Pitt enjoyed his dinner. He liked being in town at the moment. Usually, he avoided the people as much as possible. Every once and a while he would do something to help out like helping to put up a new building, or transport goods, or help some of his neighbors with their animals when they needed it.
Every time he was pulled away, he would stop in to make sure most of the town was the same as he remembered it. He had hiked a lot of miles from some of the emergencies Montaque thought he should be the one to handle.
The spiritualist knew he was retired like most of the Brotherhood. He gave no explanation why he couldn't call one of the others to deal with the problem.
Maybe there weren't that many Brothers capable of solving the types of problems they used to solve for the gods before clerics and knights took over for them.
He idly wondered how many were left with the demise of Neil Skarren.
“You had a long trip, Will?,” asked Marley Moebs, the owner of the inn. He and his daughter looked nothing alike. Not even age could account for the difference in their features. He pulled a pipe from his vest and put it in his mouth as his gray eyes regarded his infrequent customer.
“Some small work in the lowlands, Marley,” said Pitt. “You know how it is.”
“I know my wife wants me to move a giant rock from the back of our fence, and we went up to your place and found you gone,” said Moebs. “Some dog was up there, guarding your sheep and cows.”
“I don't have a dog,” said Pitt. “I thought about getting one, but I never got around to it. Some of the problems I have to fix would be harder with an animal around. I wonder where it came from.”
“I don't know, but it was keeping an eye on your farm for you,” said Moebs.
“You said you needed a giant rock moved?,” asked Pitt.
“Yes,” said the innkeeper. “We want to expand the corral part of the inn in the back, but this thing is in the way. It's been sitting there for years, but now Maggie has a hair about moving it out of the way to expand the business.”
“I will move your rock for you,” said Pitt. “I wanted to get home after dinner, but I can at least look at the thing before I head upland.”
“Thanks, Will,” said Moebs. “I will tell Maggie that you will work on it.”
“Do you have a place for it when I do move it?,” asked the retired monster hunter.
“We were thinking the edge of the property,” said Moebs. He pointed to the back of the inn with the stem of his pipe.
“Show me,” said Pitt. “Isn't some other business back behind yours?”
“The market runs back that way, and Railey's Pub,” said Moebs.
“This isn't some excuse to rile him up, is it?,” asked Pitt as he stood. “I'm not getting involved in some kind of feud between the two of you.”
“The rock won't go anywhere near Railey's place,” said Moebs. He started to the back of his place. “I promise you that.”
They walked through the kitchen, and out into the large yard behind the inn. A corral and stable held horses for visitors, wagons parked neatly next to the stable. The buildings and stalls marking the next street stood beyond that.
Moebs led the way around the stable. He pointed to a large boulder next to the building with his pipe.
“That's a big rock,” said Pitt. “You said it's been sitting here forever?”
“At least since we bought the inn and started running it,” said Moebs. “We want to expand the stables a bit so we can take in more horses, maybe have a farrier check the ones that come by regularly.”
“Do you want it moved somewhere else?,” asked Pitt. “The only place I can see to put it is next to the inn. Anywhere else will block the access to the corral and stables.”
“Can you haul it out of here?,” asked Moebs.
“I think so,” said Pitt. “An ordinary wagon isn't going to be able to haul it off like that. I might have to crack it down to two smaller pieces. Maybe more.”
“That will be fine as long as it is gone,” said Moebs. “That will get Maggie off my back about having something done so we can put up a new addition to the stable.”
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“I'll have to look for a drill and a sledge,” said Pitt. “I think I have them back at my place. I can come down here in the daylight and break it apart. Then we just have to find someone else to haul it off in a wagon.”
“We might have to take two trips if it is as heavy as it looks even split in half,” said Moebs.
“I agree with that,” said Pitt. “We'll see when I get done. I might have to break it down into smaller pieces than that so I can find someone to haul the pile away easier.”
“You'll come by tomorrow?,” said Moebs.
“Yeah,” said Pitt. He inspected the rock, feeling it with his hands. “I'll do it before I put the seed out for the chickens. Two or three hits should break this thing apart.”
“What are you going to do about that dog?,” asked Moebs.
“As long as he isn't attacking the animals, I'll let him stay,” said Pitt. “If he gives me trouble, I'll foist him off on some wagon train out of here and send him on his way.”
“That's extremely charitable of you,” said Moebs.
“I can let one dog go if he doesn't try to get in my way after all the other things I have come across,” said Pitt. “Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my old age. I'll be by to crack the rock and get it out of your way. I'll try to do it before you open for business.”
“Thanks, Will,” said Moebs. “This will be a load off my shoulders.”
Pitt shrugged. He preferred this smaller problem to some of the things he had done. It was easy, and was something he could do in a few minutes as long as he had a way to get rid of the rock without anyone seeing what was going on.
He could have already moved it but Moebs was standing in the way and would tell the town about his enormous strength. That was something he didn't want others to know about because he liked being retired despite Montaque still calling on him.
He walked down the back passage to the street. He waited for Moebs to go back into his inn with a shake of his thin cloud of gray hair and pipe in his mouth. He doubled back with a small spring to the top of the market stalls. He didn't want his occasional friend to see what he could do about a giant rock in the ground.
Moving things had been a side job as he grew in the Brotherhood. He had just absorbed enough strength that the only factor that bothered him was if he could pick the object up and balance it without dropping it. Something like that rock should be a breeze to move as long as he didn't have to explain himself.
He didn't want to explain himself to his neighbors, or reveal that he had walked the world a long time doing the gods' business. He didn't think they would understand and start trying to abuse their knowledge to get him to do things they could do on their own.
He would rather move on that have his neighbors try to take advantage of his strength.
He checked the inn. Everything was dark. That was what he wanted. He grabbed the rock in both hands. He yanked it up and balanced it with one hand, bent arm, and shoulder like a giant tray. He took off down the road to the other end of town, moving from shadow to shadow. He reached the far side and looked for a place to put the boulder. He found a shallow ditch in the side of the of the road. He jammed the rock into the ground and pressed until most of it was underground. He dusted off his hands, satisfied of a job well done.
He would tell Marley that he had come by as soon as he found his chisel and hammer and broke it down faster than he thought he could. He would lie and say the rock was brittle or something.
The innkeeper would wonder about it, but unless he was going to say Pitt was some kind of magician, then he would have to accept the explanation on its face. He just wouldn't believe it.
He might be able to get a free drink out a story about breaking a rock with one blow by accident if he played his cards right.
And the only way anyone would be able to prove he had been lying is if the rock was found where he had buried it and someone told Marley about it and he saw it was the same rock.
He would definitely want an explanation about what had actually happened then.
Hopefully that was years in the future.
Now all he had to do was walk home and see about this dog. He didn't want a dog. He preferred to live with his small herd of five cattle and sheep. That was the most he wanted to deal with on his small spread.
A dog was another mouth to feed. At least it hadn't decided to attack his animals from what Marley had said. That was a good point in its favor.
He heard barking before he reached the end of his property's road. He had taken the time to push stones into the ground to give it a harder surface, and to prevent water from pooling when it rained.
He started jogging up the road to his place. He wondered what the dog was barking at in the middle of the night. He hoped he wasn't in the middle of catching his neighbor doing something stupid in the night.
He found what looked like a sheep dog holding its ground against what looked like five wolves trying to get at the sheep in their pen. He frowned at the small pack. It had been a while since he had to run wolves off his property.
“Get lost,” he said. “Go somewhere else for your dinner.”
The lead wolf growled at him.
“If you want to do something, come ahead,” said Pitt. “I haven't skinned a wolf for its fur in a long time. Otherwise, you can go somewhere else before I do something.”
The dog growled at the wolves. It backed up and put itself between the wolves and Pitt.
“You hush,” said Pitt. He grabbed the dog by its scruff and picked it up. “What are you doing here anyway?”
The dog looked up at him with amber eyes. It was an unusual color for dog eyes in his opinion.
It gave him a smile from the end of his arm.
The wolves rushed him. He supposed the hunting had been bad. They might have been desperate. Wolves normally didn't go after a human adult unless the person showed themselves to be unable to defend against attacks.
Pitt moved with lightning speed and kicked the closest one in the body. He watched the dead carcass fly across his farm.
The four survivors paused in their attack when they saw what happened.
“Who's next?,” asked Pitt.
The pack ran into the darkness with yips.
“So where did you come from?,” asked Pitt. He frowned at the dog in his grip. He put the dog down. “And why did you stop here?”