Chapter 18 part 4

When she woke up, it was clear the others had arrived and Beth was shaking her shoulder to get her up. Each of the other creatures had a spear. They all seemed to have their hair shaved except for the same strip woven into a braid as the one who blew the whistle had. The colors ranged from green to almost every shade of red. The eyes were mostly yellow, but there were some that were red or purple. Their skin ranged from a light gold color to dark gold.

"How long have they been here?" Charlie asked quietly.

"Not sure, I just woke up a minute ago myself," Beth admitted. "Though, I don't think it's been long."

"How'd you wake up then?" Charlie inquired.

"Oh you know, Amelia shook me awake," Beth said smiling.

Charlie sighed. Looks like it was time to begin this. She stepped forward, holding out her hands in an effort to appear non-threatening.

"What's the problem here?" She asked before any of the creatures could say anything. "We're not aware of any agreement with anyone. We just arrived on this world and didn't know anyone was living in this area."

"You claim not to know, but we're not here to decide if your claim is true or not. We're here to escort you to the regent," one of the creatures that had its hair split into three braids said, motioning to the others, who leveled their spears at Charlie and her friends. Its hair was a dark red. "Now come along quietly and this will be dealt with swiftly."

Charlie translated what the creature had said, as they started to be forced marched to the direction that they had last been heading in.

"Maybe we should have tried leaving when we had the chance," Wes commented, looking at the spears while he walked.

"Maybe, but would it have helped us out?" Charlie asked. "Even if we made it back to Petals' forest, would we have actually really learned anything about this world?"

"Charlie has a point," Amelia chimed in. "If we see how this goes, maybe we'll find that we can come back here whenever we want. You know, like Arachii's world."

"You never know what might happen," Ralph surprisingly said, sounding like they were just out for a stroll, nothing to worry about. "This might look bad, but I'm sure we'll be able to figure a way out before this is over. Regardless of whatever these creatures decide."

Charlie suddenly had an idea and left the others to discuss their current predicament. She walked over to the one who seemed to be in charge, which was the one that had three braids while all of the others had one braid, but keeping a safe distance so there wouldn't be as big of a chance for them to view her actions as hostile.

"What are you?" Charlie asked. "I mean, you look like a centaur, but have I think maybe a spider half instead of a horse half."

The creature glanced at Charlie briefly before focusing ahead of him. Charlie tried other questions, but the creature ignored her and didn't reply. Charlie was getting nowhere and was starting to get annoyed with the creature when Beth tapped her shoulder and indicated ahead of them.

Just ahead of them, where the path led past some trees in the distance, they could barely make out a few huts well constructed and sturdy. As they reached where those huts were, they found themselves in a village full of the same creatuers. There were ones as young as the first one they saw running around, other older ones were doing various tasks such as laundry, cooking, mending, and the like. Many were wearing a silk shirt, though only the ones that looked like children had theirs undyed. It also looked like the only adults that had a dyed shirt on looked much more feminine than the ones without a shirt. The dyed shirts varied in color, much like their hair colors. There were bright yellows, blues, pinks, and even orange. The creatures in the village didn't seem to have any of their hair shaved, though the hair did vary in length, but it didn't seem to have any particular meaning aside from maybe personal preference.

They were led to the center of the village and then one of the creatures stepped forward and looked over Charlie and her friends. Charlie had the sense that this one was the one who would decide what to do about them. This creature was also wearing a shirt that was dyed a red orange. Its skin was a deep gold, its hair was an emerald green, cut where it reached its shoulders, and its eyes were a deep red, that blazed brightly at the moment.

"What are-" Charlie started to ask, but was cut off immediately.

"You will speak when spoken to," the creature that seemed to be in charge snapped.

Charlie quickly shut her mouth. While she'd still like to get an answer to her questions, at the moment it felt more prudent to let the creatures call the shots.

"What did you plan on doing coming here?" the creature asked, looking at Beth.

"We were-" Charlie began, but was silenced by the one in charge again.

"Silence!" the creature snapped at Charlie. "You will have your turn. I was speaking first to this one."

Charlie sighed as the creature turned back to Beth. "Well!?" the creature roared.

"Beth, she's talking-" Charlie tried telling Beth.

"You will not be warned again!" the creature informed Charlie. Charlie couldn't help but begin to start feeling rather annoyed at this creature, though she did her best to keep a tight rein on it.

Fortunately, Beth was able to pick up on what Charlie had been going to say.

"We're sorry if you feel we're trespassing, but we just came here from another world. What we'd like to know is what you are. We've never seen anything like you before," Beth said, her words leaving the creature dumbfounded.

The creature stared at Beth before rounding on Charlie, looking like it was getting a major headache. "How is it we can understand you when you talk to us but not the others with you?"

Charlie shrugged, part of her wondering if they'd know what that action meant. "I really have no idea. I mean, this is the first world we've gone to that had others who can speak. We don't know why I can understand you and they can't," Charlie replied, then thought of something else she could do. "Also, to answer the question you were asking Beth, what she said was that we're sorry if we're trespassing, but that we just came from another world and that we'd like to know what you are, since we haven't seen anything like you before."

"My money's on something like a drider," Wes commented, making Tim and Ralph snicker. Charlie made a mental note to ask them what a 'drider' is.

"We are arachnoids. I am the regent of this tribe while we wait for Arachnia to become old enough to take on the mantle of the tribe," the creature said to Charlie. "How did you arrive here? The only ways we know to reach this plateau is through the caverns that are controlled by the dwarves, and with the agreement we have with them, they are not allowed to let anyone come up here, just as we're not allowed to leave this plateau."

"We came in through a unicorn's forest," Charlie replied. "We're exploring other worlds right now as we need to see if we can find our way to a world that has a specific griffin canyon in it."

The leader of the arachnoids stared at Charlie in surprise. "You're saying that you came through a unicorn's forest?"

Charlie nodded, again wondering if the creature would understand what that motion meant. "Yeah, we left a marker outside of it so we could find it again," Charlie said.

The arachnoid then turned and said, "Follow me." Charlie followed the arachnoid as it led her to the largest hut, which Charlie assumed was, at the very least, where important meetings were held.

Charlie glanced behind her as she started to find that her friends weren't being allowed to accompany her. Whatever this was, she was going to have to deal with it on her own. However, despite the uncertainty of what was going on, part of her was getting rather excited with what was happening. That there wasn't any way to know how this was going to end.

As they entered the hut, Charlie noticed to the side of the hut the first arachnoid they'd encountered first was sitting, or laying given the legs were tucked under it's body but she couldn't be sure which it would be better to describe it as, on the ground, happily humming to itself while sorting out the flowers it had picked, from the basket in front of it.

The arachnoid leading Charlie motioned to the other and said, "This is my daughter, Arachnia. I understand you encountered her first, then returned the flowers she'd dropped, correct?"

Arachnia's human half looked like that of maybe a ten year-old.

"Yes, we did," Charlie replied, not sure I she should add anything else.

The creature took a moment to settle itself, in much the same manner as Arachnia was, on the other side of the hut before focusing on Charlie again. Charlie remained standing, not sure if she should or not, but decided to just in case. "So, what did you mean when you said you came through a unicorn's forest?"

Charlie was a little surprised. For some reason she thought that other worlds would know about unicorn forests, though she really didn't have any evidence for that anyway.

"I'm not sure I can exactly say what a unicorn's forest is, but it can be used to travel from one world to another. Where the forest lets out to is first determined by the unicorn that creates it, but at any point the unicorn can release the anchor on any part of its forest and that entrance will move to a random location on any world," Charlie said, hoping she was remembering correctly.

"How did you come to learn about this unicorn's forest?" the creature asked, not showing any sign of whether or not Charlie's answers were helping her or not.

"Well, my friends and I met the unicorn when she needed help because someone had attacked her forest. When we got to her forest, we learned that the Heart of the Forest had been taken and we started looking for it to get it back, otherwise her forest home would disappear after a while," she answered, hoping that her elaboration of her answer wouldn't create more problems, or especially more questions.

"So, now that you know of my tribe's existence, what is your intentions about it?" the creature asked, and Charlie felt like they were at the heart of what concerns the creature had.

"Actually, we were really looking to see what this world had, because soon my friends and I are going to set out to try and find another world. Specifically one that has a griffin canyon where I dropped something really important. We don't know which world it is or which gates we'll need to go through to get there, so we have to first start looking at what the worlds that we can get to first are like, and if there's anything or anyone we might be able to get help from," Charlie said. Afterwards, she took a deep breath, feeling a little winded after that explanation.

The arachnoid raised an eyebrow as Charlie finished her explanation and she got the feeling the arachnoid wasn't believing her completely, if at all. So, Charlie put out her magic to try and see what the arachnoid was thinking as it replied to Charlie.

"What would you want from my tribe?" the arachnoid asked, sounding at ease, but Charlie could tell through her magic that the arachnoid was just as tense as when they were first brought into the village.

Charlie opened her mouth to speak, but then caught a thought that she knew would help her. The thoughts weren't coming in words, but rather more general feelings. Maybe that's just the only way I can interpret them, Charlie speculated to herself. However, the general feeling was that Charlie and her friends were allied with the dwarves and were up to something to try and undermine the agreement currently in place.

"All we would want would be possible trade," Charlie replied. "If you would like, we can show you to the unicorn's forest and you can see it for yourself. If you don't trust us, you can hold my friends here and send someone you do trust with me and I'll show them the forest and then they'll be able to tell you what it's like."

The arachnoid couldn't hide its surprise. Charlie waited patiently for it to reply, knowing that this should help end whatever impasse they have at the moment.

Eventually the arachnoid nodded. "I suppose that would be acceptable," it said, as it started to stand. "I will choose who will go."

"I'll go!" Arachnia cried cheerfully, knocking her flowers over as she rushed to stand up.

"You will not!" the arachnoid roared. "Your safety is my primary concern. Until we know that it is safe for you, we cannot let you go where you could be hurt or worse."

Arachnia looked heartbroken. "B-but…" she started to say, but just trailed off.

"Don't worry, Arachnia," Charlie said cheerfully. "I know it's safe, so it'll just be a formality before it's determined by those in charge here, so you can see it later."

Arachnia brightened at Charlie's statement, though the arachnoid in charge scowled at that exchange.

"Regardless, I'll will send someone to escort you and if you don't return or something happens to who I send, your friends' lives will be forfeit," the arachnoid informed Charlie.

"Melodramatic much?" Charlie retorted, unable to hold her annoyance anymore. "I'm not concerned with any threats you make about if what I'm saying is true or not. So, you can just save any other ones you want to make, unless you want me to tell you where you can stick them."

The arachnoid looked affronted, and Charlie was pretty sure she heard a soft giggle from Arachnia, but couldn't be sure. Regardless, the arachnoid escorted Charlie back out of the hut, Arachnica following, an eager expression on her face.

Charlie couldn't help but sigh. While she didn't really expect things to go smoothly, she at least thought that they wouldn't get in a sort of hostage position.

However, she didn't really feel like it was that dangerous of a position. Just more of a migraine kind of position. She was confident that it would get sorted out soon enough.