novelraw Chapter 22: Renée
Chapter 22: Renée
“D*mn it, why’d they catch more people—and demi-humans this time? Did they even send a letter to the lord of the city? I’m friends with Lord Keken, he will come save me!”
Raphaëlle and the Dragonkin girls had been dragged and tossed into the crude holding cell in the hall by the Brain Demonkin named Korriri. Inside were three humans—two men and one woman. Because of Korriri’s presence, Raphaëlle could still understand the humans’ language, so she glanced over at them.
“Quiet! You’ve got ten days. If no one pays up by then, we’ll just kill you all.”
The massive spider Sia barked at them from outside, terrifying the humans into silence.
“Wait! Please, don’t kill us—I…”
Sia ignored them and climbed the rock wall beside the jail. She flopped down in a small cave up above. In another hollow nearby, Korriri was sitting.
“Where’s Famasie? Still digging?”
“I think she went to take a bath.”
Korriri closed a small jewelry box in her hands, then turned to look at Sia. Her face was coated with some kind of white substance. She clearly had no clue how to use it—her face was ghostly pale, and with her semi-transparent form, she looked like a full-blown specter.
Sia burst into laughter the moment she saw her. “What the h*ll is that? You look hideous—hahaha!”
“...”
Korriri opened her mouth, then looked down at the mirror. Her expression remained blank.
“I bought it in a human city. Human women like to smear this stuff on their faces. It looked pretty... but maybe I used too much.”
Sia lay down, her giant spider legs adjusting under her as she pulled out some thread from her body.
Spider silk was extremely valuable to the Spiderkin. They had to use stored silk to build their nests, and the more they ate, the more silk they produced—pure white and plentiful.
She admired the jade-like silk in her hands for a moment, then began kneading it like sticky rice, pressing out impurities.
“How much silk have you even saved up?”
Korriri glanced at Sia’s huge spider body.
Sia didn’t even look at her.
“You don’t get it. I’ve been storing this stuff for years. Everything I eat goes to making silk. When I build my nest, it’s going to be the prettiest, coziest thing ever.”
“Heh... building a nest, huh.”
Korriri put down the compact. Her reflection in the mirror faded further.
“This can’t go on forever. Humans won’t stay walled in for long. A lot of northern Goblin tribes have already been wiped out. Once the big ones fall, the plains will be theirs...”
“Tch. Then we’ll just hide in the mountains. Fine, I’ll even let you stay in my nest.”
Sia didn’t seem to grasp the threat Korriri was warning about. She was carefree as ever, tucking her precious silk back into her massive spider abdomen.
Korriri opened her mouth, hesitated, then muttered,
“Let’s hope so... I’ll go meet with the human contact. Might as well see how they use this stuff too.”
She left her makeup kit at the edge of the cave, gave Sia a glance,
“You guys rest. I’ll be back with news.”
“Yeah, yeah, go on. I’m gonna check on Famasie. Bet she stopped halfway through her bath to dig another tunnel again...”
As Korriri’s form faded into the air, Sia jumped down from the cave, her towering spider silhouette stretched and then vanished into the flickering firelight.
“We’re screwed... we’re gonna die…”
The humans whispered in despair.
But now, without Korriri nearby, Raphaëlle could no longer understand their words.
Still trying to act tough, she forced herself toward the bars of the cell, thinking maybe she could break them with brute force. But just getting there made her legs give out, her scales throbbing in pain.
Mill rushed over to support her and helped her sit.
“It’s okay... Master Fischer will come for us.”
Raphaëlle glanced at her. Mill suddenly blushed, waving her hands in panic.
“I-I mean... Master Fischer’s carriage is still here! So he... he’ll probably come back to get it... and maybe—maybe rescue us too...”
“Mill, how can you trust that human?”
“Yeah, seriously.”
Fassil and Cachil jumped in, making Mill’s face turn even redder.
“It’s not that... Fischer isn’t like other humans...”
“I’m telling Brother Bull!”
“Hey, don’t you dare, Cachil!”
Bull was Mill’s Tailmate, and also the older brother of Fassil and Cachil.
The room erupted into quiet bickering, but they all kept their voices low. No one wanted to draw the spider-woman’s attention and end up with a smoking hole in their chest.
But in the next second, Larr suddenly shouted—
“Fischer!”
“Shhh, Larr! Keep your voice d—wait... Master Fischer.”
Raphaëlle's ears perked up at the name. She looked up—and there he was.
A man in a black suit stood at the jail door, looking right at them.
When Larr shouted, Fischer raised a finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
“Fischer, how did you get in here?”
“Sir! Sir! We’re from Nary! Please help us! Tell Lord Keken where we are—we’ll pay you anything once we’re out!”
Fischer ignored the pleading humans and Larr’s excited chatter. He just counted the Dragonkin girls with his fingers, confirming no one was missing. Then, instead of opening the cell, he turned and began looking for his carriage.
Spotting it parked at the edge of the cave, he calmly walked away.
“Wait! Sir, don’t go! Please!”
The human prisoners looked crushed as Fischer walked off without a word.
Raphaëlle leaned on the cell bars and slowly closed her eyes.
She didn’t know why, but his choice to not open the cell made her feel... upset.
Still, it made sense. Maybe, to him, she and the others weren’t even worth one-tenth of his carriage.
She forced down the bitterness and said nothing.
Fischer opened the carriage door and stepped into the ransacked room. He opened a drawer and saw his leather wallet missing. His face darkened, and he gripped his staff even tighter.
Leaving his room, he spotted the purple dress lying on the floor.
He paused.
Kneeling down, he picked it up. The rings of violet light began to spin again—but the moment he touched the dress, they vanished completely.
The spell had already been triggered.
Fischer sighed.
A memory surfaced in his mind—the image of that Witch.
He carefully rehung the dress deep in the dressing room.
As it shifted on the hanger, a small line of Naryan cursive lettering came into view on the collar:
“Renée.”