Chapter 129

They’re Different?

Thrush

Magnifying the land through the lens of my ethereal orb, I cut through the world. I slipped through the midair gash and landed in the foyer at Hiccup’s mansion. Seawater dripped from wet spikes of my fur and pooled at my feet. The echo of dripping water resounded in the domed ceiling.

Visitors with guest passes around their necks were being ushered through the foyer. I smiled around my new wild boar tusks. They screamed and fled into the mansion. Butlers rushed over to me as the sound of my gulps echoed while I downed an entire barrel of Anti-gravity ale.

“Master Thrush! Right this way, if you please. Master Hiccough eagerly awaits you!”

I followed the taller humans into the mansion, up the wide curving stairs, and across the floor to the balcony. Erik Skullander and Hiccup sat at a table piled with a landscape of beer with towers of beer bottles. Riggvelte was bent at a right angle so that he could whisper into Hiccup’s ear.

Erik stood. “The keeper let ya loose from the dungeon again? Ah, good to see ya, Thrush! Smoke anything with peat yet?”

“Hello. No.”

Hiccup stood. “Eileen has her coffers full, Thrush! Ah, what a pleasure to have you! Won’t you sit with us? We’ve all this meat and cheese and bread and beer—please, come sit with us.”

“Yes. I’m hungry.”

“Once we’ve had our fill, we’ll trade beer, I’ll call upon Evon, Eileen will be sent for, and we’ll go from there! Do tell, how have you been?”

“Hungry. What is this?”

We sat, and Erik said, “Oh, that, me friend, is a spectacular hard cheese! Clothbound, extra sharp, from the belted goat.”

“I know you’ve had cheese before,” said Hiccup.

“Well, everyone’s had cheese until they’ve had cheese!” said Erik.

Erik held up a glob of cheese with his bare hands. His eyes shone over the glob, and they rolled to the back of his head as took a big whiff. He stuffed his cheeks.

I pinched cheese between two claws and threw it over my fangs. It was an aggressive cheese, and it was meaty. I didn’t remember cheese tasting like this. They called it sharp, and I nodded because it made sense.

“Good, aye? Well, Thrush, I’ve got a mountain of barrels for ya. Thrice what I produced last time. If I might, does Hawkin have spare barrels? I’m selling ya oak forests.”

“I have empty barrels. Old wood ones too.”

Hiccup scooted to the edge of his chair. His fingers looked like they were dancing over the spread terrain of delights as he muttered.

“Oh, this one’s good,” he said, almost coming out of his chair completely. “Try this one.”

“The clothbound cheese? Yes. It's delicious.”

“No, this is a very different cheese. What was it? Riggvelte?”

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

As if turning from shadow to man, Riggvelte suddenly manifested. “Durreldheur. A red rind, soft cheese. Cow’s milk.”

Hiccup clapped. “There you have it.”

“A different cheese?”

I pinched the cheese and tossed it over my toadish tongue. Hmm, how different! But how could that be? Oh, and it was even better. But it was cheese. My eyes began independently pulsing. I felt the colors of cream bleed into the mossy depths of my gigantic eyes. I felt my blood thicken.

“Oh, yes. It’s different. I like it. I love it.”

“And Hawkin, how is he?” said Hiccup with his gaze cast down at the table.

“Probably fine.”

“And the goblins?” said Erik. “Slime-tooth likes me clone brew?”

“No.”

“No? Cheeky goblin. It’s seventy percent accurate!”

“It’s missing ptooey.”

“I knew it. I knew he’d be able to tell the difference.”

I knew that I saw Slime-tooth more often than Hawkin and Abigail. Deliveries were once a week after all. Slime-tooth was changing. A goblin like Slime-tooth wanted to live the way that he wanted to live, and I’d grown quite fond of him. He was never frightened of me, despite proof in his trembling limbs. He always asked me to stay awhile, because he wanted to ask about Barnacle-eyes. He had last been curious about his supposed status of Goblin King. The idea had him rasping with laughter. His laughter had been from his heart, and it stank.

I sniffed the air because I felt I could smell his breath. I licked my lips, and the stink strengthened. It was the cheese! I was gulping it down. The table looked like a giant’s claws had raked across the landscape to expose the wood mantle beneath.

“Riggvelte,” said Hiccup. He pointed at the table and mouthed something to his butler. To me he said, “Where is Barnacle-eyes now?”

“South-west.”

“Any new beers from Hawkin?”

“A lot more of the latest dungeon beer.”

Erik and Hiccup each rubbed their hands. They smiled warmly, and they tapped their feet in a seated dance of what felt to me like excitement. They seemed to squirm with joy! I couldn’t help but squirm in joy with them, but only because butlers suddenly appeared beneath the archway carrying trays of cheese. On their tail, Eileen strolled in.

“Festivities have started without me?” she said. “No one woke me?”

I stood to greet her with my best smile. I was sure to expand my lips so she could see my smile. Humans smiled with their teeth. I could hear her heartbeat, and I could smell trepidation bloom beneath her ribs. My heart was hammering too, because I could also smell raw elodon on her. As I smelled my own drifting breath of cheese, I wondered how smoked elodon would taste beneath a heap of cheese.

“Eileen,” I said. “I’m thrilled to see you again!”

I removed my backpack.

I stopped when Hiccup held a hand up to me. He eyed Eileen in a manner that seemed conspiratorial. “Just a moment, Thrush. Why don’t we sit for a bit more? Eileen, you love taking your time eating with us while we have such an esteemed guest that we want to spend time with, don’t you?” Hiccup nodded hard at her.

Eileen spent a moment looking at him. Her brows drew together until her eyes went wide and they raised. “Oh- oh yes! Why don’t we…good gods, that’s a lot of cheese! Why don’t we take our time enjoying some of this cheese, Thrush?”

“Then we trade,” I said.

“Then we trade,” she said.

“Yes, then we trade,” said Hiccup.

Given my discovery of cheeses, I didn’t so much mind taking my time at the mansion. So many more cheeses had been brought out! They all looked so different! How could cheese do this? Cheese wasn’t just cheese? I returned to my wet chair and scooped up the biggest chunk of cheese.

Hiccup pointed his chin at Riggvelte.

Riggvelte seemed to float forward. “Ahem—Excellent choice, Master Thrush. The Mont Shifra is a cow’s milk cheese. You’ll experience flavors of steamed brassicas, such as broccoli and cauliflower. In the rind you’ll taste truffle.”

I devoured the cheeses. They were each so individual! How could cheese do this? There were different colors, different textures, different flavors, different temperatures, different stinks. My composition rose above 5% cheese. I felt cream and moldy colors pump into my eyes. My fangs took on a buttery tint. My tusks receded an inch. My eyes pulsed wildly, and my Satiation rose to 63%. I had been lowering my Satiation to prepare for my meeting with Eileen, but these cheeses threatened a belly full of my favorite smoked meat!

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the spread! When I could, I noticed that Hiccup was watching me closely. He seemed overjoyed that I was gobblin all the cheese.

“So many,” I growled like a ravenous beast. “And so very different.”

Eileen nibbled on a crumb. “You’ve outdone yourself, Hiccup. This truly is an overwhelming variety of cheeses.”

“Variety? Oh, just you wait!”