Manuel cursed to himself under his breath. Damn that Olena and her delicious mead. She made it from those wild blackberries that grew all over the forest, and it was dangerous. Sweet and smooth, just enough to hide the potency and make you think you can drink all night. That is, until you stand up.
He staggered out the front door of the shack that was his home, still woozy. Couple hours of sleep did nothing to sober me up. If it wasn’t for that storm rolling in, I’d just sleep and leave the cattle in their pens. He made his way around to the back of the village and untied the barn doors.
Betsy, the eldest cow, mooed softly at him as she led the herd from the barn and on to the path out of town. One of the younger cows, he couldn’t remember her name, seemed to be a bit lame. She kept falling behind and the others would stop and wait for her to catch up before they’d move on.
Couldn’t even convince the Elders to build a second gate close to the barn either, Manuel grumbled. Every day, the same shit. Drag everyone across town, watch out for wolves, drag everyone back. Let’s get it over with and get back in bed.
The village had been built a couple years back, based near the site of a large star stone that had fallen from the heavens the year before. Workers came to dig the stone up for its magical properties, and with them came the needs of several hundred people living in a small space. The port was half a day’s walk away and just not economical, so basic houses and a defensive wall was built. Thus, Starstone was born.
It wasn’t much, but it was cheap, safe, easy living and as much as Manuel disliked his job, he couldn’t say it was bad. Even after the star stone had been mined completely and the mages and scientists had moved on, enough of the workers stayed on to log and mine the forest for the village to survive.
As he neared the gates with his herd in tow, one of the guards called out from above.
“Surprised to see you up this morning, thought I’d be pulling you from a ditch somewhere,” called the guard.
“You know how Olena is when the first mead of the year is ready to drink. Shit flows like water,” Manuel replied. “Coulda swore I saw you there too, Oskar. How did you survive?”
Oskar shot him a shit-eating grin and lifted a bottle from under his coat. “Got mine to go, only had a glass at the inn last night. Nothing keeps the cold away like some mead in the morning.” He took a swig and waved as he cranked the mechanism that opened and closed the small gate. “Keep an eye out for that storm, looks like it's rolling in fast. Gonna be a real roof rattler.”
“I’ll have an eye to the sky, don’t think I can stand more than an hour or two anyway,” Manuel replied. “Girls will have to get by with a quick romp and back to the barn today.”
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The herd slowly passed through the gate and rounded to the fields north of the village. They grazed slowly, trying to keep the lame cow with the rest of the group. Manuel watched on and sighed. Wish I’d thought to bring some mead. Would make this morning so much better. He looked to the sky and watched for a few moments. Oskar was right though, those heavy clouds are moving inland pretty quick. We’ll have us a real soaker here in an hour or two.
Manuel returned his attention to the cows. They’d passed over the first hill and were heading out toward a favorite spot of theirs, a clearing near the trees. Bit further than he’d like them to get with the storm on the way, but happy cows make good milk. He let them wander for a bit longer, before the wind began to pick up.
“Come on back Betsy, time to head in!” He shouted out to the herd. The wind blew hard enough to make him strain to be heard, but he swore Betsy could understand him without words sometimes. As he watched, the old cow mooed to the others and began meandering back to the village. As they neared the crest of the hill, thick, heavy rain drops began to fall.
“Let’s pick up the pace, girls! Come on!” Manuel encouraged as he started to jog back to the main gate. The herd put some pep in their step and moved just below a gallop toward their home. They weren’t too happy about the short walk, or the hurried pace back to the barn but they weren’t stupid either. They could see the storm coming.
As they neared the gate, Manuel looked back and saw the lame cow still at the top of the hill. It was struggling mightily to keep up, and had called to the group several times but to no avail. The rain began to pelt the ground. The deluge was about to let loose.
Suddenly, a huge figure plunged down from the sky. It was faster than anything Manuel had ever seen before. Huge wings spread from the beast to control its landing, and it snatched up the laboring cow in its mighty jaws. An instant later, it leapt back to the sky and disappeared into the clouds.
Manuel was terrified. That was definitely a dragon. Those aren’t supposed to be this far south, they’re supposed to stay in the mountains. That thing just bit a cow like it was nothing and took off with it. That could have been me.
The second his wits returned to him, Manuel sprinted back to the main gate. The herd weren’t too far behind, they’d seen what had happened too. He pounded on the gate wildly as Oskar opened the gate deliberately, clearly unsure about his friend’s demeanor.
“Did you see it!?” Manuel shouted. “A dragon!”
“No way, you sure you aren’t still drunk?” Oskar responded skeptically.
“I’m sure, it took one of my cattle!” Manuel exclaimed. “Just count them! I left with twelve, and now I’ve got eleven! It dropped from the clouds as the storm started to intensify and took it right from the top of the hill!”
“Just calm down. Get the rest of the herd secure, and then get inside. We’ll talk about this with the Elders after the storm and sort out what to do.”
Manuel just nodded and rushed the rest of his herd back to their stalls. He locked the door, then rushed straight to the inn. A morning like this called for several bottles of mead.