The Wedding Chapel’s Bartender: A Rucksack Universe Story: Rucksack Universe

By Anthony St. Clair

Can he handle the most powerful force in the world?

Jake Edinburgh's first day on the job at Scotland's Dram Ring Pub and Wedding Chapel is not at all what he expected—and that's just from meeting Angus the ringmaker.

The Rucksack Universe series combines alternate history, speculative fiction, myth, adventure, globetrotting, and intrigue—all with well-poured pints of beer. Library Journal says Anthony St. Clair's storytelling has "universe building reminiscent of Terry Pratchett," and readers say they love the Rucksack Universe's unique combination of "quirk, wit, travel, and magic."

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rucksack Press
• Release date: Dec 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781940119205

Anthony St. Clair

Anthony St. Clair creates compelling fiction and non-fiction for a curious world full of everyday discoveries, endeavors, and surprises. He is the author of the ongoing Rucksack Universe series; covers craft beer, food, business, and more for various publications; and is a copywriter and content manager for select clients. When not at his desk or in his kitchen in Oregon, Anthony is on an adventure with his wife, son, and daughter.

Book preview

The Wedding Chapel's Bartender

The Wedding Chapel's Bartender

A Rucksack Universe Story

Anthony St. Clair

Rucksack Press

Contents

1. First Day in a Dream

2. The Dram Ring Pub & Chapel

3. The Trap

4. The Most Powerful Force in the World

Thank You for Reading

Become a Wanderer

Also by Anthony St. Clair

Acknowledgments

Special Features

Sneak Peek

About the Author

Scotland Through the Third Eye

While I myself have never married, I have heard some review the practice just as highly as others lowly revile it. If you are so inclined to marry, though, there is but one place to go: the Dram Ring Pub and Chapel. Specializing in ‘whisky and weddings since 1 AB,’ the pub and wedding chapel opened in the shadow of Scotland’s Edinburgh Castle within a year of The Blast over in Ireland. They take all comers—though some who come together leave apart. A drink at the bar is required, which some view as a final test of their nuptial resolve. And if you forget your wedding rings—or if you propose hastily, before getting around to buying rings—the Dram Ring has a full selection of wedding rings made from a range of materials. Their in-house ringmaker can also customize and fit them on the spot. Even better? Every pair of rings includes two free drinks and a 10 percent discount on tickets to Edinburgh Castle, just a short hop up the Royal Mile. It’s the perfect recessional to begin your married life—if you go through with the wedding after all.

—Guru Deep, Scotland Through the Third Eye

1

First Day in a Dream

From across the street, Jake Edinburgh took a deep breath and a long look at the Dram Ring Pub and Chapel. It was the first time he’d seen it. The Management hadn’t even allowed him to take a quick glance when he arrived in Scotland the day before, but he could imagine it all.

Beneath the white ceiling, the wedding mirth would rise. Couples would clink glasses on one end of the pub. Then, on the opposite end, the happy few would speak the vows of their heart. Those who came to the wedding nook together would leave joined for life—unless their final wedding test drove them apart.

At the center of it all they would find Jake Edinburgh, gleaming in his crisp white button-down shirt, black pants, and shiny black dress shoes. He would smile and beam, all handshakes and hugs. Light from the pub’s chandeliers would twinkle on his short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and smooth olive skin that would never wrinkle with age. Jake Edinburgh would send off each couple with a blessing that would shine across all their days and lives and doings to come. For every couple, their new future would begin with that most special of all days: the wedding day.

At least that’s how Jake hoped it would go. Maybe he wouldn’t know a dram from a pint. Maybe he’d screw up the tests, and tear apart some couple that should be together. Dammit. He’d be lucky to get through pouring his first pints—

Jake shook his head, trying to fling the doubts and dark thoughts out onto the cobblestones. No turning back now. He’d committed. He’d trained. He had to start. Had to get in there and try. Even if he was terrible.

Now, in the last darkness of retiring night, Jake had walked up the winding uphill street from the nearby hostel. No one else was out, except for a bald man in black, who passed him by with a hurried nod. To Jake’s left, past a wide long esplanade, the yellow-tan, high stone walls of Edinburgh Castle crowned the hill as they had for a thousand years. To his right ran the Royal Mile, a cobblestoned gray street of shops, pubs, tourists, and history.

But before him, beyond the roundabout and across the street, in the castle’s shadow, lay Jake’s future. His career. The rest of his life, as long as he was fit and willing to serve The Management. Jades would be stationed anywhere in the world they were needed. Jakes took the name of the city where they would remain for the entirety of their time as a Jake. The Management had