Chapter Twelve
Fountain of Youth
Salem sat, sketching out Howards face as he looked in the mirror, rambling on about having crows feet, and needing a face lift.
"It's an option." Vince said, standing next to him. Salem rolled her eyes and continued sketching. Bollo entered the room and stood in the door way.
"What's his problem?" The gorilla asked.
"He's having an aging crisis." Salem said. Vince walked over to the chatting pair, and began to ask Bollo his secrets. The topic of Naboo looking like a 12 year old popped up.
"What's his secret?" Vince asked. Salem put the sketch away, having completed it.
"He has different secret." Bollo said.
"Oh yea. What's that?" Vince asked.
"He has access to fountain of youth." Bollo stated. This sparked the mens interest. Bollo began exiting the room as they contemplated their next move.
The men started searching through Naboos' room for any clues that could lead them to the Fountain of youth.
"Guys, I don't think you should be doing this." She said, trying to pick up the mess they were making.
"I think I found something." Vince said excitedly. Howard rushed towards him, Salem following behind. Vince opened the box.
"Look there's a map." Vince said, Howard grabbed the map out of the box.
"This is more my style." Howard said. Vince gave a disgusted look.
"Your style? What about me?" Vince complained. Salem stood next to Vince as Howard handed him an amulet.
"Here, you like accessories." Howard said, and began reading the map while Vince played with the charm. He pressed a button and disappeared.
"H-Howard?" She tried to get his attention, but failed. Vince reappeared and grabbed their arms.
"Hey, check this out." He said, pressing the button again and transporting them back and forth between Naboos' room and the desert of nightmares.
"Oh, let's go then." Howard said with a shrug, holding up the map. Vince applied sun block to his skin, offering some to Salem. She applied the skin protectant as they walked.
A few hour hours later, the trio found their previous foot prints.
"Great! We're going in circles." Howard shouted, throwing his arms up in the air. Vince taking the opportunity to take a shot at Howards legs. Salem smiled at the pair, when she noticed a small, blue dwarf man, dressed in a black robe, approach them.
"What are you doing here?" asked the dwarf.
"We're here to find the fountain of youth." Howard said.
"All of the others who have searched have died... because I killed them." the dwarf replied with a dramatic pause. The men began to laugh at the small, blue man. Salem looked around, spotting multiple blue people dressed in black robes surrounding them.
"Now, you will be buried up to your necks and left out in the desert sun, until your heads catch fire..." The dwarf trailed off, noticing the pendant around Vinces' neck.
"You're the chosen one!" he said, kneeling down before Vince. The other people following his example.
Vince lounged on the many cushions in a tent, servants surrounding him waving fans to keep him cool. The dwarf ignoring his personal space, and caressing Vinces' leg.
"What are you doing? I need a little space, please. I'm feeling a bit clostro." Vince said. The servants backed off.
"Bring in the slaves." The dwarf ordered. Howard was drug in, wearing nothing but shorts made of a strange beige, fur like material. Vince held back his laughter.
The blue servants, drug Salem in next. She was wearing an ankle length skirt with a slit up to her hips on each side. It was made of the same material as Howards shorts, and was held by a rope like belt around her hips.
Her stomach was exposed, her top was made of the same strange fur, and wrapped around her chest, showing a lot more cleavage than she was use to. Chains were wrapped around her throat as she was pulled next to Howard. Vince examined the girl as the other servants left.
"We need to escape. They're all mad!" Salem said, trying in vain to remove the chains along her neck.
"She's right Vince, you're not really the chosen one. We need to get out of here." Howard said.
"See that's where you're wrong. I've always had a feeling I was the chosen one..." Vince started rambling. Salem rolled her eyes at his inflated ego as he lounged back. He grabbed the ends of their chains, pulling Salem closer to him than Howard, causing her to fall beside him on the cushions.
"Vince, stop playing around! We could be killed if we don't hurry." She said, finding a feather and picking at the lock on her neck.
"Nonsense. I'm the chosen one." Vince said, letting his ego inflate more.
The calls of an approaching sand storm rang out through the small camp, interrupting Vinces power induced trance. The blue people all taking shelter as it came towards them. The dwarf man entered the tent, eying the Salem as well as Vince. He began speaking of a man who controlled the sand storms, and how it was the chosen ones first test.
Vince walked out alone to face the creature of the sand. He struck up a conversation with the man made of sand paper, figuring out that the man was not capable of love in any form. Vince gave him some gloves, the man put them on and began feeling his body, among doing other things. He thanked Vince, and gave him a horn to blow in case he was ever in danger.
That night, Salem stood next to Howard, hidden in the shadows of the rocks. The other villagers had come to sing of their love of Vince and shower him with gifts of all kinds. A woman walked up to Howard, complimenting him on his legs, and other things. Salem ignored her, finding a sharp rock and trying to pick at the lock some more.
A sudden tug on her chain, made her drop the rock. The blue servant tugged harder on the chain, pulling the girl towards them. They handed her a tray of fruits and pushed her to Vinces' side. Kneeling next to her friend she began to feed him, eying the guards around them, all carrying some form of weapon should she disobey.
Vince smiled in a power drunk and hazy state of mind. Salem mentally gagged, but at the same time enjoyed feeding the man the sweet and delicious treats.
"Wow... I'm one sick f***." She thought to herself. She smiled, deciding to indulge herself a bit. She fed the man gently, her fingers moving sensually over his lips with every bite he took. Vince let his eyes roll back with the small amount of pleasure he felt from the simple touch of her fingers.
The tray was emptied, the party had ceased as Vince lay on his cushioned bed, sleeping soundly while Salem sat outside picking at the lock once more.
"Stubborn thing..." She muttered under her breath, watching as Howard snuck into the tent and stole the amulet.
"Have you gone mad?" Salem asked, following him.
"No, I'm the chosen one. Not Vince." Howard said, looking desperate for her to understand. She followed him to a shaded and hidden place in the rocks where the woman from earlier waited.
"Do you have the amulet?" She asked.
"Yes, it's right here." He replied smiling.
"Give it to me." She said, holding her hand out. Howard handed the charm over to the woman and Salem watched as she turned into the Hitcher. Salem backed away, Howard started to say something, but was silenced with one punch to his head.
"Mmm, you're a fine one." Hitcher said, letting his eyes roam all over her body.
"I think you'll come with me." He finished, grabbing her chain quickly and giving it a good tug.
Howard watched as Salem tried to fight back, being drug away further and further by the green man before he finally blacked out.
When Howard awoke, he was buried up to his neck with sand. Looking at his surroundings, he noticed Vinces' head next to his.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"I lost the amulet. Someone snuck into my tent last night and took it." Vince said, looking around.
"Where's Salem?" Vince asked, not seeing her anywhere. Howard didn't have the heart to tell him that she was taken, and was thankfully interrupted as the blue dwarf described their punishment.
Naboo had noticed the amulet and map missing, as well as his room being trashed. Bollo had told him of the earlier conversation with Vince and it didn't take him long to start the carpet and take off flying to the strange planet.
"Again, Howard. Where's Salem." Vince said, glancing at him through the sunglasses a coyote had given him out of sympathy. Howards burnt head suck out of the ground.
"She was taken by a green man shortly after I took the amulet." He said, not wanting to die with any regrets. Vince felt his heart start to race with panic. His mind running through every possible scenario imaginable as to what could be happening to her.
Salem sat in the shade of a tree, Hitcher had stopped to relieve himself in the near by bushes, leaving his assistant to hold her chain.
"Just wait 'til I get in that fountain o' youth, love. You'll be beggin' for me." Hitcher said, zipping up his pants and coming back into view. Salem cringed at the mans assumption of her.
"Luck, don't fail me now... Please." She thought, hoping things worked out like they normally do in tight situations.
Naboo and Bollo landed in front of Vince and Howard. Naboo scolding them like children, then leaving them to start the carpet. Bollo dug them out, giving Howard a hard time while doing so.
"Where's the amulet?" Naboo asked.
"It was taken." Vince replied, looking over at Howard.
"We have to get it back, if the fountain gets used by the wrong people, who knows what could happen." Naboo said, glancing around, he scratched the back of his head.
"Where's Salem? I thought for sure she would be with you two." Naboo asked. Vince hung his head and elbowed Howard.
"She was taken by a green man, who had tricked me into giving him the amulet after stealing it from Vince." Howard admitted, hanging his head as well. Naboo sighed and brought out his traveling crystal ball from his robes. Looking deep into the depths of the ball, he saw Hitcher dragging Salem along by a chain, near the fountain of youth.
"We're in luck. He's taking her to the fountain with him." Naboo said, placing the ball back in his robes.
Hitcher heard footsteps coming from behind them and turned, jerking Salems' chain in the process. He peered around, spotting the three men and gorilla gaining ground on him. Salems' eyes lit up at the sight of her friends and started struggling once more.
"You're not getting away that easily, love." Hitcher said, tugging the struggling girl along as he summoned the evil tree to stop the group.
The group got cornered by the tree. It approached slowly at first, then raised one of its giant limbs.
"You're going to die." It said. Vince thought quickly and blew the horn the sandpaper man had given him. In a flash, the man had come to their aid. The tree trying to reason with him, but failed. Handing his gloves to Vince, he sanded the tree down into a table.
"I'll come back and varnish you later." He said. He took back the gloves and with a short good bye was off.
Hitcher had jumped into the shower part of the fountains scene. Salem looked away and around for something she could use to escape. Spotting a rock the size of her fist she bent down and grabbed it. She slowly crept up on the assistant holding her chain, hearing Hitcher rambling on about feeling like a teenager again.
She raised the rock and hit the assistant in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. She quickly gathered up the chain in her arms and looped it around her shoulder. She turned to leave, but spotted movement in the surrounding trees.
Naboo saw the girl and held a finger to his lips. She nodded and stood still.
"We have to stop him." Naboo said.
"But how? There's no way." Salem said.
"There is one way." Naboo said, grabbing the handle on the toilet and flushing it. The flush caused the water temperature to sky rocket and melt Hitcher down into a puddle of green ooze.
"Salem." Vince and Howard called. She turned to face them with a smile. Before being trapped in a hug by Howard.
"I'm so sorry." He said before releasing her.
"I know Howard." She replied smiling. She turned to Vince, who grabbed her up and spun her around, holding her tightly to him. He buried his face in her neck, inhaling the sweet scent of roses and lavender. Gaining his composure quickly, he sat her down on her feet and held her at arms length.
"I'm sorry too, I acted like a total w***." He said, looking her straight in the eyes. She smiled up at him, making his heart race once again.
"It's alright, Vince. We all know how easy it is to inflate your ego." She teased. Vince smiled at her and let go.
"Here Salem." Naboo said, holding up a key. She smiled and took the key quickly and unlocked the chains, leaving them on the forest floor.
They rode on the carpet through the air, and through space.
"It's too bad we didn't get to use the fountain." Vince said.
"What do you think this is?" Howard said, holding up a flask, filled with water from the fountain. The men began to drink.
"You're not suppose to drink it you idiots!" Naboo said, looking back at them.
Bollo was cooking on the stove when Naboo came in asking about the food fill with an aging serum, carefully measured to restore Vince and Howards' age. Salem sat holding the men turned infants close to her.
"I think one of them just had a little accident..." Naboo said, looking over at the babies laying on the girl. Salem just smiled and sighed, looking down at the infants.
"What am I going to do with you two." She said.