Chronicles of Eden - Act X

by Alexander Gordon

  “Damn,” Rulo simply said.

  “Is it over?” Forrus asked.

  “Those things are indeed quite destructive,” Sasha commented.

  “I’d say we’re lucky to be alive after that,” Hollia mentioned while shaking her lower body to get the dust off.

  The girls walked forward while eyeing over the remains of the arena, seeing banks of haze clouding over fallen boulders and bent steel rafters. As they moved through the dust that was slowly beginning to settle they saw Scay sitting still ahead of them, the naga watching in wonder as Tabitha was still standing while growling quietly to herself.

  “Tabitha?” Hollia wondered. “You’re still alive?”

  “That was a nice trick you pulled,” Sasha said.

  “Even though it could have gotten us all killed,” Forrus flatly added.

  “You’re still standing,” Rulo mentioned with a smirk. “Have to say I didn’t expect that from you.”

  “Tabitha?” Scay asked as she slithered closer to her friend. “Are you okay?”

  “I will be,” Tabitha said glancing back to her. “After I get what’s mine.”

  She started walking forward with her tail swaying behind and katana held in hand, the other girls exchanging curious glances with each other before following after. The girls made their way up the collapsed wall which was slanted enough for even Hollia to ascend with then came to the top of the arena where they saw collapsed walls and debris scattered everywhere along with ant girls, some being wounded and slowly getting back up while others were most certainly not getting back up. The monsters shook off dirt and the ringing in their ears before noticing the newcomers watching them in discontent while holding their golden weapons. Quickly getting back onto their feet the ant girls squeaked and grabbed their mining tools to hold at the ready, some grabbing a few sticks of their explosive bombs that survived the initial disaster while others got ready to fight with their fists as that was all they had now.

  “So, did we entertain you?” Sasha demanded with a scowl.

  “They don’t look pleased with our performance,” Hollia mused while drumming her fingers on her spear.

  “Aw, and after we tried so hard to give them a good show,” Rulo mocked as she tensed up.

  “Still wish to continue this pitiful game of yours?” Forrus challenged while getting ready to charge.

  “No more games,” Tabitha growled as she stepped forward. “You won’t keep me from it. No matter what you do or how many of those bombs you have, you’ll never stop me from taking what is mine.”

  The ant girls glanced to one another then back to the neko as she held her katana out towards one of them with a stern glare.

  “You tried to kill me, you’re already as good as dead. But I can still offer to make your deaths painless if you give me what I want. Tell me where the gold is! Right now!”

  The ant girl looked at her in puzzlement then squeaked and shook her head.

  “I don’t want to hear excuses!” Tabitha roared while waving her sword around. “I don’t want to hear any bullshit! I know you’re hoarding it down here somewhere, I’m going to find it one way or another! The only difference is are you going to give it up peacefully or do I have to slaughter each and every one of you before I get it?”

  “That’s all you’re thinking of right now?” Hollia asked in disbelief. “They tried to kill us, they took my knight away somewhere, and all you want to know is where their gold is?”

  “Wretched neko,” Forrus growled.

  “Shut up, mutt!” Tabitha shouted at her. “I helped save all of your lives down there, I’m the one keeping Daemon’s key fragments safe, I’m the one who deserves to be paid for all my hard work!”

  She turned back to the ant girl and slowly approached the monster with her katana held out, the ant girl tensing up along with her kin as Tabitha glared deeply at her.

  “I am not being cheated out of my gold again, no way. I’m going to ask this one more time, and one more time only. Where are you hiding it? Tell me now or else I’m going to show you all just how merciless a pissed off neko can be!”

  “Tabitha?” Scay spoke up.

  “Not now, Scay,” Tabitha snapped while keeping her sword poised to strike forward. “This bitch needs to give me a good answer or else I’m really going to get mad.”

  “But, Tabitha,” Scay worried. “You’re… not talking to her.”

  The other girls watched as Tabitha was holding her blade out off to the side of the ant girl while looking past her, the puzzled monsters looking behind at the wall she was apparently talking to then to her as she wavered slightly with a blank expression on her face. After a moment the neko dropped down face first onto the ground, sword clanking off to the side while everyone just stared at her. Scay quickly slithered over and nudged the girl a few times before looking back to the others with watery eyes.

  “She fell down,” she whimpered.

  “I was wondering how long she could keep standing,” Rulo mentioned.

  “Just goes to show how determined a neko can get when gold is involved,” Sasha remarked.

  “She is rather hurt, isn’t she?” Hollia wondered.

  “Knowing our luck she’ll live,” Forrus muttered.

  Scay whined and budged Tabitha again before seeing all the ant girls glaring at them while readying to attack. The girls tensed up for another fight before a sharp squeak was heard. Everyone turned to see a longhaired ant girl standing in a tunnel with two others along with Daemon and Mika. The three ant girls were staring at the ruined arena in shock while Daemon merely had a blank expression on his face. Mika was looking around at all the monsters carefully while keeping close to Daemon’s side, not being sure what to make of any of what she was seeing.

  “Master,” Sasha and Rulo said with relief.

  “My lord,” Forrus praised.

  “My knight,” Hollia greeted with a small bow.

  “My pumpkin pie!” Scay wailed as she raced over and clung to his chest crying. Daemon merely looked at her with a raised eyebrow then to his girls as they were watching Scay in bewilderment.

  “I really don’t think I want her calling me that,” he flatly said.

  “Pumpkin… pie?” Hollia questioned.

  “They hurt Tabitha!” Scay cried with teary eyes up at Daemon. “They hurt her! Really bad! Please help her, pretty please with- nrrghmmm STAB! I mean help!”

  Daemon and Mika exchanged glances then walked over towards Tabitha while Sasha and the girls came closer, all of them looking down at the battered and unconscious neko before turning to Saffron who was clenching her fists with a furious expression on her face. Her two companions were also expressing anger at what they were seeing, the three ant girls marching towards the collapsed arena while the other ant girls slowly backed up nervously. Saffron looked around at the destruction and bodies of her kin then stopped as she looked down to something that caught her eye. Slowly she picked up a bomb from the ground, the girl turning to the others in the chamber with a sharp eye and a stern squeak. The other ant girls started squeaking and shaking their heads while waving to the newcomers before Saffron screeched at them. All the ant girls quickly shut up and slumped back while Saffron fumed with rage.

  “What’s going on?” Mika asked. “What happened here?”

  “These ant girls tried to kill us,” Sasha clarified, with Saffron turning to her carefully from hearing that. “We awoke down in that pit with their pet monsters trying to eat us.”

  “They chained us together and watched in hopes we would get eaten,” Rulo snorted in discontent.

  “Tabitha managed to provide us with armaments to defend ourselves with,” Hollia added holding up her golden spear. “They came in handy, we were able to dispatch all those fiends they sent down upon us with ease.”

  “And then they started throwing bombs at us,” Forrus continued. “They nearly killed us before one blew up in their faces and turned their spectacle into a catastrophe.”

 
“Tabitha saved us,” Scay whimpered while holding onto Daemon still. “She threw that bomb thing up and made them all go boom. But she got really hurt. She’s not moving, she’s not moving now. See? Look, she’s still not moving.”

  Daemon knelt down beside Tabitha and held a hand to her head, watching as the neko was quietly breathing while being out cold with blood matting her fur. He then turned his cold eyes to Saffron, the ant girl growling while looking around at all the ant girls in anger.

  “Mika, you’re still alive,” Hollia noticed.

  “Thanks to him,” Mika answered as she watched Daemon. “He kept me alive during the cave-ins. These ant girls attacked us, they thought we were part of The Sisterhood. Daemon… convinced them we’re not.”

  “That explains why they tried to execute us,” Sasha commented as Saffron slowly walked up towards her kin, the ant girls shaking their heads and trying to squeak something in their defense. Saffron snapped her fingers in the air, silencing all the ant girls, then pointed to the side of the chamber at a sign that had a big red X on it posted to the wall. The ant girls gulped and looked to Saffron as she narrowed her eyes at them along with her two companions, the longhaired girl holding out the bomb to show them while slowly shaking her head.

  “What does that mean?” Rulo asked pointing to the sign.

  “I believe it means this is an area where they shouldn’t be using those volatile things,” Hollia mused, with Saffron nodding to that. An ant girl started to squeak at her before Saffron walked up to her, punched her in the face, grabbed her by tunic, and threw her to the ground behind her. The group watched as Saffron berated the trembling ant girl before waving the bomb around at the others, all of them cringing and lowering their heads in shame.

  “Master, are you alright?” Sasha asked glancing to Daemon. “When we were separated I was so worried about you.”

  “I’m fine,” Daemon asked while watching Saffron squeaking loudly at the ant girls before turning to the one cowering beneath her. “Good to see you’re all in one piece as well.”

  “Tabitha isn’t though,” Scay whined while holding onto her friend. “Tabitha, please wake up. Please.”

  “Daemon, what’s she saying?” Mika asked as she watched Saffron squeaking and pointing down to the ant girl who was shaking her head and shakily squeaking something back.

  “She’s scolding them for not only using bombs in a restricted area, but also that she never gave the order to have Sasha and the others sent to the pits.”

  “She’s in charge of them?” Sasha questioned.

  “Seeing as how the others call her lieutenant, I’m guessing so,” Daemon replied with a shrug.

  “Lieutenant?” Mika repeated.

  “Lieutenant Saffron,” Daemon clarified as the longhaired ant girl screeched down at the trembling monster. She grabbed the ant girl and lifted her to her feet, squeaked in her face while holding the bomb up close to her, then shoved her away towards the others while pointing to the stick and stomping her foot.

  Daemon and the girls watched Saffron scaring her kin with whatever she was saying then saw dozens more of ant girls rushing into the arena from all sides, the monsters quickly noticing the destroyed chamber and squeaking in surprise before hurrying over to gather near the ones being yelled at by Saffron.

  “Oh great,” Rulo muttered as the ant girls glared at them while getting ready to attack with their digging tools. “More bugs we have to squash before we go.”

  Saffron whistled into the air, getting everyone’s attention. She squeaked and pointed to Daemon and his girls while shaking her head, the other monsters watching curiously as she spoke to them with a stern tone before pointing to the ant girls who had survived the arena’s destruction. The ones in question jumped then smiled nervously as their kin turned their harsh glares onto them.

  “So, are we fighting our way out of here?” Hollia asked while getting ready to charge.

  “Stand down, Hollia,” Daemon said, with the centaur glancing to him and slowly lowering her stance. “It seems we’re not the ones in trouble here.”

  Saffron snapped her fingers, signaling a horde of her kin to rush past Daemon and his girls to restrain the guilty ant girls who violated their nest’s rules. They squeaked and shook their heads in a pleading manner before Saffron punched one across the face, knocking out blood and a tooth before she squeaked at them in anger. She snapped her fingers again, with her kin then dragging the guilty ant girls out through the tunnels while they squeaked and thrashed about. Saffron sighed then looked down to Tabitha before turning to Daemon with a frown. She handed off the bomb to her kin to be taken away then slowly held a hand out to Daemon and squeaked while shaking her head.

  “What just happened?” Forrus asked.

  “Those that put you in the pit did so against their superior’s orders,” Daemon answered while keeping his eyes on Saffron. “They’ve been taken away to be disciplined for disobeying their orders and for damaging their nest.”

  Sasha and the girls watched as all the ant girls kept a close eye on them however none were raising their tools or brandishing explosive rocks at them now, the underground monsters appearing to be under orders to stand down as well from Saffron. The ant girl squeaked and gestured around to Daemon’s girls before bowing to him remorsefully.

  “Your people harmed Tabitha,” Daemon said, with Saffron slowly looking up to him nervously. “They tormented these girls. They nearly killed us all with your digging and your false accusations that we were part of The Sisterhood.”

  Saffron gulped then nodded with a squeak. She glanced around then lowered her head with closed eyes and squeaked again.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” Daemon answered as he turned his eyes down to Tabitha. “Seems the girls here already returned the inconvenience you’ve forced upon us today. That and Tabitha claimed the lives of quite a few of your diggers in retribution.”

  Daemon slowly unsheathed his sword, the soft glow it gave drawing the attention of all the ant girls as he held it down across Tabitha’s shoulder. Placing his hand over the blade he began casting his healing magic on the neko while glancing to Saffron with a sharp eye.

  “Return what you stole from them, advise your people not to try this with them again if they value their lives, and I highly suggest gathering a large amount of gold right now for your own safety.”

  Saffron squeaked with a puzzled expression while Scay whimpered and pet Tabitha’s head as she watched her friend being healed by the swordsman. Daemon watched as the neko’s wounds began to heal then shrugged with a blank look at Saffron.

  “Because once this neko is healed she’s going to be very angry with all of you. Knowing her, either you pay a hefty amount of gold in forgiveness or you’re going to lose many more sisters on this day.”

  *****

  Deep underground in the red ant girls’ nest workers were digging new tunnels with heavy pickaxes while others were laying down steel rails for use with their mine carts. Dozens of the monsters worked tirelessly as they dug further into the unknown, the many workers swiftly chipping away at the rock with powerful swings of their tools while those behind them quickly laid down the tracks and spiked their restraining bolts into the ground with hammers. More were scurrying back and forth out of the tunnel carrying large rocks as they cleared the debris while their sisters continued their work. Standing behind them another worker was watching her sisters with a sharp eye, making sure the tunnel was dug out properly and that the rails were set in a straight line within it. She watched them working while nobody was squeaking at one another, everyone being focused on their task and nothing else. That was until an ant girl came rushing to them squeaking something in a panic. All the workers turned to her questionably then to the one in charge as she squeaked at the newcomer in puzzlement. The shaken worker pointed behind her and squeaked something quickly with a few hops before the others showed surprise to her words.

  Everyone dropped what they were working on and followed
their sister as she led them down the tunnel then into a main corridor that was essentially a large underground passageway their nest used. The ant girls made haste down the side of the tunnel, all squeaking at each other while others were going in and out of many adjoining corridors while busy with their work. However as the group of startled ant girls ran further down the passageway they started to come across others who were also running towards the same disturbance, the growing crowd of squeaking ant girls drawing the attention of more who then followed after to see what was going on. The horde of squeaking workers made their way through the passageway then flooded three side tunnels to the right, all of them rushing through the corridors where digging tools were left in place by workers who apparently had also abruptly stopped with their work.

  Rushing out of a few tunnels the crowd of ant girls all gathered together on a lowered slope inside a large cavern, the monsters then slowing down before stopping as they reached the bottom of the hill while staring with wide eyes at something. Ahead of them workers were also standing slack jawed and in silence while holding their digging tools, every one of them stunned at what they had come across in this particular cave.

  Slowly an ant girl stepped forward from the crowd of her sisters, making her way across the dirt with soft steps before passing the workers at the front of the gathering, to which she then stepped onto a sleek black metal surface that was anything but natural. Her eyes slowly went up as she beheld something before her while the workers behind were quietly squeaking to one another with hushed words of marvel.