Aliara

"We have to talk first," say Teysa. The matron bowed her head and withdrew. "Of courssssssse."

Teysa turned to Aliara, and was surprised to see small tears in the half-elf's eyes. She took Li's hands in her own. Aliara took a deep breath, and smiled. "I thought about what you said, Tey. I... want to stay." The words tumbled out of her like rocks down a steep slope, as though she had fired them off before she had time to rethink them. "I want to... be where you are. And you're right. Just because something has always been a certain way doesn't mean it always has to. Besides," she grinned, "I would be lying if I said the prospect of motherhood never appealed to me." She held one of the spiderlings in the crook of her arm as she spoke and stroked it gently. It nuzzled its blunt head into her underarm until she laughed and put it down. "So ok. Sign me up. Spider mother. I can do this. I'm ready." Teysa smiled and sketched a mock salute. "Far be it from me to stand in your way, Li. You're up." She called out to the matron, and the spider-woman returned. As ever, her expression was flat and unreadable, and she looked from one to the other. Aliara stepped forward, swallowed heavily, and stammered out "I-I'm ready." She laid down on her back and spread her legs.

"Hsssssssss, ok. Ok. I can do this. Tey? You there?"

Teysa knelt down over her friend. "Yes, Li. I'm here." She held out a hand and Aliara grabbed it tightly. "Ok, matron. I'm ready. Go for it."
The drider matron's ovipositor slowly slid out of her. Teysa took the opportunity to get a good close-up look at it. It was a throbbing shaft of pale grey flesh about three feet long, as wide around as her arm at the widest point. A bulge near the base indicated the waiting eggs. A thin greenish goo oozed from the tip, and the whole thing glistened wetly. The drider laid it at the entrance to Aliara's pussy and leaned in, sliding between her lips slowly and smoothly.

"Ooooooh, oh, oh, oh, oh man," Aliara's eyes were wide and staring straight up. "Ok, girl, you can do this. Deep breaths. Come on." Teysa felt she should say something. "You're doing great, Li. Really, you are."
"How much more of it is there? I can't see from here." Aliara paused. "It's astonishing, though. To be able to see again. Tey, you have no ideAAAAAA-" her voice cut off in a thin squeal as another segment of ovipositor slid into her moist furrow.

Teysa checked.

"Um, looks like there's quite a bit. Sorry. I don't think... matron, does this all go... in her... in her body, you know..." she trailed off, blushing. Li groaned. "How much more of this damn thing does my snatch have to swallow, lady?"

The matron remained silent and impassive, though Teysa thought she could see a hint of a smile. She continued to press forward slowly but inexorably. Suddenly, Aliara squeezed hard enough to make Teysa yelp. "Oh, I feel it. It's knocking on the door. Oh, here... it... comes..." she gave a strangled cry that cut off into a squeak. "Ok. Ok, it's in. This feels... oh, this feels weird, Tey. But it's not all bad-weird. It feels kinda..." she cut off. Teysa looked down. To her astonishment, Aliara was blushing. She couldn't remember the last time the irrepressible half-elf had been embarrassed. "What's wrong, Li?"

It was a long time before Aliara spoke. When she did, her voice was curiously small and seemed tightly controlled. "Nothing. Nothing is wrong." Her eyes were slightly glazed and she was breathing heavily. Teysa watched as a fat, round egg distended the ovipositor's shaft on its way down. As it reached Aliara's slit she gasped. "Tey..."
Teysa looked up, alarmed. "I think something's wrong. Matron, please! She's hurting!"

Aliara made an odd noise, and Teysa looked her in the face. She realized her friend was laughing. "No, Tey, no. It's... hnnngh, not that... Tey, please let go of my hand." Shocked, Teysa let her go. "Aliara, what's-"

No sooner was her hand free than the half-elf snaked it between her legs and began pumping away. She rubbed her clit furiously in a circular motion. "Oh, Quz, that's the stuff. Oh, oh, oh, by the oaths..."
Teysa rolled her eyes. "Seriously, Li? Now?"

Her friend didn't look at her. "I can't explain it Tey. This feels- it feels-- oh, oh, here it cooooomes..." she squealed as the egg slid through her vagina. Her hips bucked and writhed. Her free hand groped the air wildly, and when Teysa caught it, it squeezed her hard enough to make her wince. "OHHHHHHH! AH, AH, AHHHHH!" Aliara had always been pretty demonstrative, Teysa reflected. She smiled.

"Bit of a screamer, are we?"

"Shut... up... don't... knock it... till you've... tried it."

"I have tried it, remember? I don't think I enjoyed it as much as you."

Aliara was beyond words now. She panted heavily, her brow sheened with sweat. Her pussy gleamed with a wetness that was not all from the ovipositor. Her hand slackened and fell by her side. Meanwhile bulbous eggs continued to march down the tube and slide into her body. Teysa watched her friend's belly rise steadily. She reflected that it was like watching an anthill be constructed in fast motion. Sometimes the rises produced irregular bumps, but periodically the ovipositor clenched with peristalsis and the woman's stomach inflated to a rounder shape. Must be that green goop. I wonder what it's for?

Finally, the drider withdrew, leaving Aliara sodden and breathing heavily. Her battered pussy clenched around the ovipositor, making a wet pop noise when it pulled out. Without a word, the matron withdrew into the gloom.

"Help me up, Tey. I don't think she's doing us any favors by making us walk around like this."
With some effort, they got to their feet. The half-elf's stomach was swollen near to bursting, it seemed, and sloshed back and forth as she wobbled along. She laid one arm protectively over it. "Oooough, I think I'm just going to lie down in my hammock for a few... weeks. Wake me up when the babies come."

Aliara's hammock sagged under her weight, but bore her comfortably. "I don't think I'm going to be up to much walking for the next few weeks. Sorry Tey. Look around for me."

Teysa nodded. "Do you need anything?"
Her friend looked pensive. "You got a belt of giant strength about your person anywhere? I'd settle for a potion."

Teysa scoffed. "Fine. You must be tired. I'm going to try to get some rest."
"Come cuddle me! Please?"
"There's no way the hammock will bear us both. Uh, sorry, I'm not trying to be mean, but... I don't think there's space."
"These things carry like a billion pounds. Have you seen one rip? Plus, they're very stretchy. A trait it seems we share, as a matter of fact."
The paladin made a face. "Gross, Li." All the same, she climbed into the hammock next to her friend. It did stretch to accommodate her, though it was a bit tight. With a contented sigh the half-elf wrapped one arm around Teysa's shoulders. She took the other woman's wrist and laid her hand on her engorged belly. "Can you feel them? Are they moving around in there? It feels like they are." The paladin felt for a moment. "Can't tell. Sorry, Li. I'm really tired."

The two of them drifted off to sleep.

For the next few weeks, they followed a routine. Teysa would wake up first and explore for a while. By the time Aliara stirred she was back. On her trips she fetched some things to make their life more comfortable: more silk robes, including a few maternity-sized ones to accommodate her friend's increased girth. Some hand-held glow-jars on sticks for exploring. A drider came to expand the hammock to comfortably fit two.

One day, Teysa’s explorations brought her to the breeding cave where she had first been webbed. She hadn’t set out to find it, but here it was. She stepped in reverentially, as though entering a cathedral. Instantly she was seized by a deep unease. There was a soft susurrus in the air, a sound on the edge of hearing, like the wind through distant trees. Vaguely humanoid bundles hung from the walls.

As Teysa drew close to the nearest, she saw it was a female elf, her pale stomach bulging with eggs. Blond tresses hung over her face, obscuring her features. She did not stir as Teysa approached; only the faintest rise and fall of her chest indicated that she still lived. “Hello?” Teysa said softly. She paused and tilted her ear towards the elf. There it was again-- the soft murmur, a whisper like the sigh of a ghost. Teysa squinted into the darkness. She wasn't sure, but it seemed as though the elf's mouth was moving. Teysa could only see a glimpse of the woman's face beneath her flowing hair, but what she saw looked strong and noble. The elf woman's lips were definitely moving slightly, but her eyes were closed and her face blank and slack. All of a sudden Teysa was filled with a violent revulsion. She wanted to leave, now. She turned to go and froze as a voice called out from behind her.

"You! Who are you?" The voice sounded female, but rough and husky, with a snarl buried in it. Teysa whirled around. The elf was still lying still and catatonic, but the voice had come from higher up. Teysa craned her neck and looked up and her jaw dropped.

Halfway up the wall, a muscular woman with dark orange skin had propped herself up on her elbows against an outcropping. Her legs were bound by webbing that ran up to her waist, and more ran in ribbons under her armpits and around her hands, encasing them like mittens. Her belly rested on her legs, a swollen orb with a faint trail of dark hair that ran from her navel downward. Her breasts were massive mounds of orange flesh with dark magenta nipples, each pierced with a massive golden ring that Teysa could have worn as a bracelet. The woman's hair was shaggy and brown and it tumbled down her shoulders in a dreadlocked spiral, the locks bound individually with iron bands and red thread. Both ears were tattered and slit and set with gold and silver studs. Her nose had clearly been broken and reset at some point, but even twisted into an angry grimace her features had a kind of savage, feral beauty. Her eyes were red with pinhole pupils that seemed to bore into Teysa's soul. When she opened her mouth, Teysa saw that her lower canine teeth jutted up like rudimentary tusks, while her incisors were hooked like a predator's.

"You! Human! What are you doing down here?" The orange woman's voice was hoarse and weak, but the strength and willpower behind it was unmistakable. "Free us at once!"

Teysa instinctively took a half-step backward. The woman was clearly at least a half-orc. Even pinned and engorged with eggs she radiated strength and aggression. She was watching Teysa carefully, the fires in her eyes banked. The paladin tried to find the right words. She settled on the politest tone she could manage. "My name is Teysa. What is yours?"

"M'naak, Teysa. I am Devto. Cut me down from this wall, quickly, before the spider-demons return. We will escape together!"

Teysa took a step backwards. "I-- I-- I can't, I have to--"

Devto's eyes widened. "Are you afraid? Hurry, wench! They will come to check on us within the hour!"

"It's not that, Devto." This voice was smooth and laconic. Teysa spun around. Anchored against the side wall, so fully wrapped that only her head was visible, was a human woman with short blonde hair and a spray of freckles across her cheeks. She stared contemptuously at Teysa's kimono. "Look at what she's wearing. She's working with them. She's their little pet."

Teysa tried to deny it, but found herself speechless. The look the half-orc gave her seemed like it should vaporize her where she stood. "Is this true? Do you lay with them of your own free will? Vermin! K'tirg! Such foulness I never imagined!" Her voice echoed across the chamber. Teysa could see some of the other bundles stirring. She took a deep breath and tried to explain.

"It's not like that. I, that is, my friend and I were captured, like you, and we bore them children, like you, and--"

"Children? You profane the word!" Devto shouted. "I have born two children! Strong whelps, proud, from scarred bloodlines! Their fathers put axes in their hands before their second year! Down here, I incubate foulness like a midden sprouts mushrooms! I can feel them wriggling in my body. Parasites! How dare you!"

Teysa backed away. All around her the murmuring was growing louder. One hand dropped to her waist before she realized she had left her mace behind. "No!" she cried. "That's not what I meant! I'm trying-- I'm trying to help you! To help all of you!"

"Then free us!" moaned the human woman. "Let us go!"

"It's not as simple as that!" wailed Teysa. "But I swear. I swear I will free you. All of you! I will. I swear it, in Agamor's name."

Devto's lip curled in a sneer that exposed her tusks. "Your words mean nothing. You are tainted, you foul slut. You are a demon's pet. Either cut my bonds, or leave me to rot in peace."

Teysa fled.

When she told Aliara, the half-elf's eyes grew wide. "Tey, that was dangerous! We're walking a tightrope here. We can't piss the driders off. What if they decide to throw us back up on the wall?" Her voice was pleading. Teysa gently took Aliara's hand in hers and spoke levelly.
"Li, we can't just leave these women on the wall. We have to do something. We have an opportunity here to make a difference, a real difference. I know you're scared, but how could we look at ourselves in the mirror if we let them suffer and did nothing?"

“Tey, this was your plan to begin with. It’ll take time, won’t it?” Aliara put on a pouty face. “Look, you gotta look after yourself, all right? And me. You gotta look after me. I’m not trying to sound heartless here, but there’s only two of us. We can’t fix the world by ourselves. This place isn't safe for us, even if it feels that way right now.”

Each day, after Aliara awoke, they would be fed by one of the driders. The matron rarely came herself, but there were a few regular "spider-cows" as Li called them. The term, as the matron explained patiently after hearing that particular bit of irreverence, was "ambrosia mother." Their breasts brimmed with delicious, milky ambrosia, and they never seemed to run dry. Teysa wondered if they fed the whole warren or just their prisoners.

Learning the proper term for "ambrosia mothers" was just one of Teysa's accomplishments. When she was not wandering the warren, she conversed with the driders, learning everything she could of their biology and society. Neither of them could speak or understand the hissing dialect of the spider-women, but if a drider had to make herself understood they had enough magic for the task. The paladin also proved herself up to the task of caring for Aliara during her "pregnancy." This one was much less onerous than the previous. Not hanging on a cave wall helps, thought Teysa with a wry smile.

When the time came for her delivery, the drider matron appeared, true to her word. She held Aliara's legs open for the labor while Teysa knelt over her, holding her hands and counting off breaths. "One, two. In, out. Come on, Li, breathe! You can do it! I can see the legs! Push!"

Aliara groaned with exertion. "This one's stubborn!" she panted. "Come on, I know it's comfortable in there, but I need you out! You were just borrowing that space and I need it back!" With one last spasm of pain the spiderling popped out of her and rolled end over end across the floor. The matron scooped it up and laid it on Aliara’s heaving chest, where it immediately began to suckle from her left teat.

Over the next week, Aliara regained her strength. Her children were left to scuttle around their room as the two women strolled through the caves together. They practiced calisthenics in the corridors-- the half-elf had been off her feet for a while and was eager to be fighting fit once again. Passing driders gave them odd looks but none interrupted them or tried to stop their exercising. Teysa couldn't shake the memory of the broodmothers hanging in the cave, but she tried to convince herself that she was making progress with the driders. She would change things. She would.

Two weeks after the birth Teysa woke up feeling healthier than she had since the fight. She rolled over and smiled at Aliara, who was propped up on one elbow. "You're finally up, sleepy," teased the half elf. "What do you want to do today?"