Chronicles of Eden - Act III (25 page)

“Here, give it a try.”

Squeak looked at the reins curiously then to Lucky while the girls in back exchanged worried glances.

“Um, question. Is letting Squeak drive this thing a good idea?” Triska asked.

“Yes, I was wondering the same thing myself,” Specca said nervously.

“Well, Lucky knows to stay on the path,” Alyssa reasoned unsurely. “All Squeak would really be doing is just holding onto the reins.”

Squeak glanced to the reins then looked at Daniel with a timid smile and squeaked something.

“It’s okay,” Daniel assured her. “Just relax and hold onto them. You don’t need to be afraid.”

Squeak slowly reached out and grabbed hold of the leather straps, holding them carefully while the others watched her closely. Daniel then leaned back and watched as Squeak held the reins just as he had been doing, the girl watching the horse ahead of them with wonder as it kept running along.

“There, you’re now guiding Lucky,” Daniel explained. “Snap the reins if you want him to stop or start again. If we come to a fork in the road just pull on the strap in the direction you want him to turn.”

Squeak looked to the reins in her hands then to Lucky with a curious smile. She squeaked once as she held onto the straps tightly, her eyes locked onto the horse ahead of them as he kept running at a brisk pace.

“Well this is certainly a sight,” Triska mused. “An ant girl driving a horse drawn caravan.”

“I do believe this is the first time one of her kind would have done so,” Specca mentioned. “I don’t think any ant girls ride on horses let alone drive carriages of any form.”

Squeak smiled and looked around at the sight of passing trees and fields of grass, feeling excited to be driving a caravan out in the world like this.

“Is this what you wanted, Squeak?” Daniel asked. Squeak looked to him with a smile and nodded, squeaking something eagerly before looking ahead to Lucky. Daniel slowly nodded with a weak smile.

“Glad to hear it,” he said with a shrug.

They continued along the path, crossing over a ravine on an old wooden bridge, around hills covered in trees, and alongside a large meadow that had a few large boulders spread about in it. Squeak didn’t even have to tell Lucky to make any turns, the horse following the one and only path without any trouble at all. After a while they came along a path that ran between two large fields of tall thick grass, the overgrown pastures rising up higher than Lucky himself with the worn pathway stretching on ahead in a straight line between them. Squeak smiled and looked around at the sight of the high passing grass while the other girls remained in the cabin and went about their usual routines. Specca was reading a book, Triska was polishing her sword with a rag, and Alyssa was levitating her staff in front of her and casually rolling it in place with one finger. Sitting up front with Squeak still Daniel was looking around at the large fields of tall grass that they were passing.

“Wow, it’d be easy to get lost in something like that.”

Squeak looked around and nodded in agreement as the caravan rolled along the worn road.

Inside the cabin Triska was polishing her sword with a rag, having a small smile on her face as she made sure her favorite weapon was in good condition. Alyssa glanced to it with a blank expression while merely keeping her staff rolling in place with one finger.

“You missed a spot.”

Triska glanced to her with a small smirk then continued to work on cleaning her blade.

“Thanks.”

She then set her sword down as she glanced behind her at the wall. For a moment she thought she heard a horse galloping nearby, but the sound quickly disappeared. After a few seconds Triska resumed working on her sword, carefully wiping it all over with a keen eye. Next to her Specca turned a page in her book, her eyes going side to side quickly as she read through the story at a quickened pace. Suddenly she looked up from her book then back at the wall as she heard a horse running nearby as well.

“Do you hear that?” she asked looking to Triska. The teen glanced to her then looked to the wall as she heard the noise again.

“Is there another horse nearby?”

Alyssa looked at them curiously then got up and ran to the front of the caravan, poking her head out and seeing Squeak and Daniel still riding in front with the ant girl at the reins. Alyssa hopped out then jumped over Squeak, with her and Daniel then watching as the witch held onto the side of the caravan and leaned over the edge of the seat, her eyes darting around and seeing only grass passing by quickly.

“Alyssa? What is it?” Daniel asked.

“I don’t see anything out there,” Alyssa called back toward the girls.

“WAAAH! Where am I?” a female voice cried out.

Everyone jumped and looked around quickly, with the sound of a horse quickly racing out of the grass with a rustle behind them and onto the path being heard. Alyssa looked back to see a small dust cloud from where it came from, with Daniel leaning over the other edge and seeing some tall grass rustling on his side as well.

“Somebody’s riding through the fields back there.”

Triska quickly sheathed her sword while Specca darted up to the front of the cabin, with Alyssa hopping over across Daniel and grabbing onto the edge of the ride while she leaned over the side. She scanned the fields of grass to their left, seeing nothing moving among them as Lucky continued to pull the caravan along the path.

“I don’t see anyone,” Alyssa said shaking her head.

“WAAAH! Which way?” the female voice cried out again.

Again there was a rustling of grass behind the group, with Alyssa and Daniel looking back over the edge of the seat to seeing some of the tall grass bent around while a small dust cloud was kicked up again. Squeak blinked then looked back over the other side of the caravan, seeing a figure quickly darting into the fields of grass on her side. She squeaked and pointed over to it, with Triska then rushing back to the rear window and looking around for what was moving near them. She only saw the dissipating dust cloud and the wavering grass but nothing else.

“She’s riding through the grass behind us. I think she’s lost,” she called up to the others.

“Where is she?” Daniel asked looking around the area.

Alyssa hopped over to Squeak’s side and leaned over the edge, looking around behind them for any sign of the wayward rider. The sound of a horse running along through the grass started to be heard nearby, with Squeak and Daniel looking around at the field carefully to find it. Specca adjusted her glasses then glanced to Daniel.

“Should we stop?”

“I don’t think its bandits, it sounds like there’s just one,” Triska said as she made her way up to the front of the cabin.

“WAAAH! I hate this place!” the female voice cried out before there was a rustling sound behind the caravan again, the group then looking back to seeing another dust cloud flowing by across the path while the grass on both sides of the trail swayed from something darting through them.

“She’s running around in circles back there, she must really be lost,” Specca reasoned.

“Hey! Can you hear us?” Daniel called out.

All they heard were the wheels below them, Lucky running along ahead of them, and the wind blowing by and rustling the tall fields of grass all around them.

“What should we do, we don’t even know where she is or where she’s going,” Triska asked.

The group then heard the galloping sound of a horse drawing closer along with the female’s voice again.

“WAAAH! Where in the world am-” she cried out before apparently crashing right into the side of the caravan, with the ride rocking violently to the side as a loud thud was heard from the impact. The group jumped from the collision while hearing the female rider screaming before falling further behind them.

“Oh my god, we hit her!” Specca said with surprise.

“You mean she hit us,” Triska said while quickly running back to the window. She saw a dust cloud billowing up behind them along with a figure falling back into the tall grass on the side of the trail.

“I think she’s down. Squeak, stop the caravan!”

Squeak nodded then snapped the reins with a squeak, causing Lucky to neigh before slowing down.

“Great,” Alyssa said dryly while leaning over the edge of the seat. “Squeak’s first time driving and she runs over somebody.”

Squeak looked down with remorse and squeaked softly while Daniel looked to her with concern.

“It wasn’t her fault, that other rider was going all over the place before she ran into us.”

“I hope she’s alright,” Specca said worriedly.

Lucky and the caravan came to a stop before the group quickly jumped off and ran back towards where the grass on the side of the trail was bent over.

“Hey, are you alright?” Daniel called out.

“Where are you, say something,” Triska called out as they saw a large opening in the tall grass where the rider tumbled through. Looking down on the ground they saw some of the stalks of grass bent over and rustled with a girl lying on the ground with a dazed look in her eye. It appeared to be a girl around Triska’s age, although her height couldn’t be seen as some of the large grass was knocked down over her lower body. The girl wore a belly bearing brown top with green edgings, which barely held her rather large bust size which was easily bigger than Squeak’s, and had gold spiraling arm bracelets around each upper arm. She had long dark hair which went down past her shoulders that had a light green ribbon tied up at the top of her head with a clear gem in it and light green eyes which were having trouble focusing after her tumble. The group watched as she was lying on her side while groaning weakly to herself.

“Ow… what was that?” she whined as she slowly sat up and rubbed her head. After a pause she quickly looked up to seeing the others watching her.

“Are you alright?” Daniel asked with a worried smile. “That was quite a fall you took.”

“Yeah, you ran right us, what were you doing back there?” Alyssa asked.

The new girl blinked then looked at Alyssa with discontent.

“What do you mean? I didn’t run into you, you just got in my way is all!”

“That only confirms that you ran into us,” Specca pointed out.

“How did we get in your way?” Alyssa snapped. “We were traveling on the
only
path, you were the one riding around through the fields and smacked right into us.”

“No I didn’t, you ran into me!” the girl yelled while thrashing around. “You did you did you did!” She then flinched and held a hand down past her waist with a whine.

“Are you alright?” Specca asked as she stepped closer.

“No I’m not alright, I was nearly run over by crazy people!” the other girl snapped loudly at her, causing the nixie to back up again.

“Again, you ran into
us
!” Alyssa yelled back. Triska held a hand past her to silence her then walked over towards the new girl.

“Are you okay? Can you stand?”

“I’ll be fine, just leave me alone!” the new girl snapped at her. Triska stopped walking and just looked at the girl with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m just trying to help.”

“You can help me by leaving me alone,” the girl scoffed while looking down towards her lower body. “You’ve already done more than enough by getting in my way like this.”

She grumbled and muttered to herself as she tried pushing away the tall stalks of grass off her body before Daniel looked around then to the new girl curiously.

“Where’s your horse, did it run off?”

The girl blinked then looked to him with confusion.

“What horse? I don’t have a horse,” she said shaking her head. The group looked at her puzzled from that.

“What do you mean you don’t have a horse?” Specca asked. “We heard you riding one just now.”

The new girl looked at her with annoyance then started to get up, the group watching with growing surprise as she then stood up on her legs.

All four of them.

“I mean I don’t have a horse, did I stutter?” the girl snapped as the group stared at her with wonder. From the waist down she had the body of a horse, with brown fur on the top and white on the underbelly. Now that she was on her feet again it was seen that she stood at least a foot taller than Triska and Daniel. She had a long dark tail that swayed around behind her, the monster girl brushing off some of the stalks of grass from her lower body before looking back to the group with annoyance. On her lower body near her human waist she had a large leather saddle bag, and attached to a small belt around her waist was a coiled brown bullwhip.

“What the… she’s not human,” Triska said in wonder as she backed up to the others.

“She’s a centaur,” Specca said with wonder as she slowly adjusted her glasses to look at the new monster. The centaur looked around the area carefully then to the group with a glare.

“What’s the big idea getting in my way like that?” she demanded. “I’m on a very important mission and I won’t be stopped by anyone. Are you after my belongings, is that it? You think you can just ambush me and take it without a fight?” She quickly grabbed her whip and snapped it loudly at her side, causing the group to back up cautiously as the centaur turned to face them while keeping ready to strike with her weapon.

“If you think you can steal from me you’ve got another thing coming. It’ll be a cold day in hell when lowly bandits like you steal from the legendary courier, Kroanette!”

The saying ‘Never judge a book by its cover’ stood as true for humans as it did for monsters. Even if they appeared friendly, hostile, or just plain scary upon first seeing them, it didn’t necessarily mean they were what they appeared to be. A monster could be as small as a little girl, yet possess great power and actually be more dangerous than one would assume. They could appear as deadly and devious as one could imagine, yet in reality may actually be quite harmless or weak in combat. Although it was common to label all monsters as antagonistic and dangerous, not many took the time to really understand if they were or not. Just because they appeared brash, unpredictable, or aggressive, it didn’t necessarily mean that was all there was to them.