Five Months and a Better Body Later...
The Black Void - Episode 128
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You get out of the cab and go up the stairs to your cramped apartment
on 71st street and fumble around in your pocket for the key. Finally
finding it, you open the door and step into the living room. Empty beer
cans and pizza boxes lie strewn about the floor from the party your
roommates threw last Friday--not that you didn't attend--and the table is
filled with how-to books you borrowed from the library two weeks ago and
still haven't read. The stereo in the back floods the room with the
dulcet sounds of Benny Goodman's clarinet, which means John's probably in
his bedroom working on his next hairbrained novel--the music
supposedly "makes the thought channels open up." Whatever.
You go to the back and open the door on the left into your bedroom, smirking at the thought that since Reggie left on a business trip you've had the room to yourself. Well, normally. In this instance, there's a young brunette in a long flowing black dress sitting on your bed, her long legs crossed and her heels kicked off onto the floor. "C'mon," she says, licking her oh-so-kissable lips. "I know you've been waiting for me." You've never seen this woman before, so your mind immediately flashes warning signals. But those are easily pushed away as the woman stands up--she's only a couple of inches shorter than you, even with the heels off--takes off your already-untied tie, and begins to unbutton your shirt. You start to ease the straps of her dress off her shoulders, ignoring the muffled cries coming from your sorry excuse for a closet. "Hold on," she says, leaving your shirt half-unbuttoned as she seductively removes the straps herself. It's a steamy scene. Steamy enough, in fact, for the smoke alarm to go off. Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep... Beep! Beep! Beep! That's not a smoke alarm. That's the alarm on your watch. For the past five months you've had it set for four in the morning so you could start your work on the farm, remember? You groan as you get off the straw mat of your cottage. Toiling in the fields was not your idea of a fitness regimen, but hey, it's shown results. Some undermanned peasant family took you in as a helper five months ago when you had no place to stay, in exchange for your help on the farm. Although they had to show clueless you how to do everything at first, you've managed to acquire a (very limited) skill set, and have taken quite a bit of weight from your torso and put it into your muscles. You figure you're finally in good enough shape to go out and rescue Queen Estelle. You're going to tell the family of your decision at the midday meal. You would have thought that this five-month regimen would have given everyone else a head start on the quest, but you gleefully note that it hasn't. You recall the king's sorrowful proclamation a week ago of the loss of Sir Pantsalot, the latest casualty of the search, who drowned when he saw some wheat in a pond and thought it was the magical blue and yellow disk. Finally the sun is high in the sky and you bid goodbye to the chickens you've become fond of, going back to the cottage to eat. A crier interrupts your solemn last meal together. "Hear ye! Hear ye! The great King Omer is about to make a proclamation! Hear ye! Hear ye!" Being the good subjects you are, you quickly finish your meal and head for the town square. A royal procession, obviously coming from the castle in the distance, stops as the man in purple steps out. The man taps his pole against the ground several times, trying to quiet everyone. "May I have your attention everyone." He then repeats these motions a second time, before continuing with "King Omer wishes to address everyone." You realize, this having been about the tenth time you've heard this, that it is largely ceremonial. The man in the blue robe appears again."I am grieved to report the death of another brave knight of the realm. This morning the venerable Sir Dewayne, youngest son of Lord Dimwit of Dimwiddie, was found dead in the moat of my castle, an arrow having been shot through his heart. There was a note attached to the arrow shaft, consisting solely of a blue and yellow circle. I can therefore conclude that this was the work of none other than the evil witch Maggie." The crowd is in uproar. "Outrageous!" yells one man. "Horrible!" yells another, and a third yells "That dirty witch!" Several women cover their children's ears, not wanting them to hear other things being said. Tap, tap, tap! The man with white hair yells "Silence!" and continues to tap the ground until all are silent. "I have spent the past four hours consulting with my most trusted advisors. If I allow this quest to go on indefinitely, I will have sacrificed almost every good man in the kingdom for the return of my beloved wife. Therefore, if this search remains fruitless for another month, with only dead bodies to show for it, I fear I will have to either give in to Maggie's demands or allow the death of my wife to hang on my conscience forever." The crowd is stunned. The usual cries of "Long live King Omer" are nonexistent. Even the other popular cry "Down with Witch Maggie! May she burn in hell!" cannot be heard. Several people stand with their jaws open as King Omer, bent over like a man who aged five years in five months, walks off the stage. Well, it looks like you only have one month to find Queen Estelle, and no leads. What will you do?
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unknown adventurer
12/11/2004 10:24:19 PM
Extending Enabled
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