The Farm

Birds chirping, a warm breeze blowing past. As Marcus opened his eyes, he saw clear blue skies above him. Small puffy white clouds were slowly making their way along with the breeze. Momentarily not knowing if still dreaming or not, Marcus set up. Looking around at the knee high grass and the deciduous trees in the distance. With a quickened pulse, he stood.

"What in the fuck is going on?" Marcus mumbled to himself.

"I didn't take anything last night. Nobody could have drugged me. If this is a prank it's not funny at all!"

Thinking that someone must have moved him out of his apartment after he fell asleep, he started to inspect his body. Usually he would sleep naked, but with it being a little chilly in his apartment, he opted to wear his flannel cotton pajama bottoms. Shirtless, but thankfully not bottomless, he started to take in his surroundings. Ignoring the grass and trees, he saw in the not so far distance a black and white cow. A cow that had a single horn sticking out the top of it's head, but otherwise identical to cows he was familiar with.

"I've never seen a cow with a single horn before. Well, maybe it's a mutation, like those two headed calves you see every once in a while."

Slowly making his way to the cow, Marcus saw that the cow took notice of him. Lifting it's head from grazing, the cow looked at him curiously. Marcus stood still, not knowing if the cow would be aggressive or not. He knew most farm cattle wouldn't be too aggressive and may even be friendly. Seemingly already over the situation, the cow gave him a final look and continued lazily grazing on the knee high grass.

"Well he must be used to seeing people since he didn't really react to me. Must be a farm or ranch around here somewhere. I need to find it so I can get home, then find out who did this so I can beat some ass." Marcus said with a scowl on his bearded face.

Walking over the small hill that the cow was grazing on, Marcus saw a small creek that was meandering through the small plain that he was in. Scanning the area he noticed a handful of cows enjoying a soak in the water. On closer inspection he noticed they all had a single horn on their heads.

With a shocked look in his eyes, Marcus mumbled. "I've never ever heard of a species with a single horn, maybe I'm wrong. I have to be wrong, I mean, there they are right in front of me. Also isn't it a bit warm? It should be October right? There shouldn't be any leaves on the trees at this time of year!"

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Marcus moved his eyes past the soaking cows. Freaking out wouldn't help at all with his current situtaion. Deciding to follow the creek, Marcus set out at a leisurely pace. He was following a worn down path, thinking that that was the way the cows had come from. He was hoping the path would lead him to a farm or ranch. After about half an hour since he decided on a direction, he saw evidence of human activity. With tree stumps littered around the area, he was sure that he was on the right track. Another ten minutes went by, and once he crested another small hill, he reached his destination.

A farmhouse, with wooden logs and mud to fill the gaps, set just at the bottom of the hill. With a thatch roof, it looks right out of a renaissance fair. A waist high cobble stone wall surrounded most of the structure. It would never be enough to keep anyone out, but more of a deterrent for any wayward animals. Dotted around were other animals, some chickens, roosters, and about a dozen goats. Although the building looked extremely dated, everything seemed normal, except the goats. The goats were a normal size and structure, but the color, the color of the goats were a grass colored green.

They seemed to blend into the background, with being a darker shade at the top and lighter towards the bottom. Trying to ignore the strange colored goats, Marcus made his way to the farmhouse. When Marcus was about fifty feet from the cobble stone wall he heard a voice.

"That's close enough stranger!"

Coming around the back of the house was what looked like a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair and stubble on his face. At a slightly shorter height at five feet five inches tall. A solid build, showing years worth of hard labor. With a wood axe in his hand, the farmer eyed Marcus suspicioulsy.

"Hi there. I was hoping you might be able to help me out. I seem to have gotten lost." Marcus said while raising his hands to show he meant no harm.

Still eyeing him cautiously, the farmer replied. "I can see that, and a few other things as well. What happened to your clothes? And you haven't even got shoes on your feet!"

Looking down at his dirt ridden feet, Marcus thought to himself 'I completely forgot I was barefoot, didn't even notice on the walk over here.'

Not quite sure what to tell him, Marcus decided on a half truth. "Well you see, I went to sleep like normal. Then I woke up a ways away in a field of grass."

After a pause the farmer asked. "Is that it? You just woke up in a field?"

" Well that's the gist of it. I also saw those strange cows too. I followed their trail back to here."

Nodding his head, the farmer asked. "What's so strange about them? They're just horned cattle, you've never seen cows before?"

With a shrug of his shoulders Marcus replied. "Just not ones with a single horn on top of their heads."

"It's not like cattle have two horns, anyways, so what can I help ya with then? Need some directions?"

Trying to ignore the first part of his sentence, Marcus nodded his head.

"I would greatly appreciate it. I don't recognize any of the area and don't know how to get back to Portland."

"Portland? Never heard of it. The closest city, Jakarta, is about a half day's travel to the north east of here."

Taken aback, Marcus asked with hesitation. "What do you mean you've never heard of it? It's towards the west coast, the largest city in Oregon!"

With a scoff the farmer shook his head. "You must be delirious from dehydration, nobody's been to the west coast. This here is the New World, the Frontier. The Empire has only pushed a couple hundred miles since they discovered this place, oh, about sixty years back. Unless you mean a city back in the Old World, but I'm sure you'd remember a six month sea voyage to get this far."

With a blanched face and a distant look, Marcus couldn't believe what he was hearing. 'This has got to be a joke, a sick joke.'

Swallowing the nausea that was overcoming him Marcus sat down on the ground.

"You don't look too well there my friend. You didn't eat anything funny did ya?" The farmer asked worriedly.

"Yeah, I just need a moment." With a deep breath, Marcus got back on his feet. Looking up into the sky, at the small puffy clouds sleepily going past, he thought to himself. 'Well….SHIT. What am I going to do now? With the one horned cows, the green goats, and this Frontier he was talking about, I haven't got a clue on what's going on!'

While Marcus was miles away, the farmer continued to stare with concern.

"Tell you what!" He said loudly, pulling Marcus back from his thoughts. "I need some help around here, and in about a week is the time I head to Jarkata to sell my cheese I make. So how about you help me out and then come with me to the city, and maybe there, you can get your affairs in order, yeah?"

"I think that will work out. Thank you so much for helping me out here. "

"Don't thank me just yet!" The farmer said with a laugh.

"It'll be hard work... and you'll have to sleep in the hay shed. I won't let just any stranger stay in my family's home."

Nodding with understanding, Marcus managed to give a wry smile.

"By the way, m'names Issac. My wife, Mary is down at the creek with the wash, and m'boy is in the woods checking the traps. He should be back before the sun sets. Mary'll be back in an hour or so, I'll introduce you then."

"Oh right, my name's Marcus. Thanks again for the help." Marcus replied.

"Don't mention it. So I suppose you'll need some shoes. My eldest boy, Gods receive him, still has a pair in the house. He wasn't quite your size, not near it really, but he did have some flippers on 'em. HA!" Issac said with a smile and moisture in his eyes.

"I don't think I'll have a shirt for you though. Maybe Mary can sew two of my old ones together when she gets back. That'll at least get you covered proper. What kind of pants are those anyway, never seen a pattern like that before."

"Oh these? These are just my cotton pajamas." Marcus said

"I don't know what pajamas are, but cotton must mean you got a little coin to ya. Don't see much cotton on us normal folk. Then again I don't really see where you'd keep your coin if you had any anyways!" Issac said with a full smile.

Marcus was bashedly at a loss for words. Issac was right, he didn't have any money. The only thing he had was the pair of pants he had on. While Marcus was beginning to look unwell again Issac continued.

"Don't worry too much. Since you're helping me out I'll pay ya. Just after we sell off the cheese in the city. Should be enough to get you started anyways."

Looking better already, Marcus was about to express his thanks once again when Issac said "I need to get more green dye, and some more rope when we get to the city anyways. The goats are about to have some more kids."

"What do you need the green dye for?"

"What do I need it for? The goats! You didn't think they turned green all by themselves do ya?!" Issac asked sarcastically.

"Why would you color your goats green?" Marcus asked.

"So those damn griffins don't get them. You color 'em green to blend in with the grass, makes 'em harder to see from the air. " Issac stated matter of factly.

With surprise all over his face, Marcus thought he'd heard wrong. 'Griffins don't exist, he must be joking.'

Issac continued, "They used to swoop down and pluck 'em right out the grass while they were grazing. Coloring 'em green was my idea, and it worked too! Not too bad of an idea if I don't say so myself. Now all the other farmers do the same."

"Don't you have to worry about your cattle too? They'd be pretty easy to spot, more so than a goat?"

"Son, you ever seen a griffin? They're only the size of a horse, well with the wings twice as big maybe. They'd be hard pressed to lift a full grown man, let alone a whole steer. Not that they haven't tried to get a man. They learned their lesson real quick though. Had the whole knight squad hunting down any man eaters around here."

A concerned expression found its way onto Marcus's face. Seeing this, Issac continued. "Looks like you have a lot on your mind. Here, take this axe. There's a pile of wood behind the house. Should take you most of the day to get through that. Finish that up and we'll talk some more after."

Hearing this Marcus nodded while taking the axe from Issac. Still deep in thought, he made his way behind the house.

"Hey! Don't forget the shoes. They're just inside the back door on the mat. You can't miss 'em." Issac said.

Turning around Marcus looked at Issac and nodded again. Turning back around, he continued on his journey to the back of the house.

Issac just stood there and looked at Marcus's departing figure shaking his head.

"Seems to be something bothering him all a sudden. Hopefully he'll figure it out." He said to no one in particular.

"Still never seen a man built like that before. Looks like one of those barbarians you hear tell of. Seems like a good fellow though."

Issac went to feed the goats and chickens while humming a tune to himself.

......

Finding the worn shoes right where Issac said they'd be, Marcus made his way to the wood pile. There he saw a small mountain of wood. Each piece about the length of his forearm and as big around as a fifty gallon drum. Next to the pile was a tree stump about knee high and twice as big around as the logs.

"I wonder how he managed to move all these logs here to this pile. Must have had a wagon or something." Marcus mused.

Placing a log on the flat stump, and with the axe in hand. He swung it downwards with a moderate amount of strength. With the axe head meeting the wood, the log split right in half, with force. After splitting the log, the axe embedded itself up to the neck of the handle inside the stump.

"Shit! That must be some softwood. It was pretty light when I put the log up there, that must be it. Gonna have to hold back a little if I don't want to ruin Issac's axe." Marcus told himself.

After about an hour and a half. Marcus was about halfway through the pile of logs. After splitting them into manageable pieces, and no small effort on his part, he's worked up a decent sweat.

Deciding to take a break, Marcus went to turn around to go look for Issac for some water. When he turned around, not too far from him was a woman looking at him with scared eyes. When the woman noticed his eyes looking at hers, she quickly backed up a step.

The woman was about five feet two inches tall with shoulder length brown hair. With wrinkles starting to line her face. Tanned skin showed that she was not a stranger to working outside. Her slender yet toned arms emphasized just that. She had a small frame, carrying a little extra weight. Deep blue eyes set in her tanned face, and they were staring right at Marcus.

Not wanting to make things awkward, Marcus quickly introduced himself. "You must be Mary right! I'm Marcus."

"That's right, I'm Mary, Issac's wife. What exactly are you doing here at our farm? Last I knew we didn't have any farm hands." She stated, with worry in her voice.

"Well I was lost in this area and don't know my way around. When I came upon this farm, Issac offered to help me out by taking me to Jakarta next week." Marcus quickly explained.

"Uh huh." Was all Mary said.

"IIIISSSSAAAACCC! Where are you!" Mary yelled while not taking her now skeptical eyes off Marcus.

Running around the corner with a slight limp, Issac appeared. Slightly out of breath, bending over to catch it, with his hands on his knees, Issac said.

"Thought I'd catch you on your way up Mary. Guess I timed that wrong. Ha Ha.

This here is Marcus, he'll be helping us out for the next week, then head up with me to Jakarta."

"Well I do suppose we could use the help. Sorry for yelling, I wasn't certain if what you said was true. There aren't many bandits in these parts, but it's not unheard of. For all I knew you got to Issac to take our home from us." Mary said apologetically.

Looking at the washed clothes in the basket next to Mary's feet, Issac asked. "Can I get you to take some of my old shirts and put something together for Marcus over here. I don't think he'd be able to squeeze into anything we have. And he doesn't have anything to cover himself with."

"Yeah, I can see that. I should be able to put something together, just give me an hour or so." Mary said while eyeballing Marcus's bulging muscles.

Noticing Mary's gaze, Issac hurried Mary along. "I think the sooner the better."

"Oh yes, sorry, I'll get right on that."

Grabbing the basket of wet clothes, Mary hurried along into the house to get started on making a bigger shirt for Marcus.

"You must be a beast of a man to get through that much wood in an hour's time." Isaac said while gazing at the progress that Marcus made.

"I had to use my wagon and have my boy help me to move all those. I guess all those muscles aren't just for show, huh?"

"I guess not. Ha Ha." Marcus replied with a smile.

.........

Later that day, when the sun was starting to set. Marcus sat at Issac's dinner table. With Issac at the head of the table, Mary sitting at his right and his son, Nathan at his left. On the plate in front of him he had hard tack, some goat cheese, and a little bit of rabbit meat that Nathan managed to trap earlier in the day.

"How's that shirt fitting there Marcus? Looks a little tight around the arms there." Issac asked with a mouth full of cheese.

"Oh, it fits good enough. Thank you very much by the way Mary."

"It wasn't a problem, those were just Issac's old shirts. We couldn't have you walking around flaunting yourself, now could we?" Mary replied with a wink.

"...... I guess not." Marcus said with a chuckle.

"Thanks for the help today Marcus. It would have taken me all day to split all the wood, it only took you three hours. You're a beast of a man to be able to do all that." Issac said with a look of admiration in his eyes.

"It wasn't a problem at all Issac, anything you need I'll help you with." Marcus said.

"And I appreciate it. Now after dinner, I'll give you a spare blanket, and you can set yourself up in the hay barn. You might want to poke the hay with a pitchfork before you lay down, scares any critters in there out. Might not work with the bugs though." Issac said.

He continued, "Now that we're all sitting here and have the time, do you have any questions Marcus? I know you said you weren't familiar with the area, so now would be a good time to ask."

With that, Marcus and Issac had an in depth conversion, with the occasional commentary of Mary.