Chapter 10: Dryder Delusions
The next morning was very hazy and all the fairies used their magic to create lights in order to help navigate the pirate ship through the mist, which was as thick as pea soup. All of a sudden, Princess Lapis saw a landmass come up in the distance.
"Look, you guys!" she exclaimed with joy. "I think I see Crystal Lattice Island! Now all we have to do is get through the Quartzsite Caverns and we'll be in the Iridescent Valley!"
"That's odd." Stevonnie remarked. "We can't be there already. Lars said it would at least a couple days before we get to the island."
"Maybe the tectonic plates moved it closer." Peridot guessed.
"Well, come on everyone." Lapis said impulsively as she flew over to the strange island. "Elder Guardians, here we come!"
Just then, Garnet noticed something unusual. There seemed to be a large dome over the whole island. As the ship sailed closer, the dome faded for a brief moment to show that it was concealing the island's true nature.
"Guys, that's not Crystal Lattice Island." the majenta fairy confirmed. "Someone's trying to deceive us."
"How do you know, Garnet?" asked Steven.
"I can see some kind of illusion barrier covering the whole island." "Wherever Lapis is going, if we don't rescue her; we'll ever see her again."
"Lapis, come back!" Prince Jamie cried out. "Don't go to that island! It's a trap!"
But the fairy princess was too far away to hear the pleas of her husband or her friends. The moment she penetrated the illusion barrier, some odd magic was at work that turned her princess dress into a leaf wrap that covered her chest; but exposed her stomach and a matching short skirt. Her shoes had disappeared from her as well. Of course, Lapis didn't notice a thing as she kept flying deeper into the island.
"We have to go after her." Pearl said, frantically.
"No, I'll go." Garnet insisted, turning to the group. "Everybody else wait here on the ship. We already have one last fairy. The last thing we need is another."
She flew off into the direction of the young fairy princess, but before she cast a spell to protect herself from the strange magical elements of the island.
Meanwhile, Lapis was still flying; looking for the mouth of the cave that would lead to the Quartzsite Caverns. Unfortunately, there wasn't any sign of it. Maybe this was the wrong island.
But just before she could even think about turning around and going back to the ship. A dirty green cloudy surrounded the blue fairy's wings and their flapping started to slow down.
"Something feels wrong." Lapis said to herself. "My wings feel heavy and tired. I can't fly anymore. I g-gotta land... before I d-drop out of the-" The moment she saw her wings stopped fluttering altogether and drooped to her sides, that was when the princess realized that it was too late to fly lower. "SKY!"
Garnet, from afar watched in horror as the fairy in distress screamed and plummeted into the forest below. She crashed through the branches just before she made her way to the ground. But instead of hitting the hard dirt; she landed on something soft and kind of sticky.
"Whew. Good thing this net was here." Lapis said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Well, since I can't fly, I'm going to have walk back to the ship."
However, when the young fairy tried to get stand up; she found that she couldn't move. No matter how much she struggled, she just couldn't remove herself from the net. Then, she gasped in fear when she realized that this wasn't a net, it was a web. The fairy princess turned and saw that the there were webs covering the forest floor.
"Well, well, well." a silky voice said from out of the blue. "Looks like I caught a fairy in my web."
Lapis looked up and much to her fear, she saw a large, frightening creature approach her. This creature had the upper body of a female human with pasty white skin, sleek black hair, and red eyes. However, she also had a black lower body of eight spider legs and abdomen with spinnerets. Right away, Lapis recognized this monster as a dryder. She remembered reading about them in the Big Book of Dangerous Creatures back in the fairy world. The fairy princess screamed in pure horror when the dryder faced her.
"Please don't eat me." she pleaded with tears in her eyes. "I don't wanna become a dryder's breakfast."
"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you; my little butterfly." the monster assured her. "I can't tell you how long I've waited for a fairy to come visit. You'll make a perfect addition to my collection."
Collection?! Lapis wasn't going to stay on this island for another second. She wanted to get back to her friends, and quick. She squirmed in her sticky trap in order to get loose, but once again; the effort proved to be futile.
"Relax, dear butterfly." the dryder told the trapped princess in a motherly tone that made her feel oddly calm. "We're going to have some fun. Isn't that right, my babies?"
Just then, about two hundred spiders that were the size of golf balls started to scurry onto the web. They started to crawl all over Lapis' body, going from her bare feet and legs to her ribs and underarms. But of her whole body, a majority of the little spiders seemed to favor the princess's tummy, which was apparently hypersensitive. And boy, did those tiny spider legs tickle.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" the young princess laughed, hysterically. "WWWHATT AAAREEE TTTHHEYY DDDOOOOINGGGG?!"
"Oh my babies are just having some fun before I prepare for your silky slumber." the dryder answered. "And by the looks of it, you seem to be a very ticklish fairy; especially that cute belly of yours."
"PPPPLLLEASSSSE!" Lapis begged as she continued to laugh uncontrollably. "MMMMMAAAAKKKKEEE TTTTHHHEMMM SSSSTTTOOOPPP!" The ticklish ordeal goes on for at least fifteen minutes.
"Okay, little ones." the dryder said to the little spiders as they start to retreat from Lapis' body. "I think she's had enough. It's almost your nap time anyway. Hurry along now."
The spider swarm scurried off the web and into the forest green, leaving the blue fairy to catch her breath.
"We should be getting you ready for your nap too." the dryder stated.
"But I... want to go... back to my... friends." Lapis panted.
"Come on, my butterfly." the monster said in that relaxing, motherly tone again. "It's okay to admit you're a little tired."
"But I-" the blue fairy tried to speak.
"Sssssshhhhh!" the dryder hushed her, cutting her off. "It's time to settle down, little butterfly."
Just then, hypnotic rings of neon pink, orange, yellow, and blue began to form in the monster's eyes, catching Lapis' full attention. She had forgotten about wanting to go back to the ship as gazed at the mesmerizing display of beautiful colors which reflected into her own eyes.
"You poor, little fairy." the dryder lamented in her soothing voice. "You've travelled a long way from home, haven't you? You must be so sleepy."
"Mmhm." the fairy nodded tiredly as a tingling feeling of sleepiness began to grow inside her and a silly smile spread across her face.
"Then stay here with me." the dryder suggested. "Mother will take care of you as you sleep and make sure that you are always safe and cozy."
"Safe... and... cozy." the young princess slurred, repeating the last words of the monster. The feeling of drowsiness was starting to overpower her.
Once Lapis was in a deep enough state of hypnosis, the dryder began her work. She squeezed out wet silk from her spinnerets and started wrapping the fairy's bare feet after bringing them together. Working her way up the trapped princess's body and using her spider legs, the dryder started to form a cocoon around Lapis' slim body.
Although the silk was a little tight, it was comfortably thick like a blanket and warm, almost like a hug or even a mother's embrace. This, plus the dryder's hypnotic eyes and silky voice made it even Lapis to resist the urge to fall asleep.
When the web cocoon made its way to the blue princess's belly, the dryder couldn't resist giving it some gentle, ticklish pokes.
"That tickles." the hypnotized princess giggled bubbly, all while still under the spell of the dryder's eyes.
"Sorry, sweet butterfly." the dryder apologized. "But I couldn't help myself. You have such a cute little tummy. I wonder if there may be a surprise on the way."
The little fairy didn't know what that meant, but she was so comfy and sleepy that she could care less.
So, the dryder pinned Lapis' arms to her sides as continued to weave her captive's silk chrysalis. A comforting warmth filled the young fairy's tummy like she had just had a bowl of hot soup as the silky web hugged the smooth skin of it. The sleepy princess was so relaxed, she couldn't stop a sneaky yawn from escaping her lips.
"You want this, don't you?" the dryder asked the fairy captive. "You want to stay with Mother where she will always protect you and keep resting comfortably. Is that what you want, my butterfly?"
"I... want to... stay with you." Lapis slurred, feeling more sleeping than ever as her cocoon had worked all the way up to her neck.
"Now open wide." the dryder commanded sweetly and the blue princess obeyed without argument.
The spinnerets then sprayed a ball of silk into the fairy's mouth, the gag numbing her taste buds. More silk was added to seal the gag place so that the young fairy couldn't spit it out. The dryder wrapped her captive in even more silk until it was just under her nose and the cocoon was complete.
"All done." the dryder announced. "Now it's time to go to sleep, my little butterfly."
Lapis mumbled incoherently through her silk gag as her eyes began to droop.
"Sssssshhhhh!" the princess's captor hushed, caressing her check. "Ssssssleeeeep, my precious butterfly. Sssssssleeeeep."
Finally, the young fairy gave in to the immense sleepiness she had been feeling, closed her eyes, and drifted off to dream land. The dryder picked the cocooned fairy and carried her bridal style to her nest, but not before she put silk balls in Lapis' ears, deafening her completely. Garnet, who had been spying from the trees followed the two of them in hopes of being able to rescue the princess.