Chronicles of Eden - Act III (29 page)

‘This centaur may not think much of Daniel’s ideas, but we can’t pass up a chance to speak to the empress of their kind in this region. If anyone can sway the centaur empress about the idea of peaceful coexistence, it’s Daniel.’

She swam around close to the bottom of the river, her eyes scanning the area carefully while sand and loose grains of soil drifted along behind her. Rocks and weeds littered the riverbed that a few fish swam across over, with Specca glancing to them for a moment before shaking her head and looking back around with determination.

‘Now’s not the time for a snack, whatever she dropped could be swept further away or buried in the sand below if I’m not quick.’

Without any effort she gracefully floated along the bottom of the river, the rays of sunlight through the surface shining in ripples around her while her tail swayed gently behind her. Her tie and the petals to her skirt fluttered in the current while her hair flowed gently back to show her ridged ears, the girl moving about while scanning the ground all around her in search for something that didn’t belong down there. After a while she suddenly stopped and slowly glanced down as she felt a strange pulse from nearby.

‘What was that?’

She slowly lowered down to the riverbed and moved a few stones around, the sand kicking up and washing away before Specca’s eyes widened at seeing something. It looked to be a fraction of a sphere the size of her hand, an eighth of one to be exact, which was made of a strange metal that appeared dull and dark. The rounded side of it had strange etchings and lines carved across while the flat edges had a few angular lines etched into them as well. The tip was pointed and gave off a faint blue glow while a strange pulse resonated through the water from the object.

“Wait, this thing… I’ve seen it before.”

Gently she reached down and picked up the artifact, feeling that it weighed nothing at all. It was as she wasn’t holding anything, yet could feel in her hands she was. Her eyes gazed around at the unique object before she jumped with a gasp.

“Wait a minute, this is the same thing that…” she exclaimed with surprise, remembering what the succubus in Ashwood was holding in her hand from their encounter. Specca stared at the artifact with surprise then quickly swam back towards the surface.

Waiting on the shore Kroanette was looking around for any sign of the nixie, the centaur pacing around in the shallow part of the river restlessly while Daniel and his friends carefully made their way down the slope towards her.

“If she doesn’t find that thing I am seriously going to freak out here!” Kroanette cried out.

“So she’s basically a centaur
princess
?” Triska whispered to Daniel. The boy nodded as the group watched the centaur pacing around while pulling on her hair.

“I suppose so,” Daniel reasoned. “Her mother is the empress of their race for this region, which would make her royalty.”

“She doesn’t really act like the royal type,” Triska whispered back skeptically.

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t,” Daniel said with a shrug.

From the water Specca surfaced with a small splash, the nixie then swimming over towards the group while Kroanette watched her anxiously.

“Well? Did you find it?” Kroanette called out.

Specca swam over then got back up onto her feet near the shore, water dripping from her skirt and tail as she walked towards the centaur while holding the artifact out towards her.

“Is this what you dropped?” she asked cautiously.

Kroanette cheered with a hop of all her legs then nodded with an eager smile.

“Yes, that’s it! That’s it, give it here!” she called out while holding out a hand.

Specca walked over to her and held the artifact out, the two then exchanging that and the nixie’s glasses while the group looked at the strange treasure curiously.

“What is that?” Daniel asked.

Alyssa peered closely at it then jumped a bit.

“Hold on, that looks like…”

“Yes,” Specca confirmed. “That’s the same thing the succubus took from Ashwood.”

Kroanette smiled with relief at the artifact then looked at Specca with confusion and a bit of worry.

“Wait, what?” she asked, thinking she heard wrong.

Triska and Daniel walked over and looked at the object carefully.

“Hey, you’re right,” Triska said with wonder. “That looks just like that artifact she stole from the city.”

“What are you talking about?” Kroanette asked. “This isn’t stolen. And what’s this about a succubus?”

“Kroanette, what exactly
is
that?” Specca asked cautiously.

“I don’t know, I was just hired to deliver it, not study it.”

Daniel’s group looked to each other then to the artifact worriedly.

“Kroanette, we encountered a succubus recently in a human city,” Specca informed. “She stole something that looked exactly like that artifact from the humans.”

“Whatever it is, she really wanted it,” Triska added. “She even had summoned monsters set loose in the city to cause havoc as a distraction to get it.”

Kroanette looked at the artifact carefully then around at everyone.

“But why? What is this thing?”

“We don’t know,” Daniel said. “But whatever it is it’s attracting a lot of trouble. If she was after the one in Ashwood she might be after this one as well.”

“You might not want to hang onto that thing any longer than you have to,” Alyssa said shaking her head.

Kroanette looked to the artifact worriedly then glanced around at everyone.

“Are you serious? You’re saying a Darker One is after this thing?”

“Maybe,” Specca said with a shrug. “She threw a human city into chaos just to steal another one of those from them.”

“I don’t understand what it is though,” Triska said while looking at the artifact carefully.

Kroanette shook her head then looked around at them with a small smile, trying to hide her fear that a Darker One may be after the treasure. She began walking back up the slope towards the trail with the group doing the same, all of them looking at the strange artifact with both curiosity and concern.

“Whatever, it makes no difference,” Kroanette said with a weak laugh. “I’ll deliver this on time and as promised, and then it’s none of my concern. If my clients bring a Darker One down upon them then that’s their problem, not mine.”

The others glanced to each other worriedly, none of them hoping to encounter the succubus again all over a simple artifact. They all walked up onto the trail before Kroanette sighed then looked to Specca with a small smile.

“Thank you, for retrieving it for me.”

“Of course,” Specca said before raising an eyebrow in question. “I trust you’ll uphold your end of our deal?”

“A centaur never goes back on her word,” Kroanette repeated looking to Daniel. “I’ll deliver this to my clients, and then I shall take you to my home where you may speak with my mother about whatever it is you wish. I wouldn’t count on your strange ideas winning her over, but that’s not my problem either.”

“Thank you, Kroanette,” he replied gratefully. “I really appreciate the opportunity to talk to her like this.”

Kroanette merely gave him a small sympathetic smile and shook her head then looked to the artifact in her hand.

“Good luck, you’ll need it.”

Specca glanced to the centaur’s bag then tapped on her arm to get her attention.

“If you wish, I can mend the hole in your bag,” she offered. “I’m rather good with a needle and thread.”

“Thank you,” Kroanette said looking to her bag then back to the nixie. “That would be most appreciated. What was your name again?”

“My name is Specca, and this is Daniel, Triska, Alyssa, and Squeak,” Specca informed while gesturing to each member of the group. The others gave small waves to her while the centaur nodded and glanced around at them. She blinked then looked at Alyssa curiously.

“Wait a minute, Alyssa? Alyssa, why does that name sound so familiar?”

The group looked to Alyssa as she smiled nervously.

“What do you mean?” she asked carefully.

Kroanette looked up in thought for a moment then down while scratching her head and scraping her rear left foot on the ground.

“I thought my clients mentioned that name during our conversation,” she said curiously. “I could have sworn they said that name regarding something, something bad that she did.”

Alyssa watched her for a moment then showed a cautious expression.

“Um, just wondering,
who
are your clients that want that artifact anyway?”

Kroanette glanced to her then shrugged with a smile.

“Well, I suppose there’s no need to hide that from you since we’re going to be heading there to deliver this thing together. This artifact is to be delivered to the witch village Rystone, there’s an alpha witch who has arranged the drop there.”

Alyssa gasped and stepped back as everyone looked to her.

“Rystone?” she squeaked out.

“Yes, that’s correct. Do you know of it?” Kroanette asked.

“Alyssa? What’s wrong?” Triska asked.

Alyssa gulped then shook her head quickly.

“Uh uh, we can’t go there, I can’t go there, no way, no way.”

“Why not? What’s wrong?” Specca asked.

Triska looked down in thought for a moment then to Alyssa curiously.

“Wait a minute, if there’s an alpha witch there we have to go, don’t we? An alpha is like a great leader for the witches, right? Daniel would want to talk to her as well.”

“No! We can’t go there, we just can’t!” Alyssa cried out.

“Why not? What’s wrong, Alyssa?” Daniel asked with concern.

Alyssa whined and looked to him with fearful eyes.

“Rystone… it’s right next… to Ritherwood,” she said sadly.

The group looked to each other before Daniel jumped and looked to Alyssa with concern.

“Ritherwood, your… home,” he said softly.

Kroanette looked at Alyssa carefully while stepping closer to the witch.

“Alyssa… something about your name and that location, I know it was mentioned to me before.”

Alyssa cringed then nodded with remorse.

“Kroanette, Ritherwood was my home before. I’m… I’m Alyssa, the Wildfire Witch,” she said with no hint of pride in her voice. Kroanette looked at her with wonder then pointed to the girl.

“That’s where I heard of you, you’re the one that burned that forest down to the ground. That’s right, the witches of Rystone mentioned you, saying you were the scourge of their land.”

“It was an accident,” Alyssa whimpered as she hung her head low. “I never meant to do that, it was just… it was a horrible mistake.”

Kroanette looked at her with a hint of sympathy then shrugged.

“Well, it makes no difference to me, that’s your history, not mine. I bear no ill feelings towards you despite what your reasons were. Though for your sake I recommend hiding in that caravan of yours during our trip there, I don’t suspect you will be welcomed with loving arms.”

Alyssa shook her head and looked to Daniel with fearful eyes.

“I can’t go there,” she said nervously. “If those witches find me they’ll kill me for sure, and there’s no telling what the alpha witch would do to me.”

“Calm down, Alyssa, we won’t let them hurt you, I promise,” Daniel assured as the witch ran over and hugged him. Triska and Squeak looked at her with concern as Specca held a hand to her chin while thinking about something. Triska then sighed and looked down while holding a hand to her head.

“Great,” she muttered. “So in order to speak to the empress of the centaurs we need to travel to Rystone and deliver an artifact that a Darker One may be after, where Alyssa will likely be hanged if not worse if found by the local witches, and also attempt to reason with an alpha witch in hopes she’ll listen to Daniel’s idea, someone who likely won’t be pleased we’re with the infamous Wildfire Witch to begin with. I don’t like this at all.”

“It’s not an ideal situation,” Daniel agreed. “But with the chance to speak to two leaders of monster races like this, I have to try and take it. We just can’t let them know we have Alyssa with us.”

“But, Daniel,” Alyssa said looking up to him. “It won’t be easy talking to the witches at all, you know how we are. You’re not ready to try something like that, we should just try to speak to the centaur empress. At least then you’re not in so much danger.”

“She does speak the truth,” Kroanette mentioned while crossing her arms. “Listen, if you want to try and talk to monsters about peaceful coexistence then that’s your choice, fine. But you do realize that walking into a village of witches is a very bad idea for any human. At least with my home you won’t be hexed, poisoned, or raped upon entering.”

Alyssa backed up and held her hands together while shaking her head.

“You’re not ready to talk to witches about this, let alone an alpha witch,” she warned. “Their magic would be too much even for me to protect you from if we enter that village. If they decide to capture you or worse, there won’t be anywhere to run.”

Specca glanced to her then looked at Daniel with concern as well.

“I hate to admit it, but they are right,” she agreed. “Witches are very hard to approach, especially if they’re in great numbers. You remember what a group of them did to some travelers we came across when we started our journey out here. Well, as your guide, Daniel, I don’t recommend approaching the alpha witch like this. We would need a bigger escort to try to talk to a village of witches. Should they turn hostile we’ll be helpless.”

Daniel looked down with remorse, remembering the humans they passed in The Outerlands who had been ambushed by a group of witches. How the men were screaming while suffering at the hands of the monsters, with many of them dying from the constant abuse while their families were already dead since they weren’t needed.

“But…” he tried to reason with. “If I could reach the alpha witch with my beliefs, it would be a powerful addition to our support for this cause.”

Triska shook her head and walked over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention.

“No way, our guide said no and so are we,” she argued. “We’ll try to talk to the witches later when we have a better opportunity, let’s not be rash and push our luck with this. Let’s just deliver that artifact so we don’t have it with us anymore and then go speak to the centaur empress.”