“You killed 46 witches on that day, scorched our forest bare and dry, and pushed us all into Rystone from our homes. I should string you up in the village and let the witches beat you to death with stones and staves, your corpse would become our welcoming decoration for all travelers of Eden, a reminder of what happens to those that burn their own kind!” she yelled out. Alyssa cowered in fear then quickly bowed on her hands and knees to her with a whine.
“Please, forgive me, my grace, I beg of you,” she beseeched.
“I will never forgive you, Alyssa, no witch will ever forgive you,” Charlotte condemned harshly. Alyssa looked up to her with fright before the alpha knelt down in front of her and grabbed the girl’s hair by the back of the head.
“You are the worst of any letchyask I know, there is no redemption for you, there is no forgiveness for you, you are not our sister anymore,” she scolded. Alyssa closed her eyes as her lips quivered, with Daniel and his group watching from their cage with worried eyes. Charlotte glanced to Lucky for a moment then shook Alyssa by the hair a bit, the Wildfire Witch looking to her with a quiet whine as the alpha narrowed her eyes at her.
“Now you listen closely, I will not repeat myself. You are going to leave this land, and you are never going to return,” she ordered. Alyssa watched her with fear as the alpha held her wand to the girl’s throat.
“I should make you suffer for all that you’ve done, and on any other night I would have too. However, the memory of your dear mother has me feeling rather mournful right now, and has persuaded me to ignore having seen her fallen daughter this time, this one time. As one last show of kindness for her, not you, I shall allow you to leave this land unharmed. However, if I ever catch you here again, if you dare show your face in Rystone, I will find you, Alyssa. I will find you, and then you will know what hell truly is, do you understand me?” Charlotte threatened. Alyssa whimpered and nodded shakily.
“Yes, my grace,” she said softly. Charlotte scoffed then shoved Alyssa’s head down into the dirt, the witch not offering any resistance or struggling at all as she was forced face first down onto the ground.
“I will not offer a prayer for your death out there, Alyssa, for doing so would be hurtful to your mother. However, I will not offer any kind wishes for your life either. I don’t want to see you again, I don’t want to hear from you again, you are as good as dead to us, do you understand?” she demanded.
“Yes, my grace,” Alyssa pleaded from the ground. Charlotte slowly let go and stood up, with Alyssa looking up to her while wiping the dirt from her mouth. The alpha scowled down at her then looked to Daniel.
“You, human,” she called out as she waved her wand towards them, the cage of obsidian blades then sliding back down into the ground with a metallic screech. The group looked around to seeing they had been freed then to Charlotte as the alpha watched the boy with a piercing stare.
“Get out of my land, all of you, and never return,” she ordered.
“My grace? We’re just going to let them go?” Apoch asked.
“Shouldn’t we at least take him back with us? He could offer his seed before he dies,” Astreal questioned while watching Daniel with a harsh glare. Charlotte just stared at Daniel before snapping her fingers, with Apoch and Astreal then slowly walking over to her sides.
“We don’t have to bother killing them; they’re as good as dead for chasing such a foolish belief. And frankly I find raping or killing a wandering idiot to be below my standards, they’re not worth our time or effort,” Charlotte condemned. Daniel opened his mouth to speak before Charlotte waved her wand at them, forcing him and all his friends down onto their knees with a powerful magical force.
“You are not to say another word in my presence, boy; I’m not in the mood to be any more charitable than I am now!” Charlotte ordered. Daniel looked at her with concern then lowered his head with closed eyes, nodding a few times as he knew that there was no reasoning with her now. Charlotte looked around at his group with a cold stare then glanced to Alyssa, the Wildfire Witch then looking down and shaking in fear.
“I will say this for you, if you really are adamant with speaking to other monsters about your stupid idea, I would recommend getting rid of this one. No witch in Eden will want to help you with anything so long as you have her with you, not to mention she’s a curse to those around her,” she stated harshly, with Alyssa cringing at those words in fear they may be true. Daniel looked to Alyssa with concern then to Charlotte as the alpha gave him a cold glare.
“In fact, if you were to ram a dagger into her heart for us, we might be so kind as to listen to your senseless words without laughing in your face,” she remarked bitterly. Daniel opened his mouth to speak then stopped, watching as the alpha narrowed her eyes at him. Slowly he closed his mouth as he knew saying anything now would be a fatal mistake for him and his friends.
“You are a fool, human, witches and humans can never live together in peace. Monsters and humans can’t live together like you dream, such is just a twisted fantasy for the insane,” Charlotte derided. Daniel glanced around at his friends then to Charlotte, wishing to speak against her claim yet knowing that doing so now would mark the end of his journey. The alpha witch shook her head slowly then turned her back to them.
“Don’t ever come here again, or else you will not enjoy my company,” she threatened before walking away, with Apoch and Astreal giving Alyssa one last glare and scoff before following after their alpha. Daniel and his friends then quickly rushed over to Alyssa, with Daniel kneeling down and holding her close while Triska and Squeak held onto them and watched Charlotte with caution. Specca and Falla hid behind the group as they all watched the alpha witch walking away with her two helpers.
“At least this place is burning to the ground, never did care for it anyway,” Charlotte said dryly with a shrug, with Apoch and Astreal giggling as they twirled their staves around at their sides. The crescent ends trailed a sparkly blue and green light behind them as the sisters spun the staves around, the two girls then striking the obsidian stones together over them with a loud clank. A bright flash of light bloomed around them in the street, the light slowly fading to reveal the three witches having vanished while a swirl of dust and dirt dropped down from where they were last seen.
“Well, I think it’s safe to assume where they stand on this whole coexistence idea,” Triska mentioned shaking her head. Daniel nodded and looked down to Alyssa in his arms, the witch whimpering and holding onto his shirt as she kept her face hidden in his chest.
“Alyssa, are you alright?” he asked. Alyssa slowly glanced up to him, watching the boy with watery eyes before looking down and closing them with a whimper. Daniel watched her with remorse then looked to the others, with Triska, Squeak, and Specca looking at their witch friend with concern while Falla was looking all around them with a nervous expression.
“Alyssa?” Triska asked softly.
“Ok, we should get going, like now,” Falla urged.
“She’s right, Charlotte told us to get out of town, I’d recommend doing as she says,” Specca agreed.
“I meant with finding my sister, but yeah, I’m not staying here a minute longer than that,” Falla mentioned with a shrug. Specca took a step to the side then flinched while holding her thighs, the group looking to seeing her taking a shaky breath before noticing the blood on her legs.
“Oh, Specca,” Triska said worriedly. Squeak walked over and helped the nixie stand up, squeaking softly at her friend as Specca looked down at her cuts.
“I’ll be fine, really,” she reassured with a small smile, then glanced to Daniel with a timid expression.
“Thank you, for saving my life,” she said softly, with Daniel smiling and nodding once at her.
“Anytime,” he replied assuredly. Triska smiled a bit at him then showed a curious expression.
“Daniel, did you mean what you said, that we mean the world to you?” she asked, with all the girls including Alyssa looking to him curiously
as he fell quiet. He slowly looked around at each of them, seeing them watching and waiting for his answer, then nodded as he looked down with a distant gaze.
“Yes, I couldn’t bear to lose any of you. I’ve watched as I nearly have with each of you. First with Squeak nearly being thrown off a cliff, then Triska when a deathmare was going to take her soul, then Specca when Charlotte was going to slice her apart, and then Alyssa when she was about to be beheaded. Each time I watched you all come so close to death, it nearly broke my heart,” he answered sincerely, with the girls silently watching him with wonder. Daniel’s eyes darted around a bit, the boy seeming to be thinking about something carefully as he slowly looked off to the side away from everyone.
“I can’t… lose any of you…” he said softly.
“Hey, focus here! We need to find my sister!” Falla yelled out at them. The group looked to her, with Daniel nodding a bit in agreement while the other girls gave her dull stares. Falla waved around at them with frustration.
“You can all talk about this crap later, we need to find my sister and get the hell out of here!” she yelled out. Triska held in her grumble then glanced over to seeing Kroanette approaching from a nearby street corner, the centaur carrying Luna in her arms while looking around quickly.
“Hey, Kroanette found her,” Triska said with wonder. The group looked over to Kroanette as the centaur carefully approached them.
“Are those witches gone?” she asked nervously.
“Luna!” Falla cried out as she ran over towards her. Daniel and the other girls quickly followed after, all of them rushing over to seeing Luna asleep in Kroanette’s arms while her wings were hanging down behind her.
“Luna! Luna, are you alright?” Falla quickly asked as she held onto her sister. She looked her over quickly then to Kroanette as the centaur smiled a bit at her.
“She’s asleep, I found her further down the road,” she reassured.
“Thank you, thank you so much for finding her,” Falla whimpered before holding onto her sister, burying her face in the girl’s chest and crying softly. Daniel and his friends watched as Falla cried over finding her sister with small smiles.
“I’m glad she’s alright, Falla,” Specca said kindly.
“Um, guys?” Alyssa said worriedly. Everyone looked to her as she pointed to Luna’s thighs, with Falla then taking a closer look as she kneeled down, seeing that blood and seminal fluid was coming from Luna’s pussy and ass.
“Wha… what… the…” Falla squeaked out. She looked to Kroanette with shock as the centaur slowly shook her head with remorse.
“I’m afraid that… she may have had a troubling night,” she informed.
“What the hell did that witch do to her?” Triska asked as she saw the blood dripping from Luna’s bottom. Falla trembled as she slowly stood up and looked at her sister, seeing that the butterfly girl wasn’t sleeping peacefully but rather had a strained expression on her face and tears dripping from her cheeks.
“Luna… no, Luna!” she cried out grabbing her hair.
“Oh my lord, was she…” Specca said holding a hand over her mouth.
“That witch raped my sister!” Falla screamed out loudly, her voice echoing out of the quiet village as the fires continued to burn the buildings nearby.
*****
Near the group’s broken caravan a small campfire was going, the fire burning quietly while in the distance a large red glow was seen from the village of Eston as a portion of the town was still burning from the recent battle. Lucky was casually grazing near the caravan on some tall grass while everyone else had gathered around their campfire.
Sitting near the fire Daniel was resting his arms and chin on his knees with his legs held up close to his chest, watching the fire burn with a solemn expression as a lot was going through his mind. He had come close to losing all his friends during their travels, and with each near miss of each girl’s life he felt like he nearly lost a part of himself as well. Each girl was precious to him, so much in fact that he felt he couldn’t bear the thought of losing any of them, or being apart from them at all. And on top of the confusing feelings he was experiencing for them he also felt like their journey had hit a wall, not because of their ride being broken down, but because of Charlotte’s words to him about the thought of peaceful coexistence between monsters and humans. The notion of losing support from the witches in his quest made him realize how daunting the real challenge of convincing any race to back him up with his appeal to the queen really was, something that he felt was causing distress with everyone else as well.
‘This night is a disaster. Even though we all survived, I feel like we suffered a great loss tonight. What should I do now? We need every monster we can get to help us, but what should we do when any of them continue to say no to this? I have to do something, anything to win their favor, somehow.’
Next to him Triska was watching the fire with a distant gaze, seeming to be deep in thought as well about their current situation. They had been told to get lost by the witches of Rystone, and lost a great potential supporter for Daniel’s cause in the process. Not only that, but when Alyssa and Specca were about to be killed right before her when she couldn’t do anything to save them, she realized just how much they meant to her. They were rivals for Daniel’s affection, for his love, for him, yet at the same time they were dear friends, and the thought of losing them struck at her heart very painfully. The girls all knew that Daniel cared for them, even claiming that they all meant the world to him. They all meant the world to him, something that Triska wasn’t sure how to respond to.
‘We all mean the world to him, which means that he cares about me just as much as he does with them. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad to hear that, or jealous, or angry. What am I supposed to say now?’
She sighed quietly and glanced to the side, seeing Falla sitting on the ground next to her with Luna’s head resting in her lap, the troubled butterfly watching her sister with worried eyes as the poor girl slept quietly. Even though Falla had a habit of only thinking about raping Daniel and getting his seed in the past, seeing this side of her caring and worrying over her sister put her in a different light to the group. She was a monster, and likely couldn’t be trusted alone with Daniel still, but she did have a heart after all, there was no hiding that.
“Luna, I’m so sorry I left you alone with that witch, I didn’t know she wasn’t human, I didn’t know… what she would do to you,” Falla whimpered before crying softly again, gently brushing her sister’s hair while she felt horrible that the girl was raped by Emily.
Beside them Alyssa was looking down at the ground while sitting on a rock, having her hat on again which hid the view of her face while she held her staff in her hands and close to her chest. However her expression had remained the same since they came back to their broken ride, a sorrowful look on her face with a few tears dropping now and again from her cheeks as she felt like her world was ending. Charlotte’s words kept echoing in her head, how she was a curse to all around her and that no witch would even bother listen to Daniel talk about peace while she was with him.
‘I can’t help Daniel, I can’t help anyone. I really am a curse to them. I broke their ride, I nearly got them killed in my haste to be alone with Daniel, and I cost him his chance of making peace with the witches here. I don’t deserve to be his mate, I don’t deserve to sleep with him tonight, I don’t deserve him at all.’
Next to her Specca was lying on her arm while breathing softly with a blush on her face, watching as Squeak was licking her legs to help heal and soothe the nixie’s wounds. It was only because it was too dangerous to remain in Eston to take the time to heal Specca’s injuries that Squeak waited until they got to their broken ride, with the ant girl then surprising everybody by abruptly pushing Specca down, holding her so she couldn’t get away, then proceeding to lick her wounds to tend to them. Specca watched Squeak with a glazed look in her eye, quivering slightly as waves of pleasure rolled through
her body from the ant girl’s saliva.
‘She just won’t take no for an answer if we’re hurt. I suppose I shouldn’t complain, this is helping a lot, though I feel too much of this is going to have me addicted to her tongue, and that will only make this traveling arrangement all the more strange for us.’
And standing next to them Kroanette was watching as the group had fallen into silence and despair after their encounter with the alpha witch of Rystone.
“So… this could have ended worse than how it did, right?” she spoke up with a worried smile.
“My sister was raped by that stupid witch!” Falla snapped at her.
“We’re stuck here in Charlotte’s territory and not exactly welcome,” Triska pointed out with a dull glance to the centaur.
“I couldn’t persuade her to listen to me, I couldn’t make my case with her at all,” Daniel said slowly shaking his head.
“I wrecked this whole night, I broke our ride and ruined any chances of the witches listening to Daniel,” Alyssa whimpered. Daniel looked to her with concern, seeing that the witch was really broken up with what had happened.
“Alyssa, you’re not to blame for-”
“Yes I am! I’m just a curse to everyone around me!” Alyssa cried out before breaking down into tears, sobbing loudly as the group looked to her with concern.
“Alyssa, you didn’t… ruin anything… for Daniel… you just- Squeak! Stop, I’m trying… to talk to her…” Specca whined as her mind was swimming with the euphoric effects of the ant girl’s tongue. Squeak merely squeaked softly as she continued to lick Specca’s wounds, seeming to ignore any and all pleas for her to stop altogether.
“Alyssa, you’re not a curse,” Triska assured with a worried smile. Alyssa looked to her with a teary-eyed glare and trembled with frustration.
Chronicles of Eden - Act 2 Page 69
