Irene the Sly: Chapter 6

As they walked, Theo and Nethlen strode up between Irene and said, "So new girl, got any special talents?"

"None that may be useful in here. No," she answered.

"Oh, well our parents were fire dancers," Theo said.

"Yea so we inherited some cool tricks," Nethlen continued for his brother.

"Watch this."

"Watch this." They both said at the same time.

The twins then snapped their fingers and a sparkling fire in the form of a rose exploded lightly in front of them. It faded in seconds and Nethlen asked, "Pretty cool right?"

Irene frowned and said, "I don't like magic at all, sorry." She then moved on ahead of them as they started arguing with each other.

Caleb caught up to her and said, "The twins seem only capable of doing those sparks. They got great at doing little party tricks like that rose, but they lack raw power and," He paused to think a moment, "Finesse, is that the right word?"

Irene shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know."

Caleb shrugged and said, "Well whatever, anyways you will get used to them soon enough; they're eccentric, though."

"It's not that, I just don't like magic is all."

"Hmm, I can sort of see why. I'm a little envious of it, but being without it does seem rather scary, and foreign."

"Hey, what's going on here?" Myra asked as she pushed herself between Caleb and Irene and wrapped her arm around Caleb's.

"Yeah, hi thanks for doing that," Caleb said sarcastically.

Myre pouted and said, "I'm sorry you guys looked really bored, I thought I could help with that."

Caleb sighed, "Its fine just don't be so rude next time alright?"

Myre smiled and perked right up. "Alright, I can do that."

Irritated Irene slowed her pace way down to let them get ahead. When they were further along Myre took a quick glance behind her to see Irene fallen back. Then she said to Caleb, "I don't like that new girl, and I don't trust her either."

Irene fell far behind to hear any more after that and lingered on in the back of the group.

During the next major rest stop they took, Irene took the first point of look out; still having trouble sleeping. It was quiet at first until Myre came up to talk to her.

"Hey new girl," she said.

Irene sighed and said, "My name is Irene, and you should be getting some sleep like the others."

"You know new girl I don't like you, and I don't trust you either."

"Alright I got it, you hate me, now leave me alone."

Myre grabbed Irene by her shirt and pulled her up to her feet. "You need to stay away from Caleb too. He's mine got it?"

"Get. Your hands. Off me." Irene said in a slow and hostile tone.

Myre smirked but let go of her. "Just stay away from Caleb from now on." She then turned away and went back to her spot to sleep.

Irene stayed up on watch until Adelea came by to swap her out and let her get some rest. It was hard, but Irene managed to fall asleep.

She later awoke to the sounds of screaming. All around her new companions were frantically running from the red cloaked people. They didn't get far before they were caught by their fire magic and burned alive. Irene lay paralyzed watching as her new friends slowly burned alive, the smell of their burning flesh filled her nose, and the screams of their agony filled her ears.

Caleb was the last to die before her eyes. With all of them gone now the red cloaks turned to Irene and set her ablaze.

She woke up just as the burning sensation touched down on her, covered in sweat and gasping desperately for air. Everyone gathered around her looking concerned. Caleb knelt down to her and put his hand on her back gently rubbing her.

"It's alright," he said soothingly, "it was just a bad dream. You're alright now I promise, everything is going to be okay." He smiled at her and she smiled back.

"It's not going to be okay," Myre said grudgingly.

Irene ignored her. "Myre leave her alone, I saw you picking on her earlier. This stops now, got it." Adelea said harshly.

Caleb helped Irene climb to her feet and asked, "Do you want to talk about that nightmare? You were really spooked and started screaming and kicking around in your sleep."

Irene swallowed the lump in her throat and slowly shook off her goosebumps. "It was horrible; the red cloaks came back and used their magic to burn all of you alive. And I couldn't move at all but I was watching it all happen; then they came to me and set me on fire."

Caleb pulled her in a hug and gently stroked her hair. "Its fine now, everything is fine."

She pulled away and wiped her tears. "I'm just glad I'm not alone anymore."

"Who say's you're not alone?" Myre asked with malevolence.

Irene glared at her then went back to looking at Caleb. But when her gaze swept by she noticed the others were suddenly missing. She doubled a look around and found that now Myre had too disappeared; it was just her and Caleb left. "What happened to everyone they were just here?" Irene asked panicking a little.

Caleb stepped back from her and shook his head. "You poor girl, we were never here to begin with. We were all just inside your head."

"No, no this is just another fucked up dream," She said despondently.

He smiled darkly and asked, "Is it though?" He then faded away into the enclosing darkness that surrounded her.

She woke up yet again, alone and with her vanishing cloak. She got up and called out everyone's names: no answer. She frowned and began walking on ahead, checking her back constantly.

She kept moving on, ignoring her hunger for fear of stopping, when the exploding sound of sparkling fire woke her up once again. She was back where she was before when she went to sleep, everyone around her; the twins were having a laughing fit at their prank.

Gasping for breath, she got up and ran away in a panic. "Look what you two morons did!" Adelea said scolding the twins.

They stopped their laughing in time to see Irene still running away in fear; they immediately felt bad now. "I told you two not to do it, but you still did."

While Adelea continued scolding the twins Caleb chased after Irene. He found her a good distance away sitting behind one of the violet trees, her knees up with her head tucked away; sobbing to herself. "Irene? It was just a stupid prank, okay?"

"Go away, you're just another messed up dream," Irene said through her muffled sobbing. "I'm done with it and not playing this game anymore, so just go and let me wake up for real."

"Irene this isn't a dream you're awake now." He reached his hand out and touched her shoulder.

She bolted upright and pulled out her dagger in a flash, pointing it at his throat. "I said go!"

Caleb raised his hands peacefully and took a few steps back. He frowned seeing her saddened and paranoid state but walked away despite himself.

As he returned to the group, the twins looked at him hopefully but he just shook his head. Adelea came up to him and whispered, "What's wrong with her, was their prank really that bad?"

"I don't think it was their prank," he whispered back to her concerned. "She went on and on about this all being some sort of messed up dream and that we weren't real."

Adelea sighed, "Alright let me handle this, feel free to scold the twins to vent your frustration."

She found Irene easily enough; she was still very shaken but no longer sobbing like Caleb said. She leaned against the tree with her arms crossed and said, "Care to tell me exactly what happened in this 'dream' of yours that has you so spooked?"

It took her a while, but Irene eventually talked. "I woke up the first time to the screams of everyone; the red-cloaks were back and burned all of you alive. I couldn't move but could hear your screams and smell your burning flesh. They came after me and I woke up after being torched.

"You were all around me can Caleb was comforting me, it was just as real as the dream before it. Then the next thing I knew half of you were gone when I looked the other direction and back. I looked around to find everyone was gone but Caleb, who said you were never really there. That I imagined it all from my loneliness, I woke up again back before you guys found me, alone and with my vanishing cloak still there.

"I continued trying to shake it off when the loud boom sounds erupted and I woke up here. I can't continue if this keeps up."

Adelea took a seat next to her and said, "You know I had a similar dream state like yours following right after we escaped the red wraiths. I dreamed that I was in fact back in the clutches of the red wraiths and that everything I experienced before then was just part of their ritual.

"I was still thinking that maybe what's happening all around me right now is in fact still a part of their cruel dream until I heard you went through something similar just now. And I finally understand that I'm actually awake right now, so are you, and that this is one of the way's the tower is testing us."

"How do I know I can believe or trust anything that you're saying right now?"

"That's up for you to decide, but we're moving on soon. So if you still don't believe you can continue with us, then that's your choice, and I'll let the others know. Regardless we will be moving ahead with or without you." Adelea then walked away, leaving Irene to think about her options.

She rejoined the group, though still shaken up, and the twins apologized profusely; even though she said it wasn't their fault entirely. Myre was annoyed at the news, but she didn't hassle Irene about it either.

On the next floor, the girls were happy to find that amongst the bedrock terrain, there were steaming springs throughout the floor. Samhal put her hand in one of the springs, waved it around, and then said, "Ohhh the water is perfect."

"Let's go further ahead then I will test out the waters to make sure it's safe to bathe in," Adelea said.

They went on to the far end of the floor where they found the stairs but didn't proceed up them right away like the other floors. Instead, they stayed back and Adelea tested the waters with her magic, which all Irene saw was her putting her hands in and sitting silently for a few minutes.

"The waters are safe from what I can tell. So the first thing we will do is wash our clothes then set them out to dry. And then we will bathe ourselves." She then turned to face the boy's, "And you three will go so far that we can't see you, and vice versa, to do the same; got it?"

"But what if there's trouble?"

"But what if there's trouble?" The twins asked with a big smile.

Adelea gave them a stern look and said, "If there is, then one of us will just have to shout." She then went into her bag and pulled a very light pink bar and handed it to Caleb. "Remember wash your clothes first then yourselves, use this for both."

Caleb took it then led the twins far off in the distance until they were just blurred figures. "I can still sort of see them," Irene protested shyly.

"It's fine they can't see enough from that far," Adelea said. She then handed Irene a very light green bar like the one she handed Caleb (except theirs was pink,) which smelled like spearmint. She then stripped off her clothes revealing her beautiful slender figure. Her body looked well-toned, her hips curved wonderfully and her breasts were large and kept good height on her chest.

All of them, now stripped naked, went into the same spring and let out a soft moan of joy. All save for Irene, who went into the hot spring next to them and stripped her clothes down inside and started scrubbing them with the bar that Adelea gave her. The bar turned into small bubbles when it was scrubbed against her clothes and even skin.

When the girls finished washing their clothes, they got out of the spring to lay them down neatly on the ground to dry, then went back in to wash and enjoy the hot bath. It wasn't long though until trouble came along.

"We have some uninvited guests coming along," Adelea said looking out in the distance. Three tall figures stood out there gradually coming closer.

"What should we do?" Samhal asked.

"Well I don't know about you two but I'm not ready to give my hot bath up just yet. So we will let them pass by, if they give us trouble I will handle them and you three stay in the springs."

The three figures off in the distance turned out to be three sordid looking men well into their 40's. Dressed in simple woolen trousers and slack vests, they all had a cheap belt strapping a fancy looking blade to them. The same belts and blades sold by the shoddy merchants outside the tower.

"Well now lookie here at these lovely ladies," the fatter man said stopping before the spring the girls were in.

"We're trying to bathe in peace so if you don't mind, move along," Myre said.

"Now I don't see why me and my boyo's can't join you in there. We ain't had no bath in a while either. The company would be very welcomed too." The other two men laughed at the end part.

Adelea then climbed out of the spring, no care for exposing her naked body to these perverse men. She walked up to them with a sweet smile then gently put her hands around two of the men's throats. She then leaned in and whispered something between them.

The two men's eyes went bloodshot an instant later and dark veins raced up around their necks and faces. Seconds later Adelea let go of them and they dropped to the ground; eyes wide open and unblinking. The third man reached for his blade, but Adelea was quicker, delivering a firm kick to his crotch.

He fell to his knees and moaned in great pain. She then pushed him on his back and walked over to stomp on his throat until he was dead. The girls were horrified by the scene, but Adelea just hopped back in the hot spring casually; Samhal and Myre backed away from her a little.

Irene decided she was done after that and got out of the spring and started walking around to dry herself off faster. When she was no longer wet, she put her clothes back and waited for the others to finish. When they did get out, Adelea said, "Irene since you're the only one ready go, tell the boy's to get out soon and get dressed. And if they already are, then wait a little bit and bring them back."

"Alright," Irene said turning to walk to the where the boys went off to.

"And don't be afraid to get a good look at their dicks," Samhal called out playfully.

Irene's face grew bright red at the thought and she started looking down at her feet, instead of ahead as she continued.

The sounds of laughter brought her head back up. She saw the three boys still in the spring splashing the waters at each other and wrestling around in there. The twins dunked Caleb's head under, a little while later he suddenly resurfaced behind them and dunked them both in.

When they came up, they spit two mouths full of water on Caleb, wiping the smirk on off his face. All of them laughed some more. "Adelea said to dry off, get dressed and come back," Irene said interrupting them.

"Ehh works for me," Caleb said climbing out of the spring. "My hands have gotten all soggy and gross anyways."

"Aye, ours too."

"Aye, ours too," The twin's said climbing out as well.

Irene immediately turned away and blushed. She walked back to the other springs with Adelea to give the boy's privacy.

When the boy's met back up with them, they saw the corpses of the three men and asked what happened. "They tried jumping into the springs with us, so I killed them," Adelea said coldly.

The boy's grimaced at the thought as they moved on; heading up the stairs to the next floor.