The Shepherd Boys, Part 4 The Lady of the Prairy
Elly and Tedus were acquired by a trader in wool. The whole business went as banally as the purchase of two potatoes. “I'll take these two at the usual price for spare boys, minus my ten percent.” said Mistress Greedix, a mature woman with one fourth of trasgrin blood with a subtle touch of orc.
Once acquired, Mistress Greedix's best hand took the boys to their new jobs. First he fed them at the market's stall: some five big bowls filled with rabbit stew, tatties, lentil soup, more tatties and mushy peas with carrots, turnips and the gods know what else. All cheap, but abundant: Mister Furbag was a half orc with, perhaps, a hint of halfling himself. Besides, it was Mistress Greedix's money he was spending.
Once that was done, the boy's garments had to go. These had only been provided for the selling, but they'd be too flimsy for their work. So the boys got some coarse tunics, hats, underwear and a blanket, with a pin. This plaid was long enough to be used as a kilt, coat or cape, all combined, as the boys would quickly figure out. Also, they be given a simple haversack made of waxed cotton. There'd go all their dry rations: salt, oats, maybe lentils, chickpeas, rice, onions or even salted pork if they were that lucky.
"Gud, you gave me no whinings, so far", Furbag told the kids. "I'll do you some gud in return. Let's see the smithy." Mister Furbag loved to play nice with the new ones. In fact, unchaining was Mistress Greedix's usual policy: for mosts of her slaves, irons were only a hindrance. All the same, it made a magnificent effect on the boys. Now they were... free? Not quite, just a minute, symbolic liberation, but still a bit of something, whatever that was.
All done, the foreman took the boys to the market stables and ordered the kids to load a mule with food. This was done with some clumsiness, a bag filled with oats dropped open, to the joy of several horses, for none of the kids had ever done such a job. "Now, you go with me, twenty miles. We've got some work to do."
Two hours later, neither Elly nor Tedus had said a word. Caddair looked already distant, behind a curtain of rain, and it didn't look like they'd reach anywhere before nightfall.
"Ah... they taught you well. I like that." Said the foreman. "How do you answer to that?"
"Yes sir, thank you, sir." Said Elly.
"How can we do some-ding for you, sir?" Added Tedus in his trasgrin accent.
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Best trained ever, and you'll have no use for that ever!"
The boys turned themselves to stone.
"See that hut in the fell?" It was a round black hut made of dry irregular stones with a slate roof. Still, alone in the moor, it brought a promise of shelter.
The boys nodded.
"Good, we'll wait for your boss there."
Tedus nodded, but Elly got his best smile on. In his mind, his new job had to be something adventurous. Perhaps, they were to become scouts for the city, keeping orcs from infiltrating, or it could be spying bandits or providing shelter to a green knight on a secret mission...
Mister Furbag noticed that smile. "Oh, boy, you think you've got my heart. I'm Uncle Nice, to you right? Well, no. Run, fetch me fuel and water and be fast, for I'm hungry and you'll cook for me. And when my belly is warm, then I might let you get some. Now go, and don't dare to run away. You'll pay."
"Sir, we won't..."
The foreman cut Elly's words down. "Shut up! You can't promise your freedom away. Let me just say something... you did see that trasgrin dead on the road. He ran away, and somebody had to punish him, and I don't want to be that one, again. Don't make me."
"Yes, sir..." The boys answers were hardily audible over the rain. Filled with fear the boys darted to their assigned tasks trying not to remember that they were to spend the night with such a beast of a half orc in that small, damped, dark hut.\
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