Cinnamon Bun - Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-One

Chapter Five Hundred and Twenty-One

It took nearly an hour, but eventually it was determined that none of the contents of the box were dangerous. Well, not dangerous in any sort of obvious way.

We had them all laid out on a table within the building the city had let us use. Amaryllis had been right earlier when she listed everything out.

There was a letter, a clock, a book, and a small bouquet of flowers.

“So... what do we start with?” I asked.

“The letter seems like the obvious one to begin with to me,” Desiree replied. “It seems as though it’s address to you, captain.”

I chewed on my lip, because she wasn’t wrong. The letter wasn’t in an envelope, and instead was just a single sheet of thick, vellum-like paper, folded into thirds with a blank wax seal on one side. The other had ‘To Bunch’ written on it in a quick cursive font.

“May I?” Caprica asked. I gestured, and she carefully plucked the letter from the table, turning it this way and that. “The paper’s from the Trenten Flats,” she said. 

“How can you tell?” I asked.

“They produce good paper,” Caprica replied. 

I tilted my head a little. “They have good trees for that?”

I realized that my friends were giving me looks, but it was Amaryllis who sighed and explained. “You’re thinking of pulp paper,” she said. “Made from wood fiber?”

“Yeah, paper,” I said.

“This is vellum. It’s made from treated animal skin. The Trenten flats have large herds of sheep and that kind of animal. The best that the Harpy Mountains and Sylphfree have for skin are mountain goats. Not bad, but not as plentiful as the massive herds the Trenten flat’s cervid have.”

“Huh, I guess I’m learning a lot about paper today,” I said.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” Caprica said. “The Trenten flats export this to everyone in the region. I’m sure you could buy something similar here in Port Royal. The ink... seems like normal ink to me.” The princess shook her head and flipped the letter over before presenting it to me.

“Thanks,” I said. I shot a burst of Cleaning magic through the letter. I’d heard stories about poisons and stuff before, and while no one had found anything... well, I wouldn’t put it past Rainnewt to discover some whole new kind of poison. That seemed like the kind of person he was.

Pinching my tongue between my lips, I popped the seal off the letter, then carefully unfolded it. There was some text, but not that much of it, just a couple of paragraphs.

Dearest Broccoli,

I hope this letter finds you well. I imagined that you and your companions would be around for the wedding, and once I confirmed your presence I decided to postpone any plans I had with regards to the local dragons. 

It seems unwise to provoke them in any case. Combatting one of them would be a monumental task. So many would be foolish, and I would like to think of myself as not too so foolish.

In any case, enjoy the wedding.

Enclosed are a few small gifts. Flowers and a book for the bride, and a clock for you. It’s counting down to something special. The book is a hint, and perhaps the flowers are as well.

Good luck, fellow Earthling!

-Rainnewt

I tilted the letter so that my friends could read it, then when it started to get a little crowded, I just handed it over to Amaryllis so that she could squint at it. “I have no idea what this says,” she said.

“Huh? Oh, it’s in English?” I asked. The letters were... well, English.

“It’s in an ugly, blocky text, yes,” Amaryllis said.

I laughed. “I think that’s just Rainnewt’s handwriting. It’s a little ugly, but I guess he’s never used a quill before.” I cleared my throat and read the letter aloud so that everyone was on the same page. 

Calamity was the first to speak when I reached the end. “Guy’s full of himself.”

“He’s an ass,” Amaryllis agreed.

I glanced over to the others to see their reactions, then noticed that Awen was poking at the clock. “Did you find something?” I asked.

“This isn’t a clock,” Awen said. “Look at it.”

I blinked, then looked. The clock was a small, boxy thing. The front had the expected three needle set up, and below that was a small pair of dials, one with the day and the other made of three smaller rings with the date. It was a pretty neat little mechanical clock. The sides were made of wood with cutouts letting us see the clockwork interior. It looked well made.

“What’s wrong with it?” I asked.

“The hands are moving backwards.”

I stared at the clock again. The hands ticked and ticked, each one very much moving counter-clockwise.

“Oh.”

I carefully picked up the clock and turned it this way and that. Then I squinted at it. The time and date bit was moving... very slowly and it was backwards too. 

“I don’t imagine our friend just cheaped out and bought a discount broken clock?” Calamity asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “This is a count-down, maybe?”

“Fantastic,” Caprica muttered. “I don’t imagine it’s a countdown to a good thing, for once?”

“It doesn’t say,” I said. 

“What’s the book about?” Amaryllis asked. “He’s obviously laying out some sort of puzzle here. For some reason. This doesn’t seem like him. Why a puzzle when he’s been rather direct, if secretive, before?”

I set the clock down only for Awen to pick it up. Maybe she’d be able to work out how far off the countdown was? Instead, I picked up the book and opened it up. It was filled with... words. There were a few illustrations as well, though. Strange watercoloured images of knights and pretty forests and even some dragons.

Opening it up to its first pages, I found the title page. Tales of the Black Avatars. There was an image below that of five knights in black armour, each one a little different. One was human, another looked taller and lankier, there was a grenoil as well and a cervid and even a sylph. The designs were rather cartoony, with the proportions exaggerated. They were standing on a field of little flowers, it made their all-black armour a little less intimidating.

“Do you recognize this?” I asked.

“Huh,” Calamity said. “I do.”

“As do I,” Desiree replied.

Amaryllis stated, then nodded slowly. “I think most people will know of this. If only as legends and children’s stories.”

“Do you think that maybe Rainnewt has decided to give up on his life of crime and decided to become a children’s book author and that the countdown is to his first release?” I asked hopefully.

“That’s wishful even for you,” Caprica said. “I’m not aware of these stories. Though I’m not too surprised, I doubt the harpy read Sophia the Sweet-tooth to their children.”

“We have our own set of fairy tales and childrens’ stories,” Amaryllis said with a nod. “The tales of the Black Avatars is old however. More like something my parents would have been told. What’s more curious is that you recognize them.” She turned towards Desiree and eyed the fox girl up and down.

Desiree’s tails flicked. “Is it so strange? We don’t treat the Black Avatars as children’s stories so much as we treat them as legends. We have temples in their name, and a large library as well. Ah, yes, and there’s an order of swordsmen that wear all-black and try to match them.”

“That’s a little more involved than what I remember,” Calamity said. “I mostly remember the stories of Black Cat the Black Avatar. He was a princely thief and troublemaker, and he got into all sorts of scraps.” 

I turned towards Awen. “Were there any stories like that around Mattergrove?” I asked.

“Um, I think so? But they were boy stories,” she said.

“Boy stories?” I asked.

“Fairytales for boys, so that they grow up to be noble knights. Most of my stories were about princesses and friendly wildland animals.” Awen shrugged. “I overheard some of the other stories, but never paid them, ah, that much attention.”

I looked down at the book and flipped it forwards. There was a note from the author, just a couple of paragraphs explaining that they’d gone around the lower end of the continent--so Mattergrove, Deepmarsh and the Trenten Flats--and collected several stories about the Black Avatars into a single book which was then illustrated.

“I think we’ll have to show this one to Booksie,” I said.

“The wedding has wrapped up by now,” Caprica said. “She might be wondering where her bridesmaids are.”

“Ah! You’re right! We wasted so much time with this,” I said. “Desiree, can you find anything out about these flowers? Awen, let’s go make sure this wedding ends on a high note for Booksie, and then... well, whatever Rainnewt is stirring up, I’m sure it can wait a day.”

“Are you sure?” Amaryllis asked.

“Yeah! Bad people only deserve as much attention as you need to keep them from being bad enough to ruin your day. At least, sometimes,” I said with a nod.

Whatever Rainnewt tossed our way, we’d be up to fixing it, I was sure.