Chapter 1

Huh? Aleich wheezed as his flight was utterly ruined. He was snared. Fine threads of spider web were all over his body, winding around his ankles and wrists, stretching his limbs, impeding all movement or chance to flee. What was worse was that it felt as though the strands were alive, groping intimately over his face and tightening seductively around his waist.

He had heard the story of Ghaelt. Yet never in his wildest dreams he expected to be caught. The horror was real.

Aleich was frantic as he heard Ghaelt, the eight-legged beast, inch toward him. He tried to twist around, but his attempts only made the bonds tighter. Aleich’s feet barely touched the ground, hampering his attempt to kick around the spot where he thought his belongings lay. He had never felt so helpless and exposed—when even glancing to his sides was impossible.

So engrossed was Aleich that he failed to notice a movement, now right behind him. Only the rising hair on his neck told him that someone or something was there. He was squirming in despair when, suddenly, a blunt tip poked into the snug skin of his neck. As he struggled again in earnest, a blinding pain shot through his mind, and his mouth dropped involuntarily, letting out a silent cry of agony. His head fell back and his body began to convulse. Aleich was lost into the shadows even before the spider pulled its sting from his neck.

* * * *

Ghaelt gently severed the cords from around his captive’s arms and legs, while making sure he was not slammed onto the hard ground. With his many limbs, Ghaelt caught each of the appendages, spreading him out in the air. One of his legs hooked around the unconscious man’s waist and then Ghaelt started to move.

Deeper and deeper he went into the cavern inside the rocky mound separating Bankunt from Garness Plain. Ghaelt crawled noiselessly, once in a while halting to listen for this lovely fellow’s faint breathing before grunting in contentment and proceeding. He moved faster, carrying his prisoner with only two hind legs. With his other six he limped lightly down into his lair.

Ghaelt stopped in front of a big hole leading to a murky chamber. He pondered as he made low huffing noises. All of a sudden, a soft rumble came from deep in the core of the earth and became louder and louder until the entire mountain shook in fury. When it finally subsided, Ghaelt chuckled in amusement.

He stepped forward and laughed with mirth to see the cave had turned bright. Torches were lit in every corner, giving off illumination and warmth, making it like no other cave inside a mountain. Rugs were spread over the ground, the fur soft and unsoiled. Soft webs shrouded the walls. They were translucent and instead of making the place dirty, they adorned the surface like velvet curtains.

Ghaelt went to a far corner of the cavern, laid the human down onto the sheathed ground, and then scrambled back a little. The man might look filthy and weary, but Ghaelt felt certain that behind all those stains, there was pure beauty. Watching him as he scuffled against his bonds earlier, Ghaelt had felt a flutter low in his stomach.

He had fallen for the human.

And now his spirit soared in bliss. It was going to be set free.

Unleashed.

Ghaelt shuffled closer to the man and lifted two of his front legs. With a slowness that was almost painful, he reached for the clasp of the man’s cloak. It amazed Ghaelt that his big nails could easily unclasp the man’s brooch. The cloak fell from his shoulders and Ghaelt panted, faster and faster.

Next Ghaelt stripped the fellow of his shabby tunic and tattered breeches. In no time, he was in naught but his skin.

Ghaelt crept back to appreciate the result of his work. No, he hadn’t made a wrong choice at all. This was the loveliest being he had ever laid eyes on. He was unlike all those country people with unattractive countenances and crooked teeth. The untainted parts, once confined under clothes, now seemed to glow. Later, Ghaelt would take his sweet time to make sure that the lovely face would glimmer, too, and the lashes shrouding those eyes would lift and reveal the splendor underneath. Ghaelt made a silent, circling movement around the man when suddenly, he felt too shy to continue what he had set out to do from the very beginning.

Quickly, quickly, before he awakens. Before this stunning creature regained his consciousness and made Ghaelt’s work difficult. Ghaelt settled his heart and he sneaked forward on his trembling limbs and this time, when he finally felt certain, he spread the man’s legs open.