Ajax Goodfellow Barnes III was not having a good day. After stumbling over a root and falling for what seemed an extraordinarily long time to hit the ground, he found himself face down in a field with the sun high in the sky, the rustling of the wind in his prodigious ears, without the foggiest idea what had just transpired. Hadn’t it just been morning, and wasn’t I in the wooded grounds outside the House just a moment ago? he thought to himself as he levered upright with his arms and trunk. He looked around to find nary a tree in sight. Rolling fields of knee high grass spread all around him with a few structures a mile or so distant, too small to make out any details.
Yesterday had been his 60th birthday, and now he was finally an adult. And while his father had expected him at his official birthday celebration that morning, he had allowed Ajax the remainder of the day to his own devices. He had made it clear though that Ajax’s adult responsibilities to the House would commence this morning.
And the primary responsibility had been completely unbearable, totally unthinkable, not at all something Ajax felt he could live with. His father had arranged a marriage to the eldest daughter of House Winthrop and the wedding was next week. Ajax had never gotten along with Selene, an empty box had more rattling around in it than her head did. The thought of spending centuries with her at his side, the complete lack of intellectual curiosity emanating off of her, was the worst form of torture his father could have damned him with.
And so Ajax ran, with no plan, and with barely the fore thought to grab a pack and throw some clothes and provisions into it. He ran east, towards the morning sun, with some hope that he would figure out a plan once he put some distance behind him. Maybe once he made it outside of the lands that nominally held his name he could sit down a moment and think, although that would take several hours of brisk running to get there.
But now, barely an hour after he had quietly snuck out the back door and ran into the woods, he was standing in a field and unable to piece together how he had come to be there. He was nowhere in Barnes county that he recognized. Not having a plan before seemed a bit childish in retrospect, and he internally smacked himself for his immaturity. He set off towards what he thought were houses in order to hopefully figure out where he was.
As he walked he checked his state of mind in addition to what meager possessions he had on his person or had crammed into his pack. A few rings adorned his large grey fingers. He found his miniature cleansing stone in his pocket and expended the tiniest amount of will to activate it, causing the dirt, dust, and grass stains to instantly vanish from his clothes. The stone had been a birthday gift, from 50 years hence. Thinking back to how kind his father had been, seeing how his young son had despised his clothes getting dirty from playing and had commissioned the stone to fit in a pocket, rather than the larger more common variety. Comparing that kindness to the seeming indifference his father had displayed just a few short hours ago felt like whiplash.
He had a change of clothes and some snacks he had hastily grabbed from the kitchen, but he realized with a start that he had no water. He wasn’t yet thirsty, despite the oddity of the sun claiming itself to be past noon when Ajax felt it should still be mid morning. But finding some water ingratiated itself to second on his list of things to figure out, right behind where he was.
He had closed much of the distance to the structures he had seen before when his trunk began to twitch with the smell of farm animals. One of the stone walled, thatched roof structures was decidedly taller and larger than the others and occasionally, when the wind cooperated and he strained his ears just right, he could hear the murmurs and susurrations of domesticated beasts.
Seeing he might be coming to the small farm from an unexpected direction and not wanting to startle anyone, he arrested his direct path and began circling to the left in an effort to find a road or path leading to the front. A few moments later he indeed found a wide packed dirt road leading towards the buildings and started walking along it towards the farmhouse.
As Ajax got closer, something about the farmhouse seemed odd to him, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Something about the proportions maybe, as if the house were smaller than it should be. The feeling only crystalized as he came close enough to announce his presence.
“Hello! Is there anyone there? My name is Ajax Goodfellow Barnes III. I’m a bit lost. Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The door to the farmhouse opened, and out came a strange man of a race that Ajax had never seen before. Humans had lived on Scrant among Ajax’s people, as had Orcs and Minotaur, and the person slowly stepping out of the front door could have passed for a Human were it not for the fact that he wouldn’t even come up to Ajax’s waist. Ajax did his best to look non threatening as he studied the little man walking towards him. Dark black curly hair adorned his head and, strangely, his barefoot feet as well. There was no facial hair to speak of. His vest and trousers suggested that while he was someone who worked with his hands, he was not someone who worried where his next meal was coming from.
Ajax noticed a woman standing in the doorway, with two even smaller heads poking around her to see. The man spoke, but Ajax could not understand a word he said.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know the language you are speaking.” Ajax struggled to think of a way to communicate, but the man just nodded and smiled. He beckoned to Ajax and pantomimed his hand to his mouth while half turning back towards the house. He said something to the woman and she nodded, shushing the children back into the house. He looked back towards Ajax and beckoned again, moving towards the house and looking expectedly. Ajax found himself following the little man and ducked to enter the farmhouse.
The ceiling was low enough that Ajax had to stoop to prevent his head from hitting. The little man saw this, and moved quickly to a corner of the main room, moving an upholstered chair out of the way and clearing some floor space before gesturing to Ajax while patting the floor. Ajax, taking the hint, moved to the corner and sat on the floor, giving his neck and back the ability to stretch out and take in the space.
What must be the largest room of the farmhouse appeared to be a combination of kitchen and common room. Cupboards and a stove stood at the far end of the room, opposite Ajax’s corner. What must be a large dining table, for the smaller folk, lay nearby flanked with enough chairs for all the family members present. The side of the room nearest Ajax contained some more comfortable chairs and a number of shelves holding books and toys.
The little black haired man pulled a chair up and sat down in it in front of Ajax. He pointed to himself and said “Harol”, then reversed his hand and opened his palm towards Ajax. Ajax caught on quickly, pointed to himself and said “Ajax” then pointed to the little man and said “Harol”. The little man beamed and nodded enthusiastically.
Harol pointed to his wife and said “Tyna” who turned from the cupboards she was rummaging in and nodded when she heard her name. Harol then pointed to the children, the older girl sitting at the dining room table, “Kithri”, and the younger boy hiding behind his mother’s leg, “Corrin”. Both children giggled when their names were called, finding the whole endeavor quite humorous.
What followed was a lesson in vocabulary. Harol would point to things and would provide the corresponding word. While this was going on, Tyna appeared to be preparing a meal. At one point she said something to Kithri and sent her outside with a large container. The girl came back a few moments later, the pail filled with water. Ajax called out to the girl and made hand motions he hoped conveyed his thirst. Kithri brought the pail over and Ajax took it from her, downing the entire pail. Her eyes widened at the display, and she said something to her father, which he merely laughed at and directed her back out to get more water. Harol said something to Tyna, she nodded and began pulling more things from various cupboards. They had apparently not thought through that their large guest would need an equally large meal.
The afternoon continued lazily on, with a meal being laid out at the table for the family and several plates being brought over to Ajax. Some seemed to be meat, others grain based, and yet others vegetable matter. Ajax thought it prudent of them to provide a variety, not sure what sort of diet he ate. He took a few test bites of each, found them all acceptable, if a little strange tasting, and cleared every plate he was given.
After dinner, Harol took Ajax outside to continue the language lesson. He showed him around the outbuildings. There was a workshop filled with various farming equipment where Ajax could actually stand up straight and not hit his head. A very low building that thankfully was dug out partially underground that served as a root cellar and dry storage. In the barn, Harol pointed out the various animals which Ajax had never seen before. He had suspected earlier that he was no longer on Scrant, and every hour that passed the feeling got stronger and stronger.
As the sun started going down, Ajax had a firm grasp on the available nouns and the conversation was moving on towards verbs. Candles and lamps were lit and still the linguistic practice continued. Tyna brought out what must have been nearly every extra blanket and linen the family possessed and started laying out a place for Ajax to sleep in the common room.
It had been a long day, even taking into account the time Ajax lost somewhere between the morning in Scrant and the afternoon in the field. The family retreated into the back rooms of the house, leaving Ajax on his own in the common room on the makeshift sleeping pad. He examined his thoughts. He still wasn’t sure where he was, but it was a long long way from home. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that yet. Maybe in the morning he would wake up and this would all have been a dream. He doubted that though. He rolled over, lay down, and fell asleep.