"Ya know I honestly thought that when all you magicky types were immediately looking at me, were right away thinking, I could probably end him or kill him right now." Mitt confided in him.
"Anyone who instantly thinks like that when meeting someone new for the very first time should never even have magic." Taln answered firmly. "Quit stalling. The clean up job you were saying."
"Right." he nodded, continuing on. "So it's cold as hells out there and one boy's flapping his gums all macho, but pukes not ten chimes in! There was a girl there that seemed all snotty princess type but she ended up working as hard as me and finishing the job."
Stu arrived with a large platter of food and again it was enough for a regular four people to eat.
"Thanks." Taln gave the briefest word possible before mounding his plate high and tearing into it, but his yellow eyes didn't stop watching Mitt. Not to be outdone, Mitt heaped his own meal with a large enough portion and spoke between bites as he ate heartily.
"So I was thirteen but the tallest of us three, so the Executioner's telling me to hop up on the chopping block with the five swinging bodies. Well I was scared, lemme tell ya. I saw a lever to pull, so of course, I did. All five dropped like stones in water and I was scared witless!"
He dug in for another couple of large bites, chewed and swallowed.
"So then the guy's all Ok you cut the heads off and throw them to the cookers and I was-"
"Cookers? Cut the heads off?" Taln asked, barely pausing between bites to ask.
"Cookers were a bunch a tough lookin' women that boil up the heads with salt and Cumin to preserve them. Then the heads are put on spikes as warnings. Oh and man does it stink! It wasn't guts or brains stinking or even the dead bodies--it was those half a dozen women right in front of the platform boiling the gods damn heads." Mitt finally slowed down his eating as his plate emptied. He shoved it toward Taln to finish it off and carried on.
"So there I am trying to untie them first and got yelled at. Then I'm hacking away at this head that I got wedged facing down between my knees right? One of the cookers is like, ya take it off like a pig! So I'm thinking back to being a kitchen spit boy helping out my mom and it clicks. So I wedged in the knife and the sucker popped up into my chest and face! Talk about terrified. Then to make it suck more, the other boy starts puking his guts out and runs away! Which made me wanna hurl too."
Taln had cleared the platter and both plates while the young smith talked.
"So one of 'em puts something under my nose that smelled exactly like male cat spray! No joke! Nausea was instantly gone. So anyways, it was cold as balls out there but the bodies were starting to stick to the wooden platform."
Mitt paused to fill his glass.
"So's I start trying to lift the body to the ground, while I was up there-"
"No! You don't do that or-"
"Or it falls directly on me. Yeah yea, now I know. The hard way. But that sound when you're peeling it from the ice. Yech!"
Taln nodded in full agreement. "It's vile. You never forget that sound."
"Now I know there's the expression deadweight and all, but they're not kidding! I found out later that carrying the cold half frozen bodies were actually lighter than in summer and heat. I get to trek back and forth five times with them and by the time that's done, the cookers finally finished. So I thought wouldn't leftover boiling hot water clean up some of that frozen mess? Sure enough me and the girl finally got things scrubbed up in sections, even with doing the other boy's work."
The tawny haired young man drank down the beer and poured another refill.
"So the next day, I'm helping out my mother in the kitchens. They said they needed another spit boy and she volunteered me because that was three golds for a day's work."
The redhead's face gave evidence of knowing exactly what that was but he remained silent.
"So we're talking about six cuts of meat at about seven kilos for each spit rack. I was lucky enough to get the good side at least."
"The wall." Taln confirmed, nodding.
"Yep. So we got to heft those things to the rack, turn them for four to ten bells each. We moved six on a rack at a time between us so that total was about forty-two kilos that day. I was used to working around fire at the forge and blast smelter so.." Mitt paused and made a face, "I could guess better by the color of the flames when the fire was hot enough to make the meat spatter and cause burns. I got a few among the blacksmithing scars, but I can't even tell which one is which now. Besides, leaning against the wall was the safest place in every way. There had to be about two hundred people in the kitchen that day and the heat was murderous!"
He paused and drank down a few swallows. "So by night's end, I was covered head to toe in animal grease and fat!"
"Oh yea, it takes more than a few tries to wash it all off." Taln replied.
WC 941 Total WC 4,498
"Anyone who instantly thinks like that when meeting someone new for the very first time should never even have magic." Taln answered firmly. "Quit stalling. The clean up job you were saying."
"Right." he nodded, continuing on. "So it's cold as hells out there and one boy's flapping his gums all macho, but pukes not ten chimes in! There was a girl there that seemed all snotty princess type but she ended up working as hard as me and finishing the job."
Stu arrived with a large platter of food and again it was enough for a regular four people to eat.
"Thanks." Taln gave the briefest word possible before mounding his plate high and tearing into it, but his yellow eyes didn't stop watching Mitt. Not to be outdone, Mitt heaped his own meal with a large enough portion and spoke between bites as he ate heartily.
"So I was thirteen but the tallest of us three, so the Executioner's telling me to hop up on the chopping block with the five swinging bodies. Well I was scared, lemme tell ya. I saw a lever to pull, so of course, I did. All five dropped like stones in water and I was scared witless!"
He dug in for another couple of large bites, chewed and swallowed.
"So then the guy's all Ok you cut the heads off and throw them to the cookers and I was-"
"Cookers? Cut the heads off?" Taln asked, barely pausing between bites to ask.
"Cookers were a bunch a tough lookin' women that boil up the heads with salt and Cumin to preserve them. Then the heads are put on spikes as warnings. Oh and man does it stink! It wasn't guts or brains stinking or even the dead bodies--it was those half a dozen women right in front of the platform boiling the gods damn heads." Mitt finally slowed down his eating as his plate emptied. He shoved it toward Taln to finish it off and carried on.
"So there I am trying to untie them first and got yelled at. Then I'm hacking away at this head that I got wedged facing down between my knees right? One of the cookers is like, ya take it off like a pig! So I'm thinking back to being a kitchen spit boy helping out my mom and it clicks. So I wedged in the knife and the sucker popped up into my chest and face! Talk about terrified. Then to make it suck more, the other boy starts puking his guts out and runs away! Which made me wanna hurl too."
Taln had cleared the platter and both plates while the young smith talked.
"So one of 'em puts something under my nose that smelled exactly like male cat spray! No joke! Nausea was instantly gone. So anyways, it was cold as balls out there but the bodies were starting to stick to the wooden platform."
Mitt paused to fill his glass.
"So's I start trying to lift the body to the ground, while I was up there-"
"No! You don't do that or-"
"Or it falls directly on me. Yeah yea, now I know. The hard way. But that sound when you're peeling it from the ice. Yech!"
Taln nodded in full agreement. "It's vile. You never forget that sound."
"Now I know there's the expression deadweight and all, but they're not kidding! I found out later that carrying the cold half frozen bodies were actually lighter than in summer and heat. I get to trek back and forth five times with them and by the time that's done, the cookers finally finished. So I thought wouldn't leftover boiling hot water clean up some of that frozen mess? Sure enough me and the girl finally got things scrubbed up in sections, even with doing the other boy's work."
The tawny haired young man drank down the beer and poured another refill.
"So the next day, I'm helping out my mother in the kitchens. They said they needed another spit boy and she volunteered me because that was three golds for a day's work."
The redhead's face gave evidence of knowing exactly what that was but he remained silent.
"So we're talking about six cuts of meat at about seven kilos for each spit rack. I was lucky enough to get the good side at least."
"The wall." Taln confirmed, nodding.
"Yep. So we got to heft those things to the rack, turn them for four to ten bells each. We moved six on a rack at a time between us so that total was about forty-two kilos that day. I was used to working around fire at the forge and blast smelter so.." Mitt paused and made a face, "I could guess better by the color of the flames when the fire was hot enough to make the meat spatter and cause burns. I got a few among the blacksmithing scars, but I can't even tell which one is which now. Besides, leaning against the wall was the safest place in every way. There had to be about two hundred people in the kitchen that day and the heat was murderous!"
He paused and drank down a few swallows. "So by night's end, I was covered head to toe in animal grease and fat!"
"Oh yea, it takes more than a few tries to wash it all off." Taln replied.
WC 941 Total WC 4,498
