by Noah Layton
‘Don’t worry about me. I’ve slept worse than this, and I’ve got my sword that I don’t know how to use in case we get attacked.’
‘Indeed,’ Alorion laughed. ‘Well… Goodnight, Jack.’
‘Night.’
I caught him shooting me another brief smile and a nod before heading to the forest and out of sight into the abundance of branches and thick leaves..
The day had ranked pretty highly as one of the strangest in my life, but I had little time to reflect on it; I quickly fell to sleep amongst the sounds of insects chirping in the surrounding fields, and the horse in the stable chewing away happily at his grass.
***
I awoke quickly the next day. In the night I had given up on the tree, opting to stretch out on the grass with my makeshift pillow tucked under my head. It hadn’t exactly been a perfect night of rest, but that only prompted me to get up and get moving.
With the sun rising I assessed the current situation. I had 17GP to my name, and owed 270 to Cobb that I wanted to get back to him as soon as possible. One stack of corn was worth 1GP, which meant…
Jesus. 2700 units of corn compared to the 450 that I had farmed yesterday. It would fit into the cart with 30 spaces to spare, but it would mean harvesting a shitload of corn. I may have only made a dent in the large supply available in the surrounding land, but getting it together was another matter entirely.
Alorion and Ariadne hadn’t woken up yet. I retrieved some water from the well and drank it down before equipping my sickle and staring out at the vast fields.
I had to do a doubletake to make sure that my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.
The line of corn that I had harvested yesterday had grown back literally overnight. It was as if I hadn’t touched it at all.
Stepping up to it and feeling the stalks against my skin, I realised that it was definitely there.
When I had been harvesting with the sickle the day before the corn had gone down easily, like something out of a video game. I could only guess that the growth mechanics worked in a similar way.
But I wasn’t going to question it. This worked in my favour.
My body was no stranger to physical labour, but the harvesting of the corn really took it out of me. Despite the ease with which they went down, it was still draining. There was, though, something freeing about it.
I didn’t have to think, didn’t have to feel – all I had to do was hack and slash at the endless stalks. Every time my inventory filled up, I returned to the cart and unloaded what I had before heading back out.
Little by little, I was getting there.
With 1000 units to go, I saw Ariadne descending the stairs. I dropped off my most recent load at the cart and headed back to greet her.
‘Good Morning.’
‘Good morning, master. I must confess that I feel like a total idiot right now…’
‘Why?’
‘You are working hard in the fields for me. It should be I who is paying my way in order to repay you for freeing me.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I smiled, cleaning off the sickle on the ground and wiping the sweat from my forehead with my vest. ‘I made the decision to free you. The burden falls on me. You don’t owe me anything.’
She shot me another quick look up and down, ambiguously examining my figure. I wasn’t ashamed about my muscularity – it had come from years of manual tasks.
‘Then at least let me cook something for you,’ she said. ‘You need food to sustain yourself, and I am capable with a stove.’
It was only then that I realised how hungry I really was. The chaos of the past 24 hours in this new land had kept my mind preoccupied with anything but food.
‘Sounds good to me. There’s enough corn in these fields to last us years, and a stove in the harvesting shed.’
I retrieved a few portions and brought them to Ariadne, who was already working on starting a fire using the flint and tinder.
I returned to the field and got to work on the last few loads of corn. Within half an hour I had completed my work and dropped the final batch off in the cart. It was almost filled to the brim – with every ten portions that I had dropped off, one ear of corn had appeared, representing the wider amount.
After getting some more grass for the horse I headed over to Ariadne, who was chatting with Alorion.
‘Smells delicious, doesn’t it?’ Alorion said. ‘The moment the scent hit my nose I came crawling down here.’
‘That it does,’ I smiled. ‘It’s punishing out there.’
‘Hopefully this should stave off your hunger, master,’ Ariadne said, draining one of the ears of corn from the boiling pot and handing it to me. I let it cool for a little while but could hardly resist to dig in.
Despite the searing heat, my first meal in Agraria was one of the best I had ever tasted. The corn was unbelievably fresh.
So this is what real food tasted like when it hadn’t been processed a million times.
‘This is amazing.’
‘I’m so glad you like it.’
‘If we have any gold pieces left over after today’s trading we should definitely purchase some salt and butter,’ Alorion said, tearing into his corn.
‘You read my freaking mind,’ I smiled.
We finished off our meal and stocked up on water from the well before I headed to the stables. Our new horse seemed much less apprehensive than yesterday. I placed a hand on his side and stroked him comfortingly as he continued to eat his grass.
Ariadne helped me with attaching the horse to the cart. It was more complicated than I imagined, but I eventually got the hang of it, and within no time we were on the trail, heading towards the trading post.
‘Just lead him,’ Ariadne said, handing the rope to me. ‘If you keep walking he will. You’re the one in charge.’
I thanked her, but mentally I was calculating how much gold we would have left after ditching the corn. It was filled to the brim – I had gone for the full 3000 units. I still had 17 left over from yesterday, as well as the 30 that would remain after fulfilling Cobb’s debt.
‘We’ve got 47 gold pieces left over once our initial trades have been made,’ I said. ‘And there are so many more things we need – another bed, water canteens, food supplies, materials for weapons, as well as enough gold to unlock the other totems. Think we can manage all of that, Alorion?’
‘We may have to do a little bartering, but it seems possible.’
‘Don’t worry, wary travellers. You won’t have to do any bartering with us.’
The voice was rough and gravelly. At first I thought that it was Cobb coming to claim his debt back, but as I looked out into the forest to our right I saw that it wasn’t him at all.
Two men were emerging from our right, and two to our left. They were all dressed in ragged leathers with mismatched chainmail armour. All of them looked unbelievably scruffy, save for the youngest of the group who looked not even 20, who was only marginally better in appearance.
All were holding worn-down weapons – the two to my left with daggers, the two to my right with a shortsword and an axe.
Their weapons may have been dull, but they could still slice through flesh with a single slash.
I had dealt with enough assholes in my life to know what they were up to immediately; from my inventory I retrieved my sword, which quickly appeared in my hand.
‘What can I do for you gentlemen?’ I asked, looking around at them all.
‘We-e-e…’ One said, stepping up the verge and examining his sword, ‘have considerable interest in the contents of your cart. I don’t suppose you’d be interested in sharing it with us?’
‘No,’ I said resolutely. ‘I don’t think I would be. Now if you’d like to kindly fuck off, we need to be on our way.’
They all let out a laugh, not at me but at the expense of their faux-leader. Clearly there wasn’t much solidarity in the ranks of these bandits, but that only served to piss him off more.
I kne
w things were going to go to shit – it was just a question of how fast.
I shot a look over at Alorion and Ariadne. They had moved closer to me.
The leader looked around at his men with embarrassment, his face going red.
His hand trembled, and he swung his sword.
I dodged sharply to the right, missing the blade by inches. Having enough time to swing my sword, I used both hands to bring it over my shoulder.
I had only briefly handled melee weapons in the past, so I had to go with my instincts.
I swiped down at the bandit’s torso with all my strength. The blade sliced through his shoulder and into his ribcage.
He released a guttural howl and fell to the side as blood sprayed from his mouth.
‘Get out of here!’ I yelled to my companions. Alorion scrambled ahead while Ariadne took the horse’s reigns in her hand and led it trotting up the trail with the cart in tow.
I stepped back as the three remaining bandits approached. Even if they weren’t exactly supportive of their dying leader’s reputation, they were still loyal.
Shit.
They moved to surround me, but I was ready.
I raised my sword for another swing and took a swipe at the assailant with the axe. He dodged and returned quickly with it, but I managed to stave him off.
My blade clipped his hand and sent the axe falling from his grip – as well as a few fingers.
I smiled at the sight of him screaming out. I was genuinely in disbelief that I had succeeded.
But that didn’t last long. In an instant I realised that I had forgotten to use my most important weapon – the only weapon I had arrived in Agraria with.
You complete fucking dumbass.
Throwing my sword down, I reached for my gun, hidden in the folds of my suit around my waist.
A sudden sharp sting arose in my left shoulder. The pain escalated rapidly as the knife I had been stabbed with was ripped from my body.
I yelled out, and my gun dropped from my hand as warm blood trickled down my skin.
But my path was clear.
I scrambled forward with the gun in my sights just yards and snatched it up from the ground.
Staggering forwards, I turned and pointed the barrel.
The fingerless bandit was already back on his feet, as pissed off and red-faced as his fallen leader. Behind, his two comrades were ready to attack, the younger with the knife covered in my blood looking shaken as hell.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
I pulled the trigger three times. The first bullet exploded through the axe-wielders forehead, splattering his comrades with blood and brain before his body collapsed limply to the side.
The second and third bullets slammed into the chest of the bandit with the short sword. More than anything he looked confused before blood coughed from his mouth and he went down in the same fashion.
The only one left was the younger bandit – the one who had stabbed me.
The one who had looked the most terrified throughout this whole ordeal.
He dropped the dagger stained with my blood and raised both of his hands.
‘Please… Please don’t kill me…’
Tears filled his eyes quickly, and not the crocodile kind. He started shaking so much that I thought he was going to piss himself.
I took a few deep breaths and got a hold of myself.
‘Listen…’ I breathed, ‘You get the fuck out of here, now. Go home to your mother, and stay away from assholes like these guys. You’re gonna get yourself fucking killed.’
I ushered him away with my gun. Without hesitation he took off from the trail and disappeared into the trees.
‘Good lord, master. Your shoulder!’
Alorion and Ariadne hurried up to me from the cart.
‘How bad is it?’ I asked.
‘Likely not as bad as it feels,’ Alorion said. ‘But we’ll need to get it cleaned. We can pick something up at the trading post to get you healed.’
‘It needs covering,’ Ariadne said. ‘Give me your vest.’
I pulled it off and handed it to her. In seconds she had ripped a section away and pressed it against my wound tightly before tying my vest over my shoulder.
‘Not bad,’ I said. ‘You done that before?’
‘Not for a long time, master. Did I do well?’
‘Really well. Thanks.’
She smiled over at me and brushed her dirty blond hair behind one of her large fox ears. Even with the wound still fresh with pain, her hazel eyes and soft touch gave me some much-needed relief.
‘Uh, Jack?’
‘Yeah?’
I turned to see Alorion standing unassumingly amongst the bodies of the bandits.
‘We need to move the bodies, Jack. If anybody comes along this trail and finds them it will give undue attention to this area, which we do not need.’
‘Good point.’
‘Right after we make good use of their resources, of course.’
‘Their what?’
‘Well, they have no need for their possessions any longer.’
‘You’re saying we should loot them?’
‘If you are comfortable with doing so.’
Hell, I was more than comfortable with it. I had just been literally stabbed in the back by one of these assholes – the asshole that I had decided to let go, of all people.
This wasn’t my first time dealing with corpses – time overseas had weathered me enough on that front – but ransacking them was another matter entirely, even if they were my enemies.
Desperate times, though. I had never had a family to look after, but with people reliant on me it meant that I would have to do things that I wasn’t otherwise comfortable with.
From the three bodies I acquired 8GP. Not exactly a financial windfall, but maybe enough to at least pay for the medicine that I would need to heal and patch up the wound on my shoulder.
Their clothes were nothing but stinking, worn rags, but their dull weapons would maybe provide a little compensation. After storing them in my inventory I returned to the corpses and took to heaving them into the forest.
A sharp, hot pain ran through my shoulder with every strenuous movement. My strength compensated for it and I got the job done quickly, dragging the bandits into the trees far enough that they wouldn’t be seen.
After covering them with patches pulled from the undergrowth I met Alorion and Ariadne back at the cart, and the three of us continued towards the trading post, leaving no sign of our presence beyond wheel-marks and spatters of blood, both of which would be overtrodden and forgotten when the unknown beasts of the forest arrived for dinner, leaving nothing behind of the men beyond rags and bones.
Chapter Four
My wound was starting to bother me more than it should have been by the time we arrived at the trading post. It was as busy as ever, and despite the three of us keeping our heads down unassumingly, my dishevelled, blood-spattered, half-naked appearance was starting to draw some unwanted attention.
At the minotaur’s stall I sold our haul of corn, raking in a hefty 300GP. Afterwards we led the horse and cart over to a hitching post and crossed to Cobb’s tent. Before I even had a chance to enter he appeared in the doorway, pushing his glasses up his nose and smiling with surprise.
‘Back so soon?’ He grinned widely. ‘I’m more than prepared to provide you with another loan if necessary…’
‘It won’t be necessary,’ I said assuredly. ‘I’m here to settle.’
‘Oh…’ Cobb looked genuinely disappointed. ‘Very well.’
We completed the trade quickly, my total dropping down to 55GP, including what I had taken from the bandits. I winced at the suddenness of it.
But I was out of debt, and that was the important thing.
‘Why is it that neither of us look happy?’ I said.
‘You’re not a stupid man,’ Cobb said, dropping the salesman-façade a little. ‘You know why.’
I did. I had lost a large part of my
stash, and Cobb had nothing to hold over my head.
‘Let’s not let this sour our relationship,’ he continued. ‘I may like extorting people, but if you’re ever in the market, don’t hesitate to pay me a visit. I supply an everchanging variety of wares, and I’m sure that I may have something of value… Or vice-versa.’
We shook hands again before departing with our mental shopping list.
‘We need something for my wound,’ I started. ‘Then another bed, and some water canteens. Some replacement clothes too, if we can get our gold to stretch that far. They’re the main priorities. Once we get back to base I can start another harvest and we can return tomorrow.’
By the time we found the medicine vendor, manned by an unspeaking humanoid figure wearing a huge black cloak with his face obscured by a bird mask, my forehead was beading with sweat and my mouth was painfully dry.
After guidance from Ariadne and bartering with the silent man, who used fingers to indicate numbers, he finally offered a handshake. The trading window presented what I needed – a disinfectant potion, dressing and thick bandages, with a total standing at 35GP.
It was steep, but I had to accept it. I was dead if I didn’t.
12GP remaining.
I had always been responsible with my money. I knew what it was like early on in my life to have nothing, and what it felt like to have to stretch nothing in order to be able to survive. Getting into debt with Cobb had been out of character for me, but I had to save Ariadne from the fate she could have suffered under somebody else’s law.
Back at the cart I sat myself down on the edge while Alorion checked our stash and weighed up our upcoming purchases.
‘Bite down on this, master,’ Ariadne said, handing me a ragged piece of bandage that she had ripped off. I sank my teeth into it lightly before clenching my jaw down hard and groaning out as she poured the disinfectant over the wound. ‘Hardest part’s over.’
A few minutes later I was healed and properly patched up.
‘I have a plan,’ Alorion said. ‘We are limited in coin at present, but we may be able to stretch it a little further if we sell off the worn weapons from the bandits. The Junkers have a stall on the other side of the post – they’re a hugely populous tribe who collect weapons. They may take no interest, but they are an excitable bunch. If we can persuade them, we may be able to make enough gold to keep us comfortable till tomorrow.’
