Ranger Rising

Part 5: The Hunting Ban

"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."