Chronicles of Eden - Act V (22 page)

“Me? Why?”

“Because I said so!”

Kroanette jumped then quickly trotted out into the field while Clover growled at her. As the centaur approached the field of dead orcs and stunned humans that took notice of her she realized why Clover didn’t want to step foot out there at that moment.

“Oh my,” she groaned holding a hand over her nose. “That’s… a rather powerful aroma.”

She slowly walked around, picking out the arrows from the fallen orcs while the humans coughed and gasped as they regained themselves from their ordeal. As she did the foul smell of the orcs made her wonder whether that was because they were dead, because they were normally so dirty, or if they became even smellier during their lovemaking.

“Yes, you can really taste it in the back of your throat,” Kroanette muttered while collecting the arrows.

“Did… did you save us?” a man asked as the three survivors slowly sat up.

“Yes, myself and my elven… companion. The other carriage with your women is further ahead, they are safe as well.”

“Why did you save us?” another asked as the men shakily got back to their feet.

Kroanette finished collecting the arrows and started trotting back towards Clover before stopping and glancing over her shoulder at the humans with a warm smile.

“We aren’t all evil. I’m sorry for the pain and loss you’ve endured today, I truly am. Please take care of yourselves.”

She headed off towards the edge of the clearing while the men stood there bewilderedly. Slowly they looked around at their ruined carriage, the two women who were dead, their horses which were killed, the orcs that had been struck down, and then over to the centaur who had apparently come to their rescue along with an elf. They then started gagging and gasping for air as their senses finally picked up the foul air around them, causing one of them to promptly throw up in disgust.

Kroanette walked over and handed the arrows to Clover. The elf snatched them with a grunt and set them in her quiver before crossing her arms in discontent at the centaur.

“Can we go now?” she snapped impatiently.

“Yes, we can,” Kroanette said kneeling down to let the elf on her back.

Clover grunted with annoyance and climbed onto the centaur before glancing over to seeing the men coughing and throwing up from the horrid smell around them.

“Why did you want to save them anyway? If they see you again they’ll probably try to kill you.”

“Maybe,” Kroanette reasoned, looking over to the humans with a small smile. “Or maybe they’ll understand that not all monsters are evil in this world.”

“Oh please, like any human thinks that,” Clover scoffed.

Kroanette chuckled and started running off again into the forest along the trail.

“I really do need to introduce you to someone.”

In the world of Eden the monsters that roamed the lands were always in search of humans with which to breed with. Most of them were after the men, needing to rape or trick them into giving them their seed so as to reproduce. However that didn’t mean the women of the world were necessarily safe from these creatures. Some would convert or mutate women into monsters themselves while others used them for breeding in their own forceful ways. And then there were some that didn’t use females for propagation but rather for other needs they had. Although these instances were few and far between, it was enough that the women of humanity had to tread carefully when venturing in The Outerlands just as much as the men did.

After all they could meet a horrific end at the hands of a monster just the same.

*****

Triska unfastened Lucky from their caravan and took hold of the horse by the reins, leading him over to the side of the ride where Tabitha and Daniel were waiting along with Alyssa. Luna and Falla watched while sitting atop the caravan as Triska mounted Lucky along with Tabitha while Daniel leaned back against the wagon with a dull expression on his face.

“Again, I want to come and help too,” he reminded the girls with a raised eyebrow.

“And again, not happening,” Triska replied while glancing to him with a small smile. “We only have one horse, and when we find the missing princess we’ll have just enough room to carry her with us on Lucky, not to mention you’re not ready for a real confrontation just yet.”

“You would just get in our way,” Tabitha remarked as she held onto Triska from behind. “Stay here where it’s safe.”

“I prefer my phrasing,” Triska retorted while glancing back to her.

“Same thing as I said.”

“Triska,” Daniel sternly spoke up, with the girl looking to him with a worried smile. “I don’t like having to sit around and do nothing when I can be out there helping.”

“I’m sorry, Daniel,” Triska said shaking her head. “But this isn’t the right time for you to follow us with something like this. Please, just stay here with Alyssa and the sisters, alright? I promise we’ll be back soon. With any luck we won’t have to deal with the humans that kidnapped the girl, we might be able to get her back and return without ever having to draw a blade.”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Tabitha questioned.

“I knew you’d say that,” Alyssa dryly commented. “You’re just itching to spill blood for your gold, aren’t you?”

“Shut up, brat!” Tabitha hissed at her. “I’m being paid for a job, and I’m going to complete it properly. If those humans get in my way then I’m obligated to put them down in order to save the girl, I don’t need to sneak around them.”

“Merc,” Falla quipped with a grin while Luna was looking off towards the forest with worried eyes.

“Adventurer!” Tabitha yelled at her.

“Whatever,” Triska called out. “Let’s just get going and get that girl back. Tabitha, do you know what she looks like?”

“She’s a giant butterfly, I think we’ll know when we see her,” Tabitha dryly replied.

“What’s her name anyway?” Daniel asked looking up to the butterfly sisters.

“Complica,” Luna said down to him. “Her name is Complica.”

“Be careful when approaching her,” Falla warned. “The poor girl is as brave as a mouse. If she thinks you’re bad guys too she’ll fly away the first chance she gets.”

“She’ll get lost out there if she does,” Luna added. “If the fluugher find her they’ll catch her right away and never let her go.”

“Why would the fluugher want to catch her?” Daniel asked. “Do they eat giant butterflies too?”

“Well, yes and no,” Luna answered hesitantly.

“They know we’re delicious as well,” Falla explained. “Although arachne would eat her if she gets caught in their webs the fluugher will try to snatch the poor girl if she gets too close to them all the same. If they do they’ll never let her go, ever.”

“I never knew fluugher ate monsters like that,” Triska said with wonder.

“Neither did I,” Alyssa mentioned. “Specca wrote in our book that those monsters don’t eat food like the rest of us but rather just need fertile soil to grow in. They don’t eat meat.”

“Just get out there and find her before anything else does first, alright?” Falla shouted out. “Trust us; if anything else in the forest gets their hands on her before you do she’s a goner.”

“That’s good enough for me,” Tabitha spoke up. “Let’s just go and find her, this should be an easy task.”

“Right,” Triska agreed as she gripped Lucky’s reins. “We’ll be back with her soon, the rest of you just stay here.”

With that the two girls rode Lucky off along the trail and into the forest, with Daniel and the girls watching as they vanished into the woods with the echoing sound of Lucky galloping away.

“I still can’t believe they wouldn’t let me come along,” Daniel grunted as he crossed his arms with annoyance. “I’m not helpless, I can be of help too.”

“No, you
are
helpless,” Falla replied as she and Luna fluttered down and landed next to him. “But hey, so are we, we’re not ashamed to admit it.”

“If you knew how to use magic I bet you could find and save the princess all on your own,” Luna complimented with a timid smile. “But right now you don’t know how to fight as well as Triska and Tabitha. You could be in just as much danger as Complica if those bad humans got you.”

“I hate to admit it, but they’re right,” Alyssa agreed with a sympathetic smile at him. “I don’t want you going out there either, not when you haven’t gained any control with using magic yet.”

“Thanks for believing in me,” Daniel said closing his eyes with regret.

“Daniel, I do believe in you,” Alyssa insisted as she took hold of his hand. “You’ve gotten us this far, you’ve done so much already, we all believe in you.”

“I’m still skeptical about your success,” Falla mentioned with a shrug.

“Falla!” Luna whined while stomping down on her sister’s foot, causing Falla to hop around holding it with a loud scream. “We have to believe in Daniel with all our hearts, remember? Be nice to him, otherwise he’ll never take us to bed with him.”

“He’s never taking you to bed with him at all,” Alyssa snapped at her, with Daniel sighing and holding a hand over his eyes as this argument sounded so familiar to him.

“We’ll be good, I promise,” Luna insisted with a hopeful smile at the witch. “You’ll see, he’ll love us too just like he does with you all.”

“No he won’t, you’re not getting this! He only loves
us
, the ones he chose as his mates!”

“I know he loves you and the others, and we’ll do our best to be good so he can love us too one day.”

“No he won’t! What is wrong with you? Are you not hearing me?”

Falla hopped around holding her foot while grumbling to herself then looked over to see Squeak walking back towards them from the village. The ant girl had a dull expression on her face and was alone without any carrying bags or items with her.

“Hey, what are you doing back here so soon?” Falla asked. “And where’s our bed?”

“Squeak?” Daniel asked looking over to seeing the ant girl approaching. She walked up and showed a puzzled expression at seeing him then pointed behind her and squeaked a few times before pointing at him.

“Yeah, about that,” Daniel said rubbing the back of his neck with a weak smile. “Small change of plans, something came up that we had to take care of first before speaking to the monarch. But what are you doing back here so soon, and where’s Specca?”

Squeak glanced behind her then looked at Daniel with frustration and started squeaking over and over again, with the group watching as she waved her hands around in strange patterns while squeaking something at Daniel. After she finished her speech the group merely glanced to each other then back to her questionably.

“How long before she realizes we can’t understand her?” Alyssa flatly asked.

“We don’t speak squeak, Squeak,” Luna said shaking her head.

Squeak face palmed and squeaked with annoyance before Falla walked over and held the girl’s head still while getting their antennae to touch one another.

“Okay, this better be good. Why did you come back empty-handed?”

Squeak started squeaking at her with a flustered expression, the others watching as Falla listened to what the ant girl was saying before she hung her head low with a frustrated groan.

“Are you
kidding
me?” she demanded before looking back at Squeak, the ant girl shaking her head before glancing to the village with an annoyed huff.

“What happened? Where’s Specca?” Daniel asked.

“Well,” Falla started before glancing back to him with ire. “It seems that on their way to find the marketplace they came across something that Specca noticed right away. She found Flairwood’s river that flows through it.”

Everyone blinked then looked towards the village with tired expressions as they knew what that meant.

“Let me guess, she jumped in and now refuses to come out,” Alyssa concluded, with Squeak nodding once with a squeak.

“Oh no, we’ll never get her out of there,” Luna whined.

“Every time we come across a lake or river,” Alyssa grumbled as she face palmed.

“Alyssa,” Daniel tiredly spoke up. “Could you please go with Squeak and help Specca focus on their task? Now’s not the time for her to be taking a dip.”

“With pleasure, Daniel,” Alyssa said walking off with her staff held in hand. Squeak followed after while waving to Daniel with a small smile, the boy waving back as the two girls headed off to find their stubborn nixie friend.

“Seems nothing is going right since we came here,” Daniel commented to himself.

“I hope those girls come back with our new bed next time,” Falla grumbled.

“I hope Triska and Tabitha find Complica,” Luna worriedly said looking off towards the forest.

“I hope there won’t be any more surprises while we’re visiting,” Daniel said holding a hand to his head.

Upon uttering those words inside the caravan a tiny girl was suddenly heard crying, with Daniel and the sisters looking back to hearing a familiar fairy wailing with her little voice inside the cabin.

“Oh great, she’s awake now,” Falla groaned while slapping a hand over her eyes.

“She’s crying, is she alright?” Luna asked.

“Pip?” Daniel called out as he ran towards the ride, with the sisters following after. They quickly boarded and entered the cabin, all of them seeing Pip sitting up on her pillow atop the table and crying while holding her hands over her eyes.

“
Waaaaaaah
!” the fairy whined while sobbing like a young infant.

“Pip? What’s wrong?” Daniel asked as he and the girls rushed over.

“Why are you crying?” Luna asked with concern.

“Please go back to sleep,” Falla dryly ordered.

Pip slowly looked up to them with a whimper then rubbed her belly which gave a very quiet rumble.

“Pip is hungry,” she sadly admitted.

“Oh, you’re hungry?” Daniel asked with relief. “I see. Well we do have food here. You’re of course welcome to it after all you’ve done to help us. What do you like to eat?”

“Milk.”

“Milk? I don’t think we have any here,” Daniel said looking around the cabin questionably, his eyes going over to Triska’s bag then to his own before back to the fairy as she choked back her sobs. She had a sorrowful frown on her face while she rubbed her stomach.