Chapter 23
Meadow
The port city of Everbloom was beautifully placed on a crystal-clear cove of water. Just over the hill my eyes followed a path that led down to the coastal town. Decorations for the Solstice littered ever inch of the streets and dock. The Bay itself had hundreds of ships all decorated and ready for the festival. Under different circumstances, I would be proud to call this my kingdom.
What lay before me took any pride I had and replaced it with utter and total loathing.
"What happened here?" I asked as tears freely fell from my eyes. I looked to Geilas for answers but she was just as nauseated by the sight before us. She didn't respond as she started down the path.
I was beside myself and I didn't know if I could make it down the path to face the horrors ahead, but it was as if my body was being driven to do so. I sobbed silently and followed the rest of my sisters to the first destination on this so called journey.
"Who the hell would do this? Was this really necessary?" Ember screams out in anger as she steps over a pool of blood near the bottom on the hill. We didn't stop to see if there was a body attached to the blood. My guess would be that with how much was collected in that spot, that person is no longer on this plane of existence.
The smell in the was repugnant, and only got stronger the closer we got to the city. Geilas had not slowed down. She had at some point pulled out her weapons and marched with purpose towards the devastation that lay ahead. When we finally reached the end of the path, we took in the view.
The town looked untouched. Decorations littered every drop of the place. Fresh meat that had been cooking over fires had burnt to a crisp, leaving only a small flame and a toasted meal in its wake. The boats in the Bay floated aimlessly with not directive. The place was eerily silent as there was not a soul in sight. We all knew why that was. Geilas started walking again determined to get to what I could only assume was the center of the city.
We hustled behind her, trying to keep up without running. Random splats of blood could be seen, or the occasional item left on the ground, but other than that, the town looked pristine. I hated that my first experience of my home had to be so traumatizing.
Par for the course I suppose.
We rounded a few turns in what looked like the part of the city was more residential. After passing a few blocks of homes, we came to an area that housed a huge statue of a tree. As magnificent as the tree was, it was what was piled behind it that held all of our attention.
Wails could be heard from all five of us, I dropped to the floor as if feeling pain for the first time in my short 19 years. I cried for the loss of a family I had no idea existed mere months ago. I mourned for the souls that would no longer walk these lands. I shook with rage as I looked at the mountain of people, piled behind the tree. Men with gashes so deep it's amazing the Bay had not turned red yet. Woman as white as ghosts, all with their eyes left open. And the children…oh the children, whoever did this wanted them to suffer the worst. All their eyeballs had been removed. Their faces were stuck on frozen smiles, but there were no teeth left in their grins.
My eyes found a little girl that had the nose and feet of a cow but the body and face of a human. Her big ears stuck out of her dirty blond hair. Where her eyes would have been where deep and empty holes staring back at me. Her creepy smile would haunt my dreams for the rest of my days, mocking my inability to save her and so many others. I had to tare myself away from the poor child that I'm sure was as sweet as pie.
The pile had to be every being that resided in the city limits, as well as the visitors that owned the ships. So many bodies. The smell was awful but the pain of seeing them left like this was worst.
"Geilas, SPEAK!" I yelled with authority I didn't know I had. "Who would do something as evil as this. Who would slaughter and torcher so many souls?"
She looked like she didn't want to respond but something was forcing her to speak. "It…it must be the work of the Demon of Darkness your Majesties. It is only their evil that could amount to this kind of devastation. I can not say for sure, but this looks like their work." She finished, pushing out a breath like it hurt to reply. That was definitely weird, and we would be discussing what that was later.
"This Darkness is really starting to piss me off!" Ember was fuming as she rocked a devastated Alda.
"An entire village of people, the whole bay of boats, empty. How could this even be an acceptable course of action. They were just children. Their lives did not deserve to be ended in this way." I said to myself. I knew we were all feeling the trauma of our pasts, but it amounted to nothing these children and their families endured.
"There is a specific Demon that is known for this kind of work. She is infamous in all Bavilan because she is the lap dog to the Darkness. The second in command to the demon army. She is known for feeding off the souls of mothers while eating the eyes of their children. The mothers are stuck in a catatonic state as they are forced to watch as their kids are murdered in front of them. Then she forces smiles onto the children's faces so she can take their teeth to use in the armor of the Demon army. Childrens teeth from any species her in Bavilan is like the softest but most flexible metal you have ever experienced. This is not the first we have had to deal with her antics, just never on this level."
"I'm sorry my Queens, I am but one Amazonian, I can not police the whole of Bavilan, not even with my spies." She looked ashamed to be standing in front of us right now. Her eyes could not leave the pile of lost souls. My people.
These were MY PEOPLE. How dare this Zora chick think that she will get away with this. The members of my Tribe did not have to suffer like this. They should not have had to die like this. I made a silent vow to avenge every single one of them. I would not let the death of my kin be in vain. I had felt the draw to my castle and to the trees, but it took this moment to make me realize the true responsibility we carried. These peoples lives were in our hands. It was up to us to stop the suffering they have endured while we were away.
We were back and we were not leaving. Not now, not ever. These people depend on us and I would make sure that is exactly what they got, dependable leaders and protectors.
"Where is Wren?" Alda suddenly asked, taking all our attention away from the festering pile of bodies.
"WREN!" I yelled, freaking out as we noticed she was gone. "Why the fuck can this girl just never stay still. We are literally at a murder scene and she wants to explore." My anger with the situation was overflowing into my annoyance. I stomped away from the statue and back throw the town, calling to Wren.
"Where is she?" I hear someone whisper behind me. I didn't pay attention to who's voice as I had assumed they all followed me. MY only concern was getting to my sister, wherever the little trouble maker was.
"I'm over here…" We finally hear Wren's anxious voice. I hoped that we wouldn't catch her with too much trouble on her hands.
I yanked her arm as soon as I saw her coming out of one of the buildings, resembling a café.
"Why would you walk off like that!? Do you know how dangerous that was? We don't know this land Wren, you have got to get your shit together. You could have died…I thought you ended up like them." I cried out as I loosened my grip on her and pulled her into a worried hug.
"I heard something…something on the winds that told me to follow, so I did. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She looked apologetic, but I know her better than she thinks. I know this will not be the last time she gets into something, scaring us all for life.
"Don't be sorry you idiot, be smart! If you heard something, tell us. This isn't a Wren Adventures show. Meadow is right, we don't know this place, we don't have our abilities. We have no clue what the hell we are really doing and your first instinct is to run off because of a sound on the wind…without saying anything? Get real girl. If you want to have an adventure so bad, do it after we have saved this land…our lands from the Darkness. Get your shit together dude, this isn't a game, clearly by the piles of bodies back there!" Ember was barely holding it together as she read Wren the riot act. It almost looked like she was going to blow a blood vessel in her neck if she didn't calm down now.
"I…I…I really didn't mean it guys. Really. I wasn't trying to get into trouble. It was a pull I was feeling and a voice I was hearing. I was so focused on that I just slipped away. Next thing I know I found him." She was clearly just as upset as we were.
"What do you mean found him?" Alda questions quietly.
"Him inside the Café. He is hurt pretty badly. I don't know if he will make it much longer. I tried to help as much as I could."
Geilas immediately walks into the café. She searches around until she sees a man, or what I think was a man, laying in a pool of his own blood behind the counter. It was clear when they collected the bodies, his was forgotten. His breathing was shallow and his eyes remained closed as if he was clinging to his last moments for dear life.
"Hello Krog. It's been a long time my friend? You look like shit." Geilas says to the man as she kneels next to him.
"G…just as beautiful as…the day you stole my heart." Krog chocked out with a small chuckle.
"Don't move too much you dirty dog." She winked at him. "What happened here?" She grabbed a nearby towel to place under his head. Little comfort was better than no comfort I suppose.
"You know…what…. happened. Zora." He whispered the name, coughing up a little blood. The fit went on for a couple seconds, Geilas did her best to wipe the blood pouring from his mouth away. "She came early this morning. She…. heard…*cough cough* that someone has been…here looking for them." His eyes fall on the four of us standing behind Geilas.
"The traveler…" Geilas trails off as she remembers her spies telling her that a traveler had been asking about the four girls.
"Your…Majesties…*cough*…please excuse my appearance *cough cough* I did not…think I would be…*cough*…entertaining Royalty today." He jokes as he flies into another coughing fit.
"Krog, don't speak, we will help as best we can." Wren said as she joined Geilas on the floor.
"It's too… late for me, Queen Wren…*cough*…I only held on long…enough to deliver this message…" He trails off and closes his eyes. I thought he was gone until suddenly his eyes shoot open glowing a bright green.
"The twins know, beware of the twins. Royalty walks these lands again." He says before he took a breath and fell into the never-ending slumber called death.
Death…something I was so familiar with.