Chronicles of Eden - Act XI

by Alexander Gordon

  “Did you say Ruhelia?” Rolian asked while she moved around to Kroanette’s front to continue undoing the webbing. “That sounds like the name of the centaur kingdom, Ruhelia.”

  “It is! That’s my home!” Kroanette shouted at her. “Wait, do you know anything about what happened there? Have you heard anything about it?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Rolian answered nodding while still working on the sticky net. “Ruhelia, that’s right. Yeah, The Sisterhood burned that place down to the ground not too long ago.”

  Kroanette turned pale with wide eyes while Reiko merely glanced to Rolian with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yeah, that place is burned down now,” Rolian said before shaking her head a bit to focus her vision. “I heard about it being raided by other monsters from The Sisterhood. They wrecked the whole place.”

  “No…” Kroanette breathed out in horror. “The Sisterhood? Who… who are they? Were you a part of this, Rolian?”

  “Me? Um… no,” Rolian answered before hiccupping. “My mom and I weren’t part of that raid. I only heard about it from other arachne who were there. They talked about all the centaurs there being killed or something like that. It sounded pretty bad, at least I think it sounded pretty bad. I don’t remember it too well.”

  “No… no…” Kroanette whimpered with tears quickly forming. “You monsters… you really killed my family? My home? It’s all true?”

  “Um… I don’t know,” Rolian said scratching her head confusedly. “Where’s your home?”

  “Are you stupid?” Reiko scoffed. “Ruhelia is her home. She’s a centaur, or haven’t you noticed?”

  “Ruhelia is her home,” Rolian slowly repeated. She paused for a moment then jumped before seeing Kroanette crying softly with heartbroken eyes. “Oh… um… I… oh dear… that was your home, wasn’t it?”

  “You monsters killed my family?” Kroanette sniveled. “My mother… my little sister… you murdered them and my people?”

  “No, no!” Rolian pleaded holding her hands up. “I never hurt anyone, I promise. I’ve never killed anyone in my whole life. My mom… well, she has, but she wasn’t there either. We weren’t at your home when it was destroyed. I mean… we… um… sorry?”

  Kroanette choked back a sob and shut her eyes, managing to hold in her cries for only a few more seconds before she broke down into tears and loud screams. Rolian bit her lip and held both hands to her head before turning to Reiko, the harvester merely watching the crying centaur with a blank expression before glancing to the arachne and shaking her head.

  “Way to go. You made her cry. Nice job.”

  “I didn’t mean to!” Rolian begged. “I never hurt her family or anything, honest! It was The Sisterhood that did it, not me!”

  “Who is this Sisterhood you keep speaking of?” Reiko asked.

  “Lots of monsters. Like, a lot. There’s really a lot of them. More than- more than- more than ten at least.”

  “You’re not too bright, are you?”

  “At least I’m not tiny, ugly, or- or- or there’s three of me,” Rolian accused pointing to the side of the harvester.

  “What? Three of me?”

  “Or four… wait… how many of you are there?” Rolian asked wavering a bit on her feet and blinking a few of her eyes. “Hold still. Stop- stop moving for a second.”

  “What is wrong with you?” Reiko flatly asked.

  “GET ME OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!” Kroanette shrieked shaking about. The two girls jumped in surprise as the centaur furiously bucked her body in her binds while becoming greatly upset to put it mildly. “LET ME GO! LET ME GO THIS INSTANT!”

  “Okay!” Rolian quickly said as she started working to undo the webbing again. “Okay, I will! Just hold still!”

  “Fine,” Reiko muttered as she started ripping the silk with a dull expression, the webbing of course sticking to her hands and requiring more effort to get it off them afterward. “But you’d better tell Star I helped her friend when you see her again. Especially with me dealing with- oh come on! This stupid stuff keeps sticking to my hands! What gives?”

  Kroanette kept thrashing about in distress, her screaming never ceasing as she became both mortified from Rolian’s news as well as enraged. After a while she managed to tear through the remaining webbing and stumble onto her feet, the girl frantically ripping the silk that was left off her arms and body and tossing them away before she turned to glare at Rolian with a furious growl.

  “You… you monsters!” she roared before charging forward and tackling the arachne down to the ground, the enraged centaur shaking her by the neck while sobbing and trying to breathe in her hysteria. “Why did you do it? Why did you attack my home, my people, my family? Goddamn you, how could you?”

  “I’m sorry!” Rolian cried out while being shaken back and forth. “I never touched them, I swear! I was never there! I never wanted to be a part of The Sisterhood in the first place! I was forced to join!”

  “Why did they do this?” Kroanette demanded grabbing the arachne’s head. “Why did they attack us? What did we ever do to them? How could they kill my family like that? Why?”

  “I don’t know! I never paid attention to what they were saying! I don’t remember a lot of what they said! I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”

  Kroanette screamed and grabbed a rock from the ground, the girl winding back to bash the spider’s head in with a tearful glare at her. Rolian shakily held her hands up while closing her eyes slightly, the weeping arachne sniveling with tears falling from all her eyes while seeing the centaur poised to murder her.

  “I’m so sorry,” Rolian whimpered. “I really am. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. Please, don’t be mad at me. I just want to live in peace. I do.”

  Kroanette breathed heavily through gritted teeth as she saw the arachne crying in front of her. Slowly she looked around to the dead bodies of the other monsters and also Reiko who was waving her hands around wildly to throw off the sticky silk from them. After hesitating Kroanette choked back a sob and dropped the rock she was holding, the girl then falling down against Rolian as she felt her world collapsing all around her. Rolian held the centaur who had her head against her shoulder then rested her own on Kroanette’s while tenderly hugging her.

  “I’m sorry,” the arachne softly said. “I really am. Please believe me.”

  “My family,” Kroanette breathed out. “My home. It’s… it’s all gone? Please tell me I’m just dreaming. Please wake me up.”

  “It’s not a dream. It’s real. I don’t want it to be real, but it is. I’m sorry.”

  “No,” Kroanette whined shutting her eyes. “It can’t be true. It just can’t.”

  Rolian held the sobbing centaur on the ground while Reiko had at this point become stuck to the dirt and grass from the webbing on her hands, the tiny harvester furiously yanking on them with loud obscenities while the men nearby were exchanging troubled looks as they couldn’t tell if another strange monster was going to suddenly appear near them.

  *****

  Sitting on the ground Kroanette’s empty gaze remained down at the grass as it had been for some time now, her tears still dripping from her cheeks while she at this point had tired herself out from crying so much and was merely in a state of shock and sorrow.

  “Can I eat this one’s soul?” Reiko whined as Rolian untied another human, the man quickly scrambling away and running off while the other captives remained fastened to the ground still.

  “No,” Rolian said shaking her head. She then did so again to clear her vision a bit before wobbling over towards another man that she proceeded to untie. “No more death today, please. I hate it. Kroanette hates it. Don’t kill anymore.”

  “I’m a harvester!” Reiko yelled thrashing her arms around in a fit. “Reaping souls is what I do!”

  “Hasn’t there been enough death already?” Rolian snapped at her. “I’m thankful you came and saved me and Kroanette from those mean jerks. But Kroanette is suffering enough because of wh
at those monsters did to her home and family, she hates them so much and so do I. Don’t kill their prisoners, you’ll only be doing what they were going to do to them, you’d be helping those horrible monsters.”

  “They wouldn’t have eaten their souls,” Reiko complained with a pout. “That’s my job. Besides, I need more to grow big again. I’m still hungry and tiny here!”

  “No more killing, especially in front of Kroanette,” Rolian ordered before skittering off-balance to another human to untie. Reiko groaned while rubbing a hand down her face before looking around at all the men that were right below her and completely defenseless.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. “I won’t make Star’s friend cry more. But my Star had better express her gratitude for me making this big of a sacrifice. I’m talking full-on make-out session, bare all, and lots of tongue! All night too!”

  “You’re weird,” Rolian mentioned glancing back to her. She undid the man’s binds and stepped back, watching as the human slowly scooted away while watching her nervously. “You can go now. Be free.”

  “Why are you releasing us?” he asked getting back to his feet. “What are you plotting, arachne?”

  “Nothing, I just don’t want anyone else to get hurt,” Rolian said shaking her head then walking over towards another bound human. “I’m not like the others who hurt you. I don’t want to be like them.”

  Reiko watched the spider undoing the man’s binds then noticed the other human glancing towards a sword nearby from a fallen goblin. He started to take a step towards it before Reiko cleared her throat, getting his and Rolian’s attention as she slowly shook her head.

  “She’s giving you a chance to leave here alive. You don’t want to take that for granted.”

  “It’s okay,” Rolian said turning her eyes back down to the man she was freeing. “Let them take what they need to survive out there.”

  Reiko kept her eye and glowing eye socket on the man as he carefully moved over to grab the sword, the human then quickly backing up while keeping on guard and holding the weapon tightly. He looked between Reiko and Rolian nervously then quickly ran away from them. Reiko resumed watching Rolian releasing all the humans, every one of them choosing to flee while taking a fallen monster’s weapon rather than try to fight against the tiny monster that wiped out their captors earlier. After they all fled without looking back Rolian skittered over towards Kroanette with Reiko floating by her side, the centaur slowly turning her heartbroken gaze up to them while seeming to have withdrawn from the world.

  “Kroanette?” Rolian softly said. “Are you… going to be okay?”

  “Her home and family were killed by your buddies,” Reiko flatly pointed out. “I don’t think she’s going to be prancing for joy anytime soon.”

  “They weren’t my buddies,” Rolian argued. “I didn’t like them at all. They were mean to me.”

  “Thank you,” Kroanette breathed out as she slowly stood up. “Thank you both for saving me. I would… I would have been a goner if you hadn’t helped me.”

  She wearily took a few steps closer before hugging Rolian, surprising the spider who jumped a bit from the gesture before nuzzling her head against the shoulder of the centaur.

  “Thank you, Rolian, for not being like them.”

  “I’m sorry for what happened to you,” Rolian apologized while holding her back. “I really am. I wish you didn’t have to go through this. What are you going to do now? Where will you go?”

  “I need to get to Ruhelia still,” Kroanette said backing up a bit. “My home may be… and my mother… my sister… but, even so, I do have family that is alive still. They’re heading there right now… they’re probably waiting there for me as we speak.”

  “Star’s going to be there, right?” Reiko eagerly asked.

  “You’re still going to go there?” Rolian worried. “Kroanette… you’re not going to like what you’ll see. I heard things from the others in The Sisterhood about what they did to that place. You probably shouldn’t go there now.”

  “I need to,” Kroanette said holding her hands over her face. “I need to find my mate, my family that still lives. I have to find them again.”

  “Your mate?” Rolian wondered. “You have a mate?”

  “I do, and he’s going to be upset with me that I ran off and… anyway, I need to go to him. I really need him right now. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me, but I must be going. Please take care.”

  Kroanette turned to dash off before halting right away, the girl looking around while wiping her tears away before turning back to the two girls behind her.

  “Um, where are we anyway? Do either of you know which direction Ruhelia is from here?”

  Reiko pointed in the opposite direction that the centaur was going while Rolian tried to do the same, her arm swaying about as she tried to steady her vision and balance.

  “Right, of course,” Kroanette sighed ruffling her hair. She turned and quickly dashed off with a heavy gallop, leaving Rolian and Reiko behind as they watched the centaur swiftly making her way across The Outerlands with dust billowing behind her.

  “She has a man as her mate?” Rolian wondered. “Wow. She’s so lucky.”

  “Yeah,” Reiko dryly said. “Her entire homeland was wiped out along with her mother and sister, but sure. She’s a lucky bitch.”

  “Well, not like that,” Rolian frowned. She saw Reiko fly off after the centaur then quickly spoke up again. “Hey, where are you going?”

  “I’m going to find my beloved Star!” Reiko cheered as she soared away. “Nothing shall keep me from my one true love!”

  “Wow,” Rolian mused cocking her head to the side. “She’s got a mate too? She’s so lucky. I want a mate to love and who loves me too.”

  The arachne looked around the area as silence filled the air, seeing dead bodies of monsters, debris from the destroyed wagons, large crevices that were carved out by the passing minotaur, and silky webbing that swayed in the branches of trees above the clearing.

  “Now what do I do?” she asked herself. Skittering around in circles she murmured in unease before stopping and taking more large gulps from her jug. With a hiccup she wiped her mouth then looked off towards where Kroanette and Reiko had gone. Pausing for a moment she wobbled off-balance while thinking of something before shrugging and skittering off after the two girls.

  “Well, not like I have anywhere else I need to be.”

  Chapter 12

  Start of a Fateful Day

  In the world of Eden every day held new possibilities and surprises. From the moment the first rays of sunlight touched the ground to when the final twilight hour had passed there was no certainty of what events could fill the upcoming day. Wonder, danger, joy, despair, hope, tragedy, love, death, anything may be destined in that fateful period for all who lived in the world. From those who planned their time carefully to the rest that took what life directed for them it was all the same in the end, nobody truly had any clue of what awaited them or where they would be when the last hour passed.

  After all, even the sunniest of mornings could lead to the worst day of their lives.

  *****

  Walking down a hallway within her home Bermuda yawned and stretched her arms as she began a new day at Shadow’s Refuge. Looking out the passing windows where daylight was shining through she smiled a bit at seeing what appeared to be a peaceful morning, something she was thankful for after the hectic night she had endured previously.

  “I wonder how everyone’s doing this morning,” she asked herself while turning down a corridor. Her legs quickly skittered along the floor as she straightened out her shawl and brushed her hair, the girl then giggling a bit in anticipation as she came up to a particular door within the large residence.

  “Good morning,” she called out while getting ready to knock. “Are you all-”

  Freezing in place she paused for a moment then turned her head in confusion as she heard what seemed to be grinding stones churning rocks
into pebbles inside the room. Blinking her eyes she then pressed her ear against the door before cringing slightly as she heard the sounds of boulders being decimated by an army of pickaxe wielding ant girls.

  “What in Eden?” she breathed out. Opening the door she quickly peeked inside, her mouth lowering as she slowly stepped into the room while staring at something in surprise. “What… the… heck?”

  Inside the cozy room there were three beds set for guests at the sanctuary along with dressers filled with fresh linens and clothes, candles held in wall holders that were burned down to their bases, a window that allowed some sunlight in through the curtains, a table with a few books and glasses on it, and some new visitors who had spent the night after a very rough day. Max was lying in his bed in the center of the room, sheets pulled up and snug over his shoulders, a fluffy pillow cushioning his head, peaceful expression adorning his face, and had a centaur who was lying against his bed on the floor with her arm over his chest, head resting on his shoulder, and mouth opened wide with her incredibly loud snoring.

  Bermuda stared in stunned silence at seeing Lelu snorting and wheezing with each breath she took all while Max seemed blissfully unware of her at all, the centaur having a white sleeping gown on that barely held her bust while reaching down past her human waist and a sheet that was loosely draped over her lower body. The arachne tilted her head one way then another before showing a frightened expression. She quickly scurried over beside the centaur and nervously held her hands over the girl’s head, seeming to be afraid to touch the noisy sleeper while becoming greatly alarmed at what she was seeing and hearing.

  “Oh god. Lelu? What… what’s wrong with her? Why is she making those horrible sounds? Lelu? Lelu!”

  “Hey,” Vale’s voice called out from the hall. “Who’s chopping wood over here? This is a place for resting, not carpentry!”

  The pixie flew by in the corridor then made a sharp left and zipped into the room trailing a straight line of blue light behind her. She then immediately came to a stop as she saw Lelu snoring and jumped in disbelief while Bermuda turned to her in distress.