The Poison Princess (37 page)

“Which way now?” Scarlett asked, snapping the
princess from her daydreams.

“Mmm. Right.” Ruby looked around, thinking
about where they were. “Willow’s Wood,” she eventually said,
pointing toward a nearby forest. “Through there is the fastest way
back to Lavidia.”

“We haven’t exactly had the best luck in our
travels,” the horned demon pointed out. “Wouldn’t it be safer to go
around the forest?”

The princess shook her head. “Would take too
long. Besides, Willow’s Wood isn’t dangerous. Scariest thing that’s
supposed to live there are wood spirits. I can’t imagine they’re
going to pose much of a threat.”

“If you say so, my princess,” Scarlett
replied.

There was a well-worn path carved through the forest making the
walk through Willow’s Wood easy to follow. After what they had
endured ascending and then descending Rashtalg, it was a welcome
change. After making it to the base of the mountain, the
temperature had increased back to the heat of summer. The canopy of
the woods, however, had cooled them down significantly, and they
walked along in relative comfort.

The Willow’s Wood got its name not only from
Ruby’s family surname, but also because that type of tree was the
most prevalent among the forest. The lazy looking trees drooped
down all throughout the woods, their branches nearly scraping the
mossy ground. The whole forest was a drastic change in scenery and
environment for Ruby and Scarlett. Ever since leaving the
underground caverns beneath the Abyss, they seemed to have been
plagued with frightening enemies and gloomy surroundings. In the
Willow’s Wood, however, there was pleasant green grass, blooming
flowers, birds chirping in the distance, and little animals of the
forest scampered about, looking for nuts and berries in the
underbrush.

Scarlett, frankly, found the setting to be
off putting. The horned demon liked the darkness of places like
Gloomport and the violence they had found at the Roof of the World.
Despite the danger, she found those places to have been exciting
and reason to exist in Nabiria. The forest was dull, safe, and
predictable. She was eager to leave it and find something more
interesting.

The princess didn’t think much of the woods
either. Before she had been poisoned and bonded with a demon, she
had come to the forest, escorted by her father’s guards. Back then,
the place had seemed so much more interesting, but she found
herself bored with the pleasant little critters and pretty flowers.
The darkness within her craved the destruction and dire straits
that she had found herself enveloped in over the past weeks. Ruby
found herself wishing that there were something in the forest that
might attack them, but she knew there were nothing but innocent
creatures and spirits of nature dwelling there. She just needed
relief from the unrelenting cheerfulness of the woods.

Eventually, they came to a clearing in the
heart of the forest that was filled with a small pond. Little lily
pads floated on its surface, and ducks skimmed along, quacking and
flapping about. The pleasant scene was simply too much for the
princess, who was so full of darkness that innocence and nature now
seemed abhorrent and disgusting to her. She walked over to the edge
of the pond and looked down at her rippling reflection below. A
cruel thought occurred to her, and Ruby grinned at herself, glad to
have had it.

Scarlett joined her master and noticed the
smile. “What is it?”

“I think this place could use a bit more
color.”

The horned demon looked about the pond and
forest with something of a scowl. “I think it’s got too much color
as it is.”

Ruby’s grin widened, as she looked over to
her demonic companion. “I was thinking something a bit darker.”

Scarlett understood her master’s intent and
returned her own wicked little smile.

The princess leaned forward over the water
and twisted the poison lever situated in her chest. The toxic
sludge poured out and slopped into the pond, quickly spreading and
corrupting the waters. She turned the lever back off and then sat
down in the grass, watching the dark purple take over the
blue-green pond. Scarlett joined Ruby, sitting beside her and
leaning her head on her master’s shoulder. They sat there and
watched like a young couple enjoying a romantic sunset, having no
real concern for the life and nature they were destroying.

The purple poison glided along the water’s
surface, quickly covering the entire pond. Just as when she had
corrupted the river near Gloomport, the fish that had been swimming
in the water floated to the surface and hung there, suspended
upside down. Any ducks unfortunate enough to have stayed in the
pond were similarly infected, the dark ooze covering their
feathers. Some tried to fly off, as the venom touched them only to
come crashing back down and splashing into the water. After the
poison spread through the pond, it didn’t stop. Though moving much
slower out of water, the toxin began to creep up through vines to
the grass and trees of the forest. The vivid colors of the wood
soon began to fade, being replaced by dark purples, blacks, and
sickening greens. Ruby leaned back, lying on the ground, and her
demon joined her, cuddling up against her.

“You’re right,” Scarlett said. “A little
color makes all the difference.”

“I’m glad you like it,” the princess
replied.

The horned demon was more than a little
aroused by the much-needed change in scenery and by seeing her
princess’ darkness manifest in such a way. Lying on her side,
facing Ruby, Scarlett’s hand began to caress her companion’s
midsection. When she had ascertained that her princess was in the
mood, she began to hike up the dress and move her hand father
down.

Interrupting them, however, a voice called
from behind. “What has happened to the pond?”

Ruby groaned at the interruption, and they
both turned to see a spirit of the wood rush out from the line of
trees surrounding the pond. The spirit’s skin was light green, and
she wore strewn together brown leaves as clothing over most of her
body. Her hair fell down over her shoulders nearly to her waist,
but it wasn’t the hair of a human. These were thick, green vines,
and pink flowers grew along their length. Despite her strange
appearance, the spirit was quite lovely. The skin of her face was a
slightly paler green and was offset by vivid red lips. Her eyes
were deep brown, and the lashes hanging over them looked like
little twigs, curling upward toward her mossy green eyebrows. Her
lightly furred ears jutted out some distance from her head in sharp
triangles, giving her the appearance of a fox or similar beast.
Protruding out from her vine hair was a pair of great antlers
reaching far above her and branching out into a dozen different
tines of varying length. At her back was a pair of wooden colored
wings comprised of large brown feathers. Through her legs, Ruby and
Scarlett could see the end of a long, furry tail that transitioned
from the same dark brown color of her ears to a clean white tip at
the end. Rather than humanoid feet, the forest spirit had wide,
cleft brown hooves that were speckled with little white spots. In
one hand, she held a long, gnarled walking staff tipped with a
jagged rock with white symbols painted onto its surface.

“Do you mind?” Ruby said, looking up. “We
were in the middle of something.”

“What are you talking about?” the spirit
asked. “We must cleanse the pond.”

“We think it’s better like this,” the
princess replied, looking from her nodding horned demon up to the
horrified agent of the woods.

The spirit then looked under the princess and
Scarlett to see that the very grass they laid on had died and
turned a darker color. “It is you! You have defiled the forest! You
corrupt these woods with your mere presence!”

“That may be,” Ruby said. “But what do you
intend to do about it?”

The guardian of the wood seemed taken off
guard. She stared into the princess’ dark eyes, inspected her pale
skin, and saw the poison hidden inside. “You are infected. You must
be cleansed as well. I will help you.” She raised her gnarled
wooden staff, pointing the stone end toward Ruby. The painted
symbols on the stone began to glow, as she channeled her power
through it.

The princess, however, sat fully upright and
knocked the stone out of her face, glowering. “I don’t need your
help.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying. The
corruption is clouding your mind.” She pointed her staff back
toward Ruby and continued her spell.

Again, the princess knocked the staff out of
her face.

Scarlett agreed with her master’s assertion.
“My princess doesn’t need your help.”

“A demon?” The spirit asked. “How have you
fallen so far to bond yourself with such a dark thing? You must
accept my help before this beast destroys your soul forever.”

“Beast?” Scarlett repeated, furrowing her
brow. The horned demon raised her hand, palm forward and pushed the
forest warden away, knocking her into the trunk of a tree, where
she fell to the grassy ground.

Ruby stood up, surprise washing over her
face. “You just attacked a nature spirit.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Scarlett asked,
joining her master.

“I’m not sure I mind exactly,” the princess
replied. Pointing a finger toward the tree line, she continued,
“But they might.”

Behind where the forest spirit landed, a
handful of other guardians of the wood came out to join her. They
varied a great deal from the first one that the women had met, but
each wore fragments of the forest as part of their body. One had a
pair of wings on her back that was made of the webs of spiders. A
large red mushroom with little yellow speckles covering its surface
like barnacles covered another’s head. A pair of the spirits looked
to be composed almost entirely of wood, appearing as human-shaped
skeletons made from bark. Some stood upright on two feet, while
others were down like wild beasts. The wood wardens that emerged
from the trees, saw the poison infesting the forest, and glared at
Ruby and Scarlett. They all carried with them some form of weapon,
carved from the ingredients the forest had supplied them.

“Has your magic recovered?” Ruby asked her
demon.

“To an extent. I suppose it depends on what
you need me to do.”

“Grab my hammer and a poison cocktail. I
don’t think these wood spirits are going to be as friendly as they
could be.”

Scarlett reached into the void and pulled out
the poison first, handing it to her master. While Ruby uncorked the
vial of murky black liquid, the horned demon reached back in again,
this time with both hands. One retrieved the war hammer that the
princess had requested, while the other grabbed her own scythe with
which she had accustomed herself. After Ruby had finished the
poisonous flask, she dropped the glass to the ground and took the
hammer from her servant.

The fresh venom flowing inside her body
invigorated the princess. She felt as powerful as she ever had, but
that didn’t mean she was ready to try generating another maelstrom.
No, this incursion with the forest would require a bit more
finesse. The spirits of the wood were plentiful, and she knew this.
Ruby would have to preserve her strength to deal with their
threat.

The first spirit stood with the aid of
another. Her face was full of sadness. “It doesn’t have to be like
this,” she said. “Allow me to cleanse the evil from you. We can
still save you.”

Ruby glared at the well-meaning spirit with
disgust. She needed no one’s help. Her retort was simple. The
princess turned the lever in her chest and spit the poison out to
the grass at her feet. The green blades turned to a pale purple
hue, and the venom began to spread like veins in the ground,
infecting the nearby patches of grass in an expanding pattern. The
purple toxin zig zagged its way toward the forest wardens, but was
stopped when the first spirit raised and quickly lowered her staff,
so the base of the wood plunged into the loose earth at her feet. A
restorative energy pushed back the decay but was not of sufficient
strength to halt it altogether. Rather than continuing toward them,
the infection was routed and spread around them in a circular
pattern, where it made it to the line of the trees surrounding the
clearing.

The first spirit looked on the verge of tears
at this act, but the others were simply angry, harsh expressions
covering their faces. Several rushed forward and attacked the pair
of women.

Scarlett was the first to act, not willing to
let the green things make the first move. She raised her hand,
aiming it toward one of the spirits that looked particularly
composed of wood and leaves. The warden burst into flames, its
wooden voice howling, as the fire consumed it. Perhaps the choice
of spell was opportunistic given the nature of the spirit, but that
was a word that the horned demon didn’t mind being labeled. In
response, the vines from nearby trees lurched forward, snatching
Scarlett’s leg and wrapping around her ankle. The force by which
the forest had grabbed her took the horned demon off guard, and she
toppled to the ground, nearly dropping her scythe. The vines then
dragged her off toward the trees where another set of spirits lay
in wait for her.

Ruby, however, was too preoccupied with her
own wood wardens to assist her demon. As Scarlett caused flames to
envelop the spirit, the princess had moved forward to meet another
wielding what looked to be a crude blade made from a sharpened
stone. Though, when she swung her war hammer and he his blade, the
sword held up just fine. The lithe wooden creature was stronger
than she would have suspected, managing to push her back. One of
the four-legged spirits jumped at her, pushing her to the ground,
and the pair rolled some distance away. It bit at her with its
teeth made from little rocks, but she used the shaft of her weapon
to keep it at bay, jutting the pole into the dog-like spirit’s
neck. After they finished their roll, the warden had won the top
spot, continuing to snarl and snap its rock-like teeth toward her
face. It chomped down on the shaft of her hammer, but Ruby waited
until it opened its jaws once more. She spit her poison into its
mouth, causing it to roll off her and go into something of a
sneezing fit, as it tried to dislodge the filth from its tongue.
The dog spirit rubbed its face into the grass and scraped its
wooden paws along its snout, but the venom was persistent. The
princess noted burn marks along her ankle, realizing that the pain
was coming from her demon. As she looked over, she saw Scarlett
swiping her scythe along a vine, removing its grip from around her
ankle.