Is this what Flora looks like without her cloak? I knew she wasn’t particularly humanoid… but fucking hell… I wasn’t exactly expecting her to be quite so… spiderlike… I mean… probably should have got a clue from the whole Florachnid name… and all the creepy spider spawning… but still… this is horrifying.

  A spider emerged from the doorway carrying a large black cloak, which it proceeded to place on her. Flora then stood up to her full height… looking exactly how she had done before the incident at the ball. How the absolute fuck did something that size crawl out of that poor child’s throat? Oh gods… the pain he must have been in…

  Damecus: “Flora? They said you were dead.”

  Flora: “There are ways around death… with the correct… preparations.”

  Dwynfel: “Flora… what the hell have you done? That boy trusted you! He was your friend!”

  Flora bend down and began to stroke Svampe’s head.

  Flora: “And that… is the only reason… why he yet lives.”

  Dwynfel: “What? He’s alive? How the absolute fuck is he still alive?”

  Flora held her hand still on Svampe’s chest and his entire body became encased in a large pink flower… like a colourful cocoon.

  Flora: “The magic… from being my vessel… lingers. I regenerate… so shall he. Arms… legs… will join… as will jaw… will be scars… yes… but healed he will be.”

  Dwynfel: “And what about his mind Flora? Look at his kingdom… his home… you’ve made him destroy everything! This is horrible Flora… this is wrong!”

  Flora stood up and darted right up to me… her mask stopped millimetres from my face.

  Flora: “Do not speak to me… of your petty… morality. These people… destroyed my home… my forest… that I built… where my children… lived. You… humanoids… so self-righteous… always believing… only lives that matter… are your own. The flora lives… it lives different… to you animals… but it is life. None the less… it will always live… it lived long… before any of your… pathetically… short lived species… and it will live long… after you… are all… gone.”

  Dwynfel: “If you feel that way… then why did you help us? Why have you not killed us?”

  She backed away from me slightly. Damecus gripped his club… but did not make a move to attack. I think he knows that we are outmatched.

  Flora: “You assisted me… I returned the favour. Now… take the boy… return to your lands. I returned here… quicker than I anticipated… my home has not yet been rebuilt… I… have work to do.”

  Dwynfel: “What the hell are you talking about? How did you even do this? I don’t understand!”

  Damecus: “She infected the boy.”

  Dwynfel: “Clearly! But when… and how?”

  Flora: “One tiny seed… that is all. In his shoulder… as he left.”

  Dwynfel: “When you scratched him?”

  Flora: “Not a scratch… a puncture.”

  Dwynfel: “Fuck, fuck, fuck, you did that to me… fuck… fuck… and Tadwick… fuck… the farm… we have to get home… we have to get home now!”

  Oh gods… I’m hyperventilating… I’m going to die… Tadwick’s going to die… everyone is going to die. Flora let out an irritated groan.

  Dwynfel: “What the fuck are you groaning for?”

  Flora: “You… and your boy… are fine… if… I infected you… you would have turned… long ago. Those scratches were… accidental… no gloves.”

  The waved her creepy barbed hands at me. Oh… thank fuck… thank fuck… she’s a total psychopath… but thank fuck she took a liking to us… fucking hell.

  Dwynfel: “Aren’t you worried that people will return to retake the city.”

  Flora: “Doing so would be… ill-advised. Every individual within this castle… wiped out… by my creations… I was not even present. They may come for me… if they wish. Or… they can display the proper respect… to this place… as your lizard friend showed… my forest.”

  She picked up the cocoon from the floor and carried it over to Damecus.

  Flora: “Be careful… with him. Will remember… nothing… from when transformation… completed. Break it to him… gently.”

  Dwynfel: “But Flora, I don’t understand… you are insanely powerful… why didn’t you just stop them destroying the forest at the time? You could have easily killed them then and there… leaving the city intact. Why do all this?”

  Flora: “I did do that… for years… and years. Their little groups would come… to destroy… what I… had created. So, I would stop them… kill them… make them… disappear. But… did they learn from this? No. A new group would appear… looking for revenge… again… and again… and again.”

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  She glided away from Damecus towards the throne, continuing to talk.

  Flora: “You creatures… always think you can overcome anything. People die… go missing… and off you go… to deal with the big… bad… monster. It never occurs to you… that sometimes… the monster is too big… too bad… for you… to ever overcome.”

  She sat down on the throne. She is… terrifying me. My skin feels… cold… but I’m dripping with sweat… this is… horrifying.

  Flora: “I let them have… their little victory… and then… I destroyed them. It takes something… truly drastic… to get through the thick skulls… of humans. Now go… tell them what happened… tell them of the big… bad… monster… that wiped out a city… with ease. Most will be too scared to come… it will only be the strongest of heroes… and they… are… few.”

  I don’t know what to say to here… I don’t know if I can speak right now… I just want to get out of here… I feel sick… I wish we had never come here.

  Flora: “Remember this… I have no quarrel with you. I have no quarrel with any creature… that leaves… me… be. I am even grateful to you… for assisting me… but… make no mistake… if you try to harm me… it will not end well for you. Now… I advise… that you leave… me… be.

  Damecus: “Before we leave. I must know something.”

  Flora: “Go on…”

  Damecus: “We are looking for two others. A human wielder of cloth and a white lizardman. Know you of their fates?”

  Flora tilted her head and was silent for a moment… as if listening to something… something that neither Damecus nor I could hear.

  Flora: “Nothing escaped this castle. If they were… within these bounds… they did not survive. You are welcome… to check the bones.”

  Dwynfel: “Will the bones not be all over the place… that will take forever.”

  Flora once again tilted her head as if listening to something.

  Flora: “Attacked recently… lizardmen… bones left on outskirts… discourage further attacks. Bones of initial occupants… together… in one place.”

  She gestured towards the spider that had brought her cloak.

  Flora: “This one… will show… the way.”

  We went back through the long corridor to meet up with the others. The room was wrecked. The floor was soaked due to the river of ice on the ceiling melting… the spiders had all since left… Alexander was being tended to by Boff and the rest were stood ready for another assault.

  We explained that the hostilities were over and that we needed to follow the large spider to check the bones. Damecus handed the flower cocoon to Boff, so that he could carry Alexander. When Alastaire was bitten, I’m pretty sure the paralysis wore off in a few hours. So, hopefully Alexander should be mobile by the time we have finished checking the bones.

  The walk to the back of the castle where they had been storing the bones felt like it took forever… nobody really knew what to say… I mean… what the hell can you say in this situation? Whoops… we accidentally aligned ourselves with a psychotic plant spider that murdered an entire castle full of people… or worse yet… that I kinda see her point… and fucking hell that is a lot of bones… like… just… fuck.

  Agaroth: “And your mate did all this?”

  Dwynfel: “Technically… her underlings did… but she definitely caused it.”

  Agaroth: “Probably best ya don’t piss her off then, eh.”

  Dwynfel: “I wouldn’t advise that… no.”

  We began to sift through the piles of bones… so many bones… so many lives lost… this is awful… I can’t… I can’t believe she could do this so casually… most of these people were entirely innocent… it was the king, the guards, and that Alterius who destroyed the forest… nobody else had anything to do with it… all these people didn’t have to die. I think I just threw up a little.

  Flynn: “Umm… not to be negative or anything, but how exactly are we supposed to identify the ones we are looking for? We don’t know anything about this tailor, we will never know which bones are his.”

  Agaroth: “He’s dead.”

  Flynn: “How do you know?”

  Agaroth: “The wife said he was in the castle when all this shite went down. Crazy spider woman said nobody in the castle survived. If he is nae on the other side a that sea by now, he’s fucked.”

  Flynn: “And as for your lizard acquaintance, Damecus?”

  Damecus was meticulously going through a pile of bones at the far side of the room. He didn’t even look up when he responded.

  Damecus: “He is a cockroach. I am hopeful that he died painfully and slowly. I just need to be sure.”

  Agaroth: “Fair enough, should nae be too difficult tae find ‘im then. Can’t a been many a lizardman in the city.”

  Damecus: “We just need to find the…”

  Damecus suddenly stopped. He stood up holding a lizardman skull with a large crack down the back of it. A large grin spread across his face… he started laughing.

  Damecus: “After so long… so many years… I’ve got you, you son of a bitch!”