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Stories from the Verse
Old Verses New
Chapter 95: Brown 32
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Chapter 94: Hastings 74
Fifteen days from the school, Derek had every reason to believe they were getting close to Cavalier–but they still did not know quite what it was they were seeking. Thus as evening approached and they saw a group moving on the road, they decided to ask what they knew. As always, his four companions took cover out of sight and let Derek make contact. The group included three mutant humans, something man-sized that looked much like a humanoid porcupine, a dog that seemed to be leading the way, and a six-legged bull. Derek waved from a short distance, and called to them.
"'Scuse me," he began. "I'm a bit lost. I wonder if you know your way around this area?"
The group came over to him cautiously, but didn't say anything. Somewhat nervously, he continued. "Actually, I heard there was a place around here that use to be called Cavalier, or something like that. I'm from the school–have you heard about the school? Lauren Hastings started it, teaching everyone anything they want to learn. Starson Coombrick is the principal now. My name's Derek, Derek Brown. Anyway, I was looking for this Cavalier place, because we'd heard it wasn't being used for anything, and we thought we might start a new school there." They were still silent, staring at him. "Have you heard of it?"
"I'm sorry," he suddenly continued, "do any of you speak? Do you speak English? Maybe you can't understand me, but–"
"He looks human," an overly thin tall man said to a man with blue skin, interrupting Derek's comments.
"Yes, he does," the blue man replied. "Haven't had a human for some time. Do you think he's really alone?"
"There's one way to find out," the porcupine creature said, and flung his arm forward. Derek felt the sting of quills striking his face, and began to swoon. He saw a flash of light from somewhere, and collapsed on the ground, his head spinning and then shutting down.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with eight other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #113: Character Movements. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
