Have a Little Drink, My Dark-eyed Beauty

The fatigue from the previous battles that day melted away in the heat of a new enemy.

The sun was heading toward the far horizon, and Noble and the others doubted her companions would be able to be quite so vigilant once darkness covered the land.

Noble had seen the limbs of the flower grow with her own eyes after it consumed the human souls. While it wouldn't reach the top of the chasm for a long time, it would never be any weaker than it was now. 

That was why the Saint had not been able to kill it in his nightmare. After feeding for months, the abomination was just too strong. The remnant of Crestfall had only been able to stop it from attacking. And he had lost the rest of his cohort in the process. 

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Nickel looked over the edge and shivered. 

Sarai nodded as she checked on the cooling glass. "We can find another way." 

Thinking of the people who had fallen into the abyss, Noble clenched her fist. "We cannot let that thing go on living while we stay up here and try to think of a better plan. I at least need to try."

If it were only Noble by herself, she might have taken a step back to evaluate things from every angle.

But fake or real, she was Queen of Crestfall and her heart couldn't let both her friends and subjects remain in danger.

Even in the short time they had already spent, the flower had moved to a more direct attack. Knowing it could not influence the strong-willed, it had latched on to those with the weakest minds and filled them with unpleasant thoughts and questions.

The soldiers had needed to restrain more than one person who tried to go over the barrier. Each time either Noble or Sarai was able to sever the hold using emotion or the [Mindweaver's Tapestry].

Internally, Noble was also fighting.

Don't you know you've already lost? Shouldn't the Nightmare be over? Why is the Spell doing this to you? Why after all you have done should you risk your life again? What will your friends do without your guidance? Have you really thought this through?

Out of anger or revenge, the creature of the deep pummeled the floating queen with hurtful questions.

But her confidence would not be shaken.

'All that means is I must be on the right track. Or it is afraid of what I can do.'

The Queen suspected that the creature couldn't read fully her thoughts. How could it know what a Nightmare was? 

No, it was likely triggering her own doubts and making her subconsciously fill in the blanks of its questions. Then, when it found a weakness, the monster latched on and offered the darkness of the abyss as the answer. 

It was the answer to her current problem, just not in the way the flower meant. 

Noble tugged at her armor and straightened her back. "Is it ready?" 

"It could use a little longer to cool, but I think it will hold." Sarai's hands still felt warm from her hard work. 

"Your Majesty!" General Theo came up with a man pushing a wheelbarrow. 

The small cart was almost overflowing with full waterskins from the city. 

The men stopped with their cargo and bowed. 

"Did you have any trouble?" Noble could feel the tension from both men as they eyed the containers warily. 

"We extracted as much as we could. I can attest to the fact that it is still an irritant." Theo held up his hands, which were covered in blisters. He frowned. "Will the ooze from the beetles really make a difference with that flower?" 

Noble gave him a bright smile. "We will know soon enough!"

She looked at Nickel and Sarai. They wore confident expressions, but she could sense their real feelings. 

The Queen tilted up her chin. "Alright, enough stalling. I will head out. I'll be back in a bit, hopefully with something shiny for my trouble." 

"Best of luck!" Sarai removed the bracelets and returned them to her friend. "I know they don't have power anymore, but they brought us luck last time." 

Noble accepted the jewelry and tucked it under her armor. "Thank you." 

"I have mixed feelings about you killing that thing," Nickel said glancing into the darkness. 

Noble's jaw dropped slightly. She prepared to jolt him with emotion when he gave a sly smile.

"I mean, it ate Counsel, right?" Nickel had indeed gotten confirmation of the kill, and he could only assume the flower had eaten his remains. "Something that does that cannot be all bad."

Smirking, the queen gave a small nod. "You are right, I will make sure to thank it before letting it join Ender in the afterlife." 

"That's all I'm asking," Nic winked. 

 After a hug and final words from Sarai, Noble lifted all her cargo into the air except for the one tucked under her arm. Dozens of bags of beetles' juice hovered around her like a swarm of bees. She only hoped it would be enough to accomplish her goal. 

The Queen waved regally to the others. "I'll see you soon." 

With that, Noble dove with the waterskins following her like faithful drones. 

Once over the canyon, Noble relaxed and let gravity take its course. She was in a hurry, but she didn't want the flower to know that. If she didn't fight the forces around her, the Queen hoped that the flower would assume she was just another one of its victims. 

As for the bags around her, she didn't need to protect all of them. Her goal was to hit the blossom with the poisonous irritant. It didn't matter if a few of them got broken as long as the bulk landed inside the mouth of the monster. 

Her goal was to kill it, but irritating it a little beforehand wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. 

Before any of that, she had to get close enough to strike. That would take a lot of finesse and even more luck. There would only be one shot to catch the creature by surprise. 

Holding her hand behind her back, Noble kept Nickle's whip coiled tightly out of view. She simultaneously used her sorcery to speak the names of light and growing darker. 

While it wasn't the same as summoning darkness, the little bit of light around her dimmed, obscuring her presence.

The queen wasn't sure if the plant could see, but she wasn't about to take any chances. 

At last, she could sense movement far below her. Using her second sight, Noble began to stare at the powerful being she was falling toward. 

Without the stress of trying to save other people, the Queen got her first clear view of the strange, carnivorous flower. 

While she couldn't see the colors, she could feel the deep hatred pulsing through each vine and along the delicate, deadly petals of the bloom. 

While parts of it were clearly new from its recent growth spurts, its presence seemed as ancient as time. How long had it been trapped in the darkness? 

Was it once a noble creature that became corrupted? Or had it been borne of vileness and only known destruction? 

There was no way of knowing.

What Noble did know was now it was free.

And its thirst was insatiable. 

Thankfully, Noble had brought it something to drink.