Chapter 145

Wave After Wave

Thrush

The rest of spring came with rain. Leaves darkened, and heat mixed with humidity. In that time, I often hunted turkeys in the shade and swam in deep waters for fish. I ate enough turkey and smoked fish that my eyelids were red, wrinkled, and thick as wattles. The inside of my ears were the same, and veins had appeared in my irises which reflected blue light like that of the sropflash fish. All the cheese I’d been eating softened my fangs and my claws. They could be dented like gold, but they were the color cheese rinds.

I wanted to share cheese with the goblins, so I had cut through the world when I was summoned to Barnacle-eyes’ Hand-O’War. Her fleet had returned to the Mist Hidden wall on Hawkin’s coast. Her ships, full of plants, floated near Gloom-glower’s struggling fleet. There were humans on the coast outside of the Mist Hidden wall. Thousands of monstrous fireflies rose out of the woods and spread out across the sea. Even during the day, their lights blinked a sharp yellow-green that rivaled the brilliance of the sun.

I set my Backpack on the ground, navigated my system prompts, and used mana to erect my Merchant's Yurt. The walls whacked goblins away as they rose. The goblins who tumbled away laughed like it was a game. The others gawked at the yurt.

I stepped inside. “Come in, little goblins.”

“Is it cheese time?” said a goblin.

“Finally, I can’t wait!” said another.

“Uh, what’s cheese?” said another.

“Yeah, what’s cheese? I wanna know, too!” said yet another.

I sat at the cushion behind the low table. I piled cheeses onto the table, one after the other. When I recognized some of my favorites, I found myself licking my lips. The best ones, however, I saved to share last. As I laid cheeses out, not a goblin made a sound.

“Who’s first?” I said.

“Me, me, me! I was first!” said a goblin from the back of the crowd.

He used his arms to squeeze through the goblins like he was making swimming strokes. He arrived out of breath like he’d been treading water. In the face of a meal of cheese, I sensed almost no fear from him.

I pinched a crumbly cheese and sprinkled crumbs into the open and waiting palms of the goblin. He buried his face in his palms as fast as he could. After everything was inhaled, he licked his palms like he was attempting to clean sap from them.

“I was first too!” said a goblin.

The next cheese that I picked was quite runny. It was slippery, and I had to juggle its escape. I heaved it into the goblin’s hand where it landed with a smack. The goblin lapped at the runny cheese like a dog who couldn’t contain themselves.

“I was the next first!” said another goblin.

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The wheel of hard cheese that I had cracked open without effort. Like all things, it yielded to my strength. As If I had some chipped piece of crystal fresh off the mantle, I dropped it into the goblin’s mouth. She made fists as she chewed, and she chewed like she had one hundred delicious foods crammed between her teeth.

“I was first after her!” said a goblin.

He held out his open palms, and twelve more open palms joined his in a row.I scooped up a mighty handful of blue cheese and spread the marbled decadence across all their palms. Snorting with what seemed like immeasurable delight, the goblins slammed their faces into their hands like pigs at trough.

Feeding the goblins nourished my growing delight. I found myself purring, which jiggled the wrinkles of my wattled eyelids. Their appetite was voracious which I deeply understood. I ended up feeding myself as well in the frenzy.

A wave of goblins surged into the yurt. They grasped and they opened their mouths wide. I slapped cheeses into their mouths and into their hands. They bit like piranhas.

As each wave of goblins receded like surf returning to sea, another wave of goblins curled overhead. Each one came crashing down over the others who’d received their share of cheese. The undertow dragged them off as new crests formed around me. Cheeses began disappearing from the table as limbs and joints slammed into the wood.

“Yes! Yes, little goblins! This is what it’s like to fill your Satiation!”

We stuffed our bellies like we were cheese fiends, a new monster of the world! I could feel my Composition change me. Blue and green molds marbled my eyes. My skin wrinkled like soft cheese rinds.

A tsunami of goblins jammed into the yurt and slammed into me. The others were carried down-green to the back of the yurt where they crashed into the wall and flooded the area. I withdrew a wheel of cheese from my inventory, stood, and held it above my head like I was trying to keep it up above water. I crumbled the cheese by rasping it with my claws. It rained gold cheese crumbs upon the goblins.

I had enough cheese to feed them, to tire them out. Yet, I would not tire of sharing.

Soon they flowed slowly, like poured honey instead of water. They lay about as if they’ve just battled for their lives. They nursed their bloated bellies like they tended to wounds. Each goblin had some picture of happiness in their eyes. Soft-song led the goblins in a lethargic song, which I had at first thought was a chorus of geese.

Barnacle-eyes had made sure she was the very last goblin to eat cheese. She lay on the floor with her head on a pillow. She nursed her belly and seemed to be trying with all her might to keep her eyes open.

“I love cheese. Do you love cheese, Thrush? Cause I love cheese. “

“I do.”

“Cheese reminds me of Slime-tooth.”

Cheese did that? “Hmm, what does cheese remind me of?”

“I hope I get to see Slime-tooth again soon. I saw him on Home Camp. He was sleeping really, really, really hard. And he was tucked way-way-way into his bedroll. At least I think it was Slime-tooth. I didn’t want to wake him, so I waited and waited and waited. I fell asleep, and when I woke, I had a blanket on me, and Slime-tooth was gone. Bad timing. I can’t wait to see him again.”

“Slime-tooth misses you.”

“I remember my first cheese. I gave it to Slime-tooth after we raided a human farm. It was so, so good.” She held up a jagged wedge of cheese. “I’m saving this to share with him. Just like old times. Would you like to share our old times with us?”

“I’d gladly share anything with you.”

“By Peg-tooth, I feel so good right now!” She burped. “”Oh yeah, I love the cheese burps. I get to taste our feast all over again. Your cheeses really helped my Chance of Mutiny stat, too.”

“They helped my stat too.”

“Oh, which one?”

“Satiation.”

“You know, Thrush. You’ve got all the spit beer and all the smoked meats and now, you’ve even got all the best cheeses. I think you might just be the most powerful monster in the whole world right now!”

Even the goblins that had to crawl to move seemed content. What a thing it was to have shared cheeses with creatures that truly understood how delicious food could be. I felt camaraderie. What a powerful feeling that was.

“Yes, Barnacle-eyes. This is one of those times where it really feels like that. I think this is what cheese will now remind me of.”