'It's not bad,' commented Jessica looking around the spacious interior of the luxury self inflating tent. Her admittance was a grudging one - she had never been one for camping or anything but city living.
Goldie, by comparison was an old hand. She was sitting with The Gingerbread Man on the other side of the camping stove that the Hare was slaving over. 'I've been in much worse. Once slept halfway up a castle wall up a mountain on this hammock contraption.'
'What on earth were you ... No wait, I don't want to know.'
Goldie grinned at her old friend. 'What was it Prof Licken used to say? With great risk and great endeavour comes great reward!'
Jessica lowered herself daintily to the floor. 'I'm pretty sure the Professor wasn't talking about breaking in to someone's castle and stealing ... whatever it was you were hired to steal.'
'Crown jewels of England,' Goldie replied. 'Split the take with Ali Baba and the 12 thieves.'
Griffin looked over from where he was laying, resting his head on his front paws. 'I thought there were 40 thieves?'
Goldie reached over and stroked the grey tabby's head. 'Attrition mate. The other 28 got themselves killed off over the years. Anyway, when we brought the stuff to our fence it turns out they were only worth a 50th of what we thought.'
'Why was that?' asked Griffin curiously.
'Do you know how many sets of Crown Jewels are knocking around in the Mythlands? At least 630 by last count - all from different stories.'
'Dopplers,' said the Golden Goose knowingly.
'Pardon?'
The Goose looked at Griffin. 'Dopplers. Duplicates of characters and items from stories. Most get eliminated - i.e not everything shows up here because the strongest impressions from mortal imaginings tend to phase out the rest ... well for people and creatures mostly. I once met a Japanese version of myself from some retold tale that was popular over there. Poor sods dead now. Egg hunters.' he finished solemnly.'
'They killed the ... a Golden Goose?' Jessica asked incredulously.
The Goose shook his head. 'Overdosed on oxycodone. Couldn't take the pressure anymore.'
'Talking of eggs,' The Hare cut in. 'I have to give The Glass Cat credit - he doesn't skimp on the supplies.'
'Talking of food, hurry up and serve it up mate,' growled Goldie.
The Hare held up a hand. 'Still cooking, have patience. He added some herbs to his skillet. 'Almost done ... I think you'll find its worth the wait. We've got some kobe beef steak, grilled medium rare accompanied by scrambled eggs and some delicious portobello mushrooms.' So saying, the Hare removed several, skillfully took out the insides and mixed in scrambled egg. 'Voila! I also liberated some ice cold beers and a pinot for Madame ...' he looked over at Jessica.
'The Glass Cat had all that?' asked Griffin as he eyed the fish that had been procured for him and that The Hare, having served the others had now started to grill.
'Miniaturisation,' Goldie informed him. 'It's a combination of tech and magic - same magic that makes those two cubes that turn into fully furnished houses work. The Cat's got everything he needs stored in that crate and so ... do I.'
The others gawped as Goldie Lochs produced a high tech looking hand grenade from her bag. 'Looks like an ordinary grenade but its incendiary ... Chuck this in a room and it implodes everything inside. I reckon we take this beauty and toss er in the pool to Charn. No more water or pool and the implosion can be set to contain the blast radius to the pool. Problem solved.'
The Hare was ecstatic. 'If Bungle can't break into the Vault of Myth, then whatever he is going to unleash gets stopped in its tracks! We just need to do it quick and use Goldie's rings to jump back to our world and then everything will be ok! Wait a minute ...' he suddenly looked over at The Gingerbread Man with suspicion. 'Can we trust this guy?'
Goldie took a swig of beer. 'He got us the spare rings didn't he? Relax, Ginge can be trusted.'
The Gingerbread Man had his hand on Goldie's knee. 'That's right. Whatever Goldie wants, I want. Screw the Glass Cat. There's enough chaos in the world without unleashing all hell. Frankly I can do without the competition.'
'Bungle will follow us back,' Goldie added. 'But I reckon he'll soon realise he has enough to do, what with the Oz/Elephantland war and being a wanted terrorist. All Ginge really wants is a chance at some mayhem so we're with you, taking down Zodiac and putting the Tortoise back in charge. After you and Jess are clear, we'll head back out and find some merc work in the war. A nice self contained war that'll give us a chance to make some money ... more money I mean. After the Tortoise comes through with a big reward.'
'If he's ever restored,' was Hare's gloomy thought. 'The last report from Chicken before we lost contact was that Zodiac had completed their coup and transferred him to a more secure holding site. Poor old Tort.'
Goldie's grin didn't falter. 'Don't worry too much mate. We've got someone working on it. Remember Jessica suggested contacting your old mate Jack?'
'Jack! Yes, the old giantkiller. He was supposed to come to help us.'
Jessica spoke up. 'Events were moving too quickly Hare. We decided Jack was more use in DC. He's recruited some help and they're going after The Tortoise.'
The Hare stood up. 'Then everything could be alright! Goldie, I think its time we used that bomb of yours.'
'Not so fast,' came a voice from the entrance of the tent. They all turned to see the shape of a cat in the doorway - the obscured figure of a man or upright creature stood behind him in the false inky darkness created by the shadows of the surrounding trees.