Chapter II
Alice
The room that Eirika was to share with Tana for the night was large and very warm, with two large beds in opposite corners bedecked in the royal colors of the Rausten Pontifex. The fire that crackled in the hearth, which looked to have been burning for hours despite Madame Radcliff's tale of sleep, was so inviting and so very warm that Eirika could not help but forget her worry as she warmed her frozen fingers by it and sighed in relief.
"Something doesn't seem right about this, does it?" Eirika turned towards Tana. The Frelian Princess had taken off her cloak and hung it on the ornate mantelpiece, and she now sat on one of the beds and untied her boots. "All those paintings in the hall, they all were of that same little girl, weren't they?"
At the memory of the many paintings with the same little girl and the same eerie smile, small shivers ran up Eirika's arms, though she dismissed it as a chill.
"We're only here for the night," she said simply, standing and unbuckling her rapier, "I don't like this place either, but it's only for the night."
"Even if it's still raining tomorrow?" Eirika smiled at her old friend, slipping off her breastplate and boots.
"We'll get a few rooms at the inn and stay there." Her heart fell at the thought of wasting away another day due to rain, but they couldn't fight drenched in water and mud. At the same time, she couldn't help feel some sick relief. Another day in this village meant another day that she could delay facing Lyon, and delay being part of his death.
Tana seemed to guess Eirika's thoughts, because she said nothing for a long while and fingered her spear, a magnificent weapon of polished wood and sharpened silver. Sighing heavily, Tana smiled and stood, picking up her boots again. "Why don't we look around the mansion? You know, see what's here."
"What?"
"We always used to do it when we were little kids. We'd explore Castle Frelia or Renais Castle. . ." Eirika couldn't believe Tana was this childish. They were in the middle of a war, facing the almighty Demon King and she wanted to invade a woman's house who offered them room?
"Come on Eirika, doesn't this Radcliff woman seem odd to you? With all those paintings of that blonde girl, the fact she almost seemed to expect us?" Tana's eyes fell upon the fire and the room that had been prepared for them so quickly.
"Fine," Eirika said dejectedly, pulling her boots and gloves back on tightly, "But not long. We need to get sleep while we can."
Tana grinned widely and led Eirika out of the room and down the dark halls of the manor. The portraits of what Eirika could only assume was Madame Radcliff's daughter – Alice, was it? – seemed to glare menacingly at the two of them and Eirika, who had witnessed much worse, couldn't help but feel nervous as she stared at the portraits.
Something that sounded like singing was floating down the hallway. A tune that was ethereal, beautiful, and yet she could not help but fear her heart clench and adrenaline flood through her veins. Cursing slightly, she had half a mind to double back for her weapons and half to continue onward.
When Tana continued down the hall and came to the door behind which lay the source of the eldritch song and the bells that played with it, Eirika turned her pale eyes to what was in the room.
It was dark and empty, dried sprigs of belladonna, hemlock, and other poisons hung on the walls, filling the room with a sickly smell. A circle – a magical pentacle, Eirika recalled from Lute's and Ewan's magic – was painted on the floor, and in the center sat a girl surrounded by patterns made of belladonna sprigs.
She was pale and very young, bound in chains and an odd jacket that wrapped her arms around her chest. The red lily behind her ear burnt deep crimson in contrast to her bleached skin and hair. She looked asleep in the circle, but at the sound of Tana's sharp gasp of breath, the girl's eyes opened.
They were lifelessly blue, like a corpse's eyes.
"Have you come to mock me too?" she asked in an echoing voice that sent chills up Eirika's spine. She swore mentally, furious fury for forgetting her swords behind her. It was an armature mistake, and now she and Tana were unarmed facing this girl who couldn't be human – not with those eyes and that voice.
"Go and wake up someone," Eirika hissed through clenched teeth and Tana nodded, leaving the room instantly. The little girl tilted her head to the side and grinned widely.
"Will you be my friend? Or have you come to mock me to?"
"Who are you?" Eirika asked quickly and the girl stood, barely reaching past Eirika's waist. How she had managed to stand, bound in that jacket and chains, was beyond the Princess's understanding.
"I'm Alice," she whispered, "A part of her, a lonely child. You don't know what it's like to be lonely, not with a brother like yours." Eirika's heart nearly stopped at that. How did she know about Ephraim?
"Will you play a game with me?" Eirika wished that Tana would hurry up with someone, anyone with a weapon so that she could feel better in this girl's presence.
"A game? What sort of game?"
"Lots of games. Lots of fun games, but nobody will play with me. Will you play hide and seek, Princess Eirika of Renais, a game of hide and seek in Paradise?"
She did a double take, swallowing painfully. How had this child known her name? Was she another puppet of the Demon King's, another type of monster in a human guise? No, Lute rambled enough about the various types of monsters and the closest ones who appeared human were the half-snake Gorgons.
"I like playing hide and seek. Its fun when you have friends playing with you, good friends, like you and your brother Ephraim and your army. They'll play with me, won't they, Eirika? You and your brother used to play hide and seek all the time, didn't you? Back in Renais Castle?"
This was too much. Eirika turned quickly and slammed the door shut behind her, running down the hall and trying to calm down. Damnit, how could she ever face Lyon and the Demon King if something spooked her like this?
Even still, that girl . . . Alice . . . she knew too much . . .
"Aren't you going to play with me Eirika? You and your brother wouldn't leave me feeling sad and lonely, would you?"
She turned quickly and stared at the pale child in front of her. Free of the chains and jacket that had bound her, Alice was looking up at Eirika with something – awe, hate, greed? – in her eyes, sprigs of belladonna leaves and berries braided into her hair and woven into the sleeves of her dress. She grinned wide, her eyes flickering between mania and glee.
"You won't escape Paradise, Eirika. You and your army will play hide and seek with me. I've waited too long to play with you. You wouldn't want me to wait any longer, would you? I've been patient for so many years."
"What the hell are you!" she snapped, backing down the hall and looking for the room that held her swords. She would feel much safer with the Sieglinde in her hands, or even a club, just something.
"I'm Alice," she repeated, "And you're going to play a game with me. Please, Princess Eirika, play with me?"
Where was Tana? Where had she fled to, when Eirika so desperately needed someone to help her right now? She found the handle to the room that Madame Radcliff had given her and threw her weight against it, pushing it open so that the Princess of Renais could grab the golden hilt of the Sieglinde and draw it with a flourish, her hands shaking as she brandished the blade.
"Are you going to kill me Eirika?" Alice whispered innocently, cocking her head to a side, "Are you really going to kill me?"
Her hands shook violently as she tried to focus her mind, to calm herself. What the hell was this little girl, that she scared Eirika this much? Alice seemed to know that Eirika wasn't going to make a move and it showed in the glitter of her blue eyes.
"You're going to have a fun time in Paradise, Eirika of Renais," she said threateningly and strode from the room, her blonde hair swinging behind her as if in a breeze, singing the eldritch song.
Eirika felt her knees buckle and she collapsed onto the hard stone floor of the room, the Sieglinde clattering next to her. What was it about Alice that made her breath catch in her throat and her body freeze in fear? Was she really that weak, that much of a frightened little girl?
"Eirika, what's wrong?" She nearly screamed and stood up suddenly, looking behind her and gripping the Thunder Sword of Renais tightly. Tana was standing by the bed she was using for the night, her navy hair tousled and her eyes sleepy.
"But you . . . You went to get Ephraim just a moment ago!" Tana raised an eyebrow sleepily and yawned, pressing a hand to her mouth.
"I've been asleep, don't you remember?" The surprise and concern in Tana's voice and eyes couldn't have been faked by magic and Eirika's eyes widened violently. By Grado and Saint Latona, Tana had been right next to her when they'd open the door to Alice's room! Yet, she was saying that she'd been asleep, while Eirika had been at the mercy of a demonic little child?
"But . . . but you were with me . . ."
"It must have been a dream. Go back to bed," the Frelian Princess said with another wide yawn, going back into bed and curling under the sheets. Eirika stared at her friend for a long time, looking at the fist clenched about her sword's hilt, collapsing to the ground again.
Was she going mad?
It was the smell that awoke Prince Ephraim of Renais; the sickly scent of dried herbs and potent wine. He wrinkled his nose and groggily blinked his eyes open, trying to pull his thoughts together and ignore that smell – which seemed to fade away as he woke up.
He'd fallen asleep sitting up, surrounded by maps of the area, battle plans, quills and an empty bottle of ink that had been knocked over during the night. Myrrh was asleep on the bed behind him, shivering slightly from the cold and occasionally sneezing. She must have gotten sick from being out in the rain all night. Yawning widely, Ephraim cracked his stiff neck and pushed the various papers back into the leather portfolio they had come from.
"Prince Ephraim, are you awake?" a hurried voice came from behind the door. It was Seth, looking as if he hadn't slept well, but he rarely had since the war began. The general bowed hastily and his voice was quick and uneasy. "Milord, Princess Eirika is gone. We've searched the whole of the mansion but there's no sign of her."
The news woke him up instantly, Ephraim's eyes widening fast. "How could she have disappeared? Wasn't Tana in the room with her all night?" he asked hastily, grabbing the Siegmund from where he had rested it for the night, "Didn't she hear anything?"
"No, Princess Tana said that she didn't hear anything unusual. Forde and Kyle are looking around the village for her." Ephraim nodded quickly and left the room quickly, fastening his cloak around his shoulders. "Seth, watch Myrrh."
Where had Eirika run off to? Had she been kidnapped or lost somewhere in the manor? No, Ephraim knew that Seth wouldn't have let Eirika leave the room in a foreign house and get lost, and Tana said that she hadn't heard anything unusual . . . So where the hell was his sister?
"Is there something I can do for you, sire?" One of the maids was walking up the hall in jerky steps, holding a tarnished tea tray in her arms. There were two wreaths of leaves and berries wrapped around her wrists, and a blank, glazed look on her face.
"Did you see a woman leave the manor during the night? She has blue hair and eyes, yellow armor," Ephraim said quickly yet calmly. The maid didn't answer for a while and when she did, it was in the same jerky voice, the words with varying articulations.
"I believe she is speaking with Madame Radcliff in the parlor. Please follow me, sire." Ephraim ran his fingers across the golden pole of Siegmund, removing the cap from the silver point. He eyed the herbs tied around the maid's arms and waist.
"I didn't think belladonna was wild in Rausten," he said casually, following the blonde maid down the halls.
"It is not. Madame Radcliff's daughter wished to have it cultivated in the gardens. She was fond of poisonous plants."
"Really? What sort of poisons?" He was eyeing the tea tray suspiciously now, paranoia sending adrenaline through his veins. It was an unfortunate side effect of battle.
"Miss. Alice was fond of belladonna and hemlock. Here is the parlor." The maid pulled open a door with one hand and let Ephraim walk inside, the Prince keeping one hand grasped around the Siegmund.
The room carried with it a choking stench; much of the furniture rotted and covered with dust, the woman in the heavy armchair – Madame Radcliff, he recalled – was smoking a pipe that stank of decay, wine, and disease. It was, however, the sight of the woman spread out on the lounge that made the Siegmund fly from its holster and into his hand.
"Is something wrong?" Madame Radcliff asked, chewing on the end of her ornate pipe. The blonde girl that sat next to her looked up at Ephraim and smiled eerily. He tried to avoid her eyes; inhumanly pale and shallow eyes.
He said nothing, but looked at his sister's body, thrown carelessly on the bench. Eirika was deathly pale and unmoving; he couldn't even tell if she was breathing or not. "What's wrong with Eirika?"
"Oh, just a bit of poisoning. Nothing too troubling," Radcliff said casually and the girl next to her giggled melodically. "Oleander and laburnum, I believe, and a bit of belladonna for flavor. All have such lovely colors, such strong poison . . ."
"Poisoned? Who poisoned her?" he asked dangerously, raising the lance to point at Madame Radcliff's face. The woman did nothing but blow a ring of foul-smelling smoke into his face. The girl beside her, however, stood up from her spot by Radcliff's side and spoke.
"She's playing a game with me. We all are going to play some games, Ephraim, because that's what friends do, right? They play games? Your army and your sister and you . . . We're going to play in Paradise." Her voice echoed bizarrely, though the room wasn't large enough for an echo. "Doesn't that sound like fun?"
"This is insane." He sheathed the lance and ran towards his twin's still form, lifting Eirika up delicately. Her head lolled unpleasantly, as if she were a rag doll that had been thrown around too much, and her skin – although pale – was tinged with a feverish red.
"I may be crazy, but I am Beautiful Lady Alice," she said slowly, smiling widely.
Alice . . . That was the name of Madame Radcliff's dead daughter, wasn't it? So was this little girl another demented byproduct of necromancy, like Emperor Vigarde and Orson's wife?
Ephraim scowled darkly and made to turn around, to leave this room and get the army back on the route to Darkling Woods. He hadn't even turned around before there was a loud, metallic clang and his eyes widened painfully. The maid had swung her tray at the back of his head, white dots snapping in front of his fading vision as he collapsed to the ground, out cold in an instant.
Alice smiled horribly and turned her lifeless eyes up to the maid and Madame Radcliff, both of whom were looking down upon her in a sort of holy reverence.
"The game begins."
Side Note:
Belladonna (or Deadly Nightshade) is an extremely toxic plant that is fatal in doses as small as three berries are eaten. If the root is ground up and ingested, it causes severe hallucinations. 'Belladonna' means 'Beautiful lady' in Italian.
I do not own Fire Emblem, Nintendo does. I own all original characters.