“Here’s hoping I don’t disappoint her, or embarrass myself with what I wish to speak about,” he said half-jokingly. Kroanette smirked a bit and shook her head.
“Well, I wouldn’t worry about the first part at least,” she said before double checking her saddlebag. The artifact was still secure inside after Specca had quickly sewn the hole closed earlier, the strange relic giving off a faint blue glow briefly that made Kroanette feel more uneasy about having it with her. She then looked back to the group with a small smile.
“Very well, I will meet you all at Eston after I make my delivery. I wish you luck in your search for that child,” she said kindly, then glanced to Falla with a raised eyebrow.
“You however need to work on your social skills more, they’re quite deplorable,” she mentioned.
“Again, you almost ran into me, I was just taking a nap down here!” Falla barked out at her. Kroanette shook her head with discontent at the butterfly girl then waved to Daniel with a smile.
“Take care, Daniel, I expect to see you again in my future very soon,” she said before she took off running, the group watching as the centaur galloped across the field of grass with her tail swishing behind her. Daniel and Triska face palmed while Squeak showed a puzzled expression, the ant girl looking back behind them then to Kroanette with a small squeak before Alyssa rolled her eyes then called out to the centaur.
“You’re going the wrong way!” she yelled out. Kroanette skidded to a halt then looked back towards them curiously.
“Eston and Rystone are that way!” Alyssa shouted out while pointing back behind them. Kroanette slowly looked around for a moment then back towards them while scratching her head.
“Are you sure?” she called out.
“You are the worst cour-” Alyssa started to yell before Daniel quickly held a hand over her mouth and kept her close, the boy shaking his head with a weak smile at the centaur.
“Yes, it’s that way, just stick to the trail and you should be fine,” he called out. Kroanette nodded then ran back towards the group, with everyone watching as she galloped past with her breasts once again bouncing around with great force. Daniel kept looking ahead to avoid eye contact with the jiggling bosom while the other girls watched with dull expressions as the centaur galloped up the hill back towards their caravan before running off along the trail. Daniel then let go of Alyssa while looking back to seeing the centaur racing off into the distance and out of view.
“Seriously, she is the worst courier ever,” Alyssa muttered.
“Do you think she’ll be alright on her own?” Specca wondered.
“She has no navigational skills whatsoever, we’ll never see her again,” Triska said flatly. Squeak nodded with a squeak while Daniel wondered if his only chance at meeting the centaur empress would indeed become lost in the outerlands once again. Falla looked around at the group then waved towards the trail behind them.
“Hey, are we going to go find my sister and the kid or not?” she barked out. The group glanced to her with dull expressions, the girl then backing up nervously from them.
“I still don’t like the idea of her riding with us,” Triska mentioned.
“If we do not find this Emily you speak of, you are going to be in very serious trouble,” Specca warned, with Squeak nodding in agreement to that.
“I’m telling you the truth, if we find my sister we’ll find Emily too, you’ll see,” Falla reassured quickly. Alyssa narrowed her eyes and walked towards the butterfly girl.
“Put your hands together,” she ordered.
“What? Why?” Falla asked.
“I said, put your hands together,” Alyssa repeated. Falla glanced to the others then slowly put her hands together in front of her. Alyssa struck her staff into the ground, sticking it there before she held her hands together as well. The group watched as a small glow came from her sleeves before she parted her hands and formed an intertwined blue and pink ribbon. She then quickly wrapped it around Falla’s wrists and tied the girl’s hands together tightly, with Falla watching her curiously as the witch coiled the ribbons around together before tying them into a knot at the top, leaving two small lengths of the fabrics hanging down.
“Just in case you get any ideas,” Alyssa said as she picked her staff back up.
“For what? Bondage?” Falla asked flatly. Alyssa twitched at that then growled at her.
“No, in case you thought of doing anything with Daniel!” she shouted out. Falla glanced to the ribbons holding her hands together, then to Daniel, then to the witch with a dull expression.
“Yeah, this is only giving me ideas about doing things with him, just so you know,” she said dryly. Alyssa huffed then grabbed the hanging ribbons before walking the butterfly girl towards the caravan.
“Just stop talking,” she muttered.
“Aren’t you going to use a ball gag to make me?” Falla quipped with a smirk.
“Just shut up!” Alyssa shouted out as she led Falla up the hill.
Daniel shook his head then motioned for the others to follow as he started walking towards the caravan too. Squeak quickly walked after him while Triska and Specca looked off to where Kroanette had disappeared from view.
“Well, at least Ms. Boobs-a-lot won’t be around Daniel again for a while,” Triska pointed out with a shrug.
“Yes, instead of her now we have to watch out for a sneaky butterfly trying to get into Daniel’s pants, this is much better,” Specca replied dryly. The two girls then walked after the others, both intending to keep a close eye on Falla while she traveled with them.
The group boarded their ride once again, with Alyssa and Triska sitting up front while the others went into the cabin. Alyssa snapped the reins and turned Lucky around, the horse then pulling the caravan back along the trail as they set off in search of the missing butterfly sister and lost human child. Triska and Alyssa glanced to each other then looked back into the cabin. Daniel was sitting against the wall with Specca beside him, the boy looking at his monster book along with her as they searched to see if they had the Centaur monster class written down. Across from them Squeak was seated with her abdomen resting along the wall while she leaned against some pillows, the ant girl watching Falla closely who was kneeling down next to her while she merely looked around at the interior with a bored eye. Falla then looked to Squeak as the ant girl kept staring at her.
“I haven’t done anything wrong here, what’s with that look?” Falla asked plainly. Specca glanced to her then looked back to the monster guide as Daniel turned a page.
“You’re having us spend precious time doubling back on our journey for what may be a fool’s errand searching for your sister and this supposedly lost human child. After all the times in the past you’ve tried to steal Daniel away from us do you really believe we’re going to be so trusting of you?” she asked dryly. Falla sighed and looked down to the ribbons holding her hands together.
“Great, I try to do the right thing and help an innocent human girl, and I’m treated like a criminal about to be hanged for it,” she said morbidly.
“You trying to do the right thing and help an innocent human girl is what makes this so suspicious. If it were just your sister that had gone missing then we likely wouldn’t be doing this at all,” Specca pointed out. Falla rolled her eyes and looked away with a dull expression.
“You treat me like I’m some Darker One in this world. Luna and I saved that young girl; she would have drowned in a river if we hadn’t acted quickly. We’re trying to be good monsters here, whether you can see that or not,” she said distantly. Specca and Daniel glanced to her then to each other as the butterfly girl looked down to her hands while moving them around slightly. Falla then looked to seeing Squeak just watching her with a dull expression.
“What? What’s your problem?” Falla scoffed. Squeak pointed to her and squeaked sternly a few times, with Falla just watching her with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, squeak squeak squeak squeak, that’s inter
esting and all, but in case you didn’t know, I don’t speak squeak,” Falla said dryly. Squeak showed annoyance and squeaked some more at the girl, with Falla just shaking her head at her.
“Do you not understand me? I said I don’t speak squeak,” Falla retorted.
“She’s an ant girl, she only knows how to squeak, that’s how she talks. She understands us just fine, it’s we that cannot understand her,” Specca lectured with discontent at the butterfly girl. Falla just watched as Squeak crossed her arms with narrowed eyes at her then glanced to Specca.
“So none of you understand her either, huh?” she questioned. Daniel and Specca shook their heads as Squeak looked down and away with a troubled expression. Falla nodded slowly then looked at Squeak curiously.
“Hm, interesting. She can understand us, but cannot speak in our tongue,” she said to herself. Squeak glanced to her with a curious eye as the butterfly girl leaned closer to her, seeming to examine her head carefully from different angles.
“What are you doing? Leave her alone,” Specca scolded. Falla looked at Squeak’s antennae curiously then smiled slyly.
“I bet I could figure out what she’s saying,” she said simply. Squeak looked at her puzzled as the butterfly girl sat back and glanced down to her hands casually, just eyeing her fingernails without a care while Triska and Alyssa glanced back to her again.
“What? And just how could you do that? I’ve tried to figure out any sort of pattern or order to her squeaking, and there isn’t any. Tone and pitch don’t reveal what she’s trying to say exactly, only other ant girls could communicate with her properly,” Specca pointed out as she and Daniel watched Falla just sitting there with a calm smile on her face. Falla chuckled then glanced to her with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t say that, it’s possible that other monsters such as myself could understand her just fine,” she reasoned.
“You couldn’t understand her when she was squeaking at you a moment ago though,” Daniel mentioned shaking his head. Falla shrugged with a small smile.
“Of course I couldn’t, she was just squeaking with her mouth. That’s just gibberish to us, but there are other ways she can talk,” she explained with a twitch of her eyebrow.
“Other ways? You mean sign language? Because that’s what she’s had to resort to doing to try to speak to us,” Specca said with a shrug. Falla shook her head and looked to Squeak with a sly smile, the ant girl then looking at her worriedly as she didn’t like the way Falla was watching her.
“I’ll make you a deal, you untie my hands, and I’ll tell you what she’s saying,” Falla offered.
“No, I don’t think we’ll be doing that,” Specca said flatly. Falla laughed and glanced to her while at this point Alyssa and Triska were looking back at the butterfly with dull expressions.
“What’s wrong? Don’t trust me to stay put? In case you’ve forgotten, I wanted you all to come with me to find my sister and Emily, it’s not like I want to fly away from you. And even if I did, how am I going to do that, the only way out of here is past all of you, I wouldn’t make it even if I tried,” Falla pointed out casually. Daniel and Specca looked to each other then to the others as Alyssa was just shaking her head.
“I tied your hands together so you wouldn’t get handsy with Daniel, not because I was worried you would try to leave,” Alyssa said flatly.
“Hey, you want to understand her or not?” Falla asked looking to Squeak.
“You can’t help us with that,” Triska argued shaking her head.
“You don’t know that, and are you really going to just pass up your chance to know what she’s saying? What if I’m telling the truth, this could be your only chance to really talk to her,” Falla mused. Triska and Alyssa glanced to each other then looked at Squeak, the ant girl looking down with concern while her antennae twitched a bit.
“Prove that you can understand her, and then we’ll consider untying you,” Specca stated as she set the monster book down and watched Falla skeptically. Daniel leaned back against the wall while watching Falla with a dull expression, not believing what she was saying in the least. Falla rolled her eyes then turned to face Squeak with a dull smile.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way,” she reluctantly agreed. Squeak looked to her curiously as the butterfly girl scooted closer to her on her knees.
“Face me,” Falla said politely. Squeak just shook her head.
“Now now, face me,” Falla repeated while trying to force a smile. Again Squeak just shook her head. Falla gave her a dull stare for a moment then glanced to Daniel.
“So you don’t want to talk to Daniel? Now’s your chance for your words to really reach him, for him to understand you,” she said casually. Squeak glanced to Daniel worriedly then to Falla as she squeaked quietly. After a moment she slowly turned to face Falla on her knees, with the group watching curiously as Falla leaned closer to the ant girl. Squeak watched her with an uneasy frown as Falla got really close to her face.
“Calm down, I’m not going to kiss you or anything, just lower your head slightly,” Falla said calmly. Squeak hesitated then slowly lowered her head, with Falla doing the same. Their antennae touched each other and twitched a bit, with Squeak flinching slightly then squeaking while blinking a few times.
“Relax, this should work even though we’re not the same type of monster,” Falla said while glancing up at their antennae, the extensions twitching slightly while rubbing against each other.
“What is it that you’re doing?” Specca asked.
“I’m going to talk to her, or at least try to,” Falla said simply. The group looked at her puzzled as she tilted her head slightly one way then another, seeming to try to find the right spots for the antennae to touch one another. After a while she stopped and smiled confidently.
“Ok, now, for the test, and to make sure you all know this is real you’re going to help. Ask her a question that only she could answer, something that I couldn’t know of,” Falla said glancing to Daniel. Squeak looked at her curiously then glanced over to Daniel as well, the boy watching the girls with a raised eyebrow before holding a hand to his chin.
“Um, alright,” he said before looking to Specca questionably. The nixie pondered what to say for a moment then looked at Squeak carefully.
“Squeak, who’s turn was it with Daniel last night?” she asked.
“Turn with Daniel? What’s that supposed to mean?” Falla asked.
“Exactly, you don’t know, but she does. So, who’s turn was it?” Specca asked Squeak again. The ant girl squeaked a few times before everyone looked to Falla, the butterfly girl glancing to her then to Triska questionably.
“She said Triska,” she answered. The group stared at her with wide eyes from hearing that.
“No way,” Alyssa said softly. Squeak squeaked softly while staring at Falla with wonder, the butterfly girl looking back to her with a dull expression.
“No, I’m not using magic, I don’t know how to use magic,” she said flatly. The group watched with disbelief as Squeak tried squeaking at Falla again, with the butterfly girl just shaking her head slightly while keeping their antennae touching.
“Seriously, you still think this is a trick? How am I tricking you right now?” Falla asked plainly.
“I don’t believe it,” Specca said softly.
“She’s… she’s talking to Squeak like it’s nothing,” Triska said with disbelief.
“How?” Daniel asked. Falla glanced to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Before I tell you that, what’s this about taking turns with these girls? You are fucking them every night, aren’t you? I knew it, you have some nerve, doing it with them but not with me, and after you promised me too!” she snapped with discontent. Daniel jumped a bit then shook his head while waving his hands in front of him.
“What? No, no we’re not doing anything like that, it’s… well… it’s complicated, but that’s none of your business,” he answered shakily. Falla looked at him with a dull glance then a
t Squeak.
“What’s he blabbering about?” she asked flatly. Squeak started squeaking at her while the group watched with wonder, seeing Falla appearing to actually listen to Squeak and understand her.
“Taking turns just sleeping next to him? That’s it? Why?” Falla asked.
“She’s really talking with her,” Triska said in wonder as Squeak continued to speak to Falla with her squeaks. After a while Falla glanced to Daniel questionably.
“So he can pick one of you? That’s stupid, why don’t you all just have sex with him, problem solved,” she reasoned with a shrug. Squeak shook her head and started squeaking again, with Falla this time looking to her then up at their antennae as they broke contact.
“Whoa, hold on, sit still, I can’t talk to you like this,” she argued as she tried to move her head around again. Specca glanced to the antennae then looked at Falla with wonder.
“Oh my word, that’s it, that’s how she’s doing it,” she speculated while pointing to them. Squeak stopped and glanced to her while Falla repositioned herself so their antennae touched again.
“She’s touching Squeak’s antennae with her own, that’s allowing her to understand Squeak,” Specca explained. Falla smirked and nodded a bit as the group looked to her curiously.
“Of course, we are insect class monsters. We can use these to communicate privately with one another should we so choose,” she answered. Squeak started squeaking again, with Falla then looking to her before laughing a bit.
“Well, as a matter of fact, I could read your mind by doing this, but only if you think hard enough. At the very least, when we’re touching like this anything we say is relayed through our antennae right to our brains, sort of like a universal translator,” she replied with a hint of arrogance. Squeak blinked then glanced to Daniel, the boy just watching with awe as Falla was able to perfectly understand the ant girl.
“I don’t believe it, she can really understand her,” Alyssa said while watching Falla closely.
“I told you I could, now would you mind? I’m not going anywhere after all,” Falla said while holding her hands out to the side. Alyssa narrowed her eyes then glanced to Triska, the teen watching Falla carefully while breathing out slowly in discontent.
Chronicles of Eden - Act 2 Page 27
