Drive (The Badlands Series) Book 4

Chapter Thirteen: The King Of Gluttony

The Storytellers entered the castle and knew who it was automatically. The King of Gluttony was chowing down; he had a turkey leg in one hand and was shoveling a spoonful of mashed potatoes in the other. "Um, hello," Emlyn said, and the King looked up at them. 

"Oh, hello! Come on in; it's a feast!" He said excitedly, seeming nicer and less sadistic than the other rulers. 

"No thanks, we are in a bit of a rush. We need your silver spoon to open a portal to the Underworld." Emlyn said, and the King nodded. 

"Sure, sure, who are you sending to the Underworld?" He asked, and Emlyn was surprised by his pleasantries. 

"Her names are Camilla and-" Emlyn began, but the King cut her off. 

"Thank Hades; I hate that bitch; you know she called me fat and lazy?" He said, and Emlyn wasn't surprised but pretended to be. 

"No? Really? That's so mean!" Emlyn said, and the King nodded.

"Yes, it is; I'll give you my spoon if one of you can beat me in an eating competition." He said, then snapped his fingers, and the table was cleaned and reset with hundreds of new fresh dishes. The very long table was then separated into two, "whoever is competing sit at that end and clean off that whole table before me." 

"I'll do it!" Bob announced, then sat down at the table. Emlyn leaned over and whispered to Stella.

"Are we sure he can do this?" She asked, and Stella nodded. 

"If anyone can, it's that bottomless pit." She said with a chuckle. 

The King started the challenge, and they watched the two turn from somewhat prestigious men turn into pigs. The food on the tables was disappearing faster than they could keep up with the two of them. There were all kinds of meat, from chicken, turkey, ham, lamb, and more. Every side dish you could think of, mac n cheese, potatoes, french fries, baked beans, and more. 

They had both gotten nearly to the end; all that was left was dessert. Pie, cake, cookies, ice cream, brownies, everything there was literally everything. Emlyn felt like she was losing her mind staring at it and also trying to figure out how these two were eating it so fast. 

Bob shoveled the last brownie into his mouth and stood up, throwing his hands in the air in victory. Everyone cheered, and the King looked pleased. "Congratulations, you have won my silver spoon. However, I have one last requirement." The King said, and the group sighed. 

"What is that?" Emlyn asked with a sigh. 

"Please, do the dishes and clean up around my castle. I will give you the spoon now, but you cannot leave until the second task is complete." He said and handed the spoon to Emlyn. 

Emlyn took the spoon and nodded, "very well, we will clean up your castle." The Storytellers set to work cleaning up the castle. 

***

Three hours later and they barely had made a dent in the mess in that castle. "What do we do, Emlyn? We don't have enough time in our entire lives to clean up this whole place." Mystic said, and Emlyn sighed.

"I know, but maybe there's another way." She said and thought briefly to herself. Emlyn stood in the center of the room and closed her eyes. She was about to attempt to use her power for a bigger task than she had previously. It had only been parlor tricks before, but now she was going to prove she was capable of something bigger.

"Within an instant, the King of Gluttony's castle was clean again, perfect and prestigious as ever." 

She wrote in her mind, and the ground shook, and her power tried to fight against her. Emlyn held strong, and the castle was soon sparkling. "Well, look at that; you are free to leave now." The King said with a smile on his face.

"Thank you, goodbye," Emlyn said, and the Storytellers left the castle with only two rulers left to collect from.