Noble Farmer

by A W Sheffield

  “Was it now?” The voice was a whisper in my ear, soft, smooth and entirely filled with intent. Before I could react, pain flared from the backs of my legs, burning, and I could feel my own hot blood on my cold skin. I cried out, but the cry died in the back of my throat as something hard, and stronger than my brain, slammed into my skull. “Thanks for coming out, didn’t know how much longer the mage could keep up the screamer spell.”

  The words were slow, malformed, like they were talking under water. “Welcome Farmer Doe, to the wonderful world of slavery.”

  “Wait, what?”

  My only answer was another blow to the head, and I slipped into blessed darkness. There was no more pain, no cold, it was comforting in the way a warm bed on a cold night. And I was tired, so tired from the long days of hard labor. This was a nice change. I felt something just before my consciousness fell away. Someone was hugging me, and I knew then why I was so comfortable, she was with me. My Goddess, she was holding me to her breast like a newborn babe. She was there for me, like no one ever had been before. If I died then, I probably had a smile on my face.

  Chapter Five

  I noticed first the groaning and creaking of wood, followed by a jarring impact which caused me to groan when my head slammed against the hull of the ship. Followed by the sound of surf and the pain in the tender parts of my legs and ass.

  “He’s awake, I hear him whimpering.” Someone called out, the voice was so high pitched my eardrums wanted to burst.

  “Welcome to ALOW, homeboy. A place where you can be anyone's slave and work harder than you ever imagined to earn a living. Yes, have fun in fucking hell!”

  “Overdramatic much? You know the rules, we can only be slaves for three months from capture. After that, we will be free…”

  “To be recaptured again. Listen up woman, this is not my first time in a slave barge.”

  Their conversation was making my head hurt, besides the shooting pain from repeatedly having my head slammed. “Will you all shut the hell up?” I meant it to come out nicer than how it did, but it had the desired effect all the same. Such sweet silence, the pain from my ears and head were almost gone when the ship must have hit a rather large wave. Only this time, it was not my head that hit the hull, but my entire body and it was then that I felt the shackles cut into my wrists. “Ow.”

  “You get used to it.” Offered a kinder voice. “How are you feeling over there big guy?”

  “Everything hurts.”

  “Bet me, sleeping potions are fucked, leave you feeling like you were tossed in a dryer and repeated beat cycle. We know your pain cuz.” Was it me or did that guy have an accent that changed from dialects?

  “Where am I?”

  “A slave barge, owned by the Ever Slave Corporation. A fucked-up guild that enslaves players only. Welcome to the suck, man.”

  “The suck? You military?”

  “Marine Brat, you?”

  “Eight years Army.”

  “And how is any of this sweet talking going to help get us out of this?” Another, deeper voice asked.

  “It’s not, easy as that. Do your months, hopefully you get a kind owner, and run back home. If you try and escape, your time resets if you get recaptured. Not to mention they put a bounty on your head that will have every adventurer after you.” It was the kind woman’s voice that explained it. “It’s better to just take it and be done with it.”

  “How many times?”

  “Me? I don’t know, they all kind of blur together after a while. But you get used to it.” She said the last with a laugh. “Hardships of living in a neutral land.”

  “Why can’t I open my eyes?” I asked after a time, interrupting their conversation.

  “Spell of Blinding. We are not all of the same race or land, so it's better to keep us from getting all riled up when seeing a race, we are supposed to hate. I guess they think because we are players, we will just play nice if we can’t see each other. I don’t know.”

  They talked for days about a whole different range of topics from where they lived in the world to their favorite foods. I didn't take part in any of it, not because I was antisocial, but because I had a feeling that it didn’t matter. If what the nice voice said was true, one or more of these people could potentially be an enemy just because of the mix of races I chose for my avatar. I was already having a difficult time with this game and didn’t need someone becoming my enemy just because they were bored.

  I slept often, and it was hard to tell the time without the use of your eyes. Then we heard the cry of gulls’ overhead and the pounding of feet above us. “Almost to Sevon Auction House. Few more hours I would bet.”

  She was right, from my best guess of time. The ship bumped up against something that made us all cry out in pain. The heavy, booted footsteps we heard before came down what must have been stairs and I heard the sound of chains rattling. “Best of luck to you all, and remember, it's just a game. Have fun, K!”

  One by one we were pulled from the lower decks and it wasn’t until my feet were on stable ground that I knew just how bad I smelled. I only took one dump a day, and by the amount of crap in my pants, I must have been on the ship for at least a week.

  My mouth was forced open and held with a thick stick, my head was tilted back and someone poured something down my throat. I did my best to keep from swallowing, until someone started to massage my neck and that was all she wrote.

  ***You have been given Mind Fog Elixir. Your mind will be foggy for the next hour. ***

  NO SHIT! “FOGGY” was not how I would describe it, my body moved on its own, guided by a gentle but firm hand. Like my brain was somehow disconnected from my body. I tried as hard as I could to fight it, but no matter what I did, it was like I was placed in a confined space within my own mind.

  My mind ran to the thoughts of my gaming experience so far, focusing more on the negative. How the citizens of Harwick were so quick to judge someone by their looks, dress, and position in life. So, what if I was what they called a Hedge Lord, you would think they would at least help someone fake it until they made it, not charge them double.

  I shouldn’t be here; I shouldn’t be a slave. It was past time for the harvesting of the fields and I could only wonder how Bretta was doing. If she could have managed it on her own, or if she was worried about me. This world, this game, it was too real, sure there were things I did not understand, a whole fucking lot of them to be precise. But it was hard to imagine Bretta just being a bunch of ones and zeros, she was more real than a lot of people I knew. She was kind, had a work ethic to be emulated, and I knew she cared for me deeply. In a friendship so strong, I could feel it radiating off of her like the heat from her body. It was strange for me to think of these things, even more so when my mind switched directions. Which world was real? I had only been in the game a few months and it was Earth that felt like a dream, a distant, shitty nightmare of drama and struggle.

  *You have been given Mind Fog Elixir. Your mind will be foggy for the next hour and a half. *

  Well fuck me!

  My mind then turned inward, toward memories I had tried so desperately to suppress. Bury so far down that they would never resurface. But it would seem this Mind Fog Elixir had other ideas. It was like a therapist with a sledgehammer, and the rollercoaster of my life had just left the station.

  I saw Jared in my mind's eye, my eldest brother and the one I blamed for the felony I had not committed. His rugged good looks, piercing hazel eyes. The fucker had it all from the get go. Talent for sports and people, intelligence, and had refused the NFL’s draft to pursue a career in business. The man had been a millionaire by the age of twenty-six, the pride of my parents before Janis really took off. Ten years older than me, we really never saw eye to eye, and his idea of hanging with this little brother, involved pelting me with footballs while he practiced in the backyard. The man was an asshole with a capital A, but everyone seemed to love him. He had that way of manipula
tion that made you see only the good, even when he was screwing you over.

  John, my second brother and gamer god extraordinaire, was really the only one of my family that I would ever consider to be family. Even though it was his joke to start me off as a nobleman in this game, he had always been there for me. While only five years older than me, he was the one who got the ice packs ready when Jared had grown bored of his abuse. When Jared had made it to college, John had even started to stand up for me. After a brutal standoff between my two brothers, Jared backed off and John became my hero. Though he was like any other brother, he could be a real dick at times, especially when he was playing his games. But he always seemed to make it up to me later.

  Then there was Janis, childhood genius, the female version of Jared. So, fucking smart, her brain worked in a completely different way that I could never understand. She cast a shadow so dark over me that I never saw the light of day when it came to my parents. Janis graduated high school while I was still in middle school, and she was three years younger than me. She was the reason why my birthdays were missed completely, why I dreaded holidays and why I stopped trying to win my parents affection. There was only Janis in their eyes, a future full of wealth, just as long as they sacrificed everything to get her there. Even their youngest son.

  I still remembered when the C.I.A came for me, it wasn’t like in the movies. Where the rich guy just stands up and they gently take him away. No, I was slammed on the ground after they busted my mom’s red door down. With a gun pressed to my head, they destroyed her house, the aftermath was like a natural disaster. Something I knew she would never forget, even if it wasn’t my fault. Not with her, there was only one child to blame, the recluse troublemaker with the “C” average report card. I remembered how her spit dotted the window of the federal vehicle, as she screamed at me, “What have you done now?!” There was no, “he’s innocent,” no “you have made a mistake.” She was not in my corner, and my father just stood back, his arms across his chest. That look of disappointment he always had when dealing with me.

  Then there was the Army, a family of non-family members just as screwed up and dysfunctional as my own. I learned quickly during Basic Training to keep my head down, do what was asked of me and do my time. A baseline standard I had adopted until I met Captain McClearen. She was the one who saw that I pushed myself just enough to get by, did just enough work, and it was she who sought me out one night in the barracks. She was dressed in civilian clothes and looked like she was ready to break the hearts of every man in Texas. The Captain was a solid seven in the civilian world, and that made her an Army ten. An African American, who looked Mexican with the whitest last name ever. She made the joke to lighten the mood, seeing how she was taking a career risk of fraternizing with Enlisted Personnel. That was not what she was doing, she was letting me know she gave a shit, but that was not how it would look to the fuck ups of the unit. So we went on a walk to keep prying eyes and ears away from the conversation.

  Her voice had lost the authority it always carried, she was just a woman, and I was just a barracks rat going through a troubling life. “You know.” She started, “I couldn’t help but notice you are the only one in the unit that does not go out. You don’t drink, don’t cause any trouble of any kind, you are a good soldier Specialist Corwell. Have you ever thought of making a career of the Army?” I had heard this speil before, though it was made between the Non-Commissioned Officers with other soldiers, normally their buddies.

  It was so weird coming from her, an officer, hell in my four years in the Army so far, Officers made it appear as if the enlisted were there to get them promoted, or awards. Never had one talked to me about my career or even tried to have a conversation with me other than work related. I had seen what my Personnel File had in it, and everyone thought I was just a criminal who got off light by joining the Army. They were right in a sense, and I was treated appropriately. “No.”

  “You should, in fact, I think you would make a solid NCO, if you applied yourself more.” We stopped at the end of the barracks parking lot. “I know you take every class the Gym offers, karate, crossfit, first aid, I am not trying to pry into your life here, Corwell, but from the looks of your room and the lack of anything in it. It had been brought up more than once you are a suicide risk. Is that true?”

  I snorted at her comment. “No, but if you looked in my file, you would see that two thirds of my pay is taken. Along with tax refunds. I don’t have anything in my room because I don’t have any money to get anything. I take the classes at the gym, not because I want to better myself, but because I am bored when I get off work.” I knew it sounded just as pathetic to her as it did to me, and she offered me a concerned look.

  “Not having money does not mean you can’t have a life. You could make friends with the other soldiers…”

  “No thank you, Ma’am.” I cut her off, knowing it was rude. “I am fine as I am.”

  “I can see you don’t want to talk. It's alright.” I didn’t know if she was trying to disarm me, but it wasn’t working. My guards were strong, I couldn’t be hurt if I didn’t let anyone in. “Just think about what I said, okay? And if you ever need anything, anything at all, just ask, alright?”

  That was our first meeting, and the next day after Physical Training and the first formation, my Squad Leader pulled me aside. “Corwell, pack your shit, you’re the Captain’s Bitch from now on.” I never questioned my SL, not like the others did. I knew my place, this man was not my friend and he made that known from day one. But an Aide, what the hell was she thinking.

  The Captain had become a willing ear for all my problems, she listened to my life story with judgement during our late-night work sessions. Always offering sound advice and it was when she told me one night, “so, get out of your sister’s shadow. You got a raw deal with this embezzlement charge. Move past it, you can’t change it, so accept it, and move on. Become your own man and stop thinking about what people have done to you. Start thinking about what you can do for yourself. Just getting by isn’t doing you any favors, tell me, when have you ever tried?”

  Her words echoed off the walls of my cumbersome brain, even now as they did then. She was as right now as she was then. I took her advice and put in the effort, and when she was promoted, she offered to take me with her to Germany as her personal aide. It was so surreal, that feeling of being wanted, desired, if not sexually, just as a person. Then the accident and all my hopes came tumbling downward. She had visited me once, the only one from my unit before she left. I remembered her hand, how warm and surprisingly dry. The smell of lotion that lingered for hours later. How many times had I smelled my hand? It was like the worst kind of break up, and I had noticed how easily she had left my hospital room. Leaving me hollow and barren of hope.

  Alcohol and pills became my life after that, trying to dull the pain from both my body and heart. I missed Major McClearen, and could only wonder if she missed me as well.

  I was fed the Mind Fog Elixir four more times, and when the counter hit zero, it was almost like my brain popped back into my body. A bubble that had kept me seperate from my nerves vanished without a trace and I dropped back in.

  I heard the sound of a wagon wheel on hard dirt and rocks. Felt the bumps from the road, all from a veiled darkness. For my head was covered in a burlap sack, my hands and feet were tied, and something pointy was digging into my back. For hours I stayed that way until the wagon stopped and I heard two sets of boots on the dirt come around my way. “Should be awake by now.” A woman’s voice said.

  I was lifted like a sack of potatoes, and promptly dropped on my backend on the hard ground. “Listen well newb, you cause me any trouble and I will make your life a living hell. Even think about running and I will personally cut your balls off and feed them to you. I got you for three months, grin and bear it as best you can. If you do good, keep your pecker and your hands to yourself. I might give you a couple coins to get back to where you came from.
But don’t you dare mess with me or my squire, I have no problems graveyard camping your butt.”

  As much as I wanted to get back to the farmer and help with the harvest, this game was not going to make it easy. I would play Bitch as nicely as I could, I had enough experience in it as the Captain’s Aide, afterall. “Give me a thumbs up, newb, so I know we understand each other.” I did, two of them.

  The sack was pulled from my head, and I blinked away the sudden change from dark to light. I was in a desert of some kind, with dunes the size of skyscrapers in the distance and nothing but flat land as far as I could see the other way. Even if I wanted to escape, it would be impossible. I knew that from the instant I saw where we were. But the one thing that gave me pause, was the sky.

  It had a deep blue tint, like just after sunset and I could see a few stars shining brightly. Then there were the rings, like Saturn, blue and green, they went far out into space and my mouth dropped open in astonishment. “First time in the Dark Lands?” Her voice sounded amused.

  When I saw who was speaking, my mouth dropped open for an entirely different reason. Jessica Bunny and her twin sister was looking down at me. Rabbit faced and red eyed, with figures that the women of Earth would kill for and clothing that barely contained, “what their virtual mommas gave them,” as Hana would say. “It’s not nice to stare.” The one on the left said, and I marked her as the leader, for her long ears were pulled back like hair, large rings held the pair together, from the top of her head, to the pointed ends. “Never seen a Hare Kind, huh, well, do try to keep your tongue in your head. It’s very unsightly.”

  The other laughed, a chirping, breathy sound and she turned away from me to go back to the wagon. My eyes trained on her moving backside and I could feel the blood rushing to my other head. The one in front of me, smacked the back of my head and stated, “eyes front newb.” Immediately she had my attention. “Like I said before, kept your pecker and hands to yourself. You can look as much as you want, in fact we thrive on that kind of attention, but step out of line…” She pulled her long sword from her hip. “I have no problem turning you into a trans. Got me?”