Chronicles of Eden - Act VI (10 page)

“I never abandoned her!” Alyssa pleaded. “I tried to find her until I couldn’t even stand, until I couldn’t use any magic, until I couldn’t lift the stones with my bare hands anymore. I thought I lost her, I thought I lost my only daughter!”

“Tell that to her,” the twins replied with a shrug. “That is your warning, Ms. Alyssa. You should know that she is spilling blood where she goes in her search for you. Those that do not aid her or threaten her have been burned alive by her fiery magic. She has even killed witches in doing so, something Ms. Charlotte and we are not too happy about.”

Alyssa and the group watched them with surprise as the twins glanced to Daniel with raised eyebrows.

“Although we’re still skeptical of your quest, Mr. Daniel, Ms. Charlotte wishes to watch you try a little longer,” Apoch softly said.

“With Ms. Alyssa near Ms. Ember is likely to find you, and will burn you all with her flames,” Astreal warned.

“Oh my god,” Alyssa breathed out before she wavered and fell back, with Triska and Specca quickly kneeling down and catching her as she almost fainted from the shock. As they did Triska felt Pip behind Alyssa’s shirt, the fairy stifling her grunt as the girls squashed her into the witch’s back.

“Alyssa,” Daniel said as he quickly knelt down with them, seeing Alyssa reeling from the news her daughter was still alive as she was staring off into space with teary eyes.

“Be prepared, Ms. Alyssa,” the twins cautioned before they started walking away from the group. “Your daughter may find you to exact her revenge soon, if we do not find and kill her first.”

“What?” Alyssa gasped as she looked to them with a jump. “Kill her? You’re going to kill her?”

“She’s claimed the lives of our sisters,” Astreal said glancing back to her. “And has even mocked our alpha with her arrogance. We are under orders from our grace to kill her on sight should we find her again.”

“She was rather mean to us before,” Apoch mentioned with spite. “She will not get away unpunished for that transgression.”

“Wait, you can’t kill her!” Alyssa pleaded. “She’s my daughter! Please, I have to talk to her! I have to see her again!”

“Please, you can’t kill Alyssa’s daughter,” Daniel implored. “Let us talk to her; it sounds like this has been a horrible misunderstanding. Alyssa never abandoned her, she loves her. Please, let us talk to her before you do anything.”

“We have our orders,” Apoch and Astreal replied walking away. “For your sake, pray you don’t find her before we do.”

The group watched as the twins twirled their staves around on opposite sides of each other. The crescent ends trailed a sparkly blue and green light behind them as the sisters spun them, the girls then striking the obsidian stones together over their heads with a loud clank. With a bright flash the group shielded their eyes, watching as the bloom then slowly faded to reveal the sisters were gone. Everyone then turned to Alyssa as the witch shakily stood up and stared at where the twins vanished with watery eyes while being shocked and feeling her legs wobble beneath her. She slowly took a step before dropping to her knees, her world fading to black before she passed out and collapsed onto the ground.

“Alyssa!” Daniel called out as he rushed over and lifted the girl into his arms. Everyone quickly gathered close to see the witch was out cold while her hand dropped down to the side.

“I can’t believe we just heard that,” Specca said shaking her head with wonder.

“She has a daughter,” Triska marveled as she watched her co-mate sleeping in Daniel’s arms. “She’s a mother.”

Daniel watched Alyssa worriedly then felt something moving around under Alyssa’s shirt towards her collar. The group watched as a bulge traveled up around Alyssa’s shoulder under her clothing before Pip popped out from her shirt with a gasp before quickly looking around in fright.

“Are they gone?” she nervously asked before zipping over and hiding in Kroanette’s bosom.

“Why must you keep going in there?” Kroanette demanded with a shudder. To the group’s surprise Pip didn’t respond with her normal cheer, instead a fearful whine was heard from the tiny monster deep in the centaur’s cleavage.

“Pip?” Daniel asked. “What’s wrong?”

Pip poked her head up between the centaur’s soft mounds and looked around quickly before at Daniel with a worried eye.

“Are they gone?”

“Apoch and Astreal? Yeah, they just left.”

“Why did you hide from them like that?” Triska questioned. “They’re just witches like Alyssa.”

“No they’re not,” Pip cautioned while shaking her head. “They’re not just witches like Alyssa. They’re not like Alyssa at all.”

“Wait a minute,” Specca spoke while watching the fairy carefully. “Do you know them? Have you seen those two before?”

“Not those two, but I have seen them before.”

“What does that mean?” Falla said with puzzlement.

“Those aren’t the ones I saw before, but I have seen them before.”

“I still don’t get it,” Luna mentioned while scratching her head.

“I don’t remember a lot, I know that much,” Pip admitted before slowly climbing up then standing on Kroanette’s breast. “But I do remember them, I know them, I do. They won’t be happy I’m here, they don’t want me being here.”

“Pip, we don’t understand,” Specca pointed out shaking her head. “What is it about them that makes you so afraid? And why won’t they be happy you’re here?”

Pip looked at her with worry, holding her hands together in front of her while the group watched the fairy with curious eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, paused as everyone anxiously awaited her answer, and then glanced to Luna’s chest with an eye of wonder.

“Oh damn,” Falla muttered before Pip zipped off of Kroanette’s chest and dived down into Luna’s cleavage with her familiar merriment.

“Boobies!” she cheered as Luna staggered around with a yelp before dropping to the ground.

“Dammit, Pip!” Triska shouted down at the giggling fairy.

“She just can’t stay focused with our breasts near her,” Specca sighed while watching Luna flailing her arms around and Pip’s legs licking out from her bosom.

Daniel shook his head at seeing Pip losing her concentration completely before turning his eyes back to the sleeping witch in his arms. Squeak walked close and gently held Alyssa’s hand before squeaking at him with concern.

“Alyssa,” Daniel softly said. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“We have to find her daughter,” Triska urged him. “We have to or else those other witches are going to kill her.”

“But Apoch and Astreal said Ember wants to kill Alyssa,” Kroanette reminded her.

“Alyssa’s her own mother, surely she couldn’t really do that,” Specca hopefully reasoned. “She may be angry about what she thinks happened, but we have to be able to talk to her and calm her down. Alyssa never abandoned her. She tried with all her might to find her; she was heartbroken from losing her.”

“If we find Ember we’ll talk her down,” Daniel reasoned with a nod. “We don’t know where she is now, but if we catch wind where she might have gone we have to try and find her. We’re not going to let Alyssa lose her daughter again.”

They then noticed Clover walking up to them, the elf glancing down questionably to seeing Falla trying to grab Pip out of Luna’s bra while the fairy was squirming around playfully between her fingers, then over to where the twins had vanished, then to Alyssa as the witch remained motionless in Daniel’s arms, then at Daniel with a small shrug.

“So, are we eating now, or what?”

“Clover, shut up,” Specca retorted before she, Daniel, and Triska made their way towards the caravan to lie Alyssa down inside. Clover watched them go with confusion then looked to Kroanette as the centaur slowly shook her head at the elf with a dull expression.

“Something I said?” Clover dryly asked.

*****

Inside the cabin Daniel was sitting on the edge of the bed while watching Alyssa sleeping quietly next to him. The witch’s hat was resting beside her while her staff was set next to her boxes of magic compounds and liquids off to the side, her blonde hair having a few strands lying across her face before Daniel gently brushed them aside. While he thought about how the little monster had a young daughter out in the world right now Triska was eyeing the wall that had been fixed by Apoch and Astreal’s magic, noticing that it looked as good as new without a single scratch or spot of paint missing.

“How did they do that anyway?” she wondered to herself before her eyes then went over to the table where the other girls were seated. Clover was apparently trying to tolerate being around anyone as she had her chin propped up with one arm while her hand was drumming its fingers on the table, eyes slowly going around at the other girls with a dull stare while her bow and quiver were resting behind her against the wall. Sitting a chair away from her so as to keep her distance from the elf Luna was looking toward Alyssa with curious eyes while Falla sat next to her watching Pip again circling the room above them in her playful manner. Beside her Squeak was resting an arm on the back of her chair while she too eyed the fast moving fairy, the ant girl having to sit sideways with her abdomen sticking out behind her while she had her legs leisurely crossed before her. She squeaked and tilted her head curiously before seeing Triska walking over and sitting down between Luna and Clover.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure what to say to Alyssa when she wakes up,” Triska mentioned while glancing over to the sleeping witch.

“I wonder what she’ll be feeling when she comes to,” Specca wondered walking towards them with plates of bread, vegetables, gravy, and mutton slices. She set them down in front of Squeak and her seat then looked over towards Alyssa with concern. “Hearing that her daughter is alive after all these years and also seeking vengeance against her for thinking she was abandoned when she was a baby. I do fear Alyssa may be in some distress when she awakens.”

“I never knew she was a mother,” Triska marveled while leaning back in her chair. “I had wondered if she had any kids during her long life, but I never wanted to pry. She didn’t mention any so I thought she hadn’t had one yet.”

“I can only imagine the pain she went through with her ordeal,” Kroanette said while leaning forward through the entryway again. “The feeling of losing one’s own daughter like that, it must have been unbearable for her.”

“She was able to move forward after it,” Daniel reasoned while gently caressing Alyssa’s cheek. “It had to have been hell for her, but she pressed on. She’s stronger than we thought.”

“This had to have opened some painful memories for her,” Specca worriedly suspected. “When she awakes I hope we can comfort her properly.”

“We’ll be right here for her when she does,” Daniel assured them. “We’ll find her daughter and help them work out this conflict peacefully. We’re going to stand by her every step of the way. She’s not alone with this.”

“That’s great,” Clover muttered while looking away from them. “In the meantime how about breakfast?”

“Clover,” Specca sighed with exasperation before she walked back to the open pantry where one of the drawers was pulled out to reveal it acted as both a small counter to prepare food on and had a spice rack built into it underneath.

“Falla, Luna, I do have to compliment the craftsmanship of this from your people,” Specca mentioned with a smile back at the sisters. “They not only built it in record time in here but it’s so well designed and exquisite. I just love how it works for both storage and also preparing meals on.”

“We’re pretty good with our hands,” Falla boasted while smugly examining her fingernails.

“Making things that look beautiful is what we strive for,” Luna said with a modest shrug.

“What do you two know how to make?” Triska asked them.

“Babies,” they both replied with a shrug, and then noticed all the girls and Daniel just staring at them.

“We never learned how to build anything fancy,” Luna admitted with a weak smile. “Or how to make dresses. Or anything at all.”

“I’m okay with floral decorations,” Falla said glancing around the room with a curious eye. “But I never really put much thought into it. We just wanted to… well, you know.”

“Catch human men?” Triska replied dryly.

“Don’t judge us for how we were,” Falla defended holding her hands up. “Between that or learning a craft we wanted to find and catch a man more. It’s just what interested us.”

“We weren’t too good at that either,” Luna confessed with a sigh.

“It was a lot harder than we thought,” Falla admitted shaking her head and looking down, with the other girls and Daniel smirking at her while Clover glanced down and away without any interest.

Specca started preparing two more plates for the girls then glanced back to Luna while her tail swayed around behind her.

“Luna, could you please help me get drinks for everyone?”

“Sure,” Luna happily replied before quickly trotting over to the pantry. She looked around curiously at the contents for a moment before Specca pointed down to the shelf that had the glass cups resting on it. Kneeling down and leaning forward into the pantry Luna started to gather some glasses in her hands while Specca continued to put together two more breakfast meals for the girls.

“How many do we need?” Luna asked while her head was in the pantry.

“Eight,” Specca answered with some amusement.

Luna nodded then counted the glasses she was holding before she jumped with a yelp, banging her head on the shelf and dropping the cups onto the floor. They clanked and rolled about, not breaking but being knocked away as Luna dropped forward into the pantry and squealed with a blush forming on her face.

“Luna?” Falla asked looking over before she and the other girls jumped with surprise at seeing Specca’s tail having moved underneath Luna’s skirt and slowly rubbing along her crotch. The nixie was still working on pouring some gravy onto the plates as she leaned her head closer towards Luna as if to speak to her while still focusing on her meal preparation.

“Luna? Everything alright?”

“Specca, what are you doing?” Triska asked as Daniel stood up and walked over to the nixie, his eyes then resting on Luna with surprise as he noticed the nixie’s tail sliding back and forth between the butterfly’s legs.