Chronicles of Eden - Act V (9 page)

“I… helped,” she softly replied before passing out.

Everyone looked at the fairy with wonder then to each other, all of them then slowly turning to gaze out at the grove of the giant butterflies that was within seeing distance now.

“Pip… you sure did,” Daniel agreed.

The group stood there in awe as they beheld Flairwood right before them, all stunned to have arrived so quickly and by means they thought impossible. After a while of silence to take in the fact that what they were seeing was indeed real Falla glanced to Alyssa with a raised eyebrow in question.

“So, chances for her are zero, huh?”

In the world of Eden first impressions were key when wishing to form healthy new relationships and allies. It was important to present oneself in a manner that wasn’t threatening, was polite and respectful of those around them, and prepared to speak with friendly or comforting words to help with the greeting. If one were to come across as rude, dangerous, or untrustworthy, then that was the association that would make the most impact with the new contact. If one wanted to make new friends or assure others that they could be trusted every action and word they spoke counted and had to be carefully thought out. However if they didn’t wish to make new friends then their first impression with others may be completely different.

For some their more hostile nature may be seen before anything else.

*****

Daniel gazed at the grove of Flairwood with wonder, words failing him as he beheld the home of the giant butterflies earlier than anticipated. As he sat on the front seat of the caravan the wagon was riding towards the monster haven with Alyssa at the reins and with Luna and Falla sitting on top of the caravan watching as their home slowly drew nearer.

“Look, Falla,” Luna said pointing ahead. “We’re almost home again. How long has it been since we were here last?”

“It’s been a while,” Falla replied. “I wonder if my old friends are still here.”

“Me too. I hope Sererca and Vivi are still here. Oh, and Rallendina, I have to visit her and tell her about everything that-”

“No, Luna,” Falla sternly interrupted. “You’re staying here in the caravan when we arrive.”

“What?” Luna whined with a frown. “But why?”

“Luna, have you forgotten what happened the last time you were here?” Falla asked with exasperation.

“Um… can I get a hint?”

“Yes, you can,” Falla said dryly. “Remember the pageant that was being held by our monarch?”

“Oh, yeah!” Luna happily said with a few hops. “That was fun, everyone was all dressed up in beautiful floral arrangements and the sunlight coming down through the trees was so lovely and-”

“And you ruined it by dousing the entire gathering with rainwater from above!” Falla shouted out at her. At this point Daniel and Alyssa were looking up at them with curious glances while Falla grabbed her hair with frustration. “The entire event was ruined because
somebody
tried to clear the branches to get more sunlight to shine down on everyone!”

“But… but…” Luna whimpered while scooting back a bit. “I just wanted to help. Everyone was saying the event would look better with more light. I only wanted to help by moving a few branches in the trees.”

“You moved those that were holding rainwater from when it rained that morning!” Falla stressed. “You ruined the pageant
and
drenched our monarch in front of everyone!”

“Monarch?” Daniel asked.

“Our queen, the monarch butterfly,” Falla snapped with a glance to him. “You know, like how you have a queen for your kingdom? A monarch is our leader, and the one in Flairwood would
not
be happy to see Luna return. In fact, I don’t think anyone is going to be happy to see her.”

“She’s an outcast like I am with the witch community?” Alyssa asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not an outcast,” Luna pouted while looking down and away.

“No, she’s not an outcast,” Falla sighed. “Everyone in Flairwood knows of Luna and how… special she is. It’s only because the princess of Flairwood likes her so much that she’s not banished from the land. Because of that all the butterflies try to… tolerate her, if they can.”

“The princess of Flairwood?” Daniel asked. “So you two know the royal family well then?”

“You bet we do,” Luna said with a bright smile at him. “The princess and I are best friends.”

“It’s only because you make her laugh with your antics,” Falla reasoned with a roll of her eyes. “She probably sees you as a jester or something, she doesn’t know that’s how you really are.”

“That’s not true,” Luna argued with a pout. “She loves playing with me, she even said I was her best friend last time we were here.”

“So do you think you could help introduce me to your monarch then?” Daniel asked hopefully. “That would be great if you could do that.”

“Well,” Luna replied nervously. “The monarch usually isn’t too happy to see me… but I’m sure the princess could help. I hope. I’ll talk to her and see if she can help you.”

“Luna, you’re staying in the caravan,” Falla ordered. “It’s going to be hard enough to get Daniel an audience with our monarch, but I don’t want to have to watch over you while we’re in the grove again. Not to mention whenever you’re here everyone blames
me
for any trouble you cause.”

“I’m not going to cause trouble,” Luna huffed while crossing her arms. Falla merely groaned while holding a hand over her face.

Daniel smiled weakly at them then looked to Alyssa with a shrug, the witch holding in her giggle as she looked ahead again.

“Daniel?” Triska said as she poked her head out from behind the curtain. “Pip’s not waking up, what should we do?”

“She’s probably exhausted after using so much magic earlier,” he reasoned with a shrug. “Just let her rest for now, that’s all we can do.”

“I still can’t believe she brought us all the way to Flairwood like that,” Triska said looking ahead at the approaching grove. “It’s almost too good to be true.”

“She really came through for us,” Daniel agreed with a nod. “When she wakes up we’ll have to thank her for all her hard work.”

“What about Kroanette?” Alyssa asked glancing to them. “She was going to take us to see the centaur empress, and now she’s two days behind us.”

“Well,” Daniel pondered. “I suppose all we can do is try to win over the monarch of Flairwood, then we start making our way back and hope to meet up with her along the way. If we’re both traveling towards each other we should meet up eventually.”

“You do realize this is Kroanette we’re talking about, right?” Triska reminded him. “She has absolutely no sense of direction. We’ll be heading back towards where we were and she’ll likely be racing off in some other random direction in search of us.”

“We might never see her again,” Alyssa sighed.

“She knows where Flairwood is,” Daniel defended. “She insisted she knew how to get here quicker than even Falla did.”

“And the reason why we didn’t listen to her is because she’s Kroanette,” Alyssa quipped. “Remember when we tried taking one of her ‘shortcuts’ yesterday? We traveled in circles for four hours before we resumed our normal route.”

“She got lost in the woods when we stopped for a rest break,” Triska mentioned. “We were right next to the one and only hill, and she couldn’t find us for an hour.”

“She can get turned around from time to time,” Daniel reluctantly agreed.

“Yep, never seeing her again,” Triska flatly said before going back into the cabin. Daniel sighed and looked down shaking his head while Alyssa glanced over to the side at the passing trees, both remaining silent as they wondered if Kroanette could indeed find her way back to them.

“Is Kroanette coming too?” Luna asked. Daniel and Alyssa looked up to see Luna leaning over the edge of the roof while watching them curiously. “When is she getting here? I wanted to show her my home.”

“She might not be coming,” Alyssa answered. “We’ll be lucky to find her after we leave Flairwood.”

“All we can do is hope she knows how to get here,” Daniel reasoned. “We’ll meet up with her after we’re done in Flairwood. I hope.”

“Is she going to be alright out there on her own?” Luna asked worriedly.

“Of course she will,” Daniel reassured her. “She’s used to traveling alone anyway, she’ll be just fine until we find her again. I’m sure she’s keeping a level head and remaining under control like always.”

*****

“WAAAH!” Kroanette cried out as she galloped along the road in a panic. “Where are they? What happened to them? Where do I go now? WAAAH!”

The centaur quickly raced along the dirt road, frantically searching all over for any sign of her friends or their caravan. She raced off the beaten path and weaved through a wooded area before charging through some bushes onto another grassy trail leading downhill towards a river.

“Daniel? Daniel!” she called out desperately. “Triska! Squeak! Alyssa! Anyone! Where are you?”

Running blindly along the path she kept looking all around her, seeing only passing trees and shrubbery as her galloping hooves echoed out in the wilderness. As she ran down the hillside and along next to the small river she started breathing heavily before finally slowing down to a halt as she scampered around in circles. All she saw surrounding her were trees and a few moss covered boulders, with no sign of her missing friends anywhere.

“Oh crap, oh crap oh crap oh crap! What do I do now? Where could they be?” She held her hands to her face and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves before looking back from where she had come from. “Okay, try to get a hold of yourself, Kroanette. That fairy did something with her magic, this is all her doing. She… she took them all off somewhere. Dammit, what did that accursed little monster do?”

Slowly she started walking back towards the hillside leading up to where her friends had vanished, her hands fidgeting together while she looked down at the flowing stream next to her.

“Alright, they couldn’t have gotten too far. Wherever they are now I’m sure they’re close by. I just have to search for them. I’ll sweep the area all around where they vanished, surely they’ll turn up after a while.”

Suddenly she dropped down onto her knees, her body feeling numb while her breathing became ragged. The world started to slowly spin as she felt extremely drowsy, her vision fading in and out as she collapsed down onto her side.

“Wha… what’s… happening… to…”

Looking over to her side she saw three darts stuck into her thigh, her hand trembling as she reached over and yanked them out. She felt no pain from the punctures as her body lost all feeling. Slowly she started to lose consciousness, her hearing picking up the laughter of men nearby before she blacked out.

*****

“Wow,” Daniel said in wonder, his eyes staring nearly straight up as the group approached the edge of Flairwood. As they did he and Alyssa saw just how monumental the grove’s surrounding trees really were. The towering lumber stood high above the coppice’s inner trees, with each one of the colossal timbers appearing to be a mile wide and reaching high up into the sky near the clouds. Light managed to pierce through the widespread branches and enormous leaves the trees had up above however only small beams here and there reached all the way down through the canopy. What really illuminated the grove were softly glowing blooms of green and yellow lights that drifted around in the air above. Each one seemed to cast the area around it with a warm light while those that floated by sunbeams from above radiated with a sparkly bloom.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Alyssa said softly.

“What are those glowing lights?” Daniel asked pointing to the gently floating glowing orbs.

“I dunno,” Luna replied with a shrug.

“They say this grove was once inhabited by magical monsters,” Falla explained. “When the first giant butterflies came and found this place it was abandoned, but those glowing lights always remained. They’ve been there forever, they never fade or go away. But they never cause any problems. You could wave your hand right through one without a scratch, so we didn’t find them to be a threat.”

“That’s incredible,” Daniel said before looking up again. “And these trees, how did they get to be so big?”

“I dunno,” Luna replied with a shrug.

“They’ve always been that way,” Falla answered. “They protect and hide our home from the outside world. This is our haven where we can live in peace.”

As the caravan was pulled along by Lucky towards the grove they saw that the village of trees nestled together under the towering lumber all around were taller than normal trees as well. Many of them had wooden balconies and porches built into the sides of their wide trunks while the fluttering wings of giant butterflies started to be seen amongst the orchard and glowing lights.

“I think I see them,” Daniel said peering ahead. “Giant butterflies.”

“Alright, hold on a minute,” Falla ordered before she fluttered over in front of the group and held out her hands. Alyssa snapped the reins to get Lucky to stop as Falla glanced back to the village then to Daniel with a stern expression.

“What’s wrong?” he asked while Luna watched her sister curiously.

“We need to get a few rules set here before you enter,” Falla firmly stated. “I agreed to help you speak to our kind, and I meant it. However I’m not going to have you causing trouble with those that live here or ruining anything for them in the process.”

“What do you mean?” Daniel asked shaking his head.

“What do you think we’re going to do in there anyway?” Alyssa questioned with a raised eyebrow. “Start a fight with a giant butterfly or something?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Falla snapped then quickly fluttered over in front of Daniel with an accusing glare. “Now you listen to me, Daniel. Inside this grove there are human men, just like you.”

“There are? Here?”

“Yes, here. And you’re not to say a single word to any of them, understand?”

“Why not?” Daniel and Alyssa asked together.

“Because the men here are with giant butterflies,” Falla explained. “Ones that they chose to be with for one reason or another.”