Beauty of the Beast #3 Rise Of The Serviatrixes: Part D: The Dragon Tree And The Eternals

By Kristie Lynn Higgins

Pluck tries to say all her goodbyes before the Shadow Necrom comes for her.

Type: novella, about 31,700 words
An action-adventure retelling of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast with a twist. What if the woman was the one turned into the creature?

Pluck's adventure started in Beauty of the Beast #1 The Mystic Rose: Part A: The Flower, The Sword, And The Kiss and continues as Pluck must face losing all she holds dear as the Shadow close in on her.

A realm of adventure and peril mingled with romance, friendship, magic, and sword and sorcery. Join Pluck in this novella series as she travels through a strange land of danger and intrigue as she finds allies and foes alike in her search to lift her monstrous curse. A story like Beauty and the Beast but with more action-adventure and menacing darkness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kristie Lynn Higgins
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005389925

Kristie Lynn Higgins

You can also check out my author page on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/author/kristielynnhiggins

Book preview

Beauty of the Beast

#3

Rise Of The Serviatrixes

Part D

The Dragon Tree And The Eternals

Kristie Lynn Higgins

© 2022

Kristie Lynn Higgins

Text Copyright © 2022 by Kristie Lynn Higgins

Ebook Edition

Cover Art Copyright © 2022

www.KristieLynnHiggins.com

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Chapter One

Bella And Pluck

Part Two

Earlier, within the BloodGlacier Alcazar...

Votar’s residence…

Pluck asked Bella, Have you been held captive all of this time?

Yes, she replied.

Why were you released?

Bella thought about it and then answered, I do not know why they released me at this time.  Maybe it has something to do with you.

Me..? Pluck questioned as she motioned to herself.  Why do you believe I’m the reason?

Something that I overheard while Votar spoke to one known as TieTaa, Bella began.  Votar had to choose.  He had to choose between me and some key.  She paused and focused on the choker around Pluck’s neck and said, Perhaps it was a way to free you from that Shadow item.

Pluck placed a hand to the Gold Choker of Fettering and questioned, You know what this is?

I can sense that it is of the Shadow, Bella replied.

How would you know that it’s of the Shadow? Pluck inquired suspiciously.  Just who are you?

Bella started to reply and then considered the answer.  Did she even know who she was?  It had been so long…  She had been the prisoner, the one left in darkness, and her name was only spoken by her servant but only when they were completely alone and very rarely even then.

I am one who sits in darkness.  I am one who was forgotten.

It wasn’t quite the answer Pluck was looking for, so she started to ask it again, but Bella continued before she could.

I am the one looking for her beloved.  I am the one who forsook her beloved, Bella spoke as if she had said these things aloud a thousand times already, and it had become her mantra.  I am the one who sits in darkness and waits… waits for a…  She paused and then peered at Pluck as if she hadn’t seen her in the room… as if Pluck had vanished into the background and had just reconstituted her image before her.  Bella’s face, which had been partly shadowed by darkness, took on an air of maliciousness as if the embodiment of darkness had touched her, and she asked, Have you ever seen a tree that looks like a dragon?

The question sent a terror so profound through Pluck’s body that she sat there as if Bella had cast a freezing spell on her.  Pluck dreamed about the Dragon Tree… she had nightmares about it that would make her wake up nearly screaming.  She wasn’t sure if she should answer Bella.  What if Bella was someone working with the Shadow and/or Cursed?  What would Bella gain over her if she did tell her?

I have, Pluck finally answered.  If Bella was siding with them intentionally or unintentionally, it didn’t matter if she knew.  The Dragon Tree was the one sending her the dreams.

I have seen it too… but only recently as if it came alive… no, as if it just woke up from a long slumber.  The maliciousness, that had overshadowed Bella, trickled away, and she was her sad, lonely, and confused self again, and she spoke, It is too bad Votar didn’t acquire the key that would release you from the Shadow object.  It must be very… heart-wrenching to be bound by it.

Pluck touched the Gold Choker of Fettering once again as she repeated her earlier question, Just who are you?

* * *

The Forgotten War…

Long… long… ago… the forces of evil had fought the forces of good, and the last battle took place in the Valley of Blood.  The forces of evil were nearly defeated, so they fled the Valley of Blood.  The Wielders of Maag-llee pursued them and cornered them at the bottom of a cliff in a place that would be called the Dead Forest.  The Dead Forest was located at the northeast corner of the VaHex Territory.  The Wielders of Maag-llee called upon the Creator, and their enemies were sealed underground, but the seal had been broken.  Their enemy, the Cursed, now roamed free and were gathering.

The present…

The Dead Forest…

The Dragon Tree… a huge tree that grew in the midst of the Dead Forest.  The gigantic mangled and death-looking tree had once been very beautiful.  It had been as tall as a Scarlet Wood and covered with green luscious leaves.  The tree had been the only one of its kind and had spread out its branches like a protective mother, and its shadow had covered half the forest.  The tree was no longer this tree… the tree was no longer protective, but it was still one of a kind.  The Dragon Tree had been infected by a malignant darkness that had slithered in like some great three-headed serpent and infected the ground and the tree’s roots.  All the leaves had died when the three-headed snake grafted itself to the tree and transformed it.  The Dragon Tree’s trunk was now gnarled and knotted, its bark had been blackened, and its shape changed to resembled a mighty dragon with its wings spread.

Most of the Cursed had gathered beneath the Dragon Tree.  They had been freed upon Wellspring for several sun’s cycles.  They had scattered, at first, each searching for their own prey, and after they had their fill of carnage, they heard the call to gather, and gathered they did around the Dragon Tree.  The Cursed numbers were less than the number of Immortals but their numbers were still great.  The Shadow were also starting to gather from all across Wellspring.  They were all gathering around the Dragon Tree to combine their forces and make war against those who cherish life and goodness.

Six of the Cursed came forward and presented themselves before the Dragon Tree.  They would be the commanders of the coming war, the Warring Six.  A Cursed Hamarr was the first to present himself before the Dragon Tree.  The Dragon Tree untangled one of the serpents that twisted itself around it and examined the Cursed Hamarr.  The serpent bared its fangs at him and before the Cursed Hamarr could do anything, the serpent struck and slammed through his chest with a god-like fist.  The serpent withdrew itself, and the Cursed Hamarr stood there stunned.  He thought he would immediately die, but as he looked down at the wound, it slowly sealed.

A female Cursed Roth came up beside him and questioned, What does this mean?

The Cursed Hamarr smoothed his hand down his chest and answered, We have become like the Immortals?

We cannot die? she questioned.

Like the Immortals, we are very hard to kill, and we shall live forever, he answered.

The female Cursed Roth spoke with excitement, We are the Immortal Cursed!

No… the Cursed Hamarr spoke with great hatred.  We are not Immortals… those knights of justice and goodness.  We shall never use their name.  We are…  We are the Eternals… those who will live to bring about a corrupted version of life.

Chapter Two

Bella And Pluck

Part Three

Within the BloodGlacier Alcazar...

Votar’s residence…

Bella spoke without any malicious intent, It is too bad Votar didn’t acquire the key that would release you from the Shadow object.  If must be very… heart-wrenching to be bound by it.

Pluck touched the Gold Choker of Fettering once again as she repeated her earlier question, Just who are you?  How do you know so much about the Shadow?

Bella didn’t answer her but asked a question instead, Do you want to know if I am of Shadow?  Do you believe that I am some wicked thing as Advisor Nirva suspects and my dear Votar fears?

I wanted to know if the Shadow were the ones who actually had you as a captive, Pluck answered.  You don’t need to be Shadow to know of their items.

Are you speaking from experience? Bella inquired of her.

I am, Pluck replied.  My life’s bound to one of the Shadow.  She looked over the female Necrom and questioned, Are you somehow bound to the Shadow?

I never said that I was their captive.

Pluck noticed that she didn’t answer her question, but was it because she was hiding something from her?  Pluck thought once again that she needed to talk to Votar before it was too late, but she also wasn’t sure she wanted to leave this female Necrom before she knew exactly who she was and what she was after.

Were you a captive of the Shadow? Pluck questioned.

Bella waved for her to come closer as if she wanted to whisper something to