Chapter 3

Lastadday, the 14th of Planting continued.

Andrew was tired already, but the day was young and he knew he had many more ahead, so he dug in and got busy.

Andrew looked at his hands and saw they had been cut up again by the edges and thorns of the brush. He needed to keep those gloves in his bag, yet he continued to forget them almost daily. He would have stumps by the end of the day he thought. As he started to ponder whether he should run back to the tool shed to pick up the missing gloves his little sister, Bethany came running down the road. “Momma sent these since you forgot them again when you left.” She tossed a pair of heavy leather gloves to him as she ran past. He knew she was going to the next farm down the road to be with her friends. Several local girls would get together every week and practice skills they would need later. Sewing, cooking and most importantly, gossip. With that last thought, he let out a quiet groan. That means he would have a visit very soon from Kaara. The one girl he was afraid to talk to about his leaving. She had her sights set on him and if he didn’t run, she would pull him in and that would put an end to his plans to travel and be an adventurer to earn his fortune and fame. Her recent visits had not been fun for him as he continued working while she chattered on about who was doing what to whom. He felt today would be no different.

He decided that nothing could be done about it now, so he put the gloves on and secured the cuffs so they wouldn’t slip and began cutting his way to the next bramble core. This one was even bigger than the last but also easier in many ways. Age and cover had caused the area around the core to die off so he had an easier time reaching it and cutting it off flush to the ground. He cut the edges, freeing them from the next brush in line and rolled it into a bale as he had the first one and rolled it into the gully. Looking at the sky, he saw little time had passed but decided to take a drink of water to keep from drying out too much. That was one of the early lessons both parents had drilled into all of them. Stay hydrated at all times. He took several long drinks from his first skin then smiled. Water was one of those self-correcting weights when on the road. His father’s travel journals always seemed to show that as a happy-making thing.

He had cut and rolled two more bramble cores when he heard a girl’s voice calling his name. He groaned in despair, it was Kaara. “Back here,” he called out to her. ‘Let the ranting begin,’ he whispered and went back to cutting his way into the brush.

“You will come out of there right now Andrew, I will not be climbing in that mess to find you.” She shouted angrily.

Andrew sighed, then decided the plan was more important than her feelings at this point. She was staying home, she was most certainly not coming with him. “I don’t have time to argue with you right now Kaara. I have to clear as much of this section of the path as I can today before sundown, plus all the other things that go with it.” He said in a resigned voice.

“I don’t care, boy,” she yelled back, “Get out here right now.” Now her temper was heating, he could hear it in her voice. That was never a good thing in a girl’s voice.

Rather than continue arguing, Andrew dug in and hacked away at the next wall of bramble and thorns. This one was the tallest and densest so far. He only half-listened to her as she ranted at him as he cut his way to the core. Once there, he saw this monster had taken over the stump of a fallen tree and was solid all the way through. He cut around the outside with the saw and then chopped a wedge gap with his hatchet. This was not going well so he put the hatchet back on his belt and pulled out the heavier wood chopping ax. With this, he was able to make short work of the woody trunk and he was able to drag it partially free through the cut in the path. When he turned to go around the other side to start cutting it loose, he saw Kaara standing at the edge of the area he had cleared earlier. With hands-on her hips, he imagined he could see small thunderheads swirling over her head. Rather than stop, he continued around and worked on freeing the far side of the mass of tangled vines. When they wouldn’t pull free, he looked under it and saw another core had grown into the older bigger one. “Damn, that will be tough to get loose.” He said.

He cut his way in and sawed it off then he was finally able to roll both bunches into the gully as a single piece. This was going to be one nasty fire when they burned it down later next month. Kaara had gone silent while watching him up to this point when finally she asked, “Why.” Just that. He glanced at her then moved to the next bunch of thorn brush.

Andrew didn’t stop his work but finally did answer now that he didn’t have to yell. “I’m not cut out for this life Kaara, I’m not a farmer. I want to travel, see the world and make a name for myself.” He studied the next bunch and began cutting his way in, the thorns pulling and catching at his clothes “I’m going away and you can find somebody that will be able to stay, marry you and give you the life you want, and deserve.”

He could feel the anger behind him now. “Life I deserve? Do you think for one minute I want to be a farmer’s wife and drudge? I hate this in ways you can’t even begin to imagine Andrew.” She said in cold voice.

“It’ll be a hell of a lot safer than the life I’ll face Kaara. Hell girl I may not live to make it to Terins Crossing, much less Fairhams Cove.” He began to saw at the core he had reached. “Kaara, I do like you and all, but I wouldn’t be a good husband for you.”

“Who says I’d stay here and wait for you. I’ll come with you.” He heard the stomp of an angry girl’s foot as she finished that retort.

Andrew stopped and finally turned around to face her. “Are you nuts girl?” He walked back to her and stopped to talk to her without shouting. “Kaara, this is not a life for a lovely, intelligent girl like you. What I will be facing even my mother admits was foolish for her to have tried. No girl, you need to stay here and have a slew of kids by a farmer that enjoys this way of life. A Farmer I am Not.”

She didn’t say anything for a minute when she did speak, it was a quiet voice of determination. “Andy, we are a pair you and I. I found my mother’s diary from her early life. She traveled too, admittedly she wasn’t part of the largest mercenary company ever seen, but she did get around.” She reached up to stroke his cheek as she spoke, but Andrew pulled back not wanting to fall for her wiles.

Andrew didn’t get angry, but he was cold now. “Why Kaara, why are you here now. I don’t have time to argue, I have too much to do and have to be on the road before the mid-summer arrives.”

She clouded again and put her hands on her hips, glaring at him as if he were something that had just bitten her. “Because we are betrothed stupid boy, that’s why.” She said with a faint smirk reaching her lips.

Now it was Andrew’s turn to be confused. “Since when girl? I have never agreed to marry you, nor do I intend to. Go home Kaara. Go home and forget about me. Find some farmer’s son that is worthy of your attention.” He turned his back on her and walked back into the thicket to continue breaking the next section loose. When he glanced back, he saw that she had finally left. He was sure this matter wasn’t closed yet. “Question is, what will she try next.” A thought chilled him to the bone, “Would she do that?” He went back to work to put the worrisome thoughts out of his mind for the afternoon.

After clearing the section he was working on, he stopped for more water when he saw his father come around the corner from the road. Lann stopped and looked at the progress Andrew had made and smiled. “Very good son. I suspect you won’t be doing any laps around the place for a few days. The entire route is like this to some degree.”

Andrew looked at the progress he had made. A little over one hundred feet of dense brush. He knew it didn’t seem like much, but when he looked at the rolled balls of weed in the gully, that told a different story. “More like a few weeks with how dense the brush is. I think we could do a controlled burn later this month or next to clear the gully out of the rubbish and living vines.”

“That would work, but it will mean even more work to prepare the edges to prevent the fire from spreading.” Lann pulled at one of the smaller bails and was surprised at how heavy it seemed to be. “Good idea rolling them like that. It will make for a hotter, faster fire when we do the burn.”

Andrew looked at the land along the gully, it was mostly dead leaf and branch now that he had the brush removed. “I think raking and sweeping will be enough with several of us standing fireguard while it burns down. There is still a bit of water running so the heat will never be as bad as it could be if it were totally dry.” Now Andrew prepared for what he knew was coming. Dropping his pack, he yanked the buckler down to his lower arm and pulled the sword out. Lann saw this and smiled an evil grin.

“Be on guard, today is the parry and repost.” He pulled the long sword from his back and advanced on his son. The practice went on for over an hour before Lann called a halt. Both were sweating and breathing hard.

“That was harder than normal father, bad day?” Asked Andrew

“No, just getting you to understand that sword work is never easy.” Said Lann.

“No easier or harder than breaking this brush,” Andrew replied with a grin. He returned the sword to the scabbard and moved back to the section he had been cutting.

“Good point, back to work, you have a long ways to go before you will be ready to head out.” He saw that Andrew looked troubled about something. “Is something else the matter son?”

Quickly he related what had happened with Kaara and that she wasn’t going to let the matter drop. “I’m worried she may try something stupidly unpleasant to try and force me to stay, or worse, take her along.” He finished cutting the next core and began pulling it loose from the main patch as he spoke. “Dad, I am not ready to keep myself alive in the wild, much less guard and protect her while on the road.”

Lann remained silent, nodded then returned up the new path for the homestead. Andrew watched him go, shrugged and got back to work on the tangled mess ahead of him. After he had rolled two more bunch’s into the gully, he looked at the sun and saw it was well past midday now. He almost started back to the house but stopped himself. He then cursed himself silently for not setting out a few deadfalls and noose traps to catch rabbits while he worked today. “My failure to pay attention to detail is going to get me killed.” He had several bad habits that kept biting him in the ass every day. He unwrapped his sling from its loop on the pack, dug out the small pouch that he kept his smooth stones in and prepared to catch his lunch.