The Word -Zwieback

With a grunt, the man stepped off the last of the slimsy stairs and tossed the boy into the dark boat that awaited them. The weight of the noble's son, sent the boat rocking violently, sloshing water back and forth, but even the cold splash of the waves did nothing to stir the Noble's son back into wakefulness. The man nodded. Yes, it would not do to have the son wake up to his new nightmare of a life too soon. He could continue to dream about the sweet zwieback breakfast he would not be having in the morning. No honey, no bacon, that life was over for this one. A light as a cat, the man hopped into the boat, chanting under his breath, they soon were moving silently out from the hidden harbor, the man crouched at the front, eyes scanning the darkness. It would not do well to grow careless now. He would remain unseen, the unobservant would miss him so long as they were not looking for what caused a noise out in the river. The current flowed around his little vessel, following his spelled commands, to give them speed to set them sailing like the wind was at their backs, all without him having to lift a finger. He'd already lifted the Noble's son, no need to do more work than necessary.

Zwieback - a usually sweetened bread enriched with eggs that is baked and then sliced and toasted until dry and crisp.

History Behind the Word - In ages past, keeping food fresh for any length of time required ingenuity, especially when people needed to carry comestibles on a long journey. One solution for keeping bread edible for traveling was to bake it twice, thereby drying it and slowing the spoiling process. The etymology of "zwieback" reflects this baker's trick; it was borrowed from a German word that literally means "twice baked." Nowadays, zwieback is not just used as a foodstuff--the texture of the dried bread makes zwieback a suitable teething device for infants. Incidentally, other twice-baked goods whose origins reflect that fact include "biscuit" and "biscotti," both of which come from phrases meaning "twice-cooked bread."