The Spider and The Frog

Above me loomed the dark figure of a hunting spider. I knew this because the eight eyes were set like a preditor's with two of the largest at the front of its face and several smaller below (looking like a happy face smile that would be as comforting as a snowman in the spring if it didn't hide carnivorous intent) and just a few eyes to each side for a total of eight. Also the way it ambushed and dragged down poor Redzilla-san (sorry, not sorry) was a first hand strategy of a trapdoor spider. Then, the biggest give away, now that I could look around, was that the trees were covered in a sloppy funneling web. The trap door was just part of the spider's ambush technique. The other part was a maze of barriers hung here and there to control its prey's movement. Redzilla-san was either stupid or too focused on me to notice the death trap we had ran right into. But then, I ran into it too. Now the death trap was staring at me with all eight eyes, eight hairy legs, and a plump abdomen that hid whether it was full or still hungry.

"Please don't eat me." I whimpered more to the gods than to it.

The spider rubbed its front claws together. "Thank you for the meal."

"Please don't eat me. Please don't eat me." Wait, did it just talk?

The spider's eight legs moved closer. One by one by one by one, until it's head was so close to my little froggy body that I could only see it's head out of my left eye. My right eye was still mostly covered by the leaf but I didn't miss three of its legs step into place beside it like bars blocking any thought of jumping away. "And why should I not eat you?"

I winced. My body hurt too much to turn my head to look at it properly. It's head was as big as me and it's abdomen even more so with legs coming out longer than Redzilla was tall. It's voice was deep yet feminine laced with malicious curiosity.

"I'm poisonous." I croaked. More like squeaked, but I'll just pretend for a bit that I have confidence.

"KUKUKUKUKU!" The spider laughed with a clicking sound. "No your not."

"How do you know?" I puffed up. Ow, that hurt.

"I know by the silver stripes on your back that you are only a--"

"Wait, you can talk?" I didn't actually need to ask the question, but it really just clicked and I absolutely didn't want to hear the answer to the last question.

"Kuku, yes and no." The spider began rubbing globs of mushed up plant on my shoulder and leg. OMG, it's seasoning me. "We who have lived long enough to gain souls from the gods have become powerful enough to share our thoughts through that divine connection. That was how I heard you coming." She explained. "Other animals usually are not strong enough to use telepathy but there are some exceptions and you can learn their languages as well if you are physically able to speak them. Such as I can communicate to you this way but would not be able to communicate the frog or human way..."

"What about humans?" Keep her talking, I thought. It would be silly to be talking to me with her mouth full, right? She would be devouring her audience.

"Humanoids, however, are also an exception. Even though they were born with souls, they were not gifted to them by the same gods, so they do not have the divine connection, and most haven't lived long enough to develop a sesativity to projected thought. Even many who do tend to be too absorbed in themselves to pay enough attention to those around them to develope such a thing." Distain dripped in the spider's voice thicker than venom. "Though, I do find a dead 100 year human here and there doesn't draw as much attention as a young one unless they were a wizard or held an important position. They are quite a bit more tasty than animals."

"Then please don't eat me." One of its paws pressed on my shoulder, the claw flexing before my eye, wrapping my shoulder with its web. "My soul is poisonous."

"Ku, no it is not." The spider huffed like a frustrated aunty. "I have known those with poisonous souls. They are treacherous and conniving. When faced with death they don't spout silly lies, they barter away whatever self respect they have on their death bed and spit out venomous words if they find themselves with no more to offer. There is no greater pleasure than eating such souls and drinking in their power as my own so that I can hunt even bigger pray... Will you stop squirming?"

Nope nope, don't think I will. I like my soul where it is and not in a spider's stomach.

"I'm not going to eat you, so stop struggling before I change my mind."

I stopped. I don't really know why, but I blame blood lose and that harsher tone. If there was any chance at all of me getting out of this alive it wasn't through my own power anymore. Maybe my next life will be better. I'll be an amoeba floating in an endless hotspring.

Now that I was still, the spider's touch seemed less threatening. The pressure didn't hurt and the smell of mint filled my nostrils. I probably would be quite tasty now, but I was also becoming numb to the pain. "If you are not going to eat me, why did you thank me for the meal?"

The spider gently scooped me up into its front two legs. They were wide and strong with a few spikes on the bottom but mostly smooth on top. The hairs on its feet were soft and tingled my skin. It stepped to the side and lifted the trap door. "I was hungry and you brought me a fine meal. I shall eat it, not you, and then you can bring me another and another whenever I am hungry."

The only sign that the door had closed behind us was a slight change in pressure and complete darkness. No sound. But I could see in the dark. Go froggy senses! Oh my God, I wish I didn't.

Under the trap door there was several bodies. One was the shriveled up husks of a lizard. Another was a unidentifiable decaying furry mass (which probably would have disgusted my human sensibilities if I still had them). The final was the partially wrapped, twitching body of Redzilla as its innards were being digested on the inside to prepare for the final slelurp.

My tongue flicked out on its own and caught a fly. It was plump and meaty. There were a lot off them around along with a group of maggots on the fluffy corpse.

"Rest up and heal little one, then you will serve me better alive than dead."

"Serve you?!" I squeaked, choking on the fly.

"Yes, as I said, you will bring me pray. I will eat my fill, the flies will eat their fill, and then you can eat your fill." The spider stroked my head with the soft part of its paw like tarsus, clawed tip carefully pulled back. "It is a good deal for the both of us and finally I will be able to sleep well without their constant buzzing. If you ever fail me... I'll just eat you then."

The gentle motion felt like the head scratchies my mother gave me as a kid. There was nothing better in the world than head scratchies. It sent more tingles through my body. Maybe this wasn't a bad way to die.

"What should I call you, pet?"

The head scratcgies had melted my brain. I felt too relaxed to even think, let alone transmit my thoughts to her.

"Pet, I will call you pet." The spider declared while laying me next to a small trickle of hot spring water running past and down another tunnel crossing through. It looked like a natural path that the spider had dug into or dug out of. The tunnel went even further back, suggesting more curves and passages beyond.

I yawned, no longer able to keep my thoughts straight. "Pet? Does that make me your slave? What should I call you? Master?"

The spider scraped up some of the warm mud and packed it around my body. "Pft, I am nothing so noble. Call me Aunty, we are family now."

Sleep started taking over. Do spider's have family? I thought they tended to eat each other...