Benny looked at them, then at the body. A proper burial would take hours, because of the attendant ceremony. But it would not be proper to leave the body to rot while they headed for the mountains. What could they do?
Then the body shimmered. Was Purp coming back to life? It glowed, becoming fire-bright. Then it disappeared.
“He's a wizard,” Dale said. “Can he raise himself from the dead?”
“That did not look like it,” Helena said. “That looked like an impromptu fire burial.”
“There was no mind manifesting,” Virtue said. “He did not come alive.”
“I think we have had a sign from above,” Benny said. “We are relieved of the chore of burial. The Protector has taken care of it directly.”
Dale nodded. “I think we are relieved. Now all we have to do is stop that horn from getting blown. Why do I suspect that will not be easy?”
“You have a suspicious mind,” Helena chided him. “As do I. Now stop dawdling and get to work.”
Benny resumed guiding the horse. They had to get to Gant, then figure out how to tackle the horn. Soon. Indeed, it promised to be a challenge. But if the matter were so urgent that the Protector needed to intervene to enable it, they certainly had to take it seriously.
Now Virtue joined him up front. “We do,” she agreed.
But at least he had her beside him.
“Always,” she said, smiling.
Epilogue
The boy had fallen asleep towards the end of the story, around the same time as the Pawben was describing the death of Red Rat Flack. It was probably a good thing the boy didn’t hear the rest. The boy wouldn’t remember a tenth of the story by the next day, and the Pawben had been rambling on for most of the day. His throat was dry, his stomach was empty and he didn’t feel like making the trek back to his cottage.
“Y’all can stay the night if you want. I’ll make some stew for supper.” Toadstool stood up and walked to the kitchen.
“The boy’s been pestering me forever and when I finally tell the story, he passes out.” The old man laughed.
“To him it’s just a story.”
“Sometimes I wish that’s all it ever was…” Pawben stared into the middle distance.
“When are you gonna tell him, Ben?”
Pawben was stirred by the mentioning of his real name. “Shhh! I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to tell him eventually, when he starts asking questions about his folks and whatnot. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind if I never told him at all. Sometimes, I wish Pakk never existed.”
“Oh, come on Ben. After all that talk about teamwork, mercy and forgiveness? What turned you so sour on your homeland? Those Sky Titans must’ve really done a number on you.”
“No, it wasn’t them…it’s what happened long after that.”
“Well, no world is perfect, not even Gold Mulch Wood. Pakk can’t be that bad.” Toadstool began pouring contents into a large pot on his stove.
“I’m almost two hundred and fourteen years old, and have spent many years in dozens of worlds and dimensions. But to this day, none were as terrible as Pakk was to become. Sure, I helped win Dale to the good side, we defeated the Kudgel uprising, survived the wrath of the Sky Titans, and more. But eventually everything has to go sour.”
Toadstool attempted to change the subject. “You’re that old? But if the lad is Dale’s grandson, that’s not even feasible.”
“Time works differently in different worlds. I once spent twenty years in one world, and upon returning to Pakk, I’d found only a few weeks had passed since my departure.”
“I dare say if you wrote down all your adventures there wouldn’t be enough room in the whole wood to contain their contents!”
“And you won’t shut up until you make me tell you every one, will you?” Pawben grinned.
“You know it! But don’t bother telling anymore today. Tomorrow we'll go for a picnic and you can tell us about the Sky Titans, and how you earned your nickname, Benny the Beast!”
A twinge shot through the Pawben’s back when he heard the nickname that would brand him for most of his life…the name that would bring about the death of his most dearly loved friends and family. Toadstool saw the look on the Pawben’s face, and quickly tried to diffuse the old man’s rage. “I’m sorry, Ben. I didn’t realize…”
“…how much of an idiot you are?” Pawben winked to show there was no hostility. “I tell these stories because I’m trying to help others prevent and stay away from the things I fell into. The message of this story is to always treat living creatures, especially intelligent ones, with love, respect and dignity, regardless of race, skin color, gender, or past experience. No two people react to the same thing the same way. If you treat someone like a sub-human beast their entire life, how do you expect them to grow up to become anything more than that?”
“Kind of like the old saying, ‘what goes around comes around?’” Toadstool asked.
“Something like that.”
Pawben carried the boy up into Toadstool’s bedroom and tucked him in along with Flack the rat, who had dozed off as well. Pawben and Toadstool stayed up into the late hours of the night, playing cards, telling jokes, and playing pranks on each other. For at least one night, Pawben, otherwise known as Benny Clout, Benny the Beast, Pa Ben, Wayne Pawben, and countless other names, felt as if he were sitting back at the Fox Den with Laughing Jack, Virtue, Dale, Helena and Bum. He could almost hear Nap's annoying yet beautiful singing in the background. Pawben still had some years left to live, but he was reassured by the thought of one day reuniting with his friends, wives, and children. Later that night, just before dozing off on the couch after playing dice with Toadstool, he heard the voice of the Protector speaking to him: They miss you too, Benny. By the way, Jack and Dale think you should trim that scraggily beard. Benny chuckled and fell asleep. It felt like Virtue was holding his head in her arms.
Author's Note: Piers Anthony
Amazon Expedient is the sequel to Virtue Inverted, and there is more to come. In the first episode we saw how a vampire turned out to be the nicest girl you'd want to meet; in this one we saw how a tattooed Amazon warrior woman made a real difference in the lives of ordinary folk in ways other than combat. Virtue is a vampire, and Helena is a warrior, but we value them for their other qualities, such as gentleness and expedience. It's not smart to judge anyone superficially. Who knows what we'll discover hereafter?
Between these books I turned 81, and no, I am not yet ready to humor the bucket that says KICK ME. I like mainly to write, but life can get in the way. The day before I settled down to address my collaborator Ken Kelly's work on Amazon, lightning struck our house. No, I don't think the Protector was trying to warn me off. But it did slow things somewhat. We lost our security alarm system—there were actually scorch marks on its panel— our phone—fortunately we have cell phones to fill in— our upstairs air conditioner—my working study is upstairs; in fact it sounded as if the thunderbolt was ten feet over my head, as it may have been—my computer modem, and assorted other devices. My wife and I—we've been married 59 years—had to sleep downstairs to avoid the stifling heat, with the complications that entailed. At least we didn't lose our electricity or water; it could have been worse. Overall, it cost us about $5,000 in repairs. I could not run the computer long, lest it overheat and degrade in the Florida summer, so it took me several days to catch up on Ken's material. I was also suffering through the dread Soft Diet, as I had all my upper teeth out, to be replaced with implants and a denture, and was amid a four month healing period. Throughout my life I have had little but trouble from my teeth, regardless how well I take care of them, so finally I'm getting rid of them. So I couldn't even grind my teeth when there were problems; there were no teeth to grind.
After a week, when things were mostly back to normal, I started writing, and Ken wrote, and I wrote, back and forth in the manner of the collaboration it is. It continued from there, and in October we had it written. We hope you like
the result.
You can check me out further at my web site, www.HiPiers.com, where I run a monthly blog-type column, and an ongoing survey of electronic publishers and related services, intended to assist writers who need such information.
Amazon Expedient was proofread by Scott M Ryan and Anne White.
Kenneth Kelly’s Author’s Note
Virtue Inverted started as an unnamed, handwritten manuscript in my final year of high school; even then I’d had hopes of developing it into a series. After completing Virtue with Piers Anthony my mind began to race with ideas as I began to piece together an outline for its sequel, Amazon Expedient. Piers Anthony, who had inspired and helped me realize my calling as a writer, had been gracious enough to help me write the first book. But would he be willing to help me with further projects? If you’re reading this author’s note you already know the answer. The story itself – though not necessarily the overall plot structure – for Amazon Expedient was more complex than its prequel, with a greater number of characters, battles and places explored. It also introduces the name of the fantasy world both Virtue and Amazon are set in: Pakk. Could I have come up with something better? That’s a stupid question. Of course, I could have! But, since Piers Anthony and I wrote these books together, I came up with an acronym made up of the initials of our pen names. We’ll see what the readers think of it.
Like its prequel, Amazon Expedient contains religious themes, primarily through the character of the Protector (Search/God). However, I tried to portray messages through these stories that could aid and apply to anyone. In Virtue Inverted, through characters like Dale Beranger, I tried to show that no matter what one has done in his/her past, that person can still have a second chance at living a good and fulfilling life. It also teaches, as Jesus does in the Gospels, that before wrath should come mercy, as Benny and Virtue forgave Dale’s horrific deeds and helped him suppress his dark side. These same lessons can be seen in Amazon Expedient, but in this current novel, I was mainly exploring the theme of relationship. What do I mean by this? It is my belief that human beings were always meant to live together in caring, compassionate relationships. Regardless of one’s race, culture, religious beliefs, etc., we should always treat others with the dignity and respect they deserve. By mistreating and discriminating against people whose ways we may not agree with or understand, we are setting everyone up for disaster. Some people can handle abuse for seemingly infinite periods of time and remain in complete control while others, like Flack, Purp and the Kudgels, reach their breaking point and seek revenge. But the reason for treating people with dignity and respect shouldn’t just be because we don’t want them to ‘freak out,’ but because we care for them as human beings and want them to live peaceful lives. Benny and the other characters of this book are able to learn these lessons from each other and their adversaries. Maybe these ideas will help prevent real-life confrontations as well. But then again, it is just fiction.
Writing with Piers Anthony has been a spectacular experience. It has motivated me to get serious with my writing and utilize my skills and imagination. I wrote and worked a lot more for this book than its predecessor: the prologue and epilogue, chapters 1-7 and 11-14. The rest was a combination of my pre-outlined ideas for the story and Mr. Anthony’s writing and creative input. His abilities are still far superior to mine, and I knew he would be able to tie this story together in a way I couldn’t. I especially appreciate his wife, Cam, for helping us come up with the name for the character Helena the Amazon. I also thank Mr. Anthony and his wife for allowing me to visit and meet them in person, for which I will be eternally grateful. I hope we can continue being friends and collaborators for years to come. Goodbye for now.
About the Authors
Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors, and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. Anthony is the author of the Xanth series, as well as many other best-selling works. Piers Anthony lives with his wife in Inverness, Florida.
Kenneth Kelly is a 26 year old native of Plant City, Fl. He has been an avid writer his whole life, and has had a number of short works published during grade school and college. He has a Bachelors degree in English Professional Writing from St. Leo University. He is the author of 'Trespassing Through Time.' Outside of writing he is a 3rd degree black belt in Tar Kwon Do.
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