Lunar Flare Book 1: Crimson Moon

Chapter 3

The jester and the soldier made their way back down through the levels of the castle and the mostly empty hallways. Between Beowulf's heavy armoured footsteps and the jingle of Thedrick's bells, they were not exactly the sneakiest of companions, and the castle guards posted throughout the corridors would look up towards them long before they arrived in proximity. But while the guards may have given the unlikely pair of them strange looks, there was no problem with their presence here despite the late hour, as they were both inhabitants of the castle.

The pair remained unimpeded on their way to the kitchen, and once they arrived, they found it empty, just as Thedrick had expected at this late hour. Beowulf started walking around the room to examine what they had at their disposal and to ignite the wall sconces to give them some light. Thedrick trailed behind him trying not to seem too much like a lost puppy, following him into the larder. Thedrick watched Beowulf start picking out the necessary ingredients from the shelves.

Beowulf turned back around with armfuls of ingredients to find Thedrick gazing up at him expectantly. "Do you want to help?" the soldier asked cheerfully as he moved past the jester and led the way back into the kitchen proper.

"I... don't know how to cook..." Thedrick mumbled as he followed Beowulf. The soldier was laying out the ingredients on a bench and glanced over at the jester when he said that.

"You don't know how to cook?" Beowulf asked in disbelief.

Thedrick shrugged sheepishly as he stepped up to the counter. "I told you... I'm from a noble house... I never had to cook before, the servants did all that, wherever I worked as well."

"Well then, guess I'll just have to teach you," Beowulf said matter-of-factly, and turned towards Thedrick. He reached down towards the jester, causing Thedrick to flinch away slightly. Then he was being grabbed under the arms and swiftly lifted up and deposited on the counter next to the workspace.

Thedrick's heart pounded at how easily the large man was able to lift him, as if he barely weighed anything at all, which was more or less true enough. The jester ducked his head, trying to hide the inevitable blush that would colour his pale cheeks. "Okay," he squeaked out, the pitch of the sound startling him and leading him to feel even more embarrassed.

Beowulf chuckled, and then started to remove his gauntlets. He set them down on the benchtop, out of the way of his work, then set to handling the ingredients. Even without his armoured gloves, Beowulf's hands were still unusually massive, and Thedrick glanced down at his own thin gloved hands in comparison, eyes widening slightly.

Beowulf took Thedrick step by step through the process of what he was doing, and the jester tried to pay keen attention, despite his mind's tendency to wander. Beowulf talked Thedrick through rolling out and cutting the dough, often guiding the jester by placing his large hands over Thedrick's small ones, which made Thedrick's heart beat faster.

With Beowulf's surprisingly deft skills, and despite Thedrick's 'help' likely being more of a hindrance with the number of times he managed to nearly cut himself with the knife because he was distracted, the pie was soon assembled. The soldier lit up one of the ovens and put it in to bake. Then the two of them chatted away as they cleaned up the area while waiting for the pie to be ready.

Thedrick was trying to crack as many jokes and make as many puns as possible, doing his best to keep the big man laughing. Outside of his performances for the king and queen, he didn't usually experience such positive reception to his wit, and he was enjoying it immensely. And as a newbie to the castle, the soldier was unfamiliar with the jester's material, so Thedrick got a chance to reuse some classic jokes that had become rather stale to others.

"So, when were you recruited into the army?" Thedrick eventually asked the question that had been playing on his mind, still slightly puzzled about not having seen this mountain of a soldier around before, despite him apparently living in the town. He seemed to be well into adulthood, so one would have expected he would have served as a soldier for several years already.