and not a foe,” Darius growled.

They headed in the direction it looked their Havent had taken.

~⚔~

Akira stopped and rested against a tree.

“You are weak.” The female Troll pointed out.

Akira nodded and placed her hand to her neck. “Let me heal myself, and I should be better,” she said, then closed her eyes.

Her hand glowed amber, and she felt a hundred percent better once the marks were healed from the Arachne biting her.

“I can’t replenish my blood, but this should help,” Akira said as she opened her eyes.

The two Trolls looked at each other, then at Akira, and nodded. Akira walked away from the tree, and they were on their way again.

It only took an hour, and they were standing outside a small door that led into—what—Akira had no clue.

The Trolls opened the door and held it open for her. Akira frowned as she squatted down and entered the small room. They led her down a flight of stairs and entered a large living area. Akira looked around in awe. Wow, Trolls lived better than she thought they did.

“This way,” the female Troll said, motioning for her to follow.

Akira nodded and followed the Troll down a hall and into a small dining area. An elder Troll was sitting at the table and looked up at them.

“Fin, Stella.”

“Grandmama,” Stella said, embracing the elder Troll.

“Who is this?” their grandmother asked, looking at the human.

“We saved her,” Stella said, looking at Akira. “She owes us a favor.”

Their grandmother frowned. “What will you ask of this human? She is too big to clean the house.”

“She’s not human, Grandmama,” Stella said with a bright smile. “She is a healer.”

The elder Troll looked Akira up and down, then huffed. “I do not sense any powers in her.”

“We saw it with our own eyes,” Fin said.

The elder Troll stood and approached the young woman. “What is your name?”

“Akira.”

The elder Troll nodded. “What are you? I do not sense your powers, yet my grandchildren say that you are a healer.”

Akira nodded. “I am a Havent.”

The elder Troll sucked in a breath and jumped back from Akira. “Let her go, children! Hurry—before her Warriors destroy us all!”

“But I am not a prisoner,” Akira said, sitting on the floor. “I came of my own free will. They saved me from an Arachne.”

The elder Troll studied Akira’s face. “How are you not poisoned?”

“That’s how we knew she could help us, Grandmama,” Stella said. “She healed herself without using her hands.”

The elder Troll looked Akira up and down, then motioned for her to follow her down a hall. Akira nodded and got to her feet.

“You two, go replace her Warriors and tell them where she is, so they do not come here for blood.”

Fin and Stella nodded, then ran for the stairs that led outside.

“This way,” the elder Troll said, leading Akira down another hall.

The elder Troll opened a door and motioned for Akira to enter. Akira squeezed through the door and saw a small Troll lying in a bed, his face blue rather than green.

“He is dying,” the elder Troll said. “He is my youngest grandchild.”

“Where are his parents?” Akira whispered.

“They were killed when he was but a baby. I have raised him and his brother and sister since their parents died.”

Akira nodded, remembering her own mother’s death. “So, Fin and Stella are brother and sister?”

The elder Troll nodded. “They are twins. They have been trying to replace a cure for their little brother. But nothing has worked.”

Akira moved over to the young Troll and placed her hand to his forehead. He was very hot and was barely breathing.

“I have not had the heart to tell them, but their brother is not long for this earth.”

Akira frowned. “Let’s see if we can fix that,” she said as she closed her eyes.

Akira concentrated on whatever was ailing the boy. She found the sickness in his body and fought it with her light. Her hand glowed a bright amber, and soon it covered the young Troll’s body.

The elder Troll sucked in a breath and took a step back, watching. When the light dimmed out, the girl fell to the floor unconscious. The elder Troll looked at her grandson and noticed his skin was turning back to its healthy green. The young healer was able to save him.

She will forever be in the girl’s debt.