Rustasa and the Webs

Sorry about the missed post.  As an FYI, although this is an unusual week for my hours, I expect to regularly be late with Saturday posts.  Working is fun!

*****

Zolaf shifted in his chair.  He was pudgy and his weight didn’t settle easily.  Maybe the chair was getting old, maybe he was.  Zolaf studied his manuscript meticulously, all the better to learn the nature of the trinket his master had handed him with only a cryptic mission: “learn it.”  He shifted again.  Another all-nighter, or so it seemed, he sighed.

Rustasa glided easily from bookshelf to bookshelf.  As she peered around her corner, she found the large mage bent double over his studies.  Good, she thought, all the better.  He doesn’t even need to know that I was here.  She masterfully moved silently and never gave him cause to doubt his solitude, zipping from this bookshelf, to the next, then the next.  At the last bookshelf before the open door, she paused, and glanced back.  Her self-satisfaction was complete, as the fool never so much as looked up.

It was with a last dash through the doorway that she moved out of sight, but she never saw coming the sight on the other side.  Without any warning, she was caught, suspended awkwardly.  Rustasa’s eyes flared about in a panic, only now registering the web draped over the doorway, invisible in the lower light beyond.

For a tense moment, Rustasa struggled with the web before she calmed herself. 

“Okay, don’t worry, don’t panic” she thought, “the old fat mage hasn’t caught me yet.”

She began to panic over again, though, as the web began to pull taught in the corner.  A new presence was moving towards her.  She looked over, color draining from her face. 

A four foot tall spider was strolling confidently across the web, anchored not in the doorframe, like she thought, but against the far wall.  It had two two foot long arms hidden under its mandibles.  It chattered, then whispered “Helloooo.”

Rustasa could not think of a reply but she was sure that this was going to give her away, and besides, spiders grossed her out immensely.  Her only response was to redouble her struggles to get away.  She remembered Balthin’s words on the street corner, teaching not to struggle to force matters, but adapt to how the world was already going.  If only she could figure how that applied here…

Whispering again, “I said hello!  Don’t think you can skip manners with me, you pretty little think.”  The spider was now pushing its eight eyes right into Rustasa’s face.

In the other room, Zolaf coughed.

Rustasa was scared, and genuinely unsure how to respond.  Timidly, she whispered back, “Uh, hello.”

“There, was that so hard?” spoke the spider, as it backed off a bit.  “Maybe you could answer a question for me.”  Rustasa gulped, which was the best she could do to consent. “Maybe you could tell me what kind of fool thinks she can steal from Don Chaliol.  Hmmm?”

This was much worse for Rustasa, who was not warned by her contacts that Don Chaliol had creatures serving him.  Zolaf was supposed to be here alone…

“Poor thing, forgot how to speak again?  Maybe we could ask the old fart in the study…”

“No, wait…” the rogue caught her voice rising, and then began against whispering “maybe we could work something out.  You know, make it worth your while.”

“My while?  That’s a weird offer.  Do you not what my while is worth little one?”

Rustasa hesitated just a minute. “If you were half as evil as that Don, you’d have killed me already.  My guess is the boss doesn’t know what’s worth your while.”

“But you don’t either, or you wouldn’t have offered.  Still, the offer is generous.” The spider took a long look up and down Rustasa’s form, past the blades in her belt and left boot.  “And all of that for that little trinket over there?  Heh, heh, good!”

The spider silently jumped back to the rafters, a good four foot jump on its own.  She dispelled the web. 

“Payment, tonight, 11 o’clock sharp at the Blind Donkey Inn.”

“Rustasa stumbled, but was skilled enough to catch herself before making noise.  “Wait, how much?”

The spider kept scurrying out of sight, “Ho, dear, bring all you can.”  And she was gone.

Rustasa was sure she never heard the price.