Chapter 9: The swamp

In the mean time is Daphne chasing Samantha. But she lost track of her.

But then...voices!

Daphne sneaks behind a rock and spies on Samantha. She's standing there with Rohan. She's looking at him with eyes of love. Huh? Why?

'Here's the chest,' says Sam.

'You're fantastic, Samantha,' says Rohan and takes the bag. 'I knew that you could do it.'

'Are we now together for eternity?'

Rohan looks at her and has a mean smile on his face: 'For eternity.'

He leans in and kisses her. But when his lips touches hers, hers are turning gray. And then her head, her arms, her legs,... Within ten seconds is she also a statue.

Rohan's laugh is mean. His eyes are closing from pleasure and joy. He turns around: the bag is gone.

Daphne took it when he closed his eyes. She's now running back to the others. She hides behind a bush: hooves! A horse with a black dressed man on it, passes. Rohan turns the horse: he's going to his castle.

Daphne gets up when the others pass her. She explains everything.

'But she didn't know him,' say Freddie. But then comes a creepy thought: Sam was always alone on this adventure. There were couples everywhere: she must have felt alone. Maybe the count looked her up when she ran away at the Garden of Lust. He told her that he was in love with her. And now...

He shares his thoughts with the others. They believe him.

'They must come back when we reach the castle,' says Freddie. 'So let's get going.'

…

They are now walking for over an hour. They still follow the path. The path is changed: it's muddy. They enter another forest. It's a forest with conifers. A stench reaches their noses. It's horrible. They hear suddenly a sort of fart.

'Daphne,' says Shaggy appalled.

'That wasn't me,' says Daphne wild back. She pushes a few branches from a conifer to the side. She takes a step and sees a swamp. An actual swamp! Fog hangs above the brown mire. It still smells horrible. It's like sulfur and stink bombs. They hear another fart. And another. And another. And again...

'Someone suffers from those beans in tomato sauce,' says Spencer. He holds his sleeve for his nose. Freddie does the same thing.

Freddie looks around at the swamp.

'Must we really go trough this?' asks Daphne. Her shoes are sunk into the brown mire. 'No! My shoes!'

'Which sin is this?' asks Spencer. He looks at Shaggy who's just looking around with a smile on his face. He must be immune to the stanch by those farts of him and Scooby-Doo. Hopefully will his friend come back.

'I don't know,' answers Freddie. 'We had three...but what is this?' He looks around. He can't think of something. Than it hits him: gluttony and greed. He says those sins to the others.

'Is one of those two this?' asks Shaggy and points at the swamp.

'No, I don't think so,' says Freddie. 'This is another one. There are still two I don't know.'

He enumerates the text on the gate: Do you start hotheaded on the battle, know that you're going to loose... Anger...Are you seduced by desire and glory, know well for whom you're going to choose...Lust...Who is slow and lingers, shall never reach the end...Sloth...Neither them who fill their mouth or pouch or those who dream of themselves...fill their mouth or pouch: that sounds like gluttony and greed...or those who dream of themselves... that sentence makes Freddie think about a story in the Greek mythology: Narcissus. He was in love with his own reflection. That was because he had turned down the nymph Ego. The goddess of Love, Aphrodite, made that curse on him. He languished away and turned into a narcissus.

A bubble from the brown mire pops open and flies on Daphne: 'Iew...this is so bad for your skin!'

Freddie laughs a little about it. Daphne has probably a make-up table full of her things: cremes, bottles, perfume, nail varnish,...

'Vanity,' comes instantly out of Freddie's mouth. 'Vanity!'

'I'm not vain,' says Daphne.

'No,' says Spencer. 'You are certainly not.'

'No!' says Freddie. 'Vanity is the next sin.'

They walk into the swamp.

…

They are now walking in the swamp for thirty minutes. Spencer fell into the brown water.

Freddie points at a tree: 'I've seen that before. We're walking in circles.'

'Guys,' says Daphne. 'A little rest.'

'Daphne,' says Freddie. 'We must go on.'

Daphne is getting hysterical now: 'But I don't like it anymore.'

'Sht!' says Spencer. He points at a pool right in front of them. 'I saw something moving.'

Daphne sees nothing and gets hysterical again: 'I just wanna go home.'

A beast suddenly appears in the water.

'Run!' screams Spencer and runs out of the water. Freddie does that too.

Daphne screams and screams... Shaggy runs around.

'Look out, Shaggy! There's another one,' yells Spencer.

Shaggy sees it and turns around. He's standing in front of another pool.

'There's another!' yells Freddie.

'Shaggy turns around again and falls into a pool. He's under the water!

'Shaggy, it's not the time to swim,' says Daphne and walks to the pool.

Shaggy gets above the water and swims to the side. He lays the bag on the ground. Suddenly pulls something him under water. He's not getting up!

'Shaggy!' screams Daphne and runs to the water. She jumps into it and helps Shaggy. She hits the beast. She keeps hitting it. Her hair is browner now. Her clothes too. Spencer and Freddie run to the two and they pull Shaggy out of the water. Daphne keeps hitting and hitting. Spencer and Freddie pull Daphne out of the water too.

Daphne looks at the water: silent! The beast is gone!

'Daphne!' says Freddie. 'You have defeated your vanity!'

The fog is getting up and the sunlight comes in the swamp. The four friends look at the other side: a forest!

Daphne gets up and walks to the forest: 'Can we go now?'

To be continued...

So that was the sin Vanity. Which is up next? And who will turn into stone? Maybe Freddie? Or maybe Spencer?

People, I say it all the time: reviews are welcome.

Look already out for a sequel of this story: The Revenge of Arghus!