Heretical Fishing

Book 2: Chapter 74: Better Late Than Never

The taste of lemon danish lingered on my tongue. It was sweet, morish, and light, yet insignificant compared to the silence that stretched between everyone in the bakery. Gazes were turned toward walls, the floor, and random kitchen equipment, studiously avoiding each other.

Sue drank deep of a coffee cup, swirling the liquid in her mouth before swallowing. She cleared her throat. “So, I take it you really aren’t planning on killing us?”

I grimaced. “No, Sue. Even if I didn’t consider you both my friends, we wouldn’t, er... snuff you or Sturgill out for awakening as a cultivator.”

“That’s truly what this is?” Sturgill asked, gripping Sue’s hand tightly. “I’ve become a cultivator?”

“Yeah, mate,” I replied. “I think it’s not official until you accept a name, but from what I’ve heard, not accepting isn’t an option. Barry said the System won’t let you sleep or rest until you do.”

“Barry?” Sue licked her lips. “Barry is a cultivator too?”

“I think it’s best if you start from the beginning, Fischer,” Sharon suggested.

Thankful for the direction, I nodded.

“Sue’s right. I’ll tell you the story from the start...”

I told them everything. Well... almost everything. From my encounter with truck-kun, to the chi transference I’d done with the lemons, I told them everything necessary, only omitting details that would make the tale take too long. They listened intently, not uttering a single question until I finished.

“And that’s the lemon I brought here this morning—one that I’d drained of all chi.”

Sturgill blinked, his eyes distant. They slowly drifted up to me as he leaned forward. “You mean to tell us that Borks is a... a hellhound? I’m not sure how I could believe that, Fischer.”

Sue pulled back from him, shaking her head as she scowled. “That’s what you’re questioning? The damned dog?”

“What?” Sturgill demanded. “He’s a good boy! How could he possibly be a hellhound?”

Knowing there was an easy way to confirm the detail, I looked up at the rafters. “Would you mind, Borks?”

Everyone followed my gaze, so when a dog shaped like a demon dropped from above, we all bore witness. Borks, in his chihuahua form, fell toward my chest. I easily caught him.

Sturgill’s eyebrow furrowed. “Who is that?”

In response, Borks shifted to the form he always took around the Village—that of a long-haired golden retriever. His tongue lolled happily as he let out a bark.

Sturgill and Sue both leaned back, their eyes going wide. The former cleared his throat. “Okay, so Borks is definitely a spirit beast, but I struggle to believe he’s a hellhou—”

Without needing my guidance, Borks shifted once more. His long fur turned into midnight skin as he more than quadrupled in size. He still sat in my arms, his torso and snake-headed tail both upright and looking at the two bakers.

“Oh...” Sturgill said.

Sue arched an eyebrow at him. “Happy, foolish man?”

“Well, no. But I do believe Borks is a hellhound now...”

“It’s true, then?” Sue asked, staring at me as Borks shifted back and dropped to the floor. “All of it?”

“Yep. All of it. I have one more bit of proof, for what it’s worth.” I looked up at the rafters again. “Corporal Claw—”

Before I could finish my sentence, the otter zapped across the room on lightning-fueled muscles. She slammed into my chest, letting out a happy coo as she curled into my arms and smiled with her needle-sharp teeth.

“This is Corporal Claws—or Claws for short. She is how Borks snuck into the rafters without you knowing. Don’t give me that look, Claws. Of course I felt you zap him up there before I closed the cafe, you little deviant. You’re not sneaky enough to avoid my senses.”

She chirped her defeat before squirming to get even more comfortable in my arms. Closing her eyes, she started drifting off to sleep without a care in the world. When I looked back up at Sturgill and Sue, they sighed, then shared a smile at the similar reaction from the other.

“You two seem... remarkably calm about all of this,” Maria said, giving them an appraising look.

Sue shook her head. “I most certainly am not calm. It makes sense, though. The changes Fischer has had since coming here. Your remarkable recovery, Sharon.”

“And Roger’s hatred for you,” Sturgill muttered.

Roger grunted, and I thought he’d turn his displeasure on Sturgill. As always, however, he reserved it for me.

I grinned back at him, then cleared my throat. “Right, then. Should we take you guys to the church? I’m sure Barry will have answers for any questions you have.”

“Uhm...” Sturgill rubbed the back of his head. “How do you plan on getting us there? I think the villagers might have a few questions if they see us walking about after closing up for the morning.”

I tickled Claws’s chin, making sure she was awake. “Can you get Borks out of here without being seen?”

She sat up, stretching her back as she let out an affirmative chirp.

“I... don’t understand,” Sue admitted, glancing between us.

“I skimmed over some of our abilities.” I grinned at Borks. “Would you mind, buddy?”

He barked happily, and power swelled within his core. The next second, a black portal tore into existence, its lines spider-webbing out as it shattered the air itself.

I stepped inside and poked my head out. “Follow me. It’s safe.”

“You’re sure?” Sturgill asked, his eyes tracing the black lines around me.

“Positive!” Maria skipped toward the portal. “Last one in doesn’t get another danish.”

Sue snorted. “You’re out of your minds if you think we’re giving you more danish after the fright you gave us.” She picked up the tray and held it to her chest to emphasize the point. “You forfeited the right to any delicious pastries.”

Maria pouted at her, but I saw the amusement tugging at her lips.

Everyone stepped inside, the portal closing behind us.

***

Barry leaned down over the report, thoroughly scanning each line.

Everyone was silent as they did the same, the only sound that of Ellis’s pencil scratching down notes in the corner. With each sentence, paragraph, and accounting of goods sold, Barry’s smile grew. When he finished the last line, he grinned out at the room. One by one, they looked up from the document, similar looks of pride, joy, and surprise plastered over their face.

All the while, Danny tried to appear nonchalant in his spot at the circular table, but his bouncing knee gave away his anticipation.

“You did amazing, Danny.” Barry said. “Better than amazing. The amount of produce you moved is honestly unbelievable.” He pointed at the ledger halfway down the page. “This is all correct? You brought this much food and cured wood back with you?”

Danny shrugged, still trying to play it cool. He failed. His cheeks glowed a vicious crimson as the entire congregation present settled their attention on him.

“It was thanks to the route you and Ellis devised—all I did was show up and let the villages know. It was particularly brilliant sending me to Bengal and Cedar first. I’d never have thought to start so far away, but those two villages alone got me stocked up for the rest of the route.” He shot a smirk at Barry. “You didn’t exaggerate how much they hated each other, either—having me act as merchant meant they could trade without coming to blows.”

“Wait…” Helen said from opposite Danny. “How do two villages have access to everything you needed for the rest of the route?”

“It’s not that they have everything,” Ellis answered, not taking his eyes from his notepad. “It’s that they had exactly what each other—and the next villages on the route—wanted. The path wasn’t chosen for its ease of passage or proximity.”

Barry reached over, giving Helen’s hand a squeeze. “The most important thing was trading compatibility.” He looked over at Danny again and tapped the report. “The only thing your report doesn’t mention is if you were able to establish the passive trade routes. Do you think they’ll continue without your presence, or will we need to constantly have the wagon traveling?”

Danny nodded. “I left that out on purpose because it’s... nuanced.” He shuffled through his papers until he found one in particular. It was covered in small writing. “I thought it best to write it up on the wall here. That way, we can...” Danny trailed off at the sound of clawed feet scrambling down the hallway.

Every head drifted toward the door just in time to see a golden-haired good boy come flying around the corner, a manic-eyed otter riding his back. Borks’s padded feet fought for purchase, running on the spot and slamming into the doorway. Unperturbed, he used the collision and subsequent cessation of movement to leap up onto the table, landing right in the center. Claws hopped down, chirping a greeting and puffing out her chest. Borks let out a bark, wagged his tail, and tore a portal into existence.

A dark shape extended from the murk, slowly taking shape in the magically lit room.

“Er, good morning, everyone,” Maria said, covering her eyes. “Is it safe for me and Fischer to come out?”

***

As safe as I knew it was within Borks’s pocket dimension whatever-the-frack he had going on, it was... stuffy. As I stepped out into the air of the underground church, I took a deep breath, delighting in how sweet the air was in comparison.

“G’day, Barry. I may have made a lil whoopsie this morning and...” I looked around the room, seeing almost everyone. “Oh. My bad. Good morning gang.”

Stacks of pages sat before every person, tactically turned face-down so I couldn’t catch sight of their contents.

“A whoopsie...?” Barry asked. “What kind of whoopsie?”

I raised a finger and opened my mouth to respond, then shook my head. “Best if I show you, I think.”

I popped my head back inside Borks’s portal. “You can come out, guys.”

I withdrew, stepping aside to make room for everyone. Roger came first, grumbling as he did so. Sharon came next, accepting Roger’s hand as he helped her down from the table. Last, Sue and Sturgill stepped through, both looking as uncomfortable as the other. Their faces slowly transformed to a mix of surprise and disbelief as they looked around the circle, able to see each face when Borks’s portal disappeared.

“You...” Sue said, her jaw hanging open as she stared at everyone in turn. “All of you?”

They stood stunned atop the table, their heads swiveling non-stop. Maria and I shared a glance and helped them down from the table, not wanting to have them feeling trapped.

“What happened?” Barry asked.

I winced. “You know how I’ve been draining chi from some of my fish? Well, I did that with a lemon. I wanted to let Sue and Sturgill bake with it because of how rare lemons are. It had no chi, so it shouldn’t have had any effect...”

“Except it did,” Roger finished in his gravelly, disapproving voice.

I gave a rundown of the events, my chest constricting further with each sentence. Unfortunately, it seemed to have a similar effect on Sue and Sturgill; their faces grew more stricken with each word. When I finished, Barry walked around the table, coming to a stop a short distance from the bakers.

“I’m sorry. You must have had a crazy morning.”

Sue nodded, tears coming to her eyes as her lips formed a line.

He reached out a hand, but she flinched back.

He grimaced, withdrawing it. “I promise you, this isn’t a bad thing.”

A chorus of agreement rang out, loudest of all was Claws, who chirped and nodded her head emphatically.

Sturgill, who had pulled Sue into a hug, raised his head. “Forgive me for saying so, but of course you’d say that. You’re all cultivators.” He immediately averted his eyes, showing deference.

“Hey,” Barry said, clicking his fingers to draw Sturgill’s attention. “None of that—we’re not a bunch of power-tripping nobles that need to be kowtowed to. We’re not some shadowy cabal of evil-doers.”

“You say that,” Roger said, “yet you all praise Fischer as your god. At least be honest with them.”

The bakers’ gazes both shot toward me. The prevalent emotion was clear.

Fear.

I had seen all I could handle. I’d tried to come into the meeting with my usual chipper attitude, but seeing the effect my actions and presence were having on Sue and Sturgill, I had to get away. Misunderstanding or not, it was too much. I hadn’t even realized I’d been slowly backing from the room, but seeing my proximity to the door, I edged toward it. Maria held my hand, trying to keep me there, but I had to go—had to get away.

“I think I’ve done enough damage for one day,” I muttered. “Sorry, but I think I need to leave the rest to you—”

“Wait,” Ellis said, standing.

His voice held iron, so I paused.

“This is not your fault, Fischer.”

I let out a self-deprecating laugh. “I think you’ll find it very much is, mate.”

“He’s right, Fischer,” Barry said. “We knew this was coming.”

My eyebrow furrowed as I glanced from one to the other. “You knew I’d do this?”

“No, that people would start awakening. You wanted to be left out of the loop, yes?” Ellis looked up from his notes. “Well, forgive me, but I believe you need to hear this, lest you descend into misguided self-blaming. Technically, you caused this, yes—but that’s because of the chi once more coursing through the world.”

He looked up at Sturgill. “You got a message from the System for baking, correct? Not for eating the food?”

“Yes...”

Ellis nodded. “Sturgill here awakened of his own accord. The System saw his baking as good enough to merit becoming a cultivator. Otherwise, Sue would have awakened by eating the danish.” He rubbed his chin. “Actually, she still might have if the System saw it as food created by a cultivator… A fascinating line of thought—which comes first: the chi, or the awakening?”

Entirely forgetting we were all there, Ellis began muttering to himself, taking notes on a fresh page.

Just like that, the former archivist had looked up, given me a tactical nuke of knowledge, then gone back to his work. I blinked at him, genuinely shocked by his efficiency. It made part of me feel better for one simple reason: it made sense. The chi that slammed into Sturgill had risen from the world around us, not within the lemon. I took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly as Maria came to my side and gripped my forearm lightly. There was still a tightness to my chest, but as I took another breath, its hold loosened.

“Better?” Barry asked.

“Yeah, mate. I should have noticed that myself, though.”

He gave me a kind smile. “You’ve had a tough morning too, mate. It’s not surprising that your thoughts weren’t clear.”

I didn’t respond, focusing entirely on my breathing as I tried to ground myself in the present moment.

“All right.” Barry clapped his hands together. “There’s one more thing you should hear me tell them, Fischer, then it’s probably best you leave.” He turned to Sue and Sturgill. “I wanted to bring you in and make you members of the church for some time now.”

Their eyes went wide, as did mine.

Before we could speak, Barry continued. “You’re both perfect candidates: smart, hardworking, and, most importantly, kind.The only reason we didn’t come and offer you ascension is because you both serve food to many of Tropica’s citizens, and we thought it might be problematic given we know so little about what causes someone to awaken. That you’ve now awakened, Sturgill, isn’t a curse. It’s a blessing. Perhaps this is the universe’s way of telling us we made a mistake in not coming to you sooner. For that, I’m sorry. If I’d come to you before the System took matters into its own hands, you wouldn’t have had such a traumatizing morning.”

I watched Sue and Sturgill’s faces closely. Though Barry’s words didn’t remove any of the ropes wrapping my chest, their reactions did. Fear remained, as did hesitation, weariness, and confusion. But now there was also curiosity.

They wanted to know more.

“Thank you, Barry,” I said, grabbing Maria’s hand. “And sorry again, guys.” I gave Sue and Sturgill one last glance before leading Maria out and up the stairs. We walked toward the surface in silence, both lost in our own thoughts as our feet scuffed on the stone stairs. When we stepped out into the sunlight, Maria stopped, turning her head toward me.

“Well?” she asked, her hair falling to the side as she cocked her head.

“Well what?”

“Are you going to tell me what’s still bothering you?”

I didn’t bother protesting, instead just shaking my head. “I’m that obvious?”

“To me? Yep.” She squeezed my hand. “Walk and talk?”

I nodded. “Walk and talk.”

Hand in hand, we turned and ambled off toward the distant treeline.