THE SERPENT'S TOOTH, Part 8

Gant was sitting on a fallen fragment of the old town wall, his great club propped up next to him. Samantha was perched on one of his thick thighs. Sophie had scaled his broad back and was atop one of Gant's shoulder.

"There's a whole town of people like Jessica and Mr. Benjamin?" Samantha asked. She seemed awe-struck by the idea.

"Not an entire town," I answered, "but there are many Spider-Folk in Nyack, and some live elsewhere. They particularly like the surviving high towers of the ancient Folk cities. However, until I met Jessica, I would have said that Benjamin was the only one of his kind for a hundred miles in any direction."

"Nyack?" Samantha asked thoughtfully. Sophie jumped down from her perch and landed next to Samantha on Gant's leg. Then she pointed to the east.

"Sophie's right," I agreed. "Nyack is many miles east of here, on the shore of the Lant ocean."

"Ocean?" Samantha asked.

"Like a sea," I explained, "but even bigger - and the water is salty."

Samantha and Sophie paused to consider that. I think they were trying to decide if I was serious.

"Could Jessica have family in Nyack?" Gant asked suddenly.

"That seems possible. I hope so."

"We should help her find them," Gant told me very seriously.

I nodded. "That's a good idea, Gant."

"I think Benjamin would help," Gant persisted.

I glanced up at the top of the watchtower. Benjamin and Jessica were still talking.

"I'm sure he will," I told Gant. Gant looked pleased.

I looked at the girls. "How did Jessica become a Widow?"

Samantha and Sophie shrugged in perfect unison. "That was way before we were sold to the mistress," Samantha explained. "And the mistress didn't like it if we talked about where we came from - she would beat us if we did that."

Gant sniffed disapprovingly.

"It was for our own good," Samantha insisted as she craned her head upwards to look at Gant. "All of our beatings were our fault and for our own good."

It seemed to me that Sophie was a bit doubtful about that, but she didn't contradict her sister.

Gant looked down at Sophie and tapped her gently shoulder. "Say something," he ordered gruffly.

Sophie's yellowish eyes blinked up at him in surprise. "Why?" she asked.

"Just checking," Gant said with a wave of his massive hand.

Eventually, Benjamin and Jessica came down from their high perch. Jessica seemed dazed, but pleased. Benjamin looked even more serious than usual.

"I'm sorry that took so long, my lord," Benjamin apologized.

I waved that off. "Let's get back to the inn and collect our gear. It's time to get on the road."

"Where to next, my lord?" Benjamin asked.

"Alban."

Benjamin frowned. "That's a long ride. Some of it is through wild country."

"We'll just have to handle it," I replied.

I purchased supplies and two additional riding horses. Jessica would ride on one horse. Samantha and Sophie would share the other. In my experience, Widows know how to ride, although I wouldn't be surprised if Samantha and Sophie weren't yet very skilled.

Actually, I needn't have worried about the two girls. They eagerly swarmed into the saddle of their slightly puzzled mare. Somewhat to my surprise, Sophie took the reins, while Samantha settled in behind her, with her arms around her sister's waist.

As Benjamin and I double-checked our saddlebags and packs, Gant came out of the stables with an ogress. She was about a foot-and-a-half shorter than Gant, but was almost as broad as she was tall. She was wearing a huge burlap dress and there was a scatter of yellow straw in her dark hair. She and Gant exchanged a few words, then Gant leaned over and nipped her on the cheek with his teeth. She let out a roar of laughter, hugged him, and then playfully bit him back.

"Gant?" I called as I mounted my horse.

"Coming, my lord," Gant replied. He tapped foreheads with the ogress and then walked towards us.

"She's a pretty one," Benjamin told Gant as the troll slipped a huge pack onto his back.

"You should see the warts on her," Gant said dreamily.

We rode out of the corral. Gant, of course, was walking.

"You like her?" Samantha asked eagerly. Sophie was also obviously interested in Gant's answer.

Gant nodded. "She's a back-breaker in the haystack. I'd like to do her again."

Jessica gave the girls a worried glance.

Samantha sighed as Sophie rolled her eyes. "We know what he's talking about, Jess," Samantha proclaimed with a great deal of worldly certainty.

Jessica didn't say anything in reply, but she did look somewhat resigned.

"So she's not just passing through town?" I asked.

Gant shook his head. "She works at a mill just outside of town. They were doing some repairs on the mill wheel, so she had time off. She came into town to have a barrel of ale and we got friendly last night."

"Fast work," Benjamin interjected. "Your new poetry must have really done the job."

Gant held a hand dramatically high. Then he paused and looked at us. "This will lose something in translation."

I nodded and indicated that he should continue.

Gant began to roar.

"MY MEMBER IS A MIGHTY HAMMER!

IT WILL MAKE YOU HOWL YOUR JOY TO THE MOON!

IT WILL SPLIT YOU AS THE LIGHTNING SPLITS THE GREAT OAK!

YOU WILL WORSHIP IT AS THE GREATEST YOU HAVE EVER KNOWN!

I HAVE HAD MANY FEMALES AND YOU WILL BE MY NEXT!

FOR YOU CANNOT RESIST MY MIGHTY HAMMER!"

Samantha and Sophie looked appalled. That was for the best.

"It doesn't rhyme," Jessica noted quietly. "is that also a matter of translation?"

"Partly," Gant replied seriously, "but I choose not limited by traditional forms. True poetry is in the power behind the words."

"A daring decision, Mr. Gant," Jessica said with a brief smile.

"The babes love rebels!" Grant replied with a gap-toothed grin. Then he opened his mouth to bellow out a few more lines.

"You'd better stop, Gant," I suggested. "Otherwise every trolless and ogress for miles around will be following us."

An alarmed look appeared on Gant's face. "Oh! Right! Sorry, my lord!"

"That's fine, Gant," I said.

By the side of the road, a trolless was unloading pallets of bricks from a wagon. She paused and gave Gant a speculative and hungry look. Then she jerked a thumb towards a nearby alleyway.

Gant said something apologetic-sounding to her in the troll tongue. She irritably turned away, plucked another pallet from the wagon, and dropped it on the others with a loud and angry crash.

"I've hurt her feelings," Gant sighed mournfully. "I must be more careful."

"Gant," I told him patiently. "The Old One said that with great power comes great responsibility. We should all heed his wisdom."

Gant nodded in agreement.

Beside me, Benjamin gritted his teeth. I swear, some people just refuse to acknowledge historical fact.

Our route had us pass by the village of Lock - although well to the north. My holding and the holdings of my vassals were located near there.

"Since we bought supplies and horses in Nyagra, I take it we aren't going to stop," Benjamin asked, carefully keeping his voice neutral.

We'd drifted slightly away from the others.

"No," I replied shortly. I really couldn't afford to go home and perhaps get in an argument with my quite intelligent, highly perceptive, and very out-spoken wives. They all undoubtedly suspected that something was amiss. And if the truth were to come out too soon, it might create a rift between Anna on one side, and Emma and Olivia on the other.

Benjamin nodded as he - probably unconsciously - checked the draw of his swords. You don't have to get too far east of Lock and the country suddenly becomes dangerous. Roch was the next major town east of Nyagra and the trail between Nyagra and Roch was not safe for small parties of travellers.

"There was a caravan that left Nyagra this morning," Benjamin told me.

I nodded. "We should catch up with them in an hour or so."

Benjamin nodded in agreement. That would make the passage safer.

"How did the conversation with Jessica go?" I asked.

Benjamin was silent for a moment before he answered. "She's happy to meet another one of her kind."

"Her family?" I asked.

"I'm not sure," Benjamin continued, "and she has no memory of the time before she was a Widow."

"You said earlier that there was something about her appearance that struck you," I said. "Might she have a family resemblance to someone you know?"

Benjamin was now obviously uneasy. "Yes."

I didn't push. Benjamin was obviously considering his words carefully.

Benjamin made his decision. "It didn't really occur to me until we talked. I'm still not completely sure, but she does look like a Stace."

Among the wallcrawlers, the Stace's are a very important family. In fact, they're one of the great houses of the Spider-Folk.

I glanced over my shoulder. Jessica was riding alongside Samantha and Sophie. Samantha was holding her foot out and Jessica was using one hand to fiddle with Samantha's sandal. Something had become tangled in it when we took a shortcut through some brush. Taking in Jessica's blonde hair, blue eyes, and the shape of her face, I could now see the resemblance that Benjamin had noticed.

"The Stace family would have paid the cell-mistress well to have a missing family member returned to them."

Benjamin nodded. "Which argues against her actually being a Stace. The cell-mistress would never have given Jessica up if she was."

"Perhaps the cell-mistress just didn't know," I suggested. "After all, we're a long way from Nyack and the dealings of the Towers. And the Widows make mistakes, just like anyone else. Trust me - I know."

Then I shook my head. "But in any case, we're getting too far ahead of ourselves. Perhaps a century or two ago a wandering spider with some Stace blood in him tumbled a local Folk girl and got her pregnant - and his nature just happened to manifest generations later in Jessica. That's happened before. And that would explain Jessica's resemblance to the Stace clan."

"That's most likely," Benjamin agreed. He didn't sound very convinced.