Marlow felt off. He was used to working with animals, but it was strange to have a chicken, an almost mindless bird, to follow him around like a puppy expecting a treat. Sure, he had the occasional odd bird follow him for a bit while eating a sandwich, but they usually left once the meal was gone.
"COME ON, LAD, PICK UP THE PACE!" Benson called as he marched onto a distant acre of land. This far out, the field was filled with twisted trees with little to no leaves, and they failed to shade the rows of red and orange flowers.
Marlow rolled his eyes and smiled. Despite Benson's grandfatherly figure, he was pretty fit. Mr. Bones had a blast keeping up with his human. Opal was tucked under Marlow's arm, cooing at the new sights they ran past.
"Why didn't we take the cart with us?" Marlow huffed as Benson hucked the rubber ball further out.
"BECAUSE WE'RE NOT HERE TO HARVEST THESE FLOWERS YET. WE'RE HERE SO THAT YOU CAN GET YOUR NEXT COMPANION."
"Next companion? I haven't even finished teaching Opal her second trick." Marlow panted as his legs wobbled from the two-mile surprise marathon.
"IT'S BEST TO GET YOUR COMPANIONS IN SETS. IT IS LIKE RAISING CATS AND DOGS. SURE THEY FIGHT. BUT IF YOU GET BOTH OF THEM WHILE THEY'RE STILL YOUNG, THEY'LL GROW UP TOGETHER AND LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER. SO SINCE YOU TOOK EGG-SPERT AS YOUR FIRST ABILITY, LET'S MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING YOU CAN USE TO DEFEND YOURSELF."
Benson answered as he walked up and yanked a branch from one of the trees. Before Marlow could get another word in, Benson riffled around in his pockets, pulling out a leather envelope.
"SO TELL ME, WHAT'S A DEFENSIVE BEAST YOU'D LIKE TO HAVE YOUR BACK TO? A BIRD? A FROG? OR A SNAKE?"
"What are you doing with that wood?"
"OH, RIGHT, YOU'VE NEVER SEEN MY TYPE OF MAGIC BEFORE. WELL, WE ALL HAVE SOMETHING THAT WE'RE CONNECTED TO. FOR EXAMPLE, YOU AND I ARE BOTH CONNECTED TO BEAST-KEEPING MAGIC, YEAH? WHILE A MAGE WOULD BE MORE CONNECTED TO WHATEVER ELEMENT OR CONCEPT THEY'RE MOST ALIGNED WITH."
Benson paused. He started and stopped himself as he tried to figure out how to phrase whatever he was about to say. Before deciding that being blunt was the most direct route.
"MAGIC HAS NUMEROUS WAYS OF EXPRESSING ITSELF. WHICH ARE OFTEN CALLED SCHOOLS. WHETHER IT BE IN THOUGHT CONJURATION, ENCHANTMENTS, HEALING, ILLUSIONS, TRANSMUTATIONS, RITUALS, OR WHATEVER METHOD MOST SUITS YOU. NOW, SINCE I HAVE BEAST-KEEPING MAGIC. MY OPTIONS ARE SOMEWHAT LIMITED TO WHAT BEASTS I HAD DOMAIN OVER. SAME AS YOU." Benson explained as he unfolded the leather envelope to reveal wood carving tools.
"SO I CHOOSE ENCHANTING AS MY PREFERRED METHOD. THIS UNIQUE COMBINATION ALLOWED ME TO LEARN SPIRIT CARVING. WHERE I CAN TAKE THE ESSENCE OF ONE OF MY BEASTIES THAT HAS MOVED ON AND MIX IT IN WITH MY ENCHANTING TO CREATE A CONSTRUCT THAT LATER EVOLVES INTO A FAMILIAR. SO, LAD, DO YOU WANT A BIRD, FROG, OR SNAKE? AT YOUR BACK."
"Can you teach me magic!" Marlow smiled. Thoughts of gathering hay into a wagon with a few simple words would make working so much easier.
"OF COURSE, I CAN TEACH YA MAGIC ONCE YOU HIT LEVEL TEN. UNTIL THEN, BIRD, FROG, OR SNAKE?"
"Oh, I guess a snake? I already got a bird." Marlow gestured at Opal, pecking the ground.
"GOOD! YOU BETTER TEACH OPAL A NEW TRICK BEFORE I FINISH CARVING. ELSE, I'LL PUT YOU TO WORK PULLING UP CARROTS. ALONE!" Benson grumbled as he picked out a blade and began to strip the wood.
Marlow frowned. Yesterday, it took him half the day to teach Opal her name, and now he had less time than that to teach her a new trick. Wonderful. Marlow calmed himself. This attitude wasn't gonna help him find his family. Once everything Benson had asked of him was done, he'd go out prepared and see his family. Until then, he'd just have to bear with it. And that was something a Stedfaster could do.
Marlow stared down at Opal, who pecked at the ground and had an idea. He held his hand up and made the 'come' motion. While saying 'come,' this didn't provoke a reaction. He then decided to try it again, with the same results.
"Opal, come." Marlow beckoned, and Opal stopped, then looked at Marlow. Her curious gaze saw that her master had no food, so she returned to scavenging the ground.
"Come here, Opal!" Marlow called excited, this time getting Opal to step forward before getting distracted again. Marlow decided to shorten the distance to make it less complicated.
"Opal, come!" Marlow cheered, this time getting Opal to take a few steps closer to him before getting distracted again. It was good! He was making headway but soon would have his own chicken follower. Sure, it wasn't Rusty from back home, but…
Marlow's heart sank thinking of his family dog. But that train of thought had to stop there. He could not lose himself. He had to keep pushing forward. People who got caught in the past have yet to progress. He wasn't going to let that happen. Shaking himself out of his stupor, he tried again to call Opal to his side. All the while, Benson chipped away at the stick he picked.
After a time, as he led Opal to the opposite side of the field, he'd finally got Opal to consistently come two or three feet in his direction when her name was called before she lost interest. He even got within five feet to try and make it easier, but the results were still the same.
Despite all this, Marlow couldn't help but feel something else was out there. But since Mr. Bones was acting out of the norm, Marlow fooled himself into thinking it couldn't be that bad. That was until a giant brown and gray rat crawled from under a bush.
Marlow didn't pay it any mind and called Opal to come. Opal, of course, turned her head and began clucking as she walked towards her master. Just as she got within two feet of Marlow, she got distracted again, swerving off course to pluck at some grass. Marlow sighed with a smile on his face. He took a few steps back and crouched down, getting on the same eye level as Opal to call her again.
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"Opal, come." As he said those words, he noticed something now that he was closer to the ground. The grass rustled as a giant black rat scurried toward him on a crash course directly for his legs.
Just as Marlow stepped back, Benson lifted a leg up and ripped off a boot like a Mexican mother disciplining her child. He hucked his boot across the field, nailing the giant rat. Unfortunately for Marlow, a stinky boot wouldn't slow this determined rat down.
"SICK EM MR. BONES!" Benson yelled while Marlow stumbled backward. Landing on his elbow with a thud, he noticed something. The rat had stopped moving. Once, it had gotten within a foot of him.
Mr. Bones dashed into the field, trampling crops as he locked on to the disturbance that had disrupted his playtime, barking all the while. Marlow glanced at the waving flowers, then over at the giant rat.
"DID YA GIT HIM MR. BONES! HAHA!- ER LAD WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Benson had gotten off of his stump and had followed his dog. Only to find Mr. Bones circling his apprentice with the rat above his head.
"I'm not sure…"
"LAD, YOU'RE NOT KEEPING THAT RAT." Benson sighed as if he'd been through this before.
"IT'S A RAT ONCE YOU LET ONE IN THE REST OF THE PACK WILL FOLLOW. THEY'LL EAT THE HARVEST AND MULTIPLY, LEAVING US HIGH AND DRY."
"What if we feed it things other than what you grow?" Marlow asked as Mr. Bones nipped at the aloft rat.
"SO, HOW DO YOU PLAN ON KEEPING THIS VERMIN OF YOURS WELL FEED?"
"I'll buy rat food!" Marlow proclaimed as he fended off another jump from Mr. Bones.
"REALLY YOU'RE GOING TO BUY RAT FOOD! BAHA!" Benson laughed, bending over to keep himself from falling. While Opal finally ran over to Marlow's side. Flapping her wings to scare off Mr. Bones, who ignored her.
"ALRIGHT, HE-HE! I'LL GIVE YOU SOME COINS. BUT IF YOU CAN'T FIND RAT FOOD, THEN IT'S MR. BONE'S DINNER. DO WE HAVE A DEAL?" Benson giggled as he reached out a hand.
Marlow hesitated for a moment before clasping the callused hand. A few moments later, Marlow's pocket was heavy with silver coins. As he left the flower field, he could still hear Benson laughing.
Marlow, Opal, and the giant bat rat trekked their way back to civilization. Finally, Marlow realizes how wealthy Benson really is. To own a farm so large you couldn't see signs of a city in any direction was quite interesting. Everywhere he could see were planted, watered, tended, and harvested crops. All by one man! It made Marlow wonder what other possibilities were there in this new world.
The black rat lightly chewed at Marlow's hand, and its tiny stomach loudly made itself known. Marlow smiled as the rat noticed it biting his hand and stopped.
"I guess you need a name since calling you large black rat is too long. How about… Plague? No, that's too dark. Remy? No, you don't seem like a chef." The rat gnawed Marlow's hand.
"I think I'll call you Gwaner." As soon as the words left Marlow's mouth. Electricity surged through his body, flowing into the rodent held tightly in his hand. Marlow crumpled to the ground, feeling utterly drained. At the same time, Gwaner nibbled at his new master's hand with a newfound sense of loyalty.
"How about a five-minute break?" Marlow mumbled as Opal pecked at his prone fingers.
Minutes later, the three of them resumed their journey to pick up some rat food. Half an hour later, they'd finally reached Benson's house after finding an easy path toward the city was a breeze.
They returned to the city after passing through the official gate to Benson's farm. Suddenly, a horrible smell wafted past Marlow. Nearly causing him to hurl.
There were so many unwashed bodies packed so close together. It was unbearable. Shuffling as fast as he was comfortable with, Marlow hurried down the hobo streets.
But as he moved further into the city, the streets became denser with people. At one point, he was pretty sure someone was lying there, only covering himself with garbage. Marlow pressed on. The sooner he did this, the sooner he returned to the spacious farm.
As he wandered, he realized two things. First, he had yet to learn where a pet store would be. And second, he didn't know what rats ate in this world. He knew what they ate on Earth, but what about here? Then again, that would be answered when he'd asked the store clerk a few questions.
Hustling into an alleyway, he decided to catch his breath. He'd been getting quite a few stares carrying Opal and Gwaner. But he wouldn't let them wander off in such a public place. Something awful might happen to them.
"So this was the 'other rumor' you were talking about? Why did we even snag a scrying orb in the first place? If the mage's college is dealing them out to every guard in the city!" A feminine voice echoed through the tiny alleyway. Marlow scanned the alley and found no one around.
"No, they've given each barracks a scrying orb and an accompanying image. No one can steal a scrying orb unless they're willing to get blasted by the elements." A gruff voice rumbled through the alley. Marlow wanted to leave, but this sounded interesting. Marlow slowly walked down the alleyway, eventually finding a murky basement window slightly ajar.
"That still does not answer my question, CARVER! What was the point of having me get the scrying orb! Unless you really were trying to find your lost looks?" A woman in a forest green cloak teased from her perch on a wooden desk.
"FINE! To answer your question. It's because, sooner or later, the city will begin charging for the use of the scrying orb. The King and Queen certainly don't want a billion bodies lazing about, especially after they've just won the war against the beast men. If no one is working, society will collapse; just as people are being put to the wheel, we'll strike. We'll begin to collect favors, goods, and coins since most people still want to find someone close to them." Carver proudly told the woman.
"So we just wait until then? Why not start now? I know a few people who wouldn't mind spreading the rumor for a small fee.
"We are not starting now! Do you know how hard it is to find bribe-able guards to get up and move to this part of town! Most of them have a poor reputation! Let alone the foresight to set up this entire operation! If the King or Queen get wind of this, they'll come down on us. Making sure that no one ever sees the light of day again! No more warm meals, no more nice beds, no more hugs from little brothers."
Carver snarled as he stomped forward. The cloaked woman coiled away from the large-haired man for a brief instant. Before composing herself, Marlow held his breath, not wanting to be heard by these mobsters.
"Fine, but we can't just keep it here. We should at least move to our main base. We can't just have some hobo waltz right in and try and mooch off our hard work." The woman remarked, causing Carver to hum to himself before answering.
"I guess you make a good point for a lackey. I'll grab a few grunts and move it. But I want you and your grunts to go on patrol. Can't have these streets overflowing with hobos when this operation starts running." The woman growled before signing.
"When?"
"How about five minutes?"
"Fine, I'm going on break til then." The cloaked woman stormed towards a wall. A wall that Marlow was behind. Marlow looked further down the alleyway and found several back doors. The door nearest to him jittered as it was yanked open.