Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 16: Possession

After bathing, everyone clambered back into the caravan. Pollyanna was glad to be out of the water and back in her clothes. She was paranoid that everyone in the caravan had been looking at her scarred and wrinkled body while she bathed, and it upset her greatly.

Pollyanna sat across from the waif, Them, who she glared at relentlessly. Taylor, who followed after the waif and old woman, stood in the space between them for a moment as she debated where to sit.

Pollyanna patted the empty space next to her, and Them patted the empty space next to him.

Taylor took immense pleasure in the attention, and she acted very coy for a moment as she wiggled her hips and shoulders back and forth with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Which of you loves me more?" Taylor wondered dramatically.

"I do, fair maiden! Come sit by me!" Them prompted her with his hands outstretched. "There is no lily prettier than you!"

Taylor giggled at that, and made to sit by him, but then she glanced at Pollyanna, who was examining her nails nonchalantly.

She doesn't adore me as she should! That must change! Taylor marched Pollyanna's way and plopped down on the woman's lap without her permission. She said to Them, "you are far too eager, Sir Knight! I like to be chased!"

Them chuckled at that, and turned his attention to his friend, Pete, who tapped his shoulder and whispered something in his ear.

Pollyanna crossed her arms and couldn't believe the audacity of the fairy girl.

Certainly she liked the fairy's physical and mental parts that belonged to Eory, but she didn't like anything that belonged to Taylor.

She fought every instinct to tell the girl to get off.

But then, Pollyana gathered her thoughts contemplatively as she stared at Taylor's back.

She realized she could use the girl's flirtatious nature to her advantage. She was always begging for Them's attention--begging him to kiss her only to pull away.

Perhaps she should do the same to Taylor--that might bring Eory back out, if he were forced to chase her.

She hadn't flirted in so long, however. Her heart was beating enormously quickly from even daring to flirt because she knew it could mean life or death for her if she weren't careful. "You speak of enjoying the chase and yet you sit on my lap without permission? I didn't ask for your company, and yet you are thrusting it upon me, an innocent flower?"

Taylor, who enjoyed playing flirtatious games of any kind, turned around with her knees on either side of Pollyanna and said with a grin, "you are anything but innocent! I see you, making eyes at me, fair maiden! I see how much you crave my attention—but then shy away... Away..."

Taylor blinked twice.

She's beautiful. Is it wrong to still want her?

The man's thoughts overrode Taylor's, and the fairy girl felt her fingers reach out and brush Pollyanna's cheeks without her permission.

Everyone in the caravan kept glancing at them--everyone was whispering about them.

Pollyanna's heart was skipping beats as she had no place else to look but Taylor's eyes, and she enjoyed a touch that she felt had to be Eory's. A touch that made her feel like she was eighteen-years-old again; a touch that made her feel like a glass doll.

Taylor growled with frustration in a moment--trying to fight off Eory's thoughts--and she leaned in for a kiss.

Taylor tried to kiss the warrior-maiden aggressively at first—with her fingers digging into the back of Pollyanna's neck—and barely giving Pollyanna any time to breathe between kisses.

She kissed her the way Fjorn used to.

Pollyanna felt extremely vulnerable and uncomfortable, and whimpered in fear between kisses. She pasted herself against the seat—trying to move away from Taylor's lips to no avail.

Them must have seen how uncomfortable Pollyanna was, because he was yelling Taylor's name, but Pollyanna was too dazed to know what the waif was yelling about, however.

Her heart was being pierced with each moment she let Taylor kiss her.

But suddenly, there was a change in Taylor. Her fingers, which had been digging into the back of Pollyanna's neck softened and loosened. Her ivory hand moved from the back of Pollyanna's neck to her cheek.

Pollyanna looked into Taylor's eyes again, and this time, she didn't feel like a literal object of her affection.

She felt like the moon, the stars, and the sun only existed because she did under a worshipful gaze which she knew belonged to Eory and not Taylor.

Everyone around them was no longer being subtle about what they were talking about; some of them were even laughing heartily at the unconventional situation—or egging them on.

He said not a word, and Pollyanna seemed to be paralyzed under his gaze.

She impulsively brought her face closer to Eory's and tried to kiss him, but he gently pushed her back. His eyes turned glassy as he looked upon her intently.

He cupped both her cheeks in his hands. Pollyanna found it hard to breathe under his intense stare.

In a moment he said under his breath, "you're a monster."

And then something in his face changed, and she knew Taylor was back in control by her exaggerated expression. The woman climbed off Pollyanna's lap and sat next to her instead.

"It's no fun to chase," Taylor murmured as she linked her arm in Pollyanna's and leaned her head against her shoulder. "That's a man's job."

Pollyanna stared forward unblinkingly and wouldn't allow herself to cry.

Why do I care what anyone thinks? She thought to herself. I got what I wanted!

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In forty minutes, Syria called back to everyone in the caravan, "we're almost to the Crater. If you'd like, you may peak out of the caravan to get a good view of it. It will be your home for the rest of your lives, after all."

Pollyanna stood up with her back hunched so her head wouldn't hit the ceiling. She opened the door of the bumpy caravan and leaned her torso out of the vehicle.

She saw it in the distance; a mighty fortress made of iron settled in the middle of the Crater of Resentment—its menacing, jagged spires shooting high into the sky which was eternally painted a noxious red around that area.

The Crater itself was a barren wasteland spanning a length that would constitute three villages. It was a deep chasm—many feet deeper than the surrounding greenlands encircling it. On the greenlands surrounding the Crater was a large, glassy shield made of Astral Elf magic which contained the menaces therein.

For now, Pollyanna and everyone else in the caravan were in the gentle blue shade of night, but soon enough, they drove into the sickening red lighting around the Crater.

The other criminals wanted a turn looking at the Crater, and were yelling at Pollyanna to get out of the way, and so Pollyanna retreated back inside and sat back down next to the sleeping Taylor.

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Syria stopped the caravan just before the glassy shield surrounding it, and then climbed out. The criminals followed and watched her as she traced a finger along the glassy shield and chanted something under her breath.

Syria traced a door, large enough for the caravan to pass through, which glowed a solid white for a moment. It made the sound of sizzling fire before the glass broke and a path was made for the caravan.

Everyone then piled back into the caravan and Syria finished closing the rest of the space between the criminals and their new prison.