by Seth Ring
One of the apprentices was the first to notice Thorn, dropping the dishes he was carrying in his shock. The loud bang of the plates rattling on the floor drew everyone’s attention and the head cook quickly ran over to salute Thorn as one of the other cooks quickly swept up the dropped dishes. Following the example of the head cook, everyone in the kitchen stopped what they were doing to join him in paying their respects to Thorn. Stepping forward, Thorn dismissed everyone else back to their jobs with a friendly wave.
“I’m sorry, my lord, I had no idea that you would be coming down to the kitchen. You needn't have come down, my lord. You could have simply sent for me.” The head cook was an elderly female Wolfkin with grey tipped ears with a motherly look. Shooting a glance at the tall wolfkin standing behind Thorn, she frowned slightly. “Or you could have sent Del’har.”
“Hello, Mother.” The captain greeted the head cook. “His lordship wanted to do some cooking so he asked me to bring him to you specifically. He has need of a large order of your famous breakfast pastries.”
“Oh? You mean my puff pastries? They are rather good if I do say so myself. You know, I’ve won awards for them. I’m pleased your lordship found them to your taste. How many batches do you need, my lord? I’m happy to be of assistance.”
“Um, I think we need 3,250 pastry puffs?” Captain Del’har double checked the paper that Thorn had given him. “Yeah, 3,250. We need to stack them up as tall as Baron Greymane.”
“3,250 puffs? That’ll be some display. Who are you feeding? An army? Lets see.” Scrunching her nose, the head cook walked back to the table where she had been sitting and pulled over her notebook. Sitting down on her stool, she began to run some calculations. “32 pastries per sheet, so we’ll need, um, 102 sheets. Ishva, check to see how much flour we have. My lord, this is going to take a while to put together. Thankfully each sheet will only need ten minutes to bake, and we can bake forty sheets at a time. The bigger issue is that it will take some time for the dough to rise. I’d say that we’ll need a total of six hours to prep the dough and make the pastries. Hmm.”
Putting down her pencil, the head cook called over a few of the other cooks and began to confer with them in a low voice. After doing a brief inventory, she turned back to Thorn and bobbed her head.
“It should not be a problem, my lord. We can have them for you first thing in the morning. Where would you like me to send them when they are finished?”
I’ll just take them. Can you show me how you make them? I’d like to help.
“You want to help us? Of course, you can help. After all, these kitchens are technically yours and we all work for you. Though I worry that such menial tasks do not suit your position well. I would be afraid that if anyone were to see that the Baron was working in the kitchen we would become a laughingstock.” Despite the words that were coming out of her mouth, it was eminently obvious that the head cook was not comfortable having Thorn around.
“Mother, shhh.” Captain Del’har stepped forward to gently pull the head cook away. Lowering his voice he whispered into her ear, causing her eyes to brighten considerably. Pulling herself from the captain’s grip, the head cook curtsied to Thorn.
“It would be my pleasure to show your lordship how to make puff pastries. If you would come this way, I’ll get you started.”
Though he had no idea what the captain had whispered to make his mother change her thoughts so quickly, Thorn was happy with the result and was soon immersed in mixing dough. The cooks divided the job into smaller parts, allowing them to speed up production of the pastries, working around Thorn’s large frame as they rushed about their business.
Helping where he could, Thorn assisted with things like lifting the bags of flour and sugar, and prepping the stacks of baking sheets. Good at following orders, he soon fit right in, and within no-time the head cook was barking orders at him like she did with the rest of the cooks. After the dough was mixed it was rolled out into thin sheets and folded over before going on a rolling rack and then to the refrigerator.
The refrigerator was actually a massive room with shelves that were packed with perishable foods. Arcane runes pulsed with blue light, radiating waves of cold air and reminding Thorn of the ice spells that Mina cast. To allow the dough to rise, the cooks left the sheets on the rolling racks and pushed them into the aisles. Leaving them to sit, the head cook showed Thorn how to mix the cinnamon and sugar mixture that her puff pastries were famous for.
Mixing up cinnamon, brown sugar, diced apples, and crushed walnuts in a massive bowl, she had Thorn set the bowl in the fridge and then made a light frosting from confectioner’s sugar with a little bit of lemon. Once all the food prep was done, Thorn sat with the cooks as they chatted about what was going on in the fortress. At one point, the head cook brought over a new sort of desert she was working on and gave it to Thorn who devoured it. Seeing how quickly he ate it, the head cook decided that Thorn must be hungry and soon all the cooks were making their signature dishes for him to try.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Coming through, hot, hot, hot.”
“Put them on the rack! Hey, where is the frosting?”
“It’s coming, it’s coming.”
“Well pick up the pace, we still have nearly forty trays in the oven!”
“Sorry, sorry,” a young Wolfkin apprentice hurried over with a large bowl filled with lemon drizzle. “We had to go get more confectioner’s sugar.”
“Put it on table three. Hey! Hey, be careful!” The cook who was overseeing the apprentices removing the delicate pastries from the trays rushed past Thorn who was sitting with the head cook, drawing spirals of frosting on a batch of pastries.
“The key is in the precise cooking time.” Watching Thorn as he carefully squeezed the lemon flavored frosting onto the top of a puff pastry, she nodded. “That’s great. I like to add different designs as that makes the display look nicer. We could also do some with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar if you’d like. They are a bit harder to eat, but the powdered sugar version is a really big hit.”
Giving a thumbs up, Thorn finished the tray he was working on and then lifted it carefully, putting it away in his inventory. Thankfully he did not have to worry about the trays spilling while they were in his inventory, otherwise he would have created a sticky mess.
Despite the frantic pace, the kitchen ran like a well oiled machine. The apprentices rushed this way and that, carrying out tasks for the cooks who each operated in a specific area of the kitchen. Watching the controlled chaos working itself out, Thorn was quite impressed. Like clockwork, tray after tray of decorated puff pastries were delivered to Thorn’s side and disappeared into his inventory.
It was close to two in the morning when the bustle died down and, yawning, many of the apprentices headed to bed. The head cook smiled happily in the mostly empty kitchen as she watched Thorn put a flower design on the last pastry. Putting the piping bag down, Thorn glanced around and then popped the decorated puff pastry in his mouth.
Giving the head cook a smile, Thorn stood up and put his hands together as if he was praying, thanking her for all her help. His inventory was filled with puff pastries, and, if he hurried, he could still get a few hours of sleep before they had to leave in the morning. Patting Captain Del’har, who had been hovering nervously over his mother the whole night, on the shoulder, Thorn went to his room and stretched out on his massive bed.
Dawn came quickly, and along with it, the alarm that Thorn had set. Rising, he went to the bathroom and washed his face. There was not really any need as the game took care of the player’s physical needs, and he was instantly alert after waking up, but there was something settling in the routine. After swinging by the dining room and grabbing a few plates of food, Thorn met with Mina and Velin at the citadel’s back gate.
Handing a slice of apple to Akira who was riding on his shoulder, Thorn and the girls waited together. Thorn took the chance to eat his breakfast, occasionally feeding bits to Akira, as Mina
chatted about some of the things she hoped to see on their quest. They had waited almost ten minutes and Velin’s frown was beginning to deepen when an old man hurried out of the forest.
“Hey, Baxby, where have you been? We’ve been waiting here forever.” Mina tilted her head as she noticed the large pack on Baxby’s back.
“Heh, sorry about that.” The old treasure hunter rubbed his hands together as he nodded to Velin and Thorn. “These old bones don’t move quite like they used to.”
“Do you need more time for preparations?” Velin’s eyebrows rose slightly as she looked at Baxby.
“Haha, no, no. I’m all set.” Slightly embarrassed, Baxby shook his head. “We can get on the road any time.”
“Excellent. Let’s set off.”
The hike up the mountain in the early morning light was peaceful, and accompanied by Mina and Baxby’s banter, the time passed quickly. Once they were close to the top of the mountain, Akira jumped down from her perch on Thorn’s shoulder and ran on ahead. The Emperor of the Sky was still sitting where he had been the night before on the mountain’s peak. Opening one of his eyes a crack when he heard the sound of Akira coming over, his head shot upright when he recognized her.
Flapping his wings, Vento rose from where he sat, his massive wingspan covering the entire top of the mountain. Soft reddish-gold light glinted from his feathers and the sun shining behind him gave him an aura of majesty. Cresting the mountain as Vento stretched, Baxby was momentarily stunned at the sight of the Imperial Roc. His mood quickly turned to excitement, causing him to lean over to whisper to Mina.
“Is that our ride?”
Unfortunately for Baxby, the Imperial Roc’s hearing was almost as sharp as his sight, causing his head to snap around at the old treasure hunter’s words. Feeling the fierce gaze settle on him, Baxby paled and took a step back. Yet even as he moved, the massive bird’s head tracked him and the overwhelming feeling of facing a predator surfaced in his chest. Knowing that he had offended the mighty creature, Baxby quickly glanced at Thorn and then dropped his head.
[Morning!] Forcefully injecting excitement into his thoughts, Thorn quickly got a few of the puff pastries out of his inventory, hoping to distract Vento and smooth over the situation. Thankfully, the smell of freshly baked pastries was strong, causing Vento’s aggressive stance to melt away.
[Hey, Thorn, you made it! Wow, those smell so good. Ooh, it looks like there are different types. I detect cinnamon! How did you know I like cinnamon! And is that lemon? Oh boy, these are going to be so good.]
Excited by the incoming feast, Vento fluffed his feathers, instantly becoming nearly twice as large. Assisted by his teammates, Thorn began to stack out the puff pastries. Laying down a few trays, he directed Baxby and Velin to begin laying the foundation layer while he got racks of trays out of his inventory. Seeing full racks appearing on the top of the mountain, Vento was taken aback, but his attention was soon reclaimed by the sweet smelling pastries.
Mina helped carry trays of puff pastries over to Baxby and Velin, occasionally stopping to feed Akira little bits of pastry. Through careful work a steep pyramid stack of pastries began to climb. After forty minutes the stack was as tall as Mina and Vento was so excited that he couldn’t stay still. Hopping from one leg to the other, he sent tremors through the mountain, earning himself a glare from Velin after his antics nearly caused the delicate structure to collapse.
[Ahahaha, sorry, sorry.] Bobbing his head in apology, Vento launched himself from the top of the mountain, shooting down its side. Snapping his wings open, his rapid descent turned into a glide and he rapidly gained distance from the side of the mountain. A flap of his wings sent him rocketing back up into the air where he began to turn excited circles around the peak where Thorn and the others had taken a brief moment from their work to watch the massive Imperial Roc’s flight.
Eventually, the mound of pastries got too high for both Baxby and Velin so Thorn took over, carefully placing each pastry on top of the narrowing pile. Reaching up with the final pastry to cap the pyramid, Thorn stepped back and smiled. The shear weight of the pastries on the top were beginning to crush the lower layers so he quickly looked for Vento.
[Alright, here you go. One giant stack of puff pastries for you.] As soon as the words left his mind, the corner of Thorn’s eye caught a slight shift in the pastries and he looked over just in time to see the whole stack beginning to collapse! Time seemed to crawl as his eyes widened and he began to reach for the pyramid. Even knowing that there was no way he would be able to prevent its fall, Thorn’s instinct was to try and catch the structure.
Up in the air above the mountain Vento’s eyes were fixed on the pastries when he heard Thorn’s words. Giving an excited cry, his wings beat once and his massive figure disappeared from mid air, appearing on the other side of the mountain as if he had teleported. On the top of the mountain, Thorn and the others felt an odd sensation, as if the air around them had abruptly vanished. As quickly as it had come, the feeling of being in a void vanished and everything snapped back to normal speed.
Under Thorn’s astonished gaze, the pyramid of puff pastries had completely vanished into thin air. Akira, who had been watching all of this, jumped up onto Thorn’s shoulder and walked down his still outstretched arm. Perched on the end of his hand, she peered around in curiosity, wondering where the giant stack of pastries had gone.
[Mmhmm, mhm, these are so good! Mmhm!] Landing on the mountain peak with a flurry of snow, the Emperor of the Sky licked remnants of frosting from his beak.
[Did you…] Looking at Vento’s massive body and then back down at the spot where the tower of puff pastries had been, Thorn couldn’t help but blink. He knew that Imperial Rocs were fast, but the speed that the Emperor of the Sky exhibited went way beyond just being fast. Even with his perception magnified Thorn had been unable to catch even the shadow of the Imperial Roc.
[Ahaha, it’s so great to have sugar again. Delicious.] Unperturbed by the incredulous looks he was receiving, Vento wiggled his body in happiness.
“Ahem.” Coughing into her fist, Velin gave Thorn a glance and gestured toward Vento with her head.
[Ah, yeah. Glad you enjoyed them. So, how do you feel about giving us a ride to the capital city?]
[Sure, I can do that. That’s not far. What are you doing in the capital city? I can’t drop you off in the actual city because it’d freak out the emperor. Plus the shields are not super friendly to flying creatures. But I can get you close. Is, like, fifty miles close enough?]
[Fifty miles should be great. We can travel the rest of the way.] Nodding, Thorn gestured for the others to gather up. [We need to take an Aether Gate from the capital city to Rasyn.]
[Rasyn? The Elf island? I’ve been there a couple times. I did a fly over a few months ago, actually. Some shady stuff happening over there. A lot of towns on fire. I didn’t stick around long enough to see what was happening, but be careful. Haha, I’d hate it if my new friends got barbequed. How else would I get more sweets? Haha, that is a joke. Here, climb on up.]
Continuing his chatter, Vento stretched out his wing, pressing the end against the ground to create a ramp up onto his back. Mina, Velin, and Baxby all carefully walked up to the Imperial Roc’s broad back. Thorn, on the other hand, looked at the stretched out wing skeptically.
[Come on, you have to get on if you want to make it to the capital. Can’t give you a ride if you stay on the mountain.]
[Um. Okay.] Stepping cautiously forward, Thorn put one foot on Vento’s wing and carefully shifted his weight forward.
[Ow, ow. Holy mother of the sky! How much do you weigh? Ow! Sheesh, you need to lay off those pastries, haha.]
Stepping back, Thorn looked at the Imperial Roc with a furrowed brow. Despite Vento’s size, Thorn had been concerned that he was simply too heavy for the bird to carry. In order to stay in the air, even large birds were extremely light, and adding Thorn’s weight made flight an impossibility.
[Wow,
no wonder you called me. There is absolutely no way that Roko could have carried you. Hey, why the long face? Here, step back. Keep going. Actually, maybe go down the hill a bit. Haha, I’m going to show you a magic trick.] Shooing Thorn and Akira down the side of the mountain with a wave of his wing, Vento carefully stood up. Mina, Velin, and Baxby were still standing on his back but they found that their footing was completely stable despite his motion.
Lifting his head, the Imperial Roc opened his beak, a deep arcane sound rolling from his throat like the rumble of thunder, and stretched. Wings spreading further and further, his feathers broadened visibly under the team’s feet. Sharp talons left deep gouges in the earth as his body grew, pushing aside snow and dirt until his massive clawed feet could barely fit on Fang Spire’s peak. After a brief moment, Vento examined his new size and gave a nod, cocking his head to look at Thorn who was completely covered by one of his massive wings.
[Alright, there we go. Haha, shouldn’t be an issue now. Hmm. Here, walk up this way.] Dipping his head down, Vento gestured for Thorn and Akira to climb up his beak. Akira scampered up without a problem, and though it took Thorn a bit more effort, he was soon on Vento’s back with the other members of the team.