Mind, Body, Spirit - these are all topics for heated debate at Beor's 1,125th SoulCon. But when attendee Prince Ampersand is kidnapped, it will take all the unusual talents of newly resurrected Dave Mortes and the Teenmagers to find out who the rea...
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Dave, Pete and Grinder-of-bones found themselves walking into a small, natural tunnel. Grinder turned to their left and dashed down into the darkness, until the sound of his scrabbling feet faded away. "How...how did you do that?" asked Dave/Ampersand.
"It wasn't me," said Teenmager, who then added, "Well maybe it was me, but it was definitely the brush. When I held it, it seemed to me that it was judging me; as if the brush itself was alive." Pete looked at the prince, whose face wore an odd expression. "I know – crazy, huh?" He expected the man to simply nod. But instead, the royal smiled broadly, and gave an honest, heartfelt laugh.
"It takes a lot these days for me to call something or someone 'crazy', my friend." And Dave/Ampersand really, really wanted a friend right now. But the mission took priority. "Can you do it again, do you think – make a painted thing real, I mean?"
"There you are!" said Glinda with no small amount of exasperation, manifesting in a flash of light. "How'd you get here, and where's Grinder?"
Pete explained and showed Grinder's gift to her. The twincess examined it approvingly. "The handle is made of elven pine – the wood is still alive, by the way. If you want to bring the species back to life, just plant a splinter. The hair...is elven hair, and a lot older than I am. I'm surprised this brush doesn't speak! Now – where's Grinder?"
"You just let him take off, by himself, in the dark?! Men!!" she groaned and raised her index finger. "Stay here – and I mean right here – and I'll be back with Gob, and news from our friends. I've a lot to tell you. We're going to have a lot to do – if I know those folks - and not a lot of time to do it in. And Pete – Agent Ginn-Anne says that you'll see your friends soon." With that bit of good news, she floated at remarkable speed down the left-turn side of the tunnel.
In a few minutes the two men heard a commotion, and ran towards the doorway they'd entered from, only to find that the door had disappeared entirely. It was once more a solid wall of rock. From the other side, they heard their guard raise an alarm that the prisoners had escaped and say Wespie was to be notified immediately. None of the un-larvaed guards, of course, wanted to. They wanted to 'keep their own brains thank-you-very-much,' they said to each other. Nor did they want to look for any of the 'bug boys' as they called them, because they'd all been behaving strangely.
One thing Wespie had let slip was that all the prisoners had been given the Carapacian larva and released once they were under control. Dave felt the medallion of clasped hands that was in his pocket and wondered how Jonir was doing. And Ampersand. And his friends in Tasuil Beor. Were they safe? Had any been hurt in the rioting? Frannie Dusa? Cortez? Smile Dearie?
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Glinda had pockets in her princess 'day dress' made many centuries ago. Changing clothes that you'd had in real life was impossible to do in the spirit world. She took the strand of Gob's hair that she'd found on the ground and chanted a locator spell. Tied inside her ghostly light-as-air handkerchief, it parasailed a very long, winding and twisted course to finally rest at her friend's feet. He was shivering slightly, and his eyes were closed, a tear making its way into the mass of his beard. At least, she thought it was his beard.
Quietly, so as not to frighten him, she said, "There you are. Why are you crying, dearest Gob?"
"Grinder is very much afraid, the water's mad, my ghostly maid. Spoken to her, we have not, so her Grinder she's forgot. Without her song, his world is silent – his compass lost; his joys, now laments.".
Glinda knew Grinder-of-bones well enough to discern his bouts of madness from his philosophical ramblings. But this sounded like an eerie mixture of both. No time to think, she chided herself. Time was one of the annoyances from the mortal world that she never missed. Time, she thought, to save some lives – that's urgent enough for me! "Let's go, Gob. Beor needs us now. I'll find your beloved water, but first we go back to Pete and the Prince."
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"How long do you think they'll be?" asked Dave/Ampersand. He noticed Pete mixing more of his spit inside the Orc Paint Pot.
"I don't know, Your Highness. She's a ghost, and he's a..." Pete paused, and being unsure of his original answer, wisely said, "he's fast. Maybe soon, maybe not so soon." He painted on the rocky wall in his most elegant script, using a fingertip, "Pete Van English slept here, and found the bedding most uncomfortable."
In spite of their grim situation, Dave/Ampersand laughed. If we get out of this mess, he thought, then somehow, I've got to become friends all over again with the Teenmagers. I've got to be careful not to talk about things Sam Everdot knew; but when I start making enough new memories, I won't need to worry as much.
Before he could think about it, he asked Pete if he would paint his portrait when and if he (meaning Ampersand) became king. Pete joked about it, pretending to examine his profile, left and right. It was when he moved the brush and held it in front of his eyes, and looked at him, that Dave/Ampersand sensed something was off.
Pete shook his head and rubbed his eyes. For a moment, just for a moment, he'd seen many images, one of top of another, when he looked at the prince. He'd seen a young man who looked tanned by the sun; a salamander on a desert rock; an all-consuming wall of flame; stars and the night sky; a mass of bubbling goo. He felt dizzy and steadied himself by placing a hand on the wall.
"Men!" cried Glinda, from the position down the tunnel where she'd asked them to wait for her, "Why do they never listen?"
"Uh-oh," chuckled Pete. They both began running towards them. When they stopped, Glinda's frown was ferocious, and Grinder was all smiling teeth.
"Why do we never listen?" asked Dave/Ampersand.
"Because," panted Pete, "We're men!" He pounded his chest, and winked at him, "There's no denying what she said!"
"Are you okay? You almost fell back there." Dave/Ampersand looked at Pete with concern.
"Nah," answered the Teenmager, "I was just dazzled, that's all." And they both convulsed with laughter.
"When you're done, we'll talk about Operation Booze-A-Bug," deadpanned the undead twincess.
