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Ch.5
Alric couldn't help but smile upon entering his storage shed, every piece of visible steel gleamed in the light of the morning sun, he knew full well what had happened the night before. It made him proud to see his son take his punishment in stride and to rise above and beyond his mother's expectations. A good thing too, as he was about to undertake the long journey from River's bend to the nearest town in the Barony. It was the time of the year when he took it upon himself to meet with the Baron's land surveyors to ascertain the amount of taxes based on the predicted yield of the summer's crops.
Once one left the protection of the Village's palisade they were surrounded by acres of green and gold, their primary crops being wheat and barely, which were currently ripening in the summer sun. The precedence of taxes depended on a variety of factors from population to the amount of arable land. For a village the size of River's bend the taxes were roughly ten percent of the village's total yield, if they failed to produce the nessecary amount of crops they would have to make up the rest of the taxes in coin. Paying taxes in coin was disadvantageous for a any village where the equivalent value was in the favor of food stuffs. Where as in a town or city where commerce was heavily reliant upon the exchange of coins for goods and services, paying taxes in coin was preferable, for they possessed an excess of coin and had to buy grain most of their grain from the countryside to feed themselves.
After a quick breakfast I slipped on my training clothes and headed out to the courtyard where my father was busy saddling his horse, a magnificent black charger named Aeothir. “I have to ride to Hjarlsburg, I should be back in three days time, you should take the next few days to enjoy yourself son” Alric called out to me as he finished tightening the straps on his horse. “Try and not give your mother and Layriel too much trouble in my absence” he spoke warmly ruffling my hair before swaggering his way into the house.
Left to my own devices and with little to do I switched out a wooden training sword for an proper blade and wandered off in search of mischief and mayhem, my first stop was to drop by Bill's house to pick up Lily.
Once again I smelled the Tanner's house long before it ever came into view, fortunately I had grown used to the smell of rotting animal brains and shelf fungus being burned to preserve leather. Stretched out over a frame was a very large dark brown hide that was still in the beginning of being processed, Bill was busy scraping off the stiff bristly Boar hair from the soon to be leather. The other side hand already been cleaned of fat and flesh and had been rubbed down with salt to protect the hide till it was ready for processing.
Bill turned to look over his shoulder as he heard my hobnailed boots upon the stone pathway leading up to his home, “Good to see ya my boy, this here hide's a real beauty. In the city a hide of this quality would be worth a mint, real shame too cause it'd make a nice breast plate backing if treated properly” Bill chuckled while using the back of his sleeve to wipe a layer of sweat from his brow.
“If I were to use it as backing for a breast plate or for a ringed jerkin how much do you think it would cost me” I inquired while admiring the man's handy work.
“A ringed jerkin would probably cost you an upwards of fifty silver, for a proper breastplate at least a gold piece, if not more, good steel ain't cheap boy” Bill stepped away for a moment to grab a torch from a near by fire and a slender metal rod with a broad shell shaped flat end. With one had he ran the torch across the mostly bald hide to singe off the small hairs while his other hand intermittently beat the hide to knock away embers and ash as he worked. “I know you probably have plans to run off and be an adventurer, or try and join a knightly order, and that's not a bad life but you should consider apprenticing in a trade. That way if your plans ever fall through or you get too injured to fight, you have something to fall back on to earn yer living” he spoke with a fatherly wisdom.
“I'll consider it, is Lily in” I questioned while mulling over the old grizzled fighter's advice.
“Yeah, she's warming up out back, what ever you do keep my daughter safe when you go out on yer little adventures” Bill grumbled while returning to his work.
“ Right foot forward, left foot back, don't chase your enemy but let him come into your range, measure the distance of your reach with a parry or feint to force and opening, then strike like the wind” Lily mentally worked through her foot work. For the killing blow she concentrated on a wind construct to accelerate her cut to compensate for her weaker arm strength. With four years of training her edge alignment was almost perfect as the blade came down with a sudden burst of speed, cleaving through a wooden post the size of my leg with ease.
I couldn't help but smile at the girl's progress over the last four years, gone was the little girl with the carefree smile, now standing before me was a young woman in the making. Her sun kissed skin glistened with sweat lightly showing through, tight leather breeches clung to her developing legs, and her sandy brown hair was tied up behind her head. She turned her head to smile noticing me admiring her form, the light smattering of freckles still visible across the bridge of her nose, and her round doe like eyes lit up.
“Muu, you shouldn't peek in on a girl with out announcing your self” she stated playfully before making her way towards me. Stopping at a basin of water to dunk her head in, before she even picked up her head I had picked up a towel she had sat nearby. “So what's up, no training with master Alric today” she inquired as she taking the towel from my outstretched hand with nary a thank you, not that I had expected one from her. She had grown much more independent and somehow much more close to me, much to my confusion, she was no longer like a little sister that clung to me.
“Father is off to Hjarlsburg for the next three day so I've got free time till he gets back, how about you” I inquire while taking a seat on a a roughly hewn log.
“My father is going to be preoccupied with your boar hide, that was tasty by the way, and my mother would rather see me working towards becoming a mage or a swordsman than doing chores or helping with the family business” she explained with a sigh.
I smiled and threw an arm over her shoulder, “I've got an idea, let's go see if Hanz is free and hit the forest” I chuckled mischievously.
“Oooh, maybe we'll get luck and run into some gobos or maybe a bear” she exclaimed with showing me a wicked smile.
As we headed off I could hear Bill shouting “have my Lily back by supper or I'll skin ya and sell your hide for leather”, I turned my head to see him threateningly waving a razor sharp knife about causing us both to chuckle as we ran off to find our elder trouble maker.
Hegel was currently seated outside of his forge with little to do at the moment, no one had managed to bust a plow for the last few months ever since some brat started extracting rocks from the fields to practice earth magic. Which was a good thing, repairing plow blades was an on the house service he provided to help keep everyone in the village fed, there were still occasional orders for nails and other tools but today he sat happily on his favorite chair idly puffing a pipe.
He was an easy to spot man with a great big bushy beard, caterpillar eyebrows, and built like an ox “Good morning master Hegel, have you seen Hanz around” I questioned causing the man to turn his head and regard us with a curious stare.
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“That layabout, probably hanging out by the common house, I swear if he wasn't half the hunter that he is I'd toss him out on his ass” Hegel grumbled between puffs of his rich pipe tobacco.
A loud smack rang out followed by the figure of Hanz being shoved out of the common house as we approached, standing in the doorway was a woman in her early twenties with shoulder length auburn hair and a disapproving scowl. “I know you said the same thing to Maria last week Hanz, if you don't clean up your womanizing there won't be a girl left in this village who will fall for you” the woman huffed while holding her hands on her hips. “Oh Zamiel sweety, and Lily you cutie pie, what brings you by” she called out after noticing us standing in the background.
“Nothing big sis Clara, just looking for our womanizing idiot” Lily replied smiling with amusement while I reached out and helped hoist Hanz up by his collar.
“Seriously Hanz, you're hopeless maybe I should hand you over to my mother for a stern talking to” I muttered recalling my own predicament from last night.
“Don't even joke about that” he shuddered thinking about how scary Ethenriel could get when angry, taking a moment to dust himself off he noticed we were geared up. “So where to” he asked idly rubbing his head smiling like an idiot with a red palm print showing clear as day on his face.
“Hunting, Lily and I have the day free and thought it'd be fun to head out into the forest” I explained fingering the hilt of my sword to demonstrate my meaning.
Hanz grinned like a madman as he stuck his head back into the common house to swipe his bow, quiver, and belt knife off of a hanging rack, “be back later Clara, try not to fall for me while I'm away, I have to be there to catch you when it happens” he said teasingly before dodging a metal tray that bounced off the door jamb where his head had been.
Lily let out a deep sigh of annoyance “right, why do we need this idiot again” she asked shaking her head in disbelief at his behavior.
Hanz chuckled “cause I'm the best damn tracker this side of the kingdom” he boasted sticking his chest out proudly.
“Right, only in your dreams Hanz, Zamiel when your father gets back ask him for some tracking lessons” she replied with a pout.
I couldn't help but feel filled with warmth from observing my companions antics, we truly were a little squad of wacky misfits and nerdowells, still I wouldn't have it any other way.
We stopped at the edge of the forest where the area was clear cut every few years to create an open barrier between the forest and the village to take stock of the area and prepare for our journey into the woods. I crafted wind constructs for each of us that would mildly cushion our steps to muffle noise that would passively absorb ambient Aether to opperate and grabbed a hand full of arrows to add a construct that would increase their speed and power with a jet of high pressure wind. The incident with the boar had given me an idea to increase the penetration and lethality of Hanz's archery skills since he was not a mage. Once inside of the forest I'd have to eschew using the any fire constructs to avoid accidentally burning down the forest.
“How are your reserves Lily” I questioned while adjusting my sword scabbard so that it doesn't move around overly much.
“All topped up” she said with a smirk “and I've got something new to show you” she mentally quipped hoping to impress the boy who was the center of her world.
Hanz stalked about checking the the trails that had been cut into the Forrest by the Village's lumberjacks, inspecting them to see which had seen the least use of late, that would be our path of entry. He also was inspecting for any unusual prints, there was no such thing as being overly cautious when it came to the untamed lands.
“Here” Hanz called out as he led us further down the way to a trail that was much older judging from the overgrown weeds breaking up through the path, he bent over and inspected a number of small foot shaped prints. “Almost human, but humans don't have clawed feet” he thought to him self as the others fell in behind him. His steps were soft and slow as they made their way through bits of fresh undergrowth, ears straining for any unusual sounds as they stalked deeper into the woods.
Towering over us casting wide shadows were tightly clumped together oaks interspersed with broad leaved sycamores and rare numbers of the narrow leaved ash trees. Around our feet grew tangles of ivy and small shrubs, starved of light by the thick canopy overhead. Though the light was lower, streams of golden sunlight trickled through to us. Crested jays called to one another in sweet melodies interrupted by the chatter of a pair of red breasted robins, under toned with the chirping of crickets.
It was a wild place barely touched by human hands where beasts lurked in it's shadowy depths, still this close to the village there were not to many dangers that one could easily stumble into. As long as they were wary, or if they brought some one like Hanz along. Besides hunting, he earned his meals by guiding lumberjacks to particular stands of desired trees or to help villager's hunt for mushrooms in the autumn. For Hanz, the forest was far more of a home than any man made building, here he could feel the breath of nature and hear it's heart beat reverberate through him. Had he been an elf, perhaps he would have been accepted into one of their ranger societys and taught to commune with nature.
Hanz stopped dead in his tracks and lowered him self motioning us to do the same, he held up two fingers then pointed at his eyes then ahead of us signaling that there were two creatures ahead of us. I scooted closer so he could whisper into my ear “two goblins, look like scouts just around the bend in a clearing” he spoke softly with a wicked grin.
I could already see what he had in mind and nodded in response, an ambush, he led us off the trail and into the thicker brush keeping low and out of view as we circled around to the side of the clearing. There they were, two disgusting creatures with bulging yellow colored eyes and mottled grin skin, roughly a third the size of a full grown man. Dressed in raw untreated hide loincloths, perhaps the most hated of all demi-humans, goblins were particularly despised. Cruel creatures who favorite pastimes were torture, rape, and murder and not in any particular order. Though they had some level of intelligence they were not truly a threat to an established settlement unless they were in large numbers. For travelers or small trading caravans the beasts were as deadly as anything else one might run into, often staging road side ambushes or setting up traps for the unwary.
“Hanz take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right, can you create a distraction Lily” I whispered to my companions looking each in the eye while waiting for a nod of confirmation.
“I'll do a hell of a lot more than that” Lily thought sarcastically as she waited for Hanz and I to get within a reasonable distance. Thanks to my muffling construct I didn't even have to worry about the branches and twigs that would normally be cracking under my feet.
Lily stood up and began chanting “blessing of the Aetherium grant me winter's kiss, hoarfrost” shouting the last word unleashing a swirling cone of pure white frost swept through the clearing buffeting the goblins. The beasts didn't have time to scream before the icy blast stole their breath and numbed their limbs as ice began to cover and cling to their bodies.
Though her spell lacked killing potential it slowed the creatures who were currently under going hypothermic shock. Reinforcing my body with Aether I dashed forward cleaving my helpless victim from shoulder to groin. A twang rung out and the goblin's head to the left of me exploded from one of my enhanced arrows causing me to quirk my eyebrow in confusion. We were far from done though, there was a warren dug into a small hill under a rather large oak that these two had probably been standing watch for.
“Witch's tits Lily, that was fucken awesome” Hanz exclaimed, he knew that lily had been training under Alric, but he had no Idea that I had been training her as a mage.
“Don't celebrate too early” I said with a wicked smile pointing to the human sized opening dug into the small hill “Hanz take up a spot on the other side of the clearing , Lily take the left side of the tunnel, I'll take the right”.
“What's the plan” Lily questioned with a frown, I couldn't help but laugh as I stood in front of the tunnel.
We had made enough noise that the creatures down below had heard us, I could hear them screeching at one another in their high pitched guttural language. I held my hands apart about the width of a melon and began crafiing two constructs, one of fire and one of earth swirling the two constructs together to form a mass of roiling bubbling molten stone. With a final construct of air I hollowed out the sphere of magma and filled it with highly compressed air, there was a small part of me that questioned my sanity, a very small part as I fired the bolt of liquid fiery death down into the goblin warren. While I couldn't set the forest on fire, no one said I couldn't set the underground of fire.
An explosion shook the ground beneath us and pained screams echoed of of the tunnel, one after another goblins scrambled out of the chasm now filled with a splattering of liquid fire that clung to their flesh like glue. With ease we cleaved down goblin after goblin till a dozen of the disgusting creatures lay piled up at our feet.
“Lily, go ahead and toss a water construct down there to make sure we don't accidentally set anything else on fire” I chuckled watching billowing clouds of smoke pouring out of the tunnel.
One might question our brutality, being two ten year old children and a sixteen year old lad as we walked back home merrily with our trophies of decapitated goblin heads, but those people had never lived with our fear. These creatures were the makers of our nightmares, we all at some point had lost one person or another to these creatures. Too often were we told tales of children who simply disappeared one night on the way to the privy, or of shepherds being murdered in the night. Our hearts burned with hatred for these creatures, this was our reality, and any of these creatures we could find and kill was one more reason to smile.