chronicles of eden - act I (83 page)

"Always ready when you are," Triska said with a confident smile.

"Yep yep. I'll clean up the campsite really quick then we can go," Alyssa said before running over towards their eating area. Squeak walked over and looked at Triska's arm, then to her with a worried expression. Triska smiled a bit and shook her head.

"I'll be fine, Squeak, really," she said calmly. Squeak looked at her with concern then gently took hold of Triska's arm, the ant girl then licking along the skin with short squeaks. Triska jumped a bit at the touch then watched with wonder as a euphoric sensation rippled through her arm. Her pain vanished with the touch of the ant girl’s tongue while a pleasurable feeling spread along her arm to her chest.

"What's she doing? Is she tasting her?" Specca asked with surprise. Daniel chuckled and shook his head.

"No, she's using her saliva to help ease Triska's pain. An ant girl's saliva is good for treating wounds," he explained as Triska watched with a slightly glazed look in her eye, feeling her arm tingling while the ant girl's tongue felt extremely good from the touch.

"Squeak… thank you," she breathed out as she felt her discomfort vanish completely. Squeak licked all along the girl's hand and arm then looked at her with a soft smile. Triska held out her arm and moved it around, then looked to Squeak with a smile.

"Thank you, it feels great now," she said with a small laugh, then looking back to her arm with amazement. It was still slightly reddened and burned in some places, but she felt no pain at all now.

"Interesting, I wasn't aware of that detail about the ant girls," Specca commented, adjusting her glasses and examining Squeak curiously. Triska glanced to her with a raised eyebrow.

"I thought you were the monster expert out here," she flatly stated. Specca looked at her with a dull glimpse then away.

"I do know quite a bit more than you I'm sure, but I never said I knew everything about every monster," she said with annoyance. Daniel smiled at her then looked over to see Alyssa waving her staff around, the witch's relic glowing an orange hue as the stumps of wood and dishes sank back into the ground amongst the twisting green vines. After everything had shifted down into the dirt the vines vanished while Alyssa looked around in approval of her cleanup work. She looked over to see the group watching her then waved to Daniel with a cheerful smile. He waved back with a small chuckle then glanced to the other girls.

"Let's go then," he said as he started walking towards Alyssa, the witch hopping over to him playfully.

"And I don't want you pushing yourself anymore today, Alyssa," he said as they started walking towards the caravan together while the other girls watched them.

"Oh, Daniel, you don't need to worry about lil ol' me," she giggled as she skipped along next to him.

"You just love playing the part of a little girl, don't you?" he asked with amusement.

"It's so much fun!" she cheered. The other girls watched them climb up onto the caravan then glanced to each other.

"Well then, I suppose I'll go update Daniel's monster book about the ant girls, since he trusts me to be his guide out here and to manage his books," Specca boasted with a calm smile.

"You may be his monster expert out here, Specca, but that doesn't mean that he's yours," Triska quipped back. Specca smirked then started walking towards the caravan, the girl's tail swaying behind her gently.

"We'll see about that, Triska, we'll see," she said as she walked away. Triska and Squeak glanced to each other then followed the nixie, both watching her closely.

After everybody was aboard the caravan the group set off along the dirt road once again through the outerlands, with Lucky pulling the large caravan behind him with no trouble at all. They traveled along the path while trees and small hills were seen all around. Sitting in the front Alyssa was holding the reins to Lucky while looking around carefully, on alert for anyone, or anything, that may be close by. After the close call with the slime woman earlier she wasn't about to let such an incident happen again. Inside the cabin Specca was sitting against a wall while writing in Daniel's monster book, having a calm smile as she wrote diligently and swiftly. Sitting next to her Triska was glancing at the nixie while having her dagger in her hand, holding the tip with her other hand as she tilted it around casually. Across from them Daniel was sitting back against a pillow while reading one of his books, having a calm expression while his eyes slowly moved left to right. Next to him Squeak was sitting on her legs with her abdomen sticking out to the side, leaning back against the wall while watching Specca carefully.

"There, I believe that is adequate," Specca announced as she finished writing. She crawled forward then sat next to Daniel as the other girls watched her with dull expressions.

"Here, Daniel, what do you think?" she asked holding the book out for him. He set his down and took the monster book with a curious smile, reading the pages while Specca watched him with loving eyes.

"That's great, Specca, this is really going to come in handy. How did you memorize all of this though, there's so much detail about all of these monster classes," he asked with an impressed smile. Specca brushed the hair back around her ear with a blush.

"I like to read, Daniel, and I've always had a very good memory. It's just one of my many talents," she said softly. Triska and Squeak watched the nixie with dull glares while Daniel looked through the book with awe.

"I'll say, thank you so much for doing this, Specca," he said gratefully. Specca smirked and glanced down with a raised eyebrow.

"The pleasure is all mine, Daniel. Please, allow me to show you another one of my talents," she said as she reached down and pulled his pants down slightly. Everybody jumped with surprise as the nixie held a hand up to hold her hair back over her ear while she leaned down face first onto his lap.

"Specca! Wha… what are you-" he started before looking up with a soft gasp as the nixie started moving up and down while making soft breathing sounds, using her mouth and tongue on something that belonged to him while Triska and Squeak stared with shock. Even Alyssa was staring back with wide eyes while the nixie performed oral service on the boy.

"What the HELL?" Alyssa yelled out.

"Hey!" Triska cried out as Squeak watched with shock. Daniel quivered before holding a hand down on the nixie's back, the girl making soft kissing and slurping sounds while her tail swayed around behind her. She brought up one hand to hold on his chest while the other grabbed hold of his erection, the girl moving her head up and down slowly while she gently stroked him.

"Specca… that… feels so good…" he breathed out as he closed his eyes.

"SPECCA!" Triska yelled out, the girl then flinching in pain. She looked down to seeing her dagger's blade had cut her hand, the girl wincing again before looking back to seeing Daniel and Squeak staring at her with surprise. She blinked then looked over next to her to see Specca still sitting down while writing in Daniel's book, also staring at her with surprise.

"What? What is it?" she asked nervously. Triska looked at her with a stunned expression then around to see everybody staring at her. Alyssa was glancing back to her with a raised eyebrow.

"Triska? What's wrong?" Daniel asked as Squeak looked at the girl curiously. Alyssa glanced to Specca then back to Triska with a questioning expression.

"Were you
daydreaming
about them having sex this time?" she asked flatly. The group jumped a bit at that remark while Triska looked at her with frustration.

"No I wasn't daydreaming about-… just never mind!" she yelled out. She flinched and then looked down as her palm had a cut across it and was bleeding.

"Triska, you cut yourself. Are you ok?" Daniel asked worriedly.

"Why did you just yell out my name? I wasn't doing anything wrong," Specca asked shaking her head. Triska glanced to her with a frustrated growl then down to her own hand.

"It's nothing, just forget it," she muttered as she set her dagger down and held her wrist, breathing steadily as she felt her hand in pain. Squeak crawled over and took hold of her hand, squeaking softly with a worried expression.

"Squeak, that's ok, you don't always have to-" Triska started before the ant girl started licking the wound, the girl's tongue lapping around the cut. Triska felt a powerful wave of euphoria spread from her hand and up her arm as her pain receded.

"Squeak… you don't have to…" Triska said before leaning back with a gentle sigh, watching Squeak with a glazed look in her eye as the sensation was slightly overwhelming. Specca watched the ant girl curiously then looked back in the monster book with a raised eyebrow. Triska watched Squeak tend to her injury as her mind was reeling from the sensation of the ant girl's saliva.

'Why… why does it have to feel so good?'

"Squeak, thank you," Daniel said with a gentle smile. Squeak finished tending to Triska's injury then sat back, squeaking with a happy expression at the girl. Triska looked at her hand with wonder, seeing that although it was cut the bleeding had stopped as well as the pain.

"Thank you, Squeak, but you didn't have to do that," she said looking to the ant girl.

"Actually, I think she did," Specca commented adjusting her glasses. The group looked to her as the nixie was reading through her entry about the ant girls.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked as Squeak sat back down against the wall next to him. Specca looked over to Squeak and examined her carefully.

"Squeak is an ant girl, and ant girls have a hive based behavioral instinct within them, much like all monster classes that are based from insects. They treat those in their nest as family, and they share a group mentality that they must help one another to survive. When she saw that Triska was injured, both earlier and just now, her instinct to help kicked in," she explained. The group turned to Squeak as the ant girl looked around at everybody curiously. Triska looked at her hand for a moment then over to Squeak, the ant girl smiling gently at her. After a moment Triska smiled softly at the ant girl.

"I see, thank you, Squeak," she said gently. Squeak nodded as Daniel smiled at the ant girl.

"It sounds like we've got our own nurse for our trip then," he said with a slight chuckle. Squeak leaned over and nuzzled against his shoulder while holding onto his arm, looking at him with a bright smile while squeaking a few times. Triska twitched then forced a smile to hide her anger.

"Calm down, Squeak, Daniel's not hurt. You get can let go of him now," she said through her teeth.

Suddenly the caravan swerved as Lucky neighed loudly outside, the group tumbling to the side of the cabin.

"Whoa, Lucky! Whoa!" Alyssa yelled out as the others tumbled about inside the cabin. Daniel smacked back against the rear wall before Specca rolled over and collapsed across his lap. Triska stumbled to the side before she gripped the wall for support and braced herself while Squeak tucked into a ball and rolled over to the side before tumbling back into the wall next to Daniel and Specca.

"What's going on out there?" Triska yelled out as the caravan swerved again before coming to a halt. Squeak slowly uncurled and peeked around while Specca rubbed her head a bit, the nixie slowly getting up across Daniel's lap as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Is everybody alright?" he asked. Squeak slowly sat up with a small squeak while Triska grabbed her dagger and sheathed it again, the teen then moving towards the front of the cabin.

"What happened? Why did you do that?" she asked as she popped her head outside the entryway.

Specca got up and adjusted her glasses, then looked to see Daniel blinking a few times.

"Daniel, are you alright?" she asked softly. He nodded and looked to her with a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you?" he asked. She smiled and looked down timidly.

"I'm quite alright, thank you for catching me," she said bashfully. Daniel chuckled as he rubbed his gut. He didn't plan on catching her at all during the commotion, but wasn't going to speak against it. Specca looked around then towards the front of the cabin.

"Hey, what happened?" she called out.

"Oh my god," Triska said covering her mouth with her hand, her expression of horror.

"Get back inside, move," Alyssa hushed as she quickly threw the teen back with a magical force. Triska tumbled back as the others watched with surprise, the girl crashing into them with a grunt. Alyssa looked back and held a finger to her lips.

"Nobody make a sound, especially you, Daniel," she ordered in a hushed tone. Triska slowly sat up while rubbing her head as Alyssa looked back ahead.

"What's going on, what's out there?" Specca asked quietly. Triska got up on her knees while watching the front entrance with wide eyes. She blinked then quickly pushed Daniel aside against the wall.

"Keep quiet, Daniel," she urged quietly. Daniel looked at her puzzled as Alyssa was looking around at something with worried eyes. Specca crawled forward and peeked out the entrance, the nixie jumping with a short yelp before covering her mouth. Alyssa pushed her back as she took hold of the reins again.

"Specca? What is it?" Daniel asked. Triska quickly held a hand over his mouth and shushed him as Specca moved back towards them. Squeak looked at them cautiously then towards the front as Alyssa snapped the reins, the witch grabbing hold of her staff and holding it while she sat in the middle of the front seat. She glanced back and tapped her staff twice on the floor, in doing so causing a blanket to float up and cover the entryway like a curtain.

Daniel slowly moved Triska's hand and glanced to her.

"What is it?" he whispered. Triska looked at Specca who was glancing to her with wide eyes.

"Witches," Triska said quietly.

"A lot of them," Specca added nervously. Daniel looked at them puzzled as did Squeak.

"Witches? But why is that a bad thing? We need to talk to Alyssa's kind as well," he pointed out. Specca shook her head and looked over to him.

"I don't think you want to talk to them right now," she warned quietly. He looked at her confused as Triska shook her head as well.