Chapter Nineteen. White Marble

White Marble

"There's no way this cockroach wing will cut your skin!," Derby exclaimed, as he tried repeatedly to follow Jeninqua's instructions to cut her head off.

"You must find the razor's edge within yourself. That is key. Without that, you may as well be trying to cut a diamond with butter." Jeninqua sat patiently, exposing her neck, as if for the vampire.

"I can't find a razor's edge inside myself! I only see fear and desperation when I look in there!" Derby was shaking and felt helpless and scared.

Upstairs, the Ninja team and Scontandia ghouls were marching toward the cellar prison cell, with visions of death and destruction leading their conviction.

"Remember," said the head Ninja female. "With the blunt end of the rifle, bludgeon the woman but be very careful not to rip her skin. She will escape our wrath if any light from inside of her is exposed. Instead, their white magic will foil our plans!"

Umpa came sliding into the bad guys as if he was meteor re-materializing into the atmosphere and the Ninja were all bowling pins. The head Ninja had avoided the collision and leaped into the air as if rebounding from a trampoline. Her legs wrapped around his neck and her arms were firing like pistons.

Umpa's mighty jaw withstood the beating for the first few seconds but finally he succumbed to the squeezing of her legs around his throat and the rapid punching of her hard fists to his head. By the time the Ninja Banshi had brought Umpa to the pavement, the other fighters had regrouped and had gathered around the fallen Buddha and were kicking him and punching, some using their rifles and bayonets.

Back downstairs in the cell, Derby was still trying to slice through Jeninqua's lovely thick neck with the fragile fragment of a bug's back. "Jeninqua. Please. There must be another way! A piece of glass, a sharp rock. Something! Or perhaps another plan altogether! Perhaps we can overcome them when they arrive. Yes, we can surprise them!"

Jeninqua composed herself and seemed to descend into a trance-like frame of mind. Her voice was soft and deep. "If your skill was refined, you could cut off an elephants tusk with air alone, simply by accessing the sharp edge of your internal power."

She paused and took a few deep breaths. Then Jeninqua continued teaching Derby in the fine art of slicing off the head of a fairy tale princess..."First you must become calm. Find the spherical center of peace near your abdomen. Imagine coming upon a very sharp edge and stopping yourself just before being cut by accident."

Derby seemed to follow her instructions and his breathing changed as he gathered his composure. Jeninqua continued, "Now attach yourself to this edge and see yourself carrying it from inside to out, so that you transfer that cutting razor out through your fingertips and into the wing of the cockroach."

Umpa lay fighting for breath, abandoned in the upstairs corridor and the evil fighting force was just outside the dungeon cell.

After the door openend and the whole force of black sludge came rushing in with rifles raised, there was the dull pounding sound as the butts of the rifles smashed and crushed the skull of the female wizard. Blow after blow beat her mercilessly..."wait," thought the head Ninja as she imagined those moves, "this will result in cuts around the eyes and mouth, which will rip her skin." Such had been the fantasy of the evil Ninja.

So the fighting leader developed a different plan..."After we throw open the door, we'll assemble around the woman and hold her down. We'll aim our rifle butts at her stomach and legs, being careful to pound her like meat on a hook, without breaking her skin! This will be a blast! We'll beat the hell out of her like there is no tomorrow and make the pathetic human watch and squirm!"

Inside the cell, a swirling hurricane of activity was swarming around the open neck hole of beautiful Jeninqua. Her head layed against the wall and from her eyes a blinding light poured out like laser beams. Derby found himself sucked into spinning air and light and electricity and suddenly he was somewhere else.

"Where are they?!"





The Scontandia force was dumbfounded. They had roared into the cell with rifles raised and ready to strike but there was no sign of either Jeninqua or Derby. A plain white marble rocked back and forth with just a hint of one last vibration, laying there at their feet.