Sticky

Story by Skipai on SoFurry

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A raccoon thief travels to find the largest treasure hidden in the world, unknown that someone who left it there already thought of the best way to protect it.


Sticky

By Skipai © 2020

For a long time, word had spread about the land that there was a vast treasure, so much that for someone to collect it would be set for life, with no more worries and the ability to pay anyone to do whatever you wanted and to whomever you wanted it to happen.

This always brought about the various adventurers to come to one particular part of the world where a small village lay just within the valley of two mountains, one of them was bigger, taller than the other with vast amounts of white snow that capped the higher reaches of it.

Down within the valley though, the weather was warm and spring had once returned to the area, the whole green grassland had brought on more colour from the various vegetation that sprouted from the ground and it was then that the locals knew that outsiders would finally be able to venture to their part of the world.

It was one particular adventurer that looked about the stone ladled pathway, it was uneven with rocks of various sizes littered about the place, shallow to deep dips were here and there and part of the walkway had collapsed during a storm in the past or recently, the raccoon couldn't tell as he used the wooden stick to keep his balance as he made his way slowly along the path towards the village in the distance.

Jona looked up into the sky, the white clouds floated about, some of them obscured the view of the mountains as the rock vanished out of view, large dark shadows formed across the entire valley as the clouds drifted lazily about.

When the raccoon reached the village, Jona looked about as he saw the various inhabitants all turn to look at him, the path around the one street was flatter but there were a few dips and rises here and there. The raccoon looked side to side as he saw them whispering to each other and there he saw a pub, the raccoon made his way towards it and pushed open the door.

The various locals inside the place went silent as he stepped in, the raccoon paused in his motions before he shrugged and walked over to where the bar was, there he unslung his backpack from his shoulders and placed it down so that it leaned against the bar.

A brown grey lizard came up to where the raccoon was at the other side of the bar, his hands were busy cleaning out a glass with a towel and the lizard remained silent for a moment as he stared at the stranger before he spoke. "What can I do for you, stranger?" The voice took a bit longer to pronounce the 's' but the raccoon was able to understand fully so Jona placed both of his hands on top of the bar, the long fingers tapped on the wooden top and he replied.

"An ale please and perhaps some directions?" The lizard nodded his head and moved to pour out a glass of ale as the raccoon slipped a few copper coins onto the bar, the long fingers pushed them forward as they made a noise. Jona lifted his fingers and waited as the lizard came back with the filled glass and swiped the coins away with his long sharp claws. The lizard leaned forward as his fork tongue flicked out. "Let me guess, you're after the treasure, right?"

The raccoon raised a brow and then nodded his head. "Yes, but how did you know?" The entire of the room laughed as the bartender grinned at the raccoon who had turned to look about him to the sudden life brought about in the room. Jona turned his head back towards the lizard who had a hand on the bar now, the other had rested on his hip while the fingers held onto the cloth that hung down along the outside of his leg.

"Many have tried to find that treasure." The lizard said back to the raccoon. "But none have ever returned." The lizard paused for a moment and then continued. "It would be best if you just picked up your belongings and headed back home."

Jona frowned. "I cannot, I have too many fines to be paid and others hunting my back." The lizard took a longer look at the raccoon before he grinned back at him. "Ah, a thief huh. So, there's no way that we can get you to go back the way you came then?"

The raccoon shook his head while he lifted the glass and took a long gulp of the warm ale, the white froth remained on his upper muzzle. "Not really, no I can't just go back. Unless I can find a way out of this, perhaps I should just make my home here then." The raccoon gave a sly grin at the lizard who frowned at the stranger. "Fine, wait here and I'll get a map for you, not that it will do you any good."

As the lizard made his way to the end of the bar, he stopped and looked at the large goat, before he whispered. "Make sure that doesn't go dipping his fingers into anything it doesn't belong." The lizard saw the goat nod his head as the lizard went into the back out of sight from the rest of the patrons.

Jona looked about the room as he drank more of the ale he had purchased and saw all eyes had remained on him. The fact that everyone had still been watching him had made the raccoon feel uncomfortable.

There was no way he would be able to start up in a small place like this, an idiot would think they could start a life of crime. It was too small, quite easy to be spotted and the whole community was tighter than the worst uptight virgin ant's anus. If he ever tried to get anything past that then he was going to have whatever poked through it lopped off and for the raccoon that wasn't even worth his effort, no matter how alluring someone with a golden tongue could make it out to be.

No, Jona preferred the larger places, the big cities where it was easy for someone like him to vanish, people there didn't go for the whole closeness thing, it was all bloodthirsty, every beast for themselves and if you weren't careful. Well, there were times when you could get mugged as soon as you were born.

Jona grinned as he thought of all the things that no doubt would make this lot run in fear of what happened in the big cities but the fact was that even he had ventured here to escape some that unfortunately Jona thought he would never had to. Such was the way when you worked in his line, eventually you pissed someone off, had to go deeper into the more darker crime world and by the end of it you're owing a lot of coin to a few that unless you paid, they were quite happy to show how much pain you could endure and then some.

When the lizard returned with a scroll in his hand, the raccoon smiled and held out his hand for it, but the lizard pressed it back against his chest. "One gold for this, they're not free." Jona growled back at the lizard. "That's ridiculous, that's not worth one gold coin."

The lizard bared his fangs at the raccoon. "It is for you if you're so determined to continue on when we said you should turn back. So, either one gold coin or you can take your trashy tail back the way you came."

Jona snarled, his long fingers reached down to where his belt was, the raccoon slowly started to grip around the knife, and he felt a hand press against his back and a deeper voice of larger lizard spoke. "I wouldn't do that, not unless you want to be skinned?"

The raccoon swallowed as he looked around but it was only the side of his eye that he saw one of the larger lizards that had sat in a table behind him had moved silently to where he was and as much as he was annoyed, the raccoon was actually also impressed. Not many had managed to sneak up on him like that. When he felt the sharp claws poke into his back, the raccoon lifted both of his hands up and spoke. "Alright, alright, you made your point... Quite literally so I'll pay you for that map."

The lizard across the bar nodded his head as he replied. "Slowly, now. No sudden movements." Jona slowly moved his hand to where his coin purse was and he rummaged about with his long fingers before he felt by touch the gold and he pulled out the gold coin and dropped it onto the counter with a clanging noise.

The map was tossed over and Jona caught it, the lizard behind him stepped back and then headed back to the table once more before he sat down, and the raccoon spun about to look at who it was. There were two large lizards at the table and he looked from one to the other but in the end, Jona said nothing at all, slipped off the stool and picked up his backpack again before he headed out without a word.

The only street in the village had cleared, it was empty as the raccoon looked about from left to right and shrugged, his shoulders rolled about and then he remembered the map and quickly unrolled it as his eyes stared down to look it over and he looked up again to the mountains ahead of him and then walked to the end of the village and looked the other way.

Thankfully, the map showed to where a cave was and that it was not that far up the mountain at all, Jona was pleased with this as it meant no serious climbing. That and he did not have the right clothing to cope with the higher attitudes. He rolled the map back up again and placed it underneath his upper garment, adjusted his shoulders so the backpack was in a comfortable position and headed off the main path, the raccoon decided that the sooner he got there before nightfall the better.

The journey was going well, yet slowly as the raccoon had to be careful with the stick in hand to keep his balance. Not that he had a problem balancing but Jona did not want to have an accident out here.

When he looked back, the sight of the village in the distance down the hill and he shrugged, turned back to the front and came to a stop near to a small stream. He sat down onto a nearby rock and took out the map again to get his bearings once more. Jona looked about and smiled, it looked as if he would get there just before sunset and with a grunt, he pushed himself back up and continued along, this time following the stream.

The shadows grew longer as the tired raccoon reached the entrance of the cave. Jona turned around to stare at the valley down below that had changed to an orange glow, long shadows formed here and there from the rocks standing up and he slowly pulled his backpack from his back and sat down onto the nearby rock.

Jona looked through the stuff inside and grabbed one of the clothes that he had packed, and he pulled out a shorter stick. His long fingers gripped the wood while the other paw started to wrap around the cloth at one end. There he lifted a container and poured liquid over the fabric. The raccoon placed the short stick down onto the ground and then picked up the two metal stones and he quickly started to clack them together as the sparks flew out and suddenly the cloth caught fire.

Jona worked quickly as he put various things back into his backpack and slung it onto his back again. The hand reached for the torch and he picked it up before he got up and stood there at the entrance of the dark tunnel of the cave. Jona took a deep breath in and then slowly he ventured in as the orange glow of the flames dance along the walls as he ventured deeper into the cave.

All that was about him now was the orange glow from his torch, the raccoon moved it about slowly as he continued to venture deeper into the cave, the way that it twisted and turned, moving downwards, then upwards and in one part he could hear running water in the distance elsewhere in the rock. The raccoon reached out to touch the stone and found it to be cold but dry. He slowly pressed his ear to the stone wall and listened to the water that sounded close by as it gurgled about. Then he pushed on as he walked further down the cave, the sound of the running water vanished as the dark silence embraced him once more bar the sound of his own breathing, heartbeat and footsteps.

When Jona came to a gap, the raccoon looked over the end, it was at least a two-foot-wide and the light of the torch did not show how far it dropped. Jona turned around and looked for something on the ground, his long fingers gripped around a stone as he picked it up and moved back to the edge.

The raccoon dropped the stone and listened as the stone continued to clank about as it continued to fall then nothing for a whole minute and then an exceptionally low deep splash could be heard as Jona frowned. "That's deep." The raccoon slowly prepared himself before he leaped across the gap and landed. He quickly moved on once more as the tunnel continued along, the ceiling lowering down in places. The raccoon bent down a bit to pass them and he turned around the corner.

It was there that a strong wind that came from somewhere blew, it was terrifyingly cold and to Jona's shock, the torch blew out as he swore. He was in complete darkness as his ears strained, the raccoon felt around the wall and took a few steps forward, then he fell forwards, landed on his belly and slid down the smooth rock as he screamed loudly in shock.

At some point on his way down, between being annoyed at how stupid he was for even taking a step forwards, never mind a few more in the pitch blindness, the raccoon passed out as his head hit something on the way down and went unconscious.

When Jona came around again, his head screamed at him in pain as he slowly sat up and immediately placed his hand on the side of his head, he removed it to feel his paw pads a bit damp and with a sniff, he could smell his own blood and once again he frowned at his own stupidity. Slowly he slumped his shoulders as the backpack fell off his back and he slowly began to see again.

Then his vision came back, and he slowly stared at the large cavern, where he was now was dark and yet he could see light around the corner. Painfully he pushed himself up and stood there. His legs feel weak and his balance was off. Jona concentrated as he held the side of his head and then slowly, he made his way forward as he walked towards the light, this time making sure he did not trip over anything else.

When he turned around the corner, his eyes widen when he saw the vast treasure in the cavern, a lot of gold, jewels and they were all lit up by various rocks that glowed on the ground, walls and ceiling of the place.

Jona forgot about the pain in the side of his head as he made his way towards the treasure and knelt as his fingers clasped around the nearest pile and picked it up. He grinned widely at the cold feel on his paw pads. There was so much of it, enough to pay the world over many times over. Then he started to laugh, which got louder and sounded more wicked as the raccoon thought of all the things, he would be able to do. He will teach everyone who was in charge.

The laughter echoed throughout the chamber as he continued, his chest heaved, the raccoon continued to throw coins and all in the air, not caring if it bounced off his already sore head. That he did not notice that he had disturbed something else deep within the earth's bowels.

Jona got up as he walked deeper into the cavern, the feel of the treasure under his feet felt wonderful. Then he stopped and looked about on how he could protect this, the raccoon thought to others that had come to try to find this place but died in their attempts. He lifted a and up to stroke under his chin as the raccoon thought. "What if others did find this cavern?" To Jona that was unacceptable, this was his and he closed his eyes in thought on how he could protect such a valuable source from other thieves.

While the raccoon was busy thinking, a dark shadow moved through the cavern, a large round circular with eight lines that moved silently towards the raccoon as it moved along the ceiling.

Silently it dropped down as the entire spider flipped around as it landed onto the ground, the raccoon was still pondering various things as he muttered to himself. "Just what would I use to protect such a wealth? Hmm, maybe that but did not see anything like traps about the place. Maybe something like-"

Jona didn't finish as he heard something move behind him and the raccoon tensed up as he moved his hand down from his chin, the long fingers stretched outwards to his side, the raccoon slowly felt the tip of the knife handle and then he looked up as a few droplets of liquid landed between his ears and stared. "Or they use that."

As quickly as Jona tried to move, his hand made to grip the handle of his knife, the large spider moved faster as the tips of the pincher's sunk into his shoulder and the raccoon felt all energy leave his body as he went limp, then darkness came as the raccoon passed out and fell to the ground.

The large spider lifted up the raccoon and shot out some sticky webbing from its rear and then dropped the warm creature to the ground again as it walked off over the treasure as it dragged Jona along behind him.

When Jona came about, he was in another cavern, he looked about and tried to move but found himself stuck in webbing as he hung there. With a growl, the raccoon tried to move his arms but to no avail, he was completely stuck and that is when he felt sick and vomited.

The sound of the raccoon vomiting brought about the large spider again as it walked along the webbing towards him once more, Jona looked up with his eyes and swore, the raccoon struggled more but it only made the webbing he was tied to move about, the spider moved that much quickly and then was over him as the raccoon stared at the mouth.

Before he could say anything, the spider pulled him off the web, the strong legs tossed him around as he felt a fresh set of stick webbing being squirted around him. Jona tried to fight back but the speed of which the spider was moving him around, made the raccoon dizzy. And that it made his head hurt once more from the previous knock he got earlier.

The tightness of the strands of silk that the spider pumped out as it wrapped around the raccoon secured him, no matter how much he moved about, he was unable to part his legs or to move his hand paws from the side of his legs. The silk slipped over his face and quickly the view from the cavern and the spider was blocked as he muffled screams underneath the thick sticky substance.

Then the sensation of being carried as the large spider moved upwards along the web and with another few squirts from it's rear, it turned the raccoon upside down and hung him to the ceiling before it moved off again as Jona felt himself swaying back and forth, the raccoon swearing muffled under the coverings.

It was two days later, Jona was unable to think straight as his head was in constant pain, the blood had swelled his brain to the point that it had pressed against his skull and all that he could feel was a constant headache that made him want to pass out. If it wasn't for some water that dripped from the roof of the cavern that ended up finding its way down the cocoon to his lips inside, the raccoon was able to keep his mouth semi wet but he felt dehydrated. It was then that he felt something press against his side and he tensed up once more as Jona knew that the spider was back once more.

The large spider had indeed returned as it grabbed at the hanging raccoon, then it lifted up the wrapped form to its incisors and bit down hard as Jona screamed muffled, the spider was injecting something into his body and it stung like hell. Jona squirmed about as he felt the liquid going into him, burning away as it started to melt his insides into liquid.

It didn't take long for Jona to scream his last as his entire torso ended up melting into soup inside, the spider continued to pump the fluid into the wrapped up cocoon under the long legs poked and prodded to see if it was soft enough. Then the spider began to suck up the fluids as it started to eat Jona, every bit that was food was eaten as the large spider hungrily gulped down the soupy meat and blood.

By the time the spider had finished, the raccoon was just an empty shell, the spider cut the cord as the cocoon fell down to the ground and it made a loud clanking sound as the webbing broke apart and the bones clattered all over the place. Then the large spider moved along the web once more to find a place to settle down to digest its meal until the next one came to disturb its slumber in the next cavern with the shiny metal and jewels.