Dusk arrived spreading shadows across the rocky hills that covered the countryside, treading in the dark was dangerous for Aoife as she stumbled every few steps in the blinding darkness. Saved in each misstep by Furbaide's thick arm, she hated being so helpless in the dark but although she never admit to it she enjoyed feeling the muscles flex under her abdomen. No torches or lamps to light the witch resorted to trying to conjure up a light source to see ahead, the magic slowly throbbed in her fingers, normally it flowed faster than her blood but it was weak that night, so she tried to cause a spark in the cusp of her hands. The effort caused her to feel weak in the knees, before she could Furbaide steadied her, gripping her with his large hands; Aoife started to feel the concern within the living god for her which made Aoife a little self conscious.
Dark clouds obscured the half moon and the stars were dim that night, Aoife didn't want to navigate the dark and sought out a safe place to sleep in the total darkness which was dangerous and unnerving. Fear wasn't something Aoife felt in the darkness, it was more of a suffocating anxiety that made her heart quiver with each loud thump it made in her chest. Unable to speak Furbaide couldn't dissuade her tension with an encouraging word, he started to wish he was more respectful earlier then he might've been allowed to speak. Words coming from his mouth was something he missed when he became a self imposed mute in the Dragon's Keep, being forced to be silent reminded him of his imprisonment.
Spending his first day free with only to be muted, forced to follow commands, and not having the chance to drink strong wine soured his mood. Regardless of his limitations Furbaide was enjoying his first day back in Crel, Aoife was someone he enjoyed being around even if she enslaved him, but it didn't bother him too much, being near her reminded him of something in his past. Smells, looks, and touch all seemed to reach for something he had long forgotten, he tried to remember what it was that made him want to embrace the witch. Not wanting to incur her anger and forbid him from touching her Furbaide choose carefully the right time to touch her, when he grazed her skin it reminded him of flower pedals on a warm day; her smell also was intoxicating a smell of sweet and strong incense made the living god almost intoxicated in her scent.
It became harder to let Aoife go once her footing was secure; they continued on the rocky landscape but stopped when they both saw a spark of light in the darkness, it appeared a few yards away. Inside of a indent in the ground they saw the light spark again, it looked like a cozy protected spot that someone found, the sparks of newly lit a fire illuminated the darkness. Attracted by the comfort the light provided Aoife went towards it, Furbaide followed closely both of them smelling no foul odor in the air, and Aoife was too weary to be more cautious in her approach. Coming closer to the firelight they started to smell the cooking of something fatty and delicious, climbing over one of the smaller hills they saw a lone figure cooking over a glowing flame.
Dressed in plated armour a man with sickly pale was using his sword to pick at the fire to keep it burning. Cooking over the fire in a grey iron pan was large slabs of lean meat, the smell was alluring to Aoife and Furbaide, Furbaide more so as he hadn't eaten for thousands of years. Aoife's rations were dry and hard to chew and the witch was eager to ask for some of the pale man's food, the sound of their footsteps the hard rock ground drew the soldiers attention. Lifting his head slowly he saw with pale colorless eyes two strangers who stared down at him, he wasn't alarmed and seemed disinterested.
Using his sword he flipped the meat showing a nicely cooked light brown tone, both Furbaide and Aoife looked longingly at the food.
"Greetings traveller," Aoife said, trying to sound friendly as she descended the slope followed closely by Furbaide. "What brings you out so far to the north?"
There was a long pause in the pale man's response, he didn't seem too keen on giving a prompt response.
"I went to speak with the Spider Mother," said the pale man, speaking in a depressed tired tone of voice.
"Really?" said Aoife, "We are on our way to speak with her ourselves, tell me how was she when you left her?"
Silent the man stared at Aoife his colorless eyes disturbing the warrior witch. Furbaide had a gut feeling that the soldier was more dangerous than Aoife suspected, even if he seemed mortal the soldier had a coldness to him that was unnatural. Unable to speak Furbaide decided it was best to wait and see, being primed to leap into conflict if the need arises.
"She was fine," said the pale man.
The three of were soon seated around the fire not speaking, the crackle of the fire and the sound of cooking meat was the only sounds heard in the night.
"Allow me to make an introduction, I am Aine of the eastern coast and this is my hired protection Og of the far southlands." Aoife said, she didn't give their real names in case the pale man was not one to be trusted.
No expression was on the soldier's face, eyes were fixed on Aoife, she started to doubt the believability of her alias after some time has passed and the man said nothing. Removing the pan from the fire he allowed the meet to shimmer in their own fat on the rocky ground.
"I am Dolus a soldier of Steelont," said the pale man.
The origin of the soldier was not surprising, Steelont was a southern land of eternal grey skies and large towering mountains, the people lived more in their mountain homes than outside, doing this for so long gave them pale skin. Rarely has any native of Steelont ventured northwards as the sun has been known to burn their fragile skin and blind them, that made Aoife more curious about her new acquaintance.
"Long way from home," Aoife said, "what brings you to come all this way to speak with the Mother?"
Aoife and Dolus eyes met again, neither Furbaide and Aoife could read the pale man and that made both of them very nervous.
"I needed to speak with her about a matter concerning my lord," said Dolus "I cannot speak as to the specifics, sacred trust of secrecy."
Aoife seemed perplexed on the matter as something the Dolus said had some deceit in it, she could sense it but she couldn't pinpoint it, something was untrustworthy about the pale man. Reaching over for the pan Dolus had a surprised expression on his face, the pan was gone and then both Dolus and Aoife heard loud sounds of eating. Turning their gaze to the source they saw Furbaide had taken the pan and was eating the meat, Aoife's face turning red she swatted the livings gods firm chest. Stopping him from eating the rest of it, his blue eyes met her enraged green eyes, swallowing hard the meat he was chewing he tried to give her a disarming smile but she kept her cold glare.
Putting the pan down he slid it over to Dolus who looked at the half eaten slabs of meat seemingly disinterested on how Furbaide ruined his meal, pushing it back over to Furbaide he didn't really seem to care about the food.
"Wasn't really hungry to start with," said Dolus "you and her can eat it."
Grateful Furbaide picked up the pan to resume eating but was stopped when Aoife slapped his chest with the back of her hand.
"Are you sure?" said Aoife, "the meat still good aren't you being overly generous?"
Dolus shook his head "I sometimes like to cook just to cook."
That response satisfied Furbaide who put some more warm juicy meat into his mouth, he then chewed ravenously, Aoife put her face in her hand ashamed at her familiars rudeness.
"I must apologize for Og he is uncustomized to civilized customs," she said, Furbaide shot Aoife a deeply offended angry stare as he continued to chew the meat loudly.
Her words didn't seem to matter to Dolus who rose to his feet and collected his sword.
"Are you leaving?" Aoife said, shocked that perhaps her familiars actions drove him away.
"Yes," Dolus said "that was meant as a short respite anyway I need to continue on my way."
Trying to convey her apologies soon realized that her words fell on deaf ears as Dolus without another word left and disappeared in the darkness. Leaving behind the food, pan, and fire, something about it all was eerie to Aoife, Furbaide was suspicious at his abruptness. Too tired to ponder more on it Aoife reached into her bag for a knife, she then jabbed into one of the less chewed pieces of meat and lifted it out of the pan. Placing it on a metal plate she had in her bag Aoife ate with Furbaide in silence, both of them listening to the sound of Dolus' armour clanging with each footstep until it faded away.
When Aoife finished eating she took a cloth and cleaned the grease from her hands and face, glancing over at Furbaide she saw grease covered his chest, hands, and mouth. Disgusted she wiped his mouth and hands thoroughly before rubbing the grease from his chest that was dripping down to his abs. Not until she was almost done did she realize the awkwardness of what she was doing, looking up she saw Furbaide was trapped between excitement and uncertainty. Blushing a bright red she smacked the living god in the face with the cloth.
"Clean yourself then get to bed," she said as she prepared for sleep, pulling out from her bag soft hide for a pillow and a wool blanket she laid against the slope.
Facing away from Furbaide she tried to cover her blushing face embarrassed at how oblivious she was, even though she was wrecked with shame she still felt intrigued, the touch of Furbaide's muscles was pleasing to her, he was a handsome deity. Stories she read of him often told about his carnal appetites, Furbaide reveled in his passionate conquests. When she was learning about such tales as a girl in the coven she enjoyed reading about Furbaide the most, yes he was seen as a wicked deity by most scholars but be also had a sense of honor. A fierce warrior but he still kept a mind for justice, lulling herself to sleep as she remembered those nights of blossoming womanhood when she fantasized about being romanced by the powerful living god.
Watching over Aoife's sleeping form Furbaide was glad to see she could sleep, assured that she had a powerful familiar to look after her safety. Since Furbaide didn't need to sleep like mortals did Furbaide acted as lookout, listening for any approaching predators of the night. Even as the fire burned out and darkness set in he sat there listening to the witches quite breathes as she slept. Breathing slow and peaceful brought comfort to him, those feelings he found confusing, being imprisoned for so long made his heart bitter even the jubilation of freedom when he was freed he still felt that anger in his heart.
The first day with Aoife changed that, he was enthralled to her whims and not just by magic, there was something he struggled to recall about him and her, there was history that was obscured. Giving up on his struggle to remember as a headache started throbbing, he still hoped that those memories would return though, Aoife had a charm to her that made him soft on the inside. Affection for her made him think more of Dolus, suspicious of the pale man who and his actions, Furbaide could tell the food wasn't poisoned but there was something odd about the lean texture, no meat the living god ate before had that particular texture. Even without sensing any wickedness in the pale man Furbaide knew Dolus was hiding some ulterior motive, his actions were too deliberate to be happenstance.
Half expecting that Dolus would return to slit their throats in the night Furbaide kept a especially good ear out for the pale man, making sure also to be alert to his scent. Furbaide noted nothing bitter or horrible about Dolus' scent, it was very mild but was offensive to Furbaide's senses, it was unnatural but he kept his disgust to himself unless it roused Dolus' suspicions. Becoming as innocuous to the pale man didn't seem to work as Furbaide could tell Dolus seemed to see through Aoife's aliases, Furbaide almost wished he didn't take the pale man's meat. Tasting the meat first was primarily due to the living god not eating anything since he was imprisoned, but he also wanted to see what kind of meat it was it was clear to him it was freshly cut from a something quite old.
Deep in contemplating Furbaide considered his first day back in Crel as an overall pleasing experience, his attentiveness to the night ended as the morning sun turned the black sky to a light blue. Quickly the morning sun crescented the eastern horizon, in the north it flared up quickly, oranges and reds filled the sky, rising with the sun Aoife lifted from the stone ground refreshed. Hardened warrior that she was she had no problem sleeping on hard stone or soft beds, it was all a place to lay her head, cracking her stiff bones she arose and packed up her gear. Leaving the iron pan by the fire Aoife hoped that Dolus would return to retrieve it if he ever came back this way in his travels.
"Alright Furbaide the Spider Mother's home should be past these hills, we should be there before midday if we don't take any breaks," Aoife said, her voice was refreshed and chipper.
Smiling widely Furbaide was entranced by her cheerful energy, moving at a quick jog she hopped out of the indent where they spend the night in one leap, still full of the meat she ate yesterday she had a lot of excess energy to burn. Followed swiftly by her familiar the two of them made their way across the rocky landscape, the feel of hard stones at their feet didn't bother either of them but both were happy to have their feet touch soft grass once again. Sparse at first the grass became a denser the closer they came to the northern forests, where dense forestry and wildlife flourished and was a stark contrast to the rocky uneven lands they traveled across. Small song birds sang in the trees sounding as though they were welcoming them to their home, Furbaide eyes widened and looked around as it was so long since he saw his old domain, the Ulaid forest.
Cool forest air felt good on his body, almost losing track of Aoife cause he was so wrapped up in his surroundings.
"This way," Aoife said, drawing Furbaide's attention he saw she was pointing to a arcing cliffeside with a large gray tree on top, there he saw someone made their home into the tree, with a door and windows.
The cliff wasn't too high they managed to easily by following the stone steps that were made to allow travellers a path to the Spider Mother. A oracle of Aoife's coven, the Spider Mother retired long ago and decided to spend her last stretch of life in the peaceful surroundings of the northern wilderness. Aoife came all the way there to seek guidance from the oldest and the wisest of her coven who besides Aoife were the only ones free of the monster's control. Performing the spell to summon Furbaide first before seeing her Aoife hoped to circumvent the warnings of doing such a reckless rite, something she was sure to be scolded for performing anyway.
Standing outside the roughly cut wood door of the Spider Mother's home Aoife started cleaning the dirt from her boots, she tried to prolong going inside to see her old mentor. One of many women who taught her and advised her Aoife always held the Spider Mother's words in more regard than anyone else's in her youth. Webbing of life and death were easy for her to read, she could say with certainty if someone was to die, live, and the steps to prevent one's unfortunate fate, if she didn't know someone's fate then no one else would, hers insight was as certain as anyone could scry. In the corner of her eyes Aoife saw a large hairy brown spider crawl on the wood of the tree, making its way upwards to the greenery that covered the branches, above her head she saw a mass of webs.
Inside of which was the symbol of her coven, the spider; a hairy brown spider known as the Soil Spinner, according her coven's texts the Sol Spinner is the only creature on Crel who can layout someone's fate. Weaving and spinning their webs to the choices and outcomes of the lives of everything in the world, it is theorized if they were given the whole world to cover in their web they could tell the story of the world and all its inhabitants. The Spider Mother reads these webs, and Aoife hoped she could read them once again, to tell her how she can make sure her sister's fate didn't end in certain doom. Furbaide saw the muscles in her neck tense as she grabbed the latch on the door and opened it, the door opened to a dark interior she remembered her manners too late and knocked on the door as she held it open.
"Hello, Spider Mother? It's me Aoife." she said, but there was no response.
Standing outside of the doorway Aoife felt something odd in the air, Furbaide felt it also, and sniffed at the air and smelled something foul inside the dwelling. Grabbing Aoife by the shoulder as she tried to step inside he gave her a stern look, he made it clear that it could be life threatening to go inside of the tree, but her fear for her coven sister made her try to go further in, but his grip was too strong.
"Let go of me Furbaide," she said, an order he couldn't refuse but as soon as he let go and she went inside he followed after her sticking closer to her than her own shadow.
Once inside the smell became stronger, a humid heat came from the floor and rose upwards that only amplified the stench, drawing a long dagger from a concealed place in her garments Aoife moved ahead barely able to see in the darkness. Aoife with her magic flowing more freely snapped his fingers and produced a large ball of fire that lit up the dark interior, spiders scampered in the sudden flash of light. The ball hovered over Aoife's outstretched palm kept in check by her masteries over the natural powers of Crel, with the interior illuminated they saw the house was covered in spiderwebs, and a thick layer of dust.
Furbaide stomped his foot on the ground three times to get Aoife's attention, looking at him as he started to tap his throat it was evident he wanted to be able to speak again. Trust started to take root between them so she decided to give him back the ability to speak once again.
"You can talk if you wish," Aoife said.
Giving a sigh of relief Furbaide as Aoife returned to searching the filthy interior for any signs of the Spider Mother.
"It looks like nobody's been here in a long while, look at the web and dust everywhere," said Furbaide, as they went deeper inside the gloomy dwelling.
"Oh no," said Aoife "it's always like this, she never cleans."
Laughter would've followed but Furbaide was focused on the source of the foul air that stagnated in the air, through a wide entryway they saw a place where the fire didn't reveal the darkness. Walking ahead of Aoife Furbaide walked into the dark and Aoife followed quickly bringing the light that started to reveal what was in the darkness, the light showed a old woman sitting on a stool. Boney hands were wrapped around her spinning wheel, she seemed to have paused in spinning her thread, her skin was a olive brown, her eyes were shut, and she had a few strands of white hair growing out of her balding scalp. Aoife came close to Furbaide and lowered the light so they could see clearer, with more light it was clear that the Spider Mother was dead.
Light brown robes with red trim that she wore were torn along her frail back, pieces of her back flesh were sliced off, blood was completely drained from her body but none of it was found around her body. Flaring up the fire brighter made the large bite mark on her neck visible, a piece of her neck was bitten off, faint traces of blood were around the wound, looking further down it was clear the killer cut off her feet as well leaving exposed joint bones where her feet should have been. An epiphany flashed in Aoife's mind which made her stomach rumbled loudly as she started to cough and gag, running past Furbaide she ran outside. Ending her fire spell Aoife bent over as Furbaide followed after her, coming outside to see Aoife on her knees head hanging forward, her face looked like she was in great pain, he wanted to comfort her but he knew it wouldn't bring her any ease.
Vomit poured out of her mouth as she sobbed loudly, pieces of meat, stomach acids, and phlegm covered the green grass, when she couldn't heave up anymore of her stomach contents she cried out loudly.
"Aoife," Furbaide said, that was all he could say as he was taken aback by her grief, losing a loved one was dramatizing for certain but it was clear there was something else that was adding to her grief.
"The meat," she said, again and again she kept saying, "the meat, the meat."
Soon Furbaide understood what she meant, the pieces of meat Dolus gave them was cut from the Spider Mother, the taste of old meat lingered on his tongue. The living god didn't become sick from what he ate as his godly body had quickly processed the food through his system, still he was saddened by Aoife's despair. What she was enduring made him swell with grief, she lost someone dear to her, and was tricked into eating a member of her coven, wails of despair echoed out among the chirping of the birds. Kneeling next to her Furbaide waited by her side for the shock and turmoil to pass, so he could comfort her and be there to ease any further anguish.
"Hold me," she said, tears flowed down her eyes, she allowed her vulnerability to show and sought something to ease her shaking body.
Slowly Furbaide wrapped his arms around Aoife, holding her in a gentle close embrace, Furbaide rocked her side to side slowly, calming her with gentle shushing.
"It'll pass," said Furbaide, a gentle praise he repeated as much as she needed to hear it, "it'll pass, it'll pass."
Pain and grief came and went little by little, it didn't take long for Furbaide and Aoife to start digging a grave for the Spider Mother, under the tree where the spiders weaved her life and the choices she made that lead to her fate.