“Okie dokie, master,” Rolian agreed with a salute.
“My alpha witch drops by unexpectedly for a mysterious chat,” Alyssa spoke up. “You wish to speak to her alone, and you’re trusting that an arachne will keep us feeling calm and comfortable in your absence?”
“Essentially, yes,” Daniel said with a shrug. “Rangers, I’m not expecting any other guests tonight, but if I do receive any or my mates return from their journey, please inform me. Don’t shoot on sight unless you need to.”
“As you wish,” a ranger replied with a bow.
Daniel nodded and headed inside to speak with the alpha witch while the girls exchanged curious looks with one another.
“Is that witch a friend of ours?” Cindy asked.
“That’s… hard to answer, Cindy,” Alyssa sighed. “She could be our friend. Or she could become our enemy if we’re unlucky. It’s a little unclear right now. Still, I wonder why she suddenly came here like this. She wouldn’t have come in person if it wasn’t really important.”
“We should do as Daniel told us,” Doku advised. “Let’s withdraw to the bedroom for the night and leave this matter to him as he requested. I’m certain he’ll inform us what Charlotte’s visit is for when he returns to us.”
“Anything to get these girls off me,” Felucia muttered as she walked past them. “I hate carrying this woman and the little one in my chest is drooling on my tits again.”
“That means she likes you and your boobs, mother,” Cindy complimented, heading after her with the sleeping swarm in her arms. “That’s a good thing. You should be happy.”
“Oh, I’m thrilled, Cindy.”
“I’ll meet you girls in the bedroom,” Rolian giggled as she skittered by. “Oh wow, I get to spend more time with my new friends. We can talk about men, share scary stories, or- oh! I know, we can have a pillow fight! I’ve always wanted to have one of those, that seemed like such a fun idea to do with friends. And now that I finally have friends I can try it out! I’m so excited!”
“I wouldn’t recommend that with Cindy,” Alyssa called out after her. “I really don’t want to have to scrape you off the floor afterwards.”
“I’m sorry,” an elf spoke up. “But, is that witch visiting you a good omen or a bad one?”
“I’m not sure,” Doku distantly replied. “Though I have a sneaking suspicion this isn’t just a friendly visit. Anyway, thank you for a lovely night. It was just what we needed to help lift our spirits.”
“The honor and pleasure were ours,” a ranger said, bowing to the harpy. “Please, sleep well, all of you. We’ll be right here when you return.”
Doku kindly waved to them before heading into their home with the girls, gently closing the door behind her and leaving the elves who spread out around the campsite to watch over it.
“That man is on speaking terms with an alpha witch of this region,” an elf mentioned in marvel. “Somehow that shouldn’t surprise me.”
“Seriously, is there anything he can’t do?”
“What I wouldn’t do to become his mate.”
“They said that in order to become his mate, one must first woo his current lovers so as to join their ranks. Does it really work that way?”
“I wouldn’t recommend testing that theory with them,” a ranger warned shaking her head. She glanced back to the carriage that everyone had ventured into before gazing at the quiet woodland before her.
“Something tells me there’s more to it than that.”
*****
Sitting at the long table in the dining hall, Charlotte was admiring the large living space they were in while carelessly swaying a foot beneath her seat and toying with the wand in her hands.
“Quite the extravagant home you now have, Daniel,” she complimented. “Even with that arachne’s webbing sticking to the ceiling, this is a very nice home you have here.”
“Thank you, Charlotte,” Daniel said from the kitchen. “It has been very lovely to stay here and quite beneficial for all. I mean you no disrespect, the work you had done for our previous ride certainly came in handy, however a bit more space was needed as I seem to have a horrible habit of attracting ladies out here.”
“A terrible burden to carry if there ever was one,” Charlotte empathized. Taking off her cloak she sharply swung it around her hand until it retracted and formed into a squirrel that quickly ran up her arm onto her shoulder.
“If you don’t mind me asking, who exactly gave you such a wonderful place to stay?”
“A dear friend of ours,” Daniel answered. “Someone who has lent a good amount of help towards our cause. This is actually her study that we’re borrowing for our journey.”
“A very impressive study,” Charlotte mused. “Certainly larger than mine. So who is this mystery benefactor? Anyone I might know?”
“Sorry, but our friend prefers to remain anonymous to most,” Daniel replied, walking over with two warm cups of tea in hand. He showed a puzzled smile at seeing the animal on Charlotte’s shoulder, took notice of her cape now being gone, and then chuckled amusedly as he handed her the beverage.
“Can I take your cloak? Or perhaps give it a snack?”
“No, that’s alright,” Charlotte waved off. “I don’t like my clothes getting fat. So this friend of yours-”
“Sorry, but that discussion is at its end,” Daniel said, setting down his drink before taking off his shield and sword. Resting the armaments on the floor beside his chair he sat down and calmly sipped his tea, watching as Charlotte was examining him very closely with an inquisitive eye.
“Like I said, our friend prefers a level of anonymity. Perhaps later I can introduce you two, but until then I feel obliged to respect the wishes of my generous supporter. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I suppose I can understand that,” Charlotte replied, a hint of displeasure in her voice.
“Thank you. So, how have you been? It’s been some time since we last chat.”
“Busy. Very busy,” she cryptically replied. “Such is the life of an alpha I suppose. However you also appear to have had your hands full lately. I’ve been hearing some very strange tales from my helpers about you and your exploits. It’s a good thing they’ve been keeping track of you too, because it seems my seers haven’t been able to follow you so well. They keep… disappearing.”
“I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble spying on us,” Daniel apologized.
“It’s not like I’m watching you having sex with your harem of mates,” Charlotte reasoned with a shrug. “Although I have heard you’ve been enjoying sensual delights with your gathering of women. Not bad, Daniel, but that’s not the sort of thing I’m interested in with you. What I have been interested in is how your little quest to bring peace between our races has been proceeding. After all I did invest a little of my own time in such a thing, and I always keep tabs on my investments, no matter how small.”
“I’d say it’s going rather well,” Daniel mused, lifting his drink before taking a sip. “The giant butterflies of Flairwood have agreed to stand by my side, and the elves of Green Haven appear rather loyal to the cause now.”
“I see,” Charlotte mused. “And how exactly did you accomplish that, Daniel? An entire grove of deceitful butterflies, and you managed to convince them with your words alone?”
“Well, not just my words,” Daniel admitted. “They had some trouble and we managed to solve the problem for them. After a bit of talking with their monarch, I finally managed to sway them into changing their less than reputable ways in the future.”
“Congratulations,” Charlotte applauded with a few light claps. “My my, you are just full of surprises, aren’t you? Giant butterflies are whimsical wordsmiths of the most deceitful degree, and yet your words were able to defeat theirs so triumphantly. Bravo, Daniel.”
“Thank you, my grace,” Daniel accepted with a small wave of the hand.
“See, that’s something I can believe with you,” Charlotte said pointing to
him. “You’re a man of words, of foresight, of vision. You certainly managed to talk your way out of being raped to death in my village before all my subjects, and you even convinced me that you’re not some wandering idiot that I first believed you to be. That’s your weapon in this world. Rhetoric.”
The alpha witch looked him over before closely observing Daniel with a serious face.
“That’s something I can believe. However, your victory with the elves from Green Haven leaves a lot to answer for. Rhetoric would be the last weapon you could wield in a real war on an active battlefield, Daniel Sorres.”
“Is that so?” Daniel asked.
“I’ve heard from my helpers. I know what happened, or at least I have an idea of what happened. The Sisterhood, monsters who have been causing quite a bit of trouble in this land as of late, invaded the elven forest to increase their numbers with new slaves. The elves were outnumbered, overpowered, and surrounded without any hope of escape.”
“It was indeed a dire situation for them,” Daniel agreed.
“It was, until you came to their rescue,” Charlotte carefully said. “A daring plan to whisk the elves away from under the noses of those fiends, a rather clever plan if I do say so. Using the infamous Wildfire Witch as a catalyst to save hundreds of lives from a burning forest filled with predators; oh, the irony in her role was very profound. It was rather poetic actually.”
“She proved she’s not an infamous witch to many that night,” Daniel proudly stated.
“Perhaps so,” Charlotte snidely replied. “She’s not exactly absolved from her sins in our eyes, but maybe she did earn some new friends that night. However her grand use of magic was the least of my curiosity when I heard about that particular event. You see, I heard who was leading the bunch of monsters on a bloody crusade across my land. Those two barbaric whores I had banished to the eastern wastelands. The gemini.”
Daniel offered no reply, instead he calmly drank his tea while watching as Charlotte raised an eyebrow in question at him.
“The gemini; the ones responsible for forming that accursed gang, the ones responsible for many of my witches in Koskaysil being harassed and killed, the ones responsible for the fall of Ruhelia, Green Haven, and many other settlements across Eden that they’ve marched their forsaken army over. The immortal Darker One of legend. The ones that you are fabled to have personally slain.”
Sitting back in her seat Charlotte examined Daniel’s stoic expression towards that claim while showing her patience with this mystery slowly running out.
“Explain, Daniel Sorres,” Charlotte ordered. “I don’t care how Alyssa managed to use such magic to transport so many people across the land like she did. I don’t care how many women you’re now fucking in this magically enchanted home that you somehow received from some mysterious friend. And I don’t give a damn why you have a salamander woman, sand wraiths, or even a swarm in your company. And yes, I saw that tiny fairy in the boobs of that woman out there. I have no idea where you found her and frankly I couldn’t care less at this point. What I want to know is how you managed to kill the gemini all by yourself, something that should be impossible for anyone to achieve alone.”
Daniel calmly drank his tea while the alpha witch awaited his answer. Setting the cup down he returned Charlotte’s gaze as the witch showed an expectant look towards him.
“Many have asked that question as well,” he finally said. “Those two monsters may have wanted to keep their identities a secret when we first met, but they appeared to be bragging about their title with their followers who all praised their names like they were a god. Even the elves, who also first thought the gemini weren’t real and were instead nothing but a myth, they too feared those demons all the same and believed them to be the real deal after seeing them firsthand.”
“How did you kill them, Daniel?” Charlotte again asked. “How could you have? Tell me the truth, what really happened on that night?”
“If I tell you, then you have to tell me why you really came here,” Daniel challenged her. Charlotte showed some curiosity from his words as he sat back in his chair with a sharp eye on her. “I don’t believe you came all this way to compliment me or share a drink, and I don’t believe you would have come here in person to interrogate me about that night when you could have easily had Apoch and Astreal act in your stead. You came here for another reason, something important that you, a revered and busy alpha witch, would make time for. Am I right?”
“Maybe I did,” Charlotte replied. “Tell me the truth, Daniel, and I’ll grant you the same liberty.”
“Fair enough,” Daniel conceded. He took a slow breath as the alpha witch listened carefully, pausing for a moment before speaking with a simple shrug. “They weren’t actually gemini after all.”
Charlotte blinked then showed a puzzled grimace.
“What was that?”
“They weren’t actually gemini,” Daniel smirked. “Think about it. If they were, how could I have killed them all by myself? That’s just not possible, right? The only way to kill the legendary Darker One is with a simultaneous attack through both their hearts with the Archlight’s Blade and Hellfire’s Edge. Well, I’m sure Apoch and Astreal told you I had the Hellfire’s Edge with me, which we acquired from Ember after she attacked us and tried to kill Alyssa. However, you’ll find the Archlight’s Blade is nowhere to be found around here.”
Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, halted, showed a confused look as she thought about that, then started to speak again before Daniel continued.
“Those monsters that led The Sisterhood, they were strong alright. And had some pretty nasty tricks up their sleeve. But they couldn’t have been real gemini. If they were the real deal, I would be dead right now and the elves would be slaves to The Sisterhood. I mean, that’s the only way to look at it, right?”
“Um… well…”
“My grace,” Daniel playfully accused with a teasing smile. “Don’t tell me you still thought them to be real gemini after hearing that I, a simple human with only one of the legendary swords in hand that I acquired by sheer luck, managed to kill them. Surely you knew before coming here that they couldn’t have been the real Darker One, didn’t you?”
“I… uh…”
“My grace,” Daniel chuckled, shaking his head slightly at the witch. “We both know I couldn’t kill the real gemini no matter how much the fates favored me. How could I, without someone else to wield the second legendary blade during the fight? Logically, this means that those that I killed, the ones who were leading the pack of dangerous monsters with their lies and cruel intentions, couldn’t be the real gemini. Right?”
“Um… right,” Charlotte said, nodding and looking down in thought. “Yes, that is true. There would have been no way for you to defeat them. How very strange. I do wonder if they were indeed the same monsters I saw in Eston.”
“They appeared to be,” Daniel admitted. “And they did recognize me, proving they were in Eston on that night. However the Hellfire’s Edge was all that was needed to strike them down. Whatever magic they were using to cheat death, it was no match for that sword’s power.”
“I see,” Charlotte said, nodding slowly while considering the facts before her. “I suppose I can’t argue with you there. They seemed to match the stories of gemini rather well, however I guess they were just pretending to be as such in order to garner more respect and fear from others.”
“They tricked many monsters into following them blindly,” Daniel agreed. “Even the giant butterflies of Eden couldn’t spin such false words with malicious intent as they did.”
“I should have known,” Charlotte laughed to herself, shaking her head in amusement. “Hearing that you struck them down by yourself like you did; that should have told me they weren’t really the fabled Darker One.”
“Don’t trouble yourself over it, my grace,” Daniel calmly insisted. “Everyone alleged them to be the real deal with their convincing act. My only regret is that the elves
of Green Haven believe I struck down a legendary, immortal monster to save them. All I did was kill a couple of con-artists and led them to safety afterwards. The truth is I only did what I did in order to prove my point, that humans and monsters can live together in peace, and that we can fight for one another against the real evil out there.”
“I remember you being equally as stubborn in your beliefs the last time we met,” Charlotte recalled, chuckling with Daniel to that fact before she sipped her tea. “Though I must admit, hearing you donning a legendary sword to act as the elves’ knight in shining armor in their hour of need, that is truly impressive, Daniel Sorres. A bit foolish given what you were up against, but still impressive.”
“Thank you, my grace,” Daniel kindly replied. He then raised an eyebrow in question and motioned for her to speak, the witch pausing with her drink before smirking at the man.
“Alright,” she accepted. “A deal is a deal. You were right in thinking I didn’t drop by just to have a nice cup of tea with you. And, no, my lack foresight with the mystery of how you killed those two troublemakers wasn’t the reason either.”
“I suspected as much,” Daniel admitted.
“I came here to ask you a question,” Charlotte proposed, having a slight hesitation with her words. “In regards to your belief that witches and humans may one day live together as equals. I’ve been giving it some thought lately and I only find myself seeing more problems with it than solutions.”
“Maybe I can help solve them for you,” Daniel offered. “Please, what issues have you thought of?”
“For starters, there’s the obvious point that we’re not human. We look like little girls, Daniel. The only types of humans attracted to little girls aren’t the kind who would make good husbands or mates. How do you expect witches to be seen differently than your own young children in the eyes of potential suitors?”
Chronicles of Eden - Season II - Act II Page 28