South, staying in the forest

{if hurtAnkleDays > 0}Between your ankle and the{else}Given the huge load of{endif} eggs, you aren't in any state to travel quickly, so Xyl offers to let you ride on her back. Arachne are experts at moving through forest terrain, so you make good time as you move south.

During the journey, you ask Xyl about herself.

"The first thing you need to know about Arachne, is that we are traditionally raised by a ****, usually the one who birthed us, until we are old enough to learn what we need to survive from our mothers.

"You have met my mother," she sighs. "My childhood was spent trying to live up to her high expectations. Almost as soon as I could hold a weapon, she taught me to hunt and to fight. Her methods were not kind, even if they were effective. I had to catch my own meal on days where we hunted, and would go hungry if I failed.

"It has led to me becoming a very good huntress. I even quite enjoy it. The time to think while lying in wait, the pressure of the initial ambush, and if that fails, the thrill of the chase or the fight. The satisfaction of a tasty meal afterwards."

She pauses. "After I decided I wanted more from life than staying in one place with a harem of slaves, I started doing odd jobs around the town, either for money or items. This armour, I spent several weeks working alongside Lady Exil's slaves in her smithy to pay off. Then I had to work for an enchantress for a fortnight to get it properly enhanced, and that was with a discount for being her daughter's friend. Mother disapproved of me doing work she saw as only fit for slaves, but she at least respected that I was willing to put in the effort for my goals.

"My spare money went into learning everything I could about the rest of the world. Maps, history, important plants and animals, books of monsters and how to fight them. Discovering that there are still occasional Arachne who choose to live like we did in the bad old days came as something of a shock."

You can see how that would be the case, but you have other questions that her response raised. "So you were raised by a **** for a while? What was she like?"

Xyl shudders. "Broken. Mother likes to have her slaves addicted to her venom, not that she cares enough about them to bother giving it to them. Half the time she was mindlessly horny, and the rest she was shaking from withdrawal. I never even found out her real name, only the one mother ordered her to use. I am certain her parents did not name her 'Gaping Cunt'."

She sighs sadly. "Mother decided to have her strung up as an incubator a couple of years later. If there was anything left of her before then, that certainly destroyed it. It is a horrible way to live.

"I wish I had understood enough to step in, not that mother cares for my opinions on how she treats her slaves. It might have just made things worse."

It seems like a touchy subject, so you abort that line of questioning.