of Cleansing and other things
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 5192
|
Fred decided to press the button labeled 'work' and hope for the best. He
didn't understand where he was (he thought that he was either
hallucinating or under a spell of some sort). As he pressed it he heard a
slight rumbling and the light within the room intensified, focusing solely
on Fred. He looked down at himself and found that his clothes were
dissolving into a liquid, and running down a drain that had appeared at
his feet. "Ack!" he exclaimed, as he frantically and fruitlessly, grabbed
at the liquifying garments. Next, from above him, another liquid began to
shower him. He could tell that it was mostly water, but there were other
elements in it as well. ~~soap~~ he thought; this must be a shower of some
kind. The water was warm, almost hot, and it felt good upon his skin.
The last time he had had a good cleansing was on the night before the
Festival of Going Forth. Since then he had remained in his leather
jerkin, his armoured vest and leggings and had not the time nor
opportunity to wash himself.
Suddenly the soapiness disappeared and the water grew stronger, rinsing his body from head to toe. Then even that water stopped and a warm air blew at Lord Fred from all sides and soon he was dry to the bone. ~~incredible!~~ thought Fred. He heard a clicking noise and saw a door open before him. He slowly and cautiously went to the door, looking for any traps, and walked through the door into an anteroom that held one bench and some brown clothing thereon. He saw that it was the dress of a serf but saw no other clothes so he put on the leggings, the shirt, and the other garments that made up the whole assembly. Another click alerted him to yet another door and he made his way out into the open air. The sun shone brightly and he saw that he was in a garden of lilies, roses and petunias. There were some serfs working on the garden, tending it. They looked up at Fred and smiled. "Brother," they called out to him. "Welcome to the Garden of Eternal Truth!" Meanwhile many kilometers from the foreign place in which Lord Fred had found himself, Bilford Gil was busily pacing up and down, back and forth, within his office. He was not a happy man, not a happy man at all. ~~these reports are awful!~~ he thought. ~~the dragon has not ceased its raids, our Lord Fred has not been heard of in three months, the Guild is in an uproar about inroads from the BMC, and there has been talk of movements in the bordertowns near the outskirts of the Calamari Desert. What are we going to do?!!?~~ Far from Sire Gil's office the King himself sat upon his throne brooding as well. ~~bah!~~ he quipped within. ~~all the adviser's say the same to me, even Vichenzio! Our crop yields are dropping – from dragon raids, regional droughts, and foolish dukes who care more about the Tournament than serfs, seed, and harvest! our herds dwindle as well; wolf runs, sickness, and bad waters are all taking their turn!~~ Farther still, in the remains of a small pillaged hamlet a little boy with a queer gait picked at the dead ashes of a hut. He hummed to himself while trifling through the dust and hay and burned timbers. He was looking for something, something that had been there before. His elongated arms stretched even further and he cricked his neck to peer into some dark piles of rubbish. A snort of disgust proved that what had been present before was now no longer there.
|
YY
11/6/1999 3:35:43 PM
24919884 episodes viewed since 9/30/2002 1:22:06 PM.