Chapter 11: 11- Dolly

True to his word, Grandpa Rodan had dragged Aaron out of the bed by banging a musical tune on his pots. They had a quick meal and then returned to plowing the fields. The day had gone by quickly and Rowan once again found himself in bed waking up for a new day.

The only difference this time was that Aaron would be the one to take care of the animals, personally ordered by Grandpa Rodan. 

It was a spectacle that Rowan could not wait to see.

And he was not disappointed.

Rowan watched from a corner as Aaron carelessly went about feeding the animals. A handful of hay was thrown at Bessie and he only dumped the food once for the pigs, earning a look of disapproval from Sir Bacon. Then he moved on to the chickens and Rowan watched in anticipation. 

It didn’t take long for the screaming to start.

“How dare a mere fowl stand in my way! You are poultry and the only place you deserve to be right now is in a pot. You dare scratch this noble face, I will have you desecrated-”

Aaron had gone on and on, only stopping when a blow hit his head. The blow would cause the boy to reorient himself to regain his bearings before continuing his tirade the rooster.

Rowan couldn't help but think as expected of a noble, even their insults were creative. For someone who prided themselves as a noble, he sure knew how to curse a lot. Some insults made by Aaron were being jot down into the back of Rowan’s mind for future use.

Rowan watched as Aaron fared poorly against Buckbeak. Despite failing to touch even a feather on the chicken’s head, Aaron’s mouth never stopped moving. 

Rowan watched in amusement until Grandpa Rodan came to collect them for breakfast.

With his hair dishevel and his cloth out of place, Aaron looked completely out of place. Having found out Rowan was just observing the whole scene instead of helping, earned Rowan a fierce glare from the young aristocrat.

At the dining table, Grandpa Rodan began speaking once the food was set up.

“ I explained this yesterday to Rowan, but Aaron, you should also have realized it. The egg collecting task was a test. Would you boys like to hear the results?”

Rowan nodded eagerly. While he did not enjoy taking tests, he had to admit he was curious about the results since the test did not have clear criterias. Aaron's face was one of indifference, but he sat a bit straighter as he was also curious on what the results were. He gave no indication on whether if knew the whole thing was just a test or had just found out.

“ I told a lot of this to Rowan yesterday, but it bears repeating. This task was set for you to fail. However both of you never gave up and charged head-on with Buckbeak. It shows that both of you young lads have honest and courageous personalities. Those are good traits in my eyes.  “

Rowan couldn’t help but look at Aaron. The young Helmstrum was anything but honest in his eyes.

Grandpa Rodan must have caught Rowan's look and chuckled. “Yes, honest is the right word for both of you. Both of you charged at Buckbeak multiple times without backing down. The way you went about it was a bit different, but the method was mostly the same. Aaron may have talked a lot, but he never stopped charging at Buckbeak; just like you Rowan. Remember the lesson I taught you yesterday?”

“Yes, be flexible,” Rowan answered.

“Correct. I won't repeat it because Aaron's studies should be more intensive and can cover better than anything I say about flexible thing. There should be plenty of times where alternative choices can decide victory, instead of just charging straight ahead. Aaron,I wont talk much since i can tell that deep down you haven't completely take my words to heart. That’s fine. Take your time to learn here as that was one of the reasons you were sent to my farm. Just understand that you win more friends with honey than you do with vinegar.”

Aaron slowly nodded his head in understanding. 

Grandpa Rodan continued. “ Those with honest personalities tend to become musleheads as they are destined to be tricked and face hardship. The only way to offset this is with experience. Not that it's a bad personality trait. People tend to gravitate towards honest people as they are found more trustworthy then most. This is a better result than others. I remember a certain Helmstrum lord who ran away in tears after being beaten to the ground once.”

Aaron choked on his food when he heard those words.

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How old was that rooster? Rowan had seen Aaron's father and the Helmstrum lord was not a young person. 

“Yes, he came crying to me after being beaten once. How can you trust someone after running away? It took awhile for me to fix his personality” Grandpa Rodan said with a cheerful laugh.

“Alright enough reminsancing, let's finish up and get to the fields. The fields aren't going to plow themselves.”

The boys obeyed as they quickly cleaned up the dishes and table.

****

It happened in the afternoon as Rowan was taking a break. Their group had been working on the second field and his arms were sore from plowing the ground. He was staring aimlessly at the Forest of Death as he rested. 

There wasn’t much else to look at around there. Besides the fields and the road, the Forest of Death was the only thing left. He had heard many horror stories of people who went in and never came out. Monster would haunt his nightmares and drag him into the deep if he carelessly got close. As a child he was curious if the story were true, but he didn’t want to test it with his life.

As much as he wanted to believe in Grandpa Rodan when he stated they were safe, it was hard to do so. However, the forest had been tranquil for the last few days of their stay.Rowan was beginning to wonder if there were actually monsters in the forest or if it was just a talltale to keep children listening to their parents.

Had Rowan not been working on the farm and been a more curious child, he would have wander into the Forest of Death to test his thoughts. Thankfully the farm work kept him busy and too exhausted to bring those thoughts to reality.

Just as Rowan was about to pick up his plow again and start working, he noticed the forest trees were shaking. It was a new phenomenon that he hadn’t seen so far while staying here for the last three days. His exhaustion suddenly cleared as he gripped the plow tightly in his hands, not knowing what was about to happen. It may have been a farm tool, but it still made him feel safer than bing empty handed. If anything, it did have an edge at the end which was good enough as a weapon.

Paying rapt attention to the forest, the trees shaking grew larger as a immense shadow inched closer to the farm fields. Rowan watched in apprehension as the shadow slowly grew clearer.

It was a wolf.

A wolf that was double the size of Rowan. It had brown fur and sharp claws. It had noticeably keen fangs that could eat a child in a single bite. Rowan suddenly felt all the childhood stories he heard about the Forest of Death was true. He wanted to immediately scream for his Grandpa, but found his body was frozen in fear instead. As he watches the wolf slowly walk towards him, he noticed something else about the wolf.

It was injured, and the injuries were very serious.

A massive gaping wound was left on its side as blood flowed down its body as it trudged over. Rowan hadn’t noticed, but the eyes of the wolf were listless and beginning to lose light.

Just as Rowan was wondering what kind of creature could have injured such a monster, a white blur ran out of the forest and threw itself at the wolf.

Rowan stared as a fluffy white creature ferociously bit the neck and finished off the wolf. The wolf hit the ground with a thud and finally the last light of life left its eyes. It took Rowan a moment to register what the creature was as he stared at it.

It was a sheep.

A herbivore animal that was known for its wool.

At least that was the common sense that Rowan had learned.

While the animal in front of him had the same appearance of a sheep, its actions were far from the behavior of the docile animal that Rowan knew of. It stared at Rowan for a bit before biting the neck of the wolf and dragging it away. Fortunately it seemed uninterested in the boy.

Grandpa Rodan's voice sounded off in the distance. “ Great, it looks like Dolly came back and she bought back a present! We’re going to have meat for tonight’s dinner boys!”

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