SANDRA THE VANGUARD - Flash Fiction

As ofttimes would have it, I'm presented with a picture prompt that I have to scratch my head for an idea to make a story of it.  Animals and nature are ripe for conflict. I came up for the idea when I thought back on a time when I was out 4-wheeling and came across a hoard of Ladybugs much like I depict the ticks in this story. Ladybugs are cute and colorful but when found in the forest in numbers like I have in this story is a bit disconcerting. I wasn't afraid, yet, I felt a high degree of uneasiness. 

Another component of this story is the teapot. To incorporate that I had to elevate the spider's intelligence with a tad bit of personification. It gives the story a slight fantasy feel to it, or maybe a lot. You'll note there is no dialogue as we know it because that isn't the way spiders communicate. 

Rose Tursi at www.tursiart.com

SANDRA THE VANGUARD

            Martha saw them first.  A massive swarm of ticks moving along the forest bed like lava, slow and invasive.  The ticks moved up the sides of trees, covering boulders, turning bushes black with their bodies.  They were smart also, swarming over a downed log to cross a creek. Martha estimated their numbers to be that of a large deer, thousands, tens of thousands of the ticks.

            The little black dots were terrifying and yet succulent looking. Martha swung on her thread and scampered over the bushes and trees until she reached the Great Tree, the home of her and her kind.  Sandra had to be told. If left undealt with the ticks would consume them all.

#

            Sandra was found in the center of her high web.  She had a favorite spot to catch fliers.  Fliers were her favorite meal. As the leader of Great Tree, no one impinged upon her place. 

            Martha reached the bottom of Sandra’s web and strummed a pair of silken threads.  Sandra whirled around at the first vibration and fixed her eyes on Martha.  Their language was in vibrations and imperviable tones.

            Sandra understood the gravity and opportunity at the same time. She instructed Martha to string a thread through all the webs around Great Tree and find her at the base where the mesquite nearly touched.  Sandra would take the end of Martha’s thread there.

            By the time Martha had finished her task, it was dark. All the spiders had retired for the night, but she did as she was told and found Sandra weaving a massive web at the base of Great Tree.

            Sandra tied off the end of the thread and asked Martha to help complete the work of the web and retire for the night.  Sandra would transmit instructions in the morning to all their kind.

            As the first rays of light rose in the East, spiders were taking their places in their webs. Sandra waited until they had all settled in and played her message on the strand of silken thread that touched all the webs.

#

Martha had gone to check on the progress of the ticks.  They were close.  In an hour, they would be at Great Tree.  A sense of impending doom washed over her as she scurried back to report to Sandra.

            Sandra didn’t appear to be the least bit perplexed over the invasion coming.  She instructed Martha to fix a pot of tea and bring it to her as she dangled near the bottom of her web that fully encompassed Great Tree. 

            The swarm of ticks approached.  A fat bulging tick lead the horde.  He leaped from a bush and landed on the web below Sandra. 

            Would you care for some tea? Sandra strummed.

            The tick bared his fishhook like barbs in his hypostome. 

            From Martha’s assigned place, her heart nearly stopped at the site of the tick’s show of ferocity and the horde behind him lining up to leap upon Sandra.  Martha could practically feel the chelicerae cutting into her flesh, the barbs hooking on, and the life essence being sucked from her body.  Only her trust in Sandra kept her from fleeing.

            Sandra took a sip of her tea.  Very well, bring it on!  She plucked a tune on her web and scurried to the top of it.

            Martha waited as instructed until the ticks had saturated the web all around Great Tree.  The base of the tree was a black writhing mess as the ticks tangled up in the webbing.

            Stuck to the sticky strand, the fat tick was buried in the horde.  Too bad, Sandra had her heart set on that one.  But the nearest would do.

            Sandra struck with lightning speed. Injecting the nearest tick to approach her with her venom.  It instantly paralyzed.  Martha and the rest of the spiders took the cue and dropped from the limbs above onto the ticks rendering them immobile one after another. 

            The ticks were frustrated with spiders all over their backsides, and although they outnumbered the spiders three to one the ticks quickly succumbed to the spider’s poison. Not a spider was lost to the hoard.

             After wrapping the hideous little tick creatures in sticky silk, the spiders carried them off and deposited them in their webs surrounding Great Tree.

            Sandra called for a holiday.  Tonight, they would all drink tea and feast together.