The Unseen Road

Chapter Ten

Beatrice awoke the next morning almost having forgotten her first day in the Abadonnic camp; as she opened her eyes and sat up on her straw pallet, she looked around the Succubus' quarters, unable to recall how she had even gotten back to the crowded tent.

She had also almost forgotten the luck she had come across, having been transformed into a new being. Being so, she looked down at her barbed tail, and, running her palm over it, was pleased with the length to which it had grown. And then there was the Vampire that she had met, the power she had tasted; and she wondered if maybe she too one day would acquire a taste for blood.

Eventually, amongst the other slumbering occupants, a lone figure caught her attention, watching her; and quickly she recognized one of the Vampire's associates from the night before.

He didn't say a word, as if waiting for her to say something first. "Where is he?" Beatrice asked at last, assuming a mutual understanding of who "he" was. Her voice echoed off of the walls of the silent tent, and for a moment she questioned whether or not the question reached the stoic figure at all.

"'He' has left the camp for other business," came a flat reply at last. "But I have come to tell you that I have received an order from the General in Dryria to have you meet him."

"Where's that?" Beatrice retorted, crossing her arms, perturbed.

The figure sneered and appeared to become impatient. "You will not be going on your own. Nor do I have any time to waste. Get up, and put some proper clothes on."

Beatrice glanced at herself once more, and, seeing that she was still dressed in the clothes from Glenia, replied, "But I don't have anything else to wear."

"Then don't wear anything at all," her companion said peevishly. Then, another figure appeared briefly in the hut to deliver a message to him. After he had left, the Vampire scowled. "Fine... All right. Forget it. I was told to bring you as soon as possible," he said, looking away, and then got up to approach her without courtesy.

"Hey-" Beatrice complained, but the Vampire had already had her arms pinned behind her back as her wrists and her wings were promptly shackled.

"I have received explicit orders not to let you escape until you have met the General."

"What does he want with me?" Beatrice asked.

"He heard of your sudden appearance in this tent. Don't think that it didn't go unnoticed, whore."

Beatrice cringed at the name she was called. "Don't think I'm here against my own will-" she began, but then she was cut off:

"Or what?"

Seeing that she had then begun to wake and catch the attention of the other Succubi and Incubi around her meeting her with cold glares, she silenced herself. "Just you wait," she grumbled, as she was coaxed roughly out of the tent.

"I didn't like this place anyway," she added, but this time more to herself, and let herself be led on through the walkways between the different tents.

"Then you'll love the Capital," said her unenthused companion sarcastically, having overheard her. And already they were headed south, towards a pillar of black smoke that was only visible over the roofs of the tents. Obviously, Beatrice figured, that was the capital, Dryria; it would make sense that the camp was situated close to the Capital to initiate communication.

With a troubled conscience and the seemingly endless mystery of her fate in mind, Beatrice looked back on the camp that she was now leaving behind her. She found herself conflicted between her ambition for freedom and her common sense, which told her to leave and find solace elsewhere. But she couldn't escape now. She walked on.