Homesteading on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  We had turned so that the monster was facing north. I could see the weight of the creature shifting backwards as it prepared to pounce. My foot caught on an uneven portion of the ground, and I stumbled. The blade of the spear dipped as I tried to avoid falling to the ground.

  I expected the monster to jump, but instead it howled in pain. I rolled to my feet. The monster was looking to its left. I could not see what had caught its attention, but the turn of the head left me another opening.

  Before I had even gotten fully to my feet I charged forward, driving the spear at the opening between the monster’s right shoulder and the mane. The seemingly sentient hair ignored my attack and I was able to drive the spear deep into the monster’s shoulder. It glanced off something hard and tore out through the creature’s back.

  As the spear ripped free of the monster, I stumbled. There was no way I could prevent falling, so I tucked my head and dove, aiming to the left of the monster’s flailing claw. The spear swung free as I dove, slashing into the neck of the monster. The mane once again failed to act to prevent the weapon from striking.

  The monster roared again. It kicked out at me with its hind legs as I rolled to the side and tried to scramble back to my feet.

  “What is this thing?” Lenoir shouted. “And where do I try to hit it.”

  “Who knows and anywhere,” I gasped out as the monster spun around to look at me. I saw a stone hit it in the side, but it barely flinched as it limped in my direction.

  “Ron!” Aine called. “It’s stalking you!”

  I was now jousting with the monster. It would make small lunges and bite at me as I tried to fend it off with the blade of the spear. I hustled to get south of the monster and started trying to lure it away from our herds.

  The hits I had made were starting to have a visible effect on the monster. The left shoulder appeared clean, but the monster visibly limped when putting its left claw on the ground. It’s right shoulder was covered with a thick orange ichor of some kind. More of this orange ichor was spreading around the crossbow bolt that was still embedded in the monster’s ear.

  I thought the limp was a sign that the monster was slowing down, but after it had made a dozen failed attempts to bite me it revealed a new trick. At first I thought it might be fainting from blood loss when its head dropped, but then the hair of its mane became a dozen little spikes that shot directly at me.

  I dove to the right, narrowly avoiding getting impaled by the spikes. The monster followed that up by attempting to leap, but its right front leg collapsed as I rolled out of the way.

  “Ron, stay down!” Aine shouted. I tried to crawl away without standing up. There was the twang of a crossbow firing, and the monster howled again.

  I spun around and jumped to my feet. This arrow had caught the monster in the side of the nose. The tip of the arrow emerged from the monster’s nostril. It shook its head again as I struggled to stand.

  The monster ignored me as my right ankle buckled. I went down, putting my right knee on the ground and leaning on the spear. I could hear someone screaming at me, but tried to ignore the pain and concentrate on the monster.

  Eyes filled with fury were looking around the meadow. I felt the intense pressure of the monster’s gaze, but it turned away and began hobbling toward the river. I could see Shaylin trying to scramble away, but the young woman tumbled to the ground as she turned.

  I was the closest to the monster. Despite the pain in my right ankle I forced my body into a standing position and began racing after it. My right ankle would barely accept any weight, but there was no one else to stop the creature as it stalked Shaylin.

  The creature appeared to be limping. I was behind it, but I could see the left side of the monster dip with each step. I should have been able to catch it easily, but I was limping myself and barely able to keep pace. I was debating throwing the spear when the monster’s head turned to the right.

  It issued a feeble roar to the west. As it did, the creature’s body seemed to drop on the left side. The left hind foot appeared to hold to the ground, but the body ahead of the leg fell towards the ground. Desperately, I put both hands on the spear just a foot behind the blade and raised the spear over my head as I leapt into the air with my left leg.

  My right ankle throbbed as I flew the ten feet or so I needed to reach the body of the creature. It noticed me and kicked out with its right leg. The kick missed me as I landed on the creature’s hip and brought the spear down in an overhead smash.

  A howl of pain echoed over the valley as I drove the blade of my spear deep into the hindquarters of the monster. It tried to bend its body to bite at me, but there was a loud crack. I was flung to the ground as the monster’s rear legs collapsed.

  My injured ankle twisted again. I roared in pain and released the spear. I was lying right next to the right hind foot of the monster. The knee of the leg was bent double and the claws were open.

  “Ron,” I heard someone shout. “Get out of there.”

  I tried to push my chest off the ground so I could stand, but my arms refused to function. I gave it one last heave and then fell forward, lying on the torn up ground.

  Chapter 14: Building the Foundation

  Hands reached down and grabbed my shoulders. I was rolled over and pulled into a sitting position. The rough treatment caused my right foot to bang against the still motionless leg of the monster. I screamed in pain and reached for the ankle.

  “Ron?” I heard Cimbra ask. “It’s not safe here.”

  “My ankle,” I gasped out.

  “Can you stand? We need to move,” Cimbra insisted.

  “Not on my ankle,” I said. “I can probably stand, but my right leg won’t support any weight.”

  “But that creature!” Cimbra shouted.

  The creature had been moaning piteously. As Cimbra’s shout echoed out over the valley the monster gave a great sigh. Its head fell to the ground as the front legs relaxed.

  “It appeared to be dead,” I said with a sigh. “I guess we should still move. Help me to my feet, and we can stumble to the north. Has anyone set up any kind of camp or fire?”

  “I never got to check,” Cimbra said as she stood up. She looked at the creature for a moment. “I don’t think its breathing.”

  The dark elf had her hand out. I grasped it and used the support to rise up on my left foot. I hopped a couple of times and then put a hand on Cimbra’s shoulder. “Hopefully its dead,” I said. “And I hope it was alone. I’d hate to run into several of those.”

  “Could there be more?” Cimbra asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said. “I’m guessing it is some kind of magical creation. It looks like someone took a lion’s head and body and then added chicken legs for some reason. Of course, it is larger than any lion I ever saw.”

  Cimbra shivered. “It’s big enough,” she muttered as she put an arm around my chest and started helping me limp to the northern edge of the valley. She looked up. “Aine! Ron is hurt.”

  I looked up and could see Aine standing on the top of a large stone. The young woman waved briefly and then looked out over the meadow. “Come over here,” she shouted back. “There are some rocks he can rest against.”

  “He needs healing!” Cimbra insisted.

  “Oleiana ran for the river already,” Aine said. “She was going to see if she could bring help. But we took that thing down. What is it?”

  “Trouble,” I said. “But that is what it was. Right now I’m wondering if the legs taste like chicken. Those are some rather impressive drumsticks.”

  I heard laughter from my left. Cimbra was on my right and moved slightly ahead of me as I stopped to look. Lenoir was walking toward me. She had her sling wrapped around her wrist. “I don’t think there is a spit large enough to cook that monster. You’d need a tree to hold it out of the flame.”

  “Do we have a fire?” I asked as Cimbra resumed helping me walk towards where Aine was now climbing down from the stone.

  “Not y
et,” Lenoir said. “We were mostly trying to figure out what was disturbing the herd.”

  “I think we found out the answer to that question,” I groaned. “And it was a painful lesson.”

  “I doubt there is more than one,” Lenoir said. “That monster would need a lot of food. It would drive away any completion for food.”

  “It also might have eaten all the game in the area,” I said. “Although I guess we can see if anyone knows how to catch fish. I suspect we’ll find some in the river.”

  Lenoir just nodded. Cimbra and I walked the remaining yards in silence. My ankle was throbbing again when we finally reached the area Aine had indicated. There was a large circle of bare dirt and rock. It was about forty feet across.

  Aine immediately pointed to one rock that was embedded in the soil. There was about two feet of exposed granite. “Let him sit with his back against this,” she said.

  Cimbra helped me turn around and carefully sit down. I bumped my foot against the ground twice, each time hissing in pain. Lenoir finally grabbed my knee and held my leg and foot off the ground as I finished sitting down.

  Aine looked at my ankle. “We need to get the boot off,” she said. “The ankle is swelling. I’d say get ice, but we have no source for that.”

  “I can get water,” Dafalia said. “It’s not cold, but that might help.”

  Aine shrugged. “Do it. At least there are no cuts to worry about.”

  “Check on Shaylin when you pass her,” I said. “I remember watching her fall just as the creature turned to chase her. And has anyone seen Soldrin? Is he hurt?”

  “Did you ask about me?” Soldrin shouted. He walked up holding a hand over his right ear. I could see blood coming from his left ear and his nose.

  “Can you hear me?” I asked softly.

  “Did you say something?” Soldrin shouted.

  I looked over at Aine. “That roar must have ruptured his eardrums. He won’t be able to hear for a few days probably. Try to get him to understand that.”

  “How?” Aine asked. “We never taught him to read.”

  I sighed. “Maybe Ximenia can explain it once she’s here. This is a disaster.”

  “Not really,” Yveney said as she walked up to join the group. “That beast almost certainly is the only large predator in the area. So we’ll have time to build up our defenses and explore the valley. And it didn’t kill anyone.”

  “I just wish I was dead right now,” I hissed as Lenoir and Cimbra pulled my boot from my injured foot. “This hurts.”

  I heard someone shout “Ron!” from somewhere to the west of our location. Lenoir stood up and waved.

  “We need to elevate my foot,” I said quietly. “Is there another rock we can put under my calf?”

  Cimbra and Lenoir looked at me blankly as Heather ran up to the campsite. She seemed frantic as she looked around. “Where’s Ron?” she asked.

  I raised my right hand and waved. Aine just sighed. “He’s got an ankle that’s already swelling. We need Esme here to look at it.”

  “She’s on her way,” Heather said. “But she was waiting for Hencktor to grab the hammer.”

  “What about the carts?” I asked.

  “They are all down and waiting by the river,” Heather said.

  I shook my head. “I should be helping.”

  Heather put both her hands on my left shoulder. Cimbra held down my right. “No!” they shouted in unison.

  Lenoir started laughing. “Ron, you won’t get any support this time. Everyone has said you need to back off a bit. At least with the hurt ankle you’ll have an excuse.”

  “A manly one at that,” Heather said. “But where is the monster? Oleiana said there was some massive creature. We all heard the roar.”

  Cimbra giggled. “Ron here took it on with his spear. It’s lying out in the meadow.”

  “I had a lot of help,” I said. “Aine hit it twice with her crossbow.”

  “In the ear and in the nose,” Aine said. “I hardly think either shot would have been fatal.”

  “And I supposed that Lenoir and Soldrin did not use their slings. I know it only stopped because something distracted it,” I said. I noticed that Soldrin was standing near us and swaying. He appeared to be trying to listen in on the conversation.

  I pointed to the young man. He missed it the first time, but Cimbra reached out and slapped his leg. When he turned to look at her, I caught his eye and pointed towards the valley wall. He shook his head, but I pointed again.

  “Lenoir, please help Soldrin find a spot to sit,” I said. “We need Esme to check his ears.”

  “What’s wrong with him?” Heather asked. She gasped as Soldrin walked by and she could see the blood still oozing from his left ear. “How?”

  “I think it was that monster’s roar,” I said. “It nearly knocked me off my feet. Soldrin was a lot closer. I remember it knocked him from his feet.”

  “Got me that way too,” Lenoir said. “I think it knocked over several of the cattle as well. That must be how that monster hunted.”

  I looked over at Yveney. The young shepherdess shrugged. “They are all standing again. None really wants to move eastward at the moment, but they appear to be relaxed. I’d have to get Gertrilla to say more, but she was helping Haydee get the sheep settled in. I guess the meadow over there has a couple of rather nasty thickets on its borders.”

  “Depending on what they are made of we might remove those,” I said. “We want this to be a very successful farm.”

  As I said that Esme, Natalie, Lydia, and Hencktor came running up. Lydia accelerated so that she was the first to reach me. “Ron, what happened? Oleiana rushed to the ford saying a monster had appeared.”

  “It came, we saw, it died,” I said deadpan. I pointed towards the body.

  “Henck, confirm that,” Lydia said firmly. “Now why are you sitting here.”

  “He hurt his ankle,” Cimbra snapped at Lydia. The dark elven woman immediately dropped her chin to her chest and leaned away from Lydia, but my former coworker smiled and shook her head.

  “Oh, I’m glad to see you defending Ron. He needs people to do that. Esme can you check Ron? I’ll check on the monster with Hencktor.”

  “Check Soldrin first,” I said. “And where is Dafalia? She went to the river and was going to check on Shaylin.”

  “Shay?” Lydia asked.

  “She used one of her spells to hurt the monster, but fell when it turned to stalk her,” I said.

  Lydia stood up. “I don’t…Oh, there she is. Dafalia is helping her walk over here.”

  “More injured people,” Natalie said. Esme had moved to kneel in front of Soldrin. Natalie knelt down by me and looked at my right foot. “Nice amount of swelling. What happened?”

  “Turned it while trying to use my spear on that monster,” I said. “I’m not running any marathons for a while.”

  Natalie nodded. “I know the standard treatment. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. We might not be able to do the ice.”

  “Ron!” Dafalia called out. I could see that she had an arm under Shaylin’s shoulder. What surprised me was that Shaylin’s eyes were closed and she seemed to be unconscious.

  “Shay?” I called back.

  "She's breathing, but she's barely awake. All I could get her to say is that she has a headache," Dafalia replied.

  "Set her down where she can use a rock to support her back. Then run and get water for her to drink," Esme said without turning away from Soldrin.

  "How is he?" I asked.

  "Both eardrums are ruptured," Esme said. "He'll be mostly deaf until they heal. It looks like they will heal though. How did it happen?"

  "He was only about fifty yards away from yon beastie when it roared. I was three times as far and was nearly knocked off my feet," I said.

  "Does Soldrin understand," Lydia asked. "He's got to be panicking that he can't hear anyone."

  "He's not panicking, but I think he's upset," Esme said. "I'm afraid I don'
t know him all that well. And I don't think he really trusts me right now."

  Lydia looked at me. "I'll try to talk to him."

  I nodded as Esme moved over to look at my ankle. She reached out and carefully gripped my calf. With one finger she prodded at several points on my now visibly swollen ankle. I hissed in pain as she worked.

  "Well," she said as she set my foot back on the ground. "I can't really tell how bad it is, but you don't have any visible breaks or tears. Natalie and I do need to wrap it though. I want to give it some support while the healing starts. And you aren't to walk for the rest of the day."

  "But," I protested.

  Esme smiled. "You are in a spot that is perfect for a fire. It's sheltered from the wind. It's already bare ground, so we can keep the fire danger down, and from here we can see the valley. I'm sure Lydia and Hencktor will have no problem bringing the group to you."

  "But we have to get the carts here," I said.

  "Already mostly done," Natalie said. "Borlan and Verval were just digging out the last two stumps when Oleiana ran to us."

  "Of more than one hundred yards of stumps?" I asked incredulously.

  "Joelia suggested that we chop the roots and then push the stumps over. We can come back later to finish the work," Natalie said. "It made the process go quickly."

  "It looks like they finished," Heather said as she stood up to survey the field. "I can see the carts on their way here."

  "What about going back for the items we unloaded from the broken wagon?" I asked.

  "I'll take care of that," Heather said. "But we should have the meeting first. Everyone is tired."

  "Krysbain?" I asked, looking for any last reason to delay the meeting.

  "I see him," Lenoir called out. "He just emerged from the trees. He's following the north wall of the valley."

  "And heading right for us," I grumbled. "Very well, I'll concede. So next will be planning the next few days."

  "It's needed," Esme said.

  "Can someone go and let Haydee and Gertrilla know?" I asked. "They are on the other side of the river looking at the pastures we plan to use for sheep. They deserve to know about the meeting."