Azi's Pet
"Enter the forest, gather up silk, leave the forest." Tara smirked, shifting her knapsack. "Who'd have thought this would be so easy?" she said to noone, distracting herself from the task at hand.
She breathed in deep of the clean, untouched forest air, hiking swiftly through the sparse undergrowth and trying her best to ignore the unnerving odor that drifted in the air. Her arms and legs ached, not from fatigue at this early hour but from the occasional twig or bramble that scratched haphazardly between her usually bright blue scales. She should have worn trousers, not shorts. Then again, the autumn heat seemed to linger on awfully late in the season here, and her hardy tunic and shorts kept the rest of her safe from casual injury. She could keep her tail out of reach without too much trouble. Her wings were starting to feel rather cramped, though, with a pack stuffed with spidersilk bouncing up and down on her shoulders.
The dragoness crouched down in front of her last bit of quarry, claws flexing inside their slick-skinned gloves. She inhaled, and the scent of old web crawled down her bones. It must have stretched across ten, fifteen feet or so, between the two trees to her sides; now nothing but old, grey tatters lay scattered between. The ragged remains of webbing here hardly evoked images of the perfect, terrifying hunters, laying their perfect, terrifying traps. Quite honestly, it looked about as useful as firewood. But silk fetched exorbitant prices. Any well-taught tailor could take useless web, refine it, splice it, stitch, weave, and dye it, and turn forest refuse into full regalia - and charge exorbitant prices to any bright-scaled, haughty noble brat who wanted the latest fashion craze.
Tara doubted they even knew where all the new silk came from. Then again, she hadn't until she took the job from this little town's fur-trader. A week's good living out of a measly knapsack stuffed with silk seemed a little too good to be true, but constant travellers couldn't be choosy about the work they received. She shrugged to herself, and hesitated a moment before laying her hands down to the task at hand. This was the tricky part.
She placed her hands quite gingerly upon the old webbing, and slowly, slowly gathered it up into a smaller bundle. Like untangling a skein of yarn, she thought to herself. Like untangling a skein of yarn that's been dipped in paste. Bits of the web snagged on twigs, dead branches, rocks, and took several tugs just to pull loose. And of course when it did come loose it sprang back at you and adhered itself to your bare scales, where it took even more time just to free yourself from the tangled mess. She would have to bathe tonight, she thought to herself, as she stuffed the entire mess into her knapsack, trying not to think about the effort it would take to pull it all OUT later. She felt dirty, dusty, but most of all her arms, from the wrist right up to the shoulder, felt awfully sticky and smelled of silk, a strange scent that sent a mild shiver up her spine.
"Spiders don't hunt," she recited to herself. "They lay traps, they wait, and when they catch something they take it back to their parlor-web. Spiders don't hunt." Even if she had the guts to enter the Spider's Forest when most folk gave it a wide berth, she couldn't banish entirely that nervous feeling of... prey. Spiders lived here, and spiders preyed on what they caught. She could stay away from fresh webs, she could be quick about entering and leaving, but as long as she was here, she was prey.
She grimaced as the last bit of silk came loose from her arm and went into the pack. Okay, back to town. Quick. That way.
With a grunt, Tara clambered up to the top of a once great oak that lay in her path. A trip around the tree would save her energy, but might take quite some time, and take a path towards the center of the forest that she didn't feel so sure about taking. From the top - she paused in thought, pushing herself to the felled tree's top and heaving her and her overstuffed knapsack upright - she could see into the forest as far as the undergrowth would allow her. Despite the crawly feeling down her arms and her tail, she couldn't help but stop and admire the forest for its own merit. It really was beautiful here.
If she squinted and peered into the distance, she could see the haunting signs of the spiders' presence - greyish, almost transparent workings of the forest's denizens suspended from trees to snag anything foolish enough to fly, or skirting the ground to snare clumsy animals. Of course, she would never touch the fresh webs, silk just recently spun. The old material stuffed in her pack stretched like taffy and stuck like sweaty clothing already. Gathering a fresh web, even a small one, meant getting tired, irritated, and gluey all over, for not much reward at all.
After taking a moment to absorb the scenery, she turned her eyes to the ground below her perch. A solid patch of leaves and forest detritus lay underneath her, leaned against the massive oak, like refuse the forest had piled here for dumping. That would do to break her fall.
With an undignified "hurph!" she hefted her knapsack from her back, and heaved it out beyond the leaf-pile. Nothing fragile in there anyway. She took a moment to stretch out her wings, easing the discomfort of the pack from her muscles, and took one more glance downwards. Her tail twitched for a moment, legs tensed, and a "Whoop!" echoed through the forest as she leapt into the leaves below.
"Ooph!" Leaves bounced on the pile around her as she impacted a little deeper than she had expected. A childish grin spread across her muzzle. Oh, that was fun! She hadn't done that since she was ten years old. Feeling a little more cheerful about the wood, she pushed herself proudly to her feet to stride out of the leaf-pile, and abruptly fell flat on her nose.
Tara cursed, and pushed herself to her knees, rubbing her nose and wincing. Damnit, so much for a good day. She'd tripped over something in the leaf pile, or something. She rolled over to a sitting position, and pulled her legs out of the leaves. Something was netted around them, covered in residue and old foliage. It stuck to her scales like wet glue, elastic enough to tug insistently at her feet.
She closed her eyes, and swore with greater urgency. Absolutely wonderful.
Her careful claws reached out to pick off bits of leaves and twigs that covered her legs. It took her about five minutes or so to clear her legs of forest detritus, and just a few more moments to see the snare, catch its scent, and shiver from tip to tail. All the silk in her pack had lay in the forest for weeks. It was old, and greying, and frayed. The silk now wrapped clumsily around her legs practically glistened white, and smelled much different. It smelled clean, fresh.
She had found herself a new trap. For a few seconds, Tara fell to her back and lay still, cursing luck, stupidity, fate, whatever made her freely jump into a snared leaf-pile.
"This isn't a problem," she chided herself. "This is set for animals. People can get out of these." She breathed for a moment, and rolled to a crawling position, tugging with her legs. She could get a foot or two away, before the tension in the snare pulled too much to fight. God, but the stuff was strong. She didn't expect it from the old grey stuff, but these things were tough.
Knife. Tara had a knife in her knapsack, she could just cut the stuff away. She sighed in relief, and would slap herself for her own stupidity if her gloves weren't covered in silk residue. She reached around to her back to retrieve her folding blade, just as her eye spotted the pack she'd thrown off her back. At least eight feet away.
"This is a problem," she corrected herself. "Oh, dear."
Fear settling into her gut, she strained to reach towards the pack, straining her legs to fight the webbing that held them. If she pushed herself hard, and just kept trying to move, she could just... almost... reach... no! Shaking, her legs gave out from underneath her, and the silk cords pulled her bodily back towards the leaf-pile where she'd began. She panted, and pounded the ground with a clenched fist. If only she'd just kept her pack on her BACK, like she should have, she'd be on her way home now!
She had to try again. Maybe the stretching weakened the silk enough for her to reach. She doubted it, but what other choice did she have? With a growl, she clawed at the ground and pulled her legs as hard as her muscles could manage, stretching the web to its limits. She took it slower this time, pulling an inch at a time, reaching for distance the way a rock climber might. Just... a little...
She couldn't do it. Gasping for breath, she allowed herself to slide back across the forest bed. She wasn't strong enough, and the webbing pulled just too much.
Barely thinking, Tara pulled the sticky gloves from her hands, and shook them aside. She'd have to use claws. Please, let this work.
As carefully as fatigued hands could, she placed her thumb and index claws into one of the strands, and pulled. The silk stretched, and stretched, until finally her claws gave, and the silk bounced back into place. "Damnit!" she hissed. Her tail lashed behind her in frustration. There HAD to be a way to do this!
This time she placed all her claws on the strand, attempting to simply rip it apart. She pulled, and the cord stretched like elastic, until her muscles couldn't pull any farther. Grunting, she brought her other claws to bear, and yanked.
She knew she'd just made a mistake before she slid. With the combined tension in the webbing in her hands and around her legs, her body slid further back towards the leaf-pile. With a yelp of surprise, Tara's claws slipped, and she found her hands pulled right into the mess, glued together next to her knees.
Panic setting in, she struggled to separate her claws, her legs, anything from the mess. But without any way to brace herself now, and without any way to pull the web away, she could only tug uselessly with her limbs, and further ensnare her hands in the sticky mess and pull her body closer to the snare, lurking under the leaves and threatening to envelop her entirely if she pulled too tight. Her body went limp, and she whined in desperate protest.
Could she call for help? Hardly anyone ever came into these forests, but if someone else was gathering silk, could they help her? Would they? If she shouted, would something else notice and come for her? If she stayed really quiet and didn't make a sound, how long would it take for whichever spider spun this trap to find her?
The crackling of leaves behind her told her that her last question had its answer.
In her awkward position, Tara had to crane her neck and curl over to one side to see it, and blink in confusion. She'd only ever seen tiny spiders, the ones that ate bugs and bit little children. Normal spiders were ugly things with eight legs. They had tiny, hideous eyes, frightening fangs, and moved like they had murder on the mind.
This particular spider had to be about six feet tall, built like nothing Tara had ever seen before. The lower half looked the way she'd expected, only with six shiny legs instead of eight, and not hairy at all - actually a pretty pattern of green and brown across its legs and hefty abdomen. From the waist up, though, it - no, SHE - could almost pass as a human woman. A bald human woman... with tiny slits for a nose, and hands with only three fingers, and that mottled green-brown across her body. She wore a rough off-white tunic over her upper half, a fact that somehow made Tara feel much, much better about her predicament.
"Are you all right?" she asked, with a crackly, yet soothing voice. "Are you hurt?"
She could scream for joy. It couldn't be dangerous if it spoke! "No, no, I'm not hurt, I'm just stuck!" She tugged at the web now curled messily around her arms and legs, covered in bits and pieces of the forest floor. "Can you let me out? Thank you so much..."
The spider walked towards her, and Tara watched her movements in fascination. Tiny spiders seemed to scuttle across the floor or their webs like horrible monsters, but she moved with a deliberate, alien sort of grace. Each of her feet - were they feet? Or claws, or pads, it was hard to tell - settled to the ground with purpose and dexterity, making this spideress seem for all the world like she walked on air.
She was really rather pretty. Not like little vermin spiders at all. With all her color, size, her shape, the way she walked... she looked like what all spiders should look like. Graceful.
"Here, let me look at that," she spoke, and knelt down on her front four legs in front of the dragoness. "What's your name?"
"Tara," she responded, and absently pulled at the web with her bound hands. "What about... you?"
She smiled. "You can call me Azi." Tara couldn't help but notice that Azi had two very large front teeth, and devoted a conscious effort to not cringing at her smile. Her hands passed over and rested upon Tara's legs, and now the dragoness couldn't help but shiver a little. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. My, you must have jumped into it."
Tara nodded, almost ashamed. "I had a knife in my pack, but it's out of reach."
"That's a pity." Her hands drifted gently over the entangling silk, failing to stick at all. "They tell horrible stories about this forest in the villages. Why does a young woman like you venture within?" A sudden wave of uncertainty swept through her body. Noone ever ASKED spiders for silk, they just took old bits. If this Azi woman knew her business here, would she take offense? "I-I... I'm just passing through."
Azi rose to her full height and strode over to Tara's knapsack, and the snared dragoness closed her eyes. Please, please, don't be mad at me... She pulled at her legs desperately, praying that somehow the silk would just give, leaving her free to run away. Her neck was tiring, she had to turn her head to face away again... but she could hear the spider opening her pack, and pulling out something that she assumed was her blade. "You're a harvester."
"Yes..." she answered, voice wavering. "I-I'm sorry."
She heard the pack settling back on the ground, still too far to hope to reach - and even if she could before, she couldn't reach anything with both hands stuck to the web.
"Nonsense," she heard Azi reply, slowly approaching her. "You've committed no crime here," she added, crouching down at Tara's side again. She couldn't see her, but that voice felt friendly enough to trust, and she relaxed again. She was shaking a little now, sending ripples of motion through the trap. Azi's voice shushed her, and her hands rested on Tara's side. "Don't worry. Don't be scared."
Tara took a few moments to breathe, and relieve the tension in her body. Slowly, the quivering web settled again. "I'm sorry. I thought I was going to die here."
"Of course not, love. I don't kill creatures like yourself," she replied, in a way that made Tara wonder if other spiders did.
"Thank you. Can you please free me?"
"Of course not," the spideress lilted, tracing her fingertips across Tara's side. She bent over, and placed a hand upon her wing. "I caught you, didn't I?"
Tara's blood chilled in her veins, as her wing twitched and folded tightly under the touch. She didn't just hear that. She didn't hear her say that. "But I thought, I th-you said you wouldn't kill me, I-"
She craned her neck back, and found Azi's gleaming, sharp smile. "That doesn't mean I have to let my catch go," she spoke, curling her fingers around wing and belly. She found herself near panic, jerking against her bindings with desperate force. But no matter how she pulled or stretched, her arms and legs were hopelessly entangled in the webbing, and quickly tiring out.
She turned her head away from the spider, just before its hands flashed out of her vision. With a single slick motion, the hands reappeared near her nose, and a broad ribbon of glistening white bound her mouth tightly shut. The wet, almost heady scent of new silk overpowered her nostrils, and a shout of surprise muffled into an impotent hum just as the fabric wrapped over her eyes. She could feel the silk curling lightly around her face and neck, securing her new muzzle in place.
"Shhh, now, don't struggle so much," Azi cooed, as Tara felt another swath of silk tangling her wings and tail into immobility, and curled her head to the voice with a groan of fright. She might have been able to strike her with a wing before, but now she had no way to defend herself. Helpless and frightened, she froze up and closed her eyes, and waited for whatever horrible fate awaited her. "Don't be afraid," came the scratchy spider-voice, which did nothing to calm her fears.
She felt a pair of pricks at her shoulder, and mewled at the sudden pain, but it seemed to disappear as soon as it came. Her head began to swim, dizzy and unfocused, and she struggled in a haze of unaware confusion. Her scales tingled with growing sensitivity, and the silk around her exposed body felt softer, almost soothing to the touch. Her muscles twitched, tensed, and slowly relaxed, refusing to cooperate.
Tara could feel her body rise up off the ground, and the motion played confusing spirals into her head. She heard a series of snaps, and felt her arms come loose from the trap, but she felt too limp now to fight off her captor. The sensation of new, wet silk stretched across her bound wings and around her chest, holding her arms snug against her belly and sending heady tingles up her spine. Her panic and confusion slowly slipped from her thoughts... it took too much energy to struggle, too much energy to be afraid. As she felt a skein of sticky fabric pull her hands to her hips and begin a tight spiral of sensation down her legs, she decided to try relaxing her entire body, and found herself drifting in a pool of lethargic peace.
She tried briefly at logical thought, and found that her body was winding in circles. Azi probably had her propped up, spinning a single band of web around her body, giving her a snug cocoon to rest in. She probably looked like a silly little white bundle, twitching a little, still unconsciously trying to fight off the binding.
"Sleep now, pet," she heard an echoing voice drift her way as the tingling of the silk strands enveloped her curling toes. "Sleep," the voice spoke again, and she found it impossible to resist.
Azi smiled, as the motion of her neatly bundled pet slowed to rhythmic, deep breaths, and caressed the drying fabric. She breathed deep herself, relishing the smell of capture, before lightly lifting her catch off the ground and securing it to her back with a few well-placed handholds. With a smile, she rose to her feet, and - taking up the dragoness' knapsack in hand - glided into the forest depths.
In hazy, hypnotic sleep, Tara dreamed of sinking to her neck in quicksand. Warm, wet, enveloping sand crept up to her muzzle, passed her nose, and engulfed her entirely - yet she could still breathe. She called out for help, but found she couldn't move - her mouth had glued shut in the sand. But the warmth and pressing embrace calmed her, and she floated in a silent pool of helpless calm.
A sandy swirl of color and light brought Tara into another dream - a spider hovered over her, strange hands lovingly stroking her face, sending a caressing finger or two down her body, coated in white. Her bleary eyes strained to focus, but could only catch fuzzy glimpses of her surroundings. The spider spoke, but she couldn't hear her voice.
A brief glimmer of consciousness suggested that she might not be dreaming after all. A dull, exhausted moan escaped her mouth, as her arms and legs shifted uselessly in her cocoon. The spider pressed a finger to her lips, barely visible through the haze, and came forward to stroke her nose. Tara found this strangely calming, and sighed in resignation before her thoughts slid back into sleep.
This time, she found herself floating atop a cloud that she somehow knew belonged to someone else. She had to stay here, though, and wait for its owner to come back. The tufts of cloud tickled underneath her, settling in and around her body, sending prickling sensation down her spine, creeping into her twitching tail.
Tara took a sharp breath, and slowly opened her eyes. Another dream? The world around her spun slowly in whites and greys and greens, fuzzy and unrecognizable. She took a few moments to collect herself, staring blearily out into space, slow breaths returning her to the waking world. Alien sensations trickled into her thoughts, troublesome ideas that suggested a very bad situation. In particular, the scent of silk invaded and tugged at her nose.
"Oh no," she mumbled, eyes focusing. "Not a dream." She could hardly smell anything else, except for a strange, subtle musk she couldn't identify. As her eyes slowly adjusted to the light, she grew ever more certain that she should have kept them closed. The room... or cave, or loft, or something, seemed to consist almost entirely of thick silk webbing. She could glimpse the verdant green of the forest between gaps in the strands, and long, sturdy cords of the stuff stretched above her, securing the entire parlour in the towering trees of the forest. It was morning - she'd slept through the entire afternoon and night.
Her eyes shifted down, and the absence of her regular clothes jarred her into full consciousness. Instead of her tunic and shorts, a long, thin robe of silk poured over her body, hugging her shoulders and midriff, secured at her hips with a simple knotted sash. With growing concern, she flexed her legs and tail in place, and sighed in alien relief. Not sticky. In fact, her entire body felt rather clean, free of the clingy residue that had stuck to her scales after dealing with old web.
The whole situation screamed dangerous messages across Tara's mind. She'd snared herself in a web not moments earlier. A giant, human-esque spider had drifted her way, calmed her with soothing words, bit her with some dizzying, sleepy venom, and wrapped her into a bundle, and... after that it all blurred together in her head. She must have been unwrapped and put here while she slept, dressed in nothing but a white robe for decency and left alone. Spiders ate their prey. This spider hadn't eaten her. Somehow, the idea that the spider hadn't killed or eaten her filled Tara's imagination with horrifying prospects.
Tail twitching and legs fidgeting, she pushed herself to a sitting position, upon an impossibly soft bed of loose, smooth webbing, tugging a claw loose where it caught in the strands. She glanced around the parlour, and crawled to one side of the roughly circular bedding. A tug at her neck confirmed her worst suspicions, and drew her eyes along the fine silk line running from her into the center of the bed and disappearing into the fabric. Her claws felt and tugged at a thick, loose band circling her neck.
It must be the poison that's keeping me calm like this, she thought to herself. Otherwise I'd be panicking. Screaming.
She couldn't be a prisoner for ransom, she didn't know anyone rich and her family lived off in the foothills. She wasn't food, Azi said so-
Tara shook her head in exasperation. Why would she trust it? Or call it by its name? For all she knew, the monster simply took enjoyment from stringing along its victims before it killed and ate them.
Still, her predicament felt too... gentle, at least for an evil trick. Monsters didn't put their victims to bed, and they certainly didn't say "Don't be afraid" while they rendered you helpless.
She crawled back to the center of the bed, and the robe hugged at her chest as she shifted, bring a bizarre notion into her head. An image flashed in her subconscious of the spideress tying her down into the bedding, loosing her robe...
Oh, that was silly. She leaned back, letting her body plunge into the soft expanse. Her imagination playing perverted tricks with her worried mind, she thought to herself, her mouth twisting into a sardonic smirk. Whatever reason she had for being held prisoner in a spider's parlour-web, it certainly wouldn't be so ridiculous as that.
Tara tugged at her leash, feeling its stretch and give from underneath the bed. She already knew she couldn't break or rip it if she tried. Out of one ear, she could hear something far below moving about. Coming upwards.
"Please," she whispered in quiet prayer, "please, whatever happens, don't hurt me, please..." She drew a short breath, and followed the sound up... climbing the tree that way, perhaps, or ascending a webline... approaching from behind her. She turned, watching the arachnid figure's shadowy silhouette looming into view between the gaps in the webbing. Teeth clenched, she watched it approach, resigning herself to fate and luck, and - just in case a miracle happened - noted the position of the curtain-like exit to the outside as the spider brushed it open, and offered her a warm, eager smile. "Well, good morning, pet. Did you sleep well?"
She hadn't thought of 'pet'. The idea sent nervous shudders through her wings.
In retrospect, Tara could have said something much more fitting at the time. "What are you going to do to me?" came high on the list, followed by "Why do you want me?", both of which perhaps only sounded slightly better than, "You disgusting beast, let me go this instant."
Unfortunately, she could only think to say, "Yes, did you?" and promptly chastise herself for attempting small talk with the creature who held her captive. She collected her thoughts, and ignored the faint giggle she heard from the spideress. "Why don't you let me go? You're not going to eat me, you're not going to sell me..."
Azi sidled to one side of the bed, as the dragoness edged away from her, slowly drawing out the length of her own tether. "You really shouldn't worry yourself so much. I'm not here to hurt you at all." One of her legs reached up to the bed, drawing her body up and uncomfortably closer to Tara. She settled herself into the bed, abdomen resting tidily on the silk. "Come here, I won't bite. I already caught you, after all."
Tara's hands curled, claws pulling aggressively at the bedding. Her tail lashed against the fabric of her robe. "No. I won't."
"I could come over there if you prefer, but I imagine not. You need to relax, you're going to exhaust yourself over nothing." Azi crossed her hands in front of her, and smiled. Tara had the feeling that the spider had patience on her side. She'd seen little spiders sit for hours in a web, motionless, just waiting for something to blunder into their grasp, and she had a sinking feeling that Azi possessed a similar perseverance.
"Look," she started, and stopped. Reasoning with her? Well, nothing else would work. "Look, I don't... I don't know you. At all. I'm in a strange situation, and I can't get out, and the only thing I know about you is that you won't hurt me and you won't let me go. I'm... not going to just let all this happen. I want to know what's going on here, before I panic."
She paused, and took a breath. How she could remain this calm, she could never know. Her hand reached out of its own accord and fingered the slackened leash. A tingle of sensation tickled around her neck - it had to be that bite, playing tricks on her mind, making her far too sane.
Azi had a similar idea. She pushed herself forward on the expansive bed, and reached out to grasp the cord where it disappeared into the silk. "I captured you, and you belong to me now. You are mine." Despite the ominous implications, her voice carried no sinister or unsettling tones. She seemed... content. Happy, even, not just for herself. Tara's legs shifted against the bedding, and she leaned away until she could feel the band around her neck tug just slightly.
"And what does that mean?"
"It means you shouldn't struggle so much, love," she chided, and pulled gently on the leash, guiding Tara's neck forward with a tiny 'eep'. "You're already caught and collared, there's no escaping that. Come here and relax. Please?"
Tara paused. Did she seem... doubtful, for a moment? "What if I don't?"
Azi actually frowned. A tiny twinge of worry twitched through Tara's clawtips. "I guess I would have to leave you alone here, then, if you won't..." She placed the leash-end back onto the bed, patting it where it lay.
Tara scratched nervously at her legs, where blue scales reached out from white silk. "I... no, I don't..."
She had never felt more helpless in her life. Bound to a bed, facing down her captor who wanted her to just clamber over to her of her own free will. She couldn't free herself, but she was damned if she would freely obey something like that. And yet... she couldn't just sit here and resist, if the only reward for her defiance was hopeless solitude.
If she resisted, she'd sit here alone and unable to help herself, and she'd go insane trying in vain to free herself. If she didn't, she'd be unable to help herself, but at least she had someone else here. It was a choice between sheer awkwardness and sheer boredom.
And this Azi seemed like such a nice person... besides the whole kidnapping situation, anyway.
"Just... don't hurt me. Please."
Slowly, with shallow breaths, Tara pushed herself to her legs, and crawled halfway across the bed. Azi breathed a sigh and smiled, taking up the slack of the leash in her fingers. By the time Tara stopped, sitting in front of her and hesitating to come any further, she only had about four feet of silk from her neck to Azi's hands. "I... I don't think..."
The spideress tugged a little, and Tara couldn't stop herself following the tug forward another foot, her wings hanging with the embarrassment of being led by a leash. Her eyes fixed onto Azi's bronze, green-speckled hands holding barely enough freedom to stay out of reach. "It's okay, love. Don't be nervous."
Azi took the next move, and gathered the slack in her hands as she pushed herself forward towards the dragoness, now trembling ever so slightly in anticipation. "Good," she cooed, caressing her shoulder with her free hand. "There. You're okay."
Tara brought her eyes up to meet Azi's gaze, and turned away, self-conscious to the point of shame. She felt humiliated, too much to speak, as the spider's touch glanced over her. "Shh, don't be afraid," she whispered, and the dragoness whined in reproach. The spideress' hand closed over her shoulder and pulled, drawing Tara into her waist, propped up against her side and one spindly bronze leg that curled around to touch her feet. Another whine escaped her muzzle, more desperate and awkward than the last.
The slack of the leash slipped from hand to foot, and Tara could see the curling toe-claws that made up the end of Azi's legs. Made for grasping on silk, or stretching out for solid ground. Speckled hands rested on her body, and ran a caring touch over her stiff, tensed wings and neck. "There..." she heard that scratchy lilt above her, and dared not to look up. "That's a good pet. Just relax."
"O... o...kay." As humiliating and degrading as it seemed, it felt awfully nice. Tara's whimpers slowly died away, eased out of her by a touch that could only have come from a caring creature, not any monster or beast. It made sense she felt like this, she reasoned to herself: after all, Azi was such a large, overbearing creature compared to herself. In front of such a huge thing, being pulled down into it and helpless, of course she felt embarrassed. Of course Azi thought of her as a pet, she thought, and the word sent a tingle through her scales.
Azi's hand brushed softly against her chest, and her mind flashed briefly to the idea she'd had before - tied down, helpless, exposed - and she squirmed in place. "What are you... doing?"
A hand curled around the bottom of her muzzle, and brought it up to face the spideress' mellow grin. She kissed the tip of her nose, and ran her other two fingers down her centerline. "I'm going to play, my pet," she replied, and caressed her neck. "Be good."
"But... wait, wait," Tara interjected, twisting upright and placing her hands protectively over her shoulders. "Are you... you can't be serious."
"Oh, hush," the spideress teased, and tugged gently on the leash with her toe-claw. "Come here and lie down. You deserve to be treated well."
"Yes, but... but..." she protested, as her scales tingled in... fear? nervousness? expectation?
This was ridiculous. She couldn't be a pet like this. She couldn't lower herself to this level, a slave to some spider's whims. No matter how friendly she seemed. So why did it take her a conscious effort to resist? It had to be the venom talking, it was still coursing through her. Making her weaker, or more resigned to Fate, or... something. It couldn't be herself wanting to just grit her teeth and wait for everything to pass.
Azi's hand reached out and traced along her neck, trailing down to her chest where the tight-fitting robe curved outward with her body, and stopped where Tara's arms blocked her. She couldn't stop her, she knew that. If Azi really wanted, she'd be glued to a web and completely immobile while she played whatever perverted games she pleased. And the longer she thought about it, the idea of simply letting it happen grew more and more tempting. Not in any sick, unnatural way, of course, she just had to bear down and endure it, be stubborn, and not give in.
She was helpless already. What good would it do to struggle? And, despite her disheartened resistance, it really felt... well, it didn't feel bad to be petted before, so...
And Azi seemed like such a nice person, even with the kidnapping and all...
"J-just... don't..."
"I will never hurt you," Azi finished her, and laid a teasing finger against her neck. If her scales tingled any more, she might have collapsed.
"You have to stop if..."
"If you grow unhappy, I will. I want to see you happy."
Tara hesitated, breaths coming in slow, deep rhythm. Azi waited for a time, then smiled, and pulled, and Tara couldn't help but land back in the spider's lap, propped up against her. Azi's front legs curled around and loosely encircled her as her hands drifted down to her wings and worked a plying touch into her muscles, slowly teasing out to her shoulders and down her front. "You are such a pretty creature. Such beautiful blue..."
Resigning herself to helplessness, Tara closed her eyes and slowly untensed. She wouldn't have been able to fight Azi off anyway. If she really wanted, that is. Better to relax and give in than fight it every step. Azi said it already, she'd already caught and collared her...
Something came loose at her hips, and she could feel the robe parting ever so slowly at her neck. She whined, biting her tongue as the silk passed over and to her sides, itchy tingles running through her as the fabric brushed against her breasts and slid away.
If you don't tell her to stop now, you won't be able later, she whispered to herself, attempting one last time to appeal to sense and decency. Instead, she drew in a deep breath, letting her arms slip away from the silk sleeves and baring her shoulders. A tiny ripping sound from both sides told her that her wings had come free too. She must have woven the robe right around me while I slept, she thought, before Azi's fingers curled circle-spirals into her chest and brought her breath to panting.
If she'd only kept control over herself, she could suffer this indignity with clenched teeth and resigned unpleasantness. Any strong person could at least bear through it all, and attempt an escape later. Helpless though she was, she couldn't just-
A pair of fingers traced down her breast and grazed her nipple, and Tara drew in a sharp breath. She whined softly, clenching her eyes and muzzle shut. She could hardly control herself, let alone be resigned to an ordeal. Somehow, she forced herself to open her eyes, and watch Azi's hands beginning to ply at her chest, before her mouth opened of its own accord to pant her unspoken, and entirely unpermitted approval.
"You're allowed to enjoy this," the spideress purred. Her two front legs curled closer around her catch, softly brushing against scales and silk.
No, no, no she wasn't allowed to enjoy this, Tara demanded of herself. Even if she couldn't escape, even if the spider enjoyed it, even if she'd completely allowed this to happen to hersel- She exhaled a long, torried breath as a leg brushed up and around her thigh, curling toes, or claws, around her leg in a soft grip.
No, even if she did that...
Quite against her own stubborn will, she leaned her head back against Azi's chest and closed her eyes, surrendering to the play of fingers at her breasts. Every once in a while, she drew in a deep breath and let out a long, panting murmur as hands brushed over her nipples, teasing, kneading, and tugging at flesh in ways that poured warmth over her body like a glove. Her hands drifted down to the bed, claws and toes kneading helplessly into the soft silk.
Azi's hands mercifully left her breasts, tracing up across her collarbones, one resting upon her outstretched neck while another arced over her shoulder and wrapped around the base of her wing. Her eyes opened just briefly, enough to catch the spideress in the act of bending her head down to kiss at her muzzle. Her tongue slipped out of its own volition, and felt at soft lips that played on her nose and mouth with languid insistence.
Tara found herself forced to admit, not entirely without pleasure, that she'd lost control of herself and her situation entirely. At least it made things simpler, she had to admit as well. Now she could just slide deeper into silk, and do whatever Azi wanted of her, and not worry about fighting it all.
Azi had drawn a hand away while she'd been lost in lazy thought. Now it was back, pulling her wing at an angle, luring her body to lie on its side against her. The hand on her neck still beckoned her muzzle upwards, against what had to be her naked breast. She felt a nub of soft skin brush against her nose, what had to be Azi's own nipple, and she opened her eyes in a vague gaze of timid protest. The spideress brought her hand over Tara's eyes, and whispered a quiet "shhh," which was all she needed to close her eyes again and let her tongue emerge to return Azi's ministrations.
She could hear the spider's own breathing quicken a beat, and found herself smiling at the sound. Azi's hands slid across her neck and down her arms, gripping and pulling them behind her. Tara took in a breath between gentle licks, sliding her body at an angle to allow Azi better access to her arms. An idle possibility crossed her mind and quickly affirmed itself, as the smell of fresh silk filled her nose and her hands drew together in a thick swath of smooth fabric, spiralling up and binding her arms in a stretchy silk sleeve. She tugged at her arms, finding them stuck fast behind her back.
"Wait..." she stammered, embarrassment creeping into her voice again. As helplessly relaxed as she had been before, sitting naked with arms bound behind her back made her feel very vulnerable indeed.
Azi drew a finger across her breast, eliciting a squirm and a gasp from her captive. "You just tell me when you want me to stop." Tara turned her head about, and caught a glimpse of Azi's back legs pulling forth a thick cord of silk from spinnerets she'd never seen before. She watched with alien fascination as the silk cord traversed from leg, to leg, to hand, and finally behind her, curling about her silk-sleeved wrists, about the base of her tail, and disappearing into the bed. Her arms now tied to some unseen catch beneath her, she was most definitely held fast in place.
"What are you going to do to me?" she breathed, still tugging with her shoulders. Her tail twitched behind her, and the feel of silk wrapped around its base sent a squirm through her hips and down to her toes. Azi's hands rose to her wings, and loose lines of silk enveloped them in a loose, restricting embrace. A hand grasped and held her tail up, and with a soft sticky loop glued it into the web of silk that held her wings close together. The spideress shifted behind her and rose to her feet, and Tara had to shake the languid anxiety from her mind to balance herself without the help of her limbs.
"Just relax," Azi insisted, stepping around her pet and settling in front of her, bare-breasted and unashamed. Tara squirmed helplessly, tugging with her arms and wings in a vain attempt to cover herself. Azi reached out and pulled her forward, with a hand firmly guiding Tara's nose to her chest. She fought it, as much as she could with her limbs awkwardly bound behind her, even as her mouth closed around Azi's nipple, working gently with tongue and teeth. "Yess," she purred, caressing the dragoness' neck and pulling her snout into her breast. "Wonderful, lovely pet."
Tara whined, her body squirming in useless protest until Azi's fingers reached down to her breasts and began once again to tease at her already sensitive nerves. It felt wonderful before, but now she needed it, and just the thought of being left untouched and wanting seemed more undesirable than anything else. A hand pushed her nose insistently to another breast, and she obeyed without question. Another hand left her breasts and traced down her belly to her closed thighs, as if offering a reward for her obedience. She mewled in hesitant worry, before closing her eyes and spreading her legs apart for Azi's fingers to dip between them. A pair of fingers slipped inside her, and Tara's mouth jerked away from Azi's breast, opened wide in sudden sensation. "Wait... wait..." she panted, nearly overwhelmed.
Her legs buckled underneath her one last time as Azi's hands withdrew. She slumped forward, resting her forehead against the spider's chest for want of any better place, and took in quiet, ragged breaths. A hand graced her shoulder, but the sudden wash of sensation sent a shuddering, oversensitive wave through her body.
"Shhh-sh-sh." With a rustle of silk, the spideress pushed herself forward to curl her arms about Tara's middle. Another shudder overcame her, but subsided as tentative touch made way for a deeper caress. Her head came to rest on Azi's shoulder, nuzzling against her head. Between the silk and her hands, she felt attacked on all sides. Well... not attacked. But the overall feeling was the same. "Why are you... doing this...?" she breathed, as her heart quieted down to a dull panic.
Azi reached up, and wrapped her hand about Tara's neck just above her collar. "I enjoy beautiful things," she cooed into her captive's ear, and softly scratched around her crest as her frayed nerves relaxed. "And you, of all creatures, stumble into my hands... I couldn't possibly just let you go." She let a quiet titter escape her throat. "Helpless, nervous, struggling to escape - you were absolutely irresistable." Tara bit her tongue as fear graced her heart, but it fled from her as Azi squeezed around her middle, pressing against her and enveloping her insides in warmth. "You were such a lucky find, I have to keep you."
Tara whined, but it slipped half-hearted from her tongue, replaced with a heady sigh. She couldn't keep the question back any longer. "I'm a slave, aren't I?"
Another squeeze from Azi sent a flow of heat into her, slowly building in her gut. "Only a captive, love. You are mine," she lilted, with a kiss against Tara's cheek. "I couldn't let you go now, but I could never hurt you. A pet should be loved, not harmed."
A kernel of doubt and worry still remained, lodged in Tara's stomach and nagging her with discomfort. But what could she do? She was as helpless as Azi said, and stoic defiance had proved itself far beyond her. And through her entire alien experience, the danger she felt had only shrunk, replaced by warmth and kindness. And subjugation, yes, but what could she do? The dragoness' breathing slowed, as she heaved a defeated sigh and relaxed into the spider's body.
Azi stroked along her captive's spine, underneath the strands that enveloped her wings and arms. "Trust me," she breathed, a silky whisper in Tara's ear that arched her back into the spider's touch and rolled her tailtip about in its sticky prison. The comfort of warmth overtook and smothered her doubt as hands explored the base of her wings, dipping down her spine to her hips and sliding forward to caress her belly. Her breath hardly quickened, even as Azi's hands curved upwards to grasp and splay over her breasts as before - though she couldn't help but draw a hiss of breath into her chest as the spark inside her began to grow from gentle warmth to pressing heat.
With a passive squirm against her bonds, she pulled her body back from Azi's before desire tugged her back. Her nose pressed against Azi's lips just as a pinch at her breast forced a gasp from her throat. Her tongue slipped away and met the spider's lips, in a kiss that she found herself unable to escape. For the first time since her capture, it felt utterly impossible to move or struggle, a sensation that rippled through her body in heady waves of unfamiliar pleasure. As if reacting to her realization, the spideress' touch drifted from chest down to her legs, just as they had done before; this time, she had no will to resist, and shifted her knees further apart as her captor's caress slid inside her and drew a delectable hum from deep in her throat.
Tara's hips rolled in place to the languid, steady beat that Azi set for her. As the spider's fingers stroked her sex, her body swayed in time as if balancing on a fulcrum. Her tongue lapped insistently and haphazardly into Azi's mouth, mewls of increasing excitement pushing their way from her chest. A hand left her breast, and Tara took in an anxious breath as she felt a tug, a grip at the silk that held her fast. It pulled, and tightened... her wings glued closer, her arms drawn further back, just as the fingers between her legs quickened and pulsed against her. Her body tensed and drew taut as a cord, strung between spider's insistent touch and spider's sticky trap - and a shuddering cry jerked her mouth open wide as lances of overwhelming pleasure coursed across her scales and through her spine, the blaze of passionate rhythm warming her limbs in a twitching, unceasing drumbeat that her heart pumped and hastened and slowed to match.
For an eternity of a moment, she hung limp between Azi and her wrappings, only lolling her body to the last trickles of climax dripping through her nerves. Her vision clouded, and her eyes closed, as she fell like a ragdoll against the spider's embrace.
Somewhere in the haze of her afterglow, she felt herself fall, only to be caught by a pair of massaging hands at her chin and her shoulder. She opened her bleary eyes as her nose twitched at a musky, intoxicating scent, and pieced together her place below Azi. She whined a moment in confusion, but after a moment her tongue reached out to lap at the spideress' sex, guided by the hand holding and caressing her neck. She strained for a moment to pull away in hesitation, but the hand at her throat beckoned and insisted that she reach out to lick and stroke, to pleasure her mistress just as she had been. She could feel her spindly legs flexing and tensing, and she could just glimpse Azi's closed eyes and mouth ajar, as the taste of her and her passion danced and faded from awareness.
Suddenly her head pulled forward, the cord of her collar tugging and forcing her to nuzzle into Azi's sex as climax pulsed and rocked through her frame. A muffled mewl tried to escape her mouth, but she couldn't stop herself from continuing to torment as best she could with her nose and her tongue. Another forever of sensation passed, but this time she only felt it vicariously, through the rolling momentum of Azi's abdomen and the decadent hum that vibrated from her throat.
As the moment faded and passed, Tara felt her body pulled back up, and leaned upon Azi in languid, lazy obedience. With a beaming smile, Azi fingered at her muzzle and kissed her. "Wonderful... beautiful Tara," she whispered into Tara's ear, bringing the dim light of her awareness to a brief flicker.
I can't stay here, she wanted to say, or a part of her wanted to say. But an insistent slice of her mind wouldn't cooperate. She wouldn't have to worry about... anything here. Azi would take care of her, take care of everything. And she was so nice... even being a pet and all. Tara rolled her limbs, still snug in their bindings, and felt a low purr simmer in her throat. She could always decide later, she thought, a smile curling at the edges of her snout. It wasn't as if she could help herself, after all; she was being held against her will, obviously helpless, confused, unable to leave. Really, the decision was already made.
Who'd have thought this would be so easy?