Nehrim:The Spawn
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The Spawn
The Spawn
Simon W. Autenrieth
Dull, damp fog hung unmoving in the air, telling of a rain shower that had fallen on the forest not too long ago. Nothing was to be heard except the occasional pattering of Pasrem's hooves as they hit solid ground or a root sticking out from the ground. For some time now, an eerie and heavy silence had been unfurling over the foresty twilight. Though they had attracted the attention of animals creeping around to begin with, now they couldn't even hear the warbling cries of the blue-backed birds that were typically seen in this area.
The fact that this feathered farmers' plague was missing made Nutricina uneasier than she could have ever imagined. She knew these birds. Loud, intrusive and populating the whole area in large numbers. Their bodies were covered in a lovely pattern of blueish feathers, but they were the curse of every hardworking farmer.
Something must have scared the birds away. And if something was able to silence these creatures then she, Nutricina, also had no reason to be there.
Troubled, she averted her gaze from the shadowy canopy of leaves and looked around.
Pasrem, her bay steed, trotted behind her with attentively erected ears and sniffed warily at the sparse grassy growth on the ground.
Something rustled in the leaves. Suddenly and unexpectedly Nutricina was whirled around with such an unruly force that for a moment, the ground before her face was swapped with the canopy of the forest. Pasrem shyed, took a few steps back and tore his halter from Nutricina's hand. Deep weals appeared in her hands like little ruts and began to bleed. Only as her iron sword came to a halt with an unmistakable metallic clatter a few metres beneath her did she notice the growing distance between herself and the forest ground.
Before Nutricina could realize what was happening to her, she was pulled back by her hair. She felt as if she were being torn apart, so bad was the pain that made her shriek in anguish.
In panic, she kicked her feet but didn't hit anything but empty air surrounded by damp fog. She felt herself threatening to collapse under the pressure of her own weight. Summoning all her foce she managed to turn her hands behind her back to shake off her tormenter. But nothing was there. No hand, no clawed paw wanting to hold and squeeze her. Then finally, her hands found something. It was thin, sticky and so transparent that it could not be seen from a distance.
Straight away, more of these ghostly strings spun themselves around her whole body. They wrapped themselves around her hands, strapping them to her sides, and dragged themselves painfully across her face.
Unable to defend herself, unable to free herself from her opposer or even to look at it, she fell into a state of horrifed disbelief. She cried for help non stop, but nobody would ever answer her.
Pasrem stepped around anxiously and kept turning around in circles until he too lost the ground beneath his feet. Something long and thin had wrapped itself around his body and was pulling him further and further up.
Her body shook and her neck hairs rose as she was jerked up. Suddenly she couldn't see Pasrem at all anymore. She could not turn her head to look upwards. She was frightened, terribly frightened. Coiling like a snake she tried to slip out of her chains, but they seemed to resist her. They were warm. Warm, strong and scarily alive.
Suddenly something about as big as a dagger deeply pierced her arm. The pain was unbearable. She tried to shout but only managed a surpressed gasp as she saw something long, thin and black cross her eyes. She could only watch this thing with eyes wide with fear. It coiled in front of her face, jerking and pulsating. The piercing smell of rotting and death took her breath away. Suddenly she felt something on her back, also warm and alive. But this one seemed a lot bigger.
Then something happened. Something that seemed a lot worse than everything that happened before. At first it felt like a slight tingling sensation in her neck that slowly increased. But then she noticed the tiny, quick movements that spread in circles over her body. The neighing of a dying horse was terrifyingly close to her ears. She was no longer able to think clearly. She now knew she would not live to see another day. Here and now she would die aswell.
Her eyes showed nothing but terror as he mouth was suddenly brutally opened.
A cascade of grimy blood streamed down her face. Before she could even be surprised at how hot and thick it was, the first drops fell into her open mouth. But she knew it was not her own blood. In a flash she thought of Pasrem, but then nearly straight away she drowned in a sea of pure horror that was washing over her head.
Gagging, she tried to resist and spit out the substance that tasted like copper, but to no avail. Thin, sticky threads stopped her from closing her mouth. The wet and disgusting blood seeped down her throat and collected in her stomach. Branches of the thin, coiling black threads were now also finding their way into her, wrapping themselves around her gums and stretching her throat to make way for what was to come.
The tingling in her neck and on her body had been getting stronger. But now she could see where it came from. She could see what it was. Gagging, she tried one last time to escape. But she had no chance. The first little black animals had entered her mouth. Eight little legs connected to a shiny wet body by little joints. Thousands of little eyes stared her lifelessly. Without stopping, hundreds of tiny spiders crawled inside her. A stream of black pulsating bodies. She could feel them inside her, feel them moving and clambering to every corner of her stomach.
Then suddenly it stopped. No more spiders came. The stream had stopped flowing.
Instead she felt the threads pull back out of her mouth with a squishing noise. Nothing else was moving on her body. It was as if the spiders had never existed. Carefully her body was lowered back to the forest floor. The chains were loosened. And then she was free.
Surprised she found out she could stand. She was not dizzy, nor did she feel sick. However her stomach felt as if it had been stuffed with wool. The whole situation seemed unreal. Had it really all happened? Or had she imagined it all? She looked at her injured arm. Nutricina was so baffled that for a moment she could just stare in disbelief before she realized what she saw. There was no wound. But she was sure that something large had bitten her. So where was her injury? She then remembered her hands. Scared, she held her fists in front of her face. Expecting two bloody cuts, she opened them. But there was nothing. Where she should have seen raw flesh was nothing but normal, healthy skin. Did she dream it all after all? Was black magic at work?
The thud of a heavy, bloody cadaver landing before her feet tore her back to reality. It was a horse. Or what was left of it. The entire torso was missing, the front legs were sticking out at strange angles and the head ...
Nutricina could not look at it any longer and averted her gaze. It was Pasrem, she was sure of it. And he was dead. She had not imagined it. It had really happened. The spiders were there.. inside of her, in her body. And they would kill her. they would eat her from the inside out, slowly and agonizingly.
Finally she managed to raise her head and look up into the thick canopy. But nothing was there. Just trees and the forest. But Pasrem was dead. And the spiders were there.. inside of her. And that was the only thought that counted. Spiders. In her body. Many. Hundreds. And they would grow and eat her up. They were inside her!
A cold surge of panic ran down her spine. She had to leave, and quickly. It didn't matter where she went. She just had to go. Away from the cadaver. Away from the forest and away from the spiders cowering in the trees.
She began to run, slowly at first, but gaining speed until her legs began to hurt. She took deep breaths of air and felt her lungs expand inside her and with them something else: one, no, hundreds of bodies that were inside her and unwillingly yielding to the rhythm of her breathing lungs.
They were in her. Inside her.
A piercing pain made her fall to the ground. She coughed up blood. But this time she was not sure if it was the blood of her horse she tasted now. She tried to vomit and to get rid of the spiders, but she couldn't. Something was keeping her throat closed. Lacing it up from the inside. For a moment she thought of the threads that had held her in the air. The thick, pulsating ropes that she had been hanging in. And then she realized what the spiders were doing inside her. The were weaving their web, building their nest. They were choking her. They would suffocate her and then eat her. They were going to eat her.
She couldn't scream anymore. She had given up. Rattling and indistinct, gurgling noises came from her throat as she tried to get up. She could hardly breathe anymore. She staggered to her feet. As she threatened to fall again, she leaned against a large tree. Its bark stabbed her back painfully. But she didn't care anymore. She could only think of the spiders.
They were in her. Inside her.
But just as she thought she would choke to death, leaning against that tree, her throat was suddenly freed. She could breathe again. It suddenly dawned upon her that the spiders needed her. Alive. They needed her warmth to grow. They had just stopped her from getting rid of them. They wanted to stay inside her. they wanted her alive. Nutricina wished they had let her die. Right then and there. But the spiders didn't want to, for they were in her. Inside her.
And they would eat her when the time came. Was her life at its end now? How long would the spiders keep her alive? Days, weeks or even months? Or would they keep her body for years?
The thought of sharing her body for perhaps the rest of her life filled her with unruly terror. And this time she was able to scream. Long and loudly. But she knew no one would hear her. Her little companions would take care of that. At least, not if they didn't want it. She was sure of that. For the spiders were in her. Inside her.
