"Here we be," he said. " 'Arachnida ... The class is remarkable for the variety of its methods of copulation and fertilization. Among the Scorpiones, copulation takes place front to front by apposition of the genital orifices of the two sexes, located forward on the underside of the cephalothorax. In the Opiniones ...' Let's omit those. In most of the Araneae, the terminal segments of the palpi of the male are modified into intromittent organs—' "
"Very interesting," said Eudoric, "but I would fain kill this creature, not make love to it."
"I shall come to that," said Baldonius. " 'The females of most species of spiders readily seize and eat the smaller specimens of their kind. To avoid being thus devoured, spiders male have instinctive patterns of behavior to inhibit the cannibalistic tendencies of the females, at least until after copulation. Some perform courtship dances, displaying colored tufts on one pair of appendages.
"Forsooth, must I dance a fandango before Fraka, whilst waving a feather duster at her?"
"Nay. Be patient but a little longer. 'Among the web-spinning spiders, recognition is effected by jerks on the female's web, according to a code specific to the species.'
"Now let me think. Meseems I recall a little treatise on the codes of jerks of different arachnids, by Doctor Bobras, mine old fellow student at Saalingen. Ah, here it is!"
Baldonius pulled a scroll from a cabinet of pigeonholes, which held a score of books in this antiquated format. He unrolled it and scanned. "Here we be. 'Among the Gigantaraneae, the code is one long pull, two short jerks, one long pull, and two short jerks, followed by a pause before repeating.' "
"You mean," said Eudoric, "a kind of dum-deedee-dum-deedee rhythm?"
"Exactly; in poetical terms, a double dactyl, if mine ancient colleague be correct. If threatened by Fraka, ye may be able to halt her advance by jerking her web in that manner."
"Even though I look not at all like a male spider?
At least, the code is not something complicated, which one might forget in the stress of the moment. But suppose I get a leg caught in the sticky web? From what I hear, it's the devil's own task to cut oneself loose."
"The cure for that, my boy, is fire. These webs quickly yield to flame."
"But if I must needs strike sparks into tinder with my igniter, whilst the Lady Fraka advances upon me—"
"Carry a lanthorn, with spare candles. If caught, lift the lid and apply the candle flame to the web. Fear not this great bug; omne ignotum pro magnifico est."
"If a sudden gust blow out my flame, I shall be in no very rosy predicament," Eudoric mused. "What puzzles me is, how these creatures make a living. One can see how an insect, having but little wit, can blunder into a spider's web. But one would think that beings of a higher order, such as birds, hares, and swine, would speedily learn to avoid entangling strands."
Baldonius shrugged. "This I know not; but Bobras says that a spider can live for many months without aliment."
"And how is the race of these vermin propagated? Fraka is the only spider of her kind in the circumjacent demesnes. Albeit long-lived, she'll not live forever, even if I fail to terminate her existence. Whence would come her normal mate?"
"Methinks from the wilderness of Bricken, west of Rainmar's dominions. There, they say, dwell many uncanny creatures, which have vanished from more cultivated lands. Whether Fraka migrated thence to Dimshaw, or whether she already dwelt in Dimshaw when the intervening lands were cleared for farming, I know not."
"Has she ever been seen outside of Dimshaw?"
"I think not. Once a spider of this family hath built its web, it strays not thence. If in your quest ye learn aught of the habits of the Gigantaraneae, be sure to let me know. I can get a small monograph out of it, saltem."
"And," said Eudoric, "if I fail, be sure that I get a nice tombstone, in absentia."
Leaving Jillo to hold the horses, Eudoric plunged into Dimshaw on foot. He wore half armor and hip boots, with a crossbow slung across his back. The crossbow was of the simple stirrup type, cocked by putting one's foot in the stirrup and pulling back the string with both hands. It was more powerful than a longbow and also quicker to reload than a heavy steel siege crossbow, which required a winch or at least a cocking lever. While all of this gear made Eudoric slow and clumsy, he thought it would give him a better chance of escaping Fraka's fangs.
In one hand he carried a boar spear and a small storm lantern. The lantern's flame was hardly visible in the low, autumnal sunshine, which slanted through the bare branches and gnarled trunks of ancient trees. In the other hand he bore his cutlasslike hunting falchion, with which from time to time he blazed a tree to insure the finding of his homeward way. This forethought was typical of Eudoric's methodical habits.
Eudoric spent the day in prowling Dimshaw without success. At nightfall, he and Jillo returned to the village of Hessel West.
With the dawn, they were back in Dimshaw Wood. Eudoric had been plodding among massive oaken trunks for an hour when something caught his foot. He almost fell but saved himself by a thrust of the butt of the spear. He looked down but could see nothing. Nevertheless, his left boot was firmly fixed in place.
He struck with his falchion. The blade encountered some yielding, springy substance, to which it stuck fast. Pulling and twisting failed to tear it loose.
Eudoric thrust the point of his spear into the earth and set down the lantern. The falchion, which he had released, remained in mid-air, swaying gently. A rising breeze, which rustled the thick carpet of dead leaves, made the sword wobble more widely.
When he looked closely, Eudoric made out faint silvery gleams in the air. If he moved his head, these gleams, he discovered, formed a continuous streak. This streak began at the roots of an ancient oak beside him and rose slantwise into the branches above. The streak was tangent to the skin of his left boot and to the blade of the falchion.
Now Eudoric realized something that he had not known: Fraka's web was almost invisible. In full sunlight, one could see faint reflections from its surfaces; in dim light, one could probably not see it at all.
This explained how Fraka could make a living from the beasts and birds of Dimshaw. Be they never so clever, they could not avoid the strands of a web that they could not see. Hence the forest was large enough to furnish game for a single predator of Fraka's kind.
Looking up along the strand of web on which he was caught and moving his head, Eudoric made out more shimmering gleams among the branches and saw that he was at the edge of a monstrous web, covering several acres. Then he saw something else.
A large, black, hairy object, moving briskly among the strands of the web, was fast approaching.
Eudoric had a moment of panic. Fraka, he saw, had a body as big as a cask and eight hairy legs, each longer than a man is tall. As she came closer, it transpired that the strand of web on which he was caught was not the only one in that neighborhood. Several others slanted down to the ground nearby. If he had avoided the one he had struck, he would have blundered into another strand.
In his panic, he sought to free himself from the web at all costs. Snatching up the lantern, he lifted the lid to apply its little flame to the strand that prisoned him. At that moment, however, the breeze —as he had feared it might—freshened and blew out the flame.
Lowering herself on the nearby strands that slanted down to the ground, Fraka came close enough for Eudoric to see the fangs that tipped her foremost pair of mandibles. A foot long each, they resembled the ends of a pair of bull's horns: dark, shiny, curved, and needle-pointed. Her four forward eyes gleamed like great, round, dark jewels.