THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHAPTER 6, Part 2

 

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