Chronicles of Eden - Act V (18 page)

“Hellfire?” Charlotte questioned carefully.

“That is my name, yes,” Ember replied with a small shrug.

Charlotte slowly looked around the area, seeing everything that had been set ablaze earlier reduced to ash and rubble before her eyes rested back on the witch who appeared perfectly fine despite having been responsible for the firestorm and also walking right through it. Her clothing had burns and rips on it however they didn’t appear to be fresh as the fabric seemed old and unclean.

“How is it you can walk through the fires like that?”

Ember chuckled and started walking towards the alpha, dragging her sword at her side which caused a small trail of cinders and smoke to spark and ignite behind it. Charlotte watched her cautiously then slowly her eyes widened.

“It can’t be, you cannot be immune to the flames.”

“Oh?” Ember asked as she walked right up to the witch and tilted her head playfully. “And just why cannot that be?”

“There is only one witch who is immune to fire. She is the last of her family line to possess such ability.”

“Alyssa,” Ember hissed with narrowed eyes at her.

“Just who are you, really?” Charlotte asked while gripping her wand.

Ember slowly held her hand up at her side, her rings glowing softly before fire started to ignite and burn around her fingers. Charlotte watched the flames licking off the girl’s skin yet were causing no damage or harm to the witch at all.

“Impossible,” Charlotte said shaking her head. “You can’t use fire like that, witches cannot cast fire.”

“Fire is a witch’s natural enemy,” Ember spoke in a dark tone, with Charlotte looking to her with growing tension. “Witches burn so easily,
so easily
. Even those that wish to control fire with their magic need be careful lest they cast themselves into their own damned inferno. In fact if I were to set you ablaze right now, even though you are such a strong and revered alpha, you would likely perish here in this forgotten forest very quickly.”

Charlotte carefully took a step back as she narrowed her eyes at the witch, her wand glowing softly as a blue casting ring formed below them.

“Are you threatening me?” she demanded.

Ember laughed amusedly then flung her hand to the side, throwing out a streaking ball of flame that struck into a tree and exploded violently. Charlotte saw the timber engulfed in flames that quickly died off as the charred wood dropped to the ground then watched as Ember leisurely toiled her fingers together in front of her face with a smirk.

“No, not at all. If I wished to threaten you I wouldn’t bother with mere words,” Ember causally reasoned. “All I want is Alyssa, that’s all, nothing more. Tell me where she is and I’ll be on my way, simple as that.”

“Sorry to say I don’t know,” Charlotte quipped with a small smirk. “That particular witch left this land days ago.”

“Where was she going?” Ember sharply asked.

“She didn’t say.”

Ember screamed out in anger as she looked around with her golden eye giving off a bloom. She growled as she clenched her fist while her sword gave off a dark aura again. Charlotte slowly looked to the sword for a moment then to the witch with a careful eye.

“How is it you can control fire like this?”

“It’s just a little talent of mine,” Ember said before glancing to her with a cold eye. “I suppose you could say I get it from my mother.”

“Your mother?” Charlotte questioned. Slowly she showed surprise to that as she realized what the witch meant. “It can’t be… Alyssa is the last… she’s the last…”

“She was,” Ember said turning to face her with a harsh stare. “Until she gave birth to
me
.”

“She never had a daughter,” Charlotte argued. “She never spoke of or was even seen with one. How can you be her offspring? What are you even doing out here in this forest anyway?” She blinked then looked over to the remains of where a house once stood before slowly turning her eyes back to Ember.

“Wait a minute. This was her home, wasn’t it?”

Ember merely nodded while watching the witch with discontent still.

“She lived here in Ritherwood still?” Charlotte asked curiously. “After she burned it to the ground and left it infested with only wolves and nothing more, she remained here?”

“I’m surprised an alpha such as yourself never figured that out,” Ember laughed at her. “She’s been living in your backyard all these years and you never knew? What was the matter, were you too afraid of wolves to seek her out?”

“I never knew any witch lived out here,” Charlotte said shaking her head. “Especially this far out. Why would they, there’s nothing but dead trees and wolves lurking about.”

“You just answered your own question, idiot,” Ember scoffed. Charlotte looked to her with a scowl as the new witch chuckled with a grin at her. “I don’t believe this; a revered alpha was too stupid to think of the one place Alyssa could keep her home and not be bothered by anyone. Of course she would have lived here still, you were all afraid of her fires and the wolves that roamed in the shadows to search for her here. It was the perfect hiding place, right under your noses.”

“I really don’t care for your words,” Charlotte hissed with annoyance.

From below Ember a red and orange casting circle appeared on the ground, with Charlotte backing up as fires flared and burned wildly around Ember yet never burning nor touching her. The witch laughed with a cold smile at the alpha before picking up her sword and gently running her fingers along the side of the blade while admiring the weapon.

“As soon as I found my way back here again I came straight to this forest,” she casually explained. “I waited for so long to finish her off, yet I had always wondered if one day she would have fled this home. Seems she finally has, though I’ll find her again, yes I will.”

“You came here to kill her?” Charlotte asked.

“What witch would care if she died?” Ember scorned. “None in your village, not even you yourself would miss her, and her own daughter certainly wouldn’t shed a tear when she breathes her last breath.”

“You seek to kill your own mother?”

“I seek to kill the one who abandoned me!” Ember yelled out with absolute fury, with the flames burning wildly around her and growing higher. “I will find the one who cast me away, the one who left me for dead! I’ll find her and drive this sword right through her heart! She will not run away from me, she will not leave me behind again!”

Ember struck her blade into the ground, the casting ring growing brightly as the flames swirled around and blocked her from view. Charlotte backed up and waved her wand, creating a glowing circular barrier before her to block the waves of heat and cinders that flew at her.

“I’m done here,” Ember spoke from behind the flames. “Go and run back to your village, you may assure your fellow witches the fires in this forest have finally gone out. I however will never cease to burn in this world until Alyssa dies by my hands.”

“Just who do you think you are ordering me around?” Charlotte yelled out before waving her wand forward. A wave of obsidian blades jettisoned outward from the ground and struck through the torrent of fire, the flames washing and burning around them before dying out revealing Ember to be gone. Charlotte showed a confused glare for a moment before looking down at the ground and waving her wand to the side, retracting the razor edged blades back into the dirt and showing not a trace of the other witch.

“Ember the Hellfire Witch?” she derided with anger. Slowly she showed a look of wonder as she held a hand to her chin. “That sword she has… it couldn’t be… no, that would be too much to believe.”

As the smoke and ashes around the scorched field slowly drifted about Charlotte looked up and watched as sunlight started to pierce through the haze from above.

“Alyssa, the fires you’ve spread are beginning to burn wildly once again.”

*****

Outside their caravan Alyssa was pacing around in circles while constantly swinging her staff down at the ground, her frustrated shouts growing louder and louder as she kept trying to open the gateway back to her home. However each and every time she did nothing happened, and with each and every failure Alyssa began to fear the truth as to why that was.

“No! Open up! Open up, you have to!” she cried out before stopping and looking down at the grass nervously. “Oh no. This isn’t good. This isn’t good at all.”

After a while of silence she shut her eyes and dropped to her knees while fearing the worst for her home.

“Maybe Charlotte and the others found it. Maybe they finally found and destroyed it for good. My home… my mother and I’s home… it can’t be gone. No, I can’t accept that. Maybe… maybe we’re just too far away right now, maybe that’s why I can’t go back. Maybe…”

“Alyssa!” Daniel called out from nearby.

Alyssa looked over to the side and saw Daniel approaching with Triska, Luna, Falla, and a cat girl who was looking down with frustration and embarrassment.

“Daniel?” Alyssa asked getting back up onto her feet. “What are you doing back here so soon? And who’s that?”

Daniel and the girls walked up to her before Alyssa noticed the boy’s pants were wet. She glanced to the cat girl questionably for a moment then to Daniel while pointing to his damp clothes.

“Did you pee yourself?” she asked with disbelief. “Daniel, I know meeting the monarch is a big deal, but… really?”

“I did not pee myself,” Daniel defended while waving his hands before him. “Why would you even think I would do something like that?”

“He didn’t do that,” Triska dryly said pointing to Tabitha. “She did.”

Alyssa looked at Tabitha bewilderedly then to the others while the cat girl glanced to her with a low meow.

“
She
peed on Daniel?” Alyssa demanded before glaring at Tabitha. “Who the hell is this girl?”

“Long story,” Triska said looking to the caravan. “Daniel, go ahead and change into new clothes, we’ll wait for you here.”

“With pleasure,” Daniel replied as he walked past them towards the ride.

“Okay, what is going on here?” Alyssa asked while watching Tabitha closely. “Why are you all back so soon and why did this girl pee on Daniel?”

“It was not my fault!” Tabitha yelled out. “He scared me!”

Falla held a hand over her mouth to hold her laughter in while Luna smiled amusedly at Tabitha, the cat girl growling angrily as she avoided eye contact with the group. Triska sighed and waved her hand down to get Alyssa to drop her attack stance, the witch reluctantly doing so while keeping a close eye on the newcomer.

Inside the cabin Daniel changed out of his wet pants and started to pull some new ones out of his bag. As he did he glanced over and saw Pip still sleeping on the table.

“She must have really exhausted herself getting us here like that,” he reasoned to himself before he got dressed with new underwear and pants. As he started to put his boots back on he heard someone scrambling to board the caravan. Looking over towards the entryway he saw Alyssa charging through the curtain, skidding across the floor on her boots, then rushing over and tackling him down. After a moment to regain his senses he saw Alyssa sitting atop him while seeming to be on the verge of tears.

“You tried to have sex with some strange cat girl in the middle of town?” she cried out.

“No,” Daniel dryly replied. “I did not try to have sex with some strange cat girl in the middle of town, Alyssa.”

“You had her bent over in the street and were humping her, weren’t you?”

“I was not humping her, who told you that?” Daniel called out towards the doorway.

“Could have sworn you were,” Falla called back. “Must have been my imagination.”

“Falla!”

“So… you
didn’t
try to have sex with her?” Alyssa whimpered while wiping a few tears from her eyes.

“No,” Daniel assured as he sat up and held the witch close. “I only pinned her down and detained her as part of a deal to prove we could handle ourselves in a fight. That’s all.”

“So that’s why she peed on you?” Alyssa asked curiously.

“Yeah, I sort of lied and said there was a lycan behind her to throw her off guard. I got the jump on her, but unfortunately that lie freaked her out a little.”

“How come you pinned her down like you were going to have sex with her?” Alyssa asked puzzled.

“Well I know of one particular hold that works on your girls rather well,” Daniel reasoned with a smirk. “I’ve had lots of practice with it so I thought it would be my best chance at detaining her.”

Alyssa giggled a bit then looked down with a pout before glancing up to him, seeming to be trying to hide her smile again.

“If you ever have another girl held against you like that again I’m going to be mad, and not just at her.”

Daniel nodded with a light chuckle then kissed her, the girl holding onto his shirt and closing her eyes from the tender moment. When the kiss ended Daniel winked at her then glanced to the entryway with a raised eyebrow.

“Um, did you do anything to Tabitha?”

“Only what had to be done,” Alyssa flatly replied.

Daniel showed some concern to that then headed over toward the curtain with her, both of them looking outside and seeing Triska, Luna, and Falla looking up at something under a nearby tree. Alyssa giggled and hopped down onto the ground while Daniel jumped down beside her with a tired sigh as he saw his witch at least didn’t straight up murder Tabitha in her jealousy.

“That’s gotta hurt,” Triska commented as the group saw Tabitha suspended up in the air by thorny green vines from the tree branches, all of which were wrapped around her body and holding her tightly in place with her legs tucked up and her arms tied together behind her. A vine was taught between her legs and around her ass while another was strung around her breasts and neck. The cat girl was meowing weakly while she couldn’t move her head as the vines were holding her forcibly, her eyes glancing down to the group while she slowly swayed a little above them.

“Alyssa,” Daniel groaned as he held a hand over his face.

“She’s lucky that’s all she got,” Alyssa muttered.

“But she didn’t do anything wrong,” Luna worriedly said.