THE CHILDREN OF THE SPIDER, Part 1

Damn it.

Just... damn it. I suppose I always knew this day would come. It was just sooner than I'd expected, and I wasn't sure if I was ready.

My past was back.

"Hello, Jonah," I managed to say.

I'd just bumped into a man who was both a friend and a relative. We'd found each other in the central square of a village called Ashe. Jonah looks like most of the men in my family: brown hair and eyes, average height, and a skinny yet strong build. Like almost all of my family, Jonah lives in Nyack and isn't inclined to leave. He was an unusually long way from home.

If home is the place where you were born, then we were both a long way from home.

"Uncle Ben," Jonah replied with a big grin on his face. Then he stepped forward and hugged me. My chain-shirt rasped against the metal studs of Jonah's leather-armor jacket as I hugged him back. I'm not on the best of terms with most of my family, but Jonah and I have always been friends.

My full name is Benjamin Steven Parker and I'm a samurai in the service of Lord James Ashe. Jonah Anthony Parker is my oldest nephew. Our family name is ancient and respected among the Spider-Folk, but there are some who'll tell you that I haven't served that name well. I don't think anyone would say that about Jonah.

Jonah was wearing the insignia of a herald-ensign in the Spider-Legion - a job that calls for brains as well as brawn and a good hand with a sword. My armor had the badge of a senior samurai on its chest. Since we'd last met, Jonah and I had both come up in the world. However, my path was a lot less traditional.

Jonah let me go and stepped back. My hands were still on his shoulders, but his smile had faded slightly. He was looking at me closely.

"Are you okay?" he asked. Jonah has always been pretty observant, and he'd noticed my wince when he hugged me.

"I got knocked around in a fight," I admitted.

Actually, I was damn near killed in that fight. It turns out that Wendigo are just as dangerous as the legends say.

Jonah nodded, still looking at me carefully.

It was time to distract him. I nodded my head in the direction of the local tavern.

"C'mon," I said. "I'll buy you an ale. Then you can tell me why you're here."

We ended up at a table in the back of the tavern.

"How's Faye?" Jonah asked. The easy grin that I remembered so well was back on his face. Jonah was one of the people in my family who didn't sneer when Faye's name came up. Faye thought the world of him.

I sighed and shook my head. "She's still running around with Rahne and the Rose."

Jonah's smile became a little wry. "I hear the three of them spend their time righting wrongs and kicking asses. They're like the Scatter and Wilder warrior bands from the days of ancient Nyack."

I nodded. "They're pretty busy. Faye is always out of town and that makes for a lot of lonely nights."

"But what about you?" I continued. "What are you up to nowadays?"

Jonah chuckled - maybe a little grimly. "I have enough to keep me busy."

"I've missed you," he continued. "A lot of people miss you. When are you coming home, Uncle Ben?"

Home was a difficult subject, but speaking of family... "Has grandma calmed down yet?"

Jonah rolled his eyes as he shrugged. "Sort of, but it's a slow process. I don't think she'll ever completely accept Faye, but you know she still cares for you."

I nodded my head, but said nothing. After my mother died, my grandmother helped my father raise me. Given my father's position and responsibilities, she was in a lot of ways actually a bigger part of my life than he was.

I didn't even bother to ask Jonah about my father. And Jonah didn't say anything about him. That was pretty much everything you needed to know about our relationship. I don't hate my father, and I don't think he hates me, but we simply can't seem to talk without it turning into an argument.

"How's the rest of the family?" I asked.

Jonah hesitated before replying. "Uncle Otto is dead."

I winced. Otto was actually my grand-uncle and Jonah's great-grand-uncle. I hadn't been close to him - he was a distant and scholarly kind of man who always seemed slightly puzzled by human interactions. However, I had cherished memories of when I was young and my father and I would visit Uncle Otto. He would earnestly try to explain his latest experiments to us. I never understood what he was saying, but I thought his alchemy lab was fascinating.

I tiredly rubbed my temples. "What happened?"

"Grampa had him executed," Jonah answered quietly. "He said Uncle Otto was practicing black magic."

I snorted. Uncle Otto never had the slightest interest in the dark arts.

"I know. It makes no sense," Jonah admitted.

"That's - what - the third senior member of the family executed in the last five years?" I asked Jonah. "We're running out of family. And they keep dying of the same thing."

Jonah just shook his head.

"You're a long way from the towers of Nyack," I said carefully. It was time to change the subject. It was also time to get down to business.

Jonah gave me a long and serious look. "Your father sent me," he admitted. "It's about someone I'm sure you know."

I took a drink to buy some time.

"You mean Jessica," I said after I put my cup down. There was no point in dancing around the subject.

Jonah nodded, "Where is she? I have a message for her."

I chuckled. "She's well to the north and west of here. Lord Ashe is meeting with some other lords and she's part of his escort. There's a war coming against the Creed."

Then I paused before continuing. Actually, the destruction of the local Creed was Lord Ashe's idea. It was just amazing how many people didn't realize that.

"How did you find out about Jessica?" I asked.

Jonah shrugged. "She was spotted in Nyack. Illyana the Damned has been declared Sorceress Supreme. Jessica was apparently part of the events leading up to that."

Then Jonah gave me a long look before he went on. "We have reports that Lord Ashe was also involved. And since you didn't even blink when I told you about Illyana, I suppose you actually know more about that than I do."

That hadn't been too long ago. And Jonah didn't look particularly travel-worn. There was no way Jonah could have got from Nyack to Ashe in such a short time unless he'd either been flown or teleported. Those were both expensive options. My father apparently considered Jonah's message for Jessica to be high priority.

I kept a carefully expressionless look on my face as I ignored Jonah's implied question about the events in Nyack. Apparently nobody in my family knew that I was back in town for a while, and that was fine by me.

"Who spotted Jessica?" I asked. "And how did they recognize her?"

"It was a Stace family retainer," Jonah explained. "Jessica apparently looks almost exactly like her mother. The servant began asking questions. His questions caught the attention of others and everything escalated from there. We eventually learned that your lord and Lady Illyana were with Jessica."

Then Jonah gave me a long look. "I have to warn you, Uncle Ben - there are a lot of people back home who have questions about your part in what happened."

Which, of course, was at least part of the reason Jonah was here. I didn't blame him for that. After all, he had responsibilities to both the family and the Legion.

As near as I can tell, there are three things that drives otherwise sane men mad: power, gold, and women.

The Lord of the Heights is the formal title of the leader of the Spider-Folk. Who occupies that position is determined by the Spider-Folk's council of clan-elders. In practical terms, that means one of the clan-elders - with the grudging agreement of the others - usually holds the title. Years ago, the head of the Stace family was the Lord of the Heights. However, his position was part of a complex political alliance between the Stace and Wats families. Part of that involved his marriage to a woman from the Wats family.

Unfortunately, the Lord of the Heights had a problem that seems to be common to powerful men - his eye wandered from his wife. I admit that there are times when the Blood's custom of multiple wives and concubines makes a lot of sense. Fighting human nature almost never seems to work in the long run.

In any case, the old Lord of the Heights took a lover and she eventually became pregnant. When the lord's wife found out, she left her husband. That ended the marriage - which severed the alliance between the Stace and Wats families. In the aftermath, the Tower Council formally denounced the Lord of the Heights and he was forced to give up his position. Even worse, he lost the confidence of the Stace clan and had to step down as the head of the house.

It was a massive political shift, all because one man couldn't keep it in his pants.

But what happened to the Lord's mistress and her unborn child?

Well, Jessica was the child. Somehow, she ended up in far-off Nyagra as a Black Widow assassin.

Even Jessica didn't know the details of how that happened. And she didn't remember anything about her mother.

Jonah looked me straight in the eyes. "I've got a job to do, Uncle Ben, but I'm not looking for trouble. What do you know about Jessica?"

I shrugged. "She's one of Lord Ashe's concubines."

Actually, she was his only concubine. However, I have a responsibility to speak well of my lord and, for the Blood, there is a certain amount of status to having a full complement of wives and a bevy of concubines.

"We met Jessica by raw coincidence," I added. "But what the hell does this have to do with our family? The mess with Jessica and her parents was about the Staces and Wats - not the Parkers."

Jonah suddenly looked uncomfortable. "After the fall of the old Lord of the Heights, he abandoned Jessica's mother. There were people who blamed her for what happened. She was with child, in a lot of trouble, and needed help. She took refuge with great-grandpa."

I gave Jonah a long look. The fall of the old Lord of the Heights happened back when I was a boy - and Jonah was just a baby. Yet I hadn't known that Jessica's mother had taken refuge with my grandfather.

Somebody was telling Jonah some rather deep family secrets. The most likely suspect was my father.

I took a long drink that finished off my ale. "You're telling me that grandpa - that evil prick - actually did something human and decent? I don't believe that for a fucking second."

Jonah winced and glanced away. Jonah is maybe too loyal to our family. He doesn't like it when I bring up the fact that the head of both our family and clan is a monster.

"What happened, Jonah?" I asked - trying to keep my voice calm.

Jonah looked back at me. "He thought the woman and her child might be useful. It didn't work out that way. The Staces were furious and the situation became awkward. Instead, of being an asset, Jessica's mother became a liability."

There was a sinking feeling deep in my gut.

"Shit," I muttered softly.

Jonah didn't respond, but there was a regret in his eyes that was deeper than an ocean. Maybe Jonah should have stayed a common Legion soldier instead of becoming a herald. Being a herald has a dirty side. At the very least, you're likely to learn things you really don't want to know.

I closed my eyes for several heartbeats. Then I opened them.

"Finish your drink," I ordered. "It's time to see Lady Anna. I'll try and get permission to help you find Jessica. I think the Lady will go along with it."

Jonah nodded. He knew the rules. Since he'd arrived in uniform, there were certain formalities that had to be observed. Otherwise, he'd be insulting Lord Ashe, and the Blood are touchy about that sort of thing.

Of course, the Blood are actually touchy about everything. However, as we got up from the table, I wasn't really worried about that.

Instead, I was wondering how I would tell Jessica that my grandfather had murdered her mother.