The Three Furies (Erec Rex) (24 page)

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clean out the stable in order to get out of here, and I have a friend who is in trouble, waiting for me. Could you please help me with the stable? If I find a few people to work together, I might be able to get out of here sooner."

The man scowled at him. "Listen, boy. I was one of the first people here. I was a villager in Elis, where Augeas used to be king. He brought me and some others with him two thousand years ago. If anyone should leave first, it's me." He leaned on his broom. "I'm tired, boy. Help me out sweeping, okay? I have only one broom, but if you use your hands, maybe it will help me get out of here. Ask around and find some people to help you. Then when I'm free, I'll work on that stable with you."

As much as he hated not helping the poor old man, Erec could not imagine spending even more time here than he had to already. The man's job seemed impossible. Then what would happen to Bethany? Erec shrugged and ran off.

Strange images popped up and vanished along the craggy roads as he walked. Bats and beasts, zombies lumbering out of haunted houses. Strolling through the Nightmare Realm was worse than digging through the stinking muck at the stable. A scream of frustration came from a decrepit shack by the road. Not sure if it was part of another nightmare segment, Erec peeked into the window.

A woman was pounding on the walls inside, tears running down her face.

His first impulse was to mind his own business. But the woman seemed so miserable, he thought he should see if she needed help. He knocked on her door.

When she opened it, Erec gasped. The woman looked like she was thousands of years old. She was bent and stooped, with huge puffy circles around her eyes. Every bone of her skeleton showed

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through her skin, which was so loose and translucent that her wrinkles had wrinkles. She sniffed and blotted her face. "What do you want?"

"I'd like some help, actually. I have to clean a stable. . . ." Erec realized how desperate he was, asking this ancient woman to do hard labor for him.

"Help? Did you say help? I'd love some help myself. I can't stand the idea of being here a single day longer. Please, come inside."

Erec lingered in the doorway, afraid that he might get trapped. A long table inside was filled with steaming vials of liquids, piles of powders, scales, burners, and a microscope. Mirrors lined the walls. "What are you doing?"

"I've been working so hard. My job is to find a cure for aging. I have so many tools at my disposal, almost any chemical you can imagine. I have to try all of my cures on myself. Most have backfired." She gestured to her face sheepishly. "It would be so nice to have somebody else to try my medicines. Maybe they would work better on you." She leaned near Erec, reaching bony fingers toward him.

Erec jumped back, hands up. "No, thanks. I have a lot to do at the stables. Good luck with your cure."

A crowd jeered in the distance. Erec wandered toward the noise. Maybe somebody there would help him.

The girl in the sparkling white dress sat on a small white chair on a plot of grass. Erec had almost forgotten about her. She looked just as clean and beautiful as before. It seemed like forever since he had arrived and she had untied him from the target board. A group of people stood around her, shouting.

"You lazy, good-for-nothing girl! Look at you, spending your whole day doing nothing at all."

"Pig! You're a selfish pig, you are. Wasting all your time away."

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"She thinks she's too good for us. Doesn't have to work, not her. Just like a little princess."

The girl rested her chin on her hand and watched some buzzards flying through the gray sky, looking totally bored.

"Hey, listen everyone," Erec shouted. "I really need some help. I've got to get out of here. My best friend is in terrible danger. If I can just get the stable clean, I can go. Will all of you give me a hand, just for a few days? I'd really appreciate it."

Everybody stopped short. Then they burst out laughing, slapping their sides and pointing at Erec as if he were a comedian.

"You got someone on the outside that needs you? That's the oldest line in the book. Good luck with that one, kid."

"Listen to him. Help him clean the stables. Yeah, I'll help you--after you do my job and get me out of here first."

"I'll help you." The girl in the chair stood up. Her voice rang like bells. "Let's go."

The people who had been jeering at her looked as amazed as Erec was.

"Good," someone said. "Let her find out what it's like to work all day. Then she'll come help me pick up all the garbage."

"Then you'll help me sweep the sand off of the beach, won'cha, girlie?"

The girl did not answer them but stepped lightly through the crowd and took Erec's hand. "Who are you?" she asked as they walked.

"My name is Erec Rex. I'm--"

"You're Erec Rex? I know exactly who you are. How did
you
get stuck in here?" Her voice was sweet and sympathetic. Erec almost cried with relief to have found a friend.

"I had to come here." He struggled to remember the reasons why. It was hard to think clearly in this place. "I have a friend who's in danger. I have to do my quest first, and then I can help her."

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"I'm sorry. I don't understand. Who is in danger?" The girl's voice rang like bells.

"My best friend, Bethany. She's been captured by Baskania. I have to do twelve quests before I can become the king of Alypium. The Fates said I had to do my next quest before I can help Bethany escape."

"How awful. You must have taken a wrong turn and ended up here by accident, then. What was your quest supposed to be?"

"No, I didn't take a wrong turn. My quest was to meet King Augeas."

The girl stopped in her tracks, yanking Erec to a halt. A python slithered by, stopping in front of him. It waved its head back and forth as he slowly backed away. When Erec turned his attention to the girl, he was surprised to see tears filling her eyes. "
This
is what the Fates sent you to do?" She threw her arms around him and kissed his cheek.

His skin tingled where her lips were. He rubbed his face. "Why did you do that?"

"You've come to help me. I just know you have." She grinned at Erec.

"It looks more like you're the one helping me. I'll try my best to do what I can for you, but don't get your hopes up." He laughed. "I mean, look at me. I can't even clean a stable by myself." Erec looked over his shoulder and saw that the crowd had broken up. "Don't feel bad that they were picking on you. I think it's a compliment that you don't fit in to this place. Why is everyone so nasty here?"

"Most of them have been here a long time. It's not a nice place to live, even for a day, let alone thousands of years. I guess I'd be grumpy too. I think that they're mostly good people underneath, though."

Erec thought about the desperation of the old woman who was searching for a cure for aging, and the man who wanted the girl to help him sweep all the sand off the beach. "These jobs that the

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Nightmare King gave to people are awful. Do you know how many have made it out of here?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Do you actually think anyone can finish the jobs that they were given? I think that's part of his fun, seeing everyone slave away at ridiculous tasks with no chance of escaping." She shook her head.

"What was your job, then? Is that why you aren't bothering with it?" Erec was embarrassed and upset that he had spent so much time cleaning the disgusting stable if it really was impossible to do.

"I didn't get a job. That's why they're all so mean to me here. They're jealous." She shrugged her shoulders and her blond curls bounced up into the breeze. "Any of them could give up their jobs if they wanted to, but they're all afraid to stop trying. I think a part of them knows that what they're doing is futile, and it makes them angry to see me not wasting my time like they are."

"But why didn't King Augeas give you a job?"

"I think he was being extra safe, to make sure that I don't get out by some trick." She smiled. "I should introduce myself. My name is Wandabelle. I'm the Clown Fairy." She spun in a circle, and Erec saw golden gossamer wings waving on her back.

His eyes widened. "
You're
the Clown Fairy?" He considered that for a moment. "You must be the 'prize' that King Augeas was talking about." So that's why Balor was here, so that Baskania could make sure the Clown Fairy stayed prisoner. "How did you end up here? Did Baskania bring you?"

She nodded sadly. "He captured me by surprise--that's the only way I can be caught. I'm very fast, so if I know someone is coming I can always escape. Over the years people have caught me--it's good luck--but no one can keep me. I always find a way to escape." She sighed. "Looks like I'm finally trapped, though. I don't know why anyone would do this to me."

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Erec remembered what Oscar had said in his letter. Baskania was going to give her to the Furies, and they would give him some big gift in return. She was just another soul for them to steal. A deluxe model to suit their vanity. Baskania could care less that she was the only thing holding the clown population together since their king and queen had died.

"We need to get you out of here. The clowns in Otherness need you."

Wandabelle hung her head. "I know. I'm afraid that I'm stuck, though." Another idea occurred to her, and she perked up. "Then again, with you here, anything can happen! You saved all the baby dragons when they were missing in Otherness."

"Well, yeah. But I had some help then--"

"And you rescued King Piter when he was hypnotized."

Erec grinned. "That was a while ago. I got lucky--"

"And you freed the bee hind that was messing up all of the Substance!"

"Whoa!" He smiled. "That was ... well, that
was
pretty tough. You're right. I guess I am amazing." He laughed, which felt good, like his whole body was relaxing. "But the problem is, you're more amazing than I am. You're the only one who was keeping all of the clowns in the world alive. And you can escape from anywhere. So if you can't do anything to get out of here, I probably can't either."

"I don't believe that for a second. You specialize in fixing things. This is your area." She delicately waved an arm toward the crumbling buildings and filthy streets.

"Gee, thanks." He looked at the mess around him and chuckled. His situation didn't seem quite as bad when he had a smile on his face . . .

. . . which reminded him of something that someone once said to him. What was it?
The best way to walk into a nightmare is with a
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smile.
It really rang true. Someone wise had said it, he was sure. And he had a vague memory of eating cake.

The Hermit! Erec had forgotten all about him. Maybe the strange atmosphere here--or maybe it was the fact that he was asleep (Erec had to keep reminding himself that he was asleep) made it hard to think straight. The Hermit had taught Erec how to do finger magic, as he called it. And he had showed him something else. Something important that Erec needed to know.

If only he could remember what it was. He had the feeling that it was really the key. If only he could think straight . . .

Wandabelle surveyed the stable with a tight smile. "You'll never get this clean. You do know that, don't you?"

Erec looked at the piled mounds of stinking grunge and the slime oozing out of it and all over the floor. "It's doable. At least it's a finite mess, right? It will eventually come clean. Not like sweeping the sand off the beach, or something like that."

"I don't think so." Wandabelle pointed at the animals outside. "You know what's going to happen once you clear out enough room to bring them all in here, don't you? They'll make more of a mess faster than you can clean it up. He wouldn't have given you the job if you really could escape."

Erec began to feel desperate. "Maybe with help, then? I really have to get out of here fast."

"Let's try and see what we can do." She smiled.

Erec plowed his hands into the dung heaps and grimaced. "I'm really sorry. This is going to ruin your dress. I can't believe I'm asking the Clown Fairy to cover herself in animal poop."

Wandabelle's laugh tinkled through the stable. "I'm not above doing stable work. Anyway, my dress will be fine. I'm dirt-resistant. Goes along with my line of work, dealing with clowns. You can guess

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how often I get in the way of flying cream pies, even mud pies. It's important for me to keep looking nice, don't you think?"

Erec agreed that it couldn't hurt. Wandabelle grabbed an armful of sludge. Most of it melted, slipping onto the ground. Like she said, the dirt slid right off her dress and skin, leaving her sparkling clean.

"Wow! That's handy." Erec scooped up a huge pile of dung, which toppled back onto his head, leaving him covered. "Ugh!" He slid and fell into it and ended up rolling in the muck until he was completely covered.

Wandabelle laughed so hard that she almost fell over too.

"Really funny." Erec grabbed a handful of guck and threw it at her, but it bounced off and fell to the ground.

"Ahhh." Wandabelle fanned herself with her hand, teasing. "It's sooo nice to be clean. You really wouldn't imagine how great it feels!" She took a step and slipped, arms waving back in the air to catch herself, then tumbled next to Erec in the smelly goo. "Ugh!" She lifted a hand out of it, which of course remained perfectly clean.

Getting up, on the other hand, was not so easy. They both slipped and fell repeatedly until finally they found some dry ground to stand on, pulling themselves up with piles of dried dung. All in all, the effort was completely disgusting, but at the same time they were both laughing so hard that Erec almost didn't mind.

"The best way to walk into a nightmare is with a smile."

Wandabelle paused. "That's really wise. Did you just make that up?"

"No. An old friend said it to me. He
is
really wise."

Maybe Erec could show some wisdom too. The Hermit had brought him here. He believed, like Erec did, that the Fates knew what they were up to. That meant Erec had been sent here for a reason.

If he could just figure out what it might be.