The spider experiment was going well. In front of the young mage was a spider the size of an apple. It seemed stable and had survived a minute after being born. The spider moved about the table exploring its environment. It didn't seem afraid of him. It would let him touch it and pick it up from the table. Albie left the spider to its business as he put another few spider eggs in the blood and repeated the process, he had used to make the first. Four spiders crawled out of the jar of blood.
He hoped at least one was a different gender before casting a spell that would make domesticated animals eager to reproduce. One spider seemed to be a man and did its business before his mate ate him.
A spell was then cast on her and she quickly laid eggs. The female died soon after giving birth. Spider reproduction seemed very unforgiving to Albie, Ignoring his part in the process. The book Sculpting Life had described ways to force animals to maturity using blood stones. Albie was once again using his own life force instead of a blood stone, but he could feel how the bees felt about the spiders and decided against sacrificing hiss killing bees for the creation of the spiders.
He hatched two of the eggs to see two apple sized spiders grow in a matter of seconds. The young spiders seemed afraid of him and tried to flee from the large predator. The spiders were not quick enough, and the life force was rapidly drained from them.
The young mages theory was that being born in a jar of his blood bound the spiders to him. Perhaps they were born with bloodstones inside them. It was an interesting theory but dissecting the spiders looking for a small bloodstone would have to wait. He dumped a pinch more spider eggs into the blood jar and began to grow the spiders again.
Long hairy legs rose from the jar touching the table. The legs squirmed and pulled as the blood and spider spilled out of the jar that had filled rapidly with spiders. The panicking spider legs flailed and pushed against the ground tipping and shaking the jar before the overflowing vessel stopped moving. The legs gone limp. Dead spider and blood pressed against the glass jar.
Albie left the lab to fetch a larger vessel for his experiment. The hallway was full of bees making nests on every surface of the upper hallways. The floor has covered in the remains of insects and small animals the carnivorous bees could not eat.
The lurker slumped in the entry way staring at the charred woman. Its bony head twisting over its shoulder to look at him the same way an owl might. The undead lost interest quickly and looked back at the corpse.
Albie entered the kitchen and found a large soup pot. He took the tool back up the stairs were the carnivore bees presented him with three living rats he drained of life. He returned a bit of it to make the bees new larva grow faster before entering the lab again.
His hunger unsatisfied he cut his wrist and bled into the pot until it was a quarter full before healing himself. He felt woozy and his heartbeat furiously. The loss of so much blood almost throwing his body into shock if not for using his life force to quickly replace what was lost. He held onto the counter to support his wobbling legs.
The voices of Bags and Scab resounding in his mind having sensed his distress. Scab seeming exited and Bags panicked.
He brushed the two minds off and began the next round of experiments. He added the spider eggs to the blood and channeled the life force into the pot. Long legs covered in brown hair reached out of the pot and pulled the bodies of spiders the size of a small dogs. The spiders took a few steps from the pot before their legs bent and snapped under their large size. The new spider was a better size but needed tweaking. Albie dumped the rest of the original spider nest into the pot and grew a small swarm of apple spiders. He released tried to give ordered to the tiny spiders the same way he would talk to his bees. Most chose to ignore his commands. They did not fear him as a predator or look at him as prey. Most spiders in the room ignores him. He ordered the six spiders that would listen into enchanted jars. He sealed them with silver lids before devouring all the other spiders in the room. The spider shook and cracked before becoming lifeless shells.
Albie called on the bees to clean up. The carnivore bees flooded the room dragging the dead spiders out. They eyed the jar in the mages hand before leaving. A gift of another two rats left in the room. Albie consumed the life force gratefully. He looked at the apple spiders in their jars. They were spiders who would take orders from a mage. Hopefully their offspring would as well. They were very valuable children and were released to wander the lab as the pleased. They all took to setting up webs in different corners. He would call on them latter. For now, he had to perfect the next largest spider. Something hearty enough to snare a man. Is caught alone he bet he could do it with a spider the size of a shepherd dog. He would have to bread them to be more social.
He called two of his apple spiders to his side where he cast breading magic on the pair. Soon enough he was down two spiders but had a grate deal of eggs.
He hatched the eggs in his blood again filling the room once more with apple spiders. He ordered the ones who would listen to leave out the window. About fifty of the thousand spiders did as instructed. The rest were drained of life. Albie felt starved. The life force he gave he did not all come back.
The mage wondered why creating life was more taxing than taking it back. He thought it strange that the life force had escaped. Did some slip over the border. If so, were did the life energy come from.
Albie looked outside to see the sun setting. He was starving after his experiments and had not even finished. He grabbed the walking musket off the wall and began to limp downstairs. Albie ordered the spiders to trap and gather for him. He called on the ten sisters to help him hunt tonight. As he limped down the stairs, he saw Bags sitting on the rail eyeing the lurker.
"Bed," Thought the rat to her master.
"Okay," said Albie turning down the hall. "Lurker I need something moved."
The dead man looked at the mage its head twisting so its jaw was above its eyes before running to the shadows.
"oh yeah!" shouted Albie after the fleeing corpse. "leave it to the starving cripple! Dead beat!"
"Bed?" asked Bags.
"I'm working on it," responded Albie entering the first hospital room on the ground floor. He ordered the Sisters to help him move the blood-stained Mattress. The ten dog sized bees and one human lifted and carried the bed to the kitchen where they dropped it on the floor. Bags jumped on top of the cotton mattress and began chewing a hole into the top.
The fact that a person had been rotting into the mattress for two weeks didn't seem to discourage the rat in the slightest.
"Comfy cozy nest!" squeaked the rat.
"Glad you like it," said Albie "You want to stay here tonight?"
The young mage didn't get a response. The little rat was already asleep.
He smiled as he limped out of the kitchen. Bags was a simple creature. He left the hospital evening was settling in. the sounds of hoofs on stone echoed through the streets. The young mage looked over the garden in front of him and thought to himself. I could eat a horse.