Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (20 page)

“What did we do?” Luna said with a shrug.

“You two helped my magic become even stronger with lending me your spirits. I had to attack the demon, but I couldn’t use any harmful magic otherwise I might have hurt Triska. So I struck at her with the blunt force of the wind, I felt both of your auras channeling into that attack. I was able to knock the succubus away and break Triska free from her grip because of you two.”

“Really? We did that?” Falla said with awe.

“WE HELPED DANIEL! WE HELPED DANIEL!” Luna cheered while dancing around merrily, laughing like a maniac with her wings fluttering wildly behind her.

“What the fuck is wrong with her?” Clover asked waving to the crazed butterfly girl.

“She’s just being Luna,” Triska replied as the other girls watched their special friend laughing and hopping about. Daniel chuckled and nodded as they saw Luna going off the deep end momentarily before she jumped back over to Daniel’s side and smiled gently at him while holding her hands to her cheeks.

“I’m glad I was able to help you, Daniel.”

“You did, you all did,” Daniel gratefully said looking around at the group before he lowered his head and showed a remorseful frown. “But I still couldn’t beat her. After I caught Triska from her fall I felt so exhausted, I couldn’t even stand up. I couldn’t do anything but watch as she was taken away from me again.”

“Daniel, you tried harder than any of us even believed you could,” Triska reassured him while reaching over and taking hold of his hand. “You actually charged a Darker One to protect me, and you fought so bravely against her. I wasn’t sure if I was dreaming or not at the time, you were so amazing to come after me like that.”

“It’s incredible what you were able to do with us sharing our spirits with you,” Specca said while watching Daniel with awe. “I never knew the spell would transfer such traits or abilities like that.”

“Just think how much stronger you can get if you keep practicing, Daniel,” Alyssa eagerly encouraged. “You could probably cut apart a succubus with your magic without even trying then.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Daniel said with a weak smile while rubbing the back of his neck, then looked at Triska with worried eyes again. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, I really did try. I didn’t even see your aura in my mind again when I used my magic, I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

Triska shook her head then quickly leaned forward to hug him, holding him close while resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes with a gentle smile on her face. Pip fluttered up in the air and watched as Triska held onto Daniel while burying her face in his shoulder.

“You came for me, that’s all I care about. You’re already my hero, Daniel. You always have been.”

“Triska,” he softly said while holding her close.

“Don’t worry about not seeing my aura yet, you were too focused on kicking that bitch’s ass to save me, you probably just didn’t notice it. Don’t ever apologize for coming after me, it means the world to me that you did.” She then leaned back and nudged his nose using hers with a loving smile. “You’d better take me soon though. I need to thank my knight in shining armor properly for coming to my rescue after all.”

Daniel smiled and nodded while the other girls watched them with relief that Triska was safe and sound with them again. Clover however merely rolled her eyes and looked back to her artifact, examining the object with a dull expression before glancing back to Daniel briefly.

“If you insist,” Daniel jested with a shrug. He saw Triska showing an eager smile to that, then noticed that for a quick second a different look came over her. It was fleeting and faint, but for a moment he believed he saw a dark smile come across Triska’s face, her eyes almost giving off a cerulean glow and appearing colder. However after that she appeared normal in his eyes again as she winked at him with a small giggle.

“Oh, I do,” Triska purred before leaning back in her chair. Daniel slowly nodded then looked down while questioning what he thought happened.

“Can we go now?” Clover dryly asked. Everyone turned to her as she drummed her fingers on the table impatiently while glancing around at them with a dull expression. “You’re all back together and happy again, so what are we waiting for? I thought you wanted me to help you in Stonegate, didn’t you?”

“You’re still alright with helping us search for Ember?” Daniel asked curiously.

“Are we going or not?” Clover snapped. “I said I would, so I’m going to. You’re my ride back home in case you’ve already forgotten. So let’s go and get this over with.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Alyssa agreed looking to Daniel with a worried smile. “Can we now? She might even be there as we speak.”

“Yes, the sooner we find her the sooner you can be with your daughter again,” Daniel assured her. Alyssa looked down while fidgeting her hands together, hoping Ember was close by despite the warnings she had been given about her, while Daniel turned his eyes to Pip. “What do you say, Pip? Can you take us all closer to Stonegate so we can look for Alyssa’s daughter?”

“I can do it!” Pip cheered with a hop in the air. “I can! I can!”

“I’ll get Lucky hitched to the caravan,” Kroanette said before she quickly trotted over towards the horse.

“We’re going to find her, Alyssa,” Specca assured the witch, with Alyssa nodding and holding her hands around her focuser crystal.

“I hope so,” she quietly voiced.

“About fucking time we got going,” Clover muttered as she got up with her chair screeching against the floor. She walked over to her bed in the corner and pushed the fragment of Eden into the rolled up leaf that was her pillow, making sure it didn’t create a noticeable bulge as she fluffed the cushion before she sat on her bed and lied down on it with a grunt.

“Alright, Pip,” Daniel said with a confident smile at the fairy. “You remember where Stonegate is?”

“Yes, I do!” she proudly answered.

“And you’re not going to take us
directly
into the city, right?” Specca asked with a nervous smile. “Just take us close enough so that Alyssa and Clover can get there on Lucky.”

“I got it.”

Squeak pointed to the side and squeaked something with concern then to Pip before down at the floor and shaking her head while squeaking more at the fairy.

“…what?”

“Just do your best, Pip,” Daniel kindly said to her. “I know you’ll get us to where we need to be.”

“Okay, I won’t let you down, Daniel! Are we all ready to go then?”

“For fuck’s sake, yes!” Clover shouted while keeping her eyes up at the ceiling.

“Wait a minute,” Triska said looking around behind her, with Clover growling loudly and glaring at the girl. “My sword’s still outside. Let me go get that first.”

“Hurry up!” Clover yelled as she held her head with both hands out of frustration.

“Calm down, we’ll be on our way in a minute,” Triska dryly retorted as she headed for the entryway. She quickly brushed aside the curtain and hopped out of the ride while Kroanette finished hooking Lucky up to the caravan.

“Triska?” the centaur asked as the teen ran off.

“Just a second, Kroanette,” Triska laughed as she made her way over to her sword. She quickly grabbed her blade and sheathed it behind her before shrugging at her friend. “Can’t leave this behind.”

“It would be troublesome to have to come all the way back for it,” Kroanette playfully mused as Triska ran back over to her. She then watched as the girl stumbled in her run before dropping down onto her hands and knees. “Triska? Hey, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Triska said with a wave of the hand before she slowly started to get up again. “Just a little… a little… dizzy…”

She took another step then collapsed onto the ground with a thump, seeming to lose consciousness as she didn’t make a sound even with her fall.

“Triska?” Kroanette called out before she quickly ran over to her. She tried to budge the human, getting no reaction from her, before scampering around in a panic. “Hey, what’s wrong with you? Wake up!”

“Kroanette?” Daniel called out from the cabin. “What’s going on?”

“Triska fainted!”

“She what?” Specca exclaimed.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Clover shouted out. “We’re supposed to be going now! What the hell is wrong with all of you anyway? If one of you isn’t unconscious another just drops for no fucking reason!”

“Shut up, Clover!” Alyssa snapped at her before the girls and Daniel quickly rushed out of the cabin and over to Triska. Kroanette kneeled down and turned the unconscious girl over onto her back then tried shaking her, still getting no response as Triska appeared to be out cold.

“Triska! Wake up!”

“What happened to her?” Alyssa demanded as she and Squeak quickly knelt down beside the human. Daniel rushed over and tried shaking Triska by the shoulders, also not getting any reaction from her.

“Triska? Can you hear me? Triska!”

“She just passed out,” Kroanette explained shaking her head. “She was fine a moment ago then dropped like a rock.”

“Just get her in the caravan so we can go already,” Clover groaned while holding a hand over her face.

“Clover, I swear to god if you do not shut your mouth I will take that fragment of Eden and shove it up your ass!” Specca screamed at the girl. Everyone stared at her in stunned silence as she took a moment to fume with anger and frustration at the elf before she looked back down to Triska with growing concern.

“Triska? Wake up, please,” Daniel begged as she shook the girl. “I don’t understand, what happened to her? She was perfectly fine, why would she faint like this?”

Everyone but Clover watched as Triska remained unresponsive to their calls and efforts to wake her up. After being unsuccessful with getting her to open her eyes or even flinch from being shaken Squeak quickly picked up the girl and rushed her back towards the caravan with everyone else following, all but Clover who kept looking down at the ground with a stubborn scowl on her face. With a frustrated sigh she then headed back towards the ride, hands lightly pulling on her pigtails as she tried to deal with the stress of once again having to wait for the group to take her home.

*****

Daniel watched from in front of the bed as Triska continued to lay motionless on it with the other girls sitting around her and showing the same distress in their eyes as he did. Even Pip was showing she was worried about Triska, as instead of flying around the ceiling or diving into one of the girls’ chests she was sitting on Daniel’s shoulder while watching the unconscious girl with a saddened eye. Kroanette was leaning her upper body through the entryway as she waited to hear what had happened to her friend, a nervous frown on her face as she feared what could be plaguing the girl. Clover was sitting on her bed and leaning back against the wall, watching the other girls out of the corner of her eye while she quietly muttered something to herself.

“She’s burning up,” Specca worriedly said as she held a hand on Triska’s forehead. “I don’t understand, how could she get this sick so quickly?”

“What’s wrong with her?” Luna asked as they saw Triska starting to sweat with her fever. “Why is she getting so hot like that?”

Alyssa watched with growing distress as Triska’s breathing started to get heavier, her sweating increasing as well while her face began to become flushed.

“If only I knew how to put this fire out,” she quietly said while taking hold of Triska’s hand.

“I bet that coldhearted bitch did this to her,” Falla cautioned.

“How could Clover have done this to Triska?” Specca questioned.

“Fuck
all
of you!” Clover shouted while pointing around at all the girls.

“Not her, the succubus,” Falla corrected shaking her head. “Triska was perfectly fine until that monster got its hands on her. Even after Clover brought her back she wasn’t quite the same. Something happened to her.”

“I thought Pip saved Triska from being turned into another succubus though,” Luna worriedly mentioned.

“She stopped the Darker One from converting her, Triska was still herself when she came back to us,” Alyssa reasoned while hoping her words were true.

“She was, but perhaps whatever that succubus did to her made her ill,” Specca pondered while watching Triska carefully. “I wouldn’t be shocked if this was indeed the fault of that wretched demon.”

Squeak licked Triska’s cheek a few times, squeaking quietly while seeing the human not reacting to her saliva before looking around at the other girls and squeaking urgently. Everyone watched as Squeak was obviously panicking as she frantically squeaked and turned to one girl then another while waving her hands around.

“What’s with her?” Clover dryly asked.

“She can’t heal Triska with her saliva, she doesn’t know what to do,” Specca explained as she looked down to Triska with a few tears starting to form in her eyes. “None of us know what to do.”

“Alyssa, can’t you make a potion for her or something?” Luna desperately asked the witch. “You have all your stuff for your magic over there; can’t you make something to help her?”

“I don’t know what to make,” Alyssa replied shaking her head. “I can’t just make a random potion and give it to her, it could end up making things much worse. I need to know what’s doing this to her to make an antidote.”

“There has to be something that can be done for her,” Falla said, looking around at all the girls hoping someone would think of an idea.

Daniel clenched his fists with frustration as he saw his mate suffering with her illness, feeling a painful spike in his heart as he recalled how Katie had mocked him before flying off with the girl.

“She really is worth killing for, isn’t she? Such a shame you’re too weak to even stand now. What a pathetic knight in shining armor you turned out to be for her, haha!”

“Triska,” he quietly voiced, watching with inner agony at seeing all the girls fretting over what they could do to help their friend. “This is my fault. This is all my fault.”

“You didn’t do this to her,” Pip softly said to him. “Why are you saying this is your fault?”

“I failed to protect her,” Daniel mourned shutting his eyes, voice cracking with his breathing struggling to balance. The girls watched as he held his hands to his face and struggled to hold in his yell of anger at himself. “This is all my fault, if I had only been able to keep fighting, to stop that demon from taking her away, none of this would be happening.”