'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 3: The Prophecy

Love Bite

"Hello darling, you missed me or not, eh? How are you my little baby darlings... Have you been good to your mummy while I was gone for a short trip? Hehehe." I greeted Heather and the twins the moment we entered the town square. The wagons were parked near the parking area next to the Macleod Coliseum and I kicked back on my dandy horse until I reached the front of the domain.

Heather simply threw herself at me and hugged me tight as she fought her worrisome tears that flowed down her cheeks. "Of course I miss you, silly boy...!"

"You don't know how boring I get being at home and was always hoping to hear your news of coming back a few days earlier. Even your twins are looking for you ever since you left...!"

I returned the embrace and suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my right upper arm and saw that Heather had latched her teeth onto my arm like a hungry wolf...! She was also banging her fist in my chest as she simply gnawed on my arm as if she wanted to tear the whole chunk of meat off my arm...!

But somehow... Her first words when she greeted me had released a trigger within me. "Silly boy... Silly boy... Silly boy... How come that term sounds pretty familiar and it seems that I am used to hearing those two words almost daily before.

But not from Heather as she had used the words once... Silly boy... Silly boy... Silly boy... Somehow deep within the recesses of my mind, those two words were like a normal everyday conversation where I was called upon regularly before.

"Are you hungry, Heather? Dinner is not ready yet I suppose..." I tried to pry Heather odd from my arm since my twins were holding their arms out while being held by the helpers. Somehow, I am the one who could not stop stifling from the tears that streamed down my face as I endured Heather's love bite...!

"Ooww...wuwuwuwu... Come my little darlings, help daddy out from your vicious mummy right now. Hmm... You too seemed chubbier than before, eh?"

I snuggled both the twins as Heather finally got a piece of meat out from her bite earlier. It seemed she was content on giving me a new bruise on my arm that I could showoff if I wear a sleeveless tunic around the house.

Gosh...! It's another greenish, purplish and reddish nite mark that would take a week to clear. This Heather of mine is really a biter and a hard hitter.

She could definitely join the ranks of Gregory's wife...!

The twins touched my arm where it was bitten by Heather and cooed to me in order for me to stand the pain that would appear later before the bluish-purple marks. I sat with the twins and relate to them of what happened as Heather listened on at the sides.

As I narrated of what happened to Austin Powers as he was literally womanhandled by both Gregory's wife and Gwen, Heather can't contain her excitement as she punched and slapped at my arms as if she was also hitting out Power's face at that time.

The twins that were carried by me giggled as they squirmed in my arms when Heather had hit out viciously. Of course, she didn't hit the twins at all but her aims were all directed to my arm perfectly. Guess there's no change for me to wear my sleeveless tunic for the next week. Hahaha.

"Come on, let's address the new residents as we slowly induct them into the temporary residency journal. I guess there's about 80 household or slightly more from what we had gathered before we moved out of that town." I motioned for Heather as she followed me out and sat down on one of the tables and got ready to make the records down.

The residents were served with light refreshments while waiting for dinner to be cooked and served. It was the good old times where before us were the 300 residents that had once gathered from all the other towns.

"Your Majesty, is that your bakery over there where this fine bread comes from? This bread is so soft and chewy, unlike the bread that we had prepared over at Camp...!" Burns raised his arm to speak (he learnt it from the other senior members of the community).

"Aye Burns... Come with me and my twins here, I bring you to our towns Finest Bakery. The first double-storey bakery in this lands that is equipped with 20 conventional temperature controlled Ovens that could serve our town and also 15 other towns nearby...!"

Burns had his hands on his mouth (like my twins if they want to stuff their fists in the mouths hahaha) and was surprised when I mention 20 conventional ovens...!

Normally a town could afford to have a one or two communal Ovens to bake their daily bread but here in this town was 20 of such Ovens.

"Your Majesty, you're not pulling my leg, are you? 20 Ovens...? It is a whole production that could bake hundred of bread at one go...!"

"Of course I'm not pulling your leg. The bakery is right here so come along with me. This is my twins, Jay-R and Amy, short names for now." I introduced my twins to Burns and the rest as they bowed slightly and the twins waved their hands as they were taught to do so.

Burns followed me to the bakery and was awe and petrified to the ground...! The bakery before him was four to five times larger and it was a double-storey as well. He can see many bakers on the top floor as the one below was managed by a few salespeople in top hats and aprons.

There were shelves on each side of the shop and it was lined with many varieties of bread and biscuits as well as some delicacies as well.

He even saw the one-pounder golden pillow as well and was wondering what in the world a pillow was doing there in the bakery... Hahaha.

"My goodness me... Its true innit? My eyes aren't playing any tricks in myself, eh? Two storey bakery and ita only available here I this town...! My goodness... Oh...! Could I come upstairs to take a look too?" Burns asked me for permission and even myself do not have the right to be upstairs when the bakers were working.

"Jennings...! Hereford...! We got a guest here. A fellow baker from Camp and he wants to take a look at the 20 ovens to see if I'm not shitting him or not. Hahaha." I hollered from below and Jennings peered from the top and called me up along with their fellow Baker.

The moment Burns stepped into the bakery, he was once again petrified and unable to move his legs as he watched how organised the bakers were at work in tandem with the preparation and baking of varieties of bread on 20 of those Ovens...!

There was no smoke and the work was continuous and he cautiously went up to introduce himself and peered into the Ovens and saw that it was powered by some kind of devices and not being fired up by the usual method of using firewood or coals.

He was intrigued and piqued as he asked is many questions about the operation of the Ovens and the bakery and was surprised that there are 24 workers working on a single 8 hours shift from 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, followed by 3 in the afternoon to 11 in the evening and lastly from 11 in the evening till 7 in the morning.

There was a writing slate on the second floor where Hereford was explaining to Burns that the second and third shift need to fulfil the orders of a few thousand loaves of bread to 15 towns and when Burns heard a supply of over a few thousand loaves of bread, he was so shocked and needed to take a seat to compose himself.

"Your Majesty... What you had said and what you had proved to me was simply out of this world. I couldn't find a single word to say about how well you had done for this town."

"Not only you had so many bakers, but you had also these 20 Ovens that don't need any firewood or coals to run. I don't know how but it's a wonderful piece of innovation...!"

"I am a Baker myself and I operate a single oven and frankly if I'm given a chance to supply bread to even a single town, I would die at the oven itself. I could not simply cope with it but from the looks of your finest bakery here, the name and the efforts are simply fitting...!"

"You could even supply bread not only to this town but also to other towns as well."

I clapped Burns back as he took his time to catch his breath since he was shocked beyond belief on what was happening before his very own eyes.

Trays of hot freshly toasted bread were removed from the Ovens and laid aside to cool off while another two more trays were being inserted inside.

It seemed that the work for the second and third shift worked endlessly as they prepared the daily orders for the 15 towns.

Judging from the work rate and output, he realised that what we had explained to him do hold its weight in gold. "Here, try this. Careful it is hot and spicy."

Jennings offers a piece of bread that was filled with sweetmeats, peas, corn kernels, potatoes, celery and some other spices and herbs to Burns. He thanked Jennings and decided to have it later with his family.

For someone who had gone through such hardship and poverty, even a small morsel of food that comes his way would be shared with his precious family of 5. "How many of you in the family? Take some more and don't be shy. We have more than enough and the rest would be put up for sale for the next day."

Jennings offered Burma and he took another piece more since he would share them with his family. He doesn't dare to take more than what he needed even though he was enticed to buy he knew he would be able to savour these bread when the time comes.

As what Jennings had mentioned, these bread would be on sale which means it would be put up for display and sold in the ground level. This would also mean that there would be many varieties of bread showcased and sold each day.

Bread oh glorious Bread... How could one not live without you...!

Guess there's another bread lover turned resident, just like Marcel. He would do anything for our bread and even wage war against those who wished to take over his bread... Hahaha.

After Burns was led back to his family, he broke the bread among his family as they tasted for the very first time the wholesome goodness of sweet meat-filled bread...!

Even Burns himself could not bring himself to this kind of standards as he was only a local bread that only deals with one or two kinds of bread for the community.

As Burns and his family were enjoying their meal, Thomas the barkeep approaches me and asked, "Your Majesty, I am a barkeep and I work the distillers for ale and cook meals for the travellers and such. Would there be a change for me to be employed as a barkeep in order to keep up with the tradition?"

I looked up and saw Tomas was standing before me and twiddling his fingers on anxiety. "Don't be disheartened, Tomas. Come and follow me and I bring you to The Greasy Spoon of this town."

"It is a two-storey eatery of about 50 tables and 100 benches I think and there are more than 10 types of drinks that include ale and ciders. Come along now... I introduce to you, Strongbow who manages The Greasy Spoon."

"50 tables and 100 benches, Your Majesty? That would easily feed around 200 to 300 diners, am I right? Is the Greasy Spoon a large establishment to be able to fit in so many diners at the same time?" Tomas asked as I lead him away and heads towards the Greasy Spoon.

In order not to give him a direct answer, it would be best for me to show him the eatery himself and be the judge as Strongbow would be able to answer all his queries.