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The Last Mask - Act 2 Slice 6

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The Last Mask


- Act 2 -


- Slice 6 -


Golden leaves gently fell from the ancient trees, in the depths of the calm woods, as the little figure of a gypsy lady continued to dance to the soulful melody of the music box, watched by four unique people sitting on the grass.

"Will we have to wait long?" asked Joseph, completely entranced by the little figure.

"No, not long at all," responded the Grin, still wrapped up in his big coat.

"So who was that man back there, and why was he after us?" said Kelly, drawing her attention away from the music, and getting a silent look from the mime called Whisp.

"He wasn't after you, lady," said the Grin, shifting underneath his coat, "he was after Joseph."

"So who was he then?"

"Yes, who was he?" asked Joseph, also seeming to now rouse himself from the dream of this place.

"He is called the Harlequin," said the Grin, sharing a knowing look with Whisp. "He works for the Powers, and they want you, Joseph."

"Why?"

"I don't know. You must be special."

"Special?" said Kelly with a laugh. "The boy who couldn't find a face is special?"

"Hey, Kelly," said Joseph hurt by her comment.

"That's what stopped him finding Joseph," said the Grin. "If he had painted his face the Harlequin would have been able to see him."

"And you painting this on my face helped me to remain hidden from him?" said Joseph to Whisp.

She just looked at him in silence, but he understood from that look that her work had indeed hidden him from this other man.

"And he killed everyone else because he couldn't find me, right?" said Joseph. "If he could have just seen where I was, all those others would have lived? If I had painted my face in time he would have easily found me and not had to kill all the others in that big top?"

"Not necessarily. The Harlequin is a man of great rage, there is nothing to say he wouldn't have still killed everyone, once he had found you anyway."

"But we don't know that," said Joseph.

"Trust me, I know." Said the Grin.

"So these Powers are the big deal around here then?" said Kelly.

"They are the biggest deal around here."

"And they want Joseph because he might be special?"

"Maybe."

"So why do you want him? Why did you pull him out of there?" asked Kelly trying to understand all of this, trying to comprehend why these others were so interested in her friend, who had never seemed to have anything special about him before.

"We was sent to help him, to save him from the Powers," said the Grin.

"To save him? Save him from what? You said you didn't know what they wanted him for," said Kelly now getting suspicious.

"If the Powers are involved then it won't be for any good reason."

"This is getting better and better," said Joseph, looking very despondent by all this gloomy talk.

"It is," said Kelly. "Although still far from clear."

"So who sent you to help me?"

The Grin hesitated, glancing again at his companion the mime, and Kelly wondered why he had done this before giving his reply.

"The Lady sent us."

"The Lady?" said Kelly. "Does anyone around here have a normal name? No wait don't answer that one, I think I already know the answer."

"Yes the Lady," said the Grin, ignoring Kelly's jibe about their names, "another interested party in the Joke who wants to help you, Joseph."

"And how is she going to help me?"

"I don't know," said the Grin, seeming to get uncomfortable about something, "The Lady sent us to get you before the Harlequin did. That is all I know."

"You don't seem to know very much at all," said Kelly.

"I am sorry I cannot be of more help on that, but it is all they have told me."

"And you just came and got Joseph, knowing the risk that you faced from this Harlequin person? That is either very stupid or very kind on your part."

"Money," said Joseph, looking at the Grin wrapped up in his big coat, "or whatever passes for money around here. That is why you came, they paid you, didn't they?"

"Of course," said the Grin, as Whisp gave him a faint smirk.

"You are just the hired help?" said Kelly, in disbelief.

"I am the Grin, and if someone wants an important job done, then they hire the Grin. I pulled you out of there, Joseph, I am the only one who could have done that."

"Really?" said Kelly.

"You do seem to be good at your job, whatever that is," said Joseph. "And I guess we will have to take your word for it, that you are our best hope in getting out of this mess. So what happens now, you just have to take us to this lady and she will make things right?"

"It is not that easy."

"I knew he was going to say that," said Kelly. "I knew there was going to be another twist in all of this, another development we would not like."

"Why, what is wrong, Grin?" asked Joseph.

"We have been thrown a bit off course, due to our hurried exit previously. Hence our unfortunate stop in that other place."

"And that means what?" asked Kelly, noticing Whisp seemed very uncomfortable about this mention of her obvious failure before. Kelly was not liking any of this at all, and really beginning to mistrust these two strangers.

"It means we have a bit longer journey ahead of us now." Said the Grin looking up, as they could now all hear the sound of something coming towards them.

"What is that?" asked Joseph.

Through the woods, although it looked too big to possibly do so, came what looked like a gypsy's wooden caravan, but this was nothing like the caravans that Kelly and Joseph had seen before. It was the size of a large house, a giant wooden caravan the size of a house being pulled along by a single horse, that was the skinniest creature they had ever seen.

"Ah, here is our ride," said the Grin jumping to his feet, "come on everyone."

"Our ride?" said Joseph looking at Kelly.

"We should be getting use to it around here by now," said Kelly.

"I suppose so," said Joseph watching the large caravan approach, "but somehow I don't think we will."


The Last Mask Copyright ©2010 Stephen Winterflood
The Last Mask - Act 2 Slice 6

Presenting the next slice of the second Act of my Gothic clown novel

All together now "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside, I do like to be beside the sea."

- All comments welcome as the tale unfolds -

:dance: And if you like the tale please suppoort the book on Authonomy - [link] :dance:

The folder below contains character designs for the novel and other chapters.

The Last Mask Folder - [link]

- Other Chapters -

Curtain Raiser - [link]
Act 1 Slice 1 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 2 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 3 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 4 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 5 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 6 - [link]
Act 1 Slice 7 - [link]

Act 2 Slice 1 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 2 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 3 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 4 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 5 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 6 - [link]
Act 2 Slice 7 - [link]
The Last Mask Copyright (c) 2010 Stephen Winterflood
© 2010 - 2024 Winterflood
Comments2
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blucrimson's avatar
What a large strange caravan?
And so their ride has arrived....
to take them where?
to whom?
And through what new slice of the Joke will they travel?

I fear Grin is only in this for himself...
but what is his payment
maybe more importantly
who owns Joseph now?