Chronicles of Eden - Act V (19 page)

“She touched Daniel
very
inappropriately,” Alyssa scolded loudly at the bound cat girl. “This is what happens when she does. Got that? You hear me?”

Tabitha mewled softly and whimpered as her hands and tail flinched.

“But Daniel pinned
her
down,” Luna pointed out. “He held her like that.”

“Don’t care,” Alyssa flatly replied.

“Alyssa,” Daniel said glancing to her from behind his hand. “She’s working with us on something very important for the giant butterflies’ monarch.”

Alyssa looked to him then back to Tabitha as she remained quiet for a while before she tilted her head slightly.

“So you’re saying I can’t hit her like a party favor with my staff?”

*****

Inside the caravan Daniel and the girls were gathered together after Alyssa had reluctantly freed Tabitha from her thorny binds. After Triska had helped the cat girl limp into the caravan while she mewled in pain the group explained to Alyssa the situation in Flairwood with the missing princess and about who Tabitha really was. Daniel and Triska were seated at the table while Alyssa and the butterfly sisters stood near them, all looking at a map next to the sleeping fairy showing the surrounding forest as they planned where to begin the search.

“I hate you people,” Tabitha hissed as she lay on the couch while looking up at the ceiling with a dull stare. Her swords were resting near her while the girl picked out thorns from her fur and tossed them away with low growls.

“Alyssa said she was sorry,” Triska reasoned with a shrug.

“She apologized to the floor and mumbled the entire sentence,” Tabitha snapped at her.

“Take what you can get,” Alyssa scoffed while eyeing the map.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You peed on Daniel! That’s very wrong!”

“He scared me!”

“Yeah, about that,” Triska mentioned as she glanced to Daniel. “How did you know that would even work with her?”

“I recognized what she was,” Daniel said looking over to Tabitha, with the group watching as the new girl hissed at them with annoyance. “Wasn’t hard to figure out. She’s a neko.”

“Neko?” Luna asked tilting her head.

“A cat monster,” Alyssa explained as she watched the neko with a dull stare. “Just like their animal counterparts they don’t like dogs too much, and lycans are the wolves of Eden. It’s no surprise she would be scared to death of one being nearby.”

“I wasn’t scared!” Tabitha shouted out with frustration. “I mean… I was, but… oh never mind! The point is it wasn’t my fault he got his pants wet earlier!”

“Anyway,” Daniel said looking back to the map. “I remember reading about them. It’s said they are commonly hired by others as assassins or mercenaries, what with them being very light on their feet and stealthy.”

“Mercenaries?” Triska asked looking at Tabitha questionably.

“I prefer adventurer,” Tabitha retorted before she picked a thorn out from her thigh and flicked it away. “I’m not bloodthirsty or focused only on killing things.”

“But they are greedy,” Alyssa mentioned, with Tabitha glaring at her again from that. “You can hire them to do almost anything for some gold, although having them kill others is what they’re mainly employed for.”

“Hey!” Tabitha snapped as she stood up and walked over to them. “I just said I’m not some bloody murderer! I’m a proud traveler and adventurer of Eden. I don’t just take jobs to spill blood. I do this for the excitement as well as making an honest living.”

“So you didn’t take the job from the monarch in hopes you could kill some humans?” Alyssa asked skeptically.

“I took the job to help save a little girl as well as make some money,” Tabitha hissed at her. “What’s wrong with that? After this job I’ll be able to afford all the men I want.”

“What?” Triska asked confusedly.

“Nekos buy all their men at monster markets,” Alyssa explained crossing her arms with discontent at the new girl. “They could easily ambush and rape men by force out in The Outerlands, but they claim to have
pride
and only purchase the finest men
honestly
from other monsters.”

“What’s so dishonest about us paying for our men?” Tabitha demanded. “And you’re one to talk, witch. I’ve seen plenty of witches buying and selling virile men before.”

“Well we’ll be putting an end to that very soon!” Alyssa shouted at her. “You can be sure of that! And for the record I’ve never bought a man before in my life!”

“What do you mean putting an end to that?”

“It’s not something you’ll ever understand,” Alyssa snapped before looking back to the map. “It’s going to be hard enough to change my sisters’ ways in Eden, but I know nekos will never change. Your loyalty can be bought with a single gold coin, you don’t care about others at all, and you never will.”

Tabitha grabbed her and threw the witch across the room onto the couch with a loud yowl. Alyssa stumbled back onto her feet and glared at the neko with softly glowing eyes as Tabitha slowly walked up towards her.

“You speak as if nekos are the devil, and I don’t quite care for it,” Tabitha hissed. “You think all we care about is gold? You think we feel nothing for others at all? Look who’s talking! I’ve never met an honest and caring witch in all my life and I know I never will. All you little rats are the same, using your magic to hex and allure men with your youth all while selling your magical spells and potions for the highest bidder. I know damn well you witches sell and buy men just as much as we do, who are you to talk down to me like you are?”

“I don’t do anything like that!” Alyssa yelled out as she summoned her staff over into her grip. “And I know my sisters are misguided in this world, I’ve seen that firsthand! I used to be just like them! But that’s going to change, we’re not going to let them be like that anymore!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“We’re going to instill peace between humans and witches, that’s what!”

Silence filled the room as Tabitha just stared questionably at Alyssa. After a while the neko tilted her head with a small meow.

“What?”

“Just what I said, we’re going to put an end to all the fighting and raping between our races, between all the monster races in Eden if we can. I’m not going to let my sisters be the horrible monsters that the world thinks they are any longer.”

“…what?”

“That’s why we’re out here,” Daniel spoke, with all eyes turning to him as he walked over to Tabitha. “We’re traveling Eden to talk to all the monster races we can, to see if they will be willing to give peaceful coexistence a chance and to put a stop to all the fighting between us.”

Tabitha just stared at him with a blank expression while her tail slowly swayed behind her.

“You want… monsters and humans… to live together in peace?” she questioned slowly.

“Yes. We already have some supporters in this very room. Not to mention an ant girls nest’s queen and an alpha witch will be willing to stand with us as well if we find more who wish for peace. That’s why we came to Flairwood, to talk to monarch and see if she would be willing to give peace a chance between us.”

Tabitha raised an eyebrow at him then glanced to Luna and Falla while remaining silent.

“It’s true,” Luna said in agreement. “I don’t want my sisters to be like Darker Ones and rape others, it’s horrible. I know what it feels like to be… to be… it’s just horrible. We can’t let them keep doing that, and Daniel is here to help.”

“As hard as it is to believe, it’s true,” Falla added. “We brought him here to talk to our monarch about his beliefs.”

“His… beliefs?” Tabitha asked.

“If a girl, monster or human, is kindhearted and caring towards a man, then the man will choose to be with that girl willingly,” Luna explained. “And it works, we’ve seen it. Daniel chose to have sex with Alyssa over there, as well as two other monsters who travel with us. If we’re nice to humans they’ll want to be with us out of love, we don’t have to rape them to get pregnant.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Tabitha said shaking her head.

“She won’t get it,” Alyssa scorned. “Nekos don’t love anything but gold.”

“Shut your mouth, brat!” Tabitha snapped at her. “You don’t know me, you don’t know anything about who I am.” She then looked to Daniel carefully before slowly walking around him.

“You seriously want monsters and humans to get along?” she asked with a smirk. “Why are you doing this, what’s in it for you?”

“See?” Alyssa accused pointing to her. “All they want is something in return, that’s all they care about.”

“Shut up!” Tabitha yelled at her. “It’s a simple and reasonable question. If not out of insanity, which I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case, then why does he want such a thing as monsters and humans living together in peace?”

“Because we can help each other,” Daniel answered, with Tabitha stopping and looking to him curiously. “There are some monsters in this world, like the Darker Ones, who can’t be reasoned with, who are truly evil. But not all monsters are like that, we don’t all have to be enemies. We have much we can learn and help each other with, we can grow stronger together rather than always fighting each other.”

“Why do you think we demanded to come with you?” Triska mentioned. “We want to help save the princess not just because we genuinely want to help the poor girl but also because we want to prove to the monarch that humans can help them if we become allies.”

Tabitha looked around at them with a blank expression before turning to Daniel, her eyes just staring into his for a while she remained silent. She then glanced away from the group and shook her head a little.

“Yeah, I’m sure the monarch will love to talk to you after humans kidnapped her daughter,” she dryly said. “Good luck with that, and your little… quest. Anyway, if you’re so damned insistent on coming to help me find her then so be it, I just want to get this job over with, so don’t get in my way. And also don’t expect me to split the reward with any of you.”

“We won’t,” Daniel assured with a simple smile.

“Wouldn’t dream of coming between a neko and her gold,” Alyssa flatly said. “I’ve heard that’s the best way to lose a hand in Eden.”

“You’ll lose your tongue if you don’t shut up,” Tabitha hissed at her.

“Where is your gold anyway?” Alyssa asked curiously. She eyed the neko over and saw her carrying no bags or pouches of any kind. “You don’t have anything on you but your swords, I thought nekos always kept their belongings on hand.”

“I have my ways,” Tabitha quipped with a sneer at her. “Let’s just say my belongings are safe and sound where only I can reach them.”

Alyssa scoffed then walked past her towards the table. Before she got there she swung her staff behind her, causing Tabitha to be thrown into a tumble over onto the couch. The neko slumped down against it with a growl as Alyssa glanced back to her with discontent.

“Don’t ever throw me around again,” Alyssa threatened. “Or you’ll get worse.”

Tabitha scrambled back onto her feet with a loud yowl, grabbing her swords and glaring at Alyssa before Daniel quickly stepped forth between them with his hands held out at the girls.

“Okay, that’s enough,” he ordered. “We have a job to do, remember? There’s a little girl out there who needs our help, that’s what we should be focusing on. Let’s just work together on this so we can get what we each want. Tabitha can get her gold and then be on her way while we stay and try to talk to the monarch.”

Tabitha hissed as she attached her swords back to her belt when looked away while keeping her hands held on the handles.

“So where do we go first?” Luna asked looking to the map. “It’s a very big forest out there, where do we start looking for her?”

“We?” Falla asked her. “No no, we’re not going, Luna. Again, we’re not fighters, we can’t do anything out there with this. Daniel and the merc can go after the princess while we wait here.”

“Adventurer,” Tabitha snapped at her with a glare.

“But, Falla,” Luna whined. “I want to help, I have to find her again. What if she’s hurt? She’s probably scared too. She needs me.”

“And just what are you going to do when you find the humans that have her?” Falla questioned. “You’re not exactly going to scare them, and I doubt you could throw a punch to save your life, which in that case is pretty much what it would be for.”

“Tabitha and I are going,” Triska spoke up. “The rest of you are waiting here.”

“No, I’m going too,” Daniel insisted.

“Daniel, you’re not ready for this. I get you want to help, and you’ve done more than enough just getting us this far to begin with, but if we come across bandits out there you’re not prepared to take them on.”

“You should listen to her,” Falla mentioned. “You may be able to talk well to others, but you can’t really do shit to defend yourself.”

“Falla,” Triska snapped at her.

“What? I’m agreeing with you, what’s wrong with that?”

“But we want to help,” Luna pleaded hopping up and down. “If we help out there we can find the princess faster, I just know we can.”

“I’m going with you, Triska,” Daniel argued sternly. “I’m not going to sit back and do nothing. The more eyes we have out there the better, and I am going to do my part to help the princess.”

“You really are stubborn, aren’t you?” Triska commented with a sigh.

“Can we just go already?” Tabitha impatiently asked walking up to them. “I could find the kidnappers easily enough without all of you, it doesn’t matter who wants to come along. None of you are going to be doing anything anyway.”

“And just how could you find them so easily?” Alyssa inquired.

“I already know where they would go,” Tabitha said pointing to the map. The group looked down to it curiously as the neko eyed an area marked as a village on it. “The forests around here are teeming with fluughers and arachne, the humans would likely head straight for what little protection they could find from the monsters out there.”

“Arachne?” Triska asked.

“Spider monsters,” Luna squeaked out with fright. She trembled a bit then quickly darted over behind Daniel and held onto his back as she whimpered fearfully.