Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (23 page)

Squeak and Falla gently lifted Triska up by her shoulders, the teen’s head rocking back as she breathed heavily while still unconscious. Luna held Triska’s head still while Squeak parted the girl’s lips with her fingers and Pip fluttered over and landed down on the ant girl’s head to watch. Alyssa slowly held the bowl close to Triska’s mouth while Specca nervously held onto Daniel as she and him anxiously watched the girls preparing to administer the potion.

“Drink up, Triska,” Alyssa said with a worried smile. “You’ll feel better. I promise.”

“Hey!” Clover called out from behind. The group looked to seeing the elf walking in through the curtain while waving the herbs around in her hand. “What the fuck are you doing? You need these to help with her fever, remember?”

“Clover, you’re back,” Specca said with a jump.

“Are those the iscas herbs you were talking about?” Daniel asked as the elf walked over to them.

“Of course they are,” she snapped at him. “I told you I was going to get them, didn’t I? What are you doing, you couldn’t even wait for me to come back before giving her that stuff?”

“You really found some around here?” Alyssa quickly said as she hopped off the bed and rushed up to the elf.

“What do you think I’m holding?” Clover retorted as she held the clump of flowers out to her. “If you’re going to give her that potion then put these in it. Don’t you know anything about handling high fevers?”

Alyssa swiped the flowers from her then rushed over to the table, setting her bowl down before ripping the heads and buds off the plants and crushing them up in her hands. As she sprinkled the powder and crumbled petals into the potion she glanced back to Clover with wonder as the elf was watching Triska with a dull stare.

“Clover, thank you so much,” Specca gratefully said.

“You really came through for us. Thank you,” Daniel praised.

Clover glanced up with an annoyed huff before looking away while crossing her arms in discontent. She then looked back to see Kroanette leaning in through the entryway while watching her with a knowing smile.

Alyssa stirred the herbs into the brew then quickly ran back with it, hopping onto the bed and holding the bowl towards Triska’s mouth while the other girls helped keep her sitting upright and still. Slowly the witch poured some of the liquid into her mouth, letting it go down her throat and allowing her to take another breath before pouring more. Everyone quietly watched, with Clover doing so out of the corner of her eye, as Alyssa gradually gave the whole potion to Triska. Afterwards the girls gently laid her back down on the bed, with the butterfly sisters continuing to fan her with their wings while she kept breathing heavily.

“Is she going to be okay now?” Luna worriedly asked.

“All we can do is wait and see,” Alyssa answered. She then turned to Clover as the elf resumed avoiding eye contact with them. “Thank you, Clover. For bringing us those, they’ll help a lot.”

“Yes, we really appreciate it,” Specca added.

“Whatever,” Clover muttered while facing away from them. She walked over to her bed and sat down on it with a disgruntled sigh. Glancing to her pillow she hesitated for a moment before reaching into the curled leaf and pulling out her fragment of Eden. Eyeing it closely she remained silent while the group watched her curiously, seeing the elf gazing at the artifact while having lost her excitement about it.

“That succubus dropped this,” she spoke, almost to herself though loud enough for everyone to hear. “I suppose there is the chance she found that neko and killed the bitch before taking the artifact from her, though as I recall my priestess’s treasure had the engraved lines set differently than this. This isn’t the same artifact, is it?”

“No,” Specca said walking over to her, eyes resting carefully on the fragment as its edgings briefly glowed blue. “It isn’t the same one. The succubus stole that piece from the city of Ashwood. We were there when she took it.”

“So what you said about there being more of these in Eden was true. You weren’t lying.”

“That’s correct. Nothing we’ve told you has been a lie.”

“Then that means,” Clover said before slowly turning to the nixie as she sat down next to her. “What you said about… the gemini…”

“They’re real too, Clover,” Specca softly warned, with Clover’s eyes widening slightly. “We saw them, up close and personal. We were fortunate to escape with our lives. The legends about them were true. They cannot die, they only live to cause pain and suffering wherever they go, and no mortal weapon or spell can bring them down.”

“They were teleported into the wastelands to the east,” Alyssa spoke up as she walked over to them. “Apoch and Astreal were the ones that got rid of them for us. They can’t be killed, but they can at least be moved away. For now.”

“Only the Archlight’s Blade and Hellfire’s Edge can kill them,” Kroanette explained. “Each of the wretched monsters must take a legendary blade through their heart at the same time for them to truly die. That is what we learned from Charlotte before we came out here.”

“Those things are real too?” Clover asked with disbelief. “They’re nothing but myths; nobody’s even seen those things in real life. How can you be sure they exist?”

“Because we saw one,” Specca answered, earning a surprised look from the elf. “A swordsman wielding the Archlight’s Blade, we saw him personally with the sword. He is the one who is also searching for those fragments. He and others we’ve seen since Ashwood.”

“We saw what that sword can do,” Daniel added. “A deathmare was fought off with it, he scared away that succubus from Ashwood with it, and he used very powerful magic with it to keep the gemini at bay. Charlotte and her helpers also recognized it when they saw it; they knew it to be the mythical blade without a doubt.”

“Where the fuck did he get that thing?” Clover asked with bewilderment.

“We don’t know, we don’t know much about him or those that travel with him,” Daniel said shaking his head. “It’s only been by chance that we’ve crossed paths with them before.”

“Are you all serious?” Clover demanded while looking around at them with concern. “Legendary blades and immortal monsters… that shit’s real? Those are fucking real?”

“Unfortunately yes,” Kroanette answered with a troubled frown. “Seeing is believing, Clover. And we’ve all seen enough to know that they are most certainly real.”

“I still don’t understand,” Specca said while eyeing the relic in Clover’s hand. “What is that for anyway? Why is everyone searching for these, what do they do? What does this Key to Eden unlock?”

“Whatever they are it can’t be good,” Falla reasoned shaking her head.

“Bad things happen to those who have them,” Luna worriedly added.

Squeak shook her head and squeaked something while Pip sat atop her head and eyed the fragment Clover was holding curiously.

“Like we said before, Clover,” Daniel spoke, with the girls looking to him as he watched the relic carefully. “It’s yours. We don’t want that thing, we’ve only seen trouble follow after it, and I don’t want it anywhere around my mates if we can avoid it. By all means take it back to your grove to your priestess if you wish, hide it deep within your forest. But I implore you to warn your priestess about the dangers it will bring your home. Make sure she knows trouble will be coming for it.”

Clover eyed the fragment cautiously, slowly turning it around in her hands while seeing the strange blue glow lighting up along its indented edgings. A strange pulse rippled through her hands and arms from it, the feeling making her grow more uneasy as she began to have trouble doubting the warnings she had been given by the group.

“Tell me,” she slowly requested, glancing around the room at everyone before looking at Alyssa. “What exactly
is
coming after this thing?”

*****

Under a cloudy sky a horse drawn wagon was making its way through The Outerlands along a worn dirt trail. The single black horse was running at a brisk pace while the wooden wheels of the topless cart rolled along the road with a small bump here and there bouncing the ride a little. The wagon had bales of wheat and barley set along its floor while a dark blanket was rolled out atop them with a few brown sacks that rested at the front of the cart. Lying against one of the brown bags gazing up at the clouds above a neko was quietly growling to herself while having her arms resting behind her head and her two swords set beside her.

“I should have waited for the next ride to pass me by,” Tabitha muttered before glancing over to the source of her increasing ire. Lying next to the neko another monster was seen in the wagon. Her long dark silky hair was smooth and went down past her shoulders, her bangs dropping low over her forehead and nearly covering her pink eyes. Her mouth was set in a happy smile that she had on her face ever since Tabitha hitched a ride earlier that day. She wore a gray strapless dress that was ripped and stretched over her large bust, a red satin embroidered belt around her waist with a large purple bow ribbon tied on the left side, and a narrow bladed dagger holstered without a sheath against her stomach at an angle under the belt. Below her short dress she had the body of a snake, the underbelly being soft beige while her scales were dark brown with lighter spots all along it towards the end of her long tail.

“And that’s when I finally decided to come out here,” the snake girl continued with a cheery tone, eyes gazing up at the clouds, and awareness that Tabitha couldn’t care less what she had to say not being seen in the least. “I mean all my friends captured men to be with but not me, hee hee! I never found one to give me a little baby girl. I mean I did find a few but they didn’t live long enough to get me pregnant. I guess I got a little
excited
when I coiled up around them; they looked so
goddamn sexy
… I just couldn’t help but
stab them over and over again
! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Tabitha glanced to her with a low growl as the snake girl looked to her with a strained smile, seeming to be struggling with frowning and smiling at the same time while giggling with a gleam in her eye.

“You know what I’m talking about, right? Of course you do, everyone knows what it’s like… having that…
sexy
human right in your clutches… it’s just so
nrrghmmm!
” Her tail coiled up below her while she held her hands to her face, rubbing her cheeks and smothering her smile with eyes twitching a few times. “I couldn’t help it… I just kept
killing
every human I found. They bled all over my scales… so
much
. It was
so hot
! HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

Tabitha didn’t show concern or alarm from seeing the snake girl laughing manically with wide eyes and a deranged smile on her face, nor flinched in the slightest as the twisted monster rolled around on her back gasping for air and grunted loudly. She didn’t show any reaction because after the first six hours of seeing the girl behaving this way it had started to lose its shock appeal.

“You are one messed up naga,” Tabitha muttered, not being heard by the snake monster as she kept laughing to herself.

“So now I’m finally coming out here to buy my own human, one who I can rape before I
gut him like a fishy!
” the naga laughed before gasping for air and spinning around, her tail coiling up around her before she faced Tabitha with a wide smile on her face. “I’ve been saving up; I’m finally ready to buy my own man. It’s going to be so
perfect
. We’re going to make sweet love to each other, then I’ll crush his bones
with my body
, then I’ll stab him
in the face! Again and again and again and again!
HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Lovely,” Tabitha flatly replied before looking over her shoulder towards the driver. “Why the hell did you give her a ride anyway?”

Seated at the front of the ride was a very tall and skinny old looking woman, clad in only a dark red robe and cowl while her pale skin was stretched over her long bones. Her curled green hair was poking out from the top of the hood while her pointed chin extended out in front in front of her face which was hidden under the cowl. One hand was holding the reins to her horse while the other was drumming its fingers on her chest, her long unkempt nails being yellow with black edges that matched her toenails which were seen with her bare feet.

“What was I supposed to do?” the woman asked in a raspy voice. “She just appeared back there saying she needed a ride. Telling her no was only met with her giving me her life story and laughing about how she’s killed every man she’s tried to copulate with.”

“So you just let her stay back here?”

“Listen, little kitty, I don’t have the strength in my old age to rape a man like I used to back in the day, much less throw a spry naga with obvious dementia out of my carriage. She hasn’t turned her blade towards me yet, so I can’t really complain about the awkward company she’s forced upon me.”

“But she’s crazy,” Tabitha said looking to the naga who was watching her with a twisted smile while giggling and her left eye blinking a few times.

“Be that as it may, nothing I can do about her,” the woman laughed with a shrug. “But it’s fortunate you wanted a ride as well. Should she turn violent I can try and escape while she sinks her blade into you.”

Tabitha sighed with annoyance as she saw the naga staring deeply at her while her tail slowly unraveled around her body.

“I like
your fur
,” the naga said with a strained smile at the end, forcing the words out before she grabbed her hair and giggled more. “It’s so
pretty
.”

“So you’ve said, many times now,” Tabitha dryly replied.

“Can I
skin you alive
? Pretty please? I want to
wear
you.”

“No, you cannot, as I’ve told you many times now.”

“Okay. I’ll ask again later in case you change your mind.”

“I know you will,” Tabitha flatly said before looking up at the sky again. After a minute the naga leaned over and smiled down at her, her long hair dropping down around Tabitha’s head as the neko quietly hissed at the girl.

“Are you going to Helchberg too?” the naga asked while grabbing her own face and giggling.