I stopped, my flashlight lingering over piles, mountains, of off-white fabric. It was slightly yellowish and looked almost dirty, until the light hit is just right. Then the material took on a glittering opalescent sheen that dazzled and mystified. I had never seen anything quite like it.

"Dare ga--"

I nearly jumped out of my skin, the beam of my flashlight leaping wildly. It seemed, for just a moment, to show a forest of long, thin shadows, some massive shape of hungry death poised at the center. But in the next moment, heart racing and panic seizing my breath, I frantically searched the walls and ceilings to find nothing but stone and cobwebs behind the massives mounds of loosely-rumpled textiles.

"Who's there!?" I squeaked, terrified.

"Only me, a seamstress," came the reply, from behind one of the piles.

A soft voice, gentle, soothing. A woman's voice, slightly smokey, faintly meek, with only a mild accent. I shone my light in the direction I thought it came from, and saw a face peering around a corner, one delicate hand on the wall, unheeding of the cobwebs that stuck to her fingers. My fear slowly ebbed, as I realized it was a person.

"Who... who are you?" I asked, still trembling, trying to get a hold of myself.

"I'm--well, you can call me Jorogumo," she said, turning her face to avoid the glare of the flashlight in the dim cavern. "Who are you?"

I realized I was shining the light right at her eyes, probably blinding her. I shined it towards her legs instead, letting the corona softly illuminate her body and face. She leaned out from behind the corner, no longer assaulted by the glare, and I saw she was dressed in a gown of the same strange, off-white fabric that lay in heaps and piles around the cave. The edges of her gown were frayed, as if cut with dull sheers, too tough to slice smoothly. The fabric itself was remarkably unblemished, a single piece clinging to and accentuating her slender frame, ever so slightly elastic. Where the light hit her dress, it shimmered in colors that flowed across her form with every tiny movement.

"I'm Ricky," I answered, still jittery, but awestruck at the sight of this seamstress in her finery.

"Hello, Ricky," Jorogumo replied, smiling shyly.

She tucked her hair behind her ear bashfully, looking at the ground. She was pretty, in an odd sort of way. Large dark eyes, angular cheeks, a unique pattern of beauty marks across her forehead, like a half dozen bindi arcing in a crown across her brow. A tight, nearly lipless smile, her satiny skin glowing in the light, a hint of rosy pink across her cheeks as she blushed under scrutiny. Something in her eyes, in her smile...

I only realized I was staring when she interrupted me.

"What are you doing here, Ricky?" she asked, voice soft and inviting.

I blushed, ashamed and yet unable to look away.

"I was, um, exploring the property my girlfriend's dad left her. We're thinking, you know, deciding, between moving here and selling it."

A shadow moved, slowly, along the wall. I flicked the light, and something the size of my hand darted into a cleft in the rocks, hidden behind the cobwebs. I shuddered.

Jorogumo didn't seem to notice. She slinked forward a few steps, then leaned against the corner she had been hiding behind. I shone the light back her way, shadows dancing madly around her until they revealed her figure posed against the webs. She was thin, nearly to the point of being scrawny, but had hourglass curves that stretched the fabric of her dress in ways that captured the eye, not to mention the imagination. The liquid sheen of the fabric she wore was almost hypnotic.

"What is that?" I asked, fascinated.

"Spider silk," she said, casually running her fingers down her dress, over curves and clefts which captured my full attention.

"I didn't... know you could... make stuff... from spider silk," I said, struggling to get the words out.

She straightened from the corner she was leaning against, and rested her hand on a mound of the fabric nearest her. She seemed almost pensive, for a moment.

"Normally, you can't. Spiders don't produce it on schedule, and have too much control over the qualities of the silk to produce a consistent texture. You'd have to spend a lifetime mixing and matching and separating the various qualities of silk, to make a single skein of usable thread," she explained.

She didn't seem to notice the shadows which clung to her, or the shapes that scuttled through the darkness. I felt a chill vying for my attention, combating the naked arousal I felt looking at her feminine shape moving under the shimmering material of her gown. I flicked the flashlight around the cave, nearly capturing the things that moved in the darkness with us. Nearly, but not quite.

"And so... you found a way... What, so you breed special spiders down here, or something?" I guessed.

She nodded, pinning me in place with those big, beautiful eyes.

"Yes. A very... special spider. A very... hungry spider," she agreed, creeping closer.

I shivered, suddenly realizing that no one else knew exactly where I was. The flashlight wobbled in my hand, and the shadows of Jorogumo revealed the shape of a lady with needs. Shadows of long, thin legs, the shape of an hourglass figure. She watched me from those shadows with a constellation of big, shining eyes, yearning for what I could offer her.

"To make such fabrics, in such amounts... it would take an awfully... big... spider..." I comprehended, tasting sour metallic fear.

The shadows moved closer. Jorogumo smiled, a dangerous sort of pretty, a hunter in her lair. When I turned to run, the webs I found myself caught in shimmered opalescent in the light of the flashlight. A fabric alien and wonderful, like the piles heaped around the cavern: softer than cotton, tougher than steel.

Struggling, straining, I was helpless. I screamed, thrashed, whimpered. Finally, defeated, I wept as I felt the first deft caresses of the seamstress of the cave.

Dawn, day 22 of spring 3307 UE

Eagan has me out in the woods again, I fucking hate the place, but it's three days of wadding cobwebs to be shipped off to who ever buys this shite for way more money I will ever see. But I don't pay taxes or anything so I guess it's alright.

Noon? Day 23 spring 3307 UE

I don't know why I bother writing a time and date in these woods. The sun doesn't shine here, the spiders and trees made sure of that. Big things they are. Always chittering, always watching. There is a good reason to fast before going out of "sunbeam" and not packing any food

I hate that name but it's true, it's the only part of this damn valley you can see the sun.

???? Day ?? Of spring 3307 UE

I don't know what's worse, seeing my wagon full of my goddamn hard work suspended 10 metres into the air by those 8 legged arseholes or getting lost in this cave. I thought this was stackhouse cavern, where silk gatherers put useful shit for when you are too far out of town. But it looks over grown with cobwebs

I'll sleep here for the night. And go back to town, I hate this but it happens.

1/11/107 TN

Sorry mister skeleton! My book now! this is my little souvenir from the palaeontology site! After all we are studying the spiders that used to live in this valley (not poor buggers like you). Bugs the size of VW bugs and this cave is full of preserved webs and even a couple of mummified victims! Sans book of course!

[removed]

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