Chronicles of Eden - Act V (30 page)

Squeak raced over towards the ride as Daniel and the witch hopped off it onto the grass, both watching as the ant girl ran up to them and squeaked desperately at Daniel while Specca wearily looked over to Daniel.

“Daniel?” she softly said while seeming to try to catch her breath. “Did you speak… with the monarch?”

“I haven’t yet,” Daniel answered as he and Alyssa watched Squeak still trying to tell them something frantically. “Something else came up. But before we get to that what’s wrong with her?”

“Where is everything?” Alyssa inquired with narrowed eyes. “It’s late and you two come back empty-handed. Why is that?”

“Specca? Are you alright?” Daniel worriedly asked as he saw the nixie had a deep blush and was breathing heavily.

Squeak quickly handed the nixie off into Daniel’s arms, with him catching her with surprise as the ant girl franticly hopped about while squeaking and pointing every which way with indecipherable hand gestures. Daniel and Alyssa watched her for a moment as they both couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say then looked to Specca as the nixie was feeling lightheaded and dizzy as she wearily looked around at them.

“Specca,” Alyssa said expectantly. “You came back empty-handed after I told you not to. Why is that?”

“Never mind that, Alyssa,” Specca managed to get out before cringing and clinging to Daniel’s shirt. “Take this thing out of me right now. We have to get out of here.”

“Take what out?” Daniel questioned.

“What are you talking about?” Alyssa asked with a raised eyebrow at the nixie.

“I’m begging you, please,” Specca implored. “We need to get out of here right now, we’re in danger.”

“Danger? What danger?”

“Get this out of me right now!” Specca cried out before gasping a few times as her rear was sore and stiff. Daniel and Alyssa looked at her with surprise as the nixie watched Alyssa with pleading eyes. “I’ll tell you everything, just please take this thing out of my ass, it’s killing me!”

Daniel just stared at her with bewilderment from that confusing declaration then glanced to Squeak as the girl was still desperately trying to convey something to him in vain. He then turned to Alyssa as the witch was watching Specca carefully now. After a moment she rolled her eyes then waved her hand to the side, with Specca then letting out a sharp yelp as the thick wooden phallus was pulled out of her and tossed to the ground. Daniel looked down to it with a jump then to Specca as the girl moaned weakly while collapsing in his arms.

“What… what the heck was that?” Daniel asked looking down to the wood in the grass that was shaped like a large penis.

“Not important right now, Daniel,” Alyssa said before snapping her fingers near Specca. “Hey, explain. What do you mean we’re in danger? What happened?”

“Hey,” Falla called out from the caravan. The group watched as the girl hopped out onto the front seat then down to the grass while watching Squeak with annoyance. “What’s going on? It’s getting late, so did you get us a new bed from Flairwood or what?”

Luna popped her head out from the doorway with Pip sitting atop her and looked around curiously before over to Falla.

“Why is everyone shouting out here?” she asked stepping out onto the front seat.

“Well?” Falla demanded as she walked over to Squeak and crossed her arms with discontent. “You’ve been gone all evening. Did you order us a new bed from Flairwood or not?”

Squeak grabbed her hair with frustration and squeaked at the girl with exasperation before waving her arms around then pointing to Flairwood then to the forest then Falla while squeaking again and again. After she finished saying what she was trying to say everyone just stared at her in silence for a while before Falla grabbed the ant girl by the shoulders and tried to shake her back and forth out of frustration, only being able to budge her slightly in doing so of course.

“What is wrong with you?” Falla shouted out. “We don’t speak squeak! Every day we tell you this!
Every day
! Do you hear me? We! Don’t! Understand! You!”

Squeak looked at her with surprise then face palmed and squeaked while Falla looked to Daniel while waving to the ant girl with disbelief.

“How is she not getting that by now?” she questioned loudly.

“What’s she trying to say?” Luna asked as Pip took flight next to her and hovered in the air. “She seems upset about something.”

“What is wrong with you two?” Alyssa demanded while looking between Squeak and Specca. “What are you both so freaked out over?”

Specca took a few deep shaky breaths then screamed out a single word, a word which caused Daniel, the butterfly sisters, Pip, and Alyssa to freeze in place with surprise which was then immediately replaced with a sense of extreme dread.

“Swarm!”

In the world of Eden the idea of monsters lurking in the night was more real than imagination. It was no secret that these lustful creatures could indeed be crawling about in the shadows, waiting to strike and steal away the ones they needed to breed with, or possibly even to eat. When the sun went down those in the world always needed to be careful and alert of what was around them, especially when traversing The Outerlands. They could be slinking about in the darkened woods, watching their prey from within a shadowy cave, waiting on the other side of a rickety bridge.

They could even be hiding in your village, inside your own home.

*****

“NO!” Luna screamed as she ran across the room and dove under the covers of the bed. She trembled in fear under the sheets while Alyssa and Falla scrambled into the cabin and rushed over to the table in haste, with Alyssa quickly grabbing and unrolling the map while Falla watched her sister shaking in the bed.

“Is this some sort of sick joke?” Falla demanded looking back to the opening as Squeak rushed in and ran over to her clothes near the side of the room. “Because if it is I hope Luna wets your whole bed!”

“No no no no no no no no,” Alyssa frantically said while looking over the map before seeing Daniel carrying Specca into the cabin, the nixie clinging to his chest still while she was reeling from her punishment from the witch. “Specca, are you certain that’s what you heard? You have to be sure.”

“Hide me!” Pip cried out as she zipped into the cabin in a blue blur, flying about in circles all around the room while screaming the whole way. “Hide me! Hide me, hide me, hide me!”

Daniel ran over and laid Specca down on the couch while Pip then shot under the covers of the bed, with Luna then crying out and rolling out from under the covers onto the floor with the fairy’s tiny legs kicking out from between her breasts.

“Boobies!” Pip cheered while Luna rolled around screaming.

“Knock it off!” Falla shouted at them.

“Specca, answer me!” Alyssa demanded.

“Swarm!” Specca cried out while trying to catch her breath. “There’s swarm nearby!”

“Near Flairwood?” Falla asked with fright. “Are you serious? How do you know that?”

“Because the local butterfly girls told us,” Specca said looking over to Squeak as the ant girl was frantically trying to get changed back into her tunic and boots. “They said one of their friends went searching for some missing princess or something, and she saw them herself when they tried to eat her alive. I didn’t know what to make of her story but hearing there’s swarm nearby was enough for me to be scared of being near this place.”

“Princess?” Alyssa repeated.

“Complica,” Daniel said looking to them.

“Complica?” Specca asked confusedly. She blinked then looked around as she noticed somebody was missing. “Hey, where’s Triska? Why isn’t she here?”

“She went looking for Complica,” Daniel explained. “That’s why I didn’t see the monarch yet. Their princess was kidnapped by humans a few days ago, we thought helping to find and rescue her would aid with speaking to the monarch.”

“She left with some mercenary the monarch hired to find her daughter,” Falla added. “They were going towards a human village called Rackleholm in search for her.”

“Rackleholm?” Specca yelled out while Squeak turned to Falla with a loud squeak. “That’s where the swarm are!”

“What?” everyone else shouted while Pip popped out of Luna’s bosom and watched as the group stared at Specca and Squeak with open mouths and stunned expressions.

“Wait a minute,” Pip called out, with the group looking to her as she fluttered around in place with confusion. “What’s swarm anyway?”

“Are you serious?” Falla shouted at her. “You don’t know what swarm are? Then why were you screaming and trying to hide yourself in my sister’s chest just now?”

“Boobies,” Pip purred lustfully glancing to Luna’s bosom with a hungry eye, causing Luna to frown uneasily at her before looking to Daniel with alarm.

“Triska can’t go there,” Luna warned shaking her head. “She can’t go there, we have to stop her.”

“It’s too late,” Alyssa said looking to the map with distress. “She’s sure to have reached the village by now.”

“What are swarm?” Pip whined with a pout. “Tell me, tell me, tell me.”

Daniel rushed over to the table and opened his monster book, flipping through the pages until he came to a particular entry. Pip flew over and looked at it curiously then scratched her head in puzzlement.

“I don’t understand these words. What does it say?”

“Maybe if you didn’t try to read it upside-down it would make more sense,” Falla dryly suggested.

Pip tilted her head then fluttered around to the other side next to Daniel to read the entry from the front while he was trying to hold onto hope that Triska stopped before reaching Rackleholm for any reason at all.

“Let’s see here,” Pip said looking at the large words in the book. “Monster Class: Swarm. These monsters are lust incarnate. Much like their locust counterparts they travel in overwhelming numbers from location to location. Should you ever find one your only hope of survival is to run away, because if one attacks the entire swarm will without pause. These feral monsters are known to mercilessly rape the men they capture until they die and will eat both humans and monsters alive for food. They are only active during the day, during which their appetites of hunger and lust are never satisfied. During the night they will become dormant, however great caution is needed because if one awakes for any reason the rest of the swarm will too.”

“If Triska comes across them will she know to get the hell out of there right away?” Falla quickly asked.

“She might try to fight them,” Luna worriedly said as she stood up again. “If she fights even one of them the entire swarm will come after her, they’ll eat her alive in seconds.”

“Triska,” Daniel softly said, his eyes staring at the marker on the map for Rackleholm as he prayed that she wouldn’t stray into the village tonight.

“We have to do something,” Specca pleaded as she tried to stand up again, her legs wobbling slightly while she felt scared to death for her friend. “We have to get her far away from that place, we need to leave this forest right now, it’s not safe anywhere around Flairwood.”

“What about those in our grove?” Falla shouted at her. “There’s swarm right next to this place, we need to warn the monarch and get everyone the hell out of here!”

“Get out of here?” Luna repeated worriedly. “You mean leave Flairwood?”

“If those things migrate closer they’ll find this place. The men we have here will be raped to death in a day and the rest of us will be devoured in less than a day. We can’t stay here, Luna.”

“Where will we go?” Luna whimpered. “And what about Triska and Complica? They’re in Rackleholm, they’re in great danger.”

“We have to get Triska out of that place,” Specca implored. “There must be something we can do, anything!”

Squeak started squeaking frantically while pointing again and again to Pip. The group watched as she rushed over towards the fairy and squeaked at her with urgency then pointed off to the side as she tried to say something. After she finished squeaking Pip just stared at her with a blank expression.

“…what?” she finally asked with a tilt of her head.

“Wait, that’s right,” Specca said pointing to the fairy. “Pip’s extremely fast; she might be able to catch up to Triska in time. And if she’s really is in danger Pip can bring her back to us with her magic.”

Squeak nodded and kept pointing at Pip while the fairy looked around at everyone with a curious eye.

“I can?” Pip asked.

“Please, you have to go save her,” Luna pleaded while rushing up closer to the fairy. “Please, she’s going to die if you don’t warn her about the swarm. She may already need your help. Please help her.”

“But…” Pip worriedly said before looking towards the entryway. “I don’t want to go out there at night, it’s scary. And there might be more birds in the forest, I don’t like birds.”

“Then blast them with your magic like you did earlier!” Alyssa yelled out at her. “Get out there and save her, she’s dead meat if you don’t reach her soon!”

“Please, Pip,” Daniel begged, with Pip turning to him and seeing despair in his eyes. “Don’t let her die out there. I couldn’t… we couldn’t bear to lose her. She means so much to us. Please, we need you to help us.”

Pip slowly looked around and saw everyone nodding to that while they watched her with desperation.

“Don’t let her be taken from us,” Specca softly said. “You’re the only one who can get to her now.”

“You have to help her, you have to,” Alyssa begged with a few tears forming in her eyes.

Squeak merely squeaked at the fairy while holding her hands together in a pleading manner.

“Please, Pip,” Luna pleaded with watery eyes. “We don’t want to lose her.”

Pip showed a remorseful frown then slowly fluttered over to the table, her eye going over the map and seeing where exactly Rackleholm was from Flairwood. Everyone watched as she gently touched down on the table and stared down at the chart as she considered her options.

“But… it’s dark out now,” she spoke softly. “There are bad monsters out there, and birds, and I’m so small, and they’re all so big…”

The group exchanged worried glances while the fairy shook her head and backed up a few steps while looking at the marker for Rackleholm.