Chapter 337: Baruk's Grievance and the Magic Seed
Baruk paced circles at the door, restless.
A two-meter-long Acromantula crouched before the stone cottage entrance, all eight eyes fixed on the doorframe. Barely four feet wide. He lifted a foreleg, measured it against the gap, lowered it, measured again.
Confirmed. He wasn't getting through.
He shuffled sideways and considered the window.
The window was narrower than the door. He pressed his head against it, eight eyes lined up in a row peering inside. The center pair caught Regulus sitting at a desk. The outermost two saw nothing but a blur of stone wall, blocked by the frame.
He tilted his head. Left pair of eyes flush against the glass. Still couldn't see everything. Tilted right. Now he had Regulus's profile.
Then Regulus stood, crossed to the other side of the desk to grab something, and disappeared behind the wall. Baruk swiveled his head back to the left. Regulus had already returned to his seat.
He backed away and settled in front of the door, legs tucked beneath him, both primary eyes locked on the firelight leaking through the frame.
Once, he'd been palm-sized. The doorframe had been a castle gate to him then, wide enough to stroll through any way he pleased. Now, restored to his natural size, that same frame was a barrier he couldn't cross.