Clover growled as she slowly turned to face the centaur with gritted teeth. Kroanette forced a stern expression and walked closer towards her despite the murderous aura the elf was exuding.
“If she could see you now what would she say?” Kroanette questioned. “Is this the Clover she liked and understood? Is this really how you’ve always been? Or would she be sad that the girl she cared about died in her grove that day, and that this is what became of her.”
“Shut up!” Clover yelled as she grabbed another arrow and took aim at the centaur.
“You’ve been the most foulmouthed, crass, irritable, spiteful person I have ever met. I don’t see how Zoey could have liked someone like you. She had to have seen a different Clover than the one I am right now.”
“I said shut up!”
“You don’t like anyone, you don’t want to like anyone, you’d rather just walk Eden alone, miserable and angry at the world for taking someone away from you. That’s all you want, isn’t it?”
“I never asked for it to be like this! I had everything I wanted back in my home! I was the best archer in our grove, I was respected by all my sisters, and I had the best friend anyone could have asked for! I had everything, until that fucking fairy came and took it all away from me!” With a shaky breath the elf’s hand started to tremble, her expression of sheer rage showing a pained look behind her eyes as they began to shimmer from watering up. “I had it all… I had the best life I could have had… I was so happy…”
Kroanette stood before the elf while falling silent as she watched with surprise at seeing tears dropping down Clover’s cheeks. Although the elf continued to glare at the centaur with bared teeth it was apparent it wasn’t only anger she was feeling.
“I had everything until that fucking Darker One took it all away from me. Now I have nothing. Now I have nowhere to go in life. Now I have nobody!”
“I’m sorry you lost so much, I am,” Kroanette gently replied holding her hands up. “But you do have a home again. You can still go wherever you want with your life. And if you would only drop the attitude and show the world the Clover you used to be, the one Zoey was so fond of, you wouldn’t be alone.”
“I don’t need your damned sympathy,” Clover snapped.
“Well you have it,” Kroanette spoke setting her hands at her hips. “I do feel sorry for you, Clover. You fell hard in life, and are struggling to get back up again. You’ve become so jaded and cross with the world that you don’t see.”
“I don’t see what?”
“You’re not alone,” Kroanette answered, with Clover showing puzzlement and slowly lowering her bow and arrow. “At least you don’t have to be. We could be your friends, if you would let us. Or if you prefer you can be alone. If that’s really what you want, then you can have it.”
Clover snarled and turned to walk away, shoving her arrow back into her quiver and holstering her bow around her shoulder before grunting with frustration as she shook her head. After a few steps she stopped and closed her eyes, hands shaking at her sides as she tried to steady her breathing and calm down.
“You don’t have to be alone, Clover,” Kroanette assured her. The elf slowly glanced back to see the centaur smiling kindly at her. “You don’t have to face the world alone. We could be there for you, if only you would let us.”
Clover remained silent while eyeing her before looking down with a quiet grumble. She then noticed something off to the side, with Kroanette looking over as well to seeing a few flowers hiding in the shade of a tree. Their soft pink petals and long stamens with blue balls of pollen on them stood out from the grass and tall weeds nearby, with a few rays of sunlight making their way down onto the flowers from the branches above. Clover quickly ran over and examined the flowers before grabbing the bunch and yanking them up.
“Are those it?” Kroanette asked walking over to her.
“Iscas herbs,” Clover answered with a nod.
“Will those really help Triska?”
“They won’t cure whatever is plaguing her, but they’ll ease her pain at least.”
Kroanette quickly knelt down for Clover to hop on her back, the centaur then taking off through the woods back towards the campsite. As she ran through the forest and weaved around the trees Kroanette glanced back to see Clover keeping her eyes on the herbs with a distant gaze while she wiped her tears away.
‘Please, Clover. Let your anger go. There’s a kindhearted girl inside of you, and she wants to come out again.’
*****
Inside the caravan Daniel and Specca were seated together at the table, both going through book after book in search of any clues as to what was happening to Triska. The piles of volumes and tombs on the table grew as Specca repeatedly rushed over to the bookshelf to take more out for them to read.
“We’re not finding anything, Daniel,” Specca fretted. “What are we going to do?”
“Stay calm and focused, Specca,” he encouraged as he searched through a few more pages. “If there’s even a hint as to what’s causing Triska to be sick in these we have to find it.”
“She fell ill after that succubus was trying to convert her. I feel as though that’s the reason, but there’s no information about such an occurrence. Nobody has ever had a succubus attempt to convert them but then had the process stopped midway through. What if whatever that demon did to her is still happening to her? The magic that was used on her, it could be doing this.”
“That’s not enough for me to go on,” Alyssa called out from the other side of the room. She stood next to her crates of supplies and elixirs while stirring a large bowl of red liquid using a wooden spoon, her eyes anxiously going from where Triska was still bedridden to Specca and Daniel again.
“I think we can all assume that bitch did this to Triska, but the question is what exactly did she do? If this is because of some kind of magic I need to know what kind of magic is being done to her before I could even think of making a proper antidote. I can’t even use magic myself to cure her unless I know what kind of spell is over her. Isn’t there anything else in all those books?”
“We’re looking, but there’s not much else in here about Darker Ones,” Specca said while quickly opening another book at the table. “Only a few extra pages here and there of what we haven’t already added to our guidebook, that’s all we’ve found, and they didn’t shed any light on this whatsoever.”
“She’s getting too hot again,” Luna called out shaking her head, she and her sister still fanning Triska with their wings while the human was breathing sharply with a flushed face.
“Squeak, get another wet towel, hurry,” Falla urged. Squeak quickly took the warm towel off of Triska’s forehead and tossed it onto a small growing pile on the floor before she hastily ran over to the side of the room to prepare another.
“This isn’t working,” Falla said looking to Daniel with urgency. “We can’t keep her cool for long before she starts burning up again.”
Sitting up on the rafter above the girls Pip was watching Triska with a worried eye, hands fidgeting in her lap as she saw Triska struggling with her condition and appearing to get worse.
“Alyssa, is that potion almost ready?” Luna quickly asked the witch.
“I suppose so,” Alyssa worriedly said as she looked down to it. “It’s the best I could do so quickly, I just hope it helps her. I should have made better potions yesterday when I got this stuff, I should have already prepared for this. Dammit, why didn’t I-”
“Stop,” Daniel called out to her. “None of us were expecting this to happen, don’t blame yourself.”
“Whatever you can make for her would be helpful, we’re just glad you have the ingredients to make anything at all,” Specca assured her.
Alyssa sighed and nodded then watched Triska with growing concern. Squeak finished wetting a new towel and rushed over to the girl on the bed, resting the cool cloth on her forehead with a few worried squeaks.
“Can you help her?” Pip asked as she
flew down and landed on Alyssa’s shoulder. “Can you help her with that?”
“I hope so,” Alyssa answered softly before hopping onto the bed and moving closer to Triska. The butterfly sisters tried using their hands to help fan more air onto the overheating teen while Squeak frantically squeaked at Alyssa while pointing down to Triska.
“I know, Squeak,” Alyssa said as Daniel and Specca quickly headed over to the bed, everyone gathering around while the witch clanked her spoon on the edge of the bowl. “Hopefully this will help. Lift her up so I can give it to her.”
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.”
&nbs
p; 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!”
Chronicles of Eden - Act VI Page 18