Silken Bond
She stepped onto the path that led into the forest, worn bare by her feet alone. Unlike the townsfolk, she didn’t believe the woods to be dangerous but also did not deny occasionally feeling a presence there from time to time. The trail she followed was narrow and winding, but she knew it well. She paused for a moment to take a deep breath, taking in the cool scent of the dew-covered moss and damp earth. A light breeze blew through the trees, lifting a strand of brown hair that had escaped her braid, which she tucked behind her ear. Stretching, she got to work.
Finding a patch of fresh earth-smoke plants, she carefully got down onto her knees. She pulled up each by the root, shaking off the dirt and placing them into her basket. Abruptly, a chill ran down Eira’s spine, making her jump up and look around. She peered around her, searching for any signs of movement, but saw none. Still, she could not shake the feeling of being watched. Warily, she made her way back to the trail, when she heard a pained whine, like that of a dog, from the way she had come.
She hesitated for a moment, then followed the sound, coming to a small clearing. There in the center was the body of a wolf. Approaching cautiously, Eira prodded it with her foot, and when it didn’t move, she bent down to examine it. The animal looked half-starved, but that didn’t seem to be what had killed it. Parting its fur with her fingers, she found the body was still warm and had two identical puncture marks on its back. As she wondered what could have made those wounds, a voice rang out from between the trees.
“It was driven from your village’s fields it seems,” it said.
The voice was low, with a slight rasp. Eira startled, falling backward onto her hands. She looked around, but couldn’t pinpoint where the voice was coming from.
“Who’s there?” she called.
“Do not be frightened,” the voice responded, though this wasn’t really an answer. “I mean, you no harm. This beast was following you, and looked desperate enough to attack.”
Eira slowly got to her feet. “You killed it then? To save me?” She took a tentative step in the direction the voice seemed to be coming from. “Who are you?”
“I am Kharri,” he responded. “This forest is my home.”
Eira shook her head, still listening. “I know everyone who lives here, and I’ve never heard of anyone named Kharri.”
A breathy sound came from the trees, and it took a moment for Eira to realize it was a laugh. “Not everyone gets along with the villagers. A sentiment you seem to share, living way out here.”
Starting to get annoyed as her fear dissipated, Eira took a couple more steps toward the edge of the clearing. “You’re awfully cryptic,” she said. “Why don’t you show yourself?”
The silence stretched out until Eira almost thought that this Kharri, whoever he was, had left. Then, she heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching.
“If you insist.”
With his eight legs bearing him forward, Kharri stepped into the clearing. The giant arachnid was slung low to the ground but still stood above Eira’s waist height. He fixed her with eight pairs of glossy black eyes as he approached. Eira took a step back in shock, and tripped on a protruding root, falling with a yelp. At her reaction, Kharri recoiled, backing into the trees until Eira called out to him.
“Wait! It’s okay!” She scrambled to her feet. “I’m sorry, you just…” she trailed off, taking in the spider’s form. “…startled me.”
Tentatively, Kharri approached her once again. As he did, he tapped his palps together as if nervous, and Eira almost chuckled at the human-like gesture. The young woman felt shaky as the initial shock started to wear off, but she reached out a hand to him.
“You’re… not quite what I expected,” she managed.
“I did not mean to frighten you,” the spider told her.
“It’s alright,” she reassured him. “It’s just a lot to take in.” Eira ran her hand along one of his legs. The midnight blue hair that covered them felt silky between her fingers. “It was a shock for sure, but I mean, you did save me.” She paused for a moment. “What were you doing following me anyways?”
Kharri tapped his palps again and dodged the question. “You should be safe now,” he said instead, lifting one and running it down Eira’s arm as if imitating her.
“Wait,” she called again as he turned to leave. “Are you… I mean, am I going to see you again?”
The spider paused for a moment. “Yes,” he replied simply, and with a last look back, scuttled back into the woods.
Eira stood there for several minutes after he had left, part of her still wondering if that had really happened. Coming to her senses, she gathered up her basket and fallen herbs and returned to the trail, deciding it was best to go home early and try to wrap her head around her interaction with the strange creature. She pondered how it had seemed almost… embarrassed? She shook her head. That couldn’t be right. She reached her hut and the edge of the forest, and fell into bed, still shaken.
*****
True to his word, Eira did see Kharri again. In the weeks that followed, she would catch sight of him from time to time. As they grew more accustomed to each other’s presence, they began to meet more frequently: occasional glimpses becoming curt greetings, and eventually, short conversations when they met, though Kharri always seemed to excuse himself quickly. Gradually, the feeling of being watched that Eira felt in the forest shifted, becoming comforting with the knowledge that Kharri, strange as he was, was keeping an eye on her. Whenever they spoke, Eira questioned Kharri incessantly, though he often had few answers. In turn, she told him about human culture and the people in the village.
During one such conversation, she paused, setting down her herb basket and facing him. “Are there more of you?” she asked.
This seemed to make him uncomfortable. “Not that I have seen,” he replied. “At least, not in a very long time.”
“Oh,” said Eira.
She sat down on a mossy stump and stoked his leg absently. Despite the hard exoskeleton beneath, she found it soothing, and almost like petting a dog. For his part, Kharri seemed to enjoy it.
“Do you get lonely?” she asked.
The giant arachnid seemed to think about that.
“I used to,” he answered.
Eira shifted over and leaned against him, resting her neck in the crook between his first legs and his head. Carefully, he lifted his leg to curl it around her waist.
“I’m glad,” she said, continuing to stroke the leg that lay across her lap. “Maybe I was too,” she muttered, but too quietly for him to hear.
But I wasn’t expecting to make friends with a giant spider. She thought to herself, though something flickered in her chest. That’s what we are. Friends. After a moment, Kharri stood up straight, pulling her leg back from around Eira.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“I have something for you,” he rasped, heading off a short distance into the woods.
When he returned, he was clutching a bundle of purple flowers. They were partially crushed, and he held them awkwardly between his mandibles. At the sight, Eira leaped to her feet, running the rest of the distance between them.
“Crestharrow,” she exclaimed, gingerly taking the bruised herbs from him. “Oh, I’ve been looking for these all over!” She nuzzled his bristly head in excitement. “I have to get these prepared before they wilt,” she told him, turning back toward the trail.
Kharri let her go, looking a bit stunned. Catching herself, Eira turned and called out her thanks before continuing back to her home.
*****
The next day, Eira went into town to sell the herbs that she had gathered. As the day wore on, she had found buyers for most of them. As she was working her way back home, a woman on the side of the road called out a warning to her
“You’d better be careful out there by the woods,” she cried.
“Why is that?” Eira asked.
The woman glanced around the emptying street. “The word is some folks saw a monster down by the woods. A couple of monster hunters from the south were headed that way to track it down.” She pointed down the road toward the wood. “They…” she trailed off. “What’s the matter?” the woman called to Eira, but she was already sprinting down the road.
When she reached the forest, she continued on blindly, heedless of branches whipping at her as the sunset. Losing the path, she stumbled over roots and stones and made her way deeper into the wood.
“Kharri!” Eira screamed, but he didn’t answer.
Seeing a patch of light shining through the trees, she made her way toward it, revealing two heavily armed men. The first held the torch and had a sword hanging from his belt. The other swept a loaded crossbow toward her as she approached.
“Who the hell is she?” asked the one with the crossbow.
“I don’t know, just get her out of here before she gets in the way,” the other man told him.
“Hey, watch it,” the first exclaimed as Eira grabbed at his arms.
“You can’t,” Eira stammered, trying to tug the weapon away from him. “You have to stop!”
The man shoved her off roughly, letting her fall to the ground “What do we do with her?” he asked.
“I don’t know?” the other yelled back. “Just get her to shut up before she brings the monster out with her screaming.”
The monster hunter hesitated, then raised the butt of his crossbow over her head. The last thing she heard before the man brought it down on her was a loud shriek, followed by the man’s screams.
When Eira awoke, she was lying on something soft. She sat up, feeling the lump on her head and looking around. She could see she was in a cave, lit softly by luminous mushrooms that sprouted from the walls. The bed beneath her was a rough mat of what looked like silk
“Kharri?” she called again, and she heard movement from deeper in the cave.
Sure enough, Kharri padded up the tunnel with his odd bouncing step, and brushed his palps across her face and shoulders, checking that she was alright.
“You are awake,” he said, “You should rest.”
“No, I’m alright. She got to her knees and threw her arms around him. “You saved me again, I’m so sorry.”
He returned the hug, wrapping his palps around her waist.
“You’re hurt too,” she exclaimed, pulling away and seeing the wounds on the spider’s body. “Let me help.”
She reached for her pouch, grateful to find it still there, and nothing had fallen out. By the light of one of the mushrooms, she withdrew a handful of herbs, placing them into her mouth one by one. Kharri watched her intently as she chewed, adding a couple more leaves before standing back up to inspect him. Taking the paste from her mouth, she gently pressed it into the gash on his foreleg, apologizing when he winced.
“It is alright,” he told her. “Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t thank me,” she responded. “You saved my life twice now, I owe you so much more than this.”
Eira pulled off her dress, standing in just her shift against the cool air of the cave. She might have noticed Kharri stiffen and turn away slightly, but her attention was elsewhere. She tore the cloth into long strips, bandaging the spider’s wounds, occasionally pausing to add more of the poultice. When she finished, she tied the last bandage off with a sharp tug and stepped back. She shivered, rubbing her bare arms against the chill, and noticed Kharri was staring.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
He turned away, breaking their eye contact. “Nothing,” he said stiffly.
Eira looked him over again, thinking. The furtive glances, how he was acting now. The cresthallow flowers! The thought hit her suddenly. How could I have been so stupid! She took a step toward him. No, that’s impossible. Her thoughts were jumbled. Even if he did, could I even? It’s not like he’s some dumb beast though, he’s just… Kharri. She took another step. She was blushing heavily and shaking, not only from the cold.
“Do you…” She started working up the courage. “Do you want me?”
The spider pulled back a bit, stammering and clicking its mandibles nervously.
“It’s alright,” Eira encouraged.
She knelt before him so that their eyes were level. She kissed him just above his fangs and flinched slightly when they twitched. Eira leaned back again. She lifted her shirt above her head, sitting back down on her heels and sitting naked before the great arachnid.
“I… I want you too.”
Tentatively, Kharri took a shuffling step forward and reached out to his palps. He ran the appendages over her shoulders and down her chest, the sparse hairs tickling and teasing her nipples, which were already stiff. She stroked them, and moved her hands up to his face, feeling the fine hairs covering his body. Eira took a slow breath to steady herself.
“If you are unsure…” Kharri trailed off, but Eira shook her head.
“No, I… I want this too,” she told him. “ Are you ready?”
The spider bobbed, which she took as a nod to continue. Unsure of how to start, Eira began to explore his body, running her hands down his legs and caressing his thorax. For his part, Kharri explored her in turn, tiny claws scratching her skin gently. Seeing her reaction when he passed his palps over her breasts, he focused his attention there, lifting and squeezing them until Eira started to squirm. A bit of movement caught Eira’s attention, making her tilt her head. Something long and glistening had extended from the underside of Kharri’s abdomen, and a slow smile spread across Eira’s face as she recognized it for what it was.
Shifting onto all fours, she crawled beneath Kharri in order to get a closer look. The spider’s penis was about a foot in length, gently curving upwards until the tip ran parallel to the ground. Eira wrapped her fingers around the shaft gingerly, testing it. She found she could barely wrap her fingers around it. Its surface was slick and covered in backward-facing knobs or various sizes, and she noticed the hole at the tip was wider than she expected. She gave the shaft a squeeze, making Kharri twitch, hairs bristling.
It gave only slightly beneath her fingers, almost a rubbery consistency. Eira’s heart was beating desperately, and a wave of heat poured through her body. ‘Okay, well… I’m committed now,’ she thought to herself. She started to stroke it with deliberate motions, the little bumps snagging on her fingers. Getting the hang of it, she reached her other hand between her own legs as she knelt beneath him. Leaning forward, she ran her tongue from base to tip, making Kharri buck in surprise.
“Is this… how humans … normally mate?” he asked haltingly.
He twisted his body, but couldn’t move to see her while she was beneath his abdomen.
“Just getting warmed up,” she replied, sounding more confident than she felt.
She had flings in the past, but she wasn’t sure how similar they could be. Eira resumed stroking him, her hand becoming slick with the fluid that seeped from the shaft. She was growing wet herself, rubbing her clit with her other hand. The heat and arousal spreading through her body drove off the chill and any lingering nervous shivers. Moving her head closer again, she kissed the organ all around where the head would be on a man. Running her tongue over the bumps, she opened her mouth wide to accommodate it.
Sliding her lips over it, she slowly pushed her head down until the tip scraped the back of her throat. She held it there for a moment. The liquid oozing from his penis had a tangy taste, almost citrus-like, mixing with her own saliva and dripping down her chin as she pulled her head back slowly. Building a rhythm, she bobbed her head back and forth. Kharri let out a low, hissing sigh. While Eira worked his shaft with her mouth, she continued to touch herself, rubbing in increasingly frantic circles around her clit. The spider began to thrust with his abdomen, and Eira willed herself to keep her body from tensing up.
Something hot hit the back of her throat, and she gagged in surprise, pulling back and stifling a coughing fit. When she regained her composure, she was surprised to see it was not cum, as she initially expected. Extending from the tip of Kharri’s penis was a smaller organ, just thicker than her thumb and off white in color. It twitched, retracting part way back into the penis once the simulation stopped.
“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you,” Eira remarked.
“This is,” Kharri started with a breathy hiss, “So much more than I was expecting.”
Steeling herself Eira put her lips back around the shaft, and he began to thrust again, faster than before. Taking all her concentration to keep her body relaxed, she moved both hands to steady herself. Giving up on trying to suck on it, she let him fuck her mouth. This time, when the secondary organ began to extend, she opened her throat for it. With a final thrust, Kharri pushed forward as deep as he could, forcing Eira to cling to his abdomen to keep steady. As if feeling its way, the tentacle moved in jerky motions, extending and recoiling. Each time, it pushed farther down her throat until she lost track of how far. She squeezed her eyes shut.
Abruptly, its motions stopped. Eira’s throat clenched, and she struggled to breathe as the organ swelled inside her. A dull warmth began to spread from her stomach, and the tentacle started to retract again. After what seemed like an impossible length, the tip slid back up her throat, leaving a sharp, salty taste in her mouth. Dizzy, Eira fell back onto one hand, breathing heavily. Kharri backed up off of her, crouching down on his eight legs to make eye contact, mandibles clicking in concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Eira nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine,” she reassured him, catching her breath.
“That was incredible.”
Kharri breathed, somewhat stunned. Recovering, Eira sat up, fingering her pussy and finding dripping, and not just from her own teasing. She swallowed the last of the cum and fluid, though the taste still clung to her mouth.
“I hope you aren’t done?” She got on all fours, turning to face away from him. “Because you aren’t finished with me yet.”
Part of her was still in shock at the whole thing, but that was fading by the second, replaced with burning arousal. Understanding the not-so-subtle hint, Kharri moved forward again to mount her, his legs on all sides almost like a cage. Bumping his penis awkwardly against her a few times, he finally found the mark. Eira braced her elbows against the rough cave floor, lifting her rear as he thrust inside. She gasped audibly as he filled her. Wasting no time with teasing, he pushed in as far as possible, the tip pressing against her cervix.
Slowly, he pulled back, making Eira moan until she was out of breath. Each little knob tugged at her walls as the shaft withdrew.
“Fuck,” she practically screamed. “Please, don’t stop!”
He pushed back in, and she squirmed with pleasure. Building speed, he pumped in and out, until Eira’s legs were shaking so much she could barely hold herself up. Kharri lifted one pair of his legs, curling them beneath him and under her stomach. He held her up until her legs dangled, and her entire back was pressed against him. Eira lifted her arms, grabbing onto the next pair of legs, hanging fully off the ground with most of her weight supported by him. At this pace, her whole body bounced with each thrust, and the sensation blurred together until she could hardly tell whether he was getting faster, or she was just losing control. The first orgasm hit her in waves, spreading up to her head and down to her toes with its tingling warmth
Kharri’s powerful legs tightened, holding her still as the tip pressed hard against her cervix. Knowing what was coming, Eira grit her teeth with a low whine, legs quivering. She felt the pressure building inside as that strange tentacle began to extend again, then a sudden release as it entered her cervix. Lights exploded behind her eyes, and she blinked rapidly in a daze. Inside, the organ kept extending, coiling around inside her womb until she felt full.
The tentacle thickened as it filled with semen, emptying into her in spasming bursts. Eira’s entire body tensed up, the pressure of a powerful orgasm building along with the pressure in her womb. While it could not have lasted more than a few moments, time stretched out for Eira as she felt her belly expand from the load, the orgasm refusing to fade. Finally, the organ retracted back into his penis, relieving some of the pressure, but leaving plenty inside.
Gently, Kharri lowered her to the ground. Still, out of it, she rolled onto her back, gazing up at him as he settled next to her. Tenderly, she ran one hand over her stomach, feeling the slight bulge, undiminished by the tiny trickle that seeped from her throbbing pussy. Eira blinked sleepily, unable to take her eyes off her newly consummated lover.
“I’m yours.”
*****
Epilogue
Eira sat at the entrance of the cave, fumbling with strands of fresh silk, and a pair of hand-carved needles. Her belly had continued to swell over the weeks, and she dressed in a plain silk garment that Kharri had made for her once her original clothes no longer fit over her stomach. It was not fancy, but she was frankly amazed by his spinning skills.
“Are you having any luck?” Kharri asked, coming out of the cave behind her.
She turned to look at him, shielding her eyes from the morning sun. “I’m afraid I’ll never be as good as you,” she told him, pausing to rub her stomach.
He approached, gently butting her stomach with his head, brushing her with his palps. “Perhaps,” he admitted. “But you will be a better mother than any I’ve known.”
The End.
*This story has been edited to fix spelling, punctuation, & basic grammar, but the narrative and plot have remained the same. Just remember, even with the limited editing we do, it doesn’t always mean the flaws in a story are always fixed.
