Lakeside Liaison

"Sir?" one of the farmhands injected into his epicurean bliss.

He shook his head and beamed at the workers around him. "Ay this stuff is great! All of you bastards get to picking, I want all of this barreled by the end of the day!"

"Yessir!" his employees fanned out, hauling carts and spades as they returned to work on this mysterious plot.

Finishing the rest of the fruit, Grant tossed the stem into the nearby stream. The plopping noise it made in the moving water drew his gaze to it and he was reminded of the magician and his little companion who had made it months before. It occurred to him that the transformed row was also the closest to the canal and he briefly wondered whether or not that boy's magic had something to do with it.

Grant fished another fruit from the soil, not bothering to clean it. No matter, maybe he would send someone to inquire about the lad's role in all this later. Right now he had work to do.

Nobles are always looking for the newest thing to waste their money on and to Grant's knowledge this fruit was in a category all of its own, even if it did taste like beets. He'd pack it up and bring it to the nearest major city, sending samples to the local big wigs. Once they got a taste he was sure they'd pay handsomely for it.

What Grant didn't realize was the mysterious fruit had already begun to change him. The corrupting influence, though diluted, would continue to build with each bite. He and anyone else who partook would welcome every twisting step as their bodies and minds metamorphosized into the winged creature that spawned the preternatural produce.

"Got a feeling things are going to get a lot more interesting around here!" He boomed to no one in particular.

And he had no idea how right he would be.