No rest for the wicked – Terra – An Armitage Tangent – Part 3 of 4

In response to my own prompt here:

Part 1 and part 2 also available…

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“Would you like tea?” Asked the old man as he settled into the chair opposite Armitage.  

Armitage nodded, every movement an awkward mix of nerves and an attempt to be polite

“And would you like milk and sugar?”

Armitage nodded again.

“Cake?”

Tea Armitage understood, milk and sugar seemed to resonate somewhere in the recesses of his mind, but he didn’t know what cake was. Logic dictated that if it followed tea, milk and sugar, then it was probably not a thing of horror.

“Yes please,“ he said shuffling awkwardly in the large, red leather, wing backed chair he found himself in.    

“You will love it, souls of a thousand dying worlds baked into a light and delicate sponge, drizzled with the final light of a dying star. It is quite lovely. An old wizard friend of mine makes it, won’t share the recipe, but always happy to whip one up when I have company, and when I knew you were coming I just knew you would want to try it.”

Armitage stared down at his feet. He didn’t really understand much of what the old man was saying. The clink of china cups on saucers was followed by the trickling pour of piping hot tea, a plop of sugar was next, and then the feint splash of milk being added. He looked up and took the cup and saucer offered. He had only ever had tea from a rusty can as far as he could recollect, and tea was probably a stretch, but it was definitely from a rusty can. It may actually have been boiled grass, but it had been some time ago when he was still living in a post apocalyptic hellscape, so his memory was hazy. The end of the world will do that to you.

Holding the saucer only he tilted it to his month, causing the cup to slip, some of the team falling into the saucer.

There was a booming laugh, deep like thunder and not at all the lauigh he had expected from the frail looking old man serving the tea to him. “Like this, hold the saucer and take the cup by the handle.”

Armitage followed the instructions and tool a sip. It was heavenly, hot and sweet. It danced on his lips. It  did a celebratory jig on his tongue, and with a final sachet ran a seductive hand down his throat, and left him wide eyed and smiling.

“Good?”

“Oh yes, “ said Armitage taking another sip. “Very good.”

“Wait until you taste the cake.”

Armitage settled back into the chair, relaxing a little. He watched the old man before him take a sip of his own tea, and then carefully place the cup and saucer on the small table between them.

 They were in a small room, with dusty book stacked on creaking shelves along one wall, a collection of large gold gilded framed paintings of what Armitage assumed were fruits and vegetable opposite. Red embers crackled and glowed in a small fireplace which faced a heavy oak door. Had Armitage known what a library was, he would have thought that this looked like a small private library. But he didn’t. He simply knew that one minute he was looking down from space, and the next he was here in this room with a white bearded old man in grey robes. Again, if Armitage knew what a wizard was then he would have been absolutely certain that he was having tea with a wizard. Again, he did not. Very little of what was happening to Armitage made any sense whatsoever.

“I guess you are wondering exactly who I am and why you are here,” said the old man crossing his hands in his lap.

“It has been a very long day,” replied Armitage. “ I really don’t know what is going on.” He took another sip of tea.

“Oh I think you know more than you are letting on,” the old man continued. “You stowed away didn’t you. Escaped the earth, travelled the vastness of space, exited the transporter, got picked up in contamination control and now you find yourself here. All very clever indeed.”

The old man seemed genuinely impressed and smiled as he watched Armitage drink more tea.

“I fell into a vat of dead whales,” Armitage replied.

 “And escaped earth and travelled across space and time,” said the old man.

Armitage thought about what the old man was saying.

“No, just the whale bit really. I Tripped and fell, that I remember. I was looking for food and there was tumbling, and some screaming. Oh and there was the smell. The smell was awful.”

Armitage looked down and noticed he was no longer covered in filth and rancid whale bits. In fact, everything that had passed for clothes was now clean and repaired and looked like new. The old man noticed Armitage inspecting himself.

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind,” he said, “I took the liberty of sprucing you up a little.”

Armitage did not mind one bit and informed the old man accordingly.

“Good, good,” he replied as he took a cake knife and cut two slices from the small, round, pale coloured cake on the table before him.

Armitage could have sworn he could hear the most feint sound of screams as the man lifted the cake knife and plopped two thick slices of the cake onto small white plates. Armitage watched, entranced. He had never seen anything so…he struggled for the words in his head, wondering what the opposite of ‘this is disgusting but I haven’t eaten for a week’ was.

“That looks not disgusting,” he said.  

“The word you are looking for is ‘delicious’,” said the old man pushing the plate towards Armitage. “And it is, I assure you. The finest cake in 7 dimensions. Actually won an award as I recall. Wonderfully moist you’ll find.

“Delicious?” said Armitage placing the cup and saucer on the table and then reaching for the cake. “Well I shall have to take your word for that.”

“Oh, and the name is Renfrew,” said the old man. “Sorry, I can be so very forgetful sometimes.”

“Renfrew. Armitage,” replied Armitage. “My name is Armitage.”

“Oh, I know exactly who you are,” said Renfrew. “As your council, I have done my homework on you I have.”

Armitage weighed the cake in his hand, again confused.

“Now eat up, “ Renfrew continued, gesticulating for Armitage to eat his cake. “You have a court date with the technowitch council in half an orbit and you don’t want to be doing that on an empty stomach.”