chronicles of eden - act I (6 page)

"Did you hear that?" Triska asked.

"Yeah… but where did it come from?" Daniel asked as they stood up.

Again the scream echoed out, with the two travelers looking around trying to find the source. Daniel hastily put the book away and put his backpack on as Triska grabbed her duffel bag and swung it over her shoulder with one hand. Daniel watched with awe and disbelief at just how strong this girl really was before scanning the surrounding area quickly.

"I think it was this way, c'mon!" Triska yelled as she took off. Daniel followed quickly after, the two running as fast as they could. They raced up a hill then looked around carefully. After they scanned the nearby area they looked off to the side and spotted something. Down at the base of the hill near the dirt road a carriage was seen flipped over onto its side, with a white horse still hitched to it and bucking around while neighing loudly. The white cover top carriage was starting on fire as a few men were standing around the area, all holding pitchforks and torches. They were dressed as normal villagers with brown pants and linen shirts, the four men glaring at the travel carriage as it started to burn.

"What's going on? Are they thieves?" Daniel asked cautiously. Triska looked around then shrugged.

"Beats me, I'm just wondering who screamed earlier," she said carefully.

A few of the men tossed their torches onto the carriage as another cut free the horse, the animal crying out before it took off. The men watched the fires spread across the carriage as they held their pitchforks at the ready. Daniel and Triska glanced to each other then crouched down low to the ground.

"What should we do?" Daniel asked quietly.

"Not sure, I don't know what's going on but it's probably best not to get involved if we don't have to," Triska said simply.

Another scream came from the carriage, the voice of a young girl crying out as the fires grew larger.

"Burn in hell you bitch!" one of the men yelled out at the flaming carriage.

"Somebody's in that thing," Daniel said with surprise.

"That sounded like a little girl," Triska said with wide eyes. She growled then dropped her bag to the ground, standing up and unsheathing her sword. The metallic ring echoed out as she gripped the handle tightly with two hands.

"Stay here, Daniel, I'll handle these creeps," she said with a glare. She raced down the hill as Daniel watched with worry. He looked to the large duffel bag she dropped then back down towards the burning carriage.

Down at the base of the hill the four men who had their pitchforks in hand were watching the flames grow higher as the wood and cloth of the carriage burned brightly.

"Is she dead?" one asked cautiously.

"We'll make sure she is," another said with narrowed eyes.

"Hey!" Triska yelled out. The men looked over to see her charging them with her sword held to the side, glaring at the men with anger.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing?" she roared. She swung her blade towards one of the men, the villager jumping back quickly to avoid the swipe as the sword sliced through the air. Following around with her swing she swung downward at the man, the blade being stopped by the steel end of his pitchfork. The man grunted then pushed the girl away, with Triska then darting back and swiping at him quickly. As he dodged back the other three men raced over to them.

"What do you think you're doing?" Triska yelled out at them.

"This doesn't concern you, girl, get out of here now," one of them warned.

"You murdering bastards, how dare you try to kill a little girl!" Triska roared.

"Shut your mouth, brat, you don't know anything!" one of the men barked back.

Again the young girl's scream came from the burning carriage, with everybody looking to it.

"That's right, burn you little-" one man yelled out before Triska lunged forward and struck her blade into his gut, then swiping to the side through his body and knocking the pitchfork out of the hands of another man. The villager jumped back with surprise while the two other armed men struck at her with their weapons. The other villager however dropped down screaming and coughing out blood as his stomach was bleeding severely. Triska whipped her blade up and blocked one pitchfork from striking her face then darted back to avoid another.

"How dare you, kid!" one of the men yelled as he swung at her while another tried to thrust his weapon towards the girl. She darted back then swung her blade, knocking the weapon shooting towards her off to the side with great force. With a fierce yell she then swung around again, slicing through a man’s skull with a crunch. As he dropped dead the other two raced at her with their weapons. One of them jabbed forward with his pitchfork, the girl holding her blade out and stopping the ends from striking her as the steel clashed against each other. Before she could move the man turned and thrust his weapon down, the forked end pulling and yanking the sword out of the girl's hands and into the ground. Triska growled then unsheathed her dagger, watching the two men with anger as she held her blade up defensively.

"You'll pay for that, girl, you're dead!" one of the men yelled as he ran towards her with his weapon held out. Suddenly he was tackled to the ground by an extremely heavy duffel bag. Triska watched with wonder then over to see Daniel nearby as he glared at the men. He unsheathed his dagger from his shirt and held it out shakily with both hands.

"Daniel?" Triska asked with surprise.

"Holy shit… what the hell is in this thing anyway? Oh god, get it off me!" the man yelled out as he struggled to get the heavy bag off of his back. Triska whipped her dagger at the other man, the human dodging to the side as she raced towards her sword. She rolled onto the ground and grabbed the handle as she passed by, jumping back to her feet and holding her sword once again. With a fierce yell she then raced towards the armed man while Daniel held his blade close to the face of the one that was pinned under Triska’s bag.

"Why are you doing this? How could you try to kill an innocent girl?" Daniel asked with anger as the man just looked at the blade near his face. Triska swung her sword and whacked off the end of the other villager's pitchfork, then swinging to the side she sliced across his chest. He screamed in pain while dropping back as the other villager looked over to the burning carriage with fearful eyes.

"You don't understand, kid, she needs to die," he said with frustration. Daniel shook his head and stood back up, holding the blade towards the man still.

"How could you?" he said with disbelief.

"Daniel, get the girl out of there!" Triska cried out as she ran over towards them. He jumped a bit then looked to the carriage.

"Ah… right," he said before he headed over to it. Triska ran over to the pinned villager and held her blade towards his head.

"How dare you try to kill a little girl, for thieves you've sunk to a new low," she hissed out. The man looked at her and shook his head fearfully.

"You don't understand, we're not thieves, she's-" he started before the girl yelled and swiped her blade through his head, blood and bits of the skull splattering out near her bag and across the grass. She growled with anger then looked to the carriage that was engulfed in fire. Daniel was eyeing around at it with worry as he sheathed his dagger. He shook his head as he backed up a bit, shielding his face from the heat with one arm.

"Hey! Are you alive in there? Say something!" he called out. Carefully he tried to get closer toward the burning cart, again being forced to step back as the fires around the carriage flared around wildly.

"No, I can't get close to it," he said with frustration. Triska watched with sorrow as the fires flared around the burned carriage.

"Dammit. She was just a little girl," she said sadly before looking down with closed eyes. Daniel watched the fires burn with remorse, shaking his head then looking down as well.

"I'm sorry…" he said softly.

"Sorry? For what?" a girl's voice asked curiously. Daniel jumped a good foot in the air then looked ahead as the fires parted to show a little girl climbing out of the burning carriage. The fires swirled around her as she leapt gently off the charred wood and landed down next to the very surprised boy. He and Triska watched with wide eyes as the young girl giggled at them without having a single burn or mark on her. She wore brown leather boots with a pink ribbon on each foot for the lace, striped black and white stockings that went up to her thighs, a small light green skirt, a red long sleeve shirt that had gold and white trimmings on the ends as well as red and yellow trimmed shoulder covers, a little light blue bow tie, and a necklace that had a large round blue crystal on it. The girl had short blonde hair that was curled around her ears, purple eyes, and a red wide trimmed hat that was pointed at the top, the cone of the hat looking to be crooked slightly. There was a small jackrabbit skull tied to the hat with a brown leather strap as the hat’s rim covered her forehead. She looked to be around thirteen years old as she hopped on her feet with a giddy smile, giggling playfully then looking over to see Triska staring at the girl with surprise. Daniel backed up and stared with astonishment as he recognized the appearance of the girl.

"What… how…" Triska asked in disbelief.

"You… you're a…" Daniel said with caution.

The girl held her hand out back towards the burning carriage, the flaming cart rattling around suddenly. From the ashes and charred wood an object burst forth and flew towards her hand, the carriage seeming to explode into a fiery ball with ashes fluttering away wildly. The girl caught the object with one hand, which was a greenish wooden staff about her height that had the skull of a ram on it, the curled horns and slightly cracked, bleached bones of the dead animal mounted on the top. As she swung the staff around gently towards Triska she giggled with an eerie smirk.

"You tried to kill me. Naughty," she said with a bite.

"Wha…" Triska said with wide eyes. Daniel looked over to his companion then gasped.

"Triska, get down!" he shouted out. Triska gasped then dropped down onto the ground as the girl’s staff gave off a strange orange glow. Triska looked back to see the villager she cut across the chest earlier having his pitchfork raised up to strike at her. Suddenly his weapon yanked up into the air, the man looking up with shock before slowly over to the little girl who was giggling.

"Very. Naughty," she said with a cold smile. She waved her staff down, and in doing so the pitchfork shot down towards the ground. It struck into the soil as it impaled the man down with a quick crunch, the man screaming in agony before falling limp as his weapon was pierced through his chest. Triska and Daniel looked back over to the little girl as she giggled to herself.

"That'll teach you," she said before sticking her tongue out at the dead man. She then looked to Daniel with a curious smile.

"Hello," she said happily. Daniel just stared at her with wide eyes then slowly backed up a bit. She giggled and skipped up to him playfully.

"You're cute, what's your name?" she asked curiously. Triska slowly got to her feet and stared with surprise at the girl. She slowly held her sword up and glanced to Daniel.

"What… what… is she?" Triska asked worriedly. The little girl giggled then looked over to Triska with a cute smile on her face. She held out her staff towards Triska as it started to glow orange. Triska watched as her sword lifted out of her hands and slowly turned to point at her.

"It's not nice to point such things at a little girl," the youngling said with a snicker. Triska backed up as the blade hovered closer to her. Daniel stared at the possessed blade then over to the little girl.

"You're… a witch," he said with wonder. She giggled and nodded at him with a bright smile.

"Yep yep. My name is Alyssa. What's yours?" she asked happily. Daniel looked at her with astonishment.

"Daniel… its Daniel Sorres," he said softly. She hopped up and down playfully and then tilted her head with a smile.

"Well, Daniel Sorres, what were you sorry about? You didn't do anything wrong here. At least I don't think you did. Did you do something wrong you want to say sorry for? And if so, what did you do wrong?" Alyssa asked playfully.

Triska watched her sword with fear as it hovered in place before her. She narrowed her eyes then darted around the blade, grabbing the hilt and yanking it out of the air. In a flash it yanked right back and threw her over into a small tumble. Alyssa laughed and looked over to the girl with an amused smile.

"Oh sorry, I forgot about you. Did you want your knife back?" she asked innocently. She waved her staff towards the sword, and it instantly shot towards Triska at high speed. The girl stared with shock as she froze in place, her eyes watching her own sword race towards her head.

"Don't!" Daniel cried out.

The sword struck into the ground with a powerful thrust, with some dust shooting off from the impact point. Daniel stared with wide eyes as the blade had dropped down at the last second and struck into the ground right between Triska's legs. She stared with shock and an open mouth then slowly over towards the little girl. Daniel breathed out in relief then looked to Alyssa, the witch giggling and looking back up to him. She smiled with a coy expression and walked up closer to him.

"Well if you insist, Daniel. Say, are you ok, you look kind of pale. Are you sick?" she asked innocently. He wavered a bit then dropped down onto his rear, his eyes locked onto the monster that stood before him. She giggled again then looked to Triska as the teen was slowly standing back up. Triska glanced to her sword then to the witch with a careful eye. Alyssa just looked at her with a calm gaze while holding her staff at her side. Triska slowly grabbed her blade then pulled it out of the ground as she tensed up, with Alyssa smirking slightly as her staff started to glow orange.

"Wait, we don't want to fight, really," Daniel said quickly. The witch looked to him curiously then to Triska.

"Really? Because she seems like she wants to. Although she was kind enough to kill those humans that tried to kill me, so I guess the polite thing would be not to kill her right now," she said before looking up with a thoughtful expression.