Chronicles of Eden - Act V (35 page)

“She’s right,” Tabitha agreed. “They’re not normally active during the night. We just have to wait for them to go back to sleep.”

“And then what?” Clover snapped at her. “We can’t go out there then, those things will be everywhere. And once the morning light comes across this place they’ll wake up again. We won’t last an hour then.”

“She lasted more than an hour,” Triska said watching Complica. The young butterfly kept murmuring to herself, her lips quivering while she kept her hands held over her ears. “She’s been here for days now.”

“That’s not possible,” Clover derided. “What the hell has she even been doing here anyway?”

Triska slowly rested her hand on Complica’s shoulder, snapping the young girl to attention as she quickly looked to Triska with fearful eyes.

“Complica,” Triska said before the girl shook her head quickly.

“Be quiet, and they’ll go to sleep.”

Triska nodded then sat down against the wall next to her, seeing that the young girl was too shaken up with the swarm outside to talk about anything. Tabitha and Clover watched the child murmuring softly to herself then looked out the window at seeing the many monsters moving about. Tabitha glanced around the room then quickly rushed over and pulled a bedsheet out from the broken furniture to the side, tearing it free from the debris before walking over to the window and throwing the sheet up to cover it. As she tied the corners around the bare rails above where there were no curtains anymore Clover walked over and sat down on the floor against a wall away from the girls, holding her satchel close to her side while her eyes darted around quickly at hearing the swarm crawling and tapping on building outside.

“Could someone go downstairs and make sure Kroanette is alright?” Triska asked quietly.

“I don’t hear her screaming,” Clover scoffed. “She’s fine.”

“Tabitha?” Triska said looking towards the neko with a dull glance. “Would you mind?”

“She’s not my responsibility, only the young butterfly is,” Tabitha replied as she finished hanging up the sheet over the window.

“You two just don’t care about anyone but yourselves, do you?” Triska dryly asked.

“Go and look for yourself if you’re that worried about her,” Clover said waving to the door.

“I’m only being paid to save the young girl,” Tabitha pointed out carelessly.

Triska sighed and stood up, her eyes straining to make out what little light there was. With the sheet covering the window the room was almost completely dark. The hallway had faint beams of moonlight coming through a window while shadows of the moving swarm outside kept passing by it.

“Well?” Clover said raising an eyebrow at her. “What are you waiting for?”

“I don’t see too well in the dark,” Triska muttered while taking a few steps forward, right before she stumbled on the rug before quickly catching her balance. The floor creaked heavily under her footing as all the girls stared at Triska while freezing in place. After a moment of none of the swarm crashing through the window or walls Triska breathed out quietly in relief.

“
Shh
,” Tabitha shushed her.

“Then don’t go bumping through the whole house,” Clover snapped quietly. “I’m not getting eaten alive by those things just because you couldn’t keep quiet.”

“My friend is down there right now,” Triska sternly hushed at her. “Likely freaking out and having a panic attack from those things crawling all over the house. I need to go check on her.”

The girls watched as Triska slowly made her way out into the hall, taking each step very carefully while she kept on guard. When she got near the window she crouched down to slink past it along the wall. As she did a swarm crawled up along the outside and hissed while looking in through the window. Triska froze as she saw the monster’s shadow on the wall in front of her, waiting for a few minutes before it made a clicking sound then crawled up out of sight. Breathing out in relief Triska then continued down the hall and reached the top of the stairs.

“Kroanette?” she said softly. “Are you okay down there?”

Looking down to the ground floor she saw the flickering beams of moonlight coming in from the front windows as the swarm kept passing by them, the living room remaining silent and dark while Triska waited to hear from her friend.

“Kroanette?”

Slowly Kroanette peeked around the corner and looked up at her while keeping close to the wall.

“Help me,” she squeaked out with fright.

“It’ll be alright, Kroanette. Just be quiet, they’ll go to sleep soon.”

“And then what do we do?”

“We’ll figure something out. Just for now, stay out of sight and keep quiet.”

“Don’t leave me down here alone, please.”

Triska looked back towards the bedroom down the hall then to Kroanette, contemplating whether to stay by Complica’s side or to go downstairs to Kroanette. After a moment she made her way down the stairs, taking each step slowly while holding onto the railing. When she got to the bottom she took hold of Kroanette’s hand, the centaur then sitting down on her legs while smiling nervously at the girl.

“Thank you, Triska,” she gratefully said.

“It’s going to be okay,” Triska reassured her. “We’re going to get through this, together.”

“Tell me, what happened back in the forest?” Kroanette asked, trying to keep her mind off the rattling and hissing sounds coming from right outside. “Where did you all go? And what were you doing here with that cat girl?”

Triska glanced back up the stairs as she sat down on them next to Kroanette, seeing a few flickering shadows of the swarm outside the hallway window, and then looked at the centaur with a small smile.

“Well, a few things happened.”

*****

Daniel was standing in a small grassy field near the caravan, gazing up at the night sky with growing concern that Triska would find more than just a missing princess at Rackleholm. Next to him Alyssa was also looking up at the stars while holding her staff close, worrying about Triska’s safety just like the rest of those in the caravan were doing.

Inside the cabin Specca was sitting at the table rereading the entry about the swarm, her mind only focused on thinking of any way Triska could survive running into an infested area with those monsters lurking about. To her growing dismay, she couldn’t foresee any way of survival if Triska had indeed made it to Rackleholm on that night.

“I hope they got lost,” she fretted to herself. “Or maybe they decided to make camp for the night and continue with the search tomorrow. That would buy enough time for Pip to reach them, I hope.”

Lying on the bed curled up in her ball Squeak had a sorrowful frown on her face, her eyes seeming to be holding back tears while she was afraid she wouldn’t see Triska again. Sitting next to her Luna was gently brushing the girl’s hair while looking down with saddened eyes as well.

“It’ll be okay, Squeak,” she tried to reassure the girl with. “Triska’s a strong fighter. She can… she can fight them off, right?”

“Of course she can,” Falla said next to her, trying to force a brave front while inside she knew Triska taking on the entire swarm with a mere sword was suicide. “She’s going to find Complica and bring her back, just like she set out to do. She can do this. Plus if things get bad she can just throw the merc to the swarm to buy time to run away. She’ll be fine one way or another.”

“The wait is killing me,” Specca said holding her hands to her chest. “What if Triska did make it to Rackleholm by now? What if Pip can’t find her in time?”

“Dammit, would you have a little more faith here?” Falla barked out at her. “Seriously, why am I the only one here believing she’ll be fine? She’s your friend isn’t she? She’s your lover, isn’t she? Stop talking like she’s dead already!” All the girls looked to her with wonder as she sighed with exasperation and held her hands to her head.

“You know that girl as well as I do if not better. Honestly, I can picture her literally hacking and slashing her way through the entire village of Rackleholm through those swarm, picking Complica up and carrying her over her shoulder, then fighting her way out again! She’s going to be fine, so stop worrying!”

“You really believe that?” Specca asked curiously.

“No, she’s lying again,” Luna said softly while shaking her head. “But she is trying to make us feel better with the lie.”

“Luna!” Falla shouted at her. “I’m trying to be nice here, why are you ruining this for me?”

Specca looked to the monster entry in the book again with worried eyes then slowly breathed out before closing it and standing up.

“Triska is a brave fighter,” she agreed before she walked over and sat on the bed near the girls. “When I first met her in Ashwood I saw her fighting giant summoned creatures and even taking on a succubus to save her friends. Maybe she can survive encountering the swarm.”

Squeak sat up and wiped a few tears from her eyes then squeaked at the girls with a worried smile, all of them just watching her for a moment before nodding with the same concerned smiles.

“She can do this… she’ll be fine,” Specca shakily reasoned. “At the least I’m sure she can hold out until Pip arrives to get her out of there.”

“I hope Pip finds her soon,” Luna said softly.

“She will, just stop worrying so much,” Falla ordered while holding her hands to her face. “That fairy is hell-bent on finding Triska’s boobs. I sincerely doubt anything will stop her from doing so.”

“If she saves Triska she can do whatever she wants to mine,” Specca admitted looking down to her chest. “I would owe her that at the very least.”

Squeak nodded and looked down to her bosom with worry as well. Luna and Falla exchanged glances then looked towards the black curtain that was pulled over the entryway, both hoping for Pip to return soon with Triska and their princess.

Outside Daniel kept gazing up at the stars while Alyssa stood beside him.

“Daniel, she’ll be fine,” Alyssa tried to reassure him with. “We shouldn’t worry so much like this.”

“Maybe,” he replied distantly, obviously not finding comfort in those words.

“I have an idea,” Alyssa said with a forced smile. “Why don’t you try to focus on your magic again?”

“Alyssa, I’m not really able to focus on that right now.”

“In battle you won’t be offered a quiet and peaceful moment to do so either,” Alyssa pointed out with a shrug. “You do need to be able to control your mind even in the worst of situations. Please. It may help take your mind off of Triska right now. I trust she’ll come back to us, you should too.”

Daniel kept looking up at the sky for a while longer before nodding and giving the witch a small smile that did nothing to hide his concern for his missing mate.

“I suppose you’re right. Triska’s always come through for us before. If anyone can handle this it’s her.”

“And she does have that neko with her too,” Alyssa reminded him. “I’m sure that when they find out swarm are in Rackleholm they’ll get out of there quickly and quietly. I mean not even Triska would be so foolhardy as to try to fight them, she knows they’re dangerous.”

“You’re right, Alyssa,” Daniel agreed with a bit more confidence. “Okay, so what should I do now then?”

“Like I said before, Daniel, you need to concentrate and feel the ether flowing through and around you. It’s a sense that isn’t taught or often even made aware to humans, so I can’t really describe too much more about how to find it. Once you do you’ll know, you’ll figure it out then.”

Daniel nodded and closed his eyes, trying his best to relax his mind. He reminded himself that Triska was trained to fight and survive monster attacks, that she was certainly not one to be messed with when provoked, and that she wouldn’t let anything stop her from coming back to him. Standing there in the field he cleared his mind the best he could, searching for anything that would call to him or show him the way to harnessing the power of magic. As he did Alyssa slowly stepped back and watched him carefully, waiting to see if he would be able to do anything on that night.

Inside the cabin Specca and Squeak walked over to the carrying bags and brought out some plates and tins of food while the butterfly sisters sat together on the edge of the bed.

“We should really pick up some cabinets or dressers in town while we’re here,” Specca mused while she and Squeak walked over to the table. “We have room for them now, it would be much easier to store our clothing and food supplies in them.”

Squeak showed a slight smile and nodded to that as the two sat down and started to make a snack for the night. Specca started to cut some bread then stopped as she glanced to Squeak questionably.

“By the way, back in Flairwood you could have simply kissed me on the lips to throw me off my senses,” she pointed out. Squeak looked at her curiously as the nixie blushed with a timid expression. “You didn’t have to…
kiss
me down there to help ease my struggles, you know that, right?” Squeak merely nodded to that, with Specca watching her with puzzlement now.

“Then why did you lick my ass like that?” she whispered so the sisters couldn’t hear her. “You didn’t have to… do that at all.”

Squeak showed a sultry smile and slowly licked her lips with a twitch of her eyebrow in response. Specca stared at her for a moment then resumed quickly slicing the bread for them with a deeper blush on her face.

“You dirty girl,” she softly said while feeling her heart beating faster.

Over by the bed Luna was looking at the sleeping place of Daniel and his four girls with a curious eye while Falla was fidgeting her hands together in her lap, obviously trying to keep focused and not show her concern about Triska’s fate.

“I wish we could sleep in this bed with them,” Luna whispered with a gentle smile.

“That’s not going to happen,” Falla muttered quietly.

“Falla, what did I tell you earlier? It could, we just have to be good girls for them.”

Falla sighed and looked back at the bed with saddened eyes while her sister laid back and relaxed on it.

“It’s so comfy,” Luna said softly. “It would be a dream if Daniel did me on this bed.”

“Only in your dreams, Luna,” Falla replied with a small smirk.