One Moo'r Plow

Book 1: Chapter 16: New faces.

The next several days passed in routine. Get up, milk the cows, check on the plants and proceed with menial farm work. Ishila helped construct scarecrows that were pretty much just poles with cloth and dead bird corpses hanging from them. Crude, but effective.

Carefully, and nervously, we walled off the mandrake plants as a temporary measure. We had been lucky insofar, but I refused to let something stupid like a rabbit yanking them free kill us all. That would be an insanely stupid way to end my new life, but I brooked no chances.

Even more carefully, we siphoned some of the acid from the pepper plant into metal flasks. It took considerable effort to attach thickened bags over the sprout of a puffer plant and let it furiously puff away all day to fill it with spores. Harvesting some metallic spheres from the bomb-plant was a loud and violent process, but we did it in the end.

The crops were sprouting, yet I had a feeling in my gut their progress would have been much faster if I hadnt spent as much gold.

Might be a good thing, that. Faster growth meant faster water consumption. After furious debate, we had decided to backtrack on our previous decision and instead go with the original crop irrigation method. My last visit to Hullbretch had, thankfully, acquired my greatest asset yet.

The mighty steel shovel.

A common trend in all my mundane tools. Wood was too flimsy for me to work with, sadly. It cost more, but all my new tools were solid steel. Perfect for a minotaur. It was also during this time that I met Ishilas father.

The bearded, muscled elf looked me up and down, distinctly unimpressed. He looked nothing like what I envisioned an elf to be, aside from unusual eyes and pointed ears. Instead, he more resembled a tall, thickly muscled viking with a bushy crimson beard and braided ropes of red hair. The loose shirt he wore didnt fool me a bit; the man rippled with muscles on every exposed surface. He moved with the fluid grace of a serpent and with the light step of a cat.

Everything about the man tripped alarm signals inside Gareks mind.

Pa, this is Garek. Ishila introduced the two of us. The hand I shook was firm, even when I applied my own strength. We were next to the stream we intended to dam, materials stacked about us.

Havent seen one of your kind in years. The man spoke briskly. Didnt imagine one would move in right next to me. The Gods are hilarious like that.

I nodded politely. There was some subtext beneath the surface I was lacking here. That much was certain.

Please to make your acquaintance, mister? I trailed off pointedly.

Grenzwald. He spoke bluntly. My girl didnt call me out here for endless pleasantries. Dispense with them and lets get to business.

I did just that and turned to the running stream behind me. Unclogged, it now ran deep and wide, easily up to my waist in the center and several body-lengths across. We had already dug out large holding pools on this side. All that remained now was to erect the dam and let the river overflow into them. Gouged trenches would then carry the water downhill toward my crops and into the funnels we had dug there the day prior.

There remains one final step in all this. I gestured at the river. And though your daughter is exceptionally resourceful, we cannot figure out a solution as to how we might dam the stream without all our materials being swept away.

And so you have come to me. He puffed at a small pipe and looked up and down the stream with a pointed eye. You require magical means. I require gold for my services.

Well, Pa, Ishila interjected. I was actually hopin youd do it as a neighborly gesture, see?

The man snorted and shook his head.

No. I have talents, and you have a need of them. Youve a suspiciously soft spot for this place, girl.

The lasss face crumpled a bit, but it wasnt like I couldnt afford to pay for this job. I had intended to in the first place.

Well, cant blame me for wanton to make a good impression on our best neighbor. She huffed, hiding her disappointment. The elf just shrugged, unconcerned.

Plenty of other opportunities for you to do that. He remarked. With a slight nod, he named his price and watched as I counted out the coins. A bit pricey, but that was the price of immediate results and convenience. With another puff of his pipe, the man pocketed the coins and rolled back his long sleeves. The tattoos inked onto his forearms squirmed as he gestured towards the stream.

The results were immediate. Water collided with an invisible wall further upstream, swelled and began to build. Pipe puffed furiously, he raised one red eyebrow and seated himself on a stump, fist clenched.

I suggest you hurry, He spoke mildly. The water will overflow, with enough time.

No more encouragement was needed. Ishila and I began to drag materials into the shallow mud and hastily began to construct a crude dam. Stone, lots of it. Large slabs were maneuvered in and jammed into trenches we hewed into the mud. But there was an issue. There were cracks in said stones, which would allow water to flow through. Once the thick, sloped wall of rock was finished, I turned to the elf.

The other part now, if you could.

He snorted and brought up his other arm. I watched the ground physically harden around the stone, become near stonelike itself. The crude piles of stone melted and fused together. It shifted and distorted, then settled into a thick, rounded wall of solid rock.

Now came the moment of truth. With a grunt, he released both hands, and the stream rushed forward once more. It struck the dam and swirled violently. With nowhere to go, the water rose and began to spill over. On one side, into the holding pools we had dug. On the other, down the stream. An even split into the two.

I sat back with relief. There was little doubt it would have worked, but relief still came sweetly.

His business done, the elf nodded at me, bade me a good day, and strode off back toward his farm.

Dont mind Pa, hes just like that. Ishila grimaced. Bein an elf an all.

And with that, my crops slowly began to receive water. One crucial problem solved.

I slept soundly that night, I had to admit. One less worry on my mind. The next, we decided to head for Hullbretch. Lerish and Ishila both arrived at first light, albeit from separate directions. The orc girl came at her usual sprint, while the huntress stalked out of the woods. She took my gold without comment, only giving a gruff greeting to myself and the lass.

It took longer than I was proud of the catch the horses and attach them to the cart. But come mid-morning, I was seated in the front and trundling along the dirt road. The cart had not been built with a minotaur driver in mind, and I sat hunched over, legs uncomfortably cramped. Ishila sat in the back, a close eye kept on the pots of cooled milk and various harvested plant-parts.

First to the Gursenheins, then off to Hullbretch? She asked in confirmation, to which I nodded. It looked to be a very busy day, hence the attempted early start. The horses weredistinctly not trained for pulling wagons either. But Ishila had tried to ease them into it over the past several days. Tried.

It was slow going, no two ways about it. Probably would be faster if I pulled the cart myself.

But we rumbled down the dusty roads all the same, the sun at my back and naught but roads, trees, and fields before me.

The Gursenhein family already had company, we found. There was another cart out front when he approached, this one pulled by a single horse. Its covered cargo sat right in the middle of the single trail that led to their modest house. After briefly conversing with Ishila, I took a small jug of milk and headed off to introduce myself.

I wanted nothing but the best impression, and so I chose to come bearing even more gifts. A young couple on their own was already a hard enough life, and what better way to cement myself in their good graces than by providing them with much-needed aid? I was firmly aware of the incredible power of gossip as well, however. Better that it be positive things being whispered about me than fearful mutters.

-already sold my sheep to pay you, Pert. What more do you want?

The sound came from around the corner as I approached. I was aware that I moved quietly for someone my size, but even then there was no lul in the conversation as I drew near.

I am a bunsinessman, Leon. And we have a deal. A contract, even. I know how difficult it is to be a loyal family man in times like these. I really do. All these dangers that lurk on all sides. These temptations that might lead good men astray. You wouldnt do that, would you? Go back on your word, renege a signed contract? I am a good, peaceful man who would hate to see any misfortune befall my neighbors.

I rounded the corner just then a found a thick, burly man with his back to me conversing with another, much younger fellow who stood in the doorway, his arms folded.

Now, I have this milk here, which you have agreed to buy from me at these absolutely meager prices I am offering it for, Leon. Understand that I passed up another, much more lucrative contract just so I could sell to you at such a discount. And here I stand, having learned you no longer want my milk?

We already have milk this week, Pert. The young man spoke, voice weak. Don need your supply. Mighty thanks for supplyin us so far, but we won be needed any right now.

Leon. Leon, my good man. See, we have an agreement. And part of that agreement is that you buy every week. Now I dont care if you have an entire herd of the finest milk cows right in your backyard and an ocean of cream, you will give me my Gods-earned gold.

No, Pert. The young man insisted, focused on the other person. We know you been sellin to us for way higher than we could get in Hullbretch, and that you been musclin your way into gettin other folks to stay away. We don want none of it.

The bigger man laughed deep in his gut.

Hullbretchll sell you anything, Leon. But Hullbretch isnt here, is it? And I dont see a way for you to get there. And what business other folks have with me and their decision aint none of your business now, is it? You just keep that thin nose of yours buried in your business and everything will stay just fine.

I could see a pail of milk next to the man, and it didnt require a genius intellect to piece together context as to what was happening here.

Now, you be a good lad and tell this new uppity supplier of yours to git, so we can all go back to the nice, peaceful arrangement we had, you hear?

It was at that moment that a babe wailed from inside the house, and the young man noticed my massive form. His eyes widened as I fairly towered over the third man, who yelped as I clapped one hand down on his shoulder and spun him around.

Why dont you tell him yourself? I rumbled.