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Stories from the Verse
Con Verse Lea
Chapter 84: Beam 157
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Takano 82
The idea that humanoids with dead brains were moving toward them made Beam uncomfortable enough that he was walking swiftly. Since Bob was now levitating, they were only slowed by Bron’s cart, and the ground was both fairly firm and fairly level, so the blacksmith was doing well with it. Still, Beam was concerned about tiring his friend, a concern balanced against the nagging feeling that he needed to keep away from whatever it was that Dawn and Bob had detected.
He also had to find Sophia. And he had to make that meeting something that didn’t result in them fighting among themselves when danger was closing on their position.
At least, he assumed it was danger. Bob’s description did not sound good.
It occurred to him to wonder whether whatever it was had been targeting them or just happened to be moving their direction. They had, he thought, left on an angle that should take them out of the path if it was just coincidence that they were coming toward him. On the other hand, if whatever it was found signs of their presence, it might cause them to change course and follow his trail, so he probably couldn’t determine whether they had been aware of him or not. That is, if they changed course to pursue him, that could mean they already sensed his presence, or it could mean that they picked up his trail. Of course, it could mean nothing more than that they traveled erratically and happened to make a slight right turn.
It was only about half an hour when their objective came into view: a red-headed girl sitting in the dirt alongside a six-legged transport cart. She had the food; at least she wouldn’t have gone hungry. The question was whether she had just arrived or been here for the past month.
As they approached, she stood. She didn’t look like she’d been living in the wilderness for any length of time. This versing thing was very strange.
“There you are!” she called. “I woke up alone. I didn’t expect that.”
“Well, it’s been a new experience for all of us. It’s been a month since you left us, and we just arrived ourselves.”
As they approached, Sophia noticed Ashley. “Who in the dregs is this?” she asked.
“Ah,” Beam said. “Missus Sophia Beam, meet Missus Ashley Beam.”
“But,” Ashley said, “but, I killed you.”
“I hope that won’t be a problem,” Beam said.
“You what?!?” Beam had learned to dread the temper of a redhead, and Sophia definitely had one.
“Look, right now we have bigger problems, so I’m going to have to ask you to get along at least until we figure out what’s happening here. After you died, I was forced to marry Ashley. She’s pretty much a ninja.”
“What in the dregs is a ninja?”
“Ashley is an assassin.” Turning toward the younger wife, he added, “Sophia is a witch.”
“And I’m sure you resisted the pressure to marry her until the torture almost killed you,” Sophia said derisively. Beam shrugged. “I’m your wife,” she snapped.
“Indeed, and see, I’m still wearing your ring. But it seems that she is also my wife now, and we’re just going to have to work things out as well as we can. But right now,” he looked back to the south, “we need to keep moving, hopefully find some place to get under cover. Dawn? Bob? Are those things following us?”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Dawn said. Well, that was not the answer he wanted, but for now he was going to have to move, and think.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #472: Versers Vanish. 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:
