Book 2: Chapter 25: Former Strangers

Book 2: Chapter 25: Former Strangers

With a delicious taste lingering in my mouth and the campfire warming my skin, I beamed a smile at Corporal Claws.

“What took so long, you little scamp? We’ve already started...” I trailed off and pursed my lips, glaring at the cage she dragged behind her. “Claws...”

She cocked her head, giving me a full-toothed grin.

“Did you stop for a little snack of oysters on your way here?”

She glanced back at the open cage and the notably bare patch on one side.

Yes, she chirped, her grin never disappearing.

“You scoundrel! We have guests!”

She bowed her head in shame, but slipped one paw into the cage and removed another oyster. With her head still bowed, she snicked it open with a claw, slurped it into her mouth, then threw it over one shoulder, discarding the evidence.

“You can apologize to our new friends here by helping me shuck the rest. Come on.”

It took the dextrous otter and I little time to open both cages of oysters. When the first cage was almost complete, we found our first treasure. Claws chirped to get my attention, and as I glanced over, I caught the shine of an oyster slipping into her pocket.

“Good girl,” I whispered, reaching over.

She preened at my praise, leaning into the scratch I gave her.

“Let’s open the rest. We might find more.”

Her eyes gleamed, and we raced to shuck the remaining mollusks. It didn’t take me long to conclude that she was much faster than I was. Despite how deft I had become with my small knife, I was no match for the sharp claws of an oyster-munching machine.

“A shame we didn’t find any more pearls...” I said to her as I plated up the last of the oysters.

As if waiting for the complaint, mischief sparkled in her eyes. She put a paw in her pocket, and when she withdrew it, three little orbs reflected in the moonlight.

“Three? From those two cages?”

She radiated delight as she nodded.

“Oh, you are the best girl.”

I rubbed her all over and she leaned every which way, following my scratches as they moved. We turned to make our way back to the fire just in time for Maria to yell.

“You’re a what?”

“A royal,” Keith answered, straightening his back.

“A royal!” she repeated. “Ares’s shield, did you know Keith is a royal, Fischer?”

I smiled at her wide-eyed amazement.

“They all have rather impressive backgrounds.”

“You flatter us,” Ellis said, not looking up from his pocketbook.

“We had rather impressive backgrounds,” Theo corrected, smirking at Keith’s posture. “We left that behind to become common fishermen.”

I snorted.

“And to raise some poor bloke to godhood.”

“That too.”

I set the oysters down next to my arrayed spices, shaking my head at how easily he agreed to such a ridiculous statement.

“All right. I have a few different ideas for ways to prepare them, but I’m lacking some necessary ingredients—I’ll just make one kind tonight and hope it works out. If the first batch sucks, I’ll have to try another combination.” I turned to Peter. “To address the elephant in the room, you’re probably a much better chef than I am, mate, but I’d still love to make a meal for you.”

“I can help, even if you just want me to chop ingredients.”

“Nonsense, mate—this is a welcome feast for my soon-to-be-pals of the fishing club. Let me handle the food. I’m open to any critique you have afterward, though!”

Before he could offer resistance, I started preparing the meal.

***

“That smells divine, Fischer,” Theo said, sniffing the aroma in the air as I added a clumpy powder and dried herbs to the pot.

“Will you tell us what it is already?” Maria demanded, her patience well and truly at its limits.

I chuckled softly.

“I suppose I can, now that it’s ready.” I nodded at the pot as I spooned the sauce within atop the arrayed oysters. “I’m attempting a bastardization of what my world calls a roux. Do you know what that is, Peter?”

He raised an eyebrow, confusion clear on his face.

“It’s one of the first things you learn to make when training in the royal kitchens, but it’s, uh, supposed to be a secret—a closely guarded one at that. You combine fat and flour in equal parts as a thickening base, right?”

“Right. What I’ve made here is like that, but I’ve used much less flour than beef tallow.” I put the tray of oysters on the fire, then covered them with another tray, sealing the heat in. “The sauce should be thick and packed with flavor, especially after what I just added. Do you know what bechamel sauce is? Mornay?”

“No.”

I grinned.

“Why doesn’t your food taste this good, Peter?” Keith asked.

“I’d like to say it’s because you’ve only eaten my campfire cooking,” he replied, then gestured at the fire before him. “But these were also cooked on a campfire, and they are the tastiest thing I’ve ever had...”

“Is all his food this good?” Theo asked, glancing between Barry and Maria.

The former nodded, the latter grimaced.

“Unfortunately,” she said, winking at me. “It’s enough to give someone an inferiority complex.”

“Tell me about it...” Peter mumbled, staring down at the sand.

Danny boomed a laugh and slapped him on the back.

“We’ll get you on the path of ascension and acquire you some cooking skills before you know it.”

“He’s right, mate,” I said. “You’ll likely put my food to shame in no time at all, especially considering your background. I only learned to cook from watching videos.”

“... videos? What are video—“

“Don’t!” Barry and Maria both yelled, getting in the way of the obfuscating response already forming in my mind.

A laugh bubbled up from within me, and as it subsided, I let out a content sigh.

“Don’t worry about it—I’m sure Barry can explain when he gives you the tour later.”

“The tour?” Ellis asked, but I just shook my head.

“You’ll have to wait and see—until then, we have a bunch more oysters...”

***

“Thanks again, Fischer,” Barry said, nursing his overfull stomach. “Sorry we ate so much.”

“Nonsense, mate.” Fischer gave him a wide grin. “Food is there to be eaten, and Claws was all too happy to fetch another batch.”

They’d swiftly eaten through the first two cages, and at seeing their readiness to continue eating, Fischer had sent the otter off to fetch more without hesitation.

“Well, we’d better get going,” Barry said. “I’ve yet to show them around.”

“Of course!” Fischer cast his gaze over the newly arrived fishermen. “It was really nice meeting you guys.”

“It was,” Maria agreed, putting her arm around Fischer’s waist and hugging him right. “I’m excited to go fishing with you guys!”

The five former strangers all said their goodbyes, and Barry led them away from the fire. Theo lingered a moment longer than the rest, watching Fischer and Maria walk toward the coast with their hands entwined.

“Something wrong?” Barry asked, and Theo gave him a smile.

“Nothing, Barry—I’m just glad to see Fischer happy. So much of what we came here to do had moral questionability surrounding it, but seeing the man we plan to raise to godhood living a normal life and experiencing love... it washed most of my hesitation away.”

“You still feel hesitation, though?”

Theo nodded.

“Who wouldn’t? We don’t truly know what ascension entails and how it could impact him.”

“When it comes to Fischer,” Barry said, “I haven’t known him long, but I stopped doubting him what feels like a lifetime ago.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“To steal his words, Theo—you’re a good bloke. Just the fact that you consider such things lifts you in my eyes.”

A silence stretched across the sand as Barry led them toward his house beneath the moonlit sky. When they reached his home, he led them around back and strode toward the shed.

“You wish for us to sleep in a shed?” Keith asked.

Without another word, Barry flung the door open. When the five men saw the contents of the shed and the inside of the now-disguised door, their dispositions shifted. Every eye went wide, and Ellis took an involuntary step forward, craning his neck.

“You recognise what this is?” Barry asked.

All nodded, and Ellis slipped forward. He put his hand against the inside of the door and put his eye so close to the gilding that it was almost touching.

“An ancient building. Unbelievable... outstanding...”

“I take it there are buildings like this in the capital?”

“There are.” Ellis ran his hands along the golden edging, his aged fingers moving with grace. “They are strictly off-limits to the general public, but part of the inner library is made of such material. To think there was one like it out here... how long has it been here?”

“Oh, you know—twenty hours or so.”

Ellis’s hands froze. He whirled faster than a man of his age had any right moving, and his eyes drilled into Barry.

“Theo. He tells the truth?”

“He... he does...”

“If you think that’s impressive...” Barry waggled his eyebrows and pointed down at the descending stairwell they hadn’t yet noticed. “Wait until you see the rest of it.”