Chronicles of Eden - Act V (44 page)

“Crush it,” Clover sternly ordered. “Save yourself from being blown into ash by her. Just crush her tiny body in your hands right now and be done with it.”

“Enough,” Daniel declared as he turned to her while holding Pip close to his chest. “We’re not killing an innocent girl. To do that we’d be no better than the Darker Ones in this world.”

“That’s no girl, that’s a fucking fairy,” Clover argued.

“She’s staying with us. End of story.”

“Are you fucking stupid? She’s going to kill all of you! She’s a real monster!”

Daniel handed Pip off to Specca who held the fairy close to her chest then marched up to the elf with growing discontent for her.

“What is your name?”

“Clover.”

“Well, Clover, I’m Daniel, that fairy’s name is Pip, and I made a promise to her. That she would never be alone in this world. And she isn’t going to be. We won’t let her.”

“She’s staying with us,” Specca agreed assertively. “She may be a bit strange and… handsy with us from time to time, but she has been a great help to us and has a pure heart that we’ve all seen.”

“If it wasn’t for her you would be swarm food right now,” Kroanette pointed out. “She saved all of us from that nightmare and brought us back safely. We owe our lives to her.” She blinked then smirked a bit and set her hands at her hips.

“In fact if she hadn’t separated me from my friends with her magic in the first place you and I wouldn’t have met. I wouldn’t have taken you to Rackleholm at all and you wouldn’t have recovered your missing treasure.” She pointed to Clover’s bag the elf had resting at her foot while the group watched her curiously.

Clover grunted and lowered her bow before reaching down and quickly snatching up the bag.

“Big deal, I would have found it anyway, not to mention then I would have had the honor of killing that traitor myself for taking-” She then stopped and looked to the bag while shaking it a little, hearing it jingling and causing some concern with her. “Wait, what the fuck?”

She dropped her bow and opened the bag, gasping with surprise before throwing it down to the ground. From the satchel gold coins and silver jewelry spilled out onto the grass.

“What is this? That’s not my bag!”

“What? It isn’t?” Kroanette asked.

Clover stared at the gold and jewelry that lay on the ground with shock then jumped as she remembered when Tabitha fell on her inside the building during the swarm attack. How the neko then grabbed a black bag at her feet and took off with it while another rested next to the elf. She then growled heavily with anger while the group watched her with growing concern as she had a look of rage wash over her.

“Goddammit! That fucking cat girl took it!”

“What’s she freaking out over?” Alyssa asked carefully.

“Oh yes, that’s right,” Kroanette said looking to Triska curiously. “Your companion had a black satchel as well, didn’t she?”

“Yeah, she looted a few of the empty homes to get a ‘bonus’ for her troubles,” Triska dryly replied.

“No surprise there,” Alyssa mentioned while looking at the valuables at their feet. “I wouldn’t be shocked if she would have killed any surviving humans to take those to begin with.”

“No!” Clover yelled out grabbing her pigtails and stomping her feet. “Dammit, she took it! I’m going to fucking kill that bitch!”

“Again, there is a young child in there,” Kroanette said pointing to the caravan.

“What was in your bag that she took anyway?” Triska asked.

Clover looked to her with sheer rage then screamed out into the air, her voice sounding like a lion’s fearsome roar and causing Complica to quickly duck down under the covers inside the cabin while Luna and Squeak looked towards the entryway with a startled jump.

*****

Under the moonlight in a grassy field far away from the village of Rackleholm a lone neko was standing near a worn path and a broken down carriage, her expression of shock and disbelief as she held something in one hand and the empty black carrying bag in the other.

“What the hell is this?” Tabitha cried out. With a loud yowl she screamed into the air while holding the object she had apparently taken rather than her loot from the village. Looking back to her find she growled with anger before showing a curious eye. In her hand she held something that was shaped like a fraction of a sphere, made of a strange dull metal and having etchings all around it that glowed with a blue light briefly. She noticed the relic weighed almost nothing at all and gave off a faint pulse of energy that made her fur stand upright for a moment.

“What the hell
is
this?” she questioned while examining one of the fragments of Eden.

*****

Daniel and his girls watched as Clover cursed and stomped around in a fit, the elf overcome with apparent wrath as she kept shouting loudly with very colorful language.

“So much anger in her,” Kroanette commented shaking her head.

“I thought elves were graceful and caring creatures of Eden,” Specca said while backing up behind Daniel in fear of Clover’s rather violent aura.

“We thought so too,” Triska replied while watching the elf with a raised eyebrow.

“She’s saying the f-word in nearly every sentence she makes,” Alyssa mentioned.

Clover yelled out with frustration then grabbed her bow and holstered it around her shoulder, her eyes set in a cold glare while she bared her teeth slightly with her rage.

“That bitch isn’t getting away from me,” she cursed before she marched over to Kroanette. “Let’s get going, we can still catch and skin that thieving cat alive for this.”

“Yeah, about that,” Kroanette nervously said with a weak smile before quickly trotting over and ducking down behind Daniel. “I’d really rather not go with you. It’s late, I’m tired, I just reconnected with my friends, and also you scare the crap out of me.”

“Quit making excuses and get over here!” Clover demanded while pointing down next to her.

“For the last time, she is not your personal horse,” Triska threatened with a glare at Clover.

“No, she’s my personal centaur,” Clover snapped at her before turning to Kroanette and pointing to her. “Let’s go, move it!”

“She is not going with you,” Daniel argued while holding an arm back across Kroanette. “She’s staying here with us. I don’t know what you think is going on between you two or why you think you’re entitled to her, but she is not your property.”

“I saved her fat ass from some bandits in the woods, she’s
mine
now.”

“I saved your foul mouth from the swarm in Rackleholm,” Triska shot back at her. “So I guess that makes you my bitch, doesn’t it?”

“Fuck you. I didn’t need your help, I had everything under control. And that is my centaur, she’s staying with me and that’s final.”

“The last monster that tried to take one of them away from me is lying right over there,” Daniel warned while pointing over to the swarm that was missing its head from earlier. The girls glanced to it then to Daniel as he marched up to Clover and got close to her face. “You are not taking Kroanette away from me too. I will
not
allow it.”

“Daniel,” Kroanette breathed out with wonder.

“Are you threatening me?” Clover hissed at the boy.

“I’m telling you Kroanette is staying here, and that’s final,” Daniel replied with a stern glare at her.

Kroanette blushed and held a hand to her cheek while Triska and the other girls glanced to her curiously then back to Daniel as he stood before the elf. Clover peered around him to Kroanette for a moment before looking at Daniel with a dull stare. She then grabbed his shoulders and kicked straight up between his legs, causing Daniel to let out a painful gasp before dropping to the ground with a thump.

“Daniel!” Specca cried out while holding her hands over her mouth.

“That’s what you get for speaking to me like that,” Clover scoffed down at Daniel who was lying face first on the ground with a hoarse whine.

“You bitch!” Triska yelled as she ran over and tackled the elf to the ground. The two started rolling around shouting at each other while Kroanette and Specca rushed over to help Daniel up by an arm each, the boy cringing with eyes shut tight as he tried not to cry in front of so many girls. Alyssa looked at Daniel with surprise then over to Clover with fury as the elf and Triska rolled about on the ground. Triska grabbed her dagger then quickly struck it into the dirt right next to Clover’s head while the elf was held down by her, with Clover growling at the teen as the blade grazed her cheek.

“I’ve already killed one of your kind today,” Triska said through bared teeth. “And you just gave me a good reason to kill another.”

“I’m not afraid of you or your little man,” Clover snapped.

“You made a big mistake,” Alyssa scorned as she walked over to them, tapping her staff once on the ground and causing a trail of light to ripple through the grass towards the girls. Green vines sprouted up from the dirt and wrapped around Clover’s body while Triska stood up over her with her dagger, both she and the witch watching as the elf was ensnared in the vines and held tightly to the ground. Triska sheathed her dagger and grabbed her sword’s handle while Alyssa’s eyes gave off a purplish hue briefly as the two glared down at the bound elf.

“NO!” Luna screamed out inside the cabin. The group looked over to hear the butterfly girl suddenly crying from within the caravan. Specca quickly yet gently handed Pip off to Daniel then ran back towards the ride.

“Luna? What’s wrong?”

Daniel looked to the fairy in his hands then gently handed her to Kroanette, the centaur holding the fairy with an uneasy smile as he looked back to the caravan.

“Hold onto her for me, Kroanette,” he said before he rushed after Specca. Alyssa followed after while Triska glanced down to Clover then to the caravan before lowering her hand from her sword.

“We’ll deal with you later,” she scoffed before running after the others.

Kroanette watched them hurrying into the cabin before glancing down to see Clover thrashing about in the vines, being unable to break free or even pull her hand out as they were pinned to her sides by the strong weeds.

“You’re all insane! You’re all fucked in the head!” the elf yelled out. Kroanette showed a dull expression towards her before calmly walking over, kneeling down, and then resting Pip down on the vines above Clover’s chest. The elf froze in place and stared with wide eyes at the fairy before looking to Kroanette as the centaur stood up and watched her with a raised eyebrow.

“What are you doing? Get that horrible thing off of me,” Clover ordered through bared teeth.

“You need a serious attitude adjustment,” Kroanette said shaking her head. “Now be quiet or else Pip might wake up crying.”

Clover squeaked as she turned her eyes back to Pip and froze in place. Kroanette smirked at seeing the elf scared of the tiny monster then quickly trotted over to the front of the caravan. She lifted her front legs up onto the driver’s seat and leaned forward to poke her head through the curtain, watching as everyone was gathering in front of the bed where Luna was heard crying from.

“Complica, no!” Luna wailed while holding her hands to her face, she and the rest of the group minus Falla who was still asleep watching as Complica was sitting on the bed with her eyes closed and her head hung low.

“What’s wrong?” Daniel asked.

“Her wings,” Luna whimpered pointing to the young princess. Everyone saw Complica sitting still with her wings remaining limp behind her.

“What about them?” Specca asked as she walked over and sat on the bed next to the girl. She reached out and gently touched one of the wings before gasping as she saw why it was lowered behind the young girl.

“Oh my lord,” she breathed out as she slowly lifted a wing, or at least part of it.

“Oh god,” Triska softly said as everyone saw the young butterfly’s wings appeared to have been shredded, with Specca’s hand shakily running through the tatters which lifelessly flopped back down behind the girl.

“They’re ripped,” Specca horrifically realized. “They’ve been cut into tatters.”

“I was wondering why she never had them extended out,” Triska mentioned worriedly.

“What happened to her?” Alyssa asked looking to Triska. “Did the swarm get her?”

“It wasn’t them,” Complica quietly spoke. Everyone looked to her as she shivered and slowly turned to Luna with watery eyes. “The humans did this to me.”

“Why would they cut your wings?” Luna whimpered.

“Complica, what happened to you?” Daniel asked as he walked over and sat next to the girl. She backed away from him nervously before he held his hands up with a worried smile. “I’m not going to hurt you, I promise. We’re going to take you back to your mother. That’s why Triska went out looking for you, to bring you home.”

Complica looked to Triska then to everyone’s surprise leapt off the bed and raced over to her, embracing her and burying her face in the teen’s chest again. Triska watched her with wonder then gently held the girl by her back and head.

“It’s okay. You’re safe now.”

She walked the young girl back over and sat on the bed with her. Complica kept holding onto Triska while hiding her face from everyone while the others took notice of her crippled wings. While they were retracted and folded behind her it wasn’t clear they were cut apart yet everyone now knew they were indeed no longer able to fly.

“Will they heal again?” Daniel asked Luna. To his dismay she slowly shook her head before turning to him with a heartbroken face.

“Daniel, if it was just a small cut they could have, but her wings… they’ve been slashed apart.”

Specca slowly lifted up a severed strip of the young butterfly’s wing and shook her head with a remorseful frown.

“Some of the wing has been hacked right off, the rest was cut apart. A giant butterfly’s wing doesn’t grow back, Daniel.”

“What?” Daniel asked, hoping he wasn’t hearing that right.

“She’s never going to fly again,” Luna sobbed while holding her hands to her face. “She’s never going to fly again.”

Triska watched as the young princess started crying while holding onto her. She felt her heart aching at seeing the poor monster having been crippled for life like she was.