Chronicles of Eden - Act 2 (98 page)

“Yes, Ms. Charlotte,” Apoch and Astreal said together before walking away. Charlotte smirked then started walking back towards her manor.

“Alright, Daniel, prove that your belief is right to me, it’s all for the good of peaceful coexistence after all.”

*****

Kroanette galloped along the darkened path through the old forest as fast as she could, her eyes focusing ahead closely as the faint beams of moonlight from above gave the only real light to guide her on the road leading away from Rystone towards Eston. Daniel held onto her waist as he frantically tried to think of what to do, knowing he had a short amount of time to make an important decision. On one hand it was now possible to open up negotiations with the witches of Rystone and Charlotte, something that would bolster his campaign of recruiting monster races to present to the queen of Rockhelm in a bid for peace. However, in order to seal the deal and gain Charlotte’s support he had to prove that humans could really choose a witch to mate with willingly, and had been ordered to make love to Alyssa on this very night to prove his belief. It was something he knew he needed to do for his cause, and at the same time felt was out of his reach all the same since he thought the very idea of having sex with Alyssa was overwhelming to say the least.

“I can’t believe this is happening, what am I supposed to do now?” Daniel said with frustration.

“What do you mean? Either you make love to that little witch tonight and prove you weren’t just saying horse crap back there, or you don’t and concede to speaking only horse crap back there. Seems like there’s only one obvious choice,” Kroanette reasoned with a shrug.

“It’s not that simple, I can’t just tell Alyssa that we have to… you know, have sex tonight. It doesn’t work that way,” Daniel argued.

“Why not? I’m quite sure your little witch friend won’t object, all of those girls in your group seem really attached to you, she’ll probably leap at the opportunity,” Kroanette replied with a smirk.

“You don’t understand, I don’t know if I really feel
that
way about Alyssa, or any of the other girls for that matter. And even if I did love Alyssa, what about the others? Doing this is going to cause a war to break out among them, I just know they won’t stand for something like this,” Daniel mentioned nervously. Kroanette nodded slowly then glanced back to him while still running ahead at full speed.

“Daniel, were you being serious about willingly mating with a monster? Centaur, witch, any monster; you would
really
be ok having sex with them if they were kindhearted like you said?” she questioned. Daniel sighed and nodded as he looked down.

“Yes, I know I would be fine with doing that with the one I really love. If she and I were in love and felt so happy and right together, then of course her being a monster wouldn’t stop me from being with her. Human or monster, all that matters to me is that their soul is pure and kind, that’s all,” he answered sincerely. Kroanette looked at him with wonder then ahead while showing a thoughtful expression.

“Interesting,” she said softly to herself. After a while she glanced back to the boy with a curious smile.

“So, if a centaur helped you with your journey and was kind and considerate with you, you could love her just as much as you could a human woman and would be alright mating with her?” she inquired. Daniel smirked and glanced to her with a nod.

“Kroanette, I already told you I would be fair to you if it was like that between us,” he replied. Kroanette jumped a bit then looked ahead while waving her arms around in front of her while having a flustered expression on her face.

“What? I’m not talking about me, I just said if a centaur was like that, totally not talking about me here at all,” she quickly defended. Daniel nodded then looked up at the night sky between the tree branches that passed by overhead.

“That’s good you don’t feel that way about me, I already have four girls who are going to go ballistic when I tell them what’s going on, no need to have another joining them,” he said tiredly. Kroanette looked back to him worriedly for a moment then forward as they neared the exit to the forest.

“So what will you do? Are you going to take that witch to bed with you tonight, or decline Charlotte’s offer and leave with your friends?” she asked. Daniel remained silent as he stared up at the sky; feeling conflicted about what he should do. Would he do what was best for his quest, or what was best for the ones he cared about, and furthermore what if he really did love Alyssa and just didn’t know it, or perhaps he didn’t and this would only cause more problems within his circle if he went through with it.

“Whatever I’m going to do, I need to make a decision soon,” he said softly.

Kroanette raced out of the forest and headed towards Eston, with the bright red glow from the burning town lighting up the fields around it with a soft light. The centaur raced into the town and passed by the darkened buildings on either side of her, the monster then turning down a road to head towards where Daniel’s friends were located on the other side of the village. Daniel looked around at the burning district near them with a distant gaze, not caring about the village burning to the ground but only what he would choose to do tonight. Kroanette looked around carefully then suddenly stopped, with her and Daniel seeing a house next to them having its lights on inside while also having colorful green and blue ribbons strung up around the windows and doorway. Standing in front of the building Apoch and Astreal were seen smiling at Daniel while a lamppost near them was lit to brighten this darkened section of the village.

“This place is all set for you two,” Apoch said softly with a wink.

“So, are you really going to fuck the Wildfire Witch tonight?” Astreal asked with a small laugh of derision. Kroanette looked back to Daniel as the boy just stared at the house with a blank expression, remaining silent as the quiet burning and creaking of the district that was ablaze a few houses away was heard. After a while Daniel hopped off of Kroanette’s back and walked over to the house, looking in through the window to seeing that it was a normal human residence that had been cleaned up for them. There were no dead bodies of the poor humans that were cut down by the deathmare from earlier; rather it had a living room with a couch and few chairs, a kitchen which was bare, a few lit lamps to light the interior, and a room in the back that he presumed to be the bedroom.

“Daniel?” Kroanette asked worriedly. Daniel closed his eyes with a quiet sigh then looked back to her with a small smile.

“Kroanette, could you please go fetch all of my friends and bring them here for me?” he asked kindly.

“All of them?” Kroanette asked.

“You only need Alyssa here,” Apoch and Astreal mentioned.

“I know, but this is something we all need to discuss, and I need some time to figure out
how
to discuss it, so could you please go and bring them here for me? I would really appreciate it,” Daniel requested gently. Kroanette looked to the building then to Daniel before nodding a few times.

“Alright, if that’s what you wish, I’ll go and bring them here. I hope you know what you’re doing though,” she said before taking off down the road. Daniel watched her go then glanced to Apoch and Astreal, the sisters motioning him inside with sly grins on their faces. He held in his grunt of annoyance then walked into the building, being followed by the sisters as they glanced to each other with quiet giggles. Daniel looked around at the home picked out by the girls then walked back to the bedroom, opening the door before he jumped with surprise at looking inside.

“We prepared it just for you, do you like?” the sisters asked together before giggling again. Daniel slowly looked around at the room they had set up for him, which was obviously given some magical flair to it as it didn’t strike him as the kind of room a human would have in their home. It had a soft white carpet along with long crimson satin drapes over the window to the sides, with a large bed set in the middle of the room against the wall which had white sheets with a pink satin comforter on it, with a few fluffy white pillows neatly set on it along with rose petals sprinkled on the top of the bed. Candles were lit on the small end table and dresser set to the sides of the room while a few more were set on candlestick stands that were placed near the wall on opposite sides of the bed.

Daniel tried to keep his thoughts in order as he gazed around at the room where he was expected to have sex with Alyssa before he glanced back to the sisters as they eyed the interior with curious smiles.

“I think we did a good job fixing this place up for you,” Apoch mused.

“Yes, I believe the rose petals were a nice touch,” Astreal agreed. Daniel just stared at them with a dull glance then noticed a black cat walking up to the girls from behind, the animal mewling before hopping up onto Apoch’s back then sitting on her shoulder. The animal hissed slightly before its eyes gave off a soft crimson hue, with Daniel then looking at the animal cautiously as he turned to face them. Apoch and Astreal giggled then gestured to the cat with a twitch of their eyebrows each.

“Ms. Charlotte will be watching the show as well, if you don’t mind,” they announced before the cat mewled and hopped off of Apoch’s shoulder and trotted over to the bed, the animal leaping up onto it before turning to face Daniel and sitting down.

“That cat looks familiar,” Daniel mentioned carefully, remembering seeing a black cat that ran across him and Kroanette’s path in Rystone earlier.

“Ms. Charlotte has many pets that help her see what goes on in her territory,” Apoch replied.

“Feel free to speak to her if you wish, she can see and hear you just fine through her seer,” Astreal said with a gentle wave of the hand towards the cat. Daniel chose to remain silent and merely look around at the room to avoid eye contact with the cat while the sisters watched him with amused smiles.

“What of the fires burning in this village?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, the main roads dividing this village will keep the fires contained to the south, this residence will not be burning down in the middle of the night,” Apoch said glancing to the window with a careless shrug.

“And if by chance a few cinders do manage to ignite this portion of the village, well, you will have the Wildfire Witch with you, surely she could offer you some comfort before you burn to death,” Astreal mentioned before the sisters started laughing. Daniel nodded slowly as he contemplated whether or not they would be safe here from the fires, hoping that Charlotte would have made sure her helpers picked a building that would indeed be safe from the firestorm raging to the south of them right now.

“I guess if your alpha really wanted me dead she would have killed me by now, not to mention if it were in danger of burning down then I certainly couldn’t prove anything to her on this night,” Daniel reasoned with a small shrug.

“So, does that mean you have decided to honor Ms. Charlotte’s request tonight?” Apoch asked.

“To be honest, you could do much better than that
letchyask
that you travel with. If you would prefer, I’m sure you could choose another witch to make love to instead of her and still win Ms. Charlotte’s favor with your act,” Astreal mused.

“Let me guess, you want me to pick you instead?” Daniel asked flatly. Astreal giggled and shook her head.

“No no, I do have standards, Mr. Daniel. I wouldn’t grace you with my body even if you begged for it,” she mocked.

“But if you were to beg us on your hands and knees enough, perhaps we would give you the honor of pleasuring us with your mouth,” Apoch added before the sisters started laughing together. Daniel breathed out slowly then glanced to the cat which was watching him constantly from the bed.

“If I am to prove my belief to you on this night, Alyssa would be the only witch I know of so far that is indeed kindhearted enough for me to be with,” he stated before walking back out into the living room, with the cat mewling at him while the sisters watched the boy with sly smiles on their faces.

*****

Sitting near their campfire Triska was watching the fires burn with a distant gaze, her mind thinking about the boy she loved and wondering what he was doing in Eston that was taking this long. Next to her Specca was going through Daniel’s books with a sharp eye, trying to figure out who or what Jovian and Jacqueline really were before Daniel returned. Alyssa was standing near them while watching Eston with worried eyes, seeing the fires spreading around a large portion of the village with still no sign of Daniel or Kroanette. Squeak was sitting down near her and casually digging her hand around in the dirt, her expression being blank as she toiled the soil about and seemed to play with it while her antennae twitched a bit.

And sitting near her Falla was holding her sister close as Luna was whimpering and holding onto her with closed eyes.

“It’ll be ok, Luna, it’ll be ok,” Falla gently reassured while brushing her sister’s hair.

“My butt hurts still, it really hurts, I can’t believe Emily would do such a thing to me,” Luna whined.

“Oh, Luna, you poor thing. I knew from the start that Emily was trouble for us, I just knew it. We never should have taken her with us,” Falla said sadly.

“I’m sorry, Falla, I’m so sorry,” Luna whimpered, with the other girls looking to her with sympathetic eyes.

“Luna, the important thing is you tried to help someone who you thought was a human child in distress, that was very brave and kind of you,” Specca said with a small smile.

“Yeah, don’t be sorry for trying to do what was right, you didn’t know Emily was a monster,” Triska reasoned. Luna whimpered and shook her head while holding Falla close.

“No, I’m sorry Falla’s plan got ruined again, this isn’t what she planned on happening,” she sobbed, with Falla blinking then glancing to her questionably while the other girls looked at her with puzzlement.

“Plan? What plan?” Alyssa asked.

“Falla wanted us to save Emily so Daniel would trust us and let us get closer to him, she could have gotten him alone and then his seed if he trusted her,” Luna sobbed, with Falla then smiling nervously at the other girls who watched her with dull stares.