by P. S. Power
It might work. Then, he might be able to learn the needed skills himself, if he paid attention. Other people managed it, after all. He’d seen some purchases being made now, most in the last days, and the people the night before had seemed eager enough to barter for goods or services with him for the meat and other food.
That had to be a secondary concern, however. His primary mission was to get to the front and take care of food for those with him. The women and children that needed some aid weren’t his responsibility. Not the first one, at least. Besides, once everyone worked out that he was using magic for things like he was, they might not be willing to deal with him at all. He honestly didn’t know how people outside of the castle would respond to things like that.
Inside it, the results had been mixed for him, so far.
At about the point where his stomach was demanding the mid-meal, they got to stop to water the horses and oxen, as well and get some for themselves. That was, oddly enough, very near the bend in the road where the bandits had been waiting. Not that it wasn’t understandable. They’d stayed by the stream, knowing that a caravan would know it was near the road there for a long stretch, so would stop, allowing them to follow along, later.
He wasn’t found immediately by the others, not being needed for anything for a moment. What he did do was start to work out the needed spell, to communicate what had taken place that day. There had to be an interview, but he actually knew most of the facts already. What he had to do was make certain what he knew was what the others agreed had taken place.
That happened as the squires and knights rode by to get their mid-meal. That was travel bread, fruit and cheese. Anders ate his own quickly, and after asking about what had taken place, started to mutter the complicated spell. It took about three minutes to set it all in motion. He set it to repeat four times, and speak directly to the ear of Princess Aisla. Master Tolan was working, and might miss part of the message, so it made sense to go with someone else at the moment.
When he checked, after the first repeat, using his other magical skills, the woman had the message mainly written down. She had to make corrections, and then walk it to the King. Anders had promoted the danger of the whole thing a bit and made the squires sound rather heroic, but that was the nature of such reports. Every historian knew that. Plus, this way he could make Prince Erold seem brave. He had been. All the boys had done their duty, and if they’d been afraid, well, that hadn’t shown too much on the outside. Plus, only one person had been there to notice it happening and he’d failed to mention it to anyone at all.
A call went up, which was different than he would have figured on happening.
“Six bandits dead! Six bandits dead! Prepare to travel!”
Anders called that out as well, when it was his turn, since it passes from wagon to wagon, going back. They were making good time, so far, which meant that he needed to pass the reins over to the knight again, frown at his own lack of doing his work of the moment, and then got his bow and ten arrows out.
“There are wild cattle in the area. I’ll get what I can. Then... We need some way to carry it. I can’t butcher it on the move.”
The other man nodded.
“Got it. I’ll see if I can work that out. Check for attack first? I know that you found these last ones, but that doesn’t mean more haven’t moved into the area. Even if that is unlikely.”
He did that, since it was basically both common sense and good magical discipline that Anders was certain Master Tolan would approve of. Naturally, he didn’t find anything, except that he needed to get to the cattle quickly, since they weren’t too far from the road at the moment. He had to run again, his feet and behind hurting, mainly from travel and all the running he’d been doing that day. This time he came back to the road after jogging around the rangy, free, cows and killed them with several arrows that took three of them down instantly and crippled a fourth, as the others in the herd fled for their lives. The dying beast bellowed in pain. Feeling sad about it, Anders dashed in and slashed the things throat. He was almost on the road, visible from it, when the lead wagon came into view. He simply started to work on stringing the things up to bleed, one at a time, panting as he used magic for it, because even being thin, they were still cows, which meant huge.
As the first drained, over a tree branch, with tripled rope being used to hang it up, the Caravan Master walked over, eyeing the four beasts.
“I see... I think, at least. What do we need to do for this?”
It was clear to Anders that the older man was confused by the sight in front of him. The heavy animal was far too great a weight for the small boy to have hoisted over the tree branch, even though it was clear that had, indeed, taken place. On top of that, the child was still breathing hard, as if doing great work.
Between sucking in huge lungs full of air, Anders let his head range from side to side. The attempt was at seeming friendly. After all, he had to travel with these people for another few weeks, at the very least. Being driven out of the caravan wouldn’t aid him in any way and could cause other problems if it happened.
“We need to bleed all of these, then skin them and part them out...” He sighed, his clever plans of not being known to have magic at all already having fallen to the side. “Then I can freeze the meat, for later. That’s a bit of work, but once it turns solid, it’s easy enough to keep it that way.” Honestly, he could freeze it in the moment, then let the spell drop on it, as soon as that happened.
At least for what they were having that night, when they stopped.
The Caravan Leader squinted at him a bit, then looked at the dead cows. There was not particular fear in his eyes, just a bit of distrust.
“Well, I did hear that you and your helper made a hash of trying to skin the deer last night. I’ll ask around and see if anyone can help you do that proper like. You’re still sharing the meat around for free? This is a lot of it and people will trade for it, even early on the trip like this. Some felt as if they might be cheating you, yesterday.” The man watched the red blood trickle out of the one suspended cow while he spoke, as if mesmerized. The wagons kept moving past, at a slow but steady rate.
That meant they had a real enough time schedule to keep.
Anders just shrugged at the fellow.
“One of the knights suggested that we should make sure the little ones with us have food and good clothing. Anyone that wants to help with that would be... Appreciated. I have some greens and roots again, as well, for later. Some fruit, too. It isn’t perfect food...”
That got waved away, almost instantly.
“Perhaps. It’s also better than what most can get for themselves on the road, lest they had it at the start. If you can manage some grains and sweets, they’ll probably hoist you on their shoulders and carry you the rest of the way. Even if you are an evil magic user.” There was a grin, when he spoke the last words, as if he were jesting.
Anders just nodded.
“It was decided that I could try to hide that part, or actually help some people. I just hope no one gets too distressed over it. The magic portion.”
The older fellow turned back to the cows and then shrugged.
“Makes it harder to fear you, if you’re looking out for everyone like this. You seem a bit young, to be sent off to the front. I guess I can see it, if you can use your wizardry to find things like animals to hunt. You the one that found the bandits or are there more of you hidden in our ranks?”
Snorting, just a bit, making his face into what he hoped was a wry grin, he rolled his eyes a bit.
“It was me. I’m really just the one passing messages for the King, though. That part is true. It’s stretching things a bit to claim that I’m the head page, of course. I was never truly one of them, just being a boy who was asked to pass messages at times.”
That got an honest laugh, for some reason. Then the man patted him on the shoulder, gently.
“Let me...” The man turned and set up another call.
/> “Six to skin cows and butcher! Six to skin cows and butcher!” It took a few minutes, but as people worked out where the animals were, they had closer to ten people there, to get in on the work. Two of them were the ladies from the evening before.
Mary and Betha. Anders waved at them.
“I have a bit of meat in. Oh, some honey, as well as fruit and greens. I’m trading the honey though, if you want to put that around? After this, I mean.”
Mary, seeming a bit run down from the trip already, managed a saucy look at him. Her brown hair was pulled back, efficiently enough, but a few wisps were out to the side and her clothing was already in need of a good cleaning. It was probably a thing that everyone needed to have seen to. He could do it for them later, he decided, if they weren’t going to be too afraid of him, having some magic going on.
Betha, who had seemed shy and a bit retiring the night before, moved in and touched his arm.
“What do you want for that honey? I could use my mouth on you?” She glanced at Mary, who looked away, a small smile on her face. There was a nod as well, as if that, a bit of sweetness, was the honest cost equivalent for such a task.
It could have been, even. Anders didn’t know and old Farad had even less sense of what such things would go for. Unlike the boy inside, however, who was actually considering that as a good trade, Farad recalled what the King, and others, had suggested to him. That he might be well served by avoiding such temptations for a time.
They had a bit of a struggle, for a few moments, with Farad winning out. Not by force of will, but rather by asserting that no woman, even a cute one like Betha, was worth going against the King for.
So he waved his right hand a bit.
“You and your friends already get some, for helping with the cooking. This too, but these others still have to barter for the honey, so don’t tell them about that part. I’m looking for cloth and clothing we can turn into things for the children with us to wear. I might be able to use these skins, as well, but that’s less certain. I can make some clothing, using magic, if I have materials to work from.” He’d made linen seem like leather and it was holding up pretty well, he had to admit.
That didn’t mean he could instantly make leather into warm and thick cloth. Really, he needed to work out how to alter things into wool, if he could. That was the warmest type of clothing that he knew of. He noticed as Betha went pale, at the mention of magic and even Mary, who was a bold sort of person, went still for a few moments. Then she nodded.
“We’ll put the word out for that, then. Now, I have no clue how to butcher one of these things. Betha does, so she can help with that. If she isn’t too afraid to work near you now? As if you aren’t the same boy that just made sure she could do honest chores for that honey, instead of plying our other trade for it?” She looked at her friend and then shrugged.
“A whore can’t afford to be that picky about who they service, Betha. Magic types have needs too and will come to you, if you don’t make it too hard for them. Besides, this is Andy. Acting like he’s scary suddenly, because he can make clothing is...” She grinned then. The other woman and some of the men from the caravan who had come to help out, nodded.
Betha took a deep breath.
“I know that. Even in the village we had an herb woman. We were always told to respect her. To fear her, really. We weren’t mean about it, but...”
That started a conversation, as people worked. Anders helped out, as he could, since they didn’t have a lot of time. One of the men, not bothering to introduce himself, just started to explain what was needed, for proper skinning.
“Here, like this. Use a short blade. One with a curved edge, like this. Then make a spread movement with your first two fingers and pull the flesh up from that under it. Work the blade in short bits, and slide along, cutting just a little at a time. Start at the bottom and work upward.” He also went over how to go around the legs and then, once they had the skin pulled off, how to cure it.
“That part isn’t hard. Take the brain out of the skull and rub it on the damp part. Just get in there and really drive it in.”
Anders wondered, for a moment, if the man were jesting with him on that bit, but Farad had actually heard of the technique before. They also needed a frame for the skins, which mean dashing into the woods and finding a few, fairly small, but strong and pliable trees to take down.
He cheated, using magic for that. Focusing on the correct form in his mind, he stuck out a closed fist, aimed at the trunk of the trees, then opened his fingers. That caused them to fall, in all but two cases. Then he gathered them up, dashing back to the man who had asked for them, about five minutes later.
The fellow saw the ends, which were rough and a bit splintered, but he didn’t ask why that was the case. He just got to work, Letting Anders skin the next three animals on his own. Betha and the others parted the meat out, a lot more efficiently than he would have managed on his own. Then he selected out the portions he wanted for late meal that night and gave them a partial freezing, muttering a new spell over them, to make that happen.
“These will thaw by meal time, I think. If not, I can do it using magic. The rest here... I need to freeze that solid, so it will stay that way. Then we can... Really, I don’t have room in my wagon for all of this.”
That problem had been foreseen, at least. Ery and Faine moved in, with Chestnut attached, a bit uneasily, to a decently large cart. The horse looked over at Anders, as if asking if the thing stuck behind her was actually correct, or if it were, perhaps, a horrible mistake. She wasn’t kicking or bucking over it, but it was clear that she felt the task was strange. Possibly beneath her as well.
Ery walked next to her, and patted the good girl horse on the neck.
“We can load most of that into this.” The Prince eyed the meat, much of which was already frozen and hard, as well as laying on the ground. It was that portion the boy didn’t seem to like.
Anders had to agree, but they had limited resources at the moment, so would have to simply wash it first, before cooking it later. At least he’d be doing that with the things he was working with. Rather than assure his friend that it would all easily fit and that more could be placed in the cart as well, even without stressing the horse, he simply started to load up. He got some help for that, from almost everyone there. Then, after using a bit of magic to remove the blood from his own clothing, where he’d come into contact with it as he worked, Anders waved Betha and Mary over.
Mary didn’t look that bad, though she had dark splotches on her red skirt and a few on her top. Betha, who was in yellow and tan, looked like someone had tried to kill her. Anders didn’t ask, just cleaning their clothing for them both and a bit shyly, did their bodies, as well. Betha did not seem to be pleased with either thing, but Mary got it and made a half-choked sound at him.
“Thanks to you then, Andy. You need us to get you back to the right spot, with your little cart?”
He knew the way, so shook his head.
“We’ll be fine, with the three of us. We’ll get you two back to your wagon though, first. It’s on the way.” It was also most of the way to them, since the line had kept moving the whole time. He waved at the other men who had helped with the work. “Grab some extra meat, if you want it for your meal tonight. You’ll have to come by to get in on the rest of it, when we make camp.”
No one grumbled too much about that idea, though one of the men, the one who had helpfully gone over how to skin things with him, eyed the women a bit too closely. A thing that, Anders knew, was fine enough, really. If the man wanted to do adult things with them, well, they seemed open to trade that way.
This man seemed to be furtive about it though. As if he had something sinister in mind, instead of simply paying the women to do some work for him.
Anders distracted him, by handing him a decently large hunk of frozen beef.
“Sorry there, I didn’t get your name? I’m Andy.” The unwrapped package was cool in his hands and ther
e was a shocked look on the fellow’s face when he took it.
“Cold! Gah!” The man grinned then and shook his head, affably enough. “Rofer Keen. Running three grain wagons for the King, out to the front. Not that the man knows me directly, of course.”
That was probably how most people dealt with royalty, Anders knew. They worked for them, at least in some manner or fashion and if they ever saw them, even in the distance, it was a major event in their lives.
So he nodded.
“Good work, I wager. Anyway, come by the camp tonight for the rest of things. Greens, roots, fruit and if you want to trade for it, some honey.” He nearly called the man out on his thoughts of the night before, but didn’t.
After all, thoughts were, in the end, simply thoughts. This man had raped women before, but he didn’t seem like a threat, on the outside. Really, he seemed affable enough, except that his looks at the women were held a bit too long. That meant, even if Anders was correct about him, that no one there would have any particular reason to think that he was a bad sort.
Plus, Sir Humphrey had mentioned that he’d take care of that portion of things. That would happen, Anders didn’t doubt at all. On top of that, he was going to be keeping an eye out on the man himself, just in case the message didn’t land clearly.
Rofer gave him a shrewd look then.
“Can you get more of that kind of thing, do you think? Honey? We could fill a barrel with it, if you could collect enough. Hard to find though, on the move like this. True enough, it’s hard to find at the best of times.”
Anders shrugged, looked around and then realized that everyone around them probably understood that he’d been using magic already. Mary was next to him, with Rofer not five feet from her, glancing her way, occasionally.