Arachnid

Chapter Four

I waited near the door like I was told as the empress wrapped up her conversation with the lowblood. Of course, curiosity got the better of me. And it wasn't like I couldn't hear them if I didn't want to.

"Your Highness, she's at it again!" the lowblood complained pitifully. I wasn't sure who they were talking about, but I could see now why the empress was so bored.

"And what do you suppose you want me to do about it?" she said, shutting her eyes. "You think you're the first person to barge in here and report this?"

"W-Well," the other troll lowered his head and twiddled his thumbs nervously. "I figured with your power, you could put a stop to all of this. Maybe?"

The empress sighed and put a hand on her forehead in irritation. "Again, you're one of the hundreds of trolls telling me to do this. Quite frankly, it's getting old."

"I can pay you!" The troll held out a small, brown sack in front of him, which I assumed had coins in it. The highblood opened her eyes and stared at the sack, not looking very impressed with the small amount.

"Really? That's all you have to offer?"

"Uh, working has been a bit difficult lately, Y-Your Highness," the lowblood stuttered.

"Put it down," she ordered. The troll complied and set the sack of coins on the floor. "Where do you work?"

"In the fields," he answered, "with my family."

"Your whole family, huh? And this is all you get done." Her eyes darted over to the Grand Highblood chained to the wall. "Kill them."

"W-What?!"

Even I was taken off guard with the sudden order. A couple guards approached the purple blood with caution. As they started to unlock the chain, I could see him getting excited. The chain dropped, and the Grand Highblood immediately took off on all fours. I expected him to run straight to fields, but before doing so, he grabbed the head of the lowblood and dragged him with him. I jumped away from the door as the beast ran past me and charged out.

After recollecting my breath, it would seem the empress finally noticed me.

"You. Come up here."

Though I was admittedly nervous, I stepped up the few stairs in my red boots. I did my best to keep a straight face. I still have a long life to live, and I wasn't going to have everything thrown away because I made some woman mad.

"Woman" might have been an overstatement. She couldn't have been much older than me. I'm only six sweeps right now. It made me want to laugh at the thought of our race being ruled over by a kid.

Anyway, once I confronted the fuchsia blood, I waited for her to start. All she did was stare down at me.

"No bow or anything?" she began. Was I supposed to do that? Oh well. Even if I had known that, I wasn't going to throw my dignity away that easily. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"Aranea Serket," I told her. "I was sent here under your order."

"Oh!" Upon hearing my name, she finally sat up straight, her face lighting up. It was like all her boredom immediately vanished. "It's about time. I had been expecting you for a while now. You're probably wondering why you're here."

"I have had a question or two about it, yes."

"It would probably be easier to just show you." With that, the empress stood up from her throne, her wavy black hair reaching down to her ankles. Before stepping any further, she made sure to grab a gold, three pronged, double sided trident. She walked over to me, then looked back at other guards. "Hey. If anyone sits in my chair, kill them immediately." After their salute, she continued her way out of the room, her hand gesturing me to follow.