Ted dropped the spruce tips into the pot of brown liquid. He let out a sigh as he stirred the mixture around.

Maybe Azrail had a point. He did kind of step in the middle of things and make decisions. Was he really a sort of impromptu leader? Why him? Pretty much anyone else would do a better job.

Yet, they all seemed to at least give his words some weight. It didn't make any sense. He wasn't Diante, heck he wasn't even half as much of a leader as Qahir was, and Qahir just always gave off loyal soldier vibes.

As the liquid began to boil, he set his long wooden spoon on top, and then he set a timer.

He stepped away to grab another pot so he could start a second batch. After all, with their numbers just growing, they were going to need a lot more alcohol. Especially with how some of them drank.

Not to mention the need to work on securing their food needs. All of the food they'd started to grow themselves had been destroyed in the fire, and it seems the building only had flour and brown sugar left. There wasn't even any plain sugar, what was up with that?

Guess it was time for watery dough again. Sid wouldn't be too happy about that. Ted wondered if Sentenza might have some supplies stashed away somewhere. He seemed pretty reliable. Although, the safest place seemed like the basement, and he hated going down there, so maybe not.

"H' ah llllnah yar llll ahair'luh."

"Huh? Who said that?" Ted asked.

He could have sworn he just heard a deep guttural growling that sent shivers down his spine. But as he turned around, he couldn't see anyone else.

He was alone.

Yet, his primal instincts were on high alert. Like a rabbit who had caught the brief shadow of a wolf in the distance. The instinctual fear of a beast who noticed they were being preyed on.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He gulped, hard. The only sound was the boiling liquid in the pot behind him.

"There is a problem."

Sid slipped into the room, and nearly gave Ted a heart attack. He jumped back and when he saw it was Sid, Ted reached up and put a hand over his heart that threatened to leap right out from his chest.

"Geez, you snuck up on me." Ted panted as he suddenly realized that he had been holding his breath.

"Apologies," Sid said succinctly. "However, I need you to come with me."

"I just started a new batch of pine beer." Ted said. "Well, they're growing right now, so it's more of a spruce beer, but anyway. I need to finish this so there's some stuff to drink."

"Drinking will be the least of our worries." Sid explained. "Harold has had an unfortunate encounter."

"What?" Ted asked as the thought of alcohol immediately left his mind. "Is he okay?"

"That is subjective." Sid said.

He had dodged answering the question. That made Ted even more worried.

Ted looked over at the bubbling pot and sighed. "Well, the spoon should stop it from boiling over if it goes crazy." Still, Ted reached over and turned the fire down lower. "Guess this one is going to have some strong flavors."

Ted turned to look at Sid. "Alright then. I need to go you say? Then let's go."

Sid nodded and grabbed Ted by the collar. In a flash, the machine turned man sped out the side door and away into the woods.

Ted tried to speak, but only managed a small wheeze as the air flew past too quickly for him to breathe any in.

Luckily, they already reached their destination, and Sid dropped Ted down on the ground. He coughed as his whole body felt a bit stiff from the rough treatment, but he stood up and looked around.

They were deep in the woods. It was dark. Unsettlingly so.

The trees almost seemed to bend over them, as if they were leering down at the pair. But it was just a trick of the light, or lack thereof.

"Harold. I have returned." Sid proclaimed.

He was speaking at a normal volume, but for some reason, it felt like he was shouting. It was this place, anything above a whisper, or the crunch of a leaf under a foot was as loud as a jet engine.

"Good." Harold scoffed as he walked out from behind a tree. "Did you bring me a solution to my problem?"

Harold was combing his hair. The same spot over and over again. Ted looked at him, and noticed that his hands were shaking, and he kept looking around. Like he was waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows and attack him.

"As I explained earlier, your problem is of low importance." Sid explained.

Harold threw down his comb in anger. "Low importance!"

Ted winced as the principal started to shout. It was so loud. He shouldn't scream, not here. Ted didn't know why or how he knew that, but it felt so obvious. So clear to him.

"Keep it down," Ted whispered.

Sid cocked his head at Ted. While Harold just seemed to get angrier.

"You can't tell me what to do! I'm the boss! The head honcho! The big cheese!" Harold howled. "If I want to be loud, I'll be loud do you understa...!"

Sid dashed forward and held his hand over Harold's mouth. It was such an effective sound barrier, that his howls from the other side weren't even muffled. It cut them off completely. As if Harold wasn't saying anything at all.

But judging by his quickly reddening face and how his cheeks and neck moved, he was still screaming up a storm.

"Is something wrong Ted?" Sid whispered.

"I...I don't know." Ted gulped. "It just...it even feels too loud to be whispering here."

"Curious," Sid mused. "We will need Harold to explain." He turned and looked at the furious man, then turned back to Ted. "However, why don't I explain the basics first? Then perhaps we can find a more suitable location to explain the rest?"

Ted nodded, and Harold kept quiet. Though that likely wasn't of his own free will thanks to Sid's immense strength over him.