AN: I wrote this two years ago and it's been a while. Anyhow, I need to give credit to an aquaintance, "Mercy", who co-wrote this story with me.
Timeline: Anytime around or after Castle Roogna, so that means Dor and Irene are still preteens, and, more importantly, Jumper is still alive. While Jumper is a very old spider, he still has the few months to live that normal spiders do. However, when he returned, the magic of the past and present intermingled in his body and caused some funny effects. For one thing, his lifespan had been increased tenfold, leaving him with more than a year to live. Another effect was Jumper's size in the past returned, leaving him at some six feet tall. Lastly, he received a talent-that of speaking the language of mankind. These effects were passed down to his last batch of spider children, who spread out over Xanth and began a new species of giant spider. However, one particular spider child named Flinch stayed home to help hunt for his failing father, Jumper. This arachnid utopia was not to last; two demons, by the names of Cay and Lusion, took the soul of Jumper. Now, the story starts with Flinch, on his way to the Magician Humphrey to get an Answer...
Disclaimer: I own none of the places, although many of the creatures are of my invention, they would have never come to being without the reading of the Xanth series.
Soul in a Marble
By Rhi and "Mercy"
Chapter One: Captive Soul
The castle loomed over Flinch's head. "I'll be shot at first sight," he muttered.
He awaited three challenges, for the boy, the future King Dor, had educated Flinch's sire about Xanth, and the information had been passed to Flinch. Jumper, Flinch's sire, had disapproved of testing people's wit to get an answer, but he could do nothing.
Flinch's first challenge arose. Around the giant castle, there was a moat with four tritons, one for each direction. Flinch decided to take a chance. On the tips of his toes, he waded across the shallow water. Immediately, the triton closest to him jabbed him lightly with his three-pronged spear. Instantly, Flinch's talent flashed on; he became the triton's conscience.
"Don't you feel just awful about poking that poor spider?"
A small voice nastily returned, "Not at all, why?"
"Because! A poor spider with a very personal problem trying to an Answer, and to add to his problems, you--"
"I see your point! Enough!"
"Sorry..." he muttered. Flinch proceeded without another word. He went inside the walls and into the courtyard. There awaited his next challenge.
The courtyard had a patio surrounded by dandy-lions, but since it was OctOgre, most of them were dead. The few remaining plants snapped wearily at his legs, but emitted no roar.
A young impatient Antlion (obviously wanting to finish his year) explained the rules to a game. Eleven buttons were lain out on the patio, all yellow. Flinch had to touch all buttons, which would then turn blue with the pressure. He began by putting his eight legs on the buttons. Three more. He put his rear on another, head on yet another.
"Hags and Harpies!" he swore. Only one more to go. Thinking a moment, he finally came up with a suitable solution. He unrolled his florescent tongue to touch the last button. Easy enough. He smirked at the Antlion and strolled toward the door. Flinch did not exspect the next challenge coming toward him.
Chapter Two: "Silly Spider"
Flinch walked to the door. It seemed to be an easy enough task to open it. He extended his front leg, grasped the handle and turned. A second later, he felt as if he'd been hit by lightning.
"You can't get through that way, silly spider." A tiny voice beneath him tinkled.
Flinch stared. Why was a tiny skeleton calling him a silly spider? He could crush this thing with his mandibles. "What's your problem?" He asked rudely. "Are you not aware I could smash you to bone toothpicks with one swipe?"
The skeleton giggled. "You're trying to get through the door, silly spider. But you can't do it without me!" She singsonged. "I'm Kie. Nice to meet you, silly spider."
"I'm Flinch and I don't like being called a silly spider. But it's nice to meet a skeleton, even one as small as you. How did you get so small?"
Kie sighed, and propped herself up against a stone. "I was born that way, silly spider. My parents were playing "A Bone to Pick", when a naughty boy with a magnifying glass and reverse wood come along. He pointed his demagnifying glass at my parents, and they shrunk. So I was created-an itsy-bitsy skeleton. It's a hard enough life being a skeleton, but being a micro one... Atrocious!"
Sympathetically, Flinch picked up the sobbing skeleton and looked at her with new respect. Then he stared. Her back had oddly bumpy ridges on it. Concentrating hard, he let his talent work its way into Kie.
"You should feel sorry for that poor spider. He works all day getting through the first two challenges, and now he has to turn back. That poor spider, deprived of food and rest, has to turn back now, just because of--"
"Enough! I promise I'll help the spider with his task! I'll change right now, so stop talking!"
"Good."
Kie stopped sobbing and turned her face up toward Flinch. He noticed she seemed to be turning rigid, the bumps elongating. She was taking on the shape of a -
"Key! Thank you, Skeleton Kie." Flinch fitted Kie into the keyhole, which was now quite obvious.
Chapter Three: Humphrey
As Flinch finally threw himself into the castle, a woman walked up to him. She was quite shapely, and a gauze veil was placed across her face, which made her look intriguing.
"Humphrey will see you now." She said in a dulcet voice. "But go carefully. He's been awefully crabby, with the increase of Questioners." She held him by a joint in one of the many legs and lead him to a door, over which a sign reading, "KNOCK!" hung.
Humphrey looked like a gnome. Actually, Humphrey looked like a gnome who'd been dropped from a giant's shoulder and left to shrivel in the sun. He sat upon a velvet stool, reading a huge tome, which Flinch guessed was the notorious _Book of Answers_.
"Er... excuse me, sir?" Flinch ventured. There was no reply.
"Magician Humphrey?" Still no reply.
"How can I get my father's soul back?"
Finally Humphrey looked up, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses higher up the wrinkled ridge of his pudgy nose. "As you know, I do exspect a year's service from everyone, including you." He said sternly. "You will get your Answer within a year." Then he clamped his mouth, and dismissed the Gorgon and Flinch out with the flick of a gnarled hand.
Chapter Four: Marbles
Demons Cay and Lusion were up at dawn, making their way into the castle. They had finished their challenges, which involved an angry cobra plant, enormous piles of clipped flowers, especially moroses, and a single, self-depreciating elf. The two had been at a loss, but quickly figured out what to do: the cobra plant was given delusions of sucess, which made it relax enough for Cay to putrefy; the piles of flowers had been decomposed quickly, after Cay had received delusional powers of mega decomposition, and as for the last task, Lusion had simply given the elf delusions of grandeur, which had made the tiny creature leave, thinking the castle unworthy of his presence.
Suddenly, Lusion held up a marble and shattered it.
"What'd you do that for?" Cay cried, appalled.
"It's wasn't very pretty. And anyway, it's host expired a long time ago. Hey isn't that--" Lusion took a sudden interest to a shining marble in Cay's hand.
A large, hairy black and blue spider skittered toward them. Lusion pushed half the collection of marbles into a concealed pocket in her straw hat, and Mercy pushed the other half in a pocket located in her waist coat, and they started to walk away.
"Wait! Please!" Flinch exclaimed, hoping to make some friends within his year.
"What does he want?" Lusion asked cautiously.
"Shut up. Act dumb. I recognize him-he's the one who wants his sire's soul, remember?"
"Hello, I'm awaiting my Answer. My name is Flinch. You?"
"I'm April." Cay lied through her teeth.
"I'm May." Lusion squirmed. The two demons laughed, but were cut short.
Cay ventured out even further. "I make things disappear."
Lusion got her cue. "And my talent is making people feel important."
Flinch joined in, "Oh. Well, I take over one's conscience. Nice to meet you." He held out a foreleg and they took turns shaking it.
As Flinch spunkily bounced off to meet other Questioners, the demons breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter Five: De. Lusion and De. Cay
Flinch was very useful around the castle. Unfortunately for the castle, but fortunately for Flinch, Humphrey let him go early, because he took a shine to him.
"Now, for your Answer. You have already met the demons who possess your sire's soul. They were disguised as April and May. Their true identities are DeLusion and DeCay. I would have given you a head start, but they disappeared some time ago. Anyhow, there long gone. But I'll give you a hint-they're headed toward Castle Roogna. Good day and good luck." Humphrey hastily turned to a skittish wyvern.
"That's all! That's a--" Flinch cried angrily, but in a polite manner, as not to disturb the chattering wyvern and the Magician.
"Come along, dear. Humphrey isn't very good at goodbyes." The veiled Gorgon shooed him out of the castle.
As he was leaving, he found Kie sitting on a stump.
"I was waiting for you. Can I have a lift? Anywhere?" The small skeleton beseeched, dropping to her bony little knees.
Flinch leaned down, so that they would be eye level. "Kie, you've been very good to me, so... I guess a little ride wouldn't hurt. But what would a skinny thing like you eat?"
"I'm bony, not skinny, silly spider!" She giggled, then gave him a long look. "Flinch, you may be kind and generous, but you know nothing about skeletons. We don't eat."
"Oh." Flinch blushed, which meant his blue cheeks deepened to a rather interesting shade of purple. He then motioned Kie to hop onto his back.
Kie made a big effort to climb onto Flinch, but had to be aided by one of his legs. "To anywhere!" she exclaimed gleefully.
"I hope Anywhere is close to Castle Roogna." Flinch muttered under his breath.
~End Part One~
Timeline: Anytime around or after Castle Roogna, so that means Dor and Irene are still preteens, and, more importantly, Jumper is still alive. While Jumper is a very old spider, he still has the few months to live that normal spiders do. However, when he returned, the magic of the past and present intermingled in his body and caused some funny effects. For one thing, his lifespan had been increased tenfold, leaving him with more than a year to live. Another effect was Jumper's size in the past returned, leaving him at some six feet tall. Lastly, he received a talent-that of speaking the language of mankind. These effects were passed down to his last batch of spider children, who spread out over Xanth and began a new species of giant spider. However, one particular spider child named Flinch stayed home to help hunt for his failing father, Jumper. This arachnid utopia was not to last; two demons, by the names of Cay and Lusion, took the soul of Jumper. Now, the story starts with Flinch, on his way to the Magician Humphrey to get an Answer...
Disclaimer: I own none of the places, although many of the creatures are of my invention, they would have never come to being without the reading of the Xanth series.
Soul in a Marble
By Rhi and "Mercy"
Chapter One: Captive Soul
The castle loomed over Flinch's head. "I'll be shot at first sight," he muttered.
He awaited three challenges, for the boy, the future King Dor, had educated Flinch's sire about Xanth, and the information had been passed to Flinch. Jumper, Flinch's sire, had disapproved of testing people's wit to get an answer, but he could do nothing.
Flinch's first challenge arose. Around the giant castle, there was a moat with four tritons, one for each direction. Flinch decided to take a chance. On the tips of his toes, he waded across the shallow water. Immediately, the triton closest to him jabbed him lightly with his three-pronged spear. Instantly, Flinch's talent flashed on; he became the triton's conscience.
"Don't you feel just awful about poking that poor spider?"
A small voice nastily returned, "Not at all, why?"
"Because! A poor spider with a very personal problem trying to an Answer, and to add to his problems, you--"
"I see your point! Enough!"
"Sorry..." he muttered. Flinch proceeded without another word. He went inside the walls and into the courtyard. There awaited his next challenge.
The courtyard had a patio surrounded by dandy-lions, but since it was OctOgre, most of them were dead. The few remaining plants snapped wearily at his legs, but emitted no roar.
A young impatient Antlion (obviously wanting to finish his year) explained the rules to a game. Eleven buttons were lain out on the patio, all yellow. Flinch had to touch all buttons, which would then turn blue with the pressure. He began by putting his eight legs on the buttons. Three more. He put his rear on another, head on yet another.
"Hags and Harpies!" he swore. Only one more to go. Thinking a moment, he finally came up with a suitable solution. He unrolled his florescent tongue to touch the last button. Easy enough. He smirked at the Antlion and strolled toward the door. Flinch did not exspect the next challenge coming toward him.
Chapter Two: "Silly Spider"
Flinch walked to the door. It seemed to be an easy enough task to open it. He extended his front leg, grasped the handle and turned. A second later, he felt as if he'd been hit by lightning.
"You can't get through that way, silly spider." A tiny voice beneath him tinkled.
Flinch stared. Why was a tiny skeleton calling him a silly spider? He could crush this thing with his mandibles. "What's your problem?" He asked rudely. "Are you not aware I could smash you to bone toothpicks with one swipe?"
The skeleton giggled. "You're trying to get through the door, silly spider. But you can't do it without me!" She singsonged. "I'm Kie. Nice to meet you, silly spider."
"I'm Flinch and I don't like being called a silly spider. But it's nice to meet a skeleton, even one as small as you. How did you get so small?"
Kie sighed, and propped herself up against a stone. "I was born that way, silly spider. My parents were playing "A Bone to Pick", when a naughty boy with a magnifying glass and reverse wood come along. He pointed his demagnifying glass at my parents, and they shrunk. So I was created-an itsy-bitsy skeleton. It's a hard enough life being a skeleton, but being a micro one... Atrocious!"
Sympathetically, Flinch picked up the sobbing skeleton and looked at her with new respect. Then he stared. Her back had oddly bumpy ridges on it. Concentrating hard, he let his talent work its way into Kie.
"You should feel sorry for that poor spider. He works all day getting through the first two challenges, and now he has to turn back. That poor spider, deprived of food and rest, has to turn back now, just because of--"
"Enough! I promise I'll help the spider with his task! I'll change right now, so stop talking!"
"Good."
Kie stopped sobbing and turned her face up toward Flinch. He noticed she seemed to be turning rigid, the bumps elongating. She was taking on the shape of a -
"Key! Thank you, Skeleton Kie." Flinch fitted Kie into the keyhole, which was now quite obvious.
Chapter Three: Humphrey
As Flinch finally threw himself into the castle, a woman walked up to him. She was quite shapely, and a gauze veil was placed across her face, which made her look intriguing.
"Humphrey will see you now." She said in a dulcet voice. "But go carefully. He's been awefully crabby, with the increase of Questioners." She held him by a joint in one of the many legs and lead him to a door, over which a sign reading, "KNOCK!" hung.
Humphrey looked like a gnome. Actually, Humphrey looked like a gnome who'd been dropped from a giant's shoulder and left to shrivel in the sun. He sat upon a velvet stool, reading a huge tome, which Flinch guessed was the notorious _Book of Answers_.
"Er... excuse me, sir?" Flinch ventured. There was no reply.
"Magician Humphrey?" Still no reply.
"How can I get my father's soul back?"
Finally Humphrey looked up, pushing his wire-rimmed glasses higher up the wrinkled ridge of his pudgy nose. "As you know, I do exspect a year's service from everyone, including you." He said sternly. "You will get your Answer within a year." Then he clamped his mouth, and dismissed the Gorgon and Flinch out with the flick of a gnarled hand.
Chapter Four: Marbles
Demons Cay and Lusion were up at dawn, making their way into the castle. They had finished their challenges, which involved an angry cobra plant, enormous piles of clipped flowers, especially moroses, and a single, self-depreciating elf. The two had been at a loss, but quickly figured out what to do: the cobra plant was given delusions of sucess, which made it relax enough for Cay to putrefy; the piles of flowers had been decomposed quickly, after Cay had received delusional powers of mega decomposition, and as for the last task, Lusion had simply given the elf delusions of grandeur, which had made the tiny creature leave, thinking the castle unworthy of his presence.
Suddenly, Lusion held up a marble and shattered it.
"What'd you do that for?" Cay cried, appalled.
"It's wasn't very pretty. And anyway, it's host expired a long time ago. Hey isn't that--" Lusion took a sudden interest to a shining marble in Cay's hand.
A large, hairy black and blue spider skittered toward them. Lusion pushed half the collection of marbles into a concealed pocket in her straw hat, and Mercy pushed the other half in a pocket located in her waist coat, and they started to walk away.
"Wait! Please!" Flinch exclaimed, hoping to make some friends within his year.
"What does he want?" Lusion asked cautiously.
"Shut up. Act dumb. I recognize him-he's the one who wants his sire's soul, remember?"
"Hello, I'm awaiting my Answer. My name is Flinch. You?"
"I'm April." Cay lied through her teeth.
"I'm May." Lusion squirmed. The two demons laughed, but were cut short.
Cay ventured out even further. "I make things disappear."
Lusion got her cue. "And my talent is making people feel important."
Flinch joined in, "Oh. Well, I take over one's conscience. Nice to meet you." He held out a foreleg and they took turns shaking it.
As Flinch spunkily bounced off to meet other Questioners, the demons breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter Five: De. Lusion and De. Cay
Flinch was very useful around the castle. Unfortunately for the castle, but fortunately for Flinch, Humphrey let him go early, because he took a shine to him.
"Now, for your Answer. You have already met the demons who possess your sire's soul. They were disguised as April and May. Their true identities are DeLusion and DeCay. I would have given you a head start, but they disappeared some time ago. Anyhow, there long gone. But I'll give you a hint-they're headed toward Castle Roogna. Good day and good luck." Humphrey hastily turned to a skittish wyvern.
"That's all! That's a--" Flinch cried angrily, but in a polite manner, as not to disturb the chattering wyvern and the Magician.
"Come along, dear. Humphrey isn't very good at goodbyes." The veiled Gorgon shooed him out of the castle.
As he was leaving, he found Kie sitting on a stump.
"I was waiting for you. Can I have a lift? Anywhere?" The small skeleton beseeched, dropping to her bony little knees.
Flinch leaned down, so that they would be eye level. "Kie, you've been very good to me, so... I guess a little ride wouldn't hurt. But what would a skinny thing like you eat?"
"I'm bony, not skinny, silly spider!" She giggled, then gave him a long look. "Flinch, you may be kind and generous, but you know nothing about skeletons. We don't eat."
"Oh." Flinch blushed, which meant his blue cheeks deepened to a rather interesting shade of purple. He then motioned Kie to hop onto his back.
Kie made a big effort to climb onto Flinch, but had to be aided by one of his legs. "To anywhere!" she exclaimed gleefully.
"I hope Anywhere is close to Castle Roogna." Flinch muttered under his breath.
~End Part One~