[Omen of the Witchblade] Chapter 154 – Delicious In Tavern

Once everybody was back at the Rook, they said goodbye to Elian and his carriage and barred the door. The newshogs had been camping out front when they arrived. You could always tell when another group of Magi arrived by the sudden swell of noise outside.

“I need a drink,” Hal said, covered head-to-toe in welts. He raised two fingers. “Two contracts down though. Just one more.” He hopped up onto a chair by the bar.

Shrubley was behind the counter, and the booze shelf was filled with all manner of colorful elixirs. “What’ll I get ya, sir?”

“Shrubley, you know me.”

“Sorry sir, you must have me confused with some handsome devil named…Shrubley was it? My name is ol’ Shoeshine, sir. Just Shoeshine.”

Held in Sylvie’s arms, Komachi giggled. “Shrubley is muh boyfriend!”

Hal took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Just pour me something strong…Shoeshine.”

“As you wish, sir! As you wish!”

Mel dropped herself into a chair and looked around the tavern’s ground floor. The chairs and tables had been changed from several round tables meant for a few people to long tables with benches.

It reminded her of the dining hall at Brookmoors, but it was more than that. The lighting had changed too.

“Feels more like home, doesn’t it?” Jacob said, sitting across from Mel. Camilla joined him on his left.

“Who did it?” Mel asked.

Jacob pointed at Ashera. She was helping Shrubley behind the bar. “She wanted to make the place a bit more comfortable. Definitely beats a lonely outpost dug out in a mountain.”

Mel eyed him curiously. “I…would imagine so.”

“It does,” Jacob said with conviction. “Surrounded by friends and people moving about the city with their daily activities…it’s nice.”

“I couldn’t live out in the peaceful wilds,” Mel confessed. “Give me the random background noise of a city any day. All that silence would creep me out and make it impossible to sleep.”

“What’re we talking about?” Hal asked, sitting down on Jacob’s other side with a honey-colored drink in hand.

“The joys of living in a city,” Mel said.

Sylvie dropped into a seat beside her brother, holding Komachi like a pillow against her chest. “Fuck the country. Do you know how many spiders live in the trees? Nah. Give me streets and noise any day of the week.”

Hal lifted a brow but kept his opinion to himself. Mel wondered what this Hal would think of Brightsong. That was about as rural as you could get. They were way out in the damn frozen swamp!

Gwen had gone around the counter. There were packages of [Giant Jungle Venom Wasp Meat] oozing pinkish red juice.

The werewolf made a face. “I’m not sure I want to cook with this. It doesn’t smell bad but…some of them really stink.”

“Customers can’t be back here, ma’am!” Shrubley cried.

“Aren’t you going to hire me, Shrubley?” Gwen asked, separating some of the packages. The ones oozing the most weren’t getting a pass. “I mean, Shoeshine. That was it, right?”

Shrubley put his twiggy arms to his bushy middle. “You’ve got gumption, kid! I like it! You’re hired!”

“Adorably wholesome as always,” Gwen said fondly, patting Shrubley’s leafy head.

Mel shook her head and turned back to Jacob. “So I’ve been thinking that we should name the place.”

Miranda sat down. She looked shocked at Mel and hushed her frantically. “Keep your damn voice down! Do you want Shrubley to name this place? You know he will if you give him half a chance!”

“Aw, c’mon, Miranda, it can’t be that bad,” Mel said.

Charlie sauntered by, pausing to glance between them before getting a drink at the counter. “Nope, not getting into this.”

“Go to Almora then!” Miranda hissed. “Everything there is named -ley with no rhyme or reason. There’s Dungeonley, Townley, Brickley, Cityley, everythingley Mel. I’ve put up with it for years. I try to stop him every time…but he always gets his way. Always.”

“He’s just so cute though!” Sylvie said. “Isn’t that right, Komachi?” She gently shook her snoozing pobul. It seemed Komachi was used to being carried around like a stuffed animal.

That or she was extremely tired from their adventures. There was still sand in her paws.

Mel looked at Komachi, then at Sylvie. “Did I hear that you completed a contract?”

“Yep, a real bummer too,” Sylvie said. “Didn’t even get to put on a bikini at the beach. Fighting in sand is rough. All for what? No money. No rewards. Just another fucking box ticked!”

“We finished one too,” Mel said. “It…also sucked, but in a different way.”

“At least we only need one more,” Hal said, taking a sip from his glass. “Hey. That’s pretty good.”

The savory, aromatic smell of food being cooked began to permeate the tavern. Mel wasn’t familiar at all with the smell, but it made her mouth water.

It almost made her nostalgic for more plateau beast meat, and that wasn’t even that long ago.

Gwen was staring at the sizzling pan in horror. “Why is it turning that color? And getting bigger too?”

Hal turned a queasy shade of green. “Think I’m good on bug meat.”

“We need to rearrange the bottom floor,” Miranda said, wrinkling her nose. “The kitchens should be segmented from the eating area.”

“Too bad we don’t have your castle,” Cal said, sidling up to the table and sitting his bony butt down. He looked a bit like a skeletal kid at the table. Aside from Shrubley, he was the only one shorter than Mel. Even then, it wasn’t by much.

Dinner was served shortly thereafter. It was Gwen’s first time using her new cooking tools. The knowledge granted to her from her new profession made even the gross bug meat look and smell delicious.

Slices of bug meat were seared in a rich sauce and tucked into a bed of multicolored rice.

Despite earlier protestations by Hal, he was the first one to dig in and ask for seconds.

“Well,” Mel began, “I can’t see any better praise than that.” She dug in as well and was hardly surprised to find that it resembled lobster.

The meat was tender and juicy with a faint sweetness that paired nicely with the garlic butter sauce.

The Magi talked and ate, going over their day and what they were planning for the time leading up to the next trial. Unsurprisingly, few people were able to get a permit.

Despite Mel and Jacob’s group competing with each other for the top spot in the next trial, they were still allies. Not only did they belong to the same Order, but they were Magi first and foremost.

Training and study groups were the bread and butter of the Magi, and there was no reason to keep those separated by party.

Even those who were going to sit out the next trial were invited to train. An invitation that Almace eagerly accepted, though it did seem to worry Charlie.

“We’ll take it easy,” Hal said to ease her nerves.

Something felt off. Not necessarily bad, though. Mel searched inside herself.

And felt a greater wellspring of latent runes than should have been there from fighting those sageworms. The difference wasn’t massive, but it was noticeable.

Where exactly did that come from?

Mel stared at her clean plate. “Break me, there’s no way.”

Gwen was practically vibrating in her seat. Her tail was a red smear behind her. She was wagging it so fast, Mel worried she might sprain it.

“Gwen…do you have something you’d like to share with the rest of the class?”

“Cooking with freshly slain monster meat brings out more energy from your latent runes of experience!” Gwen cried.

Miranda leaned in, placing a large hand over Gwen’s. “Don’t you want to join my team? It’ll be like the good old times, my gorgeous red wolf.”

“Laying it on a bit thick there, aren’t you?” Thomas said dryly.

The vampyr snarled at him, then turned all sweet on Gwen. “I know what you crave.” Her lips peeled back to reveal sharp canines.

“Sweet baby pobuls,” Mel said. “Did I just hear your teeth go ‘SHING!’ when you revealed them?”

“It’s a vampyr thing.”

Gwen’s cheeks turned crimson like a self-fulfilling prophecy. “I’m trying to kick the habit,” she mumbled.

“Are you sure?” Miranda purred.

Thomas rolled his eyes at her.

“I’m going to die of embarrassment,” Gwen whispered.

Sylvie shifted around in her seat and leaned on the table, posting up. She gave an awkward wink at Miranda. “Wassup. I suck. You suck. Let’s do this.”

“Boo!” Mel said, wadding up a napkin and throwing it at Sylvie. “Boo this woman!”

Everybody started balling up napkins and pelting Sylvie with them until Komachi muttered, “[Counterspell],” in her sleep and a barrier reflected the balled-up napkins.

“How did she just…?” Heath asked.

“It’s Komachi,” Mel explained, as if that was enough. Because it was. You didn’t explain anymore than that when Komachi was concerned.

Sometimes she developed powers that you talked about. You could never be too careful.

“Miranda,” Charlie began. “Gwen’s our chef.”

“I know you want it too, pretty goth girl,” Miranda purred.

That piqued Mel’s interest. She turned to Charlie. “Oh? Dabble in the ol’ double-v do ya?”

Heath leaned in and whispered, “What’s double-v?”

Camilla gave him a pitying look. “Vampyr venom. Highly coveted because of its empowering properties.”

“I don’t,” Charlie answered Mel with a frown. She watched Miranda warily. Unlike Gwen, she didn’t blush at all. “While everyone has their hang-ups, Miranda, you’re projecting your desires.”

The vampyr was more than willing to use supernatural charm to get her way, as if she intended to win over everybody on Mel’s team. When that didn’t work, she clearly had a backup plan in place.

Miranda tilted her head back and laughed uproariously.

Mel’s eyes were drawn several inches lower. It was like somebody jumping on a pair of pale waterbeds.

Heath looked at Mel and gasped. “Mel!” he whispered.

She looked over at him. “What? I’m only human. Everybody loves large–”

Angry, Charlie stood up, getting between Miranda and Mel. “Don’t you have somebody else to prey on? Or are you looking to fight a healer?”

“So how did everybody like the food?” Shrubley asked. He hopped up to the table, completely unaware of the rampant hormones flinging about the place.

“I loved it, Shrubley!” Heath told him, eager to switch the subject. “I can’t wait for the next dish.”

Everybody else took that moment to shower both Shrubley and Gwen with praise for the food, happy to be let out of the odd tension that was growing between Charlie and Miranda.

Surprisingly, Miranda didn’t seem to mind giving up the spotlight to Gwen and Shrubley, their two chefs. While Gwen would be going with Mel’s party, Shrubley would be staying with the Rook.

Mel could only guess how much money he’d bring in if they opened the doors of the Rook for customers.

Which reminded her of a promise she had made. Mel sighed and leaned forward onto the table. “We need to talk about the mondoceros.”

All the Magi had met them, since they were the first people Gwen had gone to when looking for Mel.

As Mel laid out their plight and how they had been taken advantage of, the Magi gathered at the table grew tense. They had all been to one Worldshard or another where people were treated like something less than a person.

In a way, Mel really hoped that Teddy had fled far away from the Seabrim Crater. The looks on the Magi around the table told her that more than a few of them were considering employing Magi justice.

“Anyone want to hunt him down with me?” Gwen asked the table. All her characteristic friendliness was gone. When that menacing inner nature slipped its leash, she radiated danger like a ruthless executioner. “The local law be damned. Only Magi justice matters.”

A forest of hands went up.

Can’t say I blame them. Teddy, better hope you run far and fast.

All eyes fell on Mel.