“So your mom fought in the war huh?” said Mayor Shelia trying to lighten the mood. “There is no shame in falling before a strong enemy. I didn’t even fight in the war; I fled to the capital and waited it out like everyone else while the women and men of the military died. Many don’t share my sentiment by I’m new at this noble thing. The only reason I have the position I have now is because no one wanted to risk being this close to Thorn.”
“I am not ashamed although it’s gonna make my road to being in the army kinda tough.” Xander said thinking about what he was going to have to do in the coming days.
“Well I’ll help you however I can. In a couple of days I have to head into Meadow with our excess food stores, and the taxes we have gathered. We could use your sword, the next town over Rue has had their entire load taken from them last month by a gang of well-armed bandits. Killed everyone in the caravan they did.” Said Shelia matter of factly.
“Where are the Soldiers or the watch at?” Said Xander outraged someone would not only rob but murder too.
“Still here but understaffed. If they left to protect our taxes then our town would be undefended. We don’t have any magic users stationed here permanently either. We split up our forces but it still isn’t a good plan, just leaves us vulnerable on two fronts.” Said Shelia.
Xander’s stomach started growling just then, letting him know it was well passed the time he should have eaten.
“You poor dear” said Shelia as she got up out of her seat.
“Sit down mother, he should be serving you” said Mesha before continuing “It’s bad enough you have him eating at the table with us. We should have slaves for this type of work, when we go into Meadow you should finally get some, what good is being in charge of this town if you have to do everything yourself!”
“Ignore her Xander” Shelia said as she placed some sort of stew in front of Xander along with some rolls. “Mesha was raised in Meadow where things are a little bit different. Part of the reason I came here is because I think folks should be judged on their merit, not their birth. I am gonna make sure there is not one slave in Valley.”
Mesha glared at Xander as she finished her meal, which he tried not to notice. After making small talk, Xander was offered a room in the house but declined based on the fact he didn’t quite trust Mesha and he wanted to get back to his enchanting.
CHAPTER
Xander found a spot in an empty stall and began writing in the dust. Xander was not sure on how he wanted his alphabet to look, but wanted to make it mysterious yet elegant like his dad’s ancient elven. Xander studied long into the night until he found the script he liked best, which basically was Rangelian, except he substituted different characters until he found what he liked best. Xander tossed as he fell asleep and soon discovered rest would not find him this night. Sensing the morning sun had to be no more than an hour from rising, Xander grabbed his father’s sword and began going over his forms in the area behind Shelia’s house.
The butterfly form was made much easier with Xander’s use of his father’s sword, which carried much less weight than a normal sword. The butterfly was going easy Xander decided to finish with the dragonfly before deciding to find a stand in for fighting with two swords. Xander found what he was looking for in the form of an old axe handle and began to try to create his own form. The problem was fighting with two swords often was slower with far less force than fighting with one against an armored opponent. Xander began using his father’s sword in his off hand with it being lighter than the axe handle and began doing his forms blending what he knew into a newer form. The only way Xander figured it could work was that both swords had to be extremely light and he absolutely needed to work on what his dad did to make the swords a lot sharper. Before long, Xander had a sweat going when he heard Mesha talking.
“So are you going to play around with your sword all day boy or are you going to do some work?”
“Boy? You can’t be much older than I am.” Xander replied dryly.
“Is that the way someone of your station is supposed to address a lady?”
“Find me a lady first, then I’ll change my tone.”
“How dare you!” Mesha made a move to slap Xander, which he ducked and moved out of the way. She went after him again but he was just too fast for her clumsy attempts at striking. Mesha picked up the axe handle and gave it a great swing which Xander caught mid stride.
“Let it go now!” said Mesha
“Why would I let it go, you are going to hit me with it.”
“I know, so let it go and take your medicine.”
“I don’t think so, what is your problem with me anyway?”
“There is plenty wrong with you! I didn’t want to move to this backwater town where you men have no respect for anything.”
“Now I’m a man, I thought I was a boy. Which is it?”
“You think everything is so funny don’t you? If I were a witch I would fix you good.”
“But you are not, you are just a loud mouth with a need to be better than everyone else.”
“You better help getting the wagons fixed for going into Meadow. If you think you are going to have a free meal for doing nothing you are mistaken.” Mesha then stomped away leaving Xander bewildered. While he had never dealt with a female his own age before, he had thought they would be more carefree instead of stern like their older counterparts. Xander figured he had better find the wagon master, opting to at least start working in lieu of having breakfast. While he could travel the road alone, he did not want to meet up with Sam and his crew armed with only a sword.
Xander found who he believed was the wagon master with what had to pass for the town’s blacksmith, as he could smell his way to the forge and the person beside it had a broken wagon.
“Excuse me Sir, I was sent here to help fix some wagons” said Xander to the man he thought was the wagon master.
“Well now, are they finally giving me an assistant instead of having me be the only damn carpenter in this two bit town?” Said the man.
“Not quite Sir, I was sent here to help you by Lady Mesha. I am supposed to be joining you on your way to Meadow where I’ll find out about my commitment.”
“Shit, well boy you got your work cut out for you. We got plenty of wheels and such, but what I need it lumber cut. We only have a couple of days to fell a bunch of them trees and at least make something that is a little road worthy and we only got two axes. One of which is dull as hell and the other has a split blade. I’m trying to get old Jack here to help me out, but now that I got you, he can fix the blade, I can get all the other stuff together and you can go chop trees. I would start with the smallest ones you can find. Most of the younger ones are already gone, but if you get them too large we are going to have to saw them down and who knows how long that will take. If you can get at least two it’ll be a good day. You can find the axe over on my cart there.”
“Hoss you is gonna make that boy do all that work? Look at him, he more a fighter than lumberjack. Hell he probably haven’t seen a hard days work even with them dirty clothes and you want him to chop down a tree with a dull axe?”
“Hell Jack, at least we will get some work done while he is doing that. He can’t fix the blade, only you know how to do that, and he doesn’t know how to get a wagon together. So what job do you think he should do?” Said Hoss the wagon master.
“It’s okay” said Xander before continuing. “I’ll try it out and if you guys get done early just come help.”
“Shit boy that job is gonna be tough, you might as well try to kick the trees down. If I finish early, I’ll come out to take turns with that old axe and I’ll bring some more lads with me.” Said Jack
Xander left the pair and found the axe Hoss was talking about. Hefting it up on his shoulder, he could see it had considerable weight behind it, even for his muscles. Xander figured it had to take a mighty big guy like Gowan to lift an axe like this and do any serious tree chopping with it. He could see how Rolle had gotten so
big and how he could carry that big club without too much trouble. Xander headed out to the woodline and saw that most of the smaller trees were already gone, in fact the smallest he could see was as big a round as he was and three times as tall. Xander pulled the axe back and gave the tree a mighty chop.
Pain. Pain shot up his arms and the impact from the tree yanked the axe out of Xander’s hands. Xander took a good look at the spot on the tree he whacked, it looked barely touched. Examining the axe head finally, Xander could see it was not really at a point. He had seen an axe grinder at work before, but this axe would take forever just to get it in working order. Looking at the axehead, Xander wondered if he could make the head sharper just like his father did the swords? Xander took out his father’s sword activated the markings and began to sketch his new alphabet into the axehead, all the while thinking of what he wanted it to do. Xander wanted it sharp, but he also wanted it to be able to be used by everyone, not just himself. The enchantment might not last years like his dad’s sword but figured even a week would be fine if the axehead was made from Rangelian steel, not the steel he had seen some of the soldiers weapons in Riley made from. Xander finished pouring his ether into the axe and finished his inscribing. He could see the axe sharpening itself from a dull flat point to razor sharpness. This time Xander took a mighty swing and collided with the tree.
The axe was much sharper and went through the wood where it stuck in the tree. This time Xander could see some progress but he still did not have the power needed to really drive the axe. After 15 more swings, Xander was covered in sweat, but at least he was almost halfway through the tree. Xander took a rest and pulled out his father’s old book, flipping to the last page to see what was so special about it.
Pouring his ether into it, the page remained blank. Xander flipped all through the book and could tell no difference in it. He poured a little more ether into it and got nothing.
“Well Dad I’m out of ideas to get this tree chopping done” Xander said to no one in particular while staring at the book.
Have you tried not only enchanting the blade but the axe handle itself?
Xander saw the words appear and threw the book down, not sure if his eyes were deceiving him. As he picked the book back up, he could see the words fading away.
“Dad is this you?”
Yes and no
“What do you mean yes and no?”
I knew I didn’t have much time when I made this book. I was living on borrowed time already, I took an ancient but powerful artifact I received from the elves, it had ether trapped inside for use by an enchanter. I was unsure how to make such a thing, but I knew with my level of power I wouldn’t last long after using it. I used it to place some semblance of my consciousness in this book for you. I have most of the knowledge I held at the time this page was created. Please use this page as you would have if I were alive.
“Dad I need to get this tree chopping done, but I promise we will talk later.”
Xander then closed the book and pulled out his dagger, etching unto the handle, he inscribed the handle to become lighter. Xander started to feel a little woozy after this enchantment put picked up the axe anyway. Right away he could tell it was at least 2/3rds lighter than it had been, even with the heavy axe blade on the end. Giving it a mighty swing, Xander could see the increased speed he had now that it wasn’t so heavy had devastating effects on the tree. In 7 more swings the tree came tumbling down. Remembering how wide the wagon Hoss had was, Xander started cutting the big pieces to roughly the same length. After that he wanted to spit the pieces in half to give the wagon a somewhat flat surface, but decided the axe wasn’t gentle enough for the job. Xander quickly chopped down another tree and had that tree cut apart also. By the time the sun was at its highest point in the sky, Xander put his back up against a tree and sat down, feeling the effects of his enchanting. Before long Xander started dozing, until he heard voices which woke him up.
“Holy shit boy, wake up!” said Hoss loudly. “I felt bad about you working with that old axe but how in the hell did you do all this? Even cut them up in smaller pieces! I brought these lads with me to help but you have done all the work!”
“I’m stronger than I look” was all Xander said as he rose to his feet.
“Well we can do the splitting and the sand before the day is out by ourselves. We leave the morning after next and you have more than done your share. Perhaps you can go help out Trevor; he is in charge of what passes for the watch around here.” Said Hoss, as he started directing others to load up the logs. “You can find him by the main gate, go get yourself some chow first though.”
Xander walked toward the middle of town, he passed a man in an apron with a huge pot boiling over an open fire. After his nap Xander started feeling hungry and walked over.
“You new here boy?” The cook asked Xander.
“I am, I only got here yesterday and I’m hungry” said Xander eyeing the food.
“Well don’t get too happy, I have plenty of food but you won’t find any meat here, that’s only for the females. I got plenty of corn, beans and potatoes though, it’ll fill you right up.”
Xander grabbed a bowl and received his share. Xander thought the food was really missing the chunks of beef that was in his mother’s stew, but overall thought it tasted well. After he ate he cleaned his bowl and gave it back to the cook who then gave him the directions he wanted for finding Trevor.
After hearing Trevor’s description, Xander was amazed it was actually true. Normally someone of the watch was fit and young, this man looked on the other side of 50 and had a big ole belly to match. His uniform did not seem washed or crisp and his boots seemed like they were ready to throw his feet out on the ground at any time. A scraggly gray beard and moustache completed the look. Xander walked up to him and could see him staring at the gates.
“Excuse me sir, are you Trevor?” said Xander
“That I am, are you a new recruit sent to me out here?” Answered Trevor.
“Sorry sir I am not, Hoss sent me here to see if I could help you with something” answered Xander.
“Aw damn, it would have been nice to actually have some youth here. Well Xander I am sure you have read all about the bandit problem we have. They are just getting bigger and bigger and way more of a nuisance than they are given credit for. I think from the numbers I have heard around here, they could take this town over, especially when most of us go on the convoy, the rear guard would be easily decimated. That’s what I would do if I were them, pretend to go after the convoy while the real fight is back here. By the time we return we would get slaughtered trying to get this place back. I want to make this fence a lot taller. As is, any man in decent shape can crawl over this thing without a ladder.”
“I don’t know if you have enough time to make the fence taller, Hoss is pretty busy making wagons. Is it possible to just make the ground lower?” asked Xander. Dig a trench or something maybe?”
“Kid that is brilliant, digging a moat! But we don’t have long. Maybe if we work around the clock we can really do some things. I am telling you, I doubt during the convoy they would get anything other than a token assault. Most folks judge me on my looks but I keep telling them I got a keen mind. Well it won’t dig itself. Go ask old Jack for some shovels and such, we may not dig a very deep one, but hell we got to try something. I’ll go ask Lady Shelia iffn’ I can pull every man here on the job.”
Xander found blacksmith Jack and informed him on the plan with the shovels. Jack thought it would be best if Xander just took a couple of shovels, and the rest of the men could pick theirs up on the way out to the field. Xander brought three shovels along and already had his plan worked out. Xander felt drained a bit after enchanting the axe, the work he did ensured the axe could be used by anyone but as his father told him it was more taxing. Xander brought out his dagger and inscribed the word strength/Xander in his alphabet and poured his ether into the handle of the wood. Not a stranger to digging ditches, Xander alwa
ys wished he was stronger so the task wouldn’t take forever. If Xander, was correct, only when he picked up this particular shovel and pour a little bit of his aura into it, would it do the desired enchantment. Next He enchanted his shovel, making it stay sharp for him alone. As Xander finished he noticed his dagger was getting increasingly dull and made a mental note to enchant it at his next convenience. Xander prepared to dig as he noticed other men walking up led by Lady Shelia and Trevor.
“This here is the lad that came up with it my Lady. If we can dig a big trench and maybe put some water in it, we would only give them a couple of points of attack” Trevor said as he gestured along the outside of the gate.
“If that could be done, as soon as that is completed I want the same thing built on the inside, except fill the trench with spears pointing upwards. Only lave certain spots open for the archers and lookouts. That way anyone who does make it over the fence is in for a nasty surprise when they drop down” said Shelia to Trevor as they walked up to Xander.
“I didn’t see my hero at breakfast or lunch today, did you let Mesha scare you off?” Shelia asked Xander.
“My Lady, Lady Mesha put it in no uncertain terms she expected me to pull my weight and to begin so now. I appreciate your offer to take me to Meadow, and I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that” Xander stated.
“Jeopardize my offer? It is in our best interest to have you by our side. I heard from Hoss about your work on the trees, you did save my daughter how ungrateful she may be and now this. Tomorrow you will dine at my table and I will hear no more of it. You gentlemen seem like you have a lot of work ahead of you, I recommend using all the dirt you dig up and pile it on the inside of the city next to the trench. It may not offer the best view of an enemy close to the gate, but a couple of arrows could still be loosed and if any attackers make it over the gate and across the inside moat, they would still need to climb up a dirt wall all the while being peppered by arrows.”
“That is a great idea my lady” said Trevor before continuing, “We will get started on everything right away.”
The Enchanter of Rangel: Child of War Book 1 Page 6
