User blog:Denzel Crocker/Chapter 9

The Next Morning I got up when the sun shone through the window and landed on my face. The girls were already up and had fixed breakfast which consisted of oatmeal and water. "About last night." Bronwen said fiddling with her hands nervously. I cut her off "Don't worry about it.....It's not like I did not like what was happening. I just don't have the time or energy for it right now. Eimhear though, she is in trouble." I said sternly

"Why is that?" Bronwen asked.

"Because she has defied her mistress and there will be hell to pay for anyone who crosses her." I stated. Eimhear who was eating with me at the table froze and her eyes went wide in shock at realizing what might befall her. I burst out laughing at her expression. "That's not funny. She might kill me...or worse" Eimhear began to sob.

"I'm sorry. I was only joking with you. The Morrigan gave me permission to do that sort of thing before I left." I explained.

Eimhear's sobbing slowed down "really?" She said.

"Yes, really. And I apologize again. I did not mean to make you cry. I was just trying to spook you a little." I said. After the dishes were washed and put away I went into the bathroom to retrieve my things. My robe was still a little damp but the run to the farm should dry out the rest of it. I changed. I  now had a satchel slung across my chest to carry the portal spell, badge, change, blue clay jug, and anything else I might now acquire. My clean white linen cloths where left folded on the rack for when I return home. Before I left for work I hugged both the girls and said my good byes. A strange thing happened though. When I was hugging Bronwen, I could swear the brilliant white of her coat was a little duller than it had been before. I just chocked it up to my "Wizard eyes". As I ran through through town that morning I got a lot of strange looks and and I noted people whispering to one another. I guess the Word spread quickly here. At least that bode well for me. I got to Gregg's farm quickly and as I suspected my robe had dried wonderfully. Gregg was standing out by the barn on his land. I took a better look at his farm this time. There was what I assumed to be a grain silo attached to a faded reddish colored barn and a farm house. The field had two of the other workers already in it gathering up the dead plants I pulled from yesterday into piles. The other two workers where filling sacks with corn and hauling them over to barn. Gregg was standing by a wheelbarrow and called me over. "Today your task is to go over the  George's farm and pick up the sacks of fertilizer he has. We get ten sacks of fertilizer for every three sacks of corn. Gorges farm Is just down the road on the right" He said pointing to the farm about a kilometer away on the other side of the road. "Unfortunately you will have to use this wheelbarrow here instead of the cart as my horse, Betsy, broke her leg the day before you got to the farm." he said sadly. I loaded the sacks of corn into the wheelbarrow first. They were pretty hefty bags about 25 kilograms I would guess. After I loaded the corn and took off,  I had to slow my pace down to keep the equipment from it shaking apart. The wheel borrow was not as sturdy as I thought. As I passed Gorge's farm I could not help but stare at all the small breasted Holstaurus's  grazing in the field. Well small for what I thought they should be. I thought Lilith's book said they where all large breasted? These girls don't look like they could be bigger than a C cup. Maybe It was just my personal tastes that where off. As I passed them they began to stare back. I was not sure if they wanted the corn or me. On seconded thought, it might be a tad odd to see a man in a robe running at an unusual speed hauling corn. I should probably think about getting some less conspicuous clothing. When I got to the road leading to the house, I Didn't see George around so I went up to his  door  and knocked. After a moment or so there was no answer. I knocked again but louder. Still no answer. Another moment had passed. I ran over the barn with the wheel barrow in tow. "Mr. George I am here from Gregg's." I yelled out. "Dang nabit!" Someone yelled. A older, some what gruff looking man came out of one of the stall. He was a little shorter than me wearing slightly torn faded blue coveralls with one one shoulder strap buttoned. He was a bit stocky and had a salt and pepper short beard. He also looked a tad bit pale. "From Gregg's huh? He looked at me like I might be lying. "I brought the corn to trade for the fertilizer." I said. "Set the corn in stall twelve. I will get to it later. The fertilizer is in bags out by the outhouse. You only get five sacks for every three." he said "Wait. Mr. Gregg said ten." I stated "Well that was until these damned heifers stopped producing milk. Now I cant afford that price." he said getting visibly upset. I thought for a moment. If I come back like this it will ruin everything I have worked for. There has to be another way. Maybe I can fix this? "Calm down Mr. George I believe I can help you." I stated calmly. "Calm down? Fix this? who do you think you are son?" he said in a way that made me want to smack him right in his gob. I reached into my satchel and pulled out my elemintalist badge and displayed it proudly. "I am a elementalist!" I stated pulling in the power of fire to make my words reach him better. His mood seemed to visibly change now as he took a less aggressive stance. He looked at me a bit differently now. "Well like I said these Heifers aint been putting out... and I aint talking bout sex. I don't know whats amatter with them. They just stopped producing as much milk as they used to. Then today they just up and stop making any at all. If they can't start producing milk again, this whole farm is done fer." he stated as calmly as he could which is to say not at all. "May I see and speak to some of the girls here and look around?" I asked. "Yeah, Bess is in stall 11 there." He pointed to the stall he came out of. "Feel free to roam around and do what ya need to to fix this. I got go back inside the house and take care of some work." He said standing up to leave before he did he knocked on the stall and said in a loud voice "Bess be a good girl and help out our visitor in any way he asks." He left. I walked into the stall. There a holstaurus girl sat on a stool her hand on her face and a metal bucket in front of her. She looked like she was about to weep. She was wearing the same kind of overalls as George. Come to think of it they all were. There was another stool in the stall I sat down. I cleared my thought to get her attention. She looked up slowly at me. "I would like to ask you a few questions." I said. She just stared at me. "How are you feeling" I asked "A little ill." she said. What kind of of illness i asked. My stomach is in pain and I feel a little light headed." she said Any other symptoms? i asked she grabbed at her breasts and giggled them a bit. "They have gotten smaller and Iv stopped producing milk." She said with a sad tone. Have you change your diet recently? i asked no have you been drinking less? no. have there been any changes at all recently that have occurred that you believe might have led to this? no. Has this occurred in all the girls at the same time? yes. So something has happened to them that is within the normal routine of the day. i thought to myself. Can you show what a normal day consists of for you? I switched my focus so I could see with my aura sight as Bess lead me through her day. I could see by her aura something was  off. This is my stall. She walked me over to one of the stalls. It was clean and had a large hay bed and a blanket. I get up at sunrise and eat and drink here. She pointed to one of the 3 square tables in the barn. At each table there was four chairs. George Is usually in here around that time to give us extra food that we don't get from the garden and to start the milking. I looked at everything around me I did not sense anything out of place or tainted. She lead me out to the pasture and said this is where she spent most of her time. Checking around I still noticed nothing other than the other girls where just as sick as she was. "Can I see the garden?" She lead me to a large garden behind the house. The vegetables seemed to a have a slight taint in their aura. Similar to Bess's. Finally a something to work with! I walked over to the garden and started inspecting the soil by shifting it through my hand. The soil had a bit of that aura on it but I could tell it was not coming from the soil. Next I looked at the vegetables. They had a much higher concentration of the illness in them. "Has there been any changes in your garden?" I asked "It has been growing a little faster than usual. Not nothing much else." she said. It couldn't be coming from the vegetables then, as they look healthy from normal sight and where other wise unaffected by this aura. However they are tainted by whatever is going on here. I thought to myself. "Do you ever go into the house?" I asked "once every two weeks...... When its my turn.... to... sleep with george." she said her cheeks blushing as she said it "May I see the inside of the house?" I asked. She escorted me over to the house and we entered. I checked about but nothing seemed amiss, other than George was not there. "Do you know where George is right now?" I asked. "He has been spending a lot of time in the out house lately." She said. "Can you show me where that is?" I asked. She lead me to to edge of the property. There the outhouse was right next to a well. Another one of the holstaurus girls was drawing water. I could see the taint deeply affected the water as the girl drew the water up. As we walk up to the well she smiled and waved at Bess and gave me a much more reserved smile and wave. "Dump the water back into the well. Its infected." I instructed the girl we just met. She looked confused. Bess smiled and nodded. The girl dumped the water back in,shrugged, then left. I now knew what was going on. The "stuff" from the outhouse was leaking into the well. "When did say you started to get ill and loose milk production?" I asked "about two weeks ago." she responded. Did this outhouse get moved to here about that time?" I queried. She put thoughtful finger to her lip as she looked upwards in thought. "Yes I believe it was around the same time." she said. I knocked on the outhouse. "I'm in here" George yelled from inside. "I found your problem." I shouted back After George came out I explained to him that the reason why he and his girls had gotten sick was because of the outhouse being to close to well. He did not understand at first asking me if that was some kind of wizard rule or something. I explained to him their excrement was getting into the water they where drinking that and giving that to the plants in his garden. That was why the plants where growing better than normal and why they where sick. I told him to move the out house and dig up the soil around where the out house was and when I got done hauling Mr. Gregg's corn I would be back to try and cleanse the well for him. I had spent more time on that than I expected as the sun was almost directly over head, indicating it was noon. I rushed off with the delivery. Fortunately everything else went well that day and I completed my task of playing delivery boy within two hours. That included the time it took to dump the fertilizer on the field. Since I had finished all my tasks for Mr.Gregg he paid me and told me i was free to go. He still looked a bit sullen. I felt bad for Mr. Gregg. Thinking about it I might be able to heal the horse the way I healed myself when I fell in the forest. I asked If I could see the horse Betsy. She was in the barn, Inside one of the stalls there. She was just laying there. She was an old gray mare. Gregg was standing right behind me. "She aint what she used to be." he said. I got next to her and she began to startle and neigh a bit. "Shhh. Shhh. It's alright girl." I patted her sides reassuring the horse everything was OK. I looked at her with my aura sight. The front left leg  had been damaged. I could not tell exactly how bad but I began to channel earth energy into the horses leg focusing on healing. After a few minutes I checked the horse. The damage was still there just less severe. I tried again but this time there was almost no difference. My magic was not powerful enough yet. I got up and walked over to farmer Gregg who was watching me from a short distance away. "I'm sorry I was not able to completely heal her." I told him. "It's alright, you did your best. Besides she seems to be much better already." He said pointing to his horse. I tuned to look. Betsy had gotten up and was moving around the pin a bit. You could tell she had a bad limp but at least she was mobile now. I thought about what I had read in Lilith's book about Unicorns having healing powers. Maybe I could get Bronwen to help me with this? I thought. "I might be back latter." I said to him as I left with a wave. I went over to farmer George's. He had finished digging around the well and was replacing the dirt with new fresh dirt. I  told him I was going to began to try to cleanse the well. He stepped back and the girls that where helping him did the same. I held out my hand and began to channel the power of water. I could feel the filth in the water. I began by gathering it to the top. I tried to make to make it come out of the well but it was to heavy for me to get completely out by magic. So I began to bail the water at the surface out and haul it a short distance away so it would not recontaminate the well. It took another good hour and a half before I was able to get the well clean enough for me to feel satisfied. It still had some pollution in it but I did not believe it was enough to affect them. I told them the negative affects of the water should be gone now and if thing did not get better within three days to come and get me. I Also pulled most of the infection out of the plants in the garden. This got me to thinking if this could not be used for warfare, however my mind quickly went back to the task at hand.George did something I did not expect of him. He offered to pay me back for my services. At first he offered me money and I turned him down and before I could say more he offered one of his girls to me. I paused. I was quite tempted by this. I could use a mobile source manna regeneration. That and these girls were not hard on the eyes. I again turned him down saying that this was a favor from the Elementalist Guild. Again he surprised me tell me I was not walking away without him giving me something for what I did for him. i thought about it. I told him when everything was going good for him again if he could spare 1 pint of milk a day for whenever an elementalist needed it. He agreed on the price.

I went into town. Again I got many odd stares and again spotted a few people whispering to each other as I passed by. I figured it would be nice to visit Eimhear first as I would ask for Bronwen to come with me latter. I walked around town until I came to the smithy. I walked inside and could immanently feel the heat from the forge. I saw Eimhear working on a plow. She seemed quite concentrated on her work so I just stood back and watched. It was like watching the cutest miniature smith work. I was surprised that the heat did not affect her that much or her seemingly fragile wings.That and she was able to pick up something many times her size and work it into shape seemingly without effort. The smith came by and asked me if I needed anything after i watched her for a while. I told him I was here to see Eimhear. He called out to her. She turned around and when she saw me there she almost dropped the glowing metal she was working on. Fumbling with it she set it on the anvil and rushed over to me. "Steaven!" She shouted flying over to me. She hugged my neck. "Eimhear." I said with a big smile on my face. She flew over to my shoulder and rested there. "I came here to ask if you might be able to procure some demon realm silver for me?" I asked. "I have seen some being offered but the smithy here doesn't really have any use for it. You might find some in the merchants quarter." she said trying to be helpful. "thank you" i said nodding my head in appreciation of her help. Looking back at the metal that she left on the anvil I noticed it had started to lose a bit of its glow. "I will let you get back to work." I pointed to the plow. "ok... I will see you at home" she said with a slight tinge of sadness in her voice. I began my trip over to the shop Bronwen works at. On my walk over there I thought to myself about the things I have done so far. I felt sad that I was not any closer to my true goal, though I have gained some more power. Though the amount was not satisfying. The road ahead seemed like it would be long. "I need to change the way I am doing things" I thought to myself. I had reached her restaurant. The sun was about about a hour or so from setting and falling fast. I saw Bronwen talking to another girl waring an apron with the same thing on it as the restaurants sign. I guess she was turning over to the night shift? As I approached she turned around. "Oh, Steaven. Did you get done with work early today?" She inquired. "Yes, however I was wondering if you could help me with something?" I asked "What do you need help with?" She qurried "I could use some help with healing." I said "Are you hurt?" She asked looking me up and down and sounding worried. "No. It's for my current employers horse." I explained. "Of course I will help you, though I was hoping to get dinner started before you where done with work." she said We walked to Mr. Gregg's farm. We talked on our way there about nonchalant things. Once there we walked into the barn. Mr. Gregg was there. He smiled and waved his greetings to us. We walked over to the horse laying in the stall. Bronwen Inspected the horse for a moment before bowing her head down to have the tip of her horn touch the horses body. A small light emitted from the tip of her horn before the whole thing slowly began to glow with a white light. The horse startled from the light and stood up and bucked. It was obvious now that the horse was completely healed. "Why are you not town doctor?" I inquired. She stayed silent but it looked liked she was going to say something. She dident have to I could see from her aura,that had taken a lot out of her. Farmer Gregg interjected

"Thank you for your help, however I have one more thing I have to do tonight." He excused himself. Curious about what a farmer would need to do at night I followed him to where the dead corn stalks had been gathered. It was clear for around 30 meters around the the huge wicker man. He set the pile ablaze with a bit of flint and steel he got from his pocket. He spotted me as he began to move away from the fire. "Y ou might want to give that fire a wide birth there son. It gets hotter than a smiths forge." he suggested. I would have responded but I was so distracted by what I was seeing. I saw a beautiful woman made of fire dancing in a seductive and hypnotic fashion. I blinked and she was gone. "I know I saw her that time" I thought to myself. "Actually I think I can sense her" I closed my eyes and reached out senses to see if I could feel out her presence. I could sense her but it was like concentrated fire magic. I had to get closer to the fire to sort it out. I looked over to Bronwen who was standing a few feet from me also looking at the fire. "You see her don't you?" I asked. She looked back a t me for a moment "See who?" she inquired. "The girl dancing in the fire." I responded. She look at me with a soft but incredulous look "I think you might have overworked yourself today, hun." She said. I knew I was not seeing things, the old man acknowledged these girls were real. Maybe only magically inclined people can see them? Wait I believe the book I read said something about them needing to have spirit energy or something to become corporeal instead of elementals. But if I do that I could corrupt the land. But If I don't I will be viewed as crazy. I was now determined to at least try and do something about this. I told Bronwen to hold my satchel. I started for the fire. As I got closer I could hear a chant. "Spirits of fire come to us. We will kindle the fire. Spirits of fire come to us. Dance the magic circle round." The farmer said something to me as I  walked toward her but it did not even register. I could feel something tug at me as if to pull be back but I would not be stopped from getting closer. I could feel the heat wash over me. I thought back to my rituals. I used my magic to draw the symbol for fire inside the circle of flames. I closed my eyes and stepped inside. If it were not for the fire magic I wielded I would be incinerated into nothing but ash. I could feel from the heat that I was now standing in the middle of that inferno. It seemed like she was all around me but something was ...missing? The fire had consumed my robe, but that's not all that was missing. I thought back to my rituals and began feeding my spirit energy into fire symbol I had traced. The fire became hotter and brighter due to my actions. I opened my eyes. She was there, the woman made of fire just like before, But this time I could get a good look at her. She was wearing nothing but slave bracelets at her wrist and ankles. They were made of what looked like molten gold and studded at wrist with three large red gemstones and again at each knuckle. The chain connecting the wrist jewelry was woven into a triskelion type fashion. It was the same for the anklets. There was reddish orange flames coming out where her jewelry was, covering her more sensitive spots, and forming a fiery halo around her curly, ginger colored, upper back length hair. She pushed me to the ground and mounted me with unnatural force. " Conventer you have come to reestablish our pact!" She said gyrating her hips. A different heat rushed through my body. My head  became emblazoned with thoughts of naughty things even though I wanted to know what she had meant. I  tried to clear my head and get her off of "me" but when I did she shifted her weight to her legs and brought her self down upon me with even more force, sending pleasure arcing though my body. "I must...regain ....control...situation..." I thought as my will to resist was being burned away. In a last ditch effort I stood but she yet again she just switched position wrapping her legs around waist. "Just like fire" I thought. Just like that I had a plan to win this contest. I began to buck my hips and she responded by throwing her head back and letting loose a ecstatic moan. I could feel her power slip a bit as she climaxed. I used this moment to adjust my sate of mind. I was then able to begin to absorb the fire energy. Her unnatural strength faded and I was able to pull her off of me. She lay there for a moment before recovering her composure. "The pact is not complete covenanter." She said while  looking up at me with sultry eyes. I hesitated with indecision. Should I accept her offer and gain a  new companion. She is super hot. If I did I would have fire magic with out having to have a flame present or using my own spiritual energy. On the other hand I was told and read that if I did that too much with her it would corrupt the land and turn it into a demon realm. That and if she does get corrupted how would I say no to her demands? That is not all, If I do let her become a ignis than she would eventually get corrupted just by being with me for I am almost constantly bombarded with demon energy. But that power would help me complete my task. What should I do?

"Wait!" I said loudly. She was upon me again and the flame of passion began to consume me. My will was even further drained than last time if that was even possible. I don't believe I will be able to pull out in time on this one. Loosening myself to the moment I trust forward and she choked. It seems bravado is still a downfall even in this land. I regained my composure once again as she coughed and regained hers. I decided that no matter what was ultimately going to happen now was not the time for what was happening. With that decided I faced the south and  formed the symbol for fire in counter clockwise fashion. I stated out loud "I banish all negative passions, energy, drive, force, needs, wants and desire far from me." I saw what appeared to be a fiery tear trickle down her face as the fire died down in an unnaturally quick manner. I did not feel sad as I knew I would see her many more times in the future and that it would probably not be long before she joined me. I took a look around and saw Eimhear sitting on Bronwen shoulder. They smiled as they saw I was unharmed. The smile on their face quickly changed to a blush. As I saw their blushing faces I remembered that I was in the buff. I approached them. As I did Bronwen tried to avert her eyes from looking directly at me and offering my satchel back to me to cover myself up a bit. Though Eimhear had no such problem with staring and grinning from ear to ear. Yet she was trying to cover her grin behind her hands. I retrieved my satchel and positioned it so that it would cover my front. "I guess I will forgive you for not telling me you where here because of that nice show you just gave." she said in a joking manner. My cheeks reddened a bit with embarrassment. Bronwen yawned and said "It is about time we went back home and retired for the night." I nodded in agreement and we began the trip home. On the way back I was trying to keep my self hidden as much as possible so that if anyone was up that I would be hard to spot. However Eimhear's childish nature showed through and she had a bit of fun with me by hovering around me mocking each of attempts to hide whenever I thought I heard or saw someone. Luckly I got back without incident. I don't know if I could stand to overhear any whispering about the crazy wizard man who runs naked through the town at night. Once inside I washed up and dressed while the girls prepared the food and ate. I did not eat that night for the energy from the fire had some odd effect on me by sating my hunger and energizing my body. As they ate Bronwen mentioned her tailor friend, Damhan-allaidh, could probably help me with a new set of cloths for cheap. Though there seemed some hesitation in her voice to mention her. She also informed me that she is usually up at this time doing her sewing and to be careful around her as she is very forward with men she likes. Though that stuck me as odd though I was not in much of a place to be judge others for their habits. She then told me where to find her. I offered my thanks to Bronwen and left with Eimhear chasing after me.