Chapter 5

Dash is intrgued by what she saw in the library, but nothing can prepare her for what it unveils...

Chapter 5

 

            A week went by before I had a chance to execute my plan. I waited. Every morning, Hugo, and sometimes Eleyn, would come get me out of my hut. I would ride on one of their backs as we continued to tour the web, branching out more and more every day. We watched spiders spin and dye and cut silk. I saw the groves where the bugs everyone ate were harvested, and I learned that the lights illuminating the web came from trapped fireflies.  I was terrified the first time Hugo leapt off a web with me on his back, plunging to certain death only to find myself swinging upside down a few moments later. For some reason, I had never envisioned myself bungee jumping on the back of a spider. I had to admit though, I was starting to enjoy this strange, fantastical world. Eleyn was sweet and gentle; Hugo bold and funny. I was even beginning to get over the whole hairy spider thing.

There was still something bothering me though, the reason I had made a plan in the first place. We never went near the library. Not once, in an entire week of exploration. Even though it was at the very heart of the web. Even though Hugo knew that I loved it. There was just something slightly off about everything we did; it felt like it was a diversion, the calm before the storm.

I felt the pull to go back to the library, to look again at that panel, to confirm my hope and fear. A few times during the week, I suggested casually that we head that way, but there was always some excuse, something else to do. My plan involved getting us very near the library, possibly to the abbey. There was just no way I could go the whole way alone without being noticed, being the only human and all.

So I waited. I listened to Eleyn talk reverently about weaving (she was kind of a girly-girl-spider, but I liked her anyway), and Hugo about all the adventures he’d like to go on, all the expeditions to the farthest depths of the web. I waited. Then, on the seventh day, I had my lucky break. Hugo and I were walking idly past the artisan shops, trying to decide where to go when another spider, one I hadn’t seen before, scuttled up to Hugo, clearly on edge.

“Hugo,” It said, “Abbot Bartholomeus would like a private word with you. You should come at once; he wants me to say that he’s a very busy spider, and he is very anxious that you speak with him,” The messenger turned and hurried back the way he had come, not bothering to wait for a reply.

Hugo looked stunned. He had talked to me earlier about how it was fairly common to be asked to speak with the abbot, but Bartholomeus was very patient, and usually his audiences were done at the end of the day. Then again, whenever Hugo had been called, it had been some trifling matter.

“Are you going to be alright?” He looked a little weak at many of his knees.

“Yes…Of course I’m alright. Just surprised is all. Look, I don’t have time to take you home, so you’re going to have to wait for me. Hopefully it won’t take too long. Just wait outside while I’m in there,” He was already moving, scuttling towards the abbey. He was so flustered by the sudden summons that he had forgotten a key detail. The library was right next to the abbey. I chose not to remind him. This was the chance that I had been waiting for.

Not five minutes later, I was alone. Hugo had entered the mysterious and beautiful abbey with another flustered apology, and there was no one else in this section of the web. I entered the library a little nervously, not particularly used to clandestine operations behind the backs of giant spiders.

The library itself was as stunning as ever; the intricately woven tapestries seeming to promise as much adventure as leather bound pages.  This time though, I was on a mission. Retracing my steps from a week before, I tread quietly through the silent aisles. It was difficult to keep track of so many stories as I passed them on the wall, and I was afraid that I would miss what I was looking for. After ten minutes, I turned around, hoping against hope that the abbot was still talking to Hugo.

There. Near the ground. The fairly short string of panels, no bigger than bathroom tiles, that I’d noticed last time. I bent down. I couldn’t really read all the symbols (some were more abstract than others), but there was something familiar about them all the same. I looked closer. All the other panels I’d seen contained only caricatures of spiders, but this one was different. One of the characters looked like a person, a person with red hair. And under it (her?) was a spider, like the person was riding it, just like me… How was that possible? Hugo had told me that the library had been here since the middle ages. How could anyone have known? Was it just some kind of ridiculous coincidence? I looked further along the panels, trying to piece together the story from what I could make out. At one point the red-haired girl appeared to glow silver and later on, the panels got darker, blending into deep reds mixed with a looming black shape. That so did not look good for me, if this was indeed my story. Hard to believe that my likeness was woven into a medieval spider library, but stranger things have happened, right? I wished that that I could understand more of it. Then again, if this was the future, I might not want to know.

I was so engrossed in the puzzling and unnerving sight before me that it took me a moment to notice the lighting change. It seemed that I had been thrown deep into shadow. Feeling that sudden horror-film-prickling at the back of my neck, I turned around slowly. Eight eyes again. And this time they looked angry.

“Hugo!” I backed against the wall, “I’m so sorry. I know that I shouldn’t have snuck away. I just wanted to see the library again. I promise, I won’t do it ever again…” I pleaded, babbling and scared, hearing my voice rise and crack embarrassingly. Hugo cut me off.

“I was worried about you. You can’t just run off here; you don’t have enough legs. If you fell…” He paused, “You don’t understand the consequences,”

“Um, I would die?” I mean, that would be a problem for me, but Hugo was acting way too much like a mother hen for a six-foot spider. Now he even seemed more concerned than angry. Screwing up my little courage, I went on, “And you need to explain these panels to me. All week you’ve been trying to keep me away from this place, and honestly I’m a little sick of it. If you’re so worried about me, then you’d best tell me what’s going on before I have to figure it out on my own,”

Hugo ducked his head sheepishly, stepping back from me a little bit to give both of us some space, “I can’t talk to you about it right now. All you need to know is that you’re here for a reason, and that we’re all very glad of it. It’s starting to get late. Come, I need to take you home now,” It sounded as if the words pained him, but he got them out anyway. He swung his huge, black head down to let me climb up. I stood my ground.

“Wait. I can’t. I’m sorry, Hugo, but I need some answers. You’ve been nice so far, but I don’t know how I got here or what you’re planning on doing to me, and I can’t just trust like that. You’ve got to give me a reason. Now, tell me about the panels. We’re alone. No one will even know. Please,”

Hugo turned, and for a moment I thought he was going to force me to go with him, but instead he just sighed. “I wanted to protect you. You shouldn’t have to be dealing with this anyway. I feel really guilty,” He scuttled back to me, looking around, presumably checking that we were alone. “Bartholomeus would kill me if he found out that I had told you too soon, but I guess now it can’t be helped. You’ll guess soon enough anyway,” He took a deep breath, “Dash, you’re our savior,”

My mouth fell open. I don’t know what Hugo thought my guessing skills were like, but I would never in a million years have come up with that. Me, a savior? Like the Jesus Christ for huge spiders? No way. I’m not even religious.

“You have got to be kidding me. I can’t be your savior, I’m just some random, screwed up, teenage, human. What do you need saving from anyway? Your society seems perfectly fine to me. Wait a second…Are you going to have me crucified? Because I heard that that’s really painful, and honestly the whole martyr gig has never appealed to me too much,” Babbling again.

“You’re not random,” Hugo seemed calm, but sad, like he’d just announced the death of a friend. Wait…I was that friend. I was going to die. “The abbot chose you especially, has known that you would come for a thousand years. You could never see how special you are, but we all do. That is why we have welcomed you here, why I have tried to be friendly to you. It won’t be easy, but you can help us. You have that power, but there’s something that we need you to do. And don’t worry, it doesn’t involve crosses,”

“What is it? I still don’t understand how I could possibly save you. You need to explain what’s going on, and then, I guess I have a choice,” Hugo looked at me, hopeful and doubting and reassuring all at the same time. I guess that somehow having eight eyes let you do that.

“You always have a choice. Come with me. We need to go to the forest caves behind the abbey. It’s something that’s better shown than explained. Please come with me; I don’t want you to be afraid,”

And with that impossible request, I clambered back onto his prickly back, thinking of the woven silk girl doing exactly the same, and wondering what will happen when I reach the end of the panel.

Author's Note

Finally another chapter. I haven't really planned the middle, so...
Please review or message me. Enjoy!