Chapter 25

The High Harvest King sat at his chair in the Hall of Blessed Springs. He had watched many of the goings on from his scrying pool. The renewal was proceeding rather well, even if they had run into a few hitches along the way. It certainly wasn't the cleanest one they ever had, but sometimes you had to break a few eggs to bake a cake.

"Father," Ignis entered the hall from the portal that connected to the Marvelous Plains Facility, "I have some good news and some bad news."

"Yes, Ignis?"

"The good news is that the Harvest Sprites just finished reporting to me that the village saving status is at ninety-seven percent."

"That is excellent."

"The bad news is that there was a break out at the facility. Two humans got away."

"That matters not," the high king continued to stare down at the pool, "I saw the incident take place. One of the humans was a city dweller so he may have been too corrupted for our help anyway. And Rock was an individual hated by many and wasn't really worth our time saving."

"As you say, father."

"And I have some more cheerful news, daddio!" Belladonna's voice echoed out of one of the many caves located within the sanctum.

She exited out of the cave with a prisoner in tow. Gaged and tied up, the silver haired man in a leopard print outfit struggled against his bonds.

"This here is our little phantom harvest sprite! Say hello, Skye! Or should I say, Steiner!" she tugged at the rope and Skye glared at her.

"He looks like Vivi. Are you sure that he isn't one of yours?" Ignis raised his eyebrow at the phantom thief.

"Geez, bro! I make one DNA focused sprite and I have to hear about it for the next millennia! Des made Muku Muku out of fur and the Kappa out of a turtle shell and nobody gives her any grief about them."

"They can't reproduce with humans."

"No, I'm pretty sure the Kappa can."

"He won't though."

"Betcha if somebody gave him enough cucumbers he would."

"Children!" the High Harvest King slammed his fists down on the edge of the pool so hard that the whole room shook.

"Sorry, father," Ignis apologized.

Belladonna smirked and stuck her tongue out at him.

The High King narrowed his eyes as he looked down at Skye, "So he's a wizard too, I take it?"

"Only by technicality," Belladonna swung her hair over her shoulder, "He can only perform one spell, a little number that makes females freeze, and is also subject to the name curse I bestowed on magic users for kicks and giggles. And he is immortal. Oh, did I have fun testing that part out!"

Skye glared at her with venom.

"But, unlike Gale, he is still technically a Harvest Sprite like my Vivi, so he is still ours to do with what we wish!"

"That is only a small plus if he was created by you know who."

"I was getting to that part. We were right. Old Golden Girl did use a strand of her hair to create him before I put her to sleep. I've been searching inside his memories and who boy! You may want to call the others here for this."

With a nod, the High Harvest King called his other daughters into the room.

"Everyone, this is Steiner. Steiner, this is everyone!"

Des looked at the thief and frowned. She recognized him. He had been troubling her valley for several seasons. He was a sprite hidden right underneath her nose and she wasn't about to let the others know that. Besides, it hurt to see him there, even if he was a criminal.

Belladonna continued, "So, I've been 'picking his brain' and it turns out our little traitor had a little more cunning than we thought. It turns out that this plague of robots was her idea. She created this sprite with the express purpose of implanting the robot blueprints within his brain and telling him to set them loose 'when the time was right.'"

The High Harvest King grimaced, "But what would she have to gain from setting loose robots? All she did was doom this world."

"I dunno. Maybe she planned to overthrow us with a robot army? He was also supposed to get something from Flower Bud Village. I have my shadow creatures searching around there right now."

"We need to be on our guard. Perhaps she laid down other plans? Have you learned anything about that…spawn?"

Flipping her hair over her shoulder, Belladonna replied, "Well, it would be easier to study her without that stupid flying Harvest Sprite getting in the way. Sephia can't seem to do anything about him."

"What can I say?" Sephia shrugged, "Finn's a spunky little guy."

"Anyway, all I've been able to figure out is that she is certainly not a witchkin. She is as mortal as her mother."

"Does anybody else have anything to report?" the High Harvest King looked over everyone.

They all shook their heads and their father dismissed them. Des weaved herself through the winding caves until she came to a door that none of them were ever to open again. She placed her hand against the wood and sighed.

"I miss her too," said a voice from behind her.

The green Harvest Goddess turned to see her violet sister.

"Hello, Mariel," Des looked at her with sad eyes.

"It's not your fault what she did. She hid it carefully from us. You couldn't have known," Mariel placed her hand against the wood too.

"I did know, Mariel."

"P-pardon?"

"I saw what she was doing and I kept it secret. My only regret is that she ended up getting caught."

"B-but…father said it was against the rules."

"I'm beginning to think that he's wrong about a lot of things. You'll can feel it, can't you Mariel? The human's fear and confusion?"

"Yes. The pain is so unbearable I can barely move."

Des turned and leaned her back up to the door, "Why are we doing this? Is it really worth it to keep going around in circles?"

"It's' our job, Des."

Des looked up at the ceiling and sighed once more.