Book 2 Ch 4: Shepherd

They traveled along a main road with most of their armor in their bags, but their swords and weapons displayed clearly at their waists. There was a small village a few miles ahead that Marcus had spotted when they’d crested a particularly high hill. It was a warm day, and there was a pleasant breeze that would occasionally push Michael’s long hair out of his face. He was well due for a trim, but at this point it didn’t seem like he’d have the time for one any time soon.

The buildings were primarily a-frames with a wattle and daub construction and thatched roofs. They were all tucked fairly close to one another and sat at the base of several large hills that sat only a little higher than their buildings. There were small gardens near all of the houses, and in the distance they could see a number of smaller outbuildings and large fenced off fields filled with what Michael believed were sheep or goats, but couldn’t quite tell from where he was standing.

Michael started to notice that he was feeling a pull, the same one he’d felt the last few times Godseeker had activated. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the herds in the distance, but he couldn’t make out anything that it could be drawing him towards.

There was a kind of whistle as they started to get closer to the homes and a number of people went from milling about to going inside and grabbing things before standing and waiting at the entrance to the village. Michael saw men and women clutching hooked staffs, pitchforks, and a few with actual spears and axes. They were wearing mostly simple brown clothes, but they seemed to be of very fine construction with no pilling or threads out of place.

Michael had snuck ahead with Marcus earlier and taken the time to divine as many of them as he could, but hadn’t been able to mark any of them as a diviner. That meant that they should be in the clear when it came to them being discovered as takers. From what they understood, takers were killed on sight. Francesca had hidden her face with a hood after caking some dirt over her tattoos to hide her taker marks.

A man stood in front of the rest of them, a large dog with motley fur at his side and a long shepherd’s hook in his right hand. He was bald except for a crown of dark gray and had a beard of a matching color and small, dark eyes.

“Who are you and what’s your business here?” asked a man that Michael was able to divine as being the villages leader, not that he really needed to given the context around him.

“We are deserters from Stent, on our way to Swandia. We want no trouble, and have a small amount of coin we’d be willing to trade for supplies and a roof for the night.”

“We have no need of coin,” replied the man.

“Well, do you have anyone that needs healing?” asked Marcus. “My friend here is a healer, and may be able to help.” Marcus gestured to Michael.

The village elder stroked his beard for a few moments, looking them over.

“Can he heal animals as well?”

“Yes,” replied Michael. He hadn’t healed any animals aside from a horse or two, but he didn’t imagine that a sheep or whatever it was he’d seen in the distance would prove much more difficult.

The Elder nodded to himself and stamped his staff on the ground. “If he heals all in the village that need it, as well as the sheep then you are welcome to stay the night. Do not touch our women, do not take anything you do not barter for, and know that you are being watched. Understood?”

Marcus nodded.

The man held out a fist.

Marcus raised an eyebrow, but bumped his own fist against the elder’s.

The Elder nodded one more time and looked behind himself.

“Ezra, take their healer to Tholomew, then over to the herds. Bede and Nict, show them to the winter sheep hold.”

Michael smiled his friendliest smile at Ezra who regarded him with a blank and empty expression of his own. Ezra was nearly as tall as the village elder, but broader at the chest with a flat nose and muddy brown hair.

“Follow.”

Michael nodded and fell in behind him until they reached a small house. He knocked on the door, and there was a sound of movement inside until a man pushed the door open, nearly falling through it as he balanced on a rough crutch.

“Ezra, I told you three times already, I can’t go out into the field today like thi-”. He stopped and looked at Michael. “Oh, is he what the whistle was about?”

Ezra nodded and pointed at Michael. “Healer.”

Tholomew raised his eyebrows and looked at Michael. “Well what are you waiting for?”

Michael chuckled a bit at that and raised a hand that began to glow with golden light. He placed it on the man’s shoulder and focused for a few moments. Not only did the man have a broken leg, but his hip had some severe damage, and he had multiple slipped discs. The pain should’ve kept him from being able to stand, but clearly he was made of tough stuff.

Michael took his hand off the man and he stood up straight, stretching out his healed leg a bit and twisting around a little.

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“Huh. That’s better. Normally I ask the divine to turn a blind eye to me, but I’m glad they had a bit of a peek my way today.”

Ezra gestured his head toward the nearby field on which Michael could see a number of herds of brown sheep. As they approached them, Michael realized that while they were very much sheep, there were a few key differences between them and what he’d seen on Earth. To start with, they all had horns, most of them small and slightly curling, but a few had horns like rams. Secondly, they were all about three times the size of what he’d seen on Earth. One of them that he was surprised he hadn’t noticed sooner, actually towered over the others looking more like an oddly shaped ox than a sheep.

Ezra noticed him staring and pointed at that one. “That’s boss. He’s titled.”

Michael nodded and took a second to divine the massive ram.

Titles

Patriarch of the Plains

Deeds

Father of one hundred

Goblin slayer

Michael nodded, impressed by the creature, and fell back in behind Ezra who took him to a shepherd sitting on a nearby stone outcropping and watching the herd.

The Shepherd looked at them both curiously and Ezra pointed at Michael.

“E’s a healer.”

“Oh, you can heal sheep?”