The Delicious City by Adam Sidwell

Author:Adam Sidwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Future House Publishing
Published: 2016-08-04T17:43:40+00:00

Chapter 15—Trial by Taste

Guster stood in a grand chocolate amphitheater in the chocolate district. Both his wrists were chained with heavy irons to a platform. It was past noon.

What must have been the entire city was gathered there, sitting on rows of curved chocolate slabs, each one higher than the row in front of it, all of them ringing the platform in the center where Guster stood. Some of the citizens looked hungry, like they were eager to see Guster fail. Others had pity in their eyes.

Princess Sunday and her Cherry Brigade sat to Guster’s right on the row closest the platform. Her Confectioners were with her. A sour expression covered her face.

Zeke and Mariah sat on either side of her portable throne. Mariah looked worried.

To Guster’s left, the Mayor sat on a raised platform. His black top hat was polished with oil so that it shone. He was surrounded by the Baconists, and below the platform, a dozen of his Guard kept careful watch, their spears raised. More guards lined the exits to the amphitheater.

Whatever the result of the trial, there was no way for Guster to escape its verdict.

In between Princess Sunday’s throne and the Mayor’s box sat a row of thirty or more men and women, all in extraordinary, colorful costumes with ruffled white collars that looked like whipped cream had squirt up out of their necks. They wore small caps with feathers stuck in them. Many of the men wore bulging yellow pantaloons that made them look like they had bananas for thighs. The women were clad in bell-shaped red or black dresses woven from fine strands of licorice. Each of the people in that row had something pinned over their heart, either a shiny strawberry medal or a square of chocolate turned on its side so that it looked like a diamond. Some of the strawberries or chocolate squares were studded with marshmallows.

The largest of the men rose to his feet. He wore a bright green costume with banana-yellow pantaloons. “As the Chancellor of The Culinary, the rightful legislature of El Elado, and the mediator in all things, I hereby grant you permission to begin.”

The Culinary. Princess Sunday had said that their word was law.

The Chancellor waved his hand in a circular flourish, and a Baconist with nostrils as wide as dimes rose to his feet.

The Baconist sniffed. He hefted an enormous leather-bound book onto the podium. It landed with a thud that seemed to shake the entire audience. He opened it, then read in a lofty, droning voice, “By decree of the established laws of the Delicious City of El Elado, the Flatlander Guster Stephen Johnsonville, being suspected of being the embodiment of the Exquisite Morsel shall—according to the peer-reviewed research and the collected, irrefutable wisdom of the Baconists contained in this volume, and by tradition and by vote of the Culinary and his Majesty the Mayor of El Elado—now undergo the Trial by Taste.”

The Baconist closed the book. “Confectioners, you may present the goblets.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.