The Poison Princess (3 page)

“That doesn’t matter,” the woman replied.

“Doesn’t matter? What do you mean?”

“Names are so fleeting, my sweet.”

“But I must know who I am talking to.”

After a light sigh, the woman said, “Very
well then, if you must have a name, how about this? If you are
Ruby, I’ll be Scarlett.”

“You know my name?”

“I know much about you, princess.”

Ruby’s eyes finally began to adjust to the
bright white of the place she found herself in, and she got her
first glimpse of the woman who declared herself to be Scarlett.
Without a doubt, Ruby had never seen a woman more beautiful than
the one standing before her. She had long orange hair that ended in
curled ringlets at her chest and shoulders. Her face was much
younger than her voice would have indicated - smooth, delicate, and
instantly appealing to the young princess. Her eyes were an
unnatural red color, and orange eye shadow was heavily layered
above them. Covering her beautiful, full lips was a deep crimson
color, only somewhat more vibrant than the warm flush of her
cheeks. Protruding out from her hair was a pair of horns not unlike
that of a ram, but somehow they didn’t detract from her beauty and
actually made her more appealing to Ruby in an enigmatic sort of
way.

The young princess, due to the sheer amount
of skin that was uncovered and lay bare, could only describe
Scarlett’s dress as unconventional. She had seen nothing like it
before, and this woman was certainly cut from a whole different
cloth. The black dress she wore was form fitted to Scarlett’s every
voluptuous curve. The neckline dropped down to between her breasts
exposing an ample amount of cleavage, and the bottom of the skirt
ended abruptly just below her hips, showing her long, slender legs.
Petals like that of a flower sprouted out from the midsection of
the dress, falling down, but adding no more cover to Scarlett’s
skin. From the hem of the skirt down to just above her ankles,
there was nothing but her soft, pink flesh. Her tall, heeled, black
shoes were a combination of lace, leather, and a polished silver
metal. A ribbon traced through the metal hoops, lacing up from the
pointed toe of the shoe all the way to the top where it was
accented with a delicate bow.

Caught off guard by her attraction to this
strange woman, Ruby found herself unable to choose any appropriate
words to continue the conversation. Scarlett acted as though she
were keenly aware of the princess’ attraction, eyeing her up and
down ravenously, before moving forward and taking advantage of it.
She began to walk around Ruby, tenderly rubbing her fingertips
against the exposed skin of the princess’ arm.

“Your next question, Ruby,” Scarlett
insisted, making a return to the princess’ front.

“Oh, yes,” she said, awaking from her
temporary daze. Her thoughts turned to her location. It hadn’t been
a trick of her adjusting eyes. There truly was only white in every
direction. “Where am I? What is this place?”

“Two questions,” the horned woman replied
with a smile. “But I suppose they lead to the same answer.”
Twirling around and extending her arms upright, Scarlett showed
Ruby her objectless surroundings. “Think of this as a temporary
holding pen. It is a step out of time and space, inconsistent with
your world but not quite reaching the next. It is between here and
there but nowhere along the path. It is everything and nothing.”
She paused and looked back to the princess. “Ignoring all of that
utter nonsense though, this is a transition realm that you will not
stay in for very long, as you are reallocated to your next
location.” Scarlett then approached Ruby and whispered sweetly in
her ear, “And in case you’re wondering… we’re completely alone in
here.”

“Why would that matter?” Ruby asked,
flustered and embarrassed by her attraction to the alluring
woman.

Scarlett just smiled. After a pause, she
added, “You seem not to have taken notice yet.”

“Of what?”

The horned woman raised an eyebrow. “The
poison.”

Scarlett was right. Ruby raised a hand to her
lips. No longer was the poison pouring forth from her mouth in
uncontrollable amounts.

“What stopped it?” the princess asked.

“This place,” Scarlett told her. Raising her
hand to Ruby’s face, the horned woman gently rubbed her chin. The
built up muck and grime from the ever-flowing poison was gone.
“This cessation is only temporary though, just like your time
here.”

The princess raised a hand to inspect the now
clean surface. “How did you do that?”

“That doesn’t matter. Find another question
that does, my sweet princess.”

Ruby thought for a moment. She was very
confused by this place, how exactly she had got there, or what was
to come next. “You said I’m not dead.”

“Yes.” Scarlett smiled.

“And that this place is temporary.”

“Yes.” A bigger smile.

“So that means I’m going somewhere after
being here.”

“Yes.” There was a keen glint in her
eyes.

“Where am I going?”

Scarlett seemed quite pleased by the question
and eagerly replied, “The Abyss. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.”

Indeed, Ruby knew of it. The Abyss was a
region of her kingdom that was desolate, dangerous, and full of
death. The air was noxious and carried with it a thick miasma. The
water had long since turned to muck and poison. The soil was
rotten, and anything that grew out from the earth was toxic. In
short, the region was uninhabitable.

“But I’ll die there,” Ruby objected.

Scarlett smiled and once again approached the
princess. She put her hand on Ruby’s shoulder and traced around
behind her. She then pressed up against Ruby’s back, wrapping her
arms around the princess’ midsection and chest, hugging her
tightly. Whispering in Ruby’s ear, Scarlett said, “You’re the
poison princess. You’re immune to the venom held within that
place.”

The horned woman did not release Ruby from
her embrace, and the princess realized that she did not want her to
either. Her scent was mesmerizing, reminding Ruby of the
strawberries she loved so much.  Eventually, through the
aromatic haze, she managed to find another pair of questions. “How
is it that I have come to this place? And why am I going to the
Abyss?”

Scarlett nuzzled against Ruby’s cheek and
released a soft sort of moan. Her hands began to wander on the
princess’ body, caressing her, as she answered. “The craggy hand
man. He had to dispose of you. Would have killed you outright if he
could, but he doesn’t have enough power yet. He underestimated you
when he sent you to the Abyss. You’re stronger than he can imagine,
my princess.”

“What is he? What is he doing to my sister?”
Ruby asked. She forced herself to lightly remove Scarlett’s hands
and turned to face her.

“He is a symbiotic demon of the nether
realm,” Scarlett said, taking a step back. Her red eyes changed
from alluring to saddened. “He is using her to breach your world
and grow in strength.”

“Why? Why would he do that?”

“I’m sorry. That doesn’t matter.”

“How can that not matter? He’s corrupted my
sister. Why has he done this?”

“Knowing his motives will not change your
actions. Knowing how will.”

“Then how? How has he done this to
Leina?”

“Every symbiote works differently. The one
infecting your sister approached her as a friend.”

“A friend? What does that mean?”

“When you were a child, did you never dream
up an imaginary friend?” Scarlett asked. “Leina did. She dreamt up
a man in a mask with a craggy hand. For years, he has been
infesting your sister’s mind. Only recently was his strength to a
point that he could take a true form.” Scarlett paused for a
moment. “You may not be able to save her. He is a necrosis
stripping away the layers of her mind and soul. It may be too
late.”

“I will save my sister,” Ruby said
resolutely.

“Perhaps, but not like this. If you approach
him again, he will have the power to destroy you outright.”

“Then how do I stop him? How do I free
Leina?”

“You must first understand what you are
capable of. You must understand what has happened to you.”

Ruby did not know how long it had been since
Scarlett’s last touch, but she felt like she now needed it. She
felt addicted to it. Everything seemed to fade away, but her desire
for this strange woman’s touched buzzed aggressively in her
mind.

“What is it that you have done to me?”

Scarlett approached the princess once again,
this time wrapping one arm around to the small of her back and the
other at the base of her neck and playing with the strands of hair
there. Leaning forward, the horned woman softly nibbled on Ruby’s
earlobe. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is - do you like
it?”

The princess couldn’t help herself. She
moaned softly and then replied, “Yes.”

“Mmm. I know, my sweet. Now… Ask me what the
wizard did.”

“What did Durin do to me?”

“The wizard attempted to save you,” Scarlett
replied. The horned woman’s hands at Ruby’s back began to untie the
string of her dress. The princess did not object.

“But what else? Why am I like this now?” She
found her own arms now wrapped around Scarlett and that her fingers
were slowly exploring the woman’s body.

“While the wizard was alive and could control
the spell, he was focusing it to bring the poison out of you. In
death, the effects of the spell became more… chaotic.”

Ruby raised her head upward, closing her
eyes. Scarlett continued to untie the string at the princess’ back,
but she had also begun to tenderly kiss her neck.

“What is it doing to me?” the princess
asked.

“The spell is bringing forth everything dark
and hidden from within you. Some of that is certainly physical, but
it isn’t just about pulling the poison from your body. Every secret
desire, repressed thought, and ill will you’ve ever harbored is
being pressed to the forefront of your mind.”

The strings at her back were now undone.
Scarlett bent down to the ground, ruffling the hem of Ruby’s skirt
in her palms. Standing up, she pulled the dress up with her and
over the princess’ eagerly raised and outstretched arms. The
beautiful horned woman carelessly tossed aside the dress, and the
princess was left standing there in only her simple, thin, white
chemise.

“How do I stop it?” Ruby asked, looking into
the crimson red eyes of the horned woman.

“You don’t. You embrace it.”

That wasn’t enough for her and she began to
object, “But--”

Scarlett raised a single finger to the
princess’ lips. “We don’t have much longer, my sweet princess,”
Scarlett said. The finger fell from Ruby’s lips, down her chin, and
to her chest, where the horned woman placed her palm tenderly
against the princess’ skin, just over her heart. She continued,
“Let’s take full advantage of what time we do have together,
Ruby.”

Hearing her name roll off Scarlett’s tongue
made the princess feel delirious in her sudden fervor for this
woman. Ruby embraced the woman, pulling her close and kissing her
as though she wanted nothing else. The horned woman even tasted of
strawberries. It was almost maddening how perfect Scarlett seemed
to be to each of her senses, but before she could uncover any more;
her time in the transitional realm was expended.

Ruby awoke feeling extraordinarily confused by her experience. The
poison continued to leak forth from her mouth, as it had back in
the castle, and she found herself in a grey and green colored
marsh. Everything that had transpired between the castle and where
she currently was seemed as though it were something from a fevered
dream. She suspected that was not the truth of it, however.

Scarlett had felt all too real even though
the princess’ attraction to her had come as a strange surprise.
She’d never before found herself interested in a woman like that,
and outside of Scarlett’s presence, Ruby had difficulty defining
what it had been that made her so passionate toward the horned
woman. In her absence, the princess could still feel the woman’s
fingers, lips, and tongue on her body. She felt connected to her
through some unseen force, tethered somehow, and still desired more
of the woman’s touch despite herself.

If what Scarlett had told Ruby was correct
then she realized that the marsh she was in was actually the Abyss.
She had never been there before, having only heard stories about
it. Dreary grey skies overhead clouded all sunlight, the marsh had
no sound of life, and seated in the muck, the princess was
partially submerged in the noxious liquid that made up much of the
region. She struggled to stand, her yellow dress now stained with
the green sludge of the Abyss in addition to the poison oozing
forth from her mouth.

Ruby recalled Scarlett had relieved her of
her dress in that strange white realm, but she had no memory for
how it got back on at all. The experience made little sense to her.
Opting to ignore whatever had transpired, Ruby focused instead on
what she knew for certain. A foul creature had corrupted her little
sister, and it was up to her to save Leina as well as the rest of
her kingdom.

The princess’ first goal, however, would be
to escape the Abyss. Scarlett had mentioned that Ruby would be
immune to the effects of the noxious region, but she was not eager
to test that information. Looking around, she tried to decide which
way she should travel. She knew that the Abyss was southeast of the
castle, but the thick grey haze prevented her from spotting the
location of the sun to determine which direction she needed to go.
Ruby wasn’t even certain what time of day it was or even if the sun
were truly out. Days could have passed since she was in the castle
for all she knew. With no sun and no stars to guide her way, she
had to simply guess at which direction to travel.