“Remi, help her!” said Maile in a voice full of fear. She had never seen such a strong urge come over her sister, even when she was sneaking into the kitchens at night.
“What’s happening to her?” asked Remi.
Lady Arya took a moment. “This particular tree is known by many names, but most often as the Liquid Sting. The honey inside is of the finest in the land. So grand in taste, and so rich in smell, that its very essence can easily cause those with even the strongest of mental discipline to burst into a state of greed so immense, that once given in to the feeling, they would be consumed by it eternally. Only the strongest of the Force Corps have dared venture closer than a few feet, and most won’t come closer than I stand now. Only our Captain can stand directly under the beehive as if it were just a plain beehive.” Arya looked strangely at Remi and Maile, “Speaking of which, I’m surprised you can focus on anything but your own greed right now.” The glow of Remi’s pendant caught her eye for a moment. She raised an eyebrow curiously before continuing. “Liquid Stings grow very rarely, and most of the time they are cut down from afar with the use of precision bows because of the many innocent deaths they have caused.”
“Deaths!?” shrieked Remi and Maile in unison. “We have to help her!”
“Do not worry,” said Arya. “We have many different wards surrounding this tree, so that the devilish insects within may not pass more than a few feet from the hive. And even should she be stung, the poison takes at least half a shade to kill you. However, there is nothing I can do for her now. She will likely be stung, which will hopefully awaken her from the trance.”
Remi froze at her words. “Devilish … insects? Please, you have to save her!”
Arya stared up at Baelie, “Sometimes one can only save themselves.”
Remi felt a shiver run through her body and her heart pounded in her chest. As if they had heard her words, an awful buzzing sound soon grew over the air. She could feel the presence of other members of the Force Corps watching from afar and could almost hear the faint laughter of Lady Theresa. The buzzing grew louder and louder, as if she was running towards an ominously humming bell. And then they emerged; sharpened black insects with beady red eyes and bright yellow swirls rushing around their bulbous abdomens. Each one was half the size of her forearm and she watched in horror as dozens flew out of their beautiful honey home.
“BAELIE! RUN!! WAKE UP!!” screamed Remi desperately, not daring to go any further. It seemed her words reached her sister, but the instant Baelie’s eyes looked up – honey smeared across her face and hands – one of the revolting black insects stabbed its needle-like tail into her arm.
A gut-wrenching cry filled the air as Baelie released the beehive and fell to the ground. She landed with a loud thump, looking as if she had just awoken from a dream. Hearing the screaming buzz of the swarming insects, she looked up and saw them descending down upon her like a hail of black poison arrows. With dexterity that must have been summoned from her innermost will, Baelie rolled onto her hands and feet, crawling desperately across the ground with such a terrifying look of pain and agony that Remi flinched and cried out at the sight. Taking a deep breath, she made to run in and grab her sister, but just as she was about to move, Arya’s hand swung directly in front of her. Almost instantaneously, the succulent smell of the honey almost completely took her mind off her fleeing sister.
“Don’t move. We can’t have two of you at risk. Believe in your sister, and she will be fine,” said Lady Arya with a soothing tone. Remi felt angry at her words, but knew that if she were to run in blindly, she would be no better off. But hidden within the calmness of Arya’s voice was the distinct sound of anxiety.
Remi’s eyes flashed back to Baelie who had stood to her feet, her arms flinging wildly about her sides as she ran in a twisting manner towards them. Honey dripped and streamed from the sides of her mouth, leaving a trail of sweet spit glittering in the air. And then, dashing with such a speed that nearly blew Remi’s skirt up her legs, Baelie erupted past them. The beady red eyes of a particularly large black wasp raced toward her, inching its way toward her eyeball until with a sudden slam and a deafening screech, the thunderstorm of black insects smashed into an invisible wall mere inches from her face. She watched in horror, terrified to move as the bees swarmed about the invisible barrier, angered beyond belief at their prey’s escape. They swung downwards, extending their needle-tipped tails dripping with a thick venom, and smelling of vomit and rotting plants. After a few moments, they turned around and their wrathful nature faded. Slowly, they buzzed up to the tree branch and entered the beehive one at a time, until the final one entered the deep black caverns from whence they came.
“Baelie!” cried Remi, wheeling around. Her sister was collapsed on the ground, wheezing uncontrollably, with her body in a fit of spasms. The smell of honey lingering on her armor made Remi want to lunge at her and lick her from head to toe, but her fresh feelings of fear held her back. Far across the room, Maile had sprinted like a mouse from a flare and was still running at full speed, all the while clutching to her helmet as if it were the most valuable possession that had ever come into her grasp.
“You train with those things!?” yelled Remi at Arya as she kneeled down next to her sister. She had multiple sting wounds that had pierced her armor like a rapier through butter. Her skin was enflamed and still swelling, leaking a white pus that smelled strongly of rotten flesh. Remi didn’t want to think about it.
“For those who have control over their greed,” said Arya, “this tree proves completely harmless. However, as you have seen and as you now know, controlling such a tremendously powerful feeling is difficult beyond reason, or words. The wasps only emerge when threatened.”
“Can’t you help her?”
“I can and I will!” said an eager voice that sounded like a child. Remi turned to look at the little girl standing before her. She wore all white robes and had straight copper hair that flowed over her shoulders and down the front of her chest; in her hand she held an oaken staff with a gleaming ruby inlaid at its tip. Her face was kind and innocent, and Remi understood she was different than the others of the Force. The girl’s eyes bore a look of supreme worry as she kneeled down beside Baelie.
“You poor thing!” she cried out melodramatically. Remi kept staring at the girl and couldn’t help but feel like the little girl was much older than she looked. Something about her energy, something about her overall appearance … Suddenly, she forgot what she was thinking about. Remi turned slightly, wondering what had happened. Staring back at Baelie she remembered, and then looking at the tiny girl she realized something about the girl was causing a strange numbness in her mind.
Just thinking about you is utterly frustrating!!! Why is everyone in the Force Corps so weird!? Why does just being around you make my head go all crazy!? Remi grasped her hair, trying to control her thoughts.
“Thank you, Aquas,” said Arya quietly. She looked to Remi, “This is Lady Aquas, Keeper of the Tree Spirits. Some say she is a spirit of the tree that has taken the form of a Sorian. Nonetheless, she is our strongest healer. Your sister will be fine.”
Raising her hands above Baelie’s jolting body, in which the poison was spreading extremely fast, a faint white glow emanated from her palms, glowing brighter and brighter. Remi could hear, but not clearly. She knew the white-cloaked magician was speaking because of the rapid movement of her lush lips, but couldn’t make out the words, or the language, or anything about it. Everything about her seemed to evade Remi in every way.
Remi watched the white glow take a strange form as it became almost tangible, slithering across her body like a snake over its prey. It wrapped around Baelie’s arms and through her mangled hair, and wound round and round her legs and ankles until, as if by some sort of higher power, Baelie’s body began to levitate. She came to a stop a foot above the ground and Remi could see the swelling of the infectious wounds fa
ding, the white pus dissipating into the air along with the smell. Leaning down, Remi looked quickly under Baelie to make absolutely sure she was floating. She was indeed. She ran her hands back and forth underneath her just to be sure. That’s not something you see every day, she thought.
A few moments later, Maile returned to Remi’s side, breathing heavily. She also checked to make sure Baelie was actually floating, her expression becoming astounded when she realized she was. Staring in awe at their suspended sister, they watched as Baelie returned to the ground and the white slithering energy faded to crystalline particles that floated into the air as if it were snowing from the ground up.
Baelie opened her eyes and sat up immediately. She felt like she had just awoken from a nightmare. “My stomach hurts,” she said, feeling a powerful aching in her muscles and bones.
Remi, Maile, and Arya sighed heavily.
Aquas ran her hand over Baelie’s cheek softly. “It’ll be alright, little one! I’m here for you. You were so cute hanging from that little tree branch like a newborn, sucking and sucking away on that succulent honey. It’s amazing, isn’t it!? You are one of the few in Soria who have survived to tell the tale! I’m so happy you’re alright!” She ran her eyes over Baelie’s shocked and disturbed face, before scanning her silver armor that looked of intricately placed kitchenware.
“Ok … This is weird,” said Baelie.
“Look at you with your little silver armor! Just the cutest thing, I swear! Can we be friends? We can be friends, right?”
Aquas’s rush of words was suddenly silenced by a deep thundering voice that echoed through the training grounds, clashed with the walls, and even sent vibrating rings through the girls’ bodies.
“I can’t even have one shade of fucking silence, can I!?”
Remi, Maile and Baelie dared not move to look. The only sound was that of the speaker’s distant footsteps, moving closer and closer with every passing second, like the ticking of a clock counting down to imminent destruction.
The voice continued. “Doesn’t seem like such a big deal, does it? To be here, in our own private realm, to expect a little respect and silence?” Remi could detect a smirk in the speaker’s voice as it moved closer. “Yet here I find myself confused. Why is it that someone has trespassed on our hospitality?” The voice gave the three sisters chills as the entire room went dead silent.
What seemed like minutes of unbearable waiting passed as they peeked a silhouette, which seemed to resonate disdain and pure contempt, draw steadily closer. Finally, the woman came to a stop at the base of Baelie’s head. Staring upwards from the ground and into the light, Baelie could only make out the shadowed lining of her body, curved and muscular, with flickers of light revealing only the faintest traces of her secret visage.
Remi lifted her head in such a slow motion she felt it wasn’t moving at all. Her eyes passed over Baelie’s silvered armor, up past her breastplate where the honey was still dripping and over her sister’s face, which was twisted in fear. She crept her way up the woman’s legs, over which she was clad in tight white leather leggings, sewn together with black lace. A half cloak fell from her waist, which billowed out behind her as if a strong gusty wind were constantly moving against her. Two black belts hung in an X pattern around her hips where her bloody and matted knuckles were resting against her sides, dripping blood down her white leggings.
Above her waist the woman was completely naked, and Remi’s eyes traced over the perfect features of the warrior’s body. Her stomach was toned like carved wood with curved shadows underlining her muscles. Remi shivered as she fell upon the woman’s breasts, her nipples only covered by two long strands of her crimson hair. Wraps of bandaged black silk layered her forearms up to the elbow, but the thick scent of blood sifted heavily through the air and the stains were more than apparent, giving Remi the impression that she had dipped her entire forearms in the blood of her last opponent.
“You gonna keep staring at me all day like you want to bed me?” the woman sneered at Remi. She took a long puff on her long, straight wooden pipe. “Why don’t you get up and show some damn respect to your superior. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll take you somewhere dark and damp to take out my frustration and anger on you pathetic excuse for a woman before I toss you off that goddamned cliff over there.” She heaved a strong sigh and arched her neck to the side, revealing her sharply angled face and prominently high cheekbones. “Can’t believe I have to deal with this shit.”
Remi, Maile and Baelie quickly stood and saluted the Vice Captain who towered before them.
“You don’t have to be so rude, Lady Enies! They are the daughters of the Empress after all!” exclaimed Aquas in a fit of astonishment.
Remi cringed. Inwardly she pleaded with Aquas; the last thing she wanted was to further incite the Vice Captain’s anger.
Lady Enies’s eyes flashed toward Aquas, her gaze emanating all the fury and wrathful hate of a creature staring into the eyes of the one thing it had wanted to kill its entire life. “Shut your mouth,” she spat. “You, Number 6, have no place speaking to me, much less questioning my nature when I deal with my subjects.”
Subjects? Remi thought.
Enies turned to Remi, taking another long drag of her pipe. “Daughters? Don’t make me laugh. They have no royal blood. They are adopted, and only because the Empress has a soft spot for the young with no guardians.”
Aquas clenched her jaw tightly, her eyes bright and fierce. Yet, she did not speak. Remi could feel her anger rising, but did not dare speak out. Maile was shaking at her side. Baelie’s eyes were to the ground. She watched Enies turn to Arya, who stared at her with an apathetic gaze.
“You don’t have to like the way I am, Arya,” said Lady Enies. “But until one defeats me or I am killed in battle, I am the acting Vice Captain of the Force and you will respect my command and the means by which I act. So wipe off that pathetic expression before I drive your face so hard into the stone your closest family member wouldn’t take so much as a second glance at you ever again.”
Reluctantly, Arya averted her eyes from the Vice Captain. Remi shuddered. This girl, this Lady Enies, was so powerful she made Arya dim in comparison.
“That’s what I thought,” said Enies.
Twisting her gaze of deathly contempt back to the three sisters, who were frozen stiff as if encased within tombs of ice, she took a deep breath. She stood watching them, scanning their entire beings as if looking for more reason to hate them. All the while, Remi avoided eye contact by focusing on each strand of Enies’s crimson hair. It was like blood in color, with two long black hairpins that ran through it; each with the head of a dragon. The disdainful voice broke Remi’s concentration again.
“This is absurd. You are the three that are supposed to guard the Relic Room? I don’t know what our Captain is thinking these days but she must be going soft in her old age. What can three children who know nothing of anything do? This is a waste of my time.” She placed a hand on the back of her head, looking around at the Force. All of them averted their eyes.
A thin grin crept across her face and Arya twitched at the cold words directed at their Captain. All around them, the members of the Force Corps had gathered and Remi felt like she was being put on display for all to see her be scolded and terrified.
Remi soon realized that the Force Corps soldiers around them were whispering amongst each other. She could faintly hear them, some agreeing with Lady Enies that the task before them was not meant for such children. Hearing a different sound, one that rattled like rapidly clicking armor, Remi noticed Baelie was shaking uncontrollably. Yet she knew it wasn’t the fear of the task or even of Lady Enies. This had been Baelie’s one chance to do something real for the Force Corps, and here she was, her dream before her on a silver platter and now it was about to be snatched away.
“I promise I can succeed in the task!” announced Baelie so sudde
nly that it took the entire Force by surprise. All went silent as Baelie breathed heavily. She was shivering in fear but she held the Sorian salute so resolutely that Remi felt proud of her younger sister for fighting for her dreams.
“Shut your mouth, brat,” spat Lady Enies. “You could succeed in the task, yes—were it eating a banquet of food and not sharing any of it with your peers. You are pathetic, overweight, and weak beyond the might of a fly. One look at the Liquid Sting and you flew before it, gorging on its delicious beauty as if you had no respect for who it is you now stand before. No, you are not capable of even the simplest task. Why don’t you try losing some weight, you fat little honey ball?”
Baelie’s eyes filled with tears and Remi made a motion to fight for her sister, but froze. She knew the outcome. There was nothing to be done. Lady Enies had been unnecessarily cruel, but she was right—there was no reason to believe that the three of them were capable of guarding anything. Remi cringed, wishing she had more courage. She dug her fingernails into her palms, cursing her own weakness. To her left, Maile stood with her eyes closed, wishing she were back in her bed, tucked underneath the safety of her warm blankets.
Lady Enies turned to face the gathering soldiers. She gazed at them one by one, as if seriously contemplating something. And then she spoke. “The answer is no. The Captain must be losing her edge to think that a bunch of children should be handling such a task as the guarding of the Relic Room. This time, I’m making the call. Does anybody here have a fucking problem with that?”
Silence spread slowly about the open space like an engulfing plague, and even though some of the Force Corps obviously rejected the idea by the looks of pure anger on their faces, no one spoke. Remi realized in that moment that the Force was truly survival of the fittest. The eerie silence continued.
That was until one voice, one that pierced and shattered the veil of iced silence left by Lady Enies’s words, spoke out defiantly from afar, causing all in the center to turn and stare at the girl who walked bravely toward them.
Curseborn Saga - Fade to Black Page 12