Sep 17, 2024
Little Kestrel Epilogue Vote
Time to pick the vibes of the Little Kestrel Epilogue.
First, pick a season for the epilogue
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Voting ended onSep 18, 2024
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Little Kestrel Epilogue Vote
Time to pick the vibes of the Little Kestrel Epilogue.
First, pick a season for the epilogue
Spring
Summer
Fall
Winter
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 122]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54
Not going to do much this morning because I only have an hour or so. I may do more later today however.
Chapter 55 (Logan)
Virgil was beginning to be able to read some of the common instructions in magic books, but Logan still made sure to read out the instructions to him at least twice before setting him loose. He’d started to jot down notes to himself about things, though these notes were not words, but various symbols that only made sense to the boy himself.
Logan had asked about their meaning at one point and received an answer that, while earnest, was unintelligible. The symbols were mostly just pictures of things to represent certain steps in spell casting, but they were filtered through Virgil’s rudimentary penmanship and often bizarre perception of the world.
Though, despite the fact that Logan could not often decipher his chicken scratch, it did seem to help him produce more and more quality charms even as Logan began to introduce more complicated processes to make them. He was a very good student even if he didn’t have the best foundation for learning.
“I add lavender for the next step, right?” Virgil asked, his finger on a word in Logan’s magic book.
“That is correct,” Logan confirmed.
Virgil looked back at the book and mouthed the word ‘lavender’ to himself before turning back to his potion. He grabbed a few sprigs of lavender and threw them into the cauldron.
The liquid popped and bubbled violently, but Virgil didn’t flinch as he once would have, prepared for it now.
After the lavender, Logan knew that it would have to simmer for 5 minutes. Virgil looked down at the boiling liquid, contemplating it for a long moment.
“Can I soak a knife in it?” he asked.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Can I soak a knife in the potion once it’s done?”
“In that potion?” Logan clarified. “In the emergency hand warmer potion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think a hot knife would be useful,” Virgil said.
“For what?”
Virgil shrugged. “Cooking food on the road,” he said, “burning wood, stabbing someone and immediately cauterizing the wound.”
“That is… not a standard use for this potion,” Logan said.
Virgil titled his head at him. “Would it work though?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Logan contemplated. “Perhaps. The potion can cause burns if one uses too much of it or if it is used without an appropriate layer between it and the skin. If one were to pick a knife with enough surface area and let it soak long enough, it could in theory get hot enough to do as desired. Hmm…” he thought about it. “There would perhaps be the problem of the potion not sticking to the knife very long as it is intended to soak into fabric. However, cardamom could solve that issue as long as it doesn’t interact with any other ingredients. Let me see that spell.”
Virgil stepped out of his way so he could study the page. “Yes,” Logan said after scanning through all of the ingredients. “I think cardamom would work for something like that. Let me go find some.”
He turned to walk towards where he kept his supplies of potion ingredients. Virgil followed on his heals.
“Can we use a serrated knife?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Virgil,” Logan said, nodding as he searched through the cupboard that should hold the coriander. “The knife being serrated would help keep the potion stuck to the blade after many uses and would increase the surface area.”
“That was certainly my intention,” Virgil said smoothly. There was something odd about the tone that had Logan turning and blinking at him. Virgil just smiled at him innocently and Logan turned back to the cabinet finally locating the cardamom.
“So how are we going to use that?” Virgil asked.
“We’ll put it in right before the last step and let it sit for about 3 minutes,” Logan said. “If it doesn’t quite work, we may need to make another batch. There are options other than cardamom, but that’s the first idea that comes to mind and it’s a lot simpler if it works.”
He continued to speak of the many other options they could try as they returned to the caldron as well as how they could test the hot knife. It was already about time for the next step and Virgil did it without interrupting Logan’s rant.
Virgil listened to his suggestions with interest all while still making sure the potion he was making was progressing well.
Logan did eventually take over to finish the potion with the revised steps he’d come up with and they ended up with a potion that looked perfect except it was a few shades darker than the one they’d originally been planning to make.
“Well, it looks good,” Logan declared. “We will need to acquire a knife to test its effectiveness, however.”
“There are a few good ones in the kitchen,” Virgil pointed out. “I especially like the one 10 inch one with the black and white handle.”
“You have been eyeing up the kitchen knives?” Logan asked.
Virgil rolled his eyes as though that was not a perfectly reasonable question to ask him. “We should steal that one,” Virgil said.
“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak past Ms. Heart to steal a knife from her kitchen?” Logan asked.
“We can’t,” Virgil said. The ‘but I can’ was implied.
Logan almost didn’t believe him… and then he remembered the water pouch incident. “It’s the dinner rush,” Logan said. “We should probably wait for a bit.”
Virgil was shaking his head. “The dinner rush is the best time,” he said. “Everyone will be distracted, and all of the knives will be out and in prime stealing position.”
“And if Patton’s mother catches us messing around in her kitchen during her busiest time of day, she will have Father ground us for a week.”
“Then we just won’t get caught,” Virgil said.
“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” Logan said with a frown.
“You can stay here if you want,” Virgil offered. “I’ll just go by myself.”
“No, I’ll come too,” Logan relented, though he did still have some reservations about the idea.
He let Virgil lead him towards the main dining hall. By now, Virgil knew the kitchens and dining hall very well.
“Stay here,” he said. They were in a hallway a few feet down from the staff entrance to the main kitchen. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”
“What type of reconnaissance?” Logan asked, but Virgil had already vanished before his very eyes. With a blink, Logan looked up and saw a dark figure disappear onto a balcony overhead.
Well, Logan really had no choice but to wait there for him. It wasn’t like he could follow him. He could hear the clatter of silverware on plates from the dining hall down the corridor as he impatiently waited. It only took Virgil a bit over five minutes to return. He dropped suddenly from above and landed in front of Logan in a crouch.
“Well?” Logan asked, letting a bit of irritation into his tone so Virgil knew he was displeased. Virgil did not seem to care.
“Got it,” Virgil said with a wide grin, brandishing a large kitchen knife.
Logan flinched back at the unexpected sight of a weapon.
“You said you were doing reconnaissance!” he sputtered. “Not…” he trailed off remembering that while they weren’t in eyesight of anyone right now, they could be in earshot of someone. He lowered his tone, “stealing the knife already.”
“I was doing reconnaissance,” Virgil said with a shrug, “and then I used the information gathered by that reconnaissance to steal a knife.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at him.
Virgil just smiled. “You would have gotten in my way.”
“I would not have,” Logan insisted.
“How many times has Patton’s mom caught you stealing food from the kitchens in the past?” he asked.
Logan pursed his lips. “That is Patton’s doing,” he said.
“Sure,” Virgil said with an eyeroll. “I’ll have you prove it some other day, but for now,” he twirled the knife around in a way that made Logan cringe even though he did seem to have an expert handle over it. “We have a knife.”
“Right,” Logan agreed with a nod. “We should continue the experiment.”
Virgil stored the knife away… somewhere on his person, and they snuck back to Logan’s rooms.
When Virgil handed over the knife, Logan did have to admit it was a perfect specimen for their project: long and saw-like with a heatproof handle.
Logan carefully set it in a shallow dish and proceeded to pour the potion they’d made onto it. They let it sit for a little under half an hour before carefully pulling it out of the concoction with tongs and letting it airdry. Meanwhile, Virgil suggested they set up a testing area with various old sheets and clothing. They’d even found and decorated an armor stand with an old suit that Logan particularly disliked.
“Well,” Logan said once he’d tapped the handle and had not gotten burned by the potion. “I think we can test it now.” For safety, he made Virgil put on thick heatproof gloves before handing him the knife.
“So how do I make it work?” Virgil asked.
“The original potion works through light friction,” Logan said.
“So just start stabbing things?”
Logan went to respond, but before he could, Virgil had already twisted around and sliced through one of the sheets hanging in Logan’s potion room. There was a sizzling noise as the knife cut through the sheet like it was tissue paper leaving two aflame halves flapping about.
Logan leapt forward to tear the pieces of sheet down and the two of them stomped on the flames to put out the fire.
“It’s perfect,” Virgil said with a grin once the charred remains of the sheet were extinguished.
“It does seem to work as intended,” Logan agreed.
“Let’s do it again,” Virgil said.
“Er, well, perhaps we shouldn’t…,” Logan started, but Virgil had already set his eyes on the armor stand they’d set up. That suddenly seemed like not such a good idea to Logan.
He stabbed the armor stand viciously. It went up in violent flames. Logan’s eyes widened as the blaze only seemed to get bigger as Virgil drew back the knife.
Virgil did not seem to share Logan’s worry as he turned and stabbed another piece of hanging clothing, setting it ablaze as well.
“Virgil, no! You’re going to burn the room down!” Logan yelped.
The armor stand, at that very moment, decided to fall to the ground. They had, perhaps, not set the testing area up as well as they should have because it fell directly onto one of Logan’s rugs and set that on fire as well.
“Oops,” Virgil said, eyes wide.
Above the sound of crackling fire, Logan heard a tapping on the door between his bedroom and work room. It opened slightly after a moment and Logan’s father’s voice called out as he was sticking his head into the room, “Um, what do you mean Virgil… is burning the room down!”
The moment Logan’s father fully processed the presence of the flames, he was bursting into the room. He at least remembered that there was a fire extinguishing powder stocked in Logan’s work room even though that fact had slipped Logan’s mind in the chaos. (Perhaps Logan should have thought to set it out when they were testing a fire knife, but Logan would just add that to his growing list of regrets.)
The king managed to put all of the fires out within 30 seconds of poking his head through the door, but the fire left in his eyes when he turned to look at them afterwards was perhaps more dangerous.
Virgil slowly hid the knife behind his back. It was probably a bit late for that.
“What were the two of you doing in here?” the king asked.
“Nothing,” Logan said. Virgil shot him a look that told Logan what the boy thought about his lying abilities.
Logan’s father put his hands on his hips. “‘Nothing’ set the rug on fire?”
“We may have been doing a small experiment,” Logan said.
“What experiment?” the king asked.
“…I do not wish to say.”
“Logan.”
“Virgil wanted a fire knife.”
“A what?”
Virgil frowned over at Logan. “Your resistance to interrogation techniques is deplorable.”
Father turned to look at Virgil and obviously spotted the fact that Virgil was holding something behind his back.
“Give it here,” Father said, though his tone was a bit gentler with Virgil than it had been with Logan.
Virgil debated it for a moment, but then offered over the knife with a pout on his face. Father gingerly took it and the fire-resistant gloves from him. “Where did the two of you even get this knife?”
“You can’t tell her,” Logan said.
“You stole a knife from the kitchens?!” the king asked.
“We borrowed it,” Logan said.
“Can it be used for cooking anymore?”
“…Well.”
“In the intended manner.”
“No.”
“Then you stole it.”
Logan just frowned and looked away.
“I’m going to go put this in a secure location,” Father said, grimacing at the fire knife in his hands. “No more experiments for you two for a month. I’ll sic Patton on you.”
With that, he picked up what was left of the fire extinguishing powder (just in case) and turned to exit the room.
“Well,” Logan said once he was gone. “That was irresponsible.”
“I could steal it back from him.”
“N-no don’t do that.”
“I definitely could though,” Virgil said.
“I did not hear you say that,” Logan said, putting his hands over his ears. “I am not responsible for any more of your actions in this matter. I am going to the library.”
He walked out of the room then and Virgil followed him to the upstairs library. He said nothing more about the fire knife, but Logan would be a fool to suppose he forgot about it.
Chapter 56 (Thomas)
“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.
The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.
Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.
While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.
It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.
Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.
“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.
“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”
“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”
“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”
Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs.
So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.
His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.
Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.
Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.
Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.
“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.
Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.
“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.
“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.
“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.
Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.
In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had actually tried to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.
Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.
Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.
“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.
Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”
“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”
“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.
“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.
“She’s a Princess.”
“She is not a princess!”
Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior at this point. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.
“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”
“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”
And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy on the ground, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.
Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.
He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.
“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.
Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.
Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.
“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”
Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently scoot all of the cats out of his lap. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet and they continued on their way towards the stables.
The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.
The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.
The Cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to it, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way.
Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.
He still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.
“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.
Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.
“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”
“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.
“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”
“With the war?” Virgil asked.
Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.
“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.
“I’m 14,” Virgil said.
Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”
“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.
“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”
“Oh,” Virgil said.
Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”
“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)
When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to The Cliffs.
Chapter 57 (Virgil)
Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.
From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.
In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.
Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.
The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.
The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.
However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.
Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.
He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.
King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”
He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.
“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.
“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.
“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.
“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”
“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.
“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”
“Yes!” Virgil said.
“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”
“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”
“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.
“I think I’ll stick to sandwiches for today,” King Thomas said. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Do either of you want…?”
“No,” Logan said. Patton shook his head.
The king nodded and offered the entire covered bowl of chicken alfredo to Virgil. “Here, this one’s yours,” he said.
“Really?” Virgil asked tentatively. It wasn’t exactly strange for people here to offer him food, and he’d expected and anticipated getting to eat on this venture, but the king of the country offering him an entire bowl of his favorite food was something else.
“It’s not really my idea of a picnic food and you seem excited for it,” King Thomas said with a warm smile, still holding it out.
Virgil took it reverently. Despite the time it had taken to get to the cliffs, the bottom of the container was still warm. Virgil assumed it was one of the heating spells the kitchen sometimes used.
“Thanks,” Virgil said, setting it in his lap.
“Of course, Virgil,” the king said.
The bowl was enough for four people to have a little bit, but for one person it was a lot. Still, Virgil was offered a little of every other food in the picnic basket (and he ate a good number of the hot cauliflower bites).
“Where do you put all of that?” the king asked when Virgil finished polishing off the chicken alfredo bowl.
Everyone else seemed to have finished eating long before Virgil, though Patton still had a small plate of grapes, and he occasionally popped one in his mouth. King Thomas was currently setting up the board game they’d brought on the blanket between all of them.
Virgil shrugged in answer to his question. “It’s good,” he said, “and I don’t want to waste any of it.”
“You know we can just take the leftovers back to the castle and eat them later,” King Thomas said. “You don’t have to eat it all now.”
Virgil just shrugged again, watching as the king set out a group of 8 figures on the board.
“Here, which character do you want to be?” the king asked Virgil, gesturing at the group of figures. Virgil had not noticed the figures were different at first glance. They were all copper colored and about the size of his thumb, but they had slightly different shapes. He squinted at them each carefully, finding they all looked like people, but with different clothing. Some worse pants and some skirts, a few had hats, and one was even carrying a book.
After a few moments, he pointed at one that looked like it had vines wrapped around its arms and was wearing a floppy hat that almost covered its eyes.
“That’s the druid,” King Thomas told him with a grin. “Good choice, and luckily not one that anyone usually fights over.” He glanced at Logan who didn’t react to his father’s gaze. He just plucked the figure clutching the book off the board for himself.
Patton and the king picked pieces for themselves. Patton picked one with an apron that kind of reminded Virgil of his mom and the king picked one that was in a suit of armor before putting the other 4 figures away.
Unlike checkers, this game wasn’t just for two people, and so no one had to sit watching people play while bored out of their mind.
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They played a practice round so Virgil could figure out how the game worked, though honestly it wasn’t that complicated, so it wasn’t really necessary.
The theme of the game was all about stealing. They were supposed to steal special tokens from other players as well as characters in the game and the first person with 20 tokens won.
The other three players argued that stealing was not the point and not the main mechanism of the game, but considering Virgil was consistently winning the entire time, he would argue they were just playing it wrong. He managed to collect 20 tokens before anyone else. In second place at this time was Logan with 9 tokens.
Logan insisted on continuing to play the game to determine 2nd and 3rd place, so Virgil ended up watching them play for a bit. Virgil didn’t mind sitting and watching other people play this game, mostly because he still had the joy of victory running in his veins.
Thomas was definitely going to lose, he noted. He kept wasting his money feeding the nonplayer characters who lived on his lands. Virgil didn’t mention this faulty strategy to him in case Virgil ever played him again.
When Logan took too long thinking about his next move, Virgil took in their surroundings.
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He’d been a bit too distracted by the prospect of food and then trying to understand (and then win) the game to truly take in The Cliffs. They were settled a good distance away from the cliffside but Virgil could still see how quickly the edge dropped off. He couldn’t see the large river he was told was at its base from where he was sitting, but he did see a few of the promised wild birds (including doves) flying around. The king had promised they’d bird watch for a bit, and Virgil figured that would happen after the game was over.
A cool spring breeze brushed across Virgil’s face, and he put his hand in his hoodie pockets to warm them. Instead, his fingers hit something icy cold.
For a moment, he didn’t remember what it was. The crescent shape of it was familiar when he put his hand over it, but he had never felt it cold before.
It was the protection charm: the first charm Virgil had ever made with Logan so many months ago. It was meant to ward off small threats as well as warn you about larger threats by changing temperature…
It had always been warm.
“What?” Patton asked, having noticed Virgil suddenly tense. Virgil, despite how he drilled into his friend’s heads to stay alert had gone soft. He’d let himself be distracted by a full belly and warm blankets and fun games.
He didn’t answer Patton. He filtered the other boy’s worried face out as well as Logan’s face as he glanced at him and the king’s still focused on the game for now. He filtered out the picnic blanket and smell of food still lingering in the air and the vine covered figure set in the middle of the board on the winner’s space. He filtered out the sound of the breeze and the breath of his companions and the distant chirping of birds.
And he heard a whoosh.
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 121]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53
Chapter 54 (Patton)
“I still can’t believe he’s allowing this,” King Thomas said from next to Patton. The two of them were standing at the edge of the arena outside the horse stable, watching from a safe distance.
“If he hadn’t tried to bite me earlier, I’d think he was a different horse,” Patton agreed.
“He doesn’t even let Logan ride him,” the king said. “At least not ride him and give him directions.”
Patton was very aware of that. Logan did on occasion choose to get up onto Mr. Apples’ saddle. However, Mr. Apples was always the once who got to decide where they went after that. Logan had no say.
With that in mind, Patton, Logan, and every stable hand who’d heard about the prospective riding lessons had tried to convince Virgil to learn to ride on a different horse. Virgil was just as stubborn as Mr. Apples however and had insisted. Logan, being the only one who could be around Mr. Apples without risking being kicked, had become his de facto tutor.
Not even Logan could have expected that within a week, Virgil would be able to control Mr. Apples. Though perhaps ‘control’ was the wrong word. Nothing could control Mr. Apples, but for some reason, Mr. Apples seemed willing to do as Virgil asked.
Even right now Mr. Apples was trotting around the training arena like he was a well-trained trick horse warming up with his rider.
“Logan told him we could go on an actual ride today if the lesson went well,” Patton told the king. The lesson seemed to be just getting over because Logan said something to Virgil and Virgil started to climb off. Mr. Apples was patient and still as he dismounted.
“Do you think he’d mind if I went with you?” King Thomas asked.
Patton shrugged. “Mr. Apples might.”
“Mr. Apples definitely will,” the king replied. “I’ll come anyway.”
Logan had walked over to where Patton and the king were standing while Virgil fed Mr. Apples some apple pieces as a reward.
“I hear you’re going to go riding today,” King Thomas said.
Logan nodded. “Mr. Apples seems to listen to him well enough,” he said.
“I might join you if that’s alright. Where are you kids going?” the king asked.
“I was thinking the main forest path,” Logan replied. “It’s not a particularly difficult route, but it’s also a part of the castle grounds Virgil hasn’t been able to see yet. Loraine told me it has been recently cleared after the winter.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” the king said. “Are you going now?”
“Once Patton and I saddle up our horses,” Logan said. “You can come.”
“Great,” the king said with a smile. “I’ll ask for Bella’s saddle to be brought out. I haven’t gone on a ride yet this week.”
He turned then to walk towards the stables leaving Patton and Logan alone.
“Do you think he’s been acting weird?” Logan asked, turning towards Patton.
Patton frowned. “No,” he said. “Not really.”
“I’m just wondering why he wants to go horseback riding with us.”
“He likes spending time with you?” Patton guessed.
“Yes,” Logan said, “but typically in a setting that doesn’t involve Mr. Apples.”
Well, that was fair.
“I mean, it’s not too weird,” Patton said, thinking back through the last couple of days. King Thomas had been a bit… clingy.
“He’s been hanging around a lot,” Logan said, echoing Patton’s thoughts with narrowed eyes. He glanced back at Virgil. “You don’t think Virgil let something slip, do you?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Patton said. “I think your dad would say something if Virgil let slip he was an assassin somehow.”
“Unless he let slip something that didn’t quite implicate himself but invited suspicion.”
“Your dad doesn’t seem suspicious,” Patton said. At least, Patton didn’t think he did. He hadn’t been acting mean in any way. In fact, he might have even been acting nicer.
Logan frowned. “We should keep an eye on him, especially around Virgil.”
Patton bit his lip.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Are we ever going to tell your dad about Virgil?” he asked.
Logan hesitated. “I don’t…” he trailed. “I’m not sure.”
“It just feels weird lying for so long,” Patton said. Patton didn’t lie a lot. Sure, maybe he’d pretend to not know what Mama was talking about when sweets went missing from the kitchens or he’d pretend to not know what Logan’s birthday gift was, but he’d never lied about anything serious before now.
“I know, but,” Logan glanced back at Virgil once again, “even if we did decide to tell, we’d have to convince Virgil everything would be alright beforehand. I don’t think we’re at that point yet. He was terrified of Father until a few months ago, and he’s still cautious around him sometimes.”
Logan was right, of course. Virgil was getting more and more comfortable around the king, but he figured any of the progress made would go down the drain as soon as they brought up telling King Thomas about where exactly Virgil had come from. Patton didn’t know if Virgil would ever be comfortable enough.
“We should go get our own horses,” Logan suggested, and Patton nodded.
Patton and Logan’s horses had already been saddled by the stable hands in anticipation of their ride and it didn’t take long for the king to saddle his own horse, Bella.
The forest path at this time of year was very pretty, Patton thought. The tree branches now had small green leaves on them after having been barren for the entire winter and flowers were starting to grow. In a few weeks’ time it would be even prettier, but it would also be harder for the groundskeeper to maintain as well as it was right now.
Virgil really did seem less anxious around King Thomas now. The path was only wide enough for two horses to go at once, and he didn’t seem to mind that he and the king ended up next to each other while Patton and Logan lagged behind. In fact, he and the king seemed to be having a nice conversation about the local wildlife.
However, if Patton looked close enough, he did sort of see what Logan meant. Virgil may not be anxious talking to the king now, but the king himself seemed just a little bit nervous at least at the beginning of the ride.
He seemed to relax a bit as they rode (even laughing when Mr. Apples tried to bite him when he got too close).
Logan had been teaching Virgil the basics about things like animals, but there was still a pretty big gap in his education when it came to anything that wasn’t about training to fight and kill. King Thomas seemed more than willing to answer any of his questions when it came to the animals and plants around them even if they were sometimes a bit silly.
He’d seen a bird that looked like a dove. (It may have even been a dove, but Patton hadn’t seen it.) This had been a source of endless confusion for him.
“But shouldn’t it live in the dovecote?” Virgil asked.
“Not all birds live in a dovecote,” the king explained again.
“But it’s a dove,” Virgil said with a frown.
“Not all doves live in a dovecote,” the king replied.
“But it’s a dovecote,” Virgil argued. “It’s for the doves.”
“Yes, but there are also wild doves,” the king said.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Virgil replied.
“What about it doesn’t make sense?” the king asked with a laugh in his tone.
“Doves go in the dovecote,” Virgil said.
Patton was starting to have trouble following this argument.
“Dovecotes are made for doves,” the king said, “but not all doves go in dovecotes.”
“Why?”
This seemed to stump the king momentarily, but he still answered after thinking for a bit. “Doves existed before people got to them,” the king explained. “People caught and trained some of them, but there was no way to catch all of them. So, some stayed in the wild and continued with their lives like they had been before humans. Plus, sometimes domesticated doves fly off and never come back. Sometimes they might die, but other times they may have just gotten lost and had to build a new life somewhere far away. Or maybe they even decided that being a trained dove working for humans wasn’t for them, so they decided to go off on their own.”
“You let them do that?” Virgil asked.
“We can’t really stop them in the end,” the king said. “People can try, but it never ends up working as long as they can fly.”
Virgil thought about this. “I still don’t understand,” he said, “but okay.”
“We should take you to the cliffs,” the king suggested.
“What are the cliffs?”
“The castle grounds were built for defense,” King Thomas explained. “The edge of the grounds to the North is a large river and overlooking it is a huge cliff. It’s a good place for picnics and for birdwatching. It’s a bit of a trip, but now would be a good time of year to go.”
He glanced over his shoulder back at Logan and Patton. “What do you boys think about going to the cliffs sometime? Maybe in about a week?”
Logan squinted at his father suspiciously. It wasn’t so much the fact that the king was asking them to go to the cliffs. They did that every so often. However, this time, it only supported Logan’s claims that the king was hanging out with them a lot recently.
“Sure,” Logan said, after a moment.
“Sounds fun!” Patton said cheerily right after, trying to cover for the lack of enthusiasm in Logan’s voice with his own. Judging by King Thomas’s expression and Logan’s tight-lipped scowl, he may have overcompensated.
“Great,” the king said. “I’ll” make sure to make arrangements when we get back to the castle.”
Chapter 55 (Logan)
Virgil was beginning to be able to read some of the common instructions in magic books, but Logan still made sure to read out the instructions to him at least twice before setting him loose. He’d started to jot down notes to himself about things, though these notes were not words, but various symbols that only made sense to the boy himself.
Logan had asked about their meaning at one point and received an answer that, while earnest, was unintelligible. The symbols were mostly just pictures of things to represent certain steps in spell casting, but they were filtered through Virgil’s rudimentary penmanship and often bizarre perception of the world.
Though, despite the fact that Logan could not often decipher his chicken scratch, it did seem to help him produce impressively quality charms even as Logan began to introduce more complicated processes to make them. He was a very good student even if he didn’t have the best foundation for learning.
“I add lavender for the next step, right?” Virgil asked, his finger on a word in Logan’s magic book.
“That is correct,” Logan confirmed.
Virgil looked back at the book and mouthed the word ‘lavender’ to himself before turning back to his potion. He grabbed a few sprigs of lavender and threw them into the cauldron.
The liquid popped and bubbled violently, but Virgil didn’t flinch as he once would have, prepared for it now.
After the lavender, Logan knew that it would have to simmer for 5 minutes. Virgil looked down at the boiling liquid, contemplating it for a long moment.
“Can I soak a knife in it?” he asked.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Can I soak a knife in the potion once it’s done?”
“In that potion?” Logan clarified. “In the emergency hand warmer potion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think a hot knife would be useful,” Virgil said.
“For what?”
Virgil shrugged. “Cooking food on the road,” he said, “burning wood, stabbing someone and immediately cauterizing the wound.”
“That is… not a standard use for this potion,” Logan said.
Virgil titled his head at him. “Would it work though?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Logan contemplated. “Perhaps. The potion can cause burns if one uses too much of it or if it is used without an appropriate layer between it and the skin. If one were to pick a knife with enough surface area and let it soak long enough, it could in theory get hot enough to do as desired. Hmm…” he thought about it. “There would perhaps be the problem of the potion not sticking to the knife very long as it is intended to soak into fabric. However, cardamom could solve that issue as long as it doesn’t interact with any other ingredients. Let me see that spell.”
Virgil stepped out of his way so he could study the page. “Yes,” Logan said after scanning through all of the ingredients. “I think cardamom would work for something like that. Let me go find some.”
He turned to walk towards where he kept his supplies of potion ingredients. Virgil followed on his heals.
“Can we use a serrated knife?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Virgil,” Logan said, nodding as he searched through the cupboard that should hold the coriander. “The knife being serrated would help keep the potion stuck to the blade after many uses and would increase the surface area.”
“That was certainly my intentions,” Virgil said smoothly. There was something odd about the tone that had Logan turning to him and blinking at him. Virgil just smiled at him innocently and Logan turned back to the cabinet finally locating the coriander.
“So how are we going to use that?” Virgil asked.
“We’ll put it in right before the last step and let it sit for about 3 minutes,” Logan said. “If it doesn’t quite work, we may need to make another batch. There are options other than cardamom, but that’s the first idea that comes to mind and it a lot simpler if it works.”
He continued to speak of the many other options they could try as they returned to the caldron as well as how they could test the hot knife. It was already about time for the next step and Virgil did it without interrupting Logan’s rant.
Virgil listened to his suggestions with interest all while still making sure the potion he was making was progressing well.
Logan did eventually take over to finish the potion with the revised steps he’d come up with and they ended up with a potion that looked perfect except it was a few shades darker than the one they’d originally been planning to make.
“Well, it looks good,” Logan declared. “We will need to acquire a knife to test its effectiveness, however.”
“There are a few good ones in the kitchen,” Virgil pointed out. “I especially like the one 10 inch one with the black and white handle.”
“You have been eyeing up the kitchen knives?” Logan asked.
Virgil rolled his eyes as though that was not a perfectly reasonable question to ask him. “We should steal that one,” Virgil said.
“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak past Ms. Heart to steal a knife from her kitchen?” Logan asked.
“We can’t,” Virgil said.
Logan almost didn’t believe him… and then he remembered the water pouch incident. “It’s the dinner rush,” Logan said. “We should probably wait for a bit.”
Virgil was shaking his head. “The dinner rush is the best time,” he said. “Everyone will be distracted, and all of the knives will be out and in prime stealing position.”
“And if Patton’s mother catches us messing around in her kitchen during her busiest time of day, she will have Father ground us for a week.”
“Then we just won’t get caught,” Virgil said.
“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” Logan said with a frown.
“You can stay here if you want,” Virgil offered. “I’ll just go by myself.”
“No, I’ll come too,” Logan relented, though he did still have some reservations about the idea.
He let Virgil lead him towards the main dining hall. By now, Virgil knew the kitchens and dining hall very well.
“Stay here,” he said. They were in a hallway a few feet down from the staff entrance to the kitchen. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”
“What type of reconnaissance?” Logan asked, but Virgil had already disappeared before his very eyes. With a blink, Logan looked up and saw a dark figure disappear onto a balcony overhead.
Well, Logan really had no choice but to wait there for him. It wasn’t like he could follow him. He could hear the clatter of silverware on plates from the dining hall down the corridor as he impatiently waited. It only took Virgil a bit over five minutes to return. He dropped suddenly from above and landed in front of Logan in a crouch.
“Well?” Logan asked, letting a bit of irritation into his tone so Virgil knew he was displeased. Virgil did not seem to care.
“Got it,” Virgil said with a wide grin, brandishing a large kitchen knife.
Logan flinched back at the unexpected sight of a weapon.
“You said you were doing reconnaissance!” he sputtered. “Not…” he trailed off remembering that while they weren’t in eyesight of anyone right now, they could be in earshot of someone. He lowered his tone, “stealing the knife already.”
“I was doing reconnaissance,” Virgil said with a shrug, “and then I used the information gathered by that reconnaissance to steal a knife.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at him.
Virgil just smiled. “You would have gotten in my way.”
“I would not have,” Logan insisted.
“How many times has Patton’s mom caught you stealing food from the kitchens in the past?” he asked.
Logan pursed his lips. “That is Patton’s doing,” he said.
“Sure,” Virgil said with an eyeroll. “I’ll have you prove it some other day, but for now,” he twirled the knife around in a way that made Logan cringe even though he did seem to have an expert handle over it. “We have a knife.”
“Right,” Logan agreed with a nod. “We should continue the experiment.”
Virgil stored the knife away… somewhere on his person, and they snuck back to Logan’s rooms.
When Virgil handed over the knife, Logan did have to admit it was a perfect specimen for their project: long and saw-like with a heatproof handle.
Logan carefully set it in a shallow dish and proceeded to pour the potion they’d made onto it. They let it sit for a little under half an hour before carefully pulling it out of the concoction with tongs and letting it airdry. Meanwhile, Virgil suggested they set up a testing area with various old sheets and clothing. They’d even found and decorated an armor stand with an old suit that Logan particularly disliked.
“Well,” Logan said once he’d tapped the handle and had not gotten burned by the potion. “I think we can test it now.” For safety, he made Virgil put on thick heatproof gloves before handing him the knife.
“So how do I make it work?” Virgil asked.
“The original potion works through light friction,” Logan said.
“So just start stabbing things?”
Logan went to respond, but before he could, Virgil had already twisted around and sliced through one of the sheets hanging in Logan’s potion room. There was a sizzling noise as the knife cut through the sheet like it was tissue paper leaving two aflame halves flapping about.
Logan leapt forward to tear the pieces of sheet down and the two of them stomped on the flames to put out the fire.
“It’s perfect,” Virgil said with a grin once the charred remains of the sheet were extinguished.
“It does seem to work as intended,” Logan agreed.
“Let’s do it again,” Virgil said.
“Er, well, perhaps we shouldn’t…,” Logan started, but Virgil had already set his eyes on the armor stand they’d set up. That suddenly seemed like not such a good idea to Logan.
He stabbed the armor stand viciously. It went up in flames instantly. Logan’s eyes widened as the blaze only seemed to get bigger as Virgil drew back the knife.
Virgil did not seem to share Logan’s worry as he turned and stabbed another piece of hanging clothing, setting it ablaze as well.
“Virgil, no! You’re going to burn the room down!” Logan yelped.
The armor stand at that very moment decided to fall to the ground. They had, perhaps, not set the testing area up as well as they should have because it fell directly onto one of Logan’s rugs and set that on fire as well.
“Oops,” Virgil said, eyes wide.
Above the sound of crackling fire, Logan heard a tapping on the door between his bedroom and work room. It opened slightly after a moment and Logan’s father’s voice called out as he was sticking his head into the room, “Um, what do you mean Virgil… is burning the room down!”
The moment Logan’s father fully processed the presence of the flames, he was bursting into the room. He at least remembered that there was a fire extinguishing powder stocked in Logan’s work room even though that fact had slipped Logan’s mind in the chaos. (Perhaps Logan should have thought to set it out when they were testing a fire knife, but Logan would just add that to his growing list of regrets.)
The king managed to put all of the fires out within 30 seconds of poking his head through the door, but the fire left in his eyes when he turned to them afterwards was perhaps more dangerous.
Virgil slowly hid the knife behind his back. It was probably a bit late for that.
“What were the two of you doing in here?” the king asked.
“Nothing,” Logan said. Virgil shot him a look that told Logan what the boy thought about his lying abilities.
Logan’s father put his hands on his hips. “‘Nothing’ set the rug on fire?”
“We may have been doing a small experiment,” Logan said.
“What experiment?” the king asked.
“…I do not wish to say.”
“Logan.”
“Virgil wanted a fire knife.”
“A what?”
Virgil frowned over at Logan. “Your resistance to interrogation techniques is deplorable.”
Father turned to look at Virgil and obviously spotted the fact that Virgil was holding something behind his back.
“Give it here,” Father said, though his tone was a bit gentler with Virgil than it had been with Logan.
Virgil debated it for a moment, but then offered over the knife with a pout on his face. Father gingerly took it and the fire-resistant gloves from him. “Where did the two of you even get this knife?”
“You can’t tell her,” Logan said.
“You stole a knife from the kitchens?!” the king asked.
“We borrowed it,” Logan said.
“Can it be used for cooking anymore?”
“…Well.”
“In the intended manner.”
“No.”
“Then you stole it.”
Logan just frowned and looked away.
“I’m going to go put this in a secure location,” Father said, grimacing at the fire knife in his hands. “No more experiments for you two for a month. I’ll sic Patton on you.”
With that, he picked up what was left of the fire extinguishing powder (just in case) and turned to exit the room.
“Well,” Logan said once he was gone. “That was irresponsible.”
“I could steal it back from him.”
“N-no don’t do that.”
“I definitely could though,” Virgil said.
“I did not hear you say that,” Logan said, putting his hands over his ears. “I am not responsible for any more of your actions in this matter. I am going to the library.”
He walked out of the room then and Virgil followed him to the upstairs library. He said nothing more about the fire knife, but Logan would be a fool to suppose he forgot about it.
Chapter 56 (Thomas)
“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.
The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.
Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.
While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.
It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.
Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.
“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.
“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”
“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”
“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”
Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs.
So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.
His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.
Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.
Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.
Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.
“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.
Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.
“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.
“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.
“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.
Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.
In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had actually tried to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.
Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.
Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.
“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.
Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”
“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”
“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.
“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.
“She’s a Princess.”
“She is not a princess!”
Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior at this point. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.
“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”
“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”
And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy on the ground, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.
Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.
He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.
“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.
Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.
Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.
“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”
Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently scoot all of the cats out of his lap. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet and they continued on their way towards the stables.
The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.
The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.
The Cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to it, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way.
Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.
He still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.
“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.
Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.
“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”
“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.
“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”
“With the war?” Virgil asked.
Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.
“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.
“I’m 14,” Virgil said.
Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”
“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.
“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”
“Oh,” Virgil said.
Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”
“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)
When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to The Cliffs.
Chapter 57 (Virgil)
Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.
From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.
In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.
Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.
The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.
The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.
However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.
Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.
He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.
King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”
He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.
“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.
“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.
“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.
“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”
“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.
“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”
“Yes!” Virgil said.
“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”
“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”
“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.
“I think I’ll stick to sandwiches for today,” King Thomas said. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Do either of you want…?”
“No,” Logan said. Patton shook his head.
The king nodded and offered the entire covered bowl of chicken alfredo to Virgil. “Here, this one’s yours,” he said.
“Really?” Virgil asked tentatively. It wasn’t exactly strange for people here to offer him food, and he’d expected and anticipated getting to eat on this venture, but the king of the country offering him an entire bowl of his favorite food was something else.
“It’s not really my idea of a picnic food and you seem excited for it,” King Thomas said with a warm smile, still holding it out.
Virgil took it reverently. Despite the time it had taken to get to the cliffs, the bottom of the container was still warm. Virgil assumed it was one of the heating spells the kitchen sometimes used.
“Thanks,” Virgil said, setting it in his lap.
“Of course, Virgil,” the king said.
The bowl was enough for four people to have a little bit, but for one person it was a lot. Still, Virgil was offered a little of every other food in the picnic basket (and he ate a good number of the hot cauliflower bites).
“Where do you put all of that?” the king asked when Virgil finished polishing off the chicken alfredo bowl.
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 125]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54 Part 55
We probably won't finish the epilogue tonight, but let's see!
Chapter 56 (Thomas)
“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.
The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.
Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.
While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.
It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.
Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.
“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.
“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”
“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”
“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”
Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there, or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs. So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.
His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.
Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.
Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.
Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.
“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.
Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.
“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.
“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.
“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.
Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.
In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had gone so far as to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.
Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.
Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.
“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.
Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”
“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”
“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.
“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.
“She’s a princess.”
“She is not a princess!”
Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.
“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”
“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”
And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.
Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.
He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.
“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.
Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.
Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.
“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”
Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently extract himself from the droves of cats. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet, and they continued on their way towards the stables.
The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.
The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.
The cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to them, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way. Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.
Thomas still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.
“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.
Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.
“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”
“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.
“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”
“With the war?” Virgil asked.
Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.
“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.
“I’m 14,” Virgil said.
Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”
“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.
“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”
“Oh,” Virgil said.
Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”
“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)
When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to the cliffs.
Chapter 57 (Virgil)
Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.
From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.
In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.
Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.
The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.
The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.
However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.
Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.
He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.
King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”
He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.
“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.
“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.
“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.
“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”
“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.
“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”
“Yes!” Virgil said.
“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”
“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”
“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.
“I think I’ll stick to sandwiches for today,” King Thomas said. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Do either of you want…?”
“No,” Logan said. Patton shook his head.
The king nodded and offered the entire covered bowl of chicken alfredo to Virgil. “Here, this one’s yours,” he said.
“Really?” Virgil asked tentatively. It wasn’t exactly strange for people here to offer him food, and he’d expected and anticipated getting to eat on this venture, but the king of the country offering him an entire bowl of his favorite food was something else.
“It’s not really my idea of a picnic food and you seem excited for it,” King Thomas said with a warm smile, still holding it out.
Virgil took it reverently. Despite the time it had taken to get to the cliffs, the bottom of the container was still warm. Virgil assumed it was one of the heating spells the kitchen sometimes used.
“Thanks,” Virgil said, setting it in his lap.
“Of course, Virgil,” the king said.
The bowl was enough for four people to have a little bit, but for one person it was a lot. Still, Virgil was offered a little of every other food in the picnic basket (and he ate a good number of the hot cauliflower bites).
“Where do you put all of that?” the king asked when Virgil finished polishing off the chicken alfredo bowl.
Everyone else seemed to have finished eating long before Virgil, though Patton still had a small plate of grapes, and he occasionally popped one in his mouth. King Thomas was currently setting up the board game they’d brought on the blanket between all of them.
Virgil shrugged in answer to his question. “It’s good,” he said, “and I don’t want to waste any of it.”
“You know we can just take the leftovers back to the castle and eat them later,” King Thomas said. “You don’t have to eat it all now.”
Virgil just shrugged again, watching as the king set out a group of 8 figures on the board.
“Here, which character do you want to be?” the king asked Virgil, gesturing at the group of figures. Virgil had not noticed the figures were different at first glance. They were all copper colored and about the size of his thumb, but they had slightly different shapes. He squinted at them each carefully, finding they all looked like people, but with different clothing. Some worse pants and some skirts, a few had hats, and one was even carrying a book.
After a few moments, he pointed at one that looked like it had vines wrapped around its arms and was wearing a floppy hat that almost covered its eyes.
“That’s the druid,” King Thomas told him with a grin. “Good choice, and luckily not one that anyone usually fights over.” He glanced at Logan who didn’t react to his father’s gaze. He just plucked the figure clutching the book off the board for himself.
Patton and the king picked pieces for themselves. Patton picked one with an apron that kind of reminded Virgil of his mom and the king picked one that was in a suit of armor before putting the other 4 figures away.
Unlike checkers, this game wasn’t just for two people, and so no one had to sit watching people play while bored out of their mind.
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They played a practice round so Virgil could figure out how the game worked, though honestly it wasn’t that complicated, so it wasn’t really necessary.
The theme of the game was all about stealing. They were supposed to steal special tokens from other players as well as characters in the game and the first person with 20 tokens won.
The other three players argued that stealing was not the point and not the main mechanism of the game, but considering Virgil was consistently winning the entire time, he would argue they were just playing it wrong. He managed to collect 20 tokens before anyone else. In second place at this time was Logan with 9 tokens.
Logan insisted on continuing to play the game to determine 2nd and 3rd place, so Virgil ended up watching them play for a bit. Virgil didn’t mind sitting and watching other people play this game, mostly because he still had the joy of victory running in his veins.
Thomas was definitely going to lose, he noted. He kept wasting his money feeding the nonplayer characters who lived on his lands. Virgil didn’t mention this faulty strategy to him in case Virgil ever played him again.
When Logan took too long thinking about his next move, Virgil took in their surroundings.
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He’d been a bit too distracted by the prospect of food and then trying to understand (and then win) the game to truly take in The Cliffs. They were settled a good distance away from the cliffside but Virgil could still see how quickly the edge dropped off. He couldn’t see the large river he was told was at its base from where he was sitting, but he did see a few of the promised wild birds (including doves) flying around. The king had promised they’d bird watch for a bit, and Virgil figured that would happen after the game was over.
A cool spring breeze brushed across Virgil’s face, and he put his hand in his hoodie pockets to warm them. Instead, his fingers hit something icy cold.
For a moment, he didn’t remember what it was. The crescent shape of it was familiar when he put his hand over it, but he had never felt it cold before.
It was the protection charm: the first charm Virgil had ever made with Logan so many months ago. It was meant to ward off small threats as well as warn you about larger threats by changing temperature…
It had always been warm.
“What?” Patton asked, having noticed Virgil suddenly tense. Virgil, despite how he drilled into his friend’s heads to stay alert had gone soft. He’d let himself be distracted by a full belly and warm blankets and fun games.
He didn’t answer Patton. He filtered the other boy’s worried face out as well as Logan’s face as he glanced at him and the king’s still focused on the game for now. He filtered out the picnic blanket and smell of food still lingering in the air and the vine covered figure set in the middle of the board on the winner’s space. He filtered out the sound of the breeze and the breath of his companions and the distant chirping of birds.
And he heard a whoosh.
Chapter 58 (Patton)
If Patton hadn’t already been looking, he probably wouldn’t have had any idea what happened.
Everything had been fine. Virgil had been sitting cross legged, idly watching the conclusion of the game they’d been playing when his posture had suddenly changed. Patton had looked over at him only to see an expression on his face he didn’t recognize, but it didn’t seem good.
“What?” Patton had asked, but the question didn’t seem to register to Virgil.
Logan had glanced up confused and also noticed Virgil’s face. He’d just opened his mouth to also ask what was going on when chaos descended.
Virgil was suddenly moving, crashing into King Thomas who hadn’t even looked up to see something was wrong at that point. Patton realized after the fact that Virgil had swiped up the board of the game they’d been playing as he jumped over it, the pieces previously stacked on it scattering all over the blanket. There were three thumps as some things hit the thick board, imbedding themselves into the surface.
When Virgil discarded the board in favor of the picnic basket, Patton saw there were small darts in it oozing a dark black liquid. The parts of the board they touched were dissolving, the grass under the new holes beginning to wilt rapidly.
Logan seemed to notice the oozing liquid the same moment Patton did and was quicker to realize what it was. He grabbed Patton’s arm and yanked him away from the board so hard he almost dislocated Patton’s shoulder, not that Patton was too worried about that. He scrambled away from it when he realized what it must be himself.
He could hear the sound of glassware smashing above them. Logan and Patton had rolled off the blanket in their quest to get away from the smoldering, melting board and apparently Virgil had pulled the picnic blanket fully over the king at some point.
Virgil himself was now gone from where he’d been the last time Patton had looked and it took him a moment to figure out where the boy had gone. The person who had been shooting poisoned darts at them had been drawn out of the wooded area they’d been hiding in by Virgil’s attacks.
They were cloaked in dark green from head to toe, explaining why they’d been difficult to spot when they were in the woods. Whoever they were, they were significantly larger than Virgil, possibly an actual adult or almost adult assassin, but they were also clearly a long distant fighter. They had not been expecting resistance let alone resistance in the form of a so quick he was almost a blur fellow assassin.
They had a bow strapped to their back, but they hadn’t had a chance to get it. Instead, they were trying to fight Virgil off with an arrow they’d managed to draw from their quiver. Virgil, meanwhile was lunging at them with a broken piece of plate in one hand and the picnic basket in the other.
Virgil dodged out of the way of the arrow striking towards his arm, though Patton didn’t think it was because he was afraid of getting scratched by an arrow, but because it may also be poisoned tipped.
Virgil was distracted by dodging for long enough that the older assassin managed to hit him in the face with the arm not holding the arrow.
He went down, but he took the older assassin with him, sweeping their legs out from under them. Patton hadn’t noticed (his mind working too slow for how fast they were moving) but they were on a slight incline. They went rolling in a tangle of arms and legs towards the edge of the cliff and skidded to a stop only a few feet away.
Virgil ended up on top, his piece of broken plate in his hands. He moved to slash it across the other assassin’s throat and managed to draw blood, but the assassin’s fist came out to shove at Virgil’s chest at just the right moment, causing the strike to veer off course and slice across the assassin’s cheek instead.
Virgil jerked to the side to avoid a second strike to the chest and went back for another slash. The other assassin rolled to the side as he did and the plate only managed to nick their ear. The point of the motion hadn’t been to dodge, however. They were lunging for the arrow they’d dropped a few feet away while they’d rolled. They grabbed it with their right hand and in the same motion stabbed back behind them towards Virgil.
Virgil rolled to avoid the hit, already slashing up with his plate as the assassin turned back towards him.
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He didn’t hit them this time but his swipe managed to stop them from stabbing him when they tried again. They shoved themselves back to avoid Virgil’s swing, putting a bit of distance between them. Both of them managed to make it to their feet during the momentary reprieve, but both also stayed crouched, eyeing each other.
They both lunged towards each other at the same time. The assassin went for a stab to Virgil’s neck with the arrow, but Virgil was already ducking down. This time, he wasn’t going for a kill shot. He grabbed the assassin’s wrist and at the same time drove his piece of plate into the assassin’s arm, slicing down from the elbow to wrist. The assassin spoke for the first time, cursing in a language Patton didn’t recognize as they were forced to drop their arrow.
Virgil took a moment to kick the arrow away from the assassin and it ended up falling off the cliff.
However, this pause gave the assassin enough time to regroup. Despite their arm bleeding profusely, they still decided to use it to backhand Virgil across the face viciously, leaving a long line of their own blood across his face.
Virgil lunged back forward, but the assassin was able to get a leg between them, kicking Virgil squarely in the chest and sending him flying back a few feet parallel to the cliff’s edge.
The assassin went to grab their bow and another arrow from the quiver still strapped to their shoulder.
Virgil, however, apparently went for another weapon too and he was much faster with a knife than any archer. A knife appeared in his hand, having been strapped to his ankle and was embedded into the assassin’s chest before they could even full remove an arrow from their quiver.
The assassin promptly burst into flames, fire catching their clothes (and from the smell of it their skin) ablaze. Panicked and dying, they stumbled two steps to the side. They stepped directly off the cliff.
There was a second of silence. They heard the sound of the body hitting the ground far below and then the flap of wings and screeching as birds below fled from the startling sound (and possible soon to be forest fire).
…
“Uh, Virgil?” King Thomas said. He had managed to get the blanket off his head at some point. When, Patton didn’t know, but seeing any of it was probably enough.
Oopsie.
Chapter 59 (Logan)
Logan and Patton had been useless during the fight, but that may have been for the best. Considering the skill differential when it came to fighting (and that differential had never been as clear as it was in this moment), that was probably for the best. They likely would have just gotten in the way.
The moment Logan’s father spoke, however, they both jumped into action.
They both knew their jobs in a situation like this. Patton pushed himself up to his feet ungracefully and all but sprinted over towards Virgil. Logan, on the other hand stood to face his father, putting himself very purposefully between the man who had no idea what was going on yet and the boy who was two seconds away from remembering what was going on.
“I can explain,” Logan said.
His father was still sitting on the ground. “You can explain,” he said slowly, “how Virgil just threw an assassin off a cliff.”
Logan thought pointing out that Virgil hadn’t thrown anyone off a cliff and instead had set them on fire with a magical knife causing them to walk off a cliff, would not be useful in this moment. He glanced back briefly towards where Virgil and Patton were standing and then turned back to his father. “Yes.”
“And what would that explanation be?”
Before even starting to speak, Logan found himself making large dramatic ‘explaining hand gestures’ that he’d thought he’d long since trained himself out of. When he was younger and in trouble, he always used to give himself away as guilty by being overly expressive with his hands (and arms).
“So,” Logan said. He was still not able to stop the hand motions. “Virgil was an assassin. He came here to kill you last fall, but he accidently went to the wrong room in the royal wing. Patton and I were having a slumber party and caught him in the act. Then we reformed him and now he doesn’t kill people anymore.” He paused and glanced back, remembering the body that had just toppled off the cliff. “Er, uh, he doesn’t kill people who haven’t shot poisoned darts at people recently anymore?”
“What?”
“Look,” Logan said. “You’re going to have to tell him you’re not going to execute him soon. Patton can only keep him from bolting for so long.”
“Execute him?” his father asked.
“Well, he was a Mocnejsi assassin sent to kill you,” Logan said.
“Virgil is a Mocnejsi assassin,” his father repeated as though to confirm he’d heard him right.
Logan had thought the Mocnejsi was implied. “He was,” Logan confirmed.
“Why does that make more sense than any other explanation I’ve come up with for him?” his father asked while pinching his brow. Logan took that as rhetorical. Then, his father looked at him again. “He’s 14.”
“Yes,” Logan said, “I’m also pretty sure this is the first person he’s actually killed while not under a blood compulsion, so you really need to tell him he’s not going to be executed.”
His father seemed to actually absorb Logan’s request this time. He finally looked over Logan’s shoulder at Virgil, concern crossing his face at what he saw. “Right.”
He moved to step around Logan then, and Logan let him. Logan turned to watch him slowly approach Patton and Virgil, his hands out in a placating manner. He stopped a few feet away.
“Hey,” his father said. “That was a bit scary, huh?” Virgil looked at him, eyes wide and darting around like they did when he was looking for an escape. There wasn’t much of one being so close to the edge of the cliff.
Logan would worry he’d contemplate throwing himself off of it in a bid to escape if Patton wasn’t clutching him to prevent that. “You did a good job.”
That seemed to give Virgil pause, his eyes focusing on father. “Good job?” he asked.
“Yes, well,” father said with a small smile, “judging by what those darts are doing to the grass and how far we are from any supplies for counter potions, I think you blocking them probably saved my life. So, I think a good job is in order.”
Virgil did not respond verbally, though he tilted his head like he did when he was thinking through the steps of a potion.
His posture changed enough that Patton released him cautiously, taking a step away.
“But,” Virgil said. “I’m an assassin.”
“Yes,” Father said. “I could tell by how that fight just went.”
Virgil shifted his weight. “I came here to kill you.”
His father spread his arms wide. “Yet, here I am,” he pointed out. “You’ve had me alone multiple times including once in a secret room possibly no one would have ever found. Plus, you saved me today. I think that more than makes up for the intentions you had months ago.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to send me to prison?” Virgil asked. “Or execute me?”
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“No, of course not,” his father said.
Virgil eyed him, still slightly warry.
“I promise, Virgil, you’re fine.”
“Dad wouldn’t lie,” Logan interjected. Virgil looked over at him and then back at Father. He nodded slowly.
“Good,” Father said. “Now can we get a bit further back from the edge?” He glanced at Patton. “You too, Patton.”
Virgil and Patton both stepped towards him, and he herded them far away from the edge until they were at the edge of the surrounding forest. Logan followed as well.
“Can I touch your face?” Father asked once they were sufficiently away from the cliffs.
Virgil nodded and father pulled out a handkerchief. He carefully wiped the blood off Virgil’s face the best he could (most of it was not Virgil’s) and inspected the boy’s split lip and already bruising eye.
“Is your chest alright?” Father asked.
Virgil nodded. “Yeah.”
Father considered him. “Enough to ride back to the castle.”
“It wasn’t that bad of a hit,” Virgil insisted.
Father studied him for a moment longer. “I’ll choose to believe you for now,” he said. “We should get back to the castle as soon as possible just in case this is not an isolated attack.”
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“We don’t work in teams,” Virgil informed them. “They worry we’d get emotionally attached and not complete our missions.”
“I can understand why they would say something like that,” Father said, letting just a bit of his scorn come through, “but still, we should be on our way.”
With that, he put an arm on Virgil’s back to guide him back towards where they’d left the horses.
“Huh,” Logan said to Patton as they began to walk behind them. “I thought we’d be in more trouble for all of this.”
His father paused at overhearing that, turning to look at them over his shoulder briefly.
“Ah,” said Logan with a grimace. “I see.”
“It’s been nice being your friend all these years Logan,” Patton said solemnly. “Too bad we’re both going to be locked in our rooms for the rest of our lives.”
“Until your 50s with good behavior,” Father informed them blandly.
That was… probably fair. They did allow an assassin to freely roam the castle for months without telling anyone. The fact that his father was now watching that assassin like a hawk to make sure he wasn’t more injured than he was saying, did not change that fact.
Logan couldn’t find it in himself to regret it.
Little Kestrel Stats Page
Hello everyone! Little Kestrel was an interactive story and your choices impacted a lot of it! Please enjoy some statistics about what your choices did in this story!
Routes:
There were 3 normal routes and 1 unlockable special route. These are mostly about Virgil's relationship with adults.
Route 1: King's Watchdog- Focuses on Virgil's relationship with Thomas. Earned 10 points.
Route 2: Future Gardener- Focuses on Virgil's relationship with Mr. Deknis. Earned 7 points.
Route 3: Culinary in Law- Focuses on Virgil's relationship with Ms. Heart. Earned 2 points.
Route 4: A Dead King's Son- The unlockable route (unlocked by picking the leaf hair accessory in chapter 18) Focuses on Virgil's relationship with Thomas again but with the slight twist that Thomas notices Virgil looks and acts a lot like his dead husband. Thomas takes on more of a parental role than in King's Watchdog. Earned 13 points and won!
Relationship Focus:
Logan Focus- Focuses more on the Virgil and Logan relationship and has more chances to unlock books. Earned 12 points
Patton Focus- Focuses more on the Virgil and Patton relationship and has a few more allusions to Virgil and Patton's eventual romantic relationship (one-sided at this point since Virgil is only 14 and Patton wouldn't even consider it.) Earned 7 points.
Virgil Focus- Focuses more on Virgil discovering himself. There is more about him learning to read (separate from Logan) and gardening. Earned 18 points and won!
Book Achievements:
You unlocked 2 books and finished 0 books.
Neverending Garden 2/4 Scenes
Into the Mist 1/4 Scenes
Endings:
There were a total of 27 possible endings. You chose the Empowerment/Magic/Flight Ending.
The choice between the healing, empowerment, and love endings were done in chapter 13 with Virgil's choice of engraving on his protection stone. He chose flames which corresponds to the empowerment ending. This decided who was involved in the end fight.
The choice between the drowned, growth, and flight endings was done in chapter 50 with the choice of where Patton took Virgil on a warm winter day. You chose the dovecote which corresponds to the flight ending. This decided where the end fight took place.
The choice between the knowledge, magic, and wisdom endings was done in chapter 55 with the choice of lesson for Virgil. You chose magic lessons which corresponds to the magic ending. This decided how the end fight ended.
Panic Modifiers:
Most of your decisions were more dedicated to Virgil's panic level. Different choices would make Virgil more or less comfortable in coming scenes This would impact how he acted. There were four panic levels and Virgil being in one panic level verses another would change the chapter of interest.
Calm: [1,4)
Worried: [4,7)
Anxious: [7,10)
Panicked: 10+
You can see the graph of Virgil's panic levels below:
Also a chart: (Maybe)
For all votes and consequences see below:
Chapter 0:
Starting character:
Logan
Patton
Virgil
Chapter 1:
Alright, where should our boys run off to?
A. The castle gardens to see old Mr. Deknis, the castle gardener who is a cranky old man, but does have a soft spot for children. (+1FG)
B. The kitchens where Patton’s mom works. She’s working on getting dinner ready. (+1CIL)
C. Up towards the royal living space where they might run into the king. (+1 KW)
Chapter 2:
How will Virgil respond to the gardener’s questions?
A. …Yes. ( FG+2)
B. Uh, I work in the kitchen, got overwhelmed and ran to hide out here. (FG+0)
C. Um…Are you stealing food from the castle garden? (FG+1)
D. *Silence* (FG+3)
Virgil needs to go somewhere to hide for a couple more hours. Should he go to (Universe decision. Wouldn’t change in other stuff)
A. The library Logan was in earlier. (He sees Logan’s desk and book.) (Logan’s book ref)
B. The pantry by the kitchen. (We’ll probably hear Patton’s mom speak, but he won’t know who she is yet.) (+1 CIL)
C. One of the unused guest rooms. (By the small dining hall Patton and Logan ran through. You just turn the opposite way that they did.) (More about Assassination Plot)
Chapter 3:
What type of cookie should Patton offer Virgil? Each comes with its own little background story.
A. Mint chocolate chip (Patton’s favorite cookie!) (P+2, L+1)
B. Sugar cookie (Logan’s favorite cookie) (L+2, P+1)
C. Snickerdoodle (The King’s favorite cookie) (T+2, P+1)
Chapter 4:
Which of Logan’s questions would he ask first? All of the questions are going to eventually be answered, but which one he asks first will change how Virgil responds and his initial perspective of him.
A. Why did you only have one knife? -1 for current panic levels, +0 L and P
B. What did you do to the guards? +3 for current panic levels, +4 for L and P
C. Who are you? What’s your name? +1 for current panic levels, +2 for L and P)
Why does Thomas have to leave for 3 weeks? Each with give a different short story when he gets back from his trip. (Story decider)
A. To deal with a trading dispute between two parts of the kingdom.
B. To deal with an issue that came up about getting food supplies to soldiers for the winter.
C. To try to convince another nation not to get into an alliance with an enemy kingdom. (flavor text)
Chapter 5:
What should Patton and Virgil talk about?
A. Feral cats (+0 panic +1 P)
B. Gardening (-1 panic +1 P)
C. Books (+1 panic +0 P)
Chapter 6: (Extra Scene)
What path should Patton take to the kitchen? Each has him seeing different people/things.
A. The shortest path down the spiral staircase. (Overhears guards)
B. The least strenuous path past the library Logan likes and down the bigger set of stairs. (Sees the librarian)
C. The least busy path where he cuts across the garden. (Sees Princess Marisol)
Who should be talking with Patton’s mom in the kitchen when he arrives? (Scene Modifiers)
1. A castle guard +2 Patton’s covertness, +1 intrigue (Gets away with macaroni salad.)
2. The gardener -2 Patton’s covertness +2 intrigue
3. A different kitchen worker +0 Patton’s covertness +0 intrigue (Gets mac salad but gets caught.)
Chapter 7:
What should Logan offer Virgil to eat off his table?
A. Mint (+1 L)
B. Honeycomb (+2 L)
C. Chives (+0 L)
Chapter 8:
Which part of the conversation between Patton and Logan should he wake up to? (Each comes with a different reaction to what is happening as well as a level of tiredness.)
A. They’re talking about how they’re going to keep him in the closet. (Medium amount of sleep, -1 panic)
B. They’re talking about how the binding potion is done. (Longest amount of sleep, +1 panic)
C. They’re talking about the food. (Shortest amount of sleep, +0 panic)
Chapter 9:
What should the theme of Virgil’s closet end up being?
A. Cats. (+2P)
B. Flowers. (+1 V +1P)
C. Stars. (+1 L +2V)
Chapter 10:
What are the boys going to have for dinner? (Scene modifier)
A. Chicken noodle soup- Had a discussion with one of the guards that Virgil drugged. Thinks Logan is legitimately sick so she made traditional feel better food.
B. A bunch of toast and crackers with a few different toppings- Had a discussion with Thomas’ royal advisor. Thinks Logan is probably faking because he’s tired and worried about his dad a bit but isn’t sure, so she made him something that would sit well if he was actually sick, but would also cheer him up (see jam).
C. Had a discussion with the castle librarian. Thinks Logan is likely very stressed out since he didn’t go to the library that day (a strange thing for him not to do in a day), so she made him something he really likes to make him feel better.)
Virgil knows a little bit about constellations. Which one is his favorite. (Note: these are all fantasy ones, not ones that exist.
A. The Moribund Dragon
B. The Five Magic Makers
C. The Girl Who Sowed the Forest (flavor text)
You will get the myth behind whichever constellation is picked.
Chapter 11:
What magic should Logan teach Virgil?
A. Hair color changing potion. (V+3)
B. Protection charm. (V+2, L+1)
C. Fire shapes. (V+1, P+1)
Chapter 12:
What book should Patton read to Virgil? Each choice comes with a different mini story.
A. A Boy with 5 Rocks.
B. The Doll’s Cauldron
C. The Neverending Garden (flavor text)
Chapter 13:
Shape for the pendant.
1. Heart (P+1)
2. Leaf (V+1)
3. Crescent Moon (L+1)
Second vote: Color
4. Red
5. Orange
6. Yellow
7. Green
8. Blue
9. Purple (+2 V)
10. Black
Third vote: Engraving
11. Spiral Sun (Emphasizes healing) (+1L +1V)
12. Flame (Emphasizes empowerment) (+2 V)
13. Interlocked hearts (Emphasizes love) (+1P +1V)
Last vote: Decoration
11. Glitter (magically put under the surface of the pendant) (+1P)
12. A pressed rose (magically put under the surface of the pendant) (+1V)
13. Glow in the dark paint (+1L)
Chapter 14:
I want them to be swapping stories in the next one. Who drags who with childhood stories (or at least who starts it)? (Scene modification)
1. Patton drags Logan. (flavor text)
2. Logan drags Patton
What embarrassing story should Logan tell Virgil about in the proofreading story tonight? Vote by ask, reply, or reblog. (Scene modification)
A. Accidently pushed a foreign dignitary he had a crush on into a fountain. (flavor text)
B. When it was dark one night, he accidently put cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon in his hot chocolate, and woke up half of the castle screaming.
C. Died his entire body orange for three weeks because he got into Logan’s stuff and Logan wouldn’t fix him.
Chapter 15:
What cat is Patton going to smuggle into Logan’s room to show Virgil? Each cat has their own personality. (Scene modification)
A. Mittens (White fluffy Ragdoll with black paws and face. Likes to curl up on people’s laps.) (flavor text)
B. Cleo (All grey, British short haired. Named after Cleopatra, thinks she owns the castle.)
C. Cinnamon (Orange Scottish Fold cat. Hobbies include causing problems on purpose.)
Chapter 16: (Scene modification)
What potion would Logan probably be planning on teaching Virgil next?
A. A very basic healing potion.
B. Basically a find my iPhone potion that lets you connect two objects and you can find one with the other. (flavor text)
C. A cleaning potion.
Chapter 17: (Scene modification)
please send in votes for what activity you want to see from Virgil’s perspective. All of them involve both Patton and Logan.
1. Reading lessons. +3 soft +1 cute +0 hilarity
2. Learning to make the tracking potion. +1 soft +1 cute +2 hilarity
3. Virgil gets to try different food party. +1 soft +2 cute +1 hilarity
Which book? (Scene modification)
A. Five Dragons and a Flame
B. The End of May.
C. A Stone in the Meadow.
D. The Never-ending Garden (flavor text)
What order are we going in? Note: Virgil is actually going to like spicy foods. He is going to like… pretty much all of the food. (Scene modification)
A. Sweet, savory, spicy (desert first!)
B. Spicy, sweet, savory
C. Savory, spicy, sweet (desert last!) (flavor text)
Chapter 18:
Which hair accessory should we braid into Virgil’s hair?
A. Feather. (Except it wouldn’t be a comb, it’d be something that gets braided in more.) Milder angst. (+1 panic next chapter)
B. Leaves (but silver with purple accents) Peak angst. (DKS unlocked, +3) (+3 panic next chapter)
C. Stars (again with purple accents though) Moderate angst. (+0 panic next chapter)
(What would have happened if the stars or feathers had been picked?
All scenes would lead to Logan and Patton leaving him alone in the room and Thomas finding him. He then would always end up under the bed.
For stars, that was Logan’s when he was younger which his dead dad gave to him. (He liked purple just like Virgil!) He would have told Virgil this and been slightly sad, but not nearly as much. Patton would have done Virgil’s hair as he is in general better at hair. (Logan did Virgil’s hair with the leaves because the piece meant a lot to him and he also had been taught to do his Pa’s hair like that when he was really little.) Logan would have left the room to find some of the things he knew matched it and Patton would have excitedly followed him to suggest a piece he was familiar with. Virgil would have still freaked out about wearing Thomas’s son’s hairpiece when he came in but not nearly as much as he was while wearing his dead husband’s. He would have still wanted it out, but wouldn’t have been quite as desperate and practically ripping his own hair out.
For feathers, it was something Thomas wore, but nothing of any significance. Logan would not have told Virgil who it belonged to. So there would have been no sadness for Logan in the start up. Patton would have done Virgil’s hair as he is good at hair. Patton would have left the room first to find some more things and Logan would have followed him to keep him from bringing too much. Virgil would have no reason to freak out about the hairpiece other than that it was expensive and would have left it in in the aftermath.)
Chapter 20:
So, now we can finally allow our dear assassin friend to leave Logan’s bedroom. He will eventually go to all of these places, but where should we take him on his first day of freedom?
A. The library. (KW+1, DKS+1)
B. The kitchen. (CIL+1)
C. The garden. (FG+1)
Chapter 21:
What more active activity should they do later? Each, obviously, comes with a different activity and a different adult character interaction.
A. Introduce Virgil to horses (CIL+1 DKS+1)
B. Climbing trees. (Virgil is going to be scary good at this.) (FG+1)
C. Teach Virgil what tag is. (They will come to regret this most thoroughly.) (KW+1)
Chapter 22: (Scene modifier)
Do you guys want
A. Mr. Deknis backstory via Logan.
B. Mr. Deknis to interrupt them and for us to actually get to see him today, but not get his backstory yet.) (flavor text)
Chapter 23:
Time for an ominous vote. Vote for a word, and chose wisely. That word will be in the next paragraph of this fic.
A. Stop (Virgil would have managed to stop before running into Thomas.) +0 panic
B. Bump (Virgil manages to slow down, but still bumps into Thomas) +5 panic
C. Slam (Virgil slams into Thomas)+10 panic (next chapter)
Chapter 24:
1. Try to talk to Virgil to get him to calm down. (-1panic T+2)
2. Let Logan and Patton work with him, but stick around. (+1 panic T+1)
3. Make a tactical retreat and leave Patton and Logan to handle it so his presence won’t make things worse. (-2 panic T+0)
Chapter 25:
Virgil has three pairs of pajamas he’s been given while he’s hear. Which ones should he wear?
1. A large white shirt splattered with paint from Patton’s painting phase. (+1P)
2. A galaxy print t-shirt Logan grew out of. (+1L)
3. A giant black sweater of indiscernible origin Logan found in the back of his closet that Virgil has claimed as his own. (+1V)
Chapter 26: (Scene modifiers)
Mr. Deknis is a snitch and immediately told Patton’s mom that Patton had befriended the mysterious child in the caste. Patton’s mom now wants to meet Virgil. Should they go
A. Now, for breakfast. (Flavor text, +1V)
B. In the afternoon.
C. After dinner.
Chapter 27: (Scene modifiers)
What homemade candy does Patton’s mom keep in her office?
1. Butterscotch hard candies.
2. Peppermints. (Flavor text)
3. Strawberry hard candies.
Chapter 28:
Who would you most like to see as the perspective character for the next chapter. Note, there is going to be an Adult^TM meeting about the strange small child so the content will be mostly the same, the perspective will just be different.
A. Mr. Deknis (The gardener) (FG+1)
B. Thomas (KW+1, DKS+1)
C. Ms. Heart (Patton’s mom) (CIL+1)
Ms. Heart is making them tea. What type of tea are they going to drink? (This has an effect on the mood of the conversation.) (Scene modifiers)
A. Earl Grey +2 Intense
B. Peach Green +1 Intense
C. Chamomile +0 Intense
Chapter 29:
So, next chapter where do you want to see the kiddos?
1. The library (+1L, +1KW)
2. The sitting room in the royal wing (+1P, +1CL)
3. The courtyard (+1FG, +1V)
What is the subject of the book Logan got Virgil?
X. Flowers (V+1)
Y. Animals (P+1)
Z. Food (L+1)
Chapter 30:
What plant should Mr. Deknis be harvesting today? Virgil gets to help! (Scene modifier)
F. Pears
G. Acorn squash (flavor text)
H. Cauliflower
Chapter 31:
None
Chapter 32:
What do you want to see next?
A. Gardening hijinks. (FG+1)
B. Learning that fireplaces are the best hijinks. (KW+1)
C. Virgil is too good at hide and seek hijinks. (CIL+1, DKS+1)
Chapter 33:
We’re going to be getting permission to look at the room that Virgil found pretty soon. What about this old bricked up room in the bowls of the castle are you more interested in talking about? (Scene modifier)
A. The small bookshelf it has.
B. The contents of a chest. (Flavor text)
C. The jewelry box.
Chapter 34:
Winter activity for Logan to explain to Virgil.
A. Snowball fights (Patton story) (P+1, -1 panic)
B. Building Snowmen (Logan’s dad story) (DKS+1, -2 panic, +1V)
C. Sledding (Logan story) (L+1, +0 panic)
Chapter 35:
Adult perspective for the next chapter:
A. Thomas perspective dealing with getting the castle ready for the winter. He’d stumble across Virgil in the midst of this. (Note the next adult chapter will be a Thomas perspective chapter if that influences your vote.) (KW+1, DKS+1)
B. Helen perspective. She gives the child hot chocolate. Not much more to say about that. His eyes probably dilatate like a cat. (CIL +1)
C. Mr. Deknis. Virgil helps him out with some garden planning stuff. There isn’t really much to do because storing is pretty much done. We get a bit of Mr. Deknis trying to very gently interrogate small child, but alas, small child simply wants to gush about hot chocolate which he was introduced to earlier in the day (and still has a cup of.) (FG +1)
Chapter 36:
None
Chapter 37:
I’ve got some stuff to do today, and am going to work on the proofreading story. I have a quick vote for you guys. How should Virgil distract himself.
1. Practice reading (L+1)
2. Snoop around the room a bit since he’s never been there. (DKS+2, KW+1, T+1, +3 panic)
3. Make a bracelet out of string. (P+1)
Chapter 38:
How will Patton distract a stressed-out Virgil today?
A. Read the next part of The Neverending Garden in Logan’s room. (+NG achievement)
B. Go down to get breakfast. (CIL+1, +1V)
C. Draw. (P+1)
Chapter 39:
A. Shoulder (Shove) (+0 panic)
B. Head (Slap) (+2 panic)
C. Cheek (Punch) (+3 panic)
Chapter 40:
Where should Thomas go in the castle?
A. Cabinet (the type of room, not like a kitchen cabinet, basically a study in a castle) (+1 panic)
B. Dovecoat (a building where doves are housed on the castle grounds) (+2 panic since it’s outside)
C. One of the very few secret hallways Thomas knows. (-1 panic)
Chapter 41:
Last time on the Proofreading story, Thomas managed to convince Virgil to not hide in the walls for the rest of his existence. Where would you like him to take Virgil?
A. Back to the royal wing. (+1T, +1P, +1KW, +1V)
B. Down to the kitchen. (+1T +1L, +1CIL, +2V)
C. To the library he ran away from. (+2L)
Chapter 42:
1. Inside activities (-1 panic, +1CIL)
2. Inside activities, but not in a building connected to the castle so they have to go outside- some stress (+1 panic, +1DKS, +1KW) [unlock stable scene for Thomas’s next perspective]
3. Patton somehow convinces him to try playing in the snow- all the stress (+2 panic, +1FG)
Chapter 43:
Any preferences on where you want to explore?
A. The main public library (the one we’ve gone to is a more private one) (+1L)
B. The guardroom (+1P)
C. The guest apartments (that are empty during this time of year) (+1V)
What book should Logan get to read to Virgil?
A. Into the Mist (Fantasy) (Into the Mist book unlocked)
B. Thief of Crow (Adventure)
C. I Wake at Midnight (Mystery)
Chapter 44:
Pick how much snow is coming down outside! The choice will decide how characters interact and what they do in the next chapter.
A. A very small amount of snow. Just a flurry. (+1 panic, Walking back scene)
B. A good amount of snow is coming down. A bit miserable to walk in but you’d be willing to drive in it if you needed to. (+2 panic, +1KW, Thomas gives him his coat)
C. A lot of snow is coming down. It’s starting to obstruct vision. (+3 panic, +2 KW, Thomas and Virgil stay in the stable)
Chapter 45:
What drink should Thomas get Virgil in the breakroom? It will decide what they talk about.
a) Earl Grey tea (+2 KW, talk about Logan and Patton)
b) Hot apple cider (+2 DKS, conversation about Thomas’s husband)
c) Hot chocolate (+1 DKS +1KW, not explicit mention of Thomas’s husband)
Should Virgil hold Thomas’s hand on the way back to the castle?
a) Yes (+1 T)
b) No (+0 T)
c) No, until he goes outside and is scared. (+3T)
Chapter 46:
I’m going to be working on writing more of Little Kestrel pretty soon. The next chapter is from Patton’s perspective. What would you like to see?
A. Cooking shenanigans with Patton’s mom. (+3 CIL, +2P, +1V)
B. Learning about plants with Mr. Deknis (+3 FG, +2V, +1L)
What type of plant should Virgil put in his garden patch next spring?
A. A type of flower (flavor text)
B. A type of vegetable
C. A type of herb
What type of flower is Virgil going to grow in the garden in the spring.
A. Fox Nose Flowers- small red flowers with a tulip like shape but smaller. They have many healing properties and can be eaten straight from the plant or used in different potions for more intense effects.
B. Mood Moth Flowers- Large flowers that change colors regularly. It is said that they choose a nearby person attach to when they first grow and will change colors based on their moods. Sometimes these colors are luminescent and they end up lighting up in the dark. They are sometimes used in tracking spells though the potion using them is rare and they’re usually just used as decoration.
C. Zygopetalum Orchids- The flower Virgil mentions in Kill Dear being worried about someone killing his. (flavor text)
Chapter 47: None
Chapter 48:
Choose:
1. Air (Logan is tackled)
2. Water (Logan gets water poured on his head)
3. Earth (Logan gets mud poured on his head)
Chapter 49:
Should Thomas:
A. Escort Logan to his bedroom and talk to him alone about what’s going on. (+1P, +1L, +1panic)
B. Go with Virgil to the kitchens and talk to him more about what’s going on. (+1 V, +1T, -1panic)
C. Finish up what he’d been doing before getting interrupted by his children and then meet them both in the kitchen. (+2V, +0panic)
Chapter 50:
The weather is going to start getting warming and Virgil is actually going to willingly step outside for things that are not horse related. Where should Patton take him on one of the first warmer days?
A. A small pond (Drowned Ending, +1 panic)
B. The orchard (Growth Ending, +0 panic)
C. The dovecote (Flight Ending Unlocked, +2panic)
Chapter 52:
What type of sandwiches should these two be eating for lunch?
A. Ham (+0 cat)
B. Tuna (+3 cat)
C. Chicken (+1 cat)
Chapter 53:
How sus is Mr. Deknis right now.
A. Sus. (Mr. Deknis keeps it to himself still +1FG, +1 panic)
B. Very sus. (+1CIL, +1KW, Mr. Deknis tells Thomas and Helen, +2 panic)
C. I’m calling the police. (+1 KW, +1DKS Mr. Deknis tells Thomas and Helen. Thomas gets clingy, +3 panic)
Chapter 54:
Choose a location where Logan, Patton, and Virgil will be in the next chapter.
a. Orchard
b. Meadow
c. Forest (Flavor Text)
Chapter 55:
Pick a lesson for Virgil!
1. Reading lessons (Knowledge Ending)
2. Magic lessons (Magic Ending)
3. Cooking lessons (Wisdom Ending)
Who should catch Virgil and Logan in the process of unethical science experiments with a hot knife?
1. Patton (Fire knife, no fire, +0 panic)
2. Thomas (Fire knife, fire, +2 panic)
3. Patton’s mother (No fire knife, +1 panic)
Chapter 56:
What type of food should Thomas, Logan, Patton, and Virgil take?
1. Classic Picnic-Little mini sandwiches, pasta salad, cookies
2. Fancy Picnic-Mini shepherd’s pies, antipasto skewers, mini chocolate lava cakes
3. Virgil Picked Picnic-Fettuccine alfredo, hot cauliflower bites, apple pie bites
Pick some entertainment:
a. A book
b. A board game
c. Coloring supplies
Pick out a blanket
A. An Old Handmade Colorful quilt
B. A classic plaid picnic blanket
C. A fancy red and gold blanket
Epilogue (All are flavor text)
Pick a season:
A. Spring
B. Summer
C. Fall
D. Winter
Pick a starting location:
A. Logan's room
B. The Kitchens
C. The stables
D. The garden
Pick an Event Happening Later
A. A seasonal festival
B. A birthday party
C. A kingdoms founders day
D. A lantern festival
Pick an adult:
A. Thomas
B. Mr. Deknis
C. Helen Heart
Pick another character:
A. Logan
B. Patton
C. Princess Marisol
D. Thomas
E. Helen Heart
F. Mr. Deknis
G. One of the guards
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 123]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53 Part 54
There won't be much of this today honestly lol. I have no motivation.
Chapter 55 (Logan)
Virgil was beginning to be able to read some of the common instructions in magic books, but Logan still made sure to read out the instructions to him at least twice before setting him loose. He’d started to jot down notes to himself about things, though these notes were not words, but various symbols that only made sense to the boy himself.
Logan had asked about their meaning at one point and received an answer that, while earnest, was unintelligible. The symbols were mostly just pictures of things to represent certain steps in spell casting, but they were filtered through Virgil’s rudimentary penmanship and often bizarre perception of the world.
Though, despite the fact that Logan could not often decipher his chicken scratch, it did seem to help him produce more and more quality charms even as Logan began to introduce more complicated processes to make them. He was a very good student even if he didn’t have the best foundation for learning.
“I add lavender for the next step, right?” Virgil asked, his finger on a word in Logan’s magic book.
“That is correct,” Logan confirmed.
Virgil looked back at the book and mouthed the word ‘lavender’ to himself before turning back to his potion. He grabbed a few sprigs of lavender and threw them into the cauldron.
The liquid popped and bubbled violently, but Virgil didn’t flinch as he once would have, prepared for it now.
After the lavender, Logan knew that it would have to simmer for 5 minutes. Virgil looked down at the boiling liquid, contemplating it for a long moment.
“Can I soak a knife in it?” he asked.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Can I soak a knife in the potion once it’s done?”
“In that potion?” Logan clarified. “In the emergency hand warmer potion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think a hot knife would be useful,” Virgil said.
“For what?”
Virgil shrugged. “Cooking food on the road,” he said, “burning wood, stabbing someone and immediately cauterizing the wound.”
“That is… not a standard use for this potion,” Logan said.
Virgil titled his head at him. “Would it work though?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Logan contemplated. “Perhaps. The potion can cause burns if one uses too much of it or if it is used without an appropriate layer between it and the skin. If one were to pick a knife with enough surface area and let it soak long enough, it could in theory get hot enough to do as desired. Hmm…” he thought about it. “There would perhaps be the problem of the potion not sticking to the knife very long as it is intended to soak into fabric. However, cardamom could solve that issue as long as it doesn’t interact with any other ingredients. Let me see that spell.”
Virgil stepped out of his way so he could study the page. “Yes,” Logan said after scanning through all of the ingredients. “I think cardamom would work for something like that. Let me go find some.”
He turned to walk towards where he kept his supplies of potion ingredients. Virgil followed on his heals.
“Can we use a serrated knife?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Virgil,” Logan said, nodding as he searched through the cupboard that should hold the coriander. “The knife being serrated would help keep the potion stuck to the blade after many uses and would increase the surface area.”
“That was certainly my intention,” Virgil said smoothly. There was something odd about the tone that had Logan turning and blinking at him. Virgil just smiled at him innocently and Logan turned back to the cabinet finally locating the cardamom.
“So how are we going to use that?” Virgil asked.
“We’ll put it in right before the last step and let it sit for about 3 minutes,” Logan said. “If it doesn’t quite work, we may need to make another batch. There are options other than cardamom, but that’s the first idea that comes to mind and it’s a lot simpler if it works.”
He continued to speak of the many other options they could try as they returned to the caldron as well as how they could test the hot knife. It was already about time for the next step and Virgil did it without interrupting Logan’s rant.
Virgil listened to his suggestions with interest all while still making sure the potion he was making was progressing well.
Logan did eventually take over to finish the potion with the revised steps he’d come up with and they ended up with a potion that looked perfect except it was a few shades darker than the one they’d originally been planning to make.
“Well, it looks good,” Logan declared. “We will need to acquire a knife to test its effectiveness, however.”
“There are a few good ones in the kitchen,” Virgil pointed out. “I especially like the one 10 inch one with the black and white handle.”
“You have been eyeing up the kitchen knives?” Logan asked.
Virgil rolled his eyes as though that was not a perfectly reasonable question to ask him. “We should steal that one,” Virgil said.
“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak past Ms. Heart to steal a knife from her kitchen?” Logan asked.
“We can’t,” Virgil said. The ‘but I can’ was implied.
Logan almost didn’t believe him… and then he remembered the water pouch incident. “It’s the dinner rush,” Logan said. “We should probably wait for a bit.”
Virgil was shaking his head. “The dinner rush is the best time,” he said. “Everyone will be distracted, and all of the knives will be out and in prime stealing position.”
“And if Patton’s mother catches us messing around in her kitchen during her busiest time of day, she will have Father ground us for a week.”
“Then we just won’t get caught,” Virgil said.
“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” Logan said with a frown.
“You can stay here if you want,” Virgil offered. “I’ll just go by myself.”
“No, I’ll come too,” Logan relented, though he did still have some reservations about the idea.
He let Virgil lead him towards the main dining hall. By now, Virgil knew the kitchens and dining hall very well.
“Stay here,” he said. They were in a hallway a few feet down from the staff entrance to the main kitchen. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”
“What type of reconnaissance?” Logan asked, but Virgil had already vanished before his very eyes. With a blink, Logan looked up and saw a dark figure disappear onto a balcony overhead.
Well, Logan really had no choice but to wait there for him. It wasn’t like he could follow him. He could hear the clatter of silverware on plates from the dining hall down the corridor as he impatiently waited. It only took Virgil a bit over five minutes to return. He dropped suddenly from above and landed in front of Logan in a crouch.
“Well?” Logan asked, letting a bit of irritation into his tone so Virgil knew he was displeased. Virgil did not seem to care.
“Got it,” Virgil said with a wide grin, brandishing a large kitchen knife.
Logan flinched back at the unexpected sight of a weapon.
“You said you were doing reconnaissance!” he sputtered. “Not…” he trailed off remembering that while they weren’t in eyesight of anyone right now, they could be in earshot of someone. He lowered his tone, “stealing the knife already.”
“I was doing reconnaissance,” Virgil said with a shrug, “and then I used the information gathered by that reconnaissance to steal a knife.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at him.
Virgil just smiled. “You would have gotten in my way.”
“I would not have,” Logan insisted.
“How many times has Patton’s mom caught you stealing food from the kitchens in the past?” he asked.
Logan pursed his lips. “That is Patton’s doing,” he said.
“Sure,” Virgil said with an eyeroll. “I’ll have you prove it some other day, but for now,” he twirled the knife around in a way that made Logan cringe even though he did seem to have an expert handle over it. “We have a knife.”
“Right,” Logan agreed with a nod. “We should continue the experiment.”
Virgil stored the knife away… somewhere on his person, and they snuck back to Logan’s rooms.
When Virgil handed over the knife, Logan did have to admit it was a perfect specimen for their project: long and saw-like with a heatproof handle.
Logan carefully set it in a shallow dish and proceeded to pour the potion they’d made onto it. They let it sit for a little under half an hour before carefully pulling it out of the concoction with tongs and letting it airdry. Meanwhile, Virgil suggested they set up a testing area with various old sheets and clothing. They’d even found and decorated an armor stand with an old suit that Logan particularly disliked.
“Well,” Logan said once he’d tapped the handle and had not gotten burned by the potion. “I think we can test it now.” For safety, he made Virgil put on thick heatproof gloves before handing him the knife.
“So how do I make it work?” Virgil asked.
“The original potion works through light friction,” Logan said.
“So just start stabbing things?”
Logan went to respond, but before he could, Virgil had already twisted around and sliced through one of the sheets hanging in Logan’s potion room. There was a sizzling noise as the knife cut through the sheet like it was tissue paper leaving two aflame halves flapping about.
Logan leapt forward to tear the pieces of sheet down and the two of them stomped on the flames to put out the fire.
“It’s perfect,” Virgil said with a grin once the charred remains of the sheet were extinguished.
“It does seem to work as intended,” Logan agreed.
“Let’s do it again,” Virgil said.
“Er, well, perhaps we shouldn’t…,” Logan started, but Virgil had already set his eyes on the armor stand they’d set up. That suddenly seemed like not such a good idea to Logan.
He stabbed the armor stand viciously. It went up in violent flames. Logan’s eyes widened as the blaze only seemed to get bigger as Virgil drew back the knife.
Virgil did not seem to share Logan’s worry as he turned and stabbed another piece of hanging clothing, setting it ablaze as well.
“Virgil, no! You’re going to burn the room down!” Logan yelped.
The armor stand, at that very moment, decided to fall to the ground. They had, perhaps, not set the testing area up as well as they should have because it fell directly onto one of Logan’s rugs and set that on fire as well.
“Oops,” Virgil said, eyes wide.
Above the sound of crackling fire, Logan heard a tapping on the door between his bedroom and work room. It opened slightly after a moment and Logan’s father’s voice called out as he was sticking his head into the room, “Um, what do you mean Virgil… is burning the room down!”
The moment Logan’s father fully processed the presence of the flames, he was bursting into the room. He at least remembered that there was a fire extinguishing powder stocked in Logan’s work room even though that fact had slipped Logan’s mind in the chaos. (Perhaps Logan should have thought to set it out when they were testing a fire knife, but Logan would just add that to his growing list of regrets.)
The king managed to put all of the fires out within 30 seconds of poking his head through the door, but the fire left in his eyes when he turned to look at them afterwards was perhaps more dangerous.
Virgil slowly hid the knife behind his back. It was probably a bit late for that.
“What were the two of you doing in here?” the king asked.
“Nothing,” Logan said. Virgil shot him a look that told Logan what the boy thought about his lying abilities.
Logan’s father put his hands on his hips. “‘Nothing’ set the rug on fire?”
“We may have been doing a small experiment,” Logan said.
“What experiment?” the king asked.
“…I do not wish to say.”
“Logan.”
“Virgil wanted a fire knife.”
“A what?”
Virgil frowned over at Logan. “Your resistance to interrogation techniques is deplorable.”
Father turned to look at Virgil and obviously spotted the fact that Virgil was holding something behind his back.
“Give it here,” Father said, though his tone was a bit gentler with Virgil than it had been with Logan.
Virgil debated it for a moment, but then offered over the knife with a pout on his face. Father gingerly took it and the fire-resistant gloves from him. “Where did the two of you even get this knife?”
“You can’t tell her,” Logan said.
“You stole a knife from the kitchens?!” the king asked.
“We borrowed it,” Logan said.
“Can it be used for cooking anymore?”
“…Well.”
“In the intended manner.”
“No.”
“Then you stole it.”
Logan just frowned and looked away.
“I’m going to go put this in a secure location,” Father said, grimacing at the fire knife in his hands. “No more experiments for you two for a month. I’ll sic Patton on you.”
With that, he picked up what was left of the fire extinguishing powder (just in case) and turned to exit the room.
“Well,” Logan said once he was gone. “That was irresponsible.”
“I could steal it back from him.”
“N-no don’t do that.”
“I definitely could though,” Virgil said.
“I did not hear you say that,” Logan said, putting his hands over his ears. “I am not responsible for any more of your actions in this matter. I am going to the library.”
He walked out of the room then and Virgil followed him to the upstairs library. He said nothing more about the fire knife, but Logan would be a fool to suppose he forgot about it.
Chapter 56 (Thomas)
“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.
The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.
Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.
While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.
It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.
Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.
“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.
“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”
“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”
“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”
Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs.
So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.
His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.
Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.
Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.
Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.
“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.
Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.
“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.
“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.
“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.
Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.
In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had actually tried to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.
Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.
Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.
“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.
Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”
“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”
“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.
“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.
“She’s a Princess.”
“She is not a princess!”
Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior at this point. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.
“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”
“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”
And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy on the ground, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.
Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.
He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.
“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.
Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.
Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.
“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”
Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently scoot all of the cats out of his lap. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet and they continued on their way towards the stables.
The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.
The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.
The Cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to it, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way.
Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.
He still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.
“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.
Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.
“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”
“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.
“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”
“With the war?” Virgil asked.
Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.
“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.
“I’m 14,” Virgil said.
Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”
“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.
“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”
“Oh,” Virgil said.
Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”
“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)
When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to The Cliffs.
Chapter 57 (Virgil)
Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.
From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.
In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.
Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.
The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.
The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.
However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.
Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.
He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.
King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”
He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.
“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.
“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.
“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.
“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”
“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.
“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”
“Yes!” Virgil said.
“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”
“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”
“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.
“I think I’ll stick to sandwiches for today,” King Thomas said. He looked at Patton and Logan. “Do either of you want…?”
“No,” Logan said. Patton shook his head.
The king nodded and offered the entire covered bowl of chicken alfredo to Virgil. “Here, this one’s yours,” he said.
“Really?” Virgil asked tentatively. It wasn’t exactly strange for people here to offer him food, and he’d expected and anticipated getting to eat on this venture, but the king of the country offering him an entire bowl of his favorite food was something else.
“It’s not really my idea of a picnic food and you seem excited for it,” King Thomas said with a warm smile, still holding it out.
Virgil took it reverently. Despite the time it had taken to get to the cliffs, the bottom of the container was still warm. Virgil assumed it was one of the heating spells the kitchen sometimes used.
“Thanks,” Virgil said, setting it in his lap.
“Of course, Virgil,” the king said.
The bowl was enough for four people to have a little bit, but for one person it was a lot. Still, Virgil was offered a little of every other food in the picnic basket (and he ate a good number of the hot cauliflower bites).
“Where do you put all of that?” the king asked when Virgil finished polishing off the chicken alfredo bowl.
Everyone else seemed to have finished eating long before Virgil, though Patton still had a small plate of grapes, and he occasionally popped one in his mouth. King Thomas was currently setting up the board game they’d brought on the blanket between all of them.
Virgil shrugged in answer to his question. “It’s good,” he said, “and I don’t want to waste any of it.”
“You know we can just take the leftovers back to the castle and eat them later,” King Thomas said. “You don’t have to eat it all now.”
Virgil just shrugged again, watching as the king set out a group of 8 figures on the board.
“Here, which character do you want to be?” the king asked Virgil, gesturing at the group of figures. Virgil had not noticed the figures were different at first glance. They were all copper colored and about the size of his thumb, but they had slightly different shapes. He squinted at them each carefully, finding they all looked like people, but with different clothing. Some worse pants and some skirts, a few had hats, and one was even carrying a book.
After a few moments, he pointed at one that looked like it had vines wrapped around its arms and was wearing a floppy hat that almost covered its eyes.
“That’s the druid,” King Thomas told him with a grin. “Good choice, and luckily not one that anyone usually fights over.” He glanced at Logan who didn’t react to his father’s gaze. He just plucked the figure clutching the book off the board for himself.
Patton and the king picked pieces for themselves. Patton picked one with an apron that kind of reminded Virgil of his mom and the king picked one that was in a suit of armor before putting the other 4 figures away.
Unlike checkers, this game wasn’t just for two people, and so no one had to sit watching people play while bored out of their mind.
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They played a practice round so Virgil could figure out how the game worked, though honestly it wasn’t that complicated, so it wasn’t really necessary.
The theme of the game was all about stealing. They were supposed to steal special tokens from other players as well as characters in the game and the first person with 20 tokens won.
The other three players argued that stealing was not the point and not the main mechanism of the game, but considering Virgil was consistently winning the entire time, he would argue they were just playing it wrong. He managed to collect 20 tokens before anyone else. In second place at this time was Logan with 9 tokens.
Logan insisted on continuing to play the game to determine 2nd and 3rd place, so Virgil ended up watching them play for a bit. Virgil didn’t mind sitting and watching other people play this game, mostly because he still had the joy of victory running in his veins.
Thomas was definitely going to lose, he noted. He kept wasting his money feeding the nonplayer characters who lived on his lands. Virgil didn’t mention this faulty strategy to him in case Virgil ever played him again.
When Logan took too long thinking about his next move, Virgil took in their surroundings.
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He’d been a bit too distracted by the prospect of food and then trying to understand (and then win) the game to truly take in The Cliffs. They were settled a good distance away from the cliffside but Virgil could still see how quickly the edge dropped off. He couldn’t see the large river he was told was at its base from where he was sitting, but he did see a few of the promised wild birds (including doves) flying around. The king had promised they’d bird watch for a bit, and Virgil figured that would happen after the game was over.
A cool spring breeze brushed across Virgil’s face, and he put his hand in his hoodie pockets to warm them. Instead, his fingers hit something icy cold.
For a moment, he didn’t remember what it was. The crescent shape of it was familiar when he put his hand over it, but he had never felt it cold before.
It was the protection charm: the first charm Virgil had ever made with Logan so many months ago. It was meant to ward off small threats as well as warn you about larger threats by changing temperature…
It had always been warm.
“What?” Patton asked, having noticed Virgil suddenly tense. Virgil, despite how he drilled into his friend’s heads to stay alert had gone soft. He’d let himself be distracted by a full belly and warm blankets and fun games.
He didn’t answer Patton. He filtered the other boy’s worried face out as well as Logan’s face as he glanced at him and the king’s still focused on the game for now. He filtered out the picnic blanket and smell of food still lingering in the air and the vine covered figure set in the middle of the board on the winner’s space. He filtered out the sound of the breeze and the breath of his companions and the distant chirping of birds.
And he heard a whoosh.
Chapter 58 (Patton)
If Patton hadn’t already been looking, he probably wouldn’t have had any idea what happened.
Everything had been fine. Virgil had been sitting cross legged, idly watching the conclusion of the game they’d been playing when his posture had suddenly changed. Patton had looked over at him only to see an expression on his face he didn’t recognize, but it didn’t seem good.
“What?” Patton had asked, but the question didn’t seem to register to Virgil.
Logan had glanced up confused and also noticed Virgil’s face. He’d just opened his mouth to also ask what was going on when chaos descended.
Virgil was suddenly moving, crashing into King Thomas who hadn’t even looked up to see something was wrong at that point. Patton realized after the fact that Virgil had swiped up the board of the game they’d been playing as he jumped over it, the pieces previously stacked on it scattering all over the blanket. There were three thumps as some things hit the thick board, imbedding themselves into the surface.
When Virgil discarded the board in favor of the picnic basket, Patton saw there were small darts in it oozing a dark black liquid. The parts of the board they touched were dissolving, the grass under the new holes beginning to wilt rapidly.
Logan seemed to notice the oozing liquid the same moment Patton did and was quicker to realize what it was. He grabbed Patton’s arm and yanked him away from the board so hard he almost dislocated Patton’s shoulder, not that Patton was too worried about that. He scrambled away from it when he realized what it must be himself.
He could hear the sound of glassware smashing above them. Logan and Patton had rolled off the blanket in their quest to get away from the smoldering, melting board and apparently Virgil had pulled the picnic blanket fully over the king at some point.
Virgil himself was now gone from where he’d been the last time Patton had looked and it took him a moment to figure out where the boy had gone. The person who had been shooting poisoned darts at them had been drawn out of the wooded area they’d been hiding in by Virgil’s attacks.
They were cloaked in dark green from head to toe, explaining why they’d been difficult to spot when they were in the woods. Whoever they were, they were significantly larger than Virgil, possibly an actual adult or almost adult assassin, but they were also clearly a long distant fighter. They had not been expecting resistance let alone resistance in the form of a so quick he was almost a blur fellow assassin.
They had a bow strapped to their back, but they hadn’t had a chance to get it. Instead, they were trying to fight Virgil off with an arrow they’d managed to draw from their quiver. Virgil, meanwhile was lunging at them with a broken piece of plate in one hand and the picnic basket in the other.
Virgil dodged out of the way of the arrow striking towards his arm, though Patton didn’t think it was because he was afraid of getting scratched by an arrow, but because it may also be poisoned tipped.
Virgil was distracted by dodging for long enough that the older assassin managed to hit him in the face with the arm not holding the arrow.
He went down, but he took the older assassin with him, sweeping their legs out from under them. Patton hadn’t noticed (his mind working too slow for how fast they were moving) but they were on a slight incline. They went rolling in a tangle of arms and legs towards the edge of the cliff and skidded to a stop only a few feet away.
Virgil ended up on top, his piece of broken plate in his hands. He moved to slash it across the other assassin’s throat and managed to draw blood, but the assassin’s fist came out to shove at Virgil’s chest at just the right moment, causing the strike to veer off course and slice across the assassin’s cheek instead.
Virgil jerked to the side to avoid a second strike to the chest and went back for another slash. The other assassin rolled to the side as he did and the plate only managed to nick their ear. The point of the motion hadn’t been to dodge, however. They were lunging for the arrow they’d dropped a few feet away while they’d rolled. They grabbed it with their right hand and in the same motion stabbed back behind them towards Virgil.
Virgil rolled to avoid the hit, already slashing up with his plate as the assassin turned back towards him.
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He didn’t hit them this time but his swipe managed to stop them from stabbing him when they tried again. They shoved themselves back to avoid Virgil’s swing, putting a bit of distance between them. Both of them managed to make it to their feet during the momentary reprieve, but both also stayed crouched, eyeing each other.
They both lunged towards each other at the same time. The assassin went for a stab to Virgil’s neck with the arrow, but Virgil was already ducking down. This time, he wasn’t going for a kill shot. He grabbed the assassin’s wrist and at the same time drove his piece of plate into the assassin’s arm, slicing down from the elbow to wrist. The assassin spoke for the first time, cursing in a language Patton didn’t recognize as they were forced to drop their arrow.
Virgil took a moment to kick the arrow away from the assassin and it ended up falling off the cliff.
However, this pause gave the assassin enough time to regroup. Despite their arm bleeding profusely, they still decided to use it to backhand Virgil across the face viciously, leaving a long line of their own blood across his face.
Virgil lunged back forward, but the assassin was able to get a leg between them, kicking Virgil squarely in the chest and sending him flying back a few feet parallel to the cliff’s edge.
The assassin went to grab their bow and another arrow from the quiver still strapped to their shoulder.
Virgil, however, apparently went for another weapon too and he was much faster with a knife than any archer. A knife appeared in his hand, having been strapped to his ankle and was embedded into the assassin’s chest before they could even full remove an arrow from their quiver.
The assassin promptly burst into flames, fire catching their clothes (and from the smell of it their skin) ablaze. Panicked and dying, they stumbled two steps to the side. They stepped directly off the cliff.
There was a second of silence. They heard the sound of the body hitting the ground far below and then the flap of wings and screeching as birds below fled from the startling sound (and possible soon to be forest fire).
…
“Uh, Virgil?” King Thomas said. He had managed to get the blanket off his head at some point. When, Patton didn’t know, but seeing any of it was probably enough.
Oopsie.
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 120]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53
I have a list of tasks I need to finish, but some of them might take a while. So, expect there to be long breaks between sections.
Chapter 54 (Patton)
“I still can’t believe he’s allowing this,” King Thomas said from next to Patton. The two of them were standing at the edge of the arena outside the horse stable, watching from a safe distance.
“If he hadn’t tried to bite me earlier, I’d think he was a different horse,” Patton agreed.
“He doesn’t even let Logan ride him,” the king said. “At least not ride him and give him directions.”
Patton was very aware of that. Logan did on occasion choose to get up onto Mr. Apples’ saddle. However, Mr. Apples was always the once who got to decide where they went after that. Logan had no say.
With that in mind, Patton, Logan, and every stable hand who’d heard about the prospective riding lessons had tried to convince Virgil to learn to ride on a different horse. Virgil was just as stubborn as Mr. Apples however and had insisted. Logan, being the only one who could be around Mr. Apples without risking being kicked, had become his de facto tutor.
Not even Logan could have expected that within a week, Virgil would be able to control Mr. Apples. Though perhaps ‘control’ was the wrong word. Nothing could control Mr. Apples, but for some reason, Mr. Apples seemed willing to do as Virgil asked.
Even right now Mr. Apples was trotting around the training arena like he was a well-trained trick horse warming up with his rider.
“Logan told him we could go on an actual ride today if the lesson went well,” Patton told the king. The lesson seemed to be just getting over because Logan said something to Virgil and Virgil started to climb off. Mr. Apples was patient and still as he dismounted.
“Do you think he’d mind if I went with you?” King Thomas asked.
Patton shrugged. “Mr. Apples might.”
“Mr. Apples definitely will,” the king replied. “I’ll come anyway.”
Logan had walked over to where Patton and the king were standing while Virgil fed Mr. Apples some apple pieces as a reward.
“I hear you’re going to go riding today,” King Thomas said.
Logan nodded. “Mr. Apples seems to listen to him well enough,” he said.
“I might join you if that’s alright. Where are you kids going?” the king asked.
“I was thinking the main forest path,” Logan replied. “It’s not a particularly difficult route, but it’s also a part of the castle grounds Virgil hasn’t been able to see yet. Loraine told me it has been recently cleared after the winter.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” the king said. “Are you going now?”
“Once Patton and I saddle up our horses,” Logan said. “You can come.”
“Great,” the king said with a smile. “I’ll ask for Bella’s saddle to be brought out. I haven’t gone on a ride yet this week.”
He turned then to walk towards the stables leaving Patton and Logan alone.
“Do you think he’s been acting weird?” Logan asked, turning towards Patton.
Patton frowned. “No,” he said. “Not really.”
“I’m just wondering why he wants to go horseback riding with us.”
“He likes spending time with you?” Patton guessed.
“Yes,” Logan said, “but typically in a setting that doesn’t involve Mr. Apples.”
Well, that was fair.
“I mean, it’s not too weird,” Patton said, thinking back through the last couple of days. King Thomas had been a bit… clingy.
“He’s been hanging around a lot,” Logan said, echoing Patton’s thoughts with narrowed eyes. He glanced back at Virgil. “You don’t think Virgil let something slip, do you?”
“He didn’t say anything,” Patton said. “I think your dad would say something if Virgil let slip he was an assassin somehow.”
“Unless he let slip something that didn’t quite implicate himself but invited suspicion.”
“Your dad doesn’t seem suspicious,” Patton said. At least, Patton didn’t think he did. He hadn’t been acting mean in any way. In fact, he might have even been acting nicer.
Logan frowned. “We should keep an eye on him, especially around Virgil.”
Patton bit his lip.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Are we ever going to tell your dad about Virgil?” he asked.
Logan hesitated. “I don’t…” he trailed. “I’m not sure.”
“It just feels weird lying for so long,” Patton said. Patton didn’t lie a lot. Sure, maybe he’d pretend to not know what Mama was talking about when sweets went missing from the kitchens or he’d pretend to not know what Logan’s birthday gift was, but he’d never lied about anything serious before now.
“I know, but,” Logan glanced back at Virgil once again, “even if we did decide to tell, we’d have to convince Virgil everything would be alright beforehand. I don’t think we’re at that point yet. He was terrified of Father until a few months ago, and he’s still cautious around him sometimes.”
Logan was right, of course. Virgil was getting more and more comfortable around the king, but he figured any of the progress made would go down the drain as soon as they brought up telling King Thomas about where exactly Virgil had come from. Patton didn’t know if Virgil would ever be comfortable enough.
“We should go get our own horses,” Logan suggested, and Patton nodded.
Patton and Logan’s horses had already been saddled by the stable hands in anticipation of their ride and it didn’t take long for the king to saddle his own horse, Bella.
The forest path at this time of year was very pretty, Patton thought. The tree branches now had small green leaves on them after having been barren for the entire winter and flowers were starting to grow. In a few weeks’ time it would be even prettier, but it would also be harder for the groundskeeper to maintain as well as it was right now.
Virgil really did seem less anxious around King Thomas now. The path was only wide enough for two horses to go at once, and he didn’t seem to mind that he and the king ended up next to each other while Patton and Logan lagged behind. In fact, he and the king seemed to be having a nice conversation about the local wildlife.
However, if Patton looked close enough, he did sort of see what Logan meant. Virgil may not be anxious talking to the king now, but the king himself seemed just a little bit nervous at least at the beginning of the ride.
He seemed to relax a bit as they rode (even laughing when Mr. Apples tried to bite him when he got too close).
Logan had been teaching Virgil the basics about things like animals, but there was still a pretty big gap in his education when it came to anything that wasn’t about training to fight and kill. King Thomas seemed more than willing to answer any of his questions when it came to the animals and plants around them even if they were sometimes a bit silly.
He’d seen a bird that looked like a dove. (It may have even been a dove, but Patton hadn’t seen it.) This had been a source of endless confusion for him.
“But shouldn’t it live in the dovecote?” Virgil asked.
“Not all birds live in a dovecote,” the king explained again.
“But it’s a dove,” Virgil said with a frown.
“Not all doves live in a dovecote,” the king replied.
“But it’s a dovecote,” Virgil argued. “It’s for the doves.”
“Yes, but there are also wild doves,” the king said.
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Virgil replied.
“What about it doesn’t make sense?” the king asked with a laugh in his tone.
“Doves go in the dovecote,” Virgil said.
Patton was starting to have trouble following this argument.
“Dovecotes are made for doves,” the king said, “but not all doves go in dovecotes.”
“Why?”
This seemed to stump the king momentarily, but he still answered after thinking for a bit. “Doves existed before people got to them,” the king explained. “People caught and trained some of them, but there was no way to catch all of them. So, some stayed in the wild and continued with their lives like they had been before humans. Plus, sometimes domesticated doves fly off and never come back. Sometimes they might die, but other times they may have just gotten lost and had to build a new life somewhere far away. Or maybe they even decided that being a trained dove working for humans wasn’t for them, so they decided to go off on their own.”
“You let them do that?” Virgil asked.
“We can’t really stop them in the end,” the king said. “People can try, but it never ends up working as long as they can fly.”
Virgil thought about this. “I still don’t understand,” he said, “but okay.”
“We should take you to the cliffs,” the king suggested.
“What are the cliffs?”
“The castle grounds were built for defense,” King Thomas explained. “The edge of the grounds to the North is a large river and overlooking it is a huge cliff. It’s a good place for picnics and for birdwatching. It’s a bit of a trip, but now would be a good time of year to go.”
He glanced over his shoulder back at Logan and Patton. “What do you boys think about going to the cliffs sometime? Maybe in about a week?”
Logan squinted at his father suspiciously. It wasn’t so much the fact that the king was asking them to go to the cliffs. They did that every so often. However, this time, it only supported Logan’s claims that the king was hanging out with them a lot recently.
“Sure,” Logan said, after a moment.
“Sounds fun!” Patton said cheerily right after, trying to cover for the lack of enthusiasm in Logan’s voice with his own. Judging by King Thomas’s expression and Logan’s tight-lipped scowl, he may have overcompensated.
“Great,” the king said. “I’ll” make sure to make arrangements when we get back to the castle.”
Chapter 55 (Logan)
Virgil was beginning to be able to read some of the common instructions in magic books, but Logan still made sure to read out the instructions to him at least twice before setting him loose. He’d started to jot down notes to himself about things, though these notes were not words, but various symbols that only made sense to the boy himself.
Logan had asked about their meaning at one point and received an answer that, while earnest, was unintelligible. The symbols were mostly just pictures of things to represent certain steps in spell casting, but they were filtered through Virgil’s rudimentary penmanship and often bizarre perception of the world.
Though, despite the fact that Logan could not often decipher his chicken scratch, it did seem to help him produce impressively quality charms even as Logan began to introduce more complicated processes to make them. He was a very good student even if he didn’t have the best foundation for learning.
“I add lavender for the next step, right?” Virgil asked, his finger on a word in Logan’s magic book.
“That is correct,” Logan confirmed.
Virgil looked back at the book and mouthed the word ‘lavender’ to himself before turning back to his potion. He grabbed a few sprigs of lavender and threw them into the cauldron.
The liquid popped and bubbled violently, but Virgil didn’t flinch as he once would have, prepared for it now.
After the lavender, Logan knew that it would have to simmer for 5 minutes. Virgil looked down at the boiling liquid, contemplating it for a long moment.
“Can I soak a knife in it?” he asked.
“What?” Logan asked.
“Can I soak a knife in the potion once it’s done?”
“In that potion?” Logan clarified. “In the emergency hand warmer potion?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I think a hot knife would be useful,” Virgil said.
“For what?”
Virgil shrugged. “Cooking food on the road,” he said, “burning wood, stabbing someone and immediately cauterizing the wound.”
“That is… not a standard use for this potion,” Logan said.
Virgil titled his head at him. “Would it work though?”
“Well, I don’t know,” Logan contemplated. “Perhaps. The potion can cause burns if one uses too much of it or if it is used without an appropriate layer between it and the skin. If one were to pick a knife with enough surface area and let it soak long enough, it could in theory get hot enough to do as desired. Hmm…” he thought about it. “There would perhaps be the problem of the potion not sticking to the knife very long as it is intended to soak into fabric. However, cardamom could solve that issue as long as it doesn’t interact with any other ingredients. Let me see that spell.”
Virgil stepped out of his way so he could study the page. “Yes,” Logan said after scanning through all of the ingredients. “I think coriander would work for something like that. Let me go find some.”
He turned to walk towards where he kept his supplies of potion ingredients. Virgil followed on his heals.
“Can we use a serrated knife?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Virgil,” Logan said, nodding as he searched through the cupboard that should hold the coriander. “The knife being serrated would help keep the potion stuck to the blade after many uses and would increase the surface area.”
“That was certainly my intentions,” Virgil said smoothly. There was something odd about the tone that had Logan turning to him and blinking at him. Virgil just smiled at him innocently and Logan turned back to the cabinet finally locating the coriander.
“So how are we going to use that?” Virgil asked.
“We’ll put it in right before the last step and let it sit for about 3 minutes,” Logan said. “If it doesn’t quite work, we may need to make another batch. There are options other than coriander, but that’s the first idea that comes to mind and it a lot simpler if it works.”
He continued to speak of the many other options they could try as they returned to the caldron as well as how they could test the hot knife. It was already about time for the next step and Virgil did it without interrupting Logan’s rant.
Virgil listened to his suggestions with interest all while still making sure the potion he was making was progressing well.
Logan did eventually take over to finish the potion with the revised steps he’d come up with and they ended up with a potion that looked perfect except it was a few shades darker than the one they’d originally been planning to make.
“Well, it looks good,” Logan declared. “We will need to acquire a knife to test its effectiveness, however.”
“There are a few good ones in the kitchen,” Virgil pointed out. “I especially like the one 10 inch one with the black and white handle.”
“You have been eyeing up the kitchen knives?” Logan asked.
Virgil rolled his eyes as though that was not a perfectly reasonable question to ask him. “We should steal that one,” Virgil said.
“Do you think we’ll be able to sneak past Ms. Heart to steal a knife from her kitchen?” Logan asked.
“We can’t,” Virgil said.
Logan almost didn’t believe him… and then he remembered the water pouch incident. “It’s the dinner rush,” Logan said. “We should probably wait for a bit.”
Virgil was shaking his head. “The dinner rush is the best time,” he said. “Everyone will be distracted, and all of the knives will be out and in prime stealing position.”
“And if Patton’s mother catches us messing around in her kitchen during her busiest time of day, she will have Father ground us for a week.”
“Then we just won’t get caught,” Virgil said.
“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” Logan said with a frown.
“You can stay here if you want,” Virgil offered. “I’ll just go by myself.”
“No, I’ll come too,” Logan relented, though he did still have some reservations about the idea.
He let Virgil lead him towards the main dining hall. By now, Virgil knew the kitchens and dining hall very well.
“Stay here,” he said. They were in a hallway a few feet down from the staff entrance to the kitchen. “I’m going to do some reconnaissance.”
“What type of reconnaissance?” Logan asked, but Virgil had already disappeared before his very eyes. With a blink, Logan looked up and saw a dark figure disappear onto a balcony overhead.
Well, Logan really had no choice but to wait there for him. It wasn’t like he could follow him. He could hear the clatter of silverware on plates from the dining hall down the corridor as he impatiently waited. It only took Virgil a bit over five minutes to return. He dropped suddenly from above and landed in front of Logan in a crouch.
“Well?” Logan asked, letting a bit of irritation into his tone so Virgil knew he was displeased. Virgil did not seem to care.
“Got it,” Virgil said with a wide grin, brandishing a large kitchen knife.
Logan flinched back at the unexpected sight of a weapon.
“You said you were doing reconnaissance!” he sputtered. “Not…” he trailed off remembering that while they weren’t in eyesight of anyone right now, they could be in earshot of someone. He lowered his tone, “stealing the knife already.”
“I was doing reconnaissance,” Virgil said with a shrug, “and then I used the information gathered by that reconnaissance to steal a knife.”
Logan narrowed his eyes at him.
Virgil just smiled. “You would have gotten in my way.”
“I would not have,” Logan insisted.
“How many times has Patton’s mom caught you stealing food from the kitchens in the past?” he asked.
Logan pursed his lips. “That is Patton’s doing,” he said.
“Sure,” Virgil said with an eyeroll. “I’ll have you prove it some other day, but for now,” he twirled the knife around in a way that made Logan cringe even though he did seem to have an expert handle over it. “We have a knife.”
“Right,” Logan agreed with a nod. “We should continue the experiment.”
Virgil stored the knife away… somewhere on his person, and they snuck back to Logan’s rooms.
When Virgil handed over the knife, Logan did have to admit it was a perfect specimen for their project: long and saw-like with a heatproof handle.
Logan carefully set it in a shallow dish and proceeded to pour the potion they’d made onto it. They let it sit for a little under half an hour before carefully pulling it out of the concoction with tongs and letting it airdry. Meanwhile, Virgil suggested they set up a testing area with various old sheets and clothing. They’d even found and decorated an armor stand with an old suit that Logan particularly disliked.
“Well,” Logan said once he’d tapped the handle and had not gotten burned by the potion. “I think we can test it now.” For safety, he made Virgil put on thick heatproof gloves before handing him the knife.
“So how do I make it work?” Virgil asked.
“The original potion works through light friction,” Logan said.
“So just start stabbing things?”
Logan went to respond, but before he could, Virgil had already twisted around and sliced through one of the sheets hanging in Logan’s potion room. There was a sizzling noise as the knife cut through the sheet like it was tissue paper leaving two aflame halves flapping about.
Logan leapt forward to tear the pieces of sheet down and the two of them stomped on the flames to put out the fire.
“It’s perfect,” Virgil said with a grin once the charred remains of the sheet were extinguished.
“It does seem to work as intended,” Logan agreed.
“Let’s do it again,” Virgil said.
“Er, well, perhaps we shouldn’t…,” Logan started, but Virgil had already set his eyes on the armor stand they’d set up. That suddenly seemed like not such a good idea to Logan.
He stabbed the armor stand viciously. It went up in flames instantly. Logan’s eyes widened as the blaze only seemed to get bigger as Virgil drew back the knife.
Virgil did not seem to share Logan’s worry as he turned and stabbed another piece of hanging clothing, setting it ablaze as well.
“Virgil, no! You’re going to burn the room down!” Logan yelped.
The armor stand at that very moment decided to fall to the ground. They had, perhaps, not set the testing area up as well as they should have because it fell directly onto one of Logan’s rugs and set that on fire as well.
“Oops,” Virgil said, eyes wide.
Above the sound of crackling fire, Logan heard a tapping on the door between his bedroom and work room. It opened slightly after a moment and Logan’s father’s voice called out as he was sticking his head into the room, “Um, what do you mean Virgil… is burning the room down!”
The moment Logan’s father fully processed the presence of the flames, he was bursting into the room. He at least remembered that there was a fire extinguishing powder stocked in Logan’s work room even though that fact had slipped Logan’s mind in the chaos. (Perhaps Logan should have thought to set it out when they were testing a fire knife, but Logan would just add that to his growing list of regrets.)
The king managed to put all of the fires out within 30 seconds of poking his head through the door, but the fire left in his eyes when he turned to them afterwards was perhaps more dangerous.
Virgil slowly hid the knife behind his back. It was probably a bit late for that.
“What were the two of you doing in here?” the king asked.
“Nothing,” Logan said. Virgil shot him a look that told Logan what the boy thought about his lying abilities.
Logan’s father put his hands on his hips. “‘Nothing’ set the rug on fire?”
“We may have been doing a small experiment,” Logan said.
“What experiment?” the king asked.
“…I don’t wish to say.”
“Logan.”
“Virgil wanted a fire knife.”
“A what?”
Virgil frowned over at Logan. “Your resistance to interrogation techniques is deplorable.”
Father turned to look at Virgil and obviously spotted the fact that Virgil was holding something behind his back.
“Give it here,” Father said, though his tone was a bit gentler with Virgil than it had been with Logan.
Virgil debated it for a moment, but then offered over the knife with a pout on his face. Father gingerly took it and the fire-resistant gloves from him. “Where did the two of you even get this knife?”
“You can’t tell her,” Logan said.
“You stole a knife from the kitchens?!” the king asked.
“We borrowed it,” Logan said.
“Can it be used for cooking anymore?”
“…Well.”
“In the intended manner.”
“No.”
“Then you stole it.”
Logan just frowned and looked away.
“I’m going to go put this in a secure location,” Father said, grimacing at the fire knife in his hands. “No more experiments for you two for a month. I’ll sic Patton on you.”
With that, he picked up what was left of the fire extinguishing powder (just in case) and turned to exit the room.
“Well,” Logan said once he was gone. “That was irresponsible.”
“I could steal it back from him.”
“N-no don’t do that.”
“I definitely could though,” Virgil said.
“I did not hear you say that,” Logan said, putting his hands over his ears. “I am not responsible for any more of your actions in this matter. I am going to the library.”
He walked out of the room then and Virgil followed him to the upstairs library. He said nothing more about the fire knife, but Logan would be a fool to suppose he forgot about it.
Chapter 56 (Thomas)
“Good day for a picnic,” Helen commented as she handed over the basket Thomas had requested from her a few days before. He was taking Logan, Patton, and Virgil to the cliffs today and it was perfect weather for it. Spring was truly here, which meant that those of Thomas’s duties that had laid dormant over the harsh winter were about to start up again.
The world had been on pause for a bit considering no armies or agents from any kingdom could get through the snow the last few months, but the concerns of last fall were showing their heads once again.
Thomas had just gotten word a day ago that the queen of Lamir had routed out a second assassin hiding in her ranks over the winter. The assassin had been sent shortly after it was made clear that the queen wouldn’t bow down after the assassination of her mother. Luckily, the assassin sent for Queen Cecil had not managed to complete her mission during the winter months.
While there had been no similar attempt on Prijaznia soil, Thomas couldn’t help but feel it was only a matter of time now that the snow had melted. They were already working on increasing security in the coming weeks and, though it was doubtful an assassin had managed to hide in the castle all winter without revealing themselves, they’d be closely scrutinizing all of the newer staff members.
It would be a stressful time in the coming months, which is why, despite everything Thomas needed to do, he was still going to take his son and his son’s friends on a picnic today. Logan had already started taking on royal duties as of late, but he still hadn’t taken them all on quite yet. Considering this was last summer before Logan was of age, they should at least try to take advantage of it where they could. Patton was a year younger, but the sentiment held for him as well.
Then there was Virgil. Despite their best efforts, they still didn’t know enough about Virgil, but Thomas was fairly sure he’d never had a summer to enjoy until now.
“Thanks for prepping lunch for us,” Thomas said to Helen with a smile.
“No problem,” she said waving them off. “I put in some of Virgil’s favorites.”
“Great,” Thomas said. “Do you know where the kids are?”
“Patton said they were going to go pet the cats, so I’d guess they’re in the gardens.”
Thomas thanked her again and told her to have a good day before exiting the kitchen. There was a nearby door that led straight towards the part of the gardens Patton and Logan had always favored. He figured they’d either still be around there or they would have wandered towards the stables by now knowing that they’d be taking horses to the cliffs.
So, he decided to simply walk the normal path from the door to the stable, hoping to find them.
His prediction ended up being hilariously correct. They were indeed on the path Thomas had chosen. It was clear they (or at least Logan) were attempting to make it to the stable. However, as was typical, a portion of the party had been waylaid by whimsy.
Logan was standing further down the path, arms crossed and frowning as he watched his friends. Patton and Virgil were surrounded by cats. Patton was sitting down, holding two of them in his lap and watching Virgil’s legs being swarmed by the rest of them, maybe two dozen in total.
Virgil looked confused, but not unhappy about the presence of so many cats. He was leaning down to try to pet them all.
Logan met Thomas’s eyes as he approached and waved a frustrated hand at the two of them. Logan couldn’t help but smile.
“Virgil fed one of them,” Logan complained as though he wanted Thomas to somehow go into the past and prevent this crime.
Patton and Virgil looked over at Thomas, noticing him when Logan addressed him.
“You’re going to make Princess Marisol jealous,” Thomas said. Logan frowned at Thomas as he used the ‘Princess’ label for the cat.
“Princess Marisol decided not to come,” Virgil said with a shrug. He continued to pet one of the cats.
“She’s probably sleeping on my pillow,” Logan said, sounding grumpy.
Thomas just chuckled. Princess Marisol was technically Logan’s cat, at least that’s what the kids said, and she did spend much of her time in the royal rooms. However, she was very clearly actually Virgil’s cat. Virgil just spent a lot of time in the royal wing as well.
In fact, Thomas still didn’t know where Virgil was supposed to be sleeping. He and Mr. Deknis had actually tried to tail him a couple of times, but he always ended up sleeping in Logan’s room those nights.
Knowing Virgil, he might just sleep in the walls. Though that still did not answer the question of where his parents or guardians were. They still had not figured it out. Thomas would assume he was an orphan who’d snuck onto castle grounds for safety, but Virgil had told Mr. Deknis during their first meeting that he was supposed to be in the castle, and it had not been a lie.
Then again, it had slowly become apparent that Virgil was good at dodging the multrum’s powers. It was starting to seem more likely that he’d somehow inserted a second meaning into his answer to Mr. Deknis that night than he somehow had some ghost guardian no one was able to locate working in the castle.
“She deserves the pillow more than you,” Virgil said, bringing Thomas’s thoughts back to the situation at hand. The look of audacity on Logan’s face made Thomas chuckle.
Thomas cut in before it could become a fight. “I could get Princess Marisol a pillow, so she doesn’t sleep on yours. Or we can get you a new pillow if you’d prefer, Logan.”
“It’s not about the pillow for her,” Logan argued. “It’s about her inflated sense of superiority.”
“She deserves it,” Virgil declared. Thomas could tell he was just trying to rile Logan up, and Thomas was sure Logan knew it too, but still his son reacted exactly in the way Virgil wanted him to.
“You have enabled and encouraged this behavior from the start!” Logan seethed.
“She’s a Princess.”
“She is not a princess!”
Patton shook his head while squeezing the cats in his arms, completely used to this behavior at this point. He ran a chin idly over one of the cat’s heads while watching the argument.
“We’re never going to make it to the picnic at this rate,” Thomas said to him, “and after your mother made all of this wonderful food.”
“You’re the dad,” Patton said. “Make them stop.”
And, of course, Patton did just mean that he was Logan’s dad with that statement. However, when he glanced back up at the silly argument still going on between his son and the cat covered boy on the ground, it did almost look like a fight between siblings.
Especially with the dark hair and stubborn but mischievous look in Virgil’s eyes, Thomas could almost imagine the boy being his own child.
He shook away the thoughts and glanced at the picnic basket in his hand.
“We do have a lot of food in this basket,” Thomas said, pitching his voice up so that Logan (and more importantly) Virgil would hear them clearly.
Virgil immediately turned to look at him, abandoning all interest in antagonizing Logan to look at the basket curiously.
Thomas was never sure if he should be amused or worried about how food motivated Virgil often was.
“What’s in the basket?” Virgil asked.
“I’m not sure,” Thomas said. “Patton’s mom made it. We’ll just have to see once we get to the picnic area.”
Virgil nodded in understanding and began to gently scoot all of the cats out of his lap. Logan rolled his eyes, but didn’t seem inclined to continue the argument he’d been dragged into. Virgil and Patton got to their feet and they continued on their way towards the stables.
The horses Thomas had requested be prepared for their trip were already in saddles, though the stable hand who had been handling Mr. Apples seemed a bit dirtier and more exhausted than the rest.
The stable hand seemed as happy to hand Mr. Apples over to Virgil as Virgil was to have Mr. Apples handed over to him. Thomas received Bella with a smile and Logan and Patton got their own horses as well.
The Cliffs were about half an hour's ride from the main castle. There was a mostly well-maintained path to it, though it was easy to get lost if one didn’t know the way. Mr. Apples knew the way perhaps better than Thomas himself and seemed annoyed by the fact that Thomas was trying to lead the way.
Virgil and Thomas ended up side-by-side whenever the path allowed it to placate him.
He still marveled at how willing Mr. Apples was to let Virgil ride him, especially when he tossed his head in Thomas’s direction, a horse’s equivalent of giving Thomas a stink-eye.
“Are you excited for the picnic?” Thomas asked the boy beside him.
Virgil glanced over at him and nodded.
“I am too,” Thomas said. “It’s always beautiful this time of year. I’m glad I could find the time to take you all there this year.”
“Are you very busy?” Virgil asked curiously.
“I am king,” Thomas reminded, “and now that the world isn’t snowed in anymore things will be busy.”
“With the war?” Virgil asked.
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Thomas paused for a few seconds. “Yes,” he confirmed. “With the war, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Virgil asked.
“You’re just a kid,” Thomas said.
“I’m 14,” Virgil said.
Thomas glanced at him. “Exactly,” he said, “a kid, and luckily, you’re in a place that can afford you the luxury of being one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The war has been mainly fought on Mocnejsi soil in recent years. Our boarders have held strong against invasions. Unless something goes horribly wrong suddenly, it would take a long time for the main conflict to get here. The only real threat in the castle would be assassins sent after me personally.”
“Right,” Virgil said. There was an awkward pause in conversation before he spoke again. “You’re winning the war then?” he asked.
“Something could always happen,” Thomas said, “but for the most part, yes, we have quite the advantage right now.”
“Oh,” Virgil said.
Thomas shook his head as they were coming up to a narrowing of the path. “Anyway, today is a day to not think about war. Today we’re going to have a lovely picnic and do some bird watching.”
“Right,” Virgil agreed from behind Thomas as Bella took the lead (to Mr. Apples discontent.)
When the path widened again, Thomas did his best to direct the topic to lighter subjects and soon they made it to The Cliffs.
Chapter 57 (Virgil)
Virgil had never been to a picnic. At least, that’s what Patton had informed him when Virgil had described his past experiences of eating outdoors. Logan had agreed even though he’d admitted that the definition of “picnic” was only eating a pre-packaged meal outdoors which Virgil had done plenty of times.
From what Virgil could tell, the main difference was just how much stuff one brought to a picnic.
In addition to the basket full of food (that Virgil still hadn’t gotten to look in yet), the king had brought a large soft quilt that he had Logan and Virgil spread out on the ground for them all to sit on.
Patton and Logan had also packed some things themselves to bring along. Logan had brought along a book to read, and Patton had brought along a board game (thankfully not checkers but something Virgil did not recognize). Virgil hadn’t brought anything (except for the fire knife he was definitely not supposed to have and was definitely not letting the king see) because he hadn’t known he was supposed to bring things. He wouldn’t have known what to bring anyway.
The blanket was soft and a much better alternative to sitting on the ground, especially because, while there was grass at the top of The Cliffs, there were also a good number of rocks.
The king set the picnic basket in the middle of the blanket once it was spread out and then lowered himself down to sit on one side. Patton quickly followed him, already fiddling with some of his board game pieces, though he wasn’t setting it up yet. Virgil highly doubted that Logan was going to be allowed to read his book unless Patton eventually got bored of the game.
However, they would, hopefully, be allowed to make use of the basket the king had brought along.
Virgil followed the king and Patton’s lead and got to his knees on the blanket across the picnic basket from the king. He peered at the basket curiously.
He didn’t quite know what picnic food was, but Patton had told them they’d be getting ‘picnic food’ and he was very curious about what that meant.
King Thomas smiled at him. “Let’s see what Patton’s mom packed us, huh?” He reached for the basket and flipped it open as Logan sat next to Virgil. “There is a lot more food than usual in here,” the king said, sounding amused. “Let’s see.”
He began to pull out packaged food and glanced in each package to identify it before setting it out.
“We have a few types of mini sandwiches,” he said, putting them down, “and some pasta salad.” He set down the bowl.
“We also have… er something else.” He showed it to Logan.
“They’re hot cauliflower bites,” Logan said instantly upon seeing them. Virgil perked up in excitement. That was one of his favorite foods.
“Ah,” King Thomas said, but shrugged and set it down. “We also have two desserts apparently: cookies and mini apple pies. That last one’s a bit extra for a picnic.”
“They’re very good,” Virgil said happily.
“And we also have.” King Thomas paused, looking confused. “Chicken alfredo?”
“Yes!” Virgil said.
“Why do we have chicken alfredo for a picnic?”
“It’s a Virgil picnic,” Logan groaned. “She packed us a Virgil picnic.”
“Hey, at least momma sent us something too,” Patton said.
Big Bang Editing Story [Day 119]
I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story years ago, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag ‘proofread stories.’ I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.
My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20 Part 21 Part 22 Part 23 Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Part 29 Part 30 Part 31 Part 32 Part 33 Part 34 Part 35 Part 36 Part 37 Part 38 Part 39 Part 40 Part 41 Part 42 Part 43 Part 44 Part 45 Part 46 Part 47 Part 48 Part 49 Part 50 Part 51 Part 52 Part 53
I have various tasks to do, so I will do a bit of this. :)