Posted 02-07-22
THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 2
A story of Necromantra
By Aladdin
Edited by Christopher Leeson
THE VORTEX, Chapter 6, Part 2
“A policeman is a member of what your people would call the Night Watch,” I explained.
“Did
he speak true?” inquired the blonde warrior. “Will I be challenged
every time I go abroad wielding a blade? Is there no freedom in this
land?”
“Not much.”
“What sort of world have you brought us to?”
“It’s the world of my birth, the only world I can offer you,” I replied.
“I think we should get new clothes, if Marinna thinks it is prudent,” offered the younger Arielle.
“You girls understood the night watchman’s words. How is that?”
The princess shrugged. “I could tell he wasn’t speaking Ulikan, yet I understood him.”
The
knight affirmed that. “I found that I was able to speak the language of this place on my first visit. It must be part of the magic of the
Demon Blade.”
“Well, great!” I said. “Knowing the language will
make it easier for you two to get along. As for clothing, I’ll show you
how to purchase things at shops. Afterwards, we’ll find you a place to
stay. But buy things will take money, so I’m going to go out
and get some.”
Because Ulik had inns and coins, the Godwheel visitors readily grasped what I was telling them.
#
Leaving the pair resting at a street bench, I went off alone. Identified a flamboyantly-dressed man as a pimp, I robbed him. Possessed of a few hundred dollars, I rejoined the girls and we were soon shopping at a Goodwill store. The cousins came out looking like sisters, wearing shirts,
jackets, and jeans. But the captain had held on to her armor, now
wrapped in a bundle. She looked uncertain about what to do with it.
“Keep
it,” I told her. “A fine, hand-made piece suit of plate will be
worth a lot of money to a collector.” Glancing toward the princess, I
said, “And the same goes for your court dress. Be sure to insist on a good
price.”
“But for how long will we need to skulk in hiding?” asked
the warrior. “Will we ever dare to go home? It is said that the Tradesmen
never forget.”
“Just like elephants.”
My quip
caused my companions to ask what an elephant was. Fortunately, there was a
Republican handbill pinned to a wall board, and so I was able to
show them a cartoonish version of what the beast looked like.
“And this strange creature has a good memory?” asked younger Arielle.
“Not really. That’s just a folktale,” I explained.
From
there, we explored a depressed residential area were there were “for
rent” signs displayed. Soon we found the Arielles a room for two and
paid the rent in advance.
I advised the Ulikans not to keep their room beyond the point where their rent ran out, but to find some new lodging at some good distance, one that I
wouldn’t know about. I explained that should the Tradesmen capture me,
I might be forced to reveal where to find the princess. Then she would
either be seized or killed outright in reprisal. I wanted to avoid both
eventualities. Also, if I lost my mind again, I worried that I might get the notion to
kill the two of them for some mad reason. I was improving their chances of survival
by getting away from them as soon as possible.
Food was the next thing on our agenda.
We stopped at a small grocery, where I demonstrated how to shop there.
After that, we called at a Burger King. Taking our meals outside, we ate at one of the metal,
canopied tables abutting the sidewalk. I couldn’t help but smile,
watching my stepdaughter wolf down a Whopper sandwich. “Wonderful!” the
teen exclaimed. “’Tis is a dish fit for a king!”
“Yes, the savory
food served here is why this tavern has been named after a great
monarch known for his amazing banquets,” I japed.
The girls
similarly enjoyed their French fries and soft drinks, despite my
warning about the unwholesomeness of the latter. After we had
stuffed our trash into the restaurant bins, I said, “Look, it
isn’t going to be easy for the two of you to settle into a world so different from your own,
but many things here operate in similar ways. Like, in Ulik people have to earn their
way by working for wages. Same here. But there is also a dole dole that they call ‘welfare.’
The government alms to beggars and doesn't make much fuss about it. Anyone living in a
neighborhood like this one will be able to tell you how to get it.”
The
captain frowned. “Does this land have no honor? Is it not better to
starve than to beg?” Her cousin frowned in agreement.
“Suit yourselves. I only wish I could introduce you to some guide who could teach you how to live in this world, but I
don’t have any friends.”
I refrained from explaining that I had betrayed all my former friend to their deaths.
“But
I do have a mortal enemy who knows about the Godwheel and might be
willing to lend you aid,” I continued. “She’s a decent person and I
think you’d like her.”
“Why is she your enemy?” asked the warrior.
“I
murdered her lover. Her name is Mantra. She’s a sorceress, like me, but
she's more sane. She lives nearby, but her exact whereabouts is something that I have to keep secret.”
“Why?"”
“Because she fights evil and has so many dangerous enemies that she's forced to live under
an assumed name. I don’t want to endanger her life, nor the lives of
those whom she protects.”
I had tarried long enough and the actual moment of our parting wasn’t poignant. I had, after all,
made it all too clear that they couldn’t trust me. Hell, I couldn’t even
trust myself. I knew they would be much, much better off without the
constant danger that I presented.
As I rose to leave, the
knight nudged something against my arm. “Here, Marinna,” she said, pressing the
Demon Sword upon me. It was wrapped in an old checkered tablecloth
purchased at the Goodwill Store. “Keep this. I want nothing more to do
with the thing. Only, I ask that you seek to find a way to free the wretched
souls imprisoned within it, if you possibly can.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s a terrible weapon to hand over to a madm -- madwoman.”
“I know, but what else can I do? What if it came to be found by a person ignorant of its power?” ”
“Are you forgetting that you’ll be giving up your means to return to your home?”
She
glanced down. “Do you truly believe that we can ever go home safely?
And, in faith, I cannot think that there is very much left there for us to go back to.”
I shrugged and accepted the wrapped object. It vanished before the knight's eyes.
“Where did it go?” she asked.
“Into my mystic closet. It’s a kind of invisible magic trunk where I keep my armor when I’m not wearing it.”
“Sorcery is a strange thing,” she declared.
“I agree,” I said.
When
I next turned away, neither of my companions said a word to delay me.
I wouldn't be missed and I was glad of that. Until I had rid myself of the
Beast, I dared not to keep company with friends. As soon as I
turned a corner, I passed out of their sight – and out of their
lives.
It surely wasn’t what I wanted, but for their own sake they had to be cut free.
I was alone again, but didn't have the luxury of feeling sorry for myself. I had to act swiftly to make a new life for
myself. It would, of necessity, have to be a life that was very from any life that I had ever lived before.
The first matter at had was getting myself some money. That meant committing another robbery.
But that was an emergency measure; I didn't want to live as a criminal. I needed to go underground. I needed a job, something
commonplace, something that would allow me blend in with the crowd. The whole idea of common labor was, of
course, a stain on a knight's honor, but it had been a long time
since I had been living honorably. Even “caitiff” was a term too good for
me.
But what, exactly, could I do to support myself? My craft had always been fighting.
Supposedly, I could seek out some wealthy scoundrel who might be
amused to have a bodyguard who looked like me. But, contrariwise, I’d
been gambling since the fall of the Roman Empire and knew my way around
modern casinos. I might possibly work as a dealer. Anyway, Las Vegas would be as good a town as any to dwell in.
But from here on I would be living footloose and friendless. I was reminded of that old TV series, The Fugitive.
I had enemies that I needed to avoid.
Mantra might duel and kill me, but I’d be even worse off in the hands of the
Tradesmen.
I had always been a man-slayer, but Necromantra had made me into a cold-blooded murderer. That was what made me hate her most. I thought I would rather die than have the Tradesmen once more forcing me onto battlefield after battlefield.
I soon got the money I needed and boarded a tourist flight to Las Vegas. Worn to a frazzle, I dropped off to sleep over the California desert.
My dreams were
haunted by the Beast. I felt it stalking me. And it remained there, just out of sight, no matter how hard I
tried to lose myself amidst the dark and twisted streets stretching out before me.
The end
