“Come on, come on…” I muttered under my breath at the unruly and squirming piglets. I popped one on the side with my stick firmly to get it back on the path. There were only two of them but shepherding them down the road turned out to be more of an ordeal than should’ve been necessary. The piglets never went the way they were supposed to go. It made the entire thing rather irritating.

Alright, so maybe I was being slightly unfair. I was already irritated with the task that Father had given me. In fact, a rather large part of me would rather not be doing it at all. So much so that I was convinced that he’d only insisted on it as a punishment for ‘dawdling’ in town the day before and costing him precious time and resources to weed the Southern field on the farm.

Father told me, just moments before midday meal that he needed me to make a trip with the piglets to William Fields’s farm about ten kilometers away. Right in the middle of the day when the sun and the heat were at its highest. He’d been so adamant about it that he’d actually sent me out the door before I had anything to eat! My stomach rumbled pitifully to remind me of the fact.

An empty stomach on a hot afternoon was the least of my issues with the chore. My biggest complaint lay with having to go to the Fields’s at all. Going and delivering piglets lead to interacting with the Fields family themselves.

Or rather just one of them.

Andrew Fields. The middle child of William Fields.

I didn’t even understand why they had purchased the piglets. They didn’t really even need them! Andrew fancied himself a hunter now. What use did the Fields have for two piglets when their son bolstered the family pantry? I smelled a distinct set up on Father’s part. He’d just been talking about me focusing on getting married after all…

And Fields had no less than five sons that all happened to be unmarried and eligible.

My stomach lurched as the front gate of the Fields’s small homestead came into view. They worked and tended a farm that was roughly a third of what Father owned. It shouldn’t have been hard to spot Andrew if he’d been out. Luck hadn’t been with me the other night at that inner circle party. However, it seemed to come back to me yesterday when I’d met Aust. Perhaps that good luck would continue today. Maybe I wouldn’t have to actually talk to that stupid ingrate.

When the piglets and I bridged into the front yard, I dropped the stick I’d used to herd them forward and closed the gate. The Fields had a long, low fence that wrapped around the house to keep their chickens from roaming too far from the coop that sat adjacent. Made it easy to keep the piglets in one place too. All I had to do now was collect the money that William Fields owed Father and get out quickly. Then I’d be free and clear.

I could get on with the rest of my boring day.

My knock on the front door was answered nearly immediately.

“Ah!” the older white haired farmer beamed when he saw me in the door way. William Fields reached out to clasp my hand. “Lena! Wonderful! You’re right on time. Where are the pigs?”

“Over there,” I pointed over my shoulder. The two piglets had made themselves at home and rooted around in the dirt. Fields steppe past me, hand on mine and pulling me after him. He only dropped it when he got to one of the piglets and bent over to inspect it. His nose wrinkled as he looked it over.

“Merrik didn’t send me the runts of his litter did he?” he asked, circling what was consequently the smaller of the two pigs I’d brought. I fought to keep my eye and mouth from twitching.

“No sir,” I replied in what I hoped was a pleasant voice. “They’re of middling size. On track with the rest of their siblings.”

Fields stared intently at the piglet in question. I swear, if I was made to herd them back home and Fields insinuated that Father was a swindler then there’d be hells to pay. However, after a moment, Fields stood up and gave a satisfied nod. “Ole Merrik’s never been one to try and pull the wool over another man’s eyes. He’s as honest as they come I think.”

“Aye, Father takes his status in the community seriously,” I told him. My pleasant tone slipped into a more clipped one. Thankfully, Fields seemed too oblivious to notice. Ready to be done with this entire afternoon, I held my hand out impatiently to Fields.

Fields gave me a look paired with a slow blink. I didn’t break eye contact with him. A laugh bubbled in Fields’s throat. He wrapped his arm around his middle and shook his head. Glad he thought I was amusing. “Straight to the point aren’t ya. Not in your nature to beat around the shrubbery is it?”

“Not particularly,” I shrugged. “Father just wants me home soon.”

It was a lie. For once, Father had given me no specific instructions on when to be home by. Another reason to suspect a possible set up on his part.

“Eh—“ Fields gave a noncommittal hand wave. “When Merrik and I spoke last he said I didn’t need to send you off in such a hurry.”

Called it.

A bad feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.

“What do I owe your father?” Fields asked.

“Fifteen silver pieces for the both of them.”

Fields pressed his lips together and nodded slowly.

“That’s a bargain for them,” I reminded him bluntly.

“No, no. I know that. Just give me a moment please. I’ll be right back.”

He gave me a not too subtle wink and smile before shuffling back into the house. Oh there was something definitely afoot.

I shifted from side to side, insides twisting tighter. If I stood next to the gate then that would send a clear message that I wanted to leave as soon as I collected the money. And that’s exactly what I did with one hand on the latch even.

Fields came back outside a minute or so later. I caught sight of glittering silver coins in his hand as he counted them under his breath. Fields cleared his throat. “I have eight of the coins now. I’ll have the rest either tomorrow or the day after when the Missus and I go to market.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I’ll take what you have and I’ll tell that to Father but I make no guarantees.”

“Fine, fine…” Fields waved his hand through the air again. He piled the silver into my outstretched hand.

Wonderful! Now I could get home. I turned to leave, so close to lifting the latch. A door slammed behind me. “Ah! Andrew! There you are boy!”

My back was to them so thankfully no one saw the clear and indiscriminate grimace that spread across my face. I turned around. A young man, roughly a year or so older than me, lingered behind Fields. “Lena, you remember Andrew don’t ya? My middle boy.”

I forced a look on to my face that I hoped looked more like a smile than a grimace. I remembered Andrew. Oh boy… did I remember him. We’d attended the same school at the temple of Sealdír after all. He had bright red hair like a fire. Covered head to toe in freckles from the sun. Watery blue eyes and laughed like a dog barked. And worst of all, he thought the way to a girl’s heart was to yank on her braid so hard that it brought tears to her eyes. The back of my head ached just thinking about it.

“Of course…” I managed to choke out through my teeth.

He hadn’t changed at all. Then again it had only been a year or so since we’d spent any significant time around each other.

How much trouble would I be in if I left without collecting Fields’s money?

Andrew crossed his arms over his chest as he walked towards me. Fields reached over and pulled him closer, slapping him on the back in an obvious attempt to push him closer to me. My fingers fiddled with the gate’s latch. I practically itched to jump over it and leave. Andrew gave me a once up and down look like I was the pig being appraised this time.

Whatever he saw must have been met with approval because he dropped his arms from his chest. Andrew ran his hand through his wild, unkempt hair as though adjusting it to look more like the brush fire I’d always thought it had looked like. “Gods! It has been ages hasn’t it?” Andrew replied.

“Not long enough…” I mumbled under my breath. Andrew held a hand out towards me. I looked at it, a bit dumbly, but didn’t move my hand from the gate. He puled it back awkwardly. “How’ve you been Andrew? Still strutting about like a rooster?”

He laughed, oblivious to a fault. Or just choosing not to acknowledge my lack of enthusiasm. Fields didn’t seem to notice it either. “You two were always such good friends when you were younger.”

Distinctly not true if the phantom pain at the back of my head was any indication.

“Maybe you two should take some time to get reacquainted. Eh? What do ya two think about that?” Fields elbowed Andrew before giving him a quick wink. A rather large smile spread across Andrew’s face.

“I suppose I don’t have anything else to do today so I’m not opposed.”

“I do,” I muttered. Didn’t know exactly what it actually was but I was sure that I could find something better to do than spend time with Andrew in the beating sun and taking an uncomfortable trip down memory lane.

That apparently didn’t matter much though because Fields beamed and patted Andrew on the shoulders. “I’ll go inside and ask Missus Fields if she has any tea or food to share while the pair of you catch up!” Fields told the two of us. No wonder Father had chased me down the road before midday meal. He’d probably hoped that I’d have some terrible impromptu picnic with Andrew. It also explained why he hadn’t been so firm about me returning home directly after delivering the piglets.

Fields threw one last smile at me and then shared another with Andrew before disappearing back into the house. The door shut firmly, and loudly, behind him. I was alone with Andrew now but something niggled at the back of my mind that told me that we were being watched from a window or something.

Andrew smiled down at me. He had to be a good fifteen centimeters taller than which almost made him feel like a looming, hovering shadow I couldn’t quite get rid of. “What have you been up to since we left school Lena?” he asked.

An innocent enough question to be sure. However, there was something in his tone that distinctly aggravated me. Maybe it was the lazy drawl and the smile that said he already knew the answer to that question. It might have even had something to do with the way Andrew moved into my space while leaning on the fence. “Oh you know… the same thing as I’ve always been up to when not in school.”

I pulled my braid over my shoulder so it wasn’t easily accessible if he wanted to pull on it some. You know… like he had in the good old days.

Andrew laughed. Still sounded like a dog barking. I pressed myself closer to the gate, half hoping he’d take the hint. Clearly he didn’t. In fact, he actually moved closer to me. Gods! Did his breath stink. I’m not forgiving Father for this, I thought to myself.

“Tearing around Woodhearst, leaving a commotion where ever you’ve been then?”

“Haha, you’re so funny,” I told him flatly. “I actually meant pulling weeds and tending pigs. The same old traditional boring farm things.”

“I see,” Andrew said with impeccable self assurance. He swept his hand through his hair again and I couldn’t help but notice the muscles in his forearm. Mainly because he purposely flexed them to draw my attention. “I don’t know if you’ve heard but I became a hunter after leaving school. I’m the best shot in the entire town now. Always bring the biggest game to the butcher’s.”

Pretty sure he was lying about that. “Which is why your father bought two pigs from mine…”

The words came out of my mouth before I could stop and think about them. The smile fell from Andrew’s face and twisted into something like a grimace. “Mayor Terrin banned hunting in the Edirk Forest temporarily. A lot of hunters have gone missing in the last few weeks.”

That caught my attention quickly. A hunting ban? Missing hunters? That wasn’t common knowledge. At least, I didn’t think it was. I hadn’t heard about that. Yet…

Father had told me to stay out of the forest. Did he know something more than just the presence of giant tracks?

Aust, the King’s Ranger, had been summoned to town.

My eyes slid in the direction of the forest. Things felt like they were making a lot more sense now.

“—Then that ranger shows up. I guess that’s what he’s here for. Still don’t understand why he came around here, asking about changes in the forest. Like it’s some kind of living thing.”

Andrew pulled me back to reality. He’d still been talking to me when my mind wandered. Whoops. The only part I truly cared about was the part I’d just heard. The part about Aust.

“Aust was here?” I repeated, snapping my head back in his direction.

Andrew pulled back slightly. “Who?”

“The ranger. Aust is his name.” I rolled my eyes. That brought a irritated teeth grit to Andrew’s face.

“Oh yeah… he did mention that now that I think about it. Stayed for about an hour or so. Asked me all sorts of things ‘bout what I’d seen and noticed the last few times I ventured into the forest. Told him about the big game I usually hunt and the trails I’ve forged that everyone else uses and—“

“That’s very nice. Which way did he go after?”

Andrew once more pulled back, mouth dropping open like a stupid gaping fish, and then closing it again like he had forgotten how to form words.

“Towards Erickson’s farm I think…” he said when he finally remembered how to speak.

“Thank you,” I told him as I pulled the latch on the gate. “It’s been lovely chatting with you but I have to go now.”

I squeezed through the gate and shut it behind me. Andrew started to follow me, raising a hand as if to usher me back. “Lena!—“

He stopped short at the gate.

“Perhaps we could have dinner sometime later this week? You and your father could come over and…”

“I’ll pass the idea along but Father’s very busy!” I waved and kept walking. I was already halfway down the path and following in Aust’s footsteps.

However, in no uncertain terms was I going to pass the dinner invitation along. Father would be all too pleased about it.