The Shepherd Boys, Part 5 Lambs among lambs [lit]
Inside the dark hut, the boys, and the foreman had a humble dinner. There was, in the end, no favoritism: oats and salt pork for everyone, straight from the rations. The whole affair went slowly, with the boys, human and trasgrin, huddling by the fire while their half-orc overseer stood singing drinking songs, spicy and family unfriendly with a surprisingly nice voice. Outside, the mule was sleeping already, as were all diurnal creatures.
Once Mr. Furbag got tired of his singing, he set the boys to bed. “You two, sleep.” The order was impossible to obey. It was irrational to consider, but, neither Elly nor Tedus could dispel totally the idea that the man would have them killed during the night. True, they belonged to Mrs. Greedix, and the brute was just an employee; true, he won't gain anything from their blood, and yet they couldn't forget the sad remains of a trasgrin boy that so dearly paid for his attempt at freedom at the hands of Mr. Furbag. If the display was meant to scare their hearts away, it had succeeded.
Still, they managed to lay on the lambskins and roll themselves tightly in their plaids. They kept themselves awake, alert, imagining how to fight and scape that hulk, until their fear was finished by some fantastic, loud snoring. Then and only then, finally defeated by exhaustion, the two boys passed into their respective nightmares.
Elly woke up at the sounds of barking. The fire was almost extinguished by this time, but enough the soft light of dawn crept inside the hut that he could tell a head from a rock. Tedus was sleeping tight, the man was still snoring and Elly, donning his plaid as a cape, walked outside. The grass was mushy and cold to his feet, but he ignored that to the magnificent show of nature. Right before his eyes extended a sea of sheep, far less than he reckoned, but still far too many than he had ever seen at one time. And there were the ewes with the little lambs that he found the most lovely. And reached to them and, wonders of wonders, the mastiffs got an eye to him but barked not, very relaxed at his presence.
“Are you the new boy?”
Elly, kneeling by a lamb, raised his gaze to meet a withered woman. She was quite over fifty, lean, tanned and very much wrinkled. Her garments were much the same as his, except for moccasins and an oversized sun hut.
“Yes, mistress” answered Elly.
“Mistress? No, no, I'll be your boss, but I'm a servant too.”
“Oh…” Elly was glad at that. “But there's another one, Tedus, my trasgrin friend, but he's nice. Do you like trasgrins?”
“They don't bother us much. Hi, I'm Edra, those big friends are Up-with-you, Down-with-you, Couldn't-kill, Freckles and the pup is Enough-good.”
Elly chuckled. “Did you name them?”
“Nay, Mister Furbag did. Listen, why don't you go and play with the pup? I'll handle that half orc.”
“Are you sure, misstress, er… ma'am?”
“I'm your boss, I can make you go play if I must.” Edra almost sang those words.
Elly needed nothing more. After so many worries, tears and losses, there it lay before him a moment of pure joy and he seized the chance. He ran with the dogs, rolled on the damp ground and laughed while his new friends barked and played along. Though it was only Enough-good who was completely immersed in the game. The adults stopped regularly to check that the herd was in order.
Tedus had already woken up by then, but so had done Mr. Furbag. “Fetch water.”
Tedus didn't stop to ask where but ran away with the bucket, donning only his tunic. Outside, treasure was waiting for him. Above all, he was amazed by the sight of the flock. Among many trasgrin tribes, the mere thought of taking so much sheep from the “bohboh” humans was enough to turn a bad day into a feast.
Elly ran to his friend, with Enough-good following behind. “Welcome to life! How's the boss?”
“Bossy.” Teddus said.
“Ah… where are you going?”
“See bucket? Wa-er!”
“Can I go with you?”
“Aye.”
It wasn't that challenging to find water, more than a dozen streams ran nearby, all as cold and transparent. Though on many the sheep had done their things, so it was advisable to go as upstream as possible, and then check that no vulture had chosen your precise spot to fall to death. In any case it was a slow, silent going for the boys.
“Anything wrong?”
“Elly, we friends is bad.” Tedus made a mess of his human grammar, perhaps on purpose.
“Because you're a trasgrin and I'm a boboh human?”
“A-ha.”
“But, I thought we got along well.”
“I'm alone wiz me. Humans kill trasgrins.”
“Sorry.”
“You and I aren't at war.” Tedus said, and then went silent.
Once the job was done, Mr. Furbag made them to prepare breakfast and stand inside the hut, silent, while he shared the food with Edra and the dogs. The animals were very fond of that half-orc, the eldest even behaving a bit like pups in his presence. When the half orc had his bonding, by simply raising a finger, he got the mastiffs to lay down by him and keep quiet. Finally, he called the boys.
“Elly, come here. Go and caress Down-with-you in the cheeks, but use the back of your hands, both”.
“Yes, sir.” Elly didn't understand why he'd have to do that, but he obeyed, and it was nice. The dog andswered by licking the humans finger. All that seemed odd, odder still that he had to repeat the ceremony with the other mastiffs, and so had Tedus. And when that said and done, the boys went out with the boys and the sheep and played together, while adults talked of their things.
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- Start: Part 1: On the Anvil
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