SPIRIT WALKER

Chapter 7: Blue Holiday (part 1 of 3)

The morning after the Pwi adopted Tull, Theron Scandal tore out the side wall of his inn and rolled a three-thousand-gallon beer keg into the street. Wisteria Altair watched the show from an open window of her father's mansion, just up the hill. She promised herself that she would not go downtown and stare like the gawking Neanderthals, yet curiosity drove her to watch.

The giant keg had been a fixture at the back wall of the inn for thirty years. It served primarily as decoration, for Scandal never brewed his beer in the giant keg. Instead, he filled it, as occasion required, from smaller barrels. Yet many a drunkard had admired the keg over the decades, lost in pleasant thoughts of drink.

Rumors had circulated all week that the barrel was half full of beer, and that Scandal would be giving it out free. As if to give credence to those rumors, Scandal had dropped the price of beer in half several days earlier, in order to more quickly drain the legendary barrel.

So when a dozen men managed to move the counters in the inn, tear out the nearest wall, and roll the barrel into the street, anticipation swelled.

The entire town showed up, humans as well as Neanderthals, and the occasion became festive.

Tull climbed on top of the barrel and pried the hatch open, then pretended to stagger drunkenly at the potent odor of the beer.

Scandal laughed and shouted, "Put a few serpents in there, and they'd have a party, that's for sure! They'd be floating ass-backward within an hour."

"Ayaah," Tull hollered, and with that, a dozen men rolled the barrel so quickly that Tull had to jump for it. The men tilted the barrel and opened all three of the spigots. People rushed forward with cupped hands to get at the beer.

Scandal's steward, Valis, shouted to the crowd, "Stop! Stop!"

"Oh, let them drink!" Scandal said loud enough for everyone to hear. "In fact, bring them some mugs, and let them drink proper. No sense in spilling good beer!"

To that, the town raised a cheer, as if Scandal were some great hero of legend, but soon serving wenches came spilling from the inn with mounds of hot sausages, salt bread, melon slices, and great wedges of goat cheese. The beer was free, but the food was not. The abundance of the fare showed that Scandal had been planning ahead for days.

That is just like Theron Scandal, Wisteria thought. The man has a great heart, but he never lets it interfere with his desire to make a profit.

The scent tempted Wisteria down from her father's home to see the celebration. She came in a cream-colored dress of fine silk, with a white parasol to keep the sun off.

As she threaded into the crowd of sweaty Pwi, Tull stared at her like a lovesick pup, and she saw no harm in smiling back at him. It had been five years, since she'd last talked to him. Five years since her father had sent her to school in South Bay. Though she'd been in town now for six weeks, she hadn't approached him even once.

Yet as she purchased some of Scandal's legendary sausages in mustard sauce, along with a slice of honeydew, Tull drew close.

The nearness of him made her heart thrill. He had grown in the past few years, and now stood much taller than she remembered. His chest was full and strong, his eyes inquisitive and gentle.

"How have you been?" Tull asked softly when he was just an arm's length away. "I know you've been back for a while. I've been hoping to see you, but I was away in Hotland. You've grown. You're more beautiful."

"Not beautiful," she objected. "Taller, maybe."

He nodded, as if to confirm his assessment of her beauty, and peered into her with such depth that it felt as if he weighed her every breath.