Arachnid
Amour |
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Vibrating tautly like the pizzicatto pulse of a plucked violin string, the silver shaft of the spider web sent shivers of rhythm up its length. Into an intersection of web they traveled, causing dancing waves of erotic intent to move up the corresponding length of web and on, to be intercepted and translated into meaningful fancies in the brain behind the twin orbs of dark mystery staring intently from the center of the web. Magnificently constructed, the multiple facets of silvery gossamer formed the shape of a shining wheel, suspended delicately but securely between the stems of the orchid plants and the supporting tree branch.
A jade green orb, the size and shape of a grape, covered with a voluptuous coat of shiny, soft hair, glimmered in the hub of the wheel of web. Adorning the orb, which was her massive body, the tiny green stone of a head seemed to be ridiculously insufficient in proportion to the immensity of the body size of the female orchid spider. Seven of her long, pipe-stem legs bent out from her thorax and down, to meet with the facets of web on intricately-formed feet.
The eighth leg, one of two front appendages shorter than the others, rested delicately on a vibrating strand of web. With a chilling dark glare, the silent chocolate-colored gems of her eyes sent a lascivious message of stimulation to the matching gems hidden below.
Searching the expanse of shimmering web, the inquisitive stare of the tiny male orchid spider waiting at the rim of the web, focused unflinchingly up to his intended paramour. Only the size of a grape seed was he, but undaunted by size and encouraged by romance, he laboriously plucked the taut string of web, sending messages of enthralling passion to the receptors on her grasping foot.
Cautiously, he ventured onto the web strand, stopping almost immediately to judge the response from the center of the web. There was none. Again he plucked, and once again, his luminous, green body perched daintily above the silken web.
Upon receiving no messages neither encouraging nor repulsing, he sidled sideways, crab-like, up the web another quarter-inch. Once more he paused, seeming ready for instant retreat at the least hint of adversity from above. Again he received no message of ill will, so with precise, sideways steps, he proceeded slowly and carefully to make his delicate way to the intersecting point of web ahead of him. Upon reaching this destination, he turned his brilliant body in a complete circle once, and again rested his telegraphic appendage on the same strand of web which had previously been his transmitter.
The female slowly lifted her bulging form to stand slightly away from the supporting web and gave a slow, sensuous thrust with her bulk. The whole of the web-wheel pulsed once with her movement and upon receiving the wave of thrust when it reached him on his outlying strand of web, the tiny male spider seemed encouraged and began again on his sideways journey up the thread of web.
It was a journey of intense fulfillment, but, alas, the emerald-green jewel of a male orchid spider would never survive to repeat his disastrous performance.
One of hundreds of minute, emerald infant spider-clones, he had hatched, along with his numerous siblings when the thick, leathery encasement of the egg mass suspended in a tree high up in the rain forest had split, releasing him and his fellows into the trade winds. Being borne gently on a parachute strand of web down the path of the breeze, he had come to rest on a grass stem protruding from the waters of Orchid Pond.
He had secured his strand of web to the grass blade and had swung perilously off, to be carried, hanging by his spinnerettes, to the next closest grass blade to land. Repeating this process several times - once, over the shallows, being almost captured by a jumping blue fish with a flabby mouth - he had finally made his way to the bank of the pond where he hid in the abandoned depths of the shell of a snail until rested and ready to continue.
Eventually, he had made his way to the orchid tree at the edge of the old fighter's cove and had made his home here in the depths of his natural habitat, where he had thrived, alone and untempted, until four days ago. The voluptuous form of the female had appeared then, and ever since, he had been experiencing thrilling waves of pleasureful expectancy as he watched her work silently and expertly on her web-wheel.
The male orchid spider could build an insubstantial web if he so desired, but having no need for one to trap prey, he had only constructed a web-cave by the orchid roots and caught his living prey by the agility of his small body. He could also sip nectar from the orchid blossoms if he felt a desire for liquid refreshment.
Being innately familiar with webs and their various uses, he had instinctively known how to proceed when he finally had decided on his course of amorous action in conquest of this catalyst of his upsurging desires.
Now, as he progressed carefully up the web strand, his tiny heart fluttered in expectancy while his strumming foot plucked a message of desire on the web. Step by stealthy step he proceeded up the web, stopping at each intersection and turning once, his glistening green body shining in the light before he proceeded.
When he came within a distance of two body lengths of the female, he paused; and, changing the rhythm of his plucking foot, began sliding it back and forth on the web thread, producing a soft, humming throb perceptible only to the female.
She reacted by pressing heavily down twice on the foot which received his messages. The resulting movement of the web seemed to encourage him once more, and the tiny male proceeded very carefully up the web toward her.
Slowly, with infinitely cautious steps he made his way, trembling with suppressed desire, to her side where he stopped, and seemingly in admiration, gently caressed the gleaming hair on the voluminous expanse of her side.
The female paid no heed, remaining still, a giant, green beast beside him. He stroked her again, and upon receiving no disturbing response, climbed softly up onto the immense acreage of her distended abdomen.
Soothingly stroking, with each step, the carpet of hairs on her body, he made his uneasy way to the area of her thorax where he paused, clinging to her side. Warily, he reached, with the same foot he used for transmitting messages, around and under her midsection, and clamped his small foot at the end of the extended leg onto an aperture located there.
The sex organ of the male spider, housed in his modified foot, found purchase, and quickly penetrated the vent located behind the female's legs. His tiny body trembled in ecstasy, clinging to her side, and the immense form of her thrust slowly back and forth in a delicious agony of fulfillment.
He appeared to be only a tiny growth on her side as the two swayed slowly forward and back in a macabre dance of requited romance, in the center of the shining wheel of silken strands.
Soon, too soon it seemed to the tiny emerald male, the consummation of courtship was complete, and he withdrew his still throbbing sexual foot from her underside. With an infinitesimal sigh of gratification and a feeling of spent relief, he began to tiptoe tiredly and carefully off the great mass of her.
He proceeded gingerly to the same strand of web from which he had climbed, stroking her reassuringly and seemingly affectionately with each cautious step.
One by one, seven tiny feet left her to find purchase on the tightwire of web. The female remained still, moving not a hair of her lavish, sleek haircloak as he began his final step in decent from her side. As the eighth foot left her with a last intimate caress, she spun fast about, and the tiny green body of her erstwhile mate found itself trapped in a pipe-stem cage of strong, immovable legs.
Terror had not the time to flood the male spider's brain as he was unceremoniously snatched and unmercifully stabbed in the hairy embrace of strong mandibles. A quick flush of venom poured into him from a needlesharp mechanism in her mouth, paralyzing him forever into immobility, and erasing immediately, all thoughts and instincts contained in his tiny mind, and he lay as if dead between the strong leg-bars of his enclosure.
The female orchid spider lifted the slack body of her mate and carried him easily up the strands of web to a spot near the top rim of the wheel, where she deftly and expertly wrapped him in a silvery, silken shroud, a living cocoon of unblended sweet juices, from which to later draw sustenance at her leisure.
Although the male spider still lived and breathed, both his small brain and his body were paralyzed by the female's venom. He would continue in this semi-living state, mercifully ignorant of his plight until such a time when his mate felt a need for fresh sustenance. She would then inject him painlessly with a natural solvent from her mouth-parts, and he would dissolve into a tasty body-bag of sweet nectar.
Undoubtedly, the male orchid spider would again soar on a parachute web strand through the rain forest on soft wings of the trade winds. Unknowingly and surely unwillingly, he would provide the eventual source of energy for the next generation of jade jewels to play on the harp strings of silvery web, the lethal rhapsody of arachnid amour.
The female turned from the swaddled, silken mummy of her paramour and with a lascivious thrust of her bulging abdomen, returned to her place at the center of her web-wheel, to await in watchful readiness, any further developments in the course of macabre matrimony.
(c) 1993 Carson Clippard