I came to a halt and said, “I live here, and who are you to question me about anything? This is my home and I will do whatever I want here. As for the people behind me, I found them out on the plains, now if you will excuse me…”

The grey furred Susi continued to glare at me but stepped aside. I continued on toward home but a crowd slowly started to gather around us eventually impeding our advance. Now I have been the center of attention before and dealing with crowds normally wasn’t a difficult thing for me, but when the crowd happens to be primarily made up of pissed off wolf men even the bravest person can get a little intimidated. Of course while I was nervous, the humans positively reeked of fear. It was the exact wrong response as their fear made the crowd bold. Several of the Susi started advancing toward the humans and I was forced once again to intervene.

I spoke out with all the volume and authority I could muster, “What the hell do you people think you’re doing? Get out of my way or get off my land! And you three had best back away from my prisoners or there will be hell to pay.”

I got some confused looks from the crowd and one of the three closest to my prisoners spoke up, “Prisoners? Why would you take these barbarians as prisoners? There isn’t any point. When you see a barbarian you are supposed to kill it since they will kill you if you don’t. Tying them up is a mistake that we will correct for you boy. Come on men, let’s end this threat before it becomes a real problem.”

The crowd rumbled in agreement and started advancing again, so I snarled, baring my fangs at the crowd and said, “These are my prisoners, I spent a lot of time capturing them and even more time ensuring their survival if you try and ruin my efforts, I will bury you.”

The Susi that spoke up earlier responded, “Oh yeah? I’d like to see you try whelp.” He bared his fangs at me and took another step.

I stomped on the ground pushing out a large chunk of mana which I sent directly under him. He smirked as he took another step toward me, or at least he tried to take another step. He got his foot up but then the ground gave out beneath him. He fell close to seven feet and the look of surprise on his face while he did it was priceless. Of course a seven foot hole wasn’t going to stop him from doing anything so I decompressed all of the earth I had compressed making the hole. The Susi ended up buried up to his snout. I could see the earth moving as he struggled to escape so I once again compressed the earth, only this time I compressed it around him, not enough to crush him, but enough to halt all of his movements.

When I finished my demonstration everyone just stared at me, half of the onlookers had their mouths agape, which would normally be funny, but I was a bit too tense from all the adrenaline coursing through my veins to see the humor in the situation. I spoke up in as menacing a voice as I could, “Now get out of my way so I can see my father.”

I glared at the people in front of me and they quickly backed up, pressing into the crowd. Eventually a path opened up and I was able to make my way home. Of course the crowd, the magic and the raised voices had alerted my parents to my presence so they were able to meet me at the door. I smiled when I got close and said, “Sorry for being late, we would have gotten back before you guys but a few unexpected things happened.”

Mom and Dad reacted almost exactly how I expected them to, they just looked at me, then looked at the men I was towing behind me, then back at me. My dad arched an eyebrow and uttered a single word, “Explain.”

I related the story of the hunting trip that had taken a left turn and they were quiet the whole time. I could see Raha wanted to ask several questions throughout the story my dad silenced him before he could utter a single word. When I finished the tale and related to them the trials I had undergone getting through the crowd, I could see my father’s eyes burn with anger for the first time. He looked down at Raha and his voice came out in a deep growl, “Your men threatened my son…”

Raha looked up at my dad and said, “Out of the entire story that is the one thing you came away with, that my men after seeing northern barbarians and attempting to deal with them happened to threaten an unknown Susi leading said barbarians into their camp. Did nothing else stick out to you? Like the fact that your son claims to have killed three Lehmakin, or used advanced healing magic to save both barbarians or that the amount of mana he used in order to do those things would have required someone of another race as Susi simply don’t have enough in the tank to accomplish half the things he just claimed? Aatto I think your son may have lied to you about some of the details of his story, and we still have no idea where these barbarians came from.”

Dad looked down at Raha and said, “My son would not lie to me, and he is more than capable of doing everything he just claimed. If you doubt him feel free to check the camp, one of your men is probably still buried up to his neck in the earth. In fact we should all go as I am going to have to beat senseless whoever threatened my son. No one threatens my family… ever.”

I looked at my mom and said, “Can you watch over these guys while I go with Dad? I don’t want them to come to any harm, after all I put a lot of work into fixing their various ailments. Oh yeah, and can you do something about all of this meat? I collected a lot from the Lehmakin.”

She nodded and said, “Okay son, but what should I do about the beast they are sitting on?”

I took the metal bit out of the horse’s mouth and said, “If you give it some left over stalks from the whim harvest he should be content. As for the people, leave them on the beast until we get back, I don’t want them running off or doing something stupid because they’re scared.”

I left my mom with those basic instructions, my bag filled with meat and then I started to jog in order to catch up with my father. He had murder in his eye and I was somewhat looking forward to him dealing with the cocky guard. The trip into camp took less than a minute at the furious pace my dad set, but by the time we arrived most of the crowd had dispersed. There were still a few people around the Susi I had buried. They were currently digging him out and their progress was pretty good, he was free up to his waist.

I took a second to look around the camp while there wasn’t an angry crowd surrounding me and it looked fairly well ordered, the tents were set up in orderly rows, although the sizes varied greatly. They were made of a canvas like material that had been dyed black and were currently propped up by metal rods. There were a couple of fire pits set up, though only one of them currently had a fire going. As for the people, a lot of them were on the borders of the camp, they hadn’t quite left yet, but a lot of them looked ready to bolt.

When we got to within ten feet of the buried Susi his friends bolted and the half stuck bully started to desperately claw at the ground, trying to escape. I could see how dilated his pupils were, I could smell the fear on him and it made me sick. He wasn’t afraid of my father, he wasn’t afraid of Raha, he was afraid of me. It was my presence that had him desperately trying to escape. What in the world had I done to him that had him so frightened, I mean sure magic wasn’t exactly common among my people but I’d only created a pitfall…

My father addressed the trapped Susi, “You threatened my son, on my land, tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now?”

The desperate Susi responded, “I just did what anyone else would when confronted with the enemies of our people, I wouldn’t have seriously hurt the kid… I get paid to keep everyone safe, letting those barbarians into camp would have been in direct opposition of my duties. If I had known your son was such a strong magic user I would have let it slide, but how was I to know? He isn’t even fully matured yet…”

The Susi started kept trying to work his way out of the ground, even as he spoke with my father he kept trying to free himself. He didn’t even focus on my father, instead his eyes were on me throughout the entire conversation, fear evident in his expression. I quickly tired of his desperate wriggling so I walked right up to him and said, “Calm down, I’m not going to hurt you and neither is my father.” I looked at my dad and waited for him to nod. I had to wait for a couple of minutes while he worked through his anger before I got it. “But you need to understand that while you are on our land you will act as a proper guest, meaning you will not start any trouble while you are here and you will not harass anyone we choose to allow onto our land. If you can accept those terms I’ll get you out of there.”

The Susi nodded his head quickly and I reached down under his armpits then stomped on the ground. I released some more mana with the stomp, pushing the earth away from the trapped Susi, then hoisted him clear of the hole. I set him down on some solid earth and said, “Now as a guest it is only polite to introduce yourself to your hosts. My name is Swift Aattoson, the giant standing behind me is my Father Aatto Perinneson and you obviously already know Raha…”

The Susi seemed to calm down a little now that he was no longer trapped in the ground. He brushed off some of the dirt that now caked his entire body which had turned his grey pelt into a brown one taking a little time to steady his nerves no doubt. Then after he seemed to get control of himself he addressed my father, “I’m Muuntaa Taisteluson of the Soturi clan. I apologize for my previous actions, had I known your son was a skilled mage I would not have acted so precipitously. I was informed we were going to the farm of one of the clanless, I didn’t expect anyone skilled in magic or martial arts, so I took charge as is my duty as head guard. But while I acted hastily, I still am obliged to find out what you plan on doing with the barbarians.”

My father responded, “I have yet to decide, my son just dropped the problem off on my doorstep, literally. I have yet to decide what shall be done with them, especially since my son has yet to explain his own plan for them.”

I hadn’t really thought about it much beyond simply aiding the first humans I’d seen in a decade, but that response wasn’t really going to fly in the face of so much obvious opposition so I made something up. “Well, when I first found them they were alone, their party had been wiped out by a herd of Lehmakin, at the time I did not realize they were from the north, so I acted as anyone would and intervened. When I saw they were injured I once again did my best to help them. It wasn’t until I brought them to my friend Gurt that I realized they were Northern barbarians, although thinking back on it I should have realized it immediately. Anyway, now that I have put so much time and effort into keeping them alive and bringing them home I think it would be a waste to simply kill them, so I think the best solution would be to have them pay off their debt to me by helping out around the farm. Yes, now that I say it aloud it makes perfect sense, we needed more workers in order to expand and I think these two will do nicely.”

I laid out my hastily made plan as if it were a bout of sudden inspiration, hopefully my dad would go for it. He seemed to ponder the possibility for a few seconds before speaking up, “Son, that doesn’t really sound very feasible, those two are dangerous, if given half a chance they will try to kill us, and I don’t want to put Auttaa at risk…”

I responded, “I didn’t think of that, but if Auttaa stays in my room, we could lock them in his room at night, which should keep him safe, and during the day I’ll watch them to make sure they don’t cause us any trouble. Besides, without any weapons they shouldn’t be able to do much harm, I don’t think either can use magic as I saw no signs of it with the Lehmakin, and they are only physically as strong as a Vuohian…”

My dad thought for a little while longer and was about to say something when Raha interjected, “Aatto, you can’t seriously be considering this? The Barbarians are known for being vicious when cornered, they are deceptive and dishonorable. If you keep them alive they will slit your throats in the night and then make their escape. They are an unacceptable danger to you and your family. You have to kill them.”

My dad looked down at his friend and said, “I don’t know Raha, my son paints a reasonable picture, I could use the extra hands, and it seems like he is set on this course, besides killing the unarmed and injured doesn’t sit right with me. So Swift, if you really think you can manage the danger, I will let you keep the two barbarians, but if they step out of line even once, I will put them down. Is that understood?”

I nodded, “Sure thing Dad, just give me a week or two to work on them before you step in, after all, I doubt they will be perfect immediately. But I promise that if they present a danger to anyone, I will kill them myself.”

Muuntaa objected immediately, “Sir you can’t honestly expect you son to be capable of doing something that our people have failed to do for centuries? Barbarians cannot be around our people without becoming violent, every time it has been tried they always try to kill us in our sleep. Every Single Time. Even when there is relative stability on the border they still send in people to infiltrate our lands and kill us. They have wiped out countless peaceful farming communities and raided our towns and cities. They are monsters, untrustworthy and untamable, put them down now, before you end up regretting it.”

My father answered him immediately, “My son is capable of doing anything, if he thinks he can civilize the barbarians then I will believe him. My son has yet to fail at anything he has put his mind to. I will choose to believe in his ability and intelligence over the collected wisdom of our society any day of the week. If you have a problem with that then feel free to leave my lands.”

Muuntaa shook his head then addressed Raha, “Sir, I cannot guarantee the safety of your work crew with two savages about, I suggest you find somewhere else to build your new villa.”

Raha simply shook his head then addressed my father again, “Are you sure about this Aatto? You are placing a lot of faith in a boy not yet ten years old. It seems like a foolish thing to do…”

Dad just looked at Raha and said, “I trust my son, he wouldn’t do anything to seriously endanger his family. Besides, the last time I trusted him, I got a cool new fish farm, and my crops will be watered so much faster next year. I am willing to bet he does something equally great with the barbarians.”

I smiled and said, “Thanks Dad, I’ll do my best. Now I better get back to the house, I don’t want to leave mom alone with the prisoners for too long, she might kill them for being intractable.”

-----------------------------------------------

AN- So I had this really cool duel scene all planned out in my head, but I ended up realizing I couldn't use it and have the character be true to who they were. I also planned on revealing an important detail about Swift's family, but I realized the revelation would take the story to a place it wasn't ready to go to yet, so I guess the important thing to take away from all of that is that you can't really trust these Author's notes since even I can't seem to predict what will actually happen in the chapters to come. Next chapter is the first POV switch of the novel... probably...