Aaron sat lazily in the sun soaking up its rays. He had chores to do, but he could do it later. watching geese fly by for the winter giggling at their honking such a silly noise.

“Aaron, get back to your chores!” mother called from the doorway.

“ok” well. I guess leisure time is over. Getting up, putting back his leather gloves back on as he walked back to the crop. almost ready for harvest as he began pulling the weeds.

What would it be like to be a lord? He wondered about having a manor house instead of farming. But farming is a nice and simple, as a life should be, is what his mother said, so he pulled and pulled until there were no more weeds, there were many chores to do still, feeding the chickens and chopping the firewood are the major ones. The sun had some hours left after checking the sun’s position.

It was a small farm with little land and a single story house with a thatch roof but the walls were made out of brick, and it was a day’s journey to a village by the name of Little Ivywood. To the south and north was the nearby town of Ormskirk, a town with walls where farmers could hide behind when goblins were near or worse trolls.

He went on with feeding the chickens leaving water for them then spraying feed which took no time at all. Then he went about chopping wood, getting the ax from the small barn and then walking to the stomp and getting the logs from the pile he chopped from yesterday setting the log on the stomp lifting the ax over his head and brought it down to a satisfying sound. The log split apart and he did it again letting his work consume him. The sun was beginning to set and he brought over the good sized firewood pile for the winter back and forth. He brought it until all of it was at the side of the house, rubbing sweat from his forehead. Looking at the sun sink below the horizon, it saddened him. He enjoyed the blue sky which he felt a part of in a way. Inside, mother was sowing in the rocking chair making a new dark green tonic maybe for the woods. he hoped then he can really help out the knights with rides or fight monsters he had great endurance and strong from all the heavy crops he had to bring almost by himself all he needed was a sword and he would be a great soldier he felt like.

“Are all your chores done feeding the chickens, chopping the firewood, and the yard work?” mother said “yes all of my chores are done” Aaron replied. Her face relaxed.

She was a handsome woman or he was told, wearing a simple tan wool dress and long blonde hair to her waist. She thought he was lazy. There was some truth to that, he admitted, but everything got done or almost got done so whatever.

He took a seat at the dinner table which was almost done. Potato stew yay my favorite. meat was not cheap these days. If I could be a lord to enjoy nice things I should be a lord I have what it takes. mother placed a bowl in front of him: potatoes with carrots and a pork chuck or two. they ate in silence, not one of them was in a talking mood

“Is my tunic done?” Aaron asked mother looked up from her dinner.

“almost”

“so can I join the guard” he brought it up already suspecting the answer “no we’ve talk about this” mother said firmly “and we'll talk about it again I’m a godling I can handle it” “you don’t know what combat does to a man” her voice getting heated “for the gods sake I’m not going off to war just something more interesting I’m son of Caelum the most powerful god of them all of them let me do this” mother sighed but didn't reply. so he sat there sulking. Why is she so adamant about this? I’m fifteen, not ten.

wait he heard the chickens clucking noisily he locked eyes with his mother and she froze too maybe there's a fox in the henhouse. better go check. He stood up and cracked the door open and went outside to blast the fox or whatever it was out there.

It was dark but he could see faintly. Being a godling has its perks.

bandits are stealing our chickens! They wore brown or black leather coats and breeches but one looked like a woman's body shape and with rags covering their faces to hide who they were. So he couldn't tell from this distance. They were stuffing their chickens in cages and loading them on donkeys. They must have noticed him but didn't care as they hurried to their packdonkey and they mounted up on their donkeys and rode towards the edge of the woods.

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“What is it?” mother called

“thieves” Aaron replied “stay here” mother begged then he started running after them they not going to get away with stealing this time for the son of Caelum is going to stop them they caught up to the other bandits now six of them but he could take them he was right behind them “hey! I want those back!” Aaron called confidently, they turned towards him in surprise. They looked amongst themselves before dismounting and the two who stole our livestock and drew long knives.

And charged Aaron he drew upon his skylight as a weapon and his hands light up as he thrown skylight at both of them hitting one in the chest and another in the ribs they screamed clutching their new burns and fell on there knees from his skylight

He saw one was a woman but it made no difference to him thieves where thieves then threw another and hit a guy in the legs while the rest were hiding behind their donkeys. No one was going to steal their livelihood and get away with it! I spread my hands out to prepare to strike at the first one to show their head “now about my-” two men stepped around their donkeys with bows and shot at Aaron. One went through my left forearm, another flew by my ear and another hit me in my right shoulder. Blood shot out of his arm shocked. He ran as fast as he could. ‘I'm going to die!” Aaron thought to himself, running faster than any man could. more arrows zipped past and one went through my calf which made me stumble but pushing myself up quickly and turned around and shot at them without aiming and kept going.

Upon reaching my house mother was in the doorway with her arms around herself shivering.

“What do you think you're doing?” mother said on the porch. Then she saw the arrow in his shoulder

“Hurry” they reached the shed. mother brought out their only donkey.

looking behind me but didn't see the bandits but I wasn't taking chances mother didn't need to help him on the donkey and my leg was surprisingly not to painful but his was heart beating in my ears mother got up too and they trotted past some farm houses towards the town of Ormskirk. seeing fields passing by

clenching his forearm to his chest and placing his palm over the hole in his arm to stop the blood flow and realizing the arrow went through the bone when a grinding sound was made when I moved it and the sharp pain. we’re moving too slowly, he thought. the bandits could come back any moment and kill us. The countryside slowly passed by but if it came to a chase we were dead. I can see the gate. if only we had a moa.

Finally they reached the palisade gate and it was closed as they trotted up to the gate

“This is an emergency, open the gates, we need the herbalist” mother called, a guard popped his head over the wall.

“why?” seriously!? “We were attacked by bandits!” Aaron yelled “open the gate!” slowly the gates opened. They passed through then mother dismounted and was talking softly to a guard in gambeson armor and holding a spear mother pointed at Aaron’s wounds and the guard quickly led their donkey through town. It was a good sized town, maybe fifteen hundred people living in houses with thatched roofs, a market everything was made of wood it seemed the motte had lord’s Phillip’s house: a three story manor house they stopped at the herbalist, a two story with a squire tile roof and dark wood. The place had not changed much since he broke his arm as a kid.

The guard banged on the door. The door opened to reveal The herbalist, a short and stout woman with graying hair

“what is-'' she began then sighed. “Come in, I'll get you bandages for the wounds” she said, like he was a stray cat who tracked in mud all over her rug. making his way in and sitting in the nearest chair. The place wasn't very nice. Rugs covered the wooden floor, candle sticks covered the place here and there so it was fairly lit she hurried in with the linen bandages and some type of herb she started rubbing it on his arm and calf.

“this will help with infection”

“it stings!” Aaron cried

“Stop moving so much,” she said grouchily. wincing when she touched his arm hard “easy. Just as I thought, broken I’ll have to get a sling” paying no heed to what Aaron said she bandaged his leg and made a cast for his arm. She was inspecting his shoulder and then went into the next room again.

The pain was starting to increase she came back into the room holding a sling and used on his arm taking a hold of the arrow from the back shoulder “this is going to hurt bite on to this,” she said, shoving a piece of tough leather into his mouth then yanked the arrow out screaming at the shear pain and biting hard and almost fell to the floor if not for the herbalist shoving him back in his seat. hot blood poured out of his shoulder the herbalist bent over and placed a bandage over both wounds

“now rest and heal,”

“thanks” Aaron managed, after spitting out the leather. the pain lessened. by the gods that was painful he thought, getting himself out of his seat. She led him upstairs to a soft bed and tried to sleep but couldn't until she gave him something for the pain.