Spiderstalk

by D. Nathan Hilliard

  “So what was the problem?”

  “The problem was the spiders soon died.”

  “All of them?”

  “Every single one. And the ones we stole afterward. And then the ones we stole after that. And so on down through the centuries. What spiders we manage to remove from the Spider People’s territories, all die within a couple of weeks. Even these days, with the best technology at our disposal to replicate their environment, they die every bit as fast. Sometimes, if we manage to get a bigger one it will last a little longer, but the danger involved in such an effort isn’t worth the risk. Besides, the big ones are rare. As I said earlier, up until recently we believed Grandma Lilah’s spider was the largest by far.”

  Adam puzzled over this for a moment. He was an engineer by trade, but had done okay in his college biology classes as well. Now that the nightmare of last night had passed, he found himself curious as hell about these monster arachnids. But at the moment, he had Antonio talking about the situation as it concerned him, and he wanted to stay on topic.

  “So, then the veneno was a secret shared by the Spider People and the Dog People, but only the Spider People had access to it…right?”

  “Exactly. And that lead to one inevitable outcome.”

  “War,” Adam realized aloud. “War over a rare and powerful resource.”

  “More precisely, a continuous state of war,” Antonio corrected. “The Spider People guarded their advantage, and the Dog People would raid the outskirts of their territory for stray spiders to use for venom. We would lose a few braves every year, and they would lose a few now and then as well. They had the advantage of having some warriors who were almost constantly telepathic, and a rare few who were even more formidable, while we had the advantage of numbers. They are very clannish and there has never been too many of them. And this state of affairs lasted for centuries. The situation achieved an equilibrium of sorts.”

  “So what happened?” Adam asked, half guessing the answer.

  “Your people happened. The Spanish explorers weren’t much of a problem but once Stephen F. Austin established his colony in Texas, the end had begun. The People and your ancestors were simply incompatible and since our territory existed where places such as Galveston and Houston were to be established, no thought of coexistence really entered the picture.”

  “And the Spider People?”

  “Now that,” Antonio pulled out a cigar, considered it, then put it back into his pocket, “is where things get even stranger. A group of colonists headed by three men…George Cole, Thomas Hallis, and Colonel Karl Weyrich…moved into the area. Cole and Hallis settled their group a little north of here, and that settlement eventually relocated here and became Hallisboro. Colonel Weyrich, on the other hand, took his smaller group further south and east and established themselves right on the border of the Spider People. It’s reasonable to assume they just didn’t know better.”

  “Uh oh, I betting on a bad ending to their particular story...”

  “Then you would be betting wrong.” Antonio frowned at the table. “While The People were starting their futile war against the colonists to the south, The Spider People did precisely the opposite. After an initial skirmish or two, they abruptly changed their entire behavior and welcomed the Weyrich Colony with open arms. Shortly afterward, the settlers reciprocated. Within six months, the entire colony relocated to a new spot deep inside the Spider People’s territory, and apparently it was by invitation.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that. And we’re talking a level of acceptance not seen even by the more tolerant settlers or tribes. They started intermarrying, or at least interbreeding, almost at once.”

  Adam gave Antonio a doubtful look.

  “Okay, that’s bizarre…” he started, and then backpedaled. “I don’t mean the idea of interracial marriage, I meant the white settlers of that time embracing it so quickly. You’re telling me that while whites were exterminating most of the Native American population in the rest of Texas, this colony was having a love-in with a tribe. And nobody noticed?”

  “A small sub-tribe, Adam. Think in terms of a single clan…a single village out in the woods along the Brazos River. And within two generations they had been absorbed by the colonists to the point most could pass as white themselves. Also, the settlers became as clannish and avoidant of the outside world as the former Spider People were. So the original sub-tribe, barely noted in the first place, simply vanished as far as the rest of the world was concerned.”

  “But wait,” Adam shook his head, ”for that to happen so fast the Spider People would have had to cease breeding with each other and only had children with the colonists.”

  “I know, and it gets even stranger. Olivia assures me even with that going on, many of the original tribe must have simply chosen to quit having children altogether.”

  Adam glanced over at the raven-haired assistant, who nodded in affirmation.

  “So they just bred themselves out of existence? Or at least completely merged with the settlers? This Colonel Weyrich must have been a really tolerant and progressive individual for his time.”

  “You would think so,” Antonio replied. “But the truth is Colonel Weyrich used his influence and training to help harass The People to extinction in the rest of the state. Several minor skirmishes between The People and colonists were used by him to encourage wholesale slaughter when it wasn’t necessary even by the standards of white people back then. He was our direst of enemies and he was good at what he did. He started things on the path that resulted in the last remnants of our tribe fleeing to Mexico in secrecy. Our elders back then realized we wouldn’t be safe until the Spider People thought we were extinct.”

  “Because your people knew of the veneno.”

  “Exactly,” Antonio nodded.

  “Perhaps,” Olivia interjected while still concentrating on her work.

  The two men turned and looked at the young woman, who glanced up from her laptop as if suddenly aware she had spoken aloud. Looking from one to the other, she closed the computer then folded her hands and addressed her uncle.

  “Sir, the same recent evidence giving me reason to rethink our current views of the customs and hierarchy of the Spider People also suggests the past may need to be reinterpreted as well. Currently, I have been far too busy modeling possible scenarios in the present to apply any of this information to the past, but it will be a priority once this mission is over.”

  “New information?” Adam’s ears perked up.

  Neither of his companions answered right away, and Adam noticed a more guarded air between the two of them as they looked at each other and then back at him.

  “Aw c’mon,” he complained, “don’t hold out on me now. You’ve already told me so much, and I do have a ton of questions.”

  “Adam,” Antonio held up a warning finger. “Now that you have met the Spider People, we can be more open with you…and we intend to continue to be so…but the same considerations still apply. At this time we still have to weigh the possible danger of any particular piece of information being lifted from you by one of their telepaths. I know this may sound convoluted, but we don’t know what they know about what we know in regards to some things…and that actually matters.”

  Adam tried to wrap his head around that for moment.

  “Seriously?” he asked. “Do you really have to think it through so far?”

  “Sometimes further,” the Chieftain replied. “When you factor telepathy into your plans, you have to take both your own and your adversaries’ knowledge into account. Then you need to get an idea of what they know you know…and even what they know you know that they know. Consider this; even the understanding of them they read off of you is going to influence the way they deal with you…independent of what the reality may actually be.”

  “Okay.” Adam rubbed his temples. “You know what? I’m going to take a moment to think about that. And while I’m at it, I’m going to excuse my
self and go make a pit stop. If a waitress comes by while I’m gone, would you mind having her bring me a piece of cheesecake? I know you must think I’m insane by now, but I’m still a little hungry.”

  “No problem,” Antonio laughed. “I think I’ll have one myself.”

  Adam hopped to his feet and started for the restroom he had spotted earlier at the rear of the Waffle House when Olivia’s voice brought him up short.

  “Mr. Sellars, don’t forget your cane.”

  ###

  “Well, I’ll be damned.” Antonio watched Adam work his way back toward the restroom. He now carried the cane oddly, as if unsure and testing whether he needed it or not. “What do you think of that, Olivia?”

  “I think Mr. Sellars should be under observation in a hospital.”

  “You know that’s out of the question,” he sighed.

  “Yes sir, but I also know Mr. Sellars is currently running a fever and whatever Grandma Lilah did to him last night has his metabolism running wildly outside of normal parameters. I need to monitor his condition, and I have nothing with me to do it. I also need to run some tests, and again I do not have the necessary materials.”

  Antonio considered this as he picked up the dessert menu from behind the salt shaker and examined it.

  “Are you suggesting we go back to Houston so you can use the equipment in our infirmary?”

  “No sir. While our infirmary would be optimal, I think it’s important Mr. Sellars is seen to stay here under the protection of their truce.”

  “Agreed. So what’s the alternative?”

  “I can email Estelle in the infirmary and have her put together a bag of things that will at least let me do some rudimentary monitoring. I’ll have her include some syringes I can use to take samples and send back to her. I will also need a more comprehensive set of pharmaceuticals than I currently have with my first aid kit.”

  “Good idea.” Antonio made a show of pondering the dessert selection. “Then we’ll have Cristobal bring the bag down along with some extra clothes for us since it appears we will be here for the week.”

  “I’m sorry, sir, but Cristobal is unavailable this weekend.”

  “He is? Why?”

  “I sent him and Mariel to San Antonio for a few days.”

  “Really?” Antonio turned to his assistant in surprise. “This is an odd time to be giving vacations, don’t you think?”

  “Yes, sir,” she replied with smooth contrition. “It was a spur of the moment decision and poorly thought out. I will rent another car for you and Mr. Sellars after we are done here then go to Houston and retrieve the things we need myself.”

  Antonio studied his niece, who returned his gaze without expression.

  “A poorly thought out, spur of the moment decision…” His eyes narrowed.

  “Yes, sir.”

  He considered her for another ten seconds then reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

  “I think I had better call Cristobal and ask him what prompted this sudden vacation.”

  “Sir, no…wait.”

  “Yes?” He flicked through his address book and stopped on Cristobal’s cell number.

  “The vacation was my idea, Uncle.”

  “I never doubted it.” Antonio’s finger hovered over the number. “Cristobal has only ever asked for one vacation, and that was for his honeymoon. I’ve literally had to shoo him out of the building on the other occasions. I want to know what events led to this idea of yours. You have never had a ‘spur of the moment, poorly thought out decision’ as long as I’ve known you, and I doubt this was one either.”

  “I appreciate your confidence in me, sir.”

  “Nice try.”

  “Well, I do find it reassuring,” she replied with prim decorum.

  “Olivia,” Antonio broke into one of his wide grins, “you are now officially being evasive. If the next words out of your mouth are anything other than an explanation of what’s going on, I will push this button and Cristobal will have Mariel tell me about it. I’m sure his version of whatever happened is certain to be more colorful than yours.”

  He knew better than to ever bluff with her and meant precisely what he said. The young woman stared at him for a few seconds in brittle silence, but relented as his finger descended toward the speed dialer.

  In a precise and detached manner, Olivia related the details of her encounter with Cesar and his grandson in the basement garage. She neither minimized nor exaggerated the event, but reported it with the same detached air as any other briefing she had given him in the past. Antonio listened in silence as she did a quick evaluation of the political ramifications and meanings of the encounter, almost as if she had been a disinterested spectator. Then after relating her decision to send Cristobal and Mariel to San Antonio in her Lexus, she concluded with the evaluation it was a minor incident of no particular import.

  She finished her story and quietly waited for his response.

  Antonio pursed his lips and stared at the table as he tapped one finger against his glass. Then he sat his glass down and rubbed his chin while staring out the window for a moment longer. Finally, he folded his arms and stared at the ceiling before taking a deep breath and picking up the dessert menu again.

  “Oh well,” he quipped with sudden cheer as he scanned the menu, “In that case I concur with your decision to send Cristobal on vacation. So, would you like a piece of cheesecake, too?”

  “Pardon?” She blinked.

  “Cheesecake. Adam and I are having cheesecake when he gets back from the restroom. Would you like some too?”

  “I suppose.” She eyed him warily.

  “Excellent!” He motioned the waitress over. With grand style he managed to order the cheesecakes and make the middle aged redhead blush happily at the same time. He sent her on her way with a wink and their order, then turned back to find Olivia regarding him with open suspicion.

  “What?” he protested.

  “Uncle, homicide is not the answer.”

  “Olivia,” he put a hand to his chest, “you wound me again. What are you talking about?”

  “Sir,” she fixed him with a level stare, “you just flirted with a redhead. I am well aware of your passion for blondes, so you were simply trying to change the subject. That tells me you were attempting to hide your unspoken decision to confront Aurelio, and quite possibly Cesar. On the other hand your chipper mood seems to be quite authentic which leads me to conclude you intend the confrontation to include blood, knives, and probably a decapitation or two.”

  “Well, maybe a little one,” he shrugged.

  “There is no such thing as a little decapitation, Uncle.”

  “Sure there is. There was this one time…”

  “Sir, please,” she sighed and held up a warding hand, “I will handle this. It’s merely part of my job.”

  “It is?” He tilted his head in curiosity. “I shall have to look into it. But at the moment other items need our attention. I see Adam is returning.”

  He nodded toward the back of the restaurant where Adam stepped out of the restroom door.

  “Yes, sir.” Olivia straightened, then frowned and peered intently at the approaching figure. “And I can now see that examination and those tests are needed more than ever.”

  Adam was so flushed he appeared to be sunburned. His hair looked wet, a light sheen of sweat shone on his forehead, and even from this distance they could see his eyes were severely bloodshot. He also had his cane tucked under his arm and walked toward them with firm, unwavering steps.

  ###

  Across the street from the Waffle House, Billy Clayton slouched in the old Camaro he had parked in front of Flora’s Nail Salon. He knew it was incongruous, but his father had instructed him to keep his distance and only put a certain amount of effort into concealment.

  They know we will be watching anyway, his Dad had instructed. So the idea is to only take enough measures so we aren’t standing out in the open staring at them.
But keep your distance. Remember, these are the Dog People, and they are very dangerous. They cannot be trusted.

  Billy had been proud his father and the others had trusted his judgment enough to give him a task such as this. Missions in the outside world were only given to those who had proven both their resourcefulness and their prudence. His potential had insured he would get this chance as long as he demonstrated the restraint and intelligence not to attract the attention of outsiders. His job was to watch the Dog People and the man they had with them, report their doings, and otherwise stay out of their way.

  It was a task he was uniquely qualified to do.

  His name in the old tongue was Moonsitter and if he chose to he could sit absolutely still without moving, eating, or even sleeping for days…an ability hardly called for in this mission but it did mean he had the patience for long vigils. He possessed a singularly placid and easy-going nature which even at his young age drastically reduced the concern of him overreacting to some difficulty.

  And this mission did have its difficulties.

  A real assignment in the outside world meant enduring privations he was unused to. First of all, there was the absence of Sunspinner. Being a true spirit singer, the offspring of parents who both spoke with their spirits when receiving the Great Mother’s kiss, he had a companion the law forbade bringing with him into the outside world without special permission. While he could listen to spirits of nearby people talk even without the Great Mother’s kiss, sharing his spirit with his companion increased his ability many times over.

  But she wasn’t here…and even if she had been he didn’t intend to get close enough to try and listen to his targets. That was far too dangerous and provocative to consider.