Three Slices Read Online Free
Author: Chuck Wendig, Kevin Hearne, Delilah S. Dawson
Tags: General Fiction
tyromancy done. You’re out for blood, so you need a blood cheese.”
“Pardon me?”
Oberon needed to weigh in at the mention of food.
How do you know about kosher?
“I mean I’m going to have to use rennet derived from an animal rather than what I normally use to curdle the milk,” Mekera said. “As a rule, I use rennet derived from mallow. So we’re going to have to go hunting.”
I’ll explain as we go. I said to Mekera, “You don’t have any rennet available?”
“Not the kind I need for the tyromancy you want. We should get a kid hartebeest. I have the milk already.”
Yes. You need rennet specific to the milk; sheep’s rennet won’t work as well on cow’s milk, or vice versa.
That’s the kind of mystery I’d prefer not to solve.
“Okay,” I said, “if that’s what we need to do, let’s do it.”
She finished her coffee, rose, and strapped on a belt with a large hunting knife that hung on a hook by the ladder to the exit. “I don’t need to bring my bow, do I? You’ll bring the animal down?”
“Yeah, we’ll take care of it,” I said. “You know where to find them?”
She snorted. “I’ve been living here since 1945, remember?”
“Fair enough.” I frowned as she turned away, the length of that time span finally hitting me. That was a lifetime of living alone, and she still wasn’t sick of it—she wanted even more solitude.
Mekera rummaged in a cupboard until she found a box of freezer bags, then she took one, folded it, and tucked it into her belt next to the knife scabbard. “The hartebeest are a few miles to the north,” she said. “We could walk it if you want, or if you’re in a hurry, you could give me a ride.” She smiled at me for the first time and I shook my head. She wanted me to change into a stag and let her ride on my back, but I thought she’d already taken me for a ride too many.
“We’ll run as we are and I’ll feed you energy to keep your strength up,” I said.
Her smile disappeared and she shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
The run to the north took an hour, even with me boosting our speed via bindings, but eventually we topped a knoll with knee-high grasses and looked down on plain full of grazing antelope. More than a hundred animals roamed there, and sentinels on the edges looked out for predators like us. There were a few kids, I noted, which is what we wanted.
“There you are, boys,” Mekera said. “There will be hyenas around and vultures soon enough. Might even be a lion. As soon as you bring one down, you’ll have to guard the kill until I get there and harvest the stomach.”
I slid my eyes sideways. “Now that you mention it, how are you going to get to it safely with all those hungry things looking around for something slow to eat?”
Mekera’s eyes shifted to meet mine. “You’ll have the elemental make them look somewhere else, of course.”
I suppose I will.
I have never been a proponent of any kind of divination that demands blood—that’s why I use wands or augury—but sometimes magic demands that price, and weaker forms of divination wouldn’t serve me well now. At least in this case, nothing would be wasted; whatever we didn’t use would feed the food chain here.
“Please hold on to my clothes,” I said, stripping down and folding them up. “I’ll tell the elemental to watch out for you. You can follow behind us as soon as we take off.”
Mekera only nodded in response and wordlessly accepted my jeans and shirt before I bound my shape to that of a
“Pardon me?”
Oberon needed to weigh in at the mention of food.
How do you know about kosher?
“I mean I’m going to have to use rennet derived from an animal rather than what I normally use to curdle the milk,” Mekera said. “As a rule, I use rennet derived from mallow. So we’re going to have to go hunting.”
I’ll explain as we go. I said to Mekera, “You don’t have any rennet available?”
“Not the kind I need for the tyromancy you want. We should get a kid hartebeest. I have the milk already.”
Yes. You need rennet specific to the milk; sheep’s rennet won’t work as well on cow’s milk, or vice versa.
That’s the kind of mystery I’d prefer not to solve.
“Okay,” I said, “if that’s what we need to do, let’s do it.”
She finished her coffee, rose, and strapped on a belt with a large hunting knife that hung on a hook by the ladder to the exit. “I don’t need to bring my bow, do I? You’ll bring the animal down?”
“Yeah, we’ll take care of it,” I said. “You know where to find them?”
She snorted. “I’ve been living here since 1945, remember?”
“Fair enough.” I frowned as she turned away, the length of that time span finally hitting me. That was a lifetime of living alone, and she still wasn’t sick of it—she wanted even more solitude.
Mekera rummaged in a cupboard until she found a box of freezer bags, then she took one, folded it, and tucked it into her belt next to the knife scabbard. “The hartebeest are a few miles to the north,” she said. “We could walk it if you want, or if you’re in a hurry, you could give me a ride.” She smiled at me for the first time and I shook my head. She wanted me to change into a stag and let her ride on my back, but I thought she’d already taken me for a ride too many.
“We’ll run as we are and I’ll feed you energy to keep your strength up,” I said.
Her smile disappeared and she shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
The run to the north took an hour, even with me boosting our speed via bindings, but eventually we topped a knoll with knee-high grasses and looked down on plain full of grazing antelope. More than a hundred animals roamed there, and sentinels on the edges looked out for predators like us. There were a few kids, I noted, which is what we wanted.
“There you are, boys,” Mekera said. “There will be hyenas around and vultures soon enough. Might even be a lion. As soon as you bring one down, you’ll have to guard the kill until I get there and harvest the stomach.”
I slid my eyes sideways. “Now that you mention it, how are you going to get to it safely with all those hungry things looking around for something slow to eat?”
Mekera’s eyes shifted to meet mine. “You’ll have the elemental make them look somewhere else, of course.”
I suppose I will.
I have never been a proponent of any kind of divination that demands blood—that’s why I use wands or augury—but sometimes magic demands that price, and weaker forms of divination wouldn’t serve me well now. At least in this case, nothing would be wasted; whatever we didn’t use would feed the food chain here.
“Please hold on to my clothes,” I said, stripping down and folding them up. “I’ll tell the elemental to watch out for you. You can follow behind us as soon as we take off.”
Mekera only nodded in response and wordlessly accepted my jeans and shirt before I bound my shape to that of a
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