The Poison Princess

by J. Stone

  That wasn’t enough for her and she began to object, “But--”

  Scarlett raised a single finger to the princess’ lips. “We don’t have much longer, my sweet princess,” Scarlett said. The finger fell from Ruby’s lips, down her chin, and to her chest, where the horned woman placed her palm tenderly against the princess’ skin, just over her heart. She continued, “Let’s take full advantage of what time we do have together, Ruby.”

  Hearing her name roll off Scarlett’s tongue made the princess feel delirious in her sudden fervor for this woman. Ruby embraced the woman, pulling her close and kissing her as though she wanted nothing else. The horned woman even tasted of strawberries. It was almost maddening how perfect Scarlett seemed to be to each of her senses, but before she could uncover any more; her time in the transitional realm was expended.

  Chapter 3. Abyssal Imps

  Ruby awoke feeling extraordinarily confused by her experience. The poison continued to leak forth from her mouth, as it had back in the castle, and she found herself in a grey and green colored marsh. Everything that had transpired between the castle and where she currently was seemed as though it were something from a fevered dream. She suspected that was not the truth of it, however.

  Scarlett had felt all too real even though the princess’ attraction to her had come as a strange surprise. She’d never before found herself interested in a woman like that, and outside of Scarlett’s presence, Ruby had difficulty defining what it had been that made her so passionate toward the horned woman. In her absence, the princess could still feel the woman’s fingers, lips, and tongue on her body. She felt connected to her through some unseen force, tethered somehow, and still desired more of the woman’s touch despite herself.

  If what Scarlett had told Ruby was correct then she realized that the marsh she was in was actually the Abyss. She had never been there before, having only heard stories about it. Dreary grey skies overhead clouded all sunlight, the marsh had no sound of life, and seated in the muck, the princess was partially submerged in the noxious liquid that made up much of the region. She struggled to stand, her yellow dress now stained with the green sludge of the Abyss in addition to the poison oozing forth from her mouth.

  Ruby recalled Scarlett had relieved her of her dress in that strange white realm, but she had no memory for how it got back on at all. The experience made little sense to her. Opting to ignore whatever had transpired, Ruby focused instead on what she knew for certain. A foul creature had corrupted her little sister, and it was up to her to save Leina as well as the rest of her kingdom.

  The princess’ first goal, however, would be to escape the Abyss. Scarlett had mentioned that Ruby would be immune to the effects of the noxious region, but she was not eager to test that information. Looking around, she tried to decide which way she should travel. She knew that the Abyss was southeast of the castle, but the thick grey haze prevented her from spotting the location of the sun to determine which direction she needed to go. Ruby wasn’t even certain what time of day it was or even if the sun were truly out. Days could have passed since she was in the castle for all she knew. With no sun and no stars to guide her way, she had to simply guess at which direction to travel.

  Everything around her looked so similar that she had no inclination whatsoever about which way to go. Everywhere she looked, she saw green sludge, grey skies, and the occasional brown of a mangled and gnarled tree protruding from the slime. However Ruby had come to this place, she had landed near one such tree. No leaves hung from its limbs, and it bared no fruit. There were seemingly no distinguishing marks in its bark or structure. To help her have a central point, Ruby scoured the ground for a sharp rock. She wasn’t certain what had happened to the dagger she had back in the castle, but it seemed to be gone now. Eventually, the princess found a rock that would work for her purposes. Picking it up, Ruby took the rock to the tree trunk and scratched into the soft bark. Walking around the base of the tree, she traced a simple line across it to mark this as her origin point.

  Randomly choosing a direction, Ruby started to walk through the sludge, hoping to have guessed correctly. The slop of the green goop made slapping noises as her shoes hit the surface and then burping sounds, as they sunk into the mire. The cold, wet fluid went up to just above her ankles, not deep enough to get her feet stuck in but enough to make picking each foot up a challenge. She felt strangely rejuvenated in that place though, so she never really tired or lost her energy.

  As she traveled, the thickness of the fog grew the further she went, and after a while, she became certain that she had been turned around along the way. She inspected each tree she passed to ascertain whether she had accidentally doubled back anywhere, but her direction seemed true. Following the reputation that the Abyss had acquired, Ruby saw no living thing. The trees were the only sign that life had ever existed there, but the malignant sickness of the land had long since killed them. They only remained erect from lack of intervention. There was no wind, no sound, and no change in color, texture, or smell. Everything she saw was painted from the same palette, as if everything had come from a stock source. The only unique images in the whole region were from herself. The once vibrant yellow dress was the most colorful thing in all of the Abyss, as she had seen it, but its color was fading with every passing moment. The grimy fog itself seemed to coat her in its greyness, seeking to snuff out all that was not muted and gloomy.

  The lack of evidence for the passage of time began to madden her. Ruby had no idea how long she had been wandering. All she knew was that despite having not eaten since the night before her poisoning, the princess was not hungry in the slightest. She had not tired since her journey from that marked tree began. Not once had she been forced to stop to relieve herself either. Whatever chaotic spell had altered her, there was clearly still more for her to discover. The effects did not end with the purple goop spilling forth from her mouth.

  Given nothing but time to think, Ruby’s mind wandered to what Scarlett had said about uncovering all that she was capable of. About how she would need to learn what the spell had done to her, if she were to have any hope of stopping the craggy hand demon. With the unnatural fluid leaking from her mouth, Ruby knew she had to investigate what it was. Making a bowl shape with her hands and holding it to her mouth, the princess spit some of the substance into her cupped palms.

  Some foreign instinct hidden at the back of her head shoved its way forward, and Ruby knew what to do with this goop. As though she were molding clay, the princess worked it in her hands and through her fingers, watching it both harden and begin to come to a specific shape. Spitting more into her hands, she added to its size and watched as its form was slowly completed. The molded purplish poison dried black and came to look like an impish creature not more than a foot tall. Ruby held her creation out from her, as the inanimate construct somehow found life within itself.

  The princess had no fear of what she had just created. Though she couldn’t say that she’d consciously meant to mold the poison into the imp, everything about it felt completely normal, natural, and right. The venom that composed its skin continuously dripped downward mimicking the liquid from Ruby’s mouth. Two eyes opened and blinked several times, as it looked up at the princess, seemingly acknowledging her as its creator. A line tore across its little head, forming a mouth, and each corner twisted and curled into a wicked little grin. A pair of floppy black ears carved themselves out of the sludge, falling limply to either side of its head. The imp’s body was pudgy, and it had a distended belly hanging out sloppily in front of it. Thin, lithe, little arms ended in clumpy, fat fingered hands, while its similarly shaped legs ended in simple, rounded stumps. It didn’t seem to mind its crude form one bit, and the princess thought despite what she had made this strange creature from, it was actually quite cute in its own way.

  Ruby looked into its eyes, and she almost felt like she was looking at a reflection. She knew that her mind had been in part transferred to the imp’s consciousness. She
could give it orders. She could use it to find her way out of that bog of miasma.

  “Can you understand me?” the princess asked of the imp.

  It cocked its head to the side, unfolded one of its ears, and wore an expression indicating that it was a bit surprised to hear her say anything.

  She repeated the question. “Can you understand me?”

  The imp nodded its pudgy little head in response, further increasing the swirling curls at the corners of its mouth.

  “Good,” she said. “Can you find the way out of this place?”

  Once again, the little imp nodded and then jumped from her hands, plopping in the swampy water of the ground. Though it was almost completely submerged in the muck, the imp began to wade off in another direction. Ruby watched, as her creation made its way out from her sight. Concentrating on the little thing, the princess felt a connection to her imp. If she strained enough, she could see through its eyes and know what it knew. It could work, she told herself.

  Ruby crossed her legs and sat down in the muck, unphased by the disgusting fluid now, as she set to work on creating more of the little imps. Secreting the ooze into her hands once more, the princess’ second attempt resulted in a similar creation as the first. This second imp differed in that it was somewhat taller. She hoped that with that extra height, it might be able to better search through the swampy region. This creation also had come out with only one eye for some reason, but it seemed enough to do the job she needed it for. The ears were perked up more, and it paid her a bit more attention as well. Ruby issued it the same instructions, pointing out a different direction for it to travel in. Again, this one happily plodded off with its orders.

  With her third attempt, Ruby put more energy into the creation, trying to make it smarter and hopefully more useful. The first two had quasi-hardened into a sludgy, black shell, but the third’s color was simply a dark purple hue. Also, this imp was unique with its long tail swaying playfully behind it. This one was tall like the second, had the distended belly of the first, and had acquired the same wicked smile with swirling curls at each corner that all three shared. Its eyes seemed almost catlike. Clever even. She believed that she had succeeded in a notable improvement upon the former two.

  “Find the way out of this bog,” she ordered the purple imp.

  This little creation, however, defied her will. It folded its arms across its chest, closed its eyes, snobbishly raised its head, looking away, and released a muffled little response, “Hmph!”

  “What?” she asked it. “Do as I say.”

  The imp did not budge.

  Ruby found this to be unacceptable. “Fine,” she said.

  She offloaded the imp to her left palm and then used the right to swat down on the imp, clapping her hands together. The purple imp proved too quick for her and leapt out of the way before she could crush it. It landed in the water with a splash and looked up at her with a defiant little smile, sticking a tongue out from its mouth. At that moment, Ruby realized that she had made this one too smart for her to control. This imp had too great of an intellect and had formed a sense of self.

  “Well?” the princess asked it. “If you’re not going to help look, what good are you?”

  The purple imp lazily shrugged its shoulders and yawned. Ruby rolled her eyes, as the fat, little thing sat down in the muck and leaned against a large rock to relax. Ignoring it, the princess returned to her efforts of creating willing helpers to search the muck for her exit. She made the following imps much dumber than the purple one, preferring to have something much more malleable and without its own ideas and opinions. After some time, Ruby had created more than a dozen different poison constructs of varying sizes and features to search the Abyss for her.

  She reached a point that she felt she had enough eyes dispersed throughout the swamp. Closing her own eyes, Ruby began to switch between each of the imps to search for anything that would help her escape. Flipping through each of their minds and visions, Ruby recalled the stories she had heard when she was younger. There were many tales involving the Abyss, but there was one common thread running through each of them. Every story insisted that there was some secret treasure or power at the very center of the poisoned land. Each tale varied in what that specific item was, but there was always something to be claimed. Whether it was the source of the blight or that the blight was set in place to protect the treasure was up for debate. Ruby considered these stories. As a child, she had thought them interesting, but she had never taken them seriously. Now that she was trapped inside and growing more confident that she was indeed immune to its toxins, as Scarlett had said, the princess grew more intrigued by the prospect of this treasure. If she were to defeat this craggy hand demon, Ruby knew she was going to need great power.

  As she looked through each of her imps, the princess changed her focus from finding an exit from the Abyss to finding the treasure hidden within its murky vastness. Some of them had passed by the marked tree where she’d started, but she wasn’t certain how far the others had traveled. After gazing through each of the poison constructs’ eyes several times over, Ruby finally found something she deemed worth investigating. A squat little imp with three oversized eyes had found a cave in the middle of nowhere. The cavern simply appeared as a small and almost insignificant mound in the flat ground with a large hole leading down. Ordering the imp to look down inside, Ruby peered into the black void tunneling into the earth’s depths. There was little to see, as the lack of light prevented her from seeing very far, but she wanted whatever was down there.

  The princess returned to her own mind and ordered each of her little creatures to converge on that point. Standing, she looked down at the disobedient purple imp, and it looked up at her.

  Leaning down, Ruby held her hand out for it to climb on, and she said, “Well. Come on, then.”

  Chapter 4. Darker Depths

  Ruby arrived at the tunnel having no idea how much time had passed. The sky overhead still looked just as nebulous as ever. On her shoulder sat the impudent little purple imp, too lazy to have walked itself there. The majority of her other creations had already arrived at the entrance to the cavern and were assembled in a group, waiting for her. In the muck of the swamp, they communicated to one another in wild, sweeping gestures and dramatic, energetic facial expressions. Small-scale brawls had broken out among a few of them, but they stood to attention like obedient little soldiers, as the princess joined them.

  Walking to the mouth of the cave, Ruby peered down into its depths. Her own eyes fared no better in seeing into the cavern, as it very quickly and steeply descended into darkness. Turning back to her assembled collection of impish blobs of poison, Ruby picked one up at random and carelessly chucked it into the wide hole. This new development startled the other imps, but they were too dimwitted and dependent to do anything about it.

  The thrown imp made a sort of wailing scream, as it descended down through the depths, bouncing off sharp rocks and losing its loosely congealed form along the way. Each landing included a squishy, gooey sound, as it splatted against the cave rocks, plummeting ever downward. She tried to focus on its mind on the journey downward in an attempt to understand and map the path. The imp felt no pain from what she could discern, but it was more than a little disoriented by the tumble. Everything it saw was utter blackness, and the only sound was its own clumsy cries. As it got deeper, the rocks started to get wet. In the distance, Ruby thought she could even hear the trickle of an underground stream.

  Eventually, the imp landed with a splat and stopped after a little roll. Its vision was blurred and spinning, but through its eyes, Ruby could see the tunnel. At its base, a series of enormous, luminescent mushrooms illuminated the cavern a soft, yellow-orange color. Their tops were speckled in little, yellow spots, and their stalks were thin and looked likely to break in half from their own weight at any moment. From where the imp had landed, Ruby couldn’t make out much more, and the little thing seemed incapable of moving around much,
having lost most of its form in the fall.

  While Ruby didn’t see any treasure at the base of the tunnel, she did concede that it was worth investigating further. Placing one hand to the side of the tunnel and lifting the hem of her skirt off the ground with the other, Ruby carefully chose her footholds, as she began her descent into the darkness of the cavern. The purple imp at her shoulder tightly gripped the fabric of her dress in an attempt to prevent it from falling. Behind her came the obedient but clumsy black imps. The princess moved at a slow pace, while the poison constructs were less deft in their steps. One by one, they tumbled past her, giving her pause each time. She tried to use their mistakes to further illustrate her mental image of the tunnel downward, but it was difficult without proper light. The spell that had made her this way had changed her a great deal, but somehow Ruby still suspected that she was quite mortal. A misstep or slip could have easily led to her death in that dark, dreary place.

  Before long, Ruby couldn’t even see the light from the entrance of the cavern behind her. Looking to where she had to assume led back to the surface, the princess only saw more black. Soon afterward, she realized that all of her imps had already slipped and fallen through the cave system. She had nothing left to help her except the standoffish purple one, and despite its rude nature, she realized she had developed a soft spot for it. She didn’t want to toss it like she would have the mindless ones. Ruby considered taking a moment to create more of them, but she was too afraid to remove her hand from the wall, fearing that if she did, she would lose her place and be lost in the depths. Instead, she simply carried on, using the wall as guidance and testing her footholds before putting all her weight down. This made the journey long and her mind, understandably, began to wander.

  The princess imagined what possible treasure could be concealed within the depths. She had never had a greed for possessions of any sort before, but she found herself quite eager to obtain whatever was hidden down there. Whether it was simply a valuable item or something that she could wield against the craggy hand demon to satisfy her wrath, Ruby didn’t care. Her need for it grew with each step in the darkness.