ARWIN

  Arwin felt trapped, and not just by his spidery chains. Did he really want to get into this kind of flirting talk with her? “Um...”

  “Silly question. Of course, you do.” She slid close. Her hand wrapped around the back of his head and she pulled herself up until their faces nearly touched.

  He expected her breath to be foul, perhaps from eating flies, but instead, it was sweet and reminiscent of dark chocolate and port wine.

  She teased him, speaking breathily, “Tell me, would you like a kiss?” A kiss in exchange for your freedom, perhaps?” She leaned closer, her lips about to press into his.

  Yaz’s head snapped up. “Don’t! It’s the kiss of death!”

  Arwin turned his face away at the last moment.

  She looked annoyed by his response, and her upper lip curled in a slight sneer of disappointment. Her voice oozed danger, the change in attitude sudden and dramatic. “Yes, yes. Do fear the kiss of the so-called spider queen.” She looked at him a moment longer, then abruptly flashed him her bared teeth. For a moment, she had a mouth full of fangs, just like a spider. Then, her teeth became human again.

  Arwin flinched in fear. What the hell had that been? A spell? Illusion? He feared it had been real and that she was more than she appeared. He nervously swallowed. "Look, I'm sorry that we seem to have trespassed. We're both very sorry. We apologize, and if you let us go, we'll happily be on our way. We'd be very grateful for your generosity. We’ll never bother you again, promise.”

  The woman snickered. "Let you go? Do you know what I like to do with the foolish little wayward things who wander into my lands with their lies and thieving fingers?”

  "No, I don’t,” he replied, fighting to keep the fear out of his voice. He lied, "I don't even know who you are.”

  She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Playing innocent? Or do you live in a hole in the ground? I am known and feared, far and wide as the Dark Enchantress. You are in my castle. And in my power.” Her nails dug into the back of his neck. “What fool thought they could trick me with this idiotic scheme with the two of you? And what are you after? Magic research? An artifact? Tell me it’s nothing as tired and boring as my life.”

  Arwin gulped. She was absolutely nothing like she’d been described by the blue people. At least not physically. Tales of her personality, however, might have been spot on. She radiated evil.

  "She’s known as the Spider Queen," Yaz said sourly, "Lady Poison, The Queen of Evil—“

  Her head whipped around in Yaz’s direction, and she snarled. Then, she spoke with mock surprise, “Really? Is that what people call me?" She released Arwin, then came to stand next to the skeleton and loudly hissed in his ear, "Or do they no more than whisper such names in quiet corners while they fearfully look over their shoulders, afraid that I’m lurking in the shadows, ready to flay the skin from their bones should they ever take my name in vain?" Yaz had no answer, and she mockingly laughed at him. There was a strong hint of bitterness in that laugh.

  Just then, a tapping sound rattled into the room and seconds later, a monstrously large spider squeezed through the door. It was larger than those that had captured Arwin and Yaz, nearly as tall as the Enchantress. Eight limbs moved in mesmerizing concert, bringing the horror up to the woman's side.

  She smiled and rubbed his head. "Ah, Drathgar, prince of arachnids."

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  Like a puppy, he affectionately rubbed his head against her body and possessively curled a leg around her. She giggled and kissed his shiny cephalothorax.

  Yaz huffed and spoke derisively. Despite their mission here, her earlier words seemed to have cut him deeply. Now, the skeleton was angry. "You're a monster."

  Arwin shuddered and wished he could back away through the wall. This woman was insane. Her beauty, the danger, and the sheer craziness of the encounter shook him, scattering his thoughts. "Uh, you seem like a really nice old, uh, witch, um, whatever. But we're just not very interesting people. I'm sure you'd be bored of our company quickly. I'm not even from Heartstone, and I really need to be getting home."

  "Old?" She became slightly enraged, a hand instinctively going to her face as if to check for wrinkles. “You think I look old?”

  He realized he’d erred. He cleared his throat. “You look great for your age?" he offered, having no idea how old she really was, only understanding that it was centuries, apparently.

  Visibly fighting to control her annoyance, she narrowly eyed her captive. “Who are you, really? Why are you here? You are the worst assassins I’ve ever seen. Was this comedy team supposed to actually make me let my guard down? Who thought I’d fall for something so childish?”

  He protested, “We’re not assassins! Nor thieves!”

  “Do you realize just how many pathetic attempts to steal my research I have to put up with on a regular basis? Can’t you fools just leave me alone?” She shouted, “Do your own bloody research!”

  He begged, “Please! We’re not here to hurt you or steal anything. Like Yaz said, we’re looking for his princess.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “It’s true! I’m not even from here. From Heartstone.”

  She eyed him with suspicion. “How can you not be from Heartstone? Almost everyone in Heartstone is from Heartstone."

  Arwin shrugged. He rambled, “I was driving through the woods, just trying to clear my head, and then there was this curtain thing and a blue field and depressing berries—“

  She left the giant spider’s side, stepped forward, and resoundingly slapped him across the face. "Make sense!"

  Arwin’s head spun. That was no regular slap. She was a lot stronger than she looked!

  Yaz muttered, "He's from Drearia.”

  Her eyes and mouth opened wide in shock. "The portal is open again? We're being infested with non-magical Drearians?" Her face twisted as she looked at him as if she’d just eaten something truly disgusting. “Ew!”

  Arwin shrugged again. He didn’t blame her for feeling that way about the people of his homeworld. Some days, he did too. "Well, it’s just me so far. There’s a pink dragon camped outside the portal, raiding a cattle ranch. Probably won’t be a lot of people coming through anytime soon.”

  Lips pursed, she took a second, more thoughtful look at him and reassessed. "So that's why I couldn't place the accent. Mmmm, a foreigner. Despite your lack of magic, exoticness makes you even more delicious."

  Yaz sighed. “Told you so. She’s going eat us.”

  Reaching out, her hand touched Arwin’s chest, and she stroked his pecs, bejewelled nails sparkling in the moonlight.

  A large black widow spider scampered over the Dark Enchantress’s shoulder, then paused. Slowly, step by step, it crawled down her slender limb and then, one delicate, sharp little leg at a time, it climbed up onto Arwin's bare neck. He felt each leg on his skin, then his skin goosebumped and crawled. On the side of his neck, the fat, poisonous spider rested, forelegs tickling the little hairs above his rapidly pulsing artery.

  The Dark Enchantress laughed. "Aw, she likes you."

  Arwin shivered, horrified at the intimate contact. He was terrified that it was about to sink its deadly jaws into his neck. "Get it off!"

  "Come,” she purred, and the black widow reluctantly crawled into the palm of her slender hand. She affectionately kissed the arachnid and placed it on the floor. Then the witch leaned closer. When Arwin flinched away as he had before, the motion brought a scowl to her face. "Something wrong? You don't like me? My lips aren’t actually poisonous, you know. That’s just one of the many, many lies fools tell about me.”

  "You're a queen or something, right? Wouldn't you rather seduce a nice prince or something?"

  "You'll do."

  Arwin saw her eyes boring into him. "You're not really my type." Well, physically, she absolutely was. But the whole cruelty and torture thing was a turnoff.

  Her eyes flashed in anger. "Not your—?” The woman snarled, “Fine. If you want to reject me, if you too think so little of me without even knowing me at all, then you can rot in my dungeon!" An evil grin slowly spread over her lips. "Until I give you to either my lovely spiders or darling black gremlins. My servants will eat you alive. Literally. And I'll tell them to do it slowly so as to cause the most pain. I’ll tell them to start with your feet so you will be alive to watch your own body being consumed!"

  Arwin gulped as Drathgar, the giant arachnid, came forward, and two long, needle-like legs reached for him. He moaned, “Aw, hell. Worst meet-cute ever.”