Chronicles of Eden - Act III (7 page)

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you go. I’ll take it nice and slow for you, okay?”

Emily nodded then held onto Luna tightly. Luna fluttered her wings then gently took off into the air, with Emily clinging to her nervously as she felt them rising up higher into the air. Falla chuckled then followed after, watching as Luna carried the human child in her arms while they flew off in the direction Daniel’s caravan had gone earlier. As they flew over the forest and up into the air Falla had a slick smile on her face, her wings fluttering behind her as she kept pace with her sister.

‘Once Daniel thinks I’m some kindhearted girl, he’ll let me get closer to him out of trust. Then his seed will be mine.’

*****

Rolling along a worn path a caravan was moving at a steady pace, being pulled by a single white horse with a human at the reins. Daniel watched as Lucky continued on the path of dirt and grass while trees and hills passed by on both sides, the sun shining through some clouds above as the travelers made their way across the land.

Inside the caravan Triska was looking down at a map she had set on the floor, with Specca beside her and going over their planned route through The Outerlands. Alyssa was sitting on the other side of the map and looking at their path while drumming her fingers against the skull ornament on her staff at her side. Next to her Squeak was tilting her head curiously as she looked at the map, not seeming to understand what anything on it meant too well as she listened to her friends talking.

“So we’re not too far off from the village of Eston,” Specca concluded. “But we’re still a ways off from reaching the elven forest.”

“This is taking so long to get there,” Triska complained. “Especially if we zig and zag around The Outerlands like this.” She traced out their planned route with her finger, which was anything but a straight line.

“A straight shot would be idea for time,” Specca admitted. “However we need to explore more of The Outerlands on our way there. Remember, you came across an ant girl nest where one wasn’t supposed to be. There could potentially be other monster races along the way to the elven forest we could find, and every bit helps Daniel’s cause.”

“The more ground we cover, the more monsters we could find,” Alyssa reasoned. “Still, this route is going to add much more time to reach the elves, here’s hoping we find others who can help us.” She blinked then showed a dull expression as she glanced to Specca.

“Um, Specca?” The girls looked to her as she pointed to something. “Tell me we’re not traveling
way
out there just for a lake.” The girls looked to what she was pointing at, a lone lake on the map that was far off from their route.

“Well,” Specca replied sheepishly while glancing away from the girls. “We need to explore everywhere we can, right?”

“That’s going to take two days to get out there,” Alyssa mentioned. “And another two days to get back to our planned route, and there’s nothing else remotely close to it."

“Leave no stone unturned, as they say,” Specca commented with closed eyes.

“Then why are we ignoring here, here, and here?” Triska questioned as she noticed that Specca’s route swerved and avoided three areas by a large margin. Specca glanced to the map then looked up with a shrug.

“To dry and barren there.”

“Specca!” Alyssa shouted out, with the nixie flinching then looking to her nervously. “You’re just having us go anywhere that has a river or lake near it. We can’t limit ourselves to areas that have water.”

“But it’s a good route though, I worked really hard on it,” Specca whined.

“We’re also missing this place to check out,” Triska mentioned while pointing to a section of the map.

“Here too,” Alyssa added while pointing to another.

Squeak pointed to another part of the map that had been carefully avoided by the nixie’s route with a squeak.

Specca looked around at the girls with a flustered huff and shook her head.

“But… but we can’t go
everywhere
out there, there’s just not enough time… we can’t…”

The girls just looked at her with dull stares.

“Leave no stone unturned, as they say,” Alyssa repeated flatly.

“But, Triska,” Specca nervously said. “You just said it’s taking a long time to reach the elven forest. If we extend our route to all of those places that’ll double our time at the very least.”

“And in doing so we may find more proof for Daniel’s case with the queen,” Triska replied with a raised eyebrow at the nixie. “I want to get to the elven forest soon, but I don’t want to miss an opportunity to help Daniel along the way.”

Specca stammered something then looked to Alyssa with a nervous smile.

“But, Alyssa, we don’t have enough provisions to last an extended trip as it is. If we change the route we won’t be able to stock up on supplies in some of the towns when we need them, and I know you don’t care for little meals such as simple sandwiches and water.”

“We have enough food,” Alyssa retorted. “I can get more food from home, Triska can hunt for food, we’re not going to starve out here. And yes, I don’t care for what Triska considers to be a full meal-”

“Hey!” Triska barked out at her. “I don’t see you whipping up an elaborate spread every day!”

Alyssa paused for a moment then continued.

“However, this isn’t a joyride out here, we’re helping Daniel with his quest, remember? For that I’ll deal with Triska’s poor cooking.”

“Poor cooking? Excuse me if I don’t use magic to make everything perfect!”

“Aw, you think my cooking is perfect? That’s so sweet of you to say,” Alyssa giggled with a happy smile at the girl. Triska growled and reached back for her sword, with Specca grabbing her arm with both hands and struggling to keep the girl from unsheathing her blade.

“But… but… what about Squeak’s nest?” Specca asked while trying to hold Triska. “We can’t take too long getting to the elves and then to Rockhelm, Squeak’s nest is moving closer to Ashwood as we speak, remember?”

“And we need more proof for Daniel’s case to show the queen of Rockhelm!” Triska yelled out at her. “Which we can get by searching all the areas we can on our way to the elven forest. Now let go of me so I can show Alyssa how my sword tastes!”

“Triska, stop, no swordplay in the caravan!” Specca pleaded nervously.

Alyssa shook her head then looked to Squeak who was eyeing the map with worried eyes.

“We have time, Squeak,” Alyssa assured gently, with the ant girl glancing to her with a quiet squeak. “We have time, so we need to use it to get as much proof for Daniel’s case as we can for his queen.”

Squeak nodded and looked down to the map while Triska finally gave up and yanked her hand away from Specca with a grunt. Triska glanced to Specca then to Alyssa with a scoff before looking down to the map.

“We need all the help we can get for this, so we search anywhere we can. We need to explore every option we have, the elves alone won’t be enough for us.”

“Squeak’s nest has time still,” Alyssa reminded them. “It would take months at the very least for them to be in range of Ashwood, we need to make good use of our time and find any races we can to help us.”

Specca looked around at the group then down to the map with a pout.

“But those other areas are so dry,” she whined.

“Specca,” Alyssa and Triska sternly said together, with a squeak from Squeak as well. Specca flinched then nodded with a sigh.

“Fine, we’ll change our route to cover more ground,” she said in defeat.

Triska nodded then glanced up to Alyssa, the witch watching her with a smirk on her face.

“Anything else you want to compliment me on?” Alyssa asked sweetly. Triska gave her a small glare for a moment then smiled and leaned back on a pillow against the wall.

“Yeah, there is,” she replied. “I’m impressed you’re taking being picked to go
last
so well.” Alyssa looked at her with a frustrated scowl as Triska crossed her arms and twitched her eyebrow with an arrogant smile.

“I thought you would be rolling around on the floor, crying and whining about how unfair it was, but you haven’t done that. Good for you.”

Alyssa trembled a bit with anger then glanced towards the back of the caravan, with the other girls looking over as well. Near the back wall was Daniel’s section, with his bag full of books set near the corner while his sleeping blanket was neatly folded and resting with the pillow for the day. Alyssa gulped silently then glanced to Triska, seeing the teen looking at the boy’s sleeping area with a proud smile as she knew what tonight held for her.

“So what if I was picked last?” Alyssa snapped. “There’s nothing wrong with saving the best for last.”

The other girls looked to her with annoyance before Triska smiled smugly at her.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”

Alyssa clutched her staff in her hands tightly with a quiet growl then looked down at the map, trying to get her mind off of being chosen to go last in the girls’ solution to their unresolved feelings for Daniel.

At the front of the caravan Daniel glanced back to seeing the girls sitting together, and thinking about what they had come up with to settle their fight over him peacefully. The proposed solution was fair, although a bit unconventional, and each girl agreed to it completely, with Daniel giving the final okay as he felt there really wasn’t any fighting it. Each night the girls would alternate with who could sleep with him. And by sleep with him, it wasn’t meant to involve intimacy if the boy didn’t want to do anything like that. Essentially each girl would be sleeping under the same blanket as him, right next to him; however they couldn’t go further than that unless Daniel made the first move. They could talk to Daniel, but they couldn’t touch or hold him unless he initiated the same gesture first. This would give Daniel quality time with each girl, letting him see how he felt being close to them one at a time, and allow him to gauge how strongly he felt for each one. During these nights the other girls could not intervene or disturb them, no matter what may transpire, so a blanket would be hung down like a curtain to separate Daniel and the girl of the night from the other three. That meant if Daniel did indeed choose to go further with the girl he was with on that night the others would have to allow it since it was his choice.

Of course, there were some rules the girls had to follow for this truce. For one, they had to sleep in clothing, not be naked under the sheets with Daniel. Secondly, they had to respect his feelings and decisions, and if he didn’t feel like getting more intimate with the girl at the time then that was final. Third, Alyssa and Specca were forbidden from using their charming magic on him, for obvious reasons. Fourth, Squeak couldn’t use her saliva as a way of enticing Daniel. If he kissed her, fine, otherwise she couldn’t use it as a means of seducing him. And of course she couldn’t use her pheromones to sway Daniel’s mind about her either. Lastly, if any of the girls broke the rules then they wouldn’t get another night with him like this again. This arrangement would continue until Daniel made his choice on who he really wanted to be with, with each girl hoping that he would pick them come their turn with him.

Daniel slowly glanced from one girl to the other, still not sure if he felt true love for any of them rather than just a friendship. The contenders for his heart had played rock-paper-scissors to decide the lineup. Specca had won to go first, with Triska afterwards, then Squeak, and with Alyssa then going last.

‘Every night I’ll be sleeping close to one of them, it’s still so wild to think about. Oh man, how am I ever going to choose among them?’

He looked to Specca, the nixie brushing her hair gently behind her ear as she was writing on the map again with a new route for their travels. Her tail curled up slightly behind her while she laid on her legs, her petal skirt just barely covering her private area from view. After a moment she glanced to him, seeing the boy watching her, and then smiled a little as a faint blush formed on her cheeks. She looked back down to the map as she thought about the human she was in love with, and remembered her turn last night with him.

*****

Inside the caravan the lantern hung up in the middle provided the only light, with the day having come to an end as the travelers had stopped for the night. Lucky was resting in a bed of tall grass that Alyssa had prepared for him, with Daniel gently brushing the horse and thanking him for working so hard for them. Inside the cabin the girls were busy preparing for the night, with Specca and Triska hanging up a thick black blanket to separate the back end of the cabin from the other girls. Alyssa was spreading out her sleeping blanket on the floor near the front while Squeak once again just curled up into a ball with her blanket pulled over her, the girl’s antennae sticking out from under it along with her abdomen as the ant girl got comfortable in her typical sleeping position.

“Alright, Specca, you ready for this?” Triska asked as they made sure the blanket was hung properly from a few hooks.

“Oh yes, I’ve been counting the seconds until tonight,” Specca squealed eagerly as she pulled the blanket aside and looked at where she would be sleeping that night with Daniel, the boy’s sleeping mat and pillow set already along with a second pillow for Specca.

“You do know he snores at night, right?” Triska reminded.

“Yes, Triska,” Specca quipped with a cocky smile at the girl. “We’re all well aware of that little quirk of his. However that won’t stop me from being near him.”

“Betchya she makes it five minutes then gives up,” Alyssa commented while fluffing her pillow.

“Hey! I wouldn’t give up Daniel for anything, not even a little snoring.”

“A little? Oh, that’s cute,” Triska said with a laugh.

Specca glanced to her with annoyance then to see the other girls watching her questionably, with Squeak peeking out from her ball.

“Say what you will,” she stated. “You will not scare me off from this in the least. And just to remind you all, when we go back there together none of you can disturb us, for anything.”

“Unless the cabin catches on fire, we won’t bother you at all,” Triska reassured as she started unrolling her sleeping blanket.