Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Four (section)

===The Spoils===


“No, thanks,” Jake answered, hefting his half-full bottle.  “How long does fish take to cook?”

“Not too long,” Freya replied, watching as the flames ate away at the wood.  “Just gonna let it heat up a bit more.”

Alex walked up to the edge of the rocks and peered out over the waves.  The water was calming greatly, compared to how it had been when they arrived.  The endless blue stretched out to the horizon, in every direction, unbroken by land or ships.

The fire popped and hissed as Freya put the pan over it on a metal frame.  “There you go.”  Freya kicked back and lay down a few feet from the little flame, a satisfied look on her face.  “Nothing like eating something whose ass you just kicked, huh?”

“It does grow on you,” Remilia said with a grin.  “Too cold to do it anywhere but the equator back home, but we did it.”
“Yeah?  Any good stories?” Freya asked.

Remilia crouched down by the fire and cupped her hands over each other in her lap.  “Not really.  I was just an eleven-year-old kid, the one time I remembering being on Inwit.  All we really did was hunt Ice Hounds from the back of a Stormraven with a Stalker bolter, and even then I didn’t shoot it.”

She rocked back on her heels and crossed her legs.  “Still…that was the best lunch.”

Freya chuckled.  “Every time I came home before, we’d go hunting or fishing.  The Legion’s too big to get its food from hunting alone, now, of course, because we’d pick the continent dry if we tried, but still.”  She wiped fish goo from her arms and rinsed with a towel.  “One of the best times I ever had was when I was about…this high off the ground,” she said, holding her hand a few feet high.  “I was out on the Koromi ice fields with Dad, and for some reason he was wearing his armor.  We were tracking an Elk, which might not sound so scary until you realize that Fenrisian Elk are about eleven feet tall and with antlers made of broken glass and diamond chips, basically,” she quipped.

She stared up at the sky with a happy grin.  “Let’s see…we were losing the Elk over the snowdrifts.  I just couldn’t keep up.  So Dad says ‘you don’t get to complain about this later,’ picks me up, and sits me on his pauldron, then takes off so fast my hair was probably standing out straight behind me.”  Freya giggled.  “That was awesome.”

“And you did, of course, catch the Elk?” Venus said drily.

“Fucking thing probably felt like it got hit by a tank,” Freya replied with a smile.  “Man, I hope we can get out hunting while we’re here.”

“Sounds like fun, but a little too risky for me,” Alex said.  “Unless you can guarantee that we’d be safe.”

“Nope, sorry,” Freya said regretfully.

Alex shrugged.  “Oh well.”  He glanced down at where the chunk of fish was roasting on the pan.  “Is it ready?”

“Nope, gotta flip it,” Freya said.  Remilia reached for the fork.

“Here, let me just…fuck,” she said.  The fork’s tines tore through the fish’s baking flesh.  Remilia tried again with similar results.  “This may be a problem,” she said, staring at the cooking fish.

Venus coughed.  “May I?” she asked.

“If you wanna have a crack at it,” Remilia said, extending the fork to her.

Venus ignored it, and instead simply reached through the flame to grab the pan and jerk it laterally, neatly flipping the fish over.  She pulled her hand back – unscathed – and smiled coyly.  “Salamander.”

“Right,” Remilia said, shaking her head.  “Of course.”

Freya chuckled at Venus’ smug grin.  “Nice.”  She sat up and tossed a small piece of wood onto the guttering flames.  “Your hand okay?”

Venus scoffed and turned her hand around so the others could see it.  It was completely unmarked.  “Just fine, thanks, that was way below the level where I’d actually feel it.”  Jake raised an eyebrow at that remark, and idly wondered exactly how hot the iron had been when she had scorched herself back home.

Alex refilled his water bottle from the little charcoal-filtered pitcher in the crate.  “All right…who wants what?” he asked, pulling out a small bag of assorted cookies.

“I’ll just have fish, I think, the one I caught was huge,” Jake said, eyeing the massive chunk of the animal that Freya hadn’t even thrown on the pan yet.

“True ‘nuff.”  Alex tossed a cookie to Remilia and to Venus, and selected one for himself.  “Think it’s done?”

“Just about,” Freya said, poking it with the fork.  “Remilia and Jake, you guys did the work, you get first portions,” she said, grabbing two plates with her free hand.

“Cool.”  Jake took a plate as Venus grabbed the scalding pan and Freya pulled a chunk off.  He caught it on his plate and set it down to cool a bit, as Remilia did the same.  “Thanks, Freya.”

“Is this the first time you’ve had fish?” Freya asked.

Jake laughed aloud.  “Hah!  Can’t blame you for asking, but no, in fact, it isn’t.  I had a fish when I was over at Vulkan’s for a dinner once.  Blew my mind,” he said.  He waved cold air over the fish and sliced off a piece.  He stared at the chunk of food on his fork and made a brave air.  “All right.  Moment of truth.”

He bit into the white flesh and chewed, making a great show of consideration.  The others exchanged patient glances.  “Hmm.  I have…no idea what this tastes like,” he said at great length.  He bit it again.  “Fucking delicious, though,” he added.

“Excellent.”  Remilia dropped the rest of the edible fish into the pan and started cooking it.  She turned back to her own food and bit off a steaming morsel.  “Mmph.  Awesome.”

“Good,” Freya said primly, as if the compliment was laid upon her entire planet rather than one hapless fish.


As the rest of the fish cooked and the other three dug in, Jake finished his own food and pulled some water.  “If you all don’t mind, I think I’m gonna climb the rocks a bit,” he said.  He jerked a thumb over his shoulders at the piles of craggy pumice in the middle of the wave-scoured island.

“Sure,” Freya said, waving him away.  “Nothing vertical without a rope, now,” she cautioned.

“Yep.”  Jake brushed his hands on the side of his pants where the oils would eventually flake away from the treated fiber.  “Anyone else want in?”

“Sure,” Remilia said.  She finished her own fish and followed Jake as he slowly wended his way up the rocks.  The island was small, only about four hundred feet high at the peak, so they would be able to see the LZ from their route.

Jake cinched his gloves and grabbed a rough piece of wood, using it like a walking stick.  “Not quite a basalt pillar, but it’ll do, right?” he asked Remilia as they climbed.

Remilia snorted.  “Sure.”  She pointed out at the peak of the hill.  “Up for a race?” she asked, her voice laden with innocence.

Jake turned to look at her.

She grinned.  “No, huh?”  She clapped him on the shoulder and started up ahead of him on the rocks.  “Here, you got a camera or a vox or anything on you?” she asked.

Jake patted one pocket.  “I do.”

“Cool.”  Remilia tested a chunk of grey pumice with her hand, then wrenched, pulling it free, and tossed it aside.  She gripped the hole in the stone it had left instead, and nodded, finding it sufficient.

Down below, Freya finished off the last of the fish.  “All right.  Do you guys want to head out now, or fish a bit more?” she asked.

Venus grabbed the pan out of the dying flame and set it aside to cool.  “Let’s stay a bit longer,” she said.  She glanced up at the open sky and scanned the endless horizon.  “I want to appreciate this view.”

“Works for me,” Freya said.  She grabbed her rod and walked back down to the edge of the water.

Venus leaned back against the rocks behind her and settled down, watching the waves.  “I wish we had views we could see like this back home.”

“Nocturne had oceans,” Alex pointed out.

Venus shook her head.  Her black ponytail shook on her shoulder.  “No, Terra.  They boiled off the oceans before Uncle Rogal built the last wing of the Palace.”

“Ah, yeah.”  Alex sat back down beside her.  “You nervous about tonight?” he asked.

Venus looked away for a second.  “A little.”

“I mean, I’m sure we’ll be safe, but it’s just gonna be…so awkward,” Alex said.  He sighed to himself.  “I don’t know how to tell Freya.”

Venus winced.  “I guarantee she can still hear us at this range.”

Alex slapped his forehead.  “Fuck.”

Sure enough, Freya’s shoulders rose a fraction before settling back down.  She cast her bait into the water once more and crossed her legs for a long sit.

Venus pulled out her vox and snapped a picture of the skyline.  “You know, I avoided the opportunity for us to dine on Prometheus with more than a few Brothers at a time because for the Salamanders, mealtimes involve a recitation of lore from the Creed.  I didn’t want to make people awkward.  I know for a fact that that isn’t the case with the Wolves.  I suspect that there’s not much to be worried about.”

“Right.”  Alex rose to his feet and patted himself off.  “All right.”  He walked down to where Freya was sitting and squatted down behind her.

“Hey.”  Freya flicked her rod again, sending the little red plastic bob into the water.

“Hey.”  Alex fidgeted for a moment.  “Look, I’m sorry, I should have come to you first.  Is there anything I should know about tonight?” he awkwardly asked.

Freya shrugged.  “A few things.  I would have told you before the dinner anyway.”  She reeled up a bit of slack line.  “First of all, you guys will get called into the Hall after I do.  I wouldn’t want you to sit through the prayer.”

“Okay.”  Alex crossed his legs too, and uncapped his water bottle.  “What else?”

“Not much.  I expect that a few of the Brothers at the High Table will be constantly asking questions, about Terra mostly.  The Rout doesn’t go to Terra too often.”  She looked over at him and grinned faintly.  “Remember what I said when you asked me what it would be like to come here, back when Remilia was living with me?”

Alex thought for a moment.  “Uh…you said someone might ask me if I wanted to be inducted into the Wolves,” he remembered.

“Heh.  Yeah, I suspect so.  Maybe a few drinking contest challenges too, and someone’s gonna poke wise at us sharing bed before getting married, you can bet on that,” she chuckled.  “But it’ll all be older brother stuff.  You’ll be all right.”

Alex nodded.  “Okay.  Thanks.”  He picked up his own fishing rod and replaced the bait.  “Mind if join you?”

“Just move a few feet away so we don’t cross our lines,” Freya said.  Alex scooted a small distance to one side and cast his own line, leaving the two of them in silence.

Far above, Remilia reached the top of the volcanic hillock in the middle of the tiny island.  “Hell of a view.”  Jake walked up behind her, panting a bit.  “Here’s a pic to send to your folks, huh?” she asked.

Jake nodded, out of breath.  “Yeah, hang on…”  He pawed the camera-vox out of his pocket and pressed a few runes.  He snapped a few holos of the horizons, and tilted his vox back to capture the circling dactyls as well.  “Those things are so cool.”

“I know.  Did you see any on Nocturne?  They have creatures called dactyls there, too,” Remilia pointed out.

“Really?  Are they related?” Jake asked, handing her the vox.

“No idea.  Doubt it.”  Remilia snapped a picture of their impromptu campsite down below.  “Here, smile!” she said, snapping a holo of Jake too.
Jake blinked away the aftereffects of the flash.  “You caught my bad side!” he joked, snatching away the vox.  “Here, I’ll take one of you to send home,” he said.  Remilia crossed her arms over her chest and grinned at the camera as Jake snapped a holo.

“Cool, thanks.”  Remilia spun on her heel, trying to get her bearings.  “Which way is the Fang from here?” she asked.

“Should be due north,” Jake said.  “Hell if I know where that is.”