Vincent began to trudge throughout the mansion and using his pen drew the required sigil on each person he found then placing their soul stone into the sigil to return it. He decided he would start with Maribeth and go around the house from there.
The stone flashed and hovered a moment above the glowing sigil before it seeped slowly into the stone. By degrees, Maribeth's statuesque form gained shades of color -- until her eyes cleared and she made panicked sounds of pain and terror while the rest of her body regained its functions. Finally she collapsed to the floor, her head in her hands, shaking uncontrollably. It would take an hour or more before she was in any condition to speak, let alone get up on her own.
Others were luckier; depending on the inherent strength of the soul, some of the servants were quicker to recover. Turalee, the cook's apprentice, roared in frustration while still frozen in mid-run; when command of her own body returned to her, she stamped her feet and whirled to face Vincent, lilting only slightly with a lightheaded vertigo. "I sawed ev'ryting, sah," she snapped. "Ta light'nin', an' ta Grit. End o' th' world, o'er mah rottin' corpse." She rolled her shoulder and cracked her neck. "Tank ya, sah, I owes ya. We fitin' now, sah?" She punched her palm.
Quog, the gardener, had been asleep when he'd been turned to stone. Upon his revival he continued to sleep, to wake a bit later with no clue that anything was wrong, save for the peculiarity of the sky. He was a big man, built like a beer keg, who said little and had a face as expressionless as a wall. When he finally understood the gravity of their current situation, he grunted his support and proceeded to do as he was told with obedient and determined strength.
A few of the servants had lost their soulstones, probably stolen or devoured by Grit. Most of the eight that Vincent was able to revive awoke in varying states of incapacity.
"When this is over," said Randy in a careful tone,
"and we've saved the world, may I remind you that you left me atop the Wall." He hadn't until now quite realized his situation. He was beginning to enjoy the power he now had to destroy Grit completely in a single swing, but he now saw the very real possibility of what might happen to him afterward -- placed back on the hooks on the wall to talk to himself for an eternity.
“Roy. Would you as kind as to contact her Majesty?” Berry then focused her efforts trying to look outside the estate. “I feel she would like to be informed of our current situation.”
"Sure thing, Ma'am." Roy stood up straight, and he went silent while he relayed a message to one of Queenie's guards.
"I'm 'head of ya!" called a woman's voice in response to Berry's wish for weapons. Turalee -- with a wild frizz of hair and boots under a long skirt -- approached out of the halls, grinning and strained with the weight of a wide metal box that she carried resolutely toward Roy and Berry. She dropped it with a
thunk at Berry's feet and threw open the lid. "Five laser settin's, stun ta nuke, disinnegrate dem bastahs." She shoved a laser pistol into Berry's hands, then hefted up a bigger weapon. "En'gy web, one trigger, clear th' whole block. Dem Grit'll go runnin', ha!" She held up the bulky gun to her shoulder and peered through the sight at Roy. "We take back dis city, ma'am, we show 'em."
She gave a small sigh. "I wish I could go and talk to him now, without having to go through all the Grit and other dangerous stuff outside the Wall. Then we could get this all done much sooner, haha. But we'll get there eventually, me and Moth and everyone. I know we will. And when we do, Periphery will be free of Grit once again, and everything can go right back to normal. I promise you." Maria held the queen's hands between hers, in a gesture of support.
The queen's smile was softened by the tears in her eyes, and she nodded her agreement -- she'd needed that reassurance, a flicker of hope and confidence in what had been a lifetime of guilt and pessimism. "We will," she said in a breaking voice -- then swallowed and gave a firmer nod, once again taking on the poise of her position. "We will prevail here and now, restore peace, and ensure no one suffers like this again." She squeezed Maria's hands, breathed, and willed herself to believe.
A thunking and whirring noise preceded the approach of one of the queen's guardian robots, which stopped and gave a short bow. "Your majesty," she called in a crisp voice, "Roy has established communication from the field."
Queenie gave Maria's hand a reassuring pat, then wiped her eyes and stepped with resolve toward the robot. "I will speak with him."
Your Majesty, I'm here with Miss Berry, Roy's voice emerged from the queen's robot.
Back in Vincent's mansion -- where the windows were webbed in blue light and beyond them scales and claws and shadows shifted -- the queen's voice spoke clearly from Roy's chest.
I'm here. What's happening? Is everyone all right?"Is that the
queen?" Turalee squeaked, her eyes wide, staring up at Berry as if the older woman were suddenly a celebrity.
"We've secured the perimeter," Roy began the briefing in a professional tone. "Vince has revived a few already, but we're surrounded."
Do you need more weaponry to break through?"Seems this place is already equipped," Roy responded; the box that Turalee had brought still had quite a few varying weapons tucked between layers of silk. "With a distraction, we'll be golden."
I don't know yet what distractions I can provide from here, but I will make every effort to assist. Miss Berry, what is the situation from your perspective?
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