Chapter 3: Spidren's Tears
The girl picked up a rock, feeling for the sharp end. She pointed that away from her, toward her target. Unfortunately, Kelsey's aim was pathetic. She missed by a yard! Her foe laughed at her. To her, it sounded cold and bloodthirsty, the laugh of a villain. This was a spidren, and everyone in Tortall knew that these arachnids were the enemy! She hated spidrens. They had kidnapped her family. There was Ma, and Pa, and her lovely mare, Moonlight. She loved the pure white horse that had been all her own. The last she saw of it, she was being ridden by two spidrens, who laughed when she tried to buck. Their laughs rang in her head, and they sounded exactly like the laugh of the spidren that taunted her now. She had been perfectly fine, as she walked into the garden shed, but imagine the way her heart raced when she saw a spidren sitting there! The head of the spidren was that of a boy about her age; around thirteen or fourteen years old. As he laughed at her, he showed off his pointed silvery teeth, which were stained with blood.
"Go away and don't come back, spidren freak! I hate you! If you stay here, I'll kill you!" She smiled as she knew that it was a lose-lose situation for the spidren. King Jonathon had just recently approved, of all things, an organized spidren hunt. Knights were out there every day, and most nights too if they didn't want to waste their money for an inn, scouring the countryside for spidrens. She picked up a broom, and hit him over the head with it. She started sweeping at him with the broom, which was composed of hard wooden twigs. She smiled to see him wince. "Out, out!" she cried, laughing to see the fear in his eyes. Eventually, he scampered out as fast as his eight spindly legs would take them. She looked outside a window and laughed. One woman carrying a basket of eggs on the street saw him passing by, and threw and egg at him. It cracked all over his face. Soon, the produce seller took some of his wares, distributed them to any teenage male passerby that happened to be in the area, and they pelted the immortal with tomatoes. One fat woman finally dropped an enormous wheel of cheese on his heads, and she screamed, "Take that you scurvy cur! Immortals can die!" Soon the entire village was cheering that last sentence, pumping their fists up and down with gusto. Slowly, the cheese lifted up, and all grew silent. The spidren threw the cheese to one side, as it splattered onto the ground harmlessly. The immortal glared coldly at everyone, and they stared back fearfully. Although the street leading out of their village was lined with villagers on both sides, not one of them dared do anything but watch as he calmly walked out. Little did they know, the moment that he was out of their eyesight, the spidren broke into a run.
Kamm ran quickly into the surrounding forest, and sat by a stream. A blood red tear dripped into the still water, creating ripples of reddish-pink. Why did everybody hate him so much? And especially that girl! She was about his age; what was wrong with he, he thought, to make her hate him so? He stared at his eight long, spindly legs, and knew why. He was part spider, of course. His black furry arachnine body was full of magic. Through his abdomen or his mouth, he could cause a magical web to shoot out. It glowed by night, but was invisible by day. It would catch all who touched it. The blood in his veins would burn like acid to the touch. He could climb trees, or even vertical surfaces with ease, and he could jump to heights and lengths impossible to humans and spiders both. Unlike most of his kind, though, he had no magic other than his webs. But, he had something better. His blood, unlike the rest of his kind, would forever replenish itself. Most immortals had this ability of his also. That was why Kamm was so peaceful. Spidren's tears were blood, and more magic than normal spidren blood to boot. Because most spidrens could not cry without eventually dying, they had become a fierce, warlike people. But he was a 'good' spidren, and not fierce or evil or anything! But try telling Tortall that. At least in three weeks he would get out of here, to Carthak, and hopefully to Wos. Wos was the legendary spidren paradise; no one hated spidrens there, and there were blood-trees; trees that would die if they did not excrete blood that was then eaten by the spidrens. Spidrens would not have to hurt anybody to eat there, indeed they would be happy to know that they would for once be helping the world. In Wos, all spidrens became blood-replenishing like him. Also, in Wos humans and spidrens lived in harmony, and in Wos there were magical springs that would change your form to almost whatever you like! Indeed, Wos was the place to be, and he knew that if it existed, he would find it all in Carthak. Kamm shed another tear, knowing that it didn't matter.
