Across the lake, in the trees of the forest, shadows wandered like lost souls. Red stood above them, watching the boat carefully. "They are staying on the boat. Lets move!" They all materialized into a large black cloud, traveling swiftly to the boat. Half of them landed on the boat while the rest returned. "I wonder how long they can hold their breath..." The voice came from a thirteen year old girl, tall for her age. She was blonde, but her hair was shorter than a normal girl's hair. One eye was blind with a scar running through, while the Ez Eye in the other glowed like a lantern. Red growled from some direction. "Arachne, keep quiet! They may awake! They would kill us for sure. Now, you wouldn't want your life to end, would you? Much less your father's? Then shut up!" Arachne shrunk back in the shadows, closing her mouth, but it was hard to tell because a black bandana was tied over it.

Arachne elbowed Red in the chest. "We should leave..." Red growled at her, giving a feirce glare. "Why couldn't I have a smarter child?" Arachne pulled out both of her daggers, one in each hand. "Well, do you want me to finish the thing off or do you want me to kill you?" The answer was a bit obvious, so she turned and faced Nekoryu. She was a bit frightened, but did a good job not showing it. Her red eye glared as if trying to resist Arachne's good part of her soul from getting control. She thought for a moment, then wheeled around and stabbed Red. She pulled out both daggers, shaking off the blood. "Been wanting to do that for a while." She looked around, and the rest of the bandits fleed. She sheathed her daggers and stared at Red's dead body. With out turning she spoke to Nekoryu. "If you wanted to kill my father... You could have simply done this... I know what you are, yes, and I am not afraid of you or any of your vessels." The Ez Eye faded into a normal blue eye, with no remnants of ever existing. "I remember the first time I saw you... Still a brutal killer, yes, but I knew you only did it to protect yourself and others. I remember when you were a big dragon-like thing, killing people when you didn't mean to..." She turned her head in Nekoryu's dircetion, the scar over her blind eye making it hard to look kind. "You made me blind in one eye. But I forgive you... And you may want to stay away from that fairy. It is troublesome."

Ashlynn stood up when Nekoryu slept, and quietly walked to the edge of the boat. In about five minutes millions of spiders crawled onto the ship, and disappeared after creating the form of Arachne. "The beast is not going to take it very well when he finds out you are not a fairy, much less a good soul." Arachne's voice hissed, like a whisper but a bit louder. Ashlynn wheeled around and glared at Arachne. "It won't find out, will it? You know, that I'm a demon?" Arachne smirked, even though invisible from behind the bandana. "It will, it will. Its gotten pretty obvious, after you killed the princess and you know, summoned Red back to the woods." Ashlynn growled at Arachne, and almost yelled. "Really? Well you killed your own father! You can't expect to do that without someone figuring out what you are!" Arachne glared at Ashlynn with dark eyes. "I'm a person, not a spider, you dope. Now shut up before you wake the thing." She turned around and nodded her head toward Nekoryu. Ashlynn felt as if she could flip Arachne overboard. "I wonder why you weren't named Arachnid." Arachne looked a little bit hurt, but tried not to show it. "Because... If I were named Arachnid then it would trigger a spell that would make me a spider. Understand? I need a normal life. But no. I'm stuck in this world next to a demon-fly and some kind of wild beast. We can't all be winners." She turned her head in Ashlynn's direction, making Ashlynn wonder if the blind eye could cry. Arachne dove into the water and disappeared in a swarm of a thousand spiders.

Arachne stood far off in her father's old camp, also known as the Spider's Ruins. It was called this by many royal people and the villagers because any people who were not invited inside were immediately transformed into spiders. Now the camp was torn and blackened with ash. Arachne stalked around, sharpening her knives. She heard Nekoryu, but she knew it made no differences. If Nekoryu had known what Ashlynn did when Nekoryu slept, and the things she transformed into to complete her evil-doings. "Just wait, beast. The demon does more than what meets the eye..." In her hand, she held a bloodred spider. She spoke to it, making sure her speech was backwards. "Toab s'uyrokeN ot siht gnirb og." The spider gave a quick nod and sped away to Volkenagrim. It dropped a cloth with writing on it. Meet Arachne at Spider's Ruins.

Ashlynn glared at Volkenagrim. "You want the truth? Arachne isn't my sister. Never was, never will..." She stepped backward, and burst into a column of flames, but her body still visible. "You want the Ez Eye as a Tamer? Good luck and try not to catch a feverish burn up." And with that she disappeared in a pile of ashes.

Arachne stood in Spider's Ruins, waiting for Volkenagrim. The spider returned to her hands, and she stroked it. "Egassem eht teg eh did?" The spider barely nodded, and replied in a raspy voice. "Tey ti daer t'nsah eh, encharA." Arachne nodded. "Dessimssid." The spider crawled into a small hole under a stone.

The spiders parted to make way for Volkenagrim, mostly to keep from getting squished. Arachne glared at him. "You cannot keep giving Ashlynn mercy, she is much more of a blood thirsty tyrant than Maleck is... You do not know how many horrible things she has done." In the dark, her skin was a bit pale and a red spider mark could be seen on her forehead. "She has killed the princess, thousands of the villagers, she had even made sure that a duchess took the blame for one of her murders. You cannot be so careless... There is more danger in that thing than there is in anything else. I would kill her myself but I have you to deal with." In about five minutes the bloodred spider returned to her hand, nodding it's head as it spoke. "Lyzet morf egassem a." Arachne unrolled the parchment, cursing under her breath. "She has murdered again..." She turned it over and wrote on the back, giving it to the spider. "Lyzet ot kcab siht evig, elbbaR." The spider scurried away, making a circle around Volkenagrim's feet. "As I have said, you cannot be so careless." She melted into a group of spiders which crawled away with Rabble.

Arachne's spiders stopped moving. "Because she is a child, a bloody little child." She formed back into human from the spiders and kneeled next to Volkenagrim. She looked down at the remaining spiders. "Won, pmac ot mih teg." The spiders grouped up under Volkenagrim and carried him under a large collapsed pillar. Arachne ducked under the stones, then stood up. She knew that Ashlynn was somewhere close, very close. "Epac eht mrof." Immediately, spiders began crawling ontop of eachother making a large black dome. Ashlynn passed by in a swirling tornado of fire. The dome collapsed, and spiders got to work trying to figure out what was going on with Volkenagrim. Arachne walked out and stood guard, blinking in the cold wind.

Ashlynn stood above Volkenagrim, smirking. Arachne growled and stabbed Arachne under her arm, a weak spot. Ashlynn screeched and shriveled into a rat and ran away. Arachne glared at Volkenagrim, looking for a place to heal that would work through the whole body. She picked up a red spider, but not Rabble. She placed the spider on Volkenagrim's chest where his heart would be. The spider began spinning a web over the mark, trying to keep from falling off of the writhing body. As soon as it was done, the mark was gone but in it's place was a glowing red spider. Arachne held out her hand and let the spider crawl into it.

Arachne felt an ounce of guilt. "So you punish yourself? That doesn't seem right." She knelt down infront of him, tilting her head so she could look him in the eye, and he could look at her in the eye. Even though one eye was blind and stiked through with a scar, it showed a bit of kindness. "I suggest you stop torturing yourself." She stood up and  helped Volkenagrim up. Arachne was still a bit pale but had looked a bit darker. She nodded to Rabble, who crawled up onto Volkenagrim's shoulder and held out a parchment with it's two front legs. You are free. You do not have to be doomed, because you are free. Do what you want, the spiders can help you with anything you need. Rabble nodded, and crawled back to Arachne. Arachne nodded, then walked out of the rubble and into Spider's Ruins. Most of the spiders had left Volkenagrim to his thoughts and swarmed around Arachne, but one still sat on his shoulder. "Tnaw tahw od. Eerf ouy." It crossed over to Volkenagrim's other shoulder, following his face. "Ecneitap em. Ouy ohw?" Patience stared Voleknagrim in the eye with his own eight eyes.

Arachne just stood as if she hadn't heard Volkenagrim. Patience, his thorax tingling, was happy to talk about Arachne. Happy enough to talk straight. "Arachne Blackhope? Oh yes, very pure hearted. She used to live in the heavens before Red got married. Oh yes, Arachne of the spiders. She may seem like a dark being but inside she is pure gold. That is why we spiders love her so much. She is our patron, oh yes, so kind." Patience was a bit twisted, but knew what he was talking about. "She is unlike anything, oh yes. Nothing could be more pure and loving. She cares about everything, oh yes. I, Patience, tell you lady Blackhope is very pure, oh yes, so pure." Patience was skittering about so much he hadn't noticed he had crawled into Volkenagrim's ear. He jumped out, continuing his endless chatter. "You are a good one, oh yes, not a bad one, oh no." He shivered. "Now that you know she is pure hearted, oh yes, what do you plan on doing to her? No man has ever dared to cross her, oh no, but you? Oh yes. What a lovely thing for the both of you." Patience was shaking with enjoyment. He skittered across Volkenagrim's shoulders, talking about engagement and such. "Oh yes." He then stopped and looked in Volkenagrim's eyes, expectantly. "Well?"