Centaur Love Ch. 15

This worried Mathew. If the goblins now knew where Oak Valley was and it was now a clearly marked path. Nearly anyone could bypass the western ridge and mountain passes that protected the centaur nation. That meant others could find it, too. He was sitting there thinking of that, when he mentally heard his uncle announce to the farm's heritage that they were just about ready to teleport in. Mathew cleaned the nib on his pen and closed up the ink bottle. He wasn't ready for his uncle and family's visit.

Mathew ran out to drag the picnic table over to the fire pit area, only to find it already set up in the shade of the pecan trees with a tablecloth over it. Matthew heard his name being called.

"Mathew Lindrose, get back here and get some clean clothes on. Your uncle and aunt are on their way!"

Mathew looked down. Sure enough, he had ran out dressed in his dirty, torn up work clothes. Walking back, he noticed Felicia had already put on a fresh top. "Hurry, love," she shouted. "They are most likely on their way!"

Mathew kissed Felicia as he walked by. While he was dressing, he felt his uncle teleport in. He hurried up and finished dressing. The prospect of seeing his aunt and uncle was one thing, but to get to see is niece and nephew was another. Both were at the right age to want to play games.

XXXXXXX

The next morning, Mathew looked up from the map he was finishing when he heard a knocking on his door. How did someone enter the farm's clairvoyance, and he didn't know? Rullis was yelling for him to wake up. Mathew realized Rullis was inside the expanded clairvoyance, but he should have activated the original boundary. Shaking his head, he knew still had too much on his mind.

Mathew woke up, as the morning sun was just staining the eastern sky that morning. After starting a pot of tea, both his mares came out insisting that they take a morning dip before breakfast. Afterwards he took care of the horses' morning meal as the girls cooked breakfast. After breakfast was finished, and cleaned up, all three settled in to spend the day with their magic books. Mathew was finishing the map before he could open his.

Mathew opened the door to see Rullis with Damian and Derick leading one of the huge farm wagons packed full of fresh centaur sized bales of hay.

All three stared at him. Looking down, he realized that he even didn't put on pants this morning. This was probably the first time any of them had seen a naked human.

"Come on you naked monkey," Rullis said, seeing Mathew without clothes for the first time, "we got you-alls hay here. We need your scrawny ass upstairs in your barn."

Mathew grinned at Damian and Derick, "Where did you two find the talking goblin?

"Derick smiled and gestured towards Rullus, mentioning, "Remember that dead one you left in the field near the big house a few weeks ago, Mat? It actually started talking, so we made use of it."

"Oh hard har har."

Mathew grinned at Rullis, winking.

"We should go re-plant it," Damian said grinning, "It talks too much."

Mathew laughed with the three centaurs. All three were shirtless and looked like they spent the morning loading the wagon. Mathew looked over the loaded wagon, "Dam Rullis don't know if that's all going to fit!"

"It better two legers," Derick said. "I sweated my ass off this morning loading this shit!"

Mathew started walking to the barn, shaking his head. It was going to be a rough morning with only him throwing bales upstairs. As Rullis and Derick maneuvered the wagon under the lift arm in front of his barn. While Mathew helped Damian take down the heavy bail tongs from inside.

Mathew then climbed upstairs to get the block and tackle hooked up to the loading track. It was already hot and stuffy in the barn's loft. He was glad he didn't put on clothes this morning, the top of the barm was already hot as hell. With everything set, he flipped the brake off and lowered the rope so Damian could attach the bail tongs.

With all three down stairs taking turns, double teaming the lift rope, and one setting the tongs. It was Mathew's job to pull the bail inside the barn and release the lift brake to drop the bale down, releasing the tongs.

After the fifth or six centaur sized hay bale, he gave up trying to man handling them and resorted to magic to lift and stack the bails inside the barn.

They were about two-thirds done when Felicia and Becca came out carrying several pots of lunch. Mathew magically lifted the last bale onto the stack, then headed downstairs to eat. After filling several buckets at the hand pump, he kneeled down and pumped it a few times over his head.

The girls had left the table setup from last night, so they had a shady place to serve from. Sitting in the shade, Mathew felt nostalgic as he listened to Rullis, Derick, and Damian discuss farming and the needs of the farms below. Younger, they never really paid attention as the men talked about farming. Now, here they were discussing farming.

Back then, he was not so much interested in on what was happening on each centaur's little farm. He was more interested in what each mare looked like, under their shirt, especially Felicia's. Looking over as the boys talked, he caught Felicia's eye and mentally broadcasted his thoughts towards Felicia. Becca caught it as well and blushed. But Felicia smiled and blew a discreet air kiss towards him.

With lunch over, it only took them a few more hours to load the last of the hay into the loft. The last few bales had to be threaded between a few of the roof rafters to leave any room in the loft to move around in. With the six unbroken bales from last year and the three dozen they just loaded, Mathew knew they would have enough to last until next year's harvest.

"Are you sure Mat?" Rullis asked?

"I think so. My two horses are smaller than your dad's Clydesdale's, so they eat less."

"Ya, but you know my dad. If you got the room, I am sure he would want to fill your barn up before we start on ours."

Mathew grinned and pointed at the human sized bailing box in the one corner, "Ya I do, if we load from inside I could take a half dozen or so, but then I would worry about the weight, your bales are nearly twice the size as ours."

Rullis looked at Mathew's 'little' bailing box. It was nearly half the size of theirs. Looking up, Mathew was right. He had stacked the hay all the way to the rafters.

Rullis grinned down at him. "Maybe you should tear down this toy barn and rebuild it into a normal, centaur sized barn."

Mathew grinned up at Rullis as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck. "Funny you mentioned that. I was thinking after this little war of planting a new grove on the north side of the river. Going to need a couple more ponies for you to date if I do."

"Really?" Rullis asked with a huge grin, then rubbed his hands together. "You said a few more. Wow, my own little herem!"

That got a chuckle from everyone. His grin fell into a serious look as he looked up to where the grove was above them, imagining the Northside. "Won't it take a few decades for the tree's to..., ah. You know, grow big enough before you could plant more Dragon Claw?"

Mathew shook his head no. With a slight grin he said, "What I am told is it only took three or four years to magically grow this grove, before they planted the dragon claw, and it was producing a year after that"

Rullis shook his head, looking down at Mathew. To think he would see a whole new grove, grown with magic, made him grin. Rullis smiled at Mathew and then Derick and Daimen, To see a mature grove of Oaktree grown in only four years...., eww then my own herem of ponies!"

"Dont let Beatrice hear you say that!"

"Heck, I would, and then maybe she will walk out with me."

"Not a chance, losers! I would take Beatrice over any herd."

I laughed hearing him say that, commenting, "Love sick pony ponyboy."

Derick laughed with the rest of us, then cleared his throat. "Does that mean you're going to need more hands to work your farm, Mat?"

Mathew looked over at Derick. He was the youngest of the four stallions who stayed to keep the farms going. Derick was a forty- sixty mix centaur or maybe a thirty five-sixty five mix. He was slightly smaller than even Doreen, but he still towered over Mathew by a good foot and a half.

Mathew nodded yes. "I will, some time in the coming years. Why?"

Derick grinned down at Mathew. He liked Mat and his family. They had been the only humans he and his family had ever met. Growing up, he knew Mat was going to be a mage some day, just like his parents. And like all centaurs, he thought mages were the coolest people around. Not that his family really displayed their powers a lot. If you met them outside of the weekly meets, you would never know they were mages. They never displayed their powers. Hell, Derick thought, seeing Mat today flinging the bales of hay was the first time he saw Mat use magic!

Derick grinned at Mat, hell he thought, he was also a Herd Master now! Yet he was still just Mat, one of the guys around the farm. Derick never treated Mat as special. Well, nothing more than a small centaur. He was just one of the guys. Smaller, definitely slower, but just one of the guys. But now...,

"Well Mathew..., or I should say, Sir, um, Herd Master Lindrose, I was sort of hoping...,"

Mathew laughed, seeing Derick stammer and go all nervous like, "Shut up Derick. When have I ever been anything but Mat to you?"

Derick looked down, "well uh...,"

Mathew looked up at both Rullis and Damian, both were sporting shit eating grins looking at Mathew and Derick trying not to laugh. "Don't say a fucking word, pony boys," Mathew threatened, pointing a finger at them. "Damn you to hell, all three of you, shit we grew up together guys. Come on, just because some old centaurs in Midvale made me a herd master, does not mean I am someone important now. Damn it guys, I am Mat, the same guy who helped steal that left over ale from your father's brewery last year."

Damian snickered, "What beer?"

Mathew pointed his finger at Damian, and then at Rullis who was just about to say something, "Shut it, you love sick pony boy, one damn word, and I will make sure you never baby sit my pony again! Nor carry your corny attempt at poetry to your love sick girl friend either!"

Both Derick and Damian laughed at hearing that.

Mathew glared at Damian and Rullis, then turned to look up at Derick. "Listen, Derick, I most likely will need extra help, but at the moment with the war, I just don't know when...,"

Derick grinned, "That's all I am asking Mat, that if you do, you would consider me."

Mathew nodded yes, "I will Derick."

Rullis looked at Derick, smiling, "There! Now that you possibly have a job outside the brewery and not under Brew Master Chestershire, you can finally ask Lorain to step out with you." He grinned at Derick, "Personally, I wouldn't want to walk out with the boss's daughter either, you woosie."

Says who?"

Who's girlfriend got stalled because he was too scared to talk with her ole man?"

"Shut up, you two! I just, um, forgot to ask."

"I call bull!"

"Hey, I got to walk with her in-front of everyone before...,"

Mathew beamed back, saying, "And I had to convince that old man to let lover boy here, to at least say goodbye to his girlfriend."

Rullus growled, "No, you did not!" Without giving me an opportunity to reply he growled out, "Now, since we got this hay delivered, let's get this wagon back down to the barn and switch it out for the low boy."

Grinning at Damian and Derick knowing how hard it was going to be with just the three of them he said. "Maybe we can just load up the bailing box so we can flood the front field tomorrow."

Both Derick and Damian groaned, but got the wagon ready. Rullis nodded to Mathew, "What about you two leggers, wanna give us a hand loading dad's bailing box?"

Mathew nodded yes, "Sure, why not, my mates are most likely down at your dad's place cooking you guys a proper dinner, so if I want to be fed tonight, guess I gotta help. Just give me a sec to get some pants and boots on."

"Thank you!" Rullis exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. "I had enough naked human for the day."

"Your sister seems to like it. She even...,"

I hit the door seconds before Rullis did. Since he couldn't fit through the door, he yelled insults through it at me while I dressed.

I climbed up into the back of the wagon as Rullis led the team back to down to the Fellis farm. Back at the barn, all four of us pitched in, switching out the farm wagon for the lowboy wagon. When they went to grab the come-a-long's, I told them not to bother. All three gave me a look.

I just grinned, cracking my knuckles. "I got this pony, boys."

Rullis looked at me. "That's cheating, Mat."

I laughed. "What you're going to do? Tell your daddy that I used magic instead of us wasting several hours loading it?"

"Well, no."

"Fine then, now shut up you naked pony boy and put a shirt on! I am tired of seeing a bunch of naked centaur guys walking around. It's like a sausage fest around here."

Derick wiggled his rear hips. "It is always going to be a sausage fest naked monkey. We don't wear pants."

"Damn it sausage boy, you should! I seen bigger on mountain ponies than...," I had to jump onto the low boy to keep out of Rullis's reach as we all four laughed.

Out in the north field, we lined up the wagon as if we were going to winch it onto the wagon. I walked around it memorizing the four corners before reaching out with my senses to the ley line.

By dabbing the ley line, I pulled power from it and cast a control tractor pressor spell. The pressure slowly built up, causing the large bailing box to lift off the ground. I carefully floated it as Rullus and Damien pushed it over the low boy. With Derick's help, I decreased the magic's flow as they positioned it on the lowboy.

After I got it set down, we got it strap down to the lowboy. The large black iron and chain driven bailing box was nearly twice the size of mine. My bailing box only made fifty-pound bales. Sir Fellis's bailing box made nearly one hundred pound bales and had to be powered by two centaurs, whereas only one cart pony powered mine.

With the bailing box loaded on the lowboy wagon, Rullis led the four-horse team slowly out of the front field, being careful with the top heavy bailing box. We moved the bailing box to the southern field and unloaded it next to several piles of hay with magic, saving Rullis a whole day just to move the huge contraption.

The time lost loading, moving, and resetting it up, the bailing machine saved the average farmer days moving and storing loose feed. Instead of leaving tarp covered bails in the field, where the wind and rains could ruin part of the precious feed, or the room of storing loose hay in the barns. Compressing and storing bails of hay just made better sense.

Back at the barn we unhitched the lowboy and Derick and Damian led the team back towards the barn with Rullis and me following behind.

Rullis looked down at me. "Thanks for your help today, Mat. You saved us a whole day moving the bailing box."

Derick nodded yes as Damian spoke up, "Yes, thanks, Mat. It's a lot more work without the entire herd here helping to move that monstrosity."

I looked up and grinned at them. "No problem guys, and thanks for delivering the hay. That is one more problem I have don't have to worry about with this stupid war going on."

Rullis nodded yes, thinking about all the trouble these goblins had started. I grinned at them. "You know, you don't have to ask next time. Just come and get me or Felicia, we can...,"

"Felicia can do that," Damian shouted!

I nodded yes, as Rullis looked down at me. "You mean my little sister can lift that bailing box all by herself?"

I nodded yes, grinning. "Becca could too, but she just learned the spells. I don't know if she realized how much weight she can lift yet."

"Remind me guys, to never tease those mares again guys," Derick said while shuttering at that thought.

Rullis laughed, shaking his head, mumbling, "fucking mages."

I woke up early again. After lighting the stove I wondered over to the barn, to feed and water the horses. I raked the paddock and blipped the horse droppings down to the lower field. I thought about the dinner conversation I had with Rullis and the guys. They were just happy to learn that some of the herd was coming home and could help around the farm. Rullis had them on a tight schedule trying to keep the hop fields watered, and cut and bring in this year's first alfalfa cutting. Brian gave a sigh of relief over that bit of news. Mathew had not seen him around. It seems he was the only one irrigating the hops fields, a two centaur job at the minimum.

Mathew laughed at that, though as he walked to the house, he thought of things he still needed to do, including spending some time inside his own magic books. However, he decided that both his mares needed time to practicing what they have learned first.

After breaking their nightly fast, he pulled Felicia and Becca next to the barn to start. Becca practicing her force throws, making sure she was pulling from her klahta reserves. Hgot Felicia started on practicing her lighting and cold ball spells. It was challenging to work with two apprentices who were at different levels and learning different spells. Many of times, he had to close his eyes and take several deep breaths, remembering how his late parents taught him.

He wasn't the best the student if he remembered correctly. Becca improved her aim and power throughout the morning, while Felicia practiced freezing and blasting cord wood with her spells.

It was a good morning for both Felicia and Becca. Both could show more control of their spells. After a quick dip in the pond to cool off, all three retired to the front room to study. Mathew got Sir Fellis's map finished late that afternoon, then he finally opened his book on elementals.

XXXXXXXXX

"I think you nephew over cut this season."

Robert stood staring at the long shiny metal rods in the drying room at his secret dwarf-mounts estate. The new 'chromium steel, or as the dwarfs called it, stainless steel, rods were an enormous improvement over the cotton string method for drying DC root. Thin wooden frames supported the twenty foot thin rods. After use, they can be disinfected with chemical solutions, similar to how hand tools are cleaned after stripping and harvesting the magical root.

They were in a long, underground tunnel with double-sided walls made of packed sawdust for insulation. The tunnel was sealed off at both ends with special, thick, fitted doors. The once magically flavored wine and wine label was a distant memory now for these tunnels. A forgotten memory in the wine world. Just another short-lived great wine. The old grape vineyards that made this place once wealthy had long since withered and died off. As if nature herself rejected the 'northern' grape plant. Just like the once in demand sweet wine flavor, over the years, it soured, as if nature introduced a foul flavor to the grapes. New varieties of grapes were introduced, and the same results, after ten or fifteen years, they too succumbed to the 'sour' taste.

The location and weather were perfect for wine growing, so it had to be the soil. Whatever the family tried to improve the soil, the ending results were the same. What the old family did not realize was, it was the nature of the location turning the invasive 'northern' plants into southern hybrid's. Once the vineyard matured, nature started to southernize the invasive species. The southern magic rejected the northern grapes and slowly tried to turn or southernize the northern vines. After seventy years of fighting the location, the owners gave up and quit the location.