Chapter 28: Chapter 28

The party suffered through another day of very graphic dwarven poetry when the bat man began to shift is head around like a bird, and then started rapidly squeaking. He then hid behind the pot.

Anna looked around and spotted several shadows moving silently in their direction. She signed Thokri to let him know. He nodded, and they slowly grabbed weapons. The others followed suit.

They all just got up, and Lyreen flashed a bright light in the direction of the shadows. Three figures faced them.

They were the strangest beings Anna had seen, not counting the dreamer itself. They had humanoid torsos, but it was connected to a spider like lower half. That lower half had four spider like legs. The torso had four spider like arms, ending in two fingers and a thumb. Their face was vaguely human with eight spider eyes and a two-part lower jaw.

One of the spider people spoke a strange language, and they set down their spears. When faced with the groups drawn weapons, they began to wave and point at the bat man who kept hiding behind the pot.

“Can you understand us?” Barika asked. They just stared. Barika tried a few other languages.

Voekeer spoke what Anna assumed was elvish. They didn’t understand any of it.

Finally, Thokri started to swear in dwarvish, and they perked up. One of them spoke a broken dwarvish. Anna didn’t understand it, but Thorki did.

“Ancient dwarven,” Thokri said aloud. He spoke to them some. “They want us to come with them. We can bring him as well. They didn’t believe me when I told them he wasn’t an animal, and they want to take us to their elders,” Thokri said.

Not really having a choice, they packed up and followed the spider people. The bat man was hiding behind Barika as they walked.

“Guess I need to learn ancient dwarvish as well,” Anna said.

“Aye lass, but the elders will have to teach you. No one but dwarves are supposed to know it,” Thokri said.

“Why?” she asked.

“Just the way it is,” he replied.

They traveled to the spider people settlement. It was days away. From what Thokri had been told, they had been checking the outer webs, that’s what they used to catch the large number of insects needed to feed their people, when they had caught the bat man stealing from them. They had problems with his people stealing and thought they were just animals, but after seeing the way he acted around them and the party even, the spider people were starting to realize they had misjudged them.

The trip took longer than they had thought. The party couldn’t move as swiftly as the spider people, and the bat man wasn’t able to move very fast on foot. Voekeer had lent him his cloak when they got closer to the settlement in the hopes of stopping any misunderstandings.

“Wow,” Anna said.

“Aye,” Thokri replied.

They stood at the entrance to the main cavern. The spider people settled. It was unlike anything any of them had ever seen. There were stone structures that resembled the skeletons of buildings. They were covered in webs. Everything was crisscrossed. The stonework formed dense cocoon-like structures and were spread out to create a sort of roadway in the air that spider folk were scurrying along, destinations unknown. Glowing orbs were hung from the ceiling after some.

According to Thokri, who had asked, they were filled with the glowing fungus and changed out regularly. The light kept the worst of the predators away, not being needed for sight.

They took a winding path through the thick webbing. The party couldn’t traverse the paths in the air lacking the spider’s legs. The bat man seemed to be getting more nervous the deeper they went.

Barika put a calming hand on his shoulder. “It’s ok,” she murmured to him.

He made a chirping noise and grinned, showing needle like teeth.

They waited at the bottom of a large structure for the elders to meet them. Only one of the spider people waited with them.

“I have no idea how I’m going to write this for the report,” Voekeer sighed.

Thokri grinned at him. “Why do you think I let you run things?” he said.

“I thought you just respected me,” Voekeer said. This caused the other party members to burst into laughter.

“Did you know too?” Voekeer asked Lyreen.

“Yes, but you seemed to enjoy it so much, I didn’t want to tell you,” she replied.

“Well, I thought you did a good job,” Anna said.

“Thank you. Wait, you’re only a few months old. That doesn’t count,” Voekeer said. Everyone laughed again.

“Don’t say that. I’ve seen how you look at me. It would be creepy if I was that young,” Anna replied with a wink.

Lyreen started to glare at Voekeer. “You were looking at her again? You told me you stopped,” Lyreen said.

“Aye, I think the lad may have snuck a peek before he went to bed a few nights,” Thokri said, wiggling he eyebrows at her.

Lyreen looked like she was going to explode.

“But, I, no, I didn’t, I mean she...” Voekeer stammered.

“Oh, come now, Lyreen. I saw the way you looked when I examined her with the sight crystal. You can’t be that hard on him,” Barika said with a smile on her face.

“Wait, I didn’t, I mean, I did, but, it’s not like that,” Lyreen said, stammering herself now.

“What happened with the sight crystal?” Elaine asked. Barika waved her over and whispered in her ear. “Oh, Lyreen, I didn’t know you felt that way. I’m going to have to watch you now,” Elaine said smirking.

“I don’t, I didn’t. You know what? Never mind,” Lyreen said, and just hugged Voekeer, burying her face in his chest.

“What happened with the sight crystal?” Voekeer asked.

“I’m sure Lyreen can tell you all about it as closely as she looked,” Barika said.

Lyreen pulled her head away and glared at everyone, then looked at Voekeer. “I’ll, uh, tell you tonight,” she said.

“What are you all talking about?” Anna asked. This caused more laughter.

The spider person looked on in confusion, asking Thokri a question. He seemed to be explaining something in ancient dwarven. The spider person made an odd sound that Anna thought was a laugh and seemed to smile at Lyreen who just huffed and looked away.

The elders made it down soon after, and Thokri began to explain everything to them. They spoke ancient dwarven more fluently than the three that had found them. They all nodded. That seemed to be a universal gesture, and they began to talk in their own language. They asked Thokri a few more questions, and then went back to talking.

“Thokri, I think I can learn their language if you act as an interpreter at first,” Anna said.

“Good idea. I’ll ask them,” Thokri replied.

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They were still talking when he interrupted. He spoke to them and waved her over. They said a few words to him, and he told her their meaning. She spoke the words back perfectly. They seemed shocked at first, but quickly got over it and started speaking phrases as fast as Thokri could relay them.

Within half an hour, she didn’t need Thokri anymore. The others were led away, and she remained with the elders, climbing up to their meeting room with ease.

She spoke with them for hours before leaving. The elders were tiring.

“They are old. It was hard to tell at first, but I can see it now,” she thought.

Her escorts led her to the part of the city, that was the only thing you could call this sprawling settlement, that had housing for other races. The spider people traded extensively with other denizens of the underground.

“Well, this is officially the weirdest place I’ve ever been,” Elaine said.

“I know what you mean. I wanted to see the world, but this isn’t what I pictured,” Lyreen said.

“Looks fine to me,” Thokri said.

“Really, I know you’re from underground, but the spiders and all,” Lyreen replied.

“Aye, they are a bit odd,” Thokri said.

“They are just people, like all of you and the bat man,” Anna said.

“Aye,” Thorki said.

“What about you?” Lyreen asked. She looked worried.

“I don’t know if I’m a person or not,” Anna replied. They all looked at her.

“Oh, child, you’re a person. Why would you say that?” Barika asked.

She couldn’t explain how she felt, so she started to sing. It was the same hauntingly beautiful alien song as before, but it felt different this time.

As she sang, she poured all of the strange emotions she had been feeling into the song. She didn’t really belong in this world, but she wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for this place. She didn’t know what to feel, so she kept singing, and after a while, she felt better.

“This song doesn’t belong here either, but maybe this world is just a little bit better with it in it, just like me,” she thought, and slowly brought the song to an end. She felt a gentle touch on the edge of her mind. “Oh, you didn’t leave me,” she thought and smiled.

She looked around, and all her companions were openly weeping. So was the bat man and some of the spider people that had drifted over to listen in.

“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t think of anything to say,” Anna said.

Lyreen seemed to fling herself at Anna and hugged her tightly. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way. I didn’t know you felt so alone,” she said.

“I’m the only one like me. There will never be another like me,” Anna said.

“You are a person, Anna. Don’t forget that,” Elaine said.

“I know. I felt the dreamer again. I think he was trying to tell me that as well,” Anna replied.

“I felt what you do. I don’t understand how, but I did,” Voekeer said.

“The dreamer can make dreams real. He did make me, after all. I think that I can as well some in small way, and that song is my song. It’s about what makes me, me, so if you can feel, if you can dream, you can understand what I’m feeling, what I’m dreaming. I think he was showing me that I’m the same as all of you because we can feel the same things,” Anna said.

“It sounds like he cares,” Lyreen said.

“I think he does, at least in the way he can,” Anna replied.

“Better than my father,” Elaine said.

“Yes. Same here. I don’t think mine ever tried to understand me,” Voekeer said.

“Neither of my parents did,” Barika replied, and then began to laugh. “So, an eldritch being from outside of space and time is a better parent than ours?” she said, still laughing.

Now Voekeer and Elaine joined in.

“That’s just sad,” Elaine added.

“What a group we make,” Voekeer said.

“I don’t get it,” Lyreen said.

“Be glad you don’t,” Elaine replied.

“Why did you call the dreamer he?” Thokri asked.

“It felt weird calling my only parent it, so I just said he,” Anna replied. He just shrugged.

“I don’t think I could call anything with that many tentacles mom,” Lyreen said.

“I bet I could get you to call me daddy,” Anna replied.

“WHAT?” Lyreen squeaked.

“I’ve heard you call Voekeer that, and mine are bigger than his,” Anna said as a tentacle materialized and tapped Lyreen on the shoulder.

She jumped onto Voekeer with a shriek. “DON’T DO THAT!” she yelled.

Voekeer eyed the tentacle. “She’s right. I can’t compare,” he said.

“Aye, lad. That’s the truth,” Thokri said.

Lyreen just squealed some in response.

“Way too much time with that dwarf,” Elaine said snickering, and Barika nodded.

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