Twisted Choices

Chapter 34

Watching Noah talk to his clan was like watching Hero give out orders to his army. The both of them kept their heads high, knowing their place; above everyone else. They never abused the power, but they made everyone know it. It had nothing to do with arrogance, but both were natural leaders. Noah may be soft and gentle with Hero, but he was stern and dominant towards his clan. Something made Hero preen, knowing he was standing right next to Noah as he addressed his clan.

They welcomed their leader in happy hisses, though some were still cautious of Hero. Then, Noah hissed out orders on how to treat Hero. Hero's power to converse and understand other creatures allowed him to listen.

"This human next to me, is not a threat. Unless you threaten him, not only will he be able to defend himself, I would be involved. I trust that none of you would want to be punished."

The spiders fell to a silence. Hero liked seeing the differing patterns of normal spiders and cave spiders in the crowd.

"He's special. He possesses things no other human has, and he will never be as vile and disgusting as they are. You shall treat him like you treat me, for he will be my equal. He and I will get the first share of every prey, and we will be the first to receive anything in this clan. Any misbehavior and insult to him is an insult to me and you will be punished accordingly."

A spider let out a soft grumble.

"Yes, Helena?"

The hybrid hissed carefully, "What shall we refer to him as?"

Noah's furry head turned to inspect Hero carefully before he replied, "He's my equal. Have I not made that clear?"

Hisses of shock rose through the crowd. Hero and Noah did not flinch. Hero was standing with his legs shoulder-length apart, and his arms were folded behind his back. He stood like how he would address his army with, chest puffed out and chin raised. Noah was in spider form, but he was certainly the largest among them all, and stood tall over them. After a moment, Noah let out a feral snarl. Spiders quieted, and they all seemed to fear their angry alpha.

"Stop wasting my time. My ma- He has not eaten in quite a while, and I do hope we return to a freshly-stocked food pile. Is that clear?"

Hisses of agreement rang through the crowd. Some were reluctant. Noah nodded his furry head and crawled out of his den. Hero jumped after him and the crowd parted for them. A few of the males stiffened at the feminine scent, while the females bristled at the potential competitor. Hero absently rubbed at his neck, letting his scent flare out. He caught Noah huffing it in, and smirked when the spider decided to ignore it.

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"So normal spiders prefer to be alone, while cave spiders like to be in packs. My clan is a combination of the two, and we provide for spiders who want a life surrounded by his kind. It started off quite small, but when I joined and rose up the ranks, my plans made it bigger."

Hero raised an eyebrow, "Your... Plans?"

"Well, they did not accept me at first because of my human blood. I had to prove my worth quite painfully. I guess I was torn between worlds and I did not want anyone else to experience it. The place where I got these... Spider blood, I knew what kind of hybrids they had. I just planned to encourage other creatures to make a clan like mine. A clan to accept those who were never accepted before, and maybe, those like me..."

He paused to look at Hero fondly. "We can band together to work with the humans. We can compromise so they wouldn't have to take away our homes and our people, while we don't harm any of them and just leave them alone."

Hero could not help but smile at this spider's warm heart. "So, you're doing this all for peace."

Noah looked away, his cheeks red. "Yeah... Oh, I forgot to tell you something."