Tex check on the three women bound up in the wagon. Seeing that the two older women were sleeping, and the younger girl was sobbing. He Tex turns and heads toward the woods while scanning the area for any hidden enemies. The presence in his head steers him deep within the woods. Most of the trees here look to be several hundreds of years old that would have made a lumberjack drool at the number of board feet they would get from just one tree. Stopping by one of the trees, he crouches and watches the woods for any movement. His mind is continually going over the problem of what to do with all the people he had to rescue. He had a notion to just flee into the northern lands and carve out a place to have a ranch. But now his damn heart can't stop him from rescuing strays. It will be doubtful he can find a safe home for even a fourth of the people he encountered. He is not a cad that wants to sleep with every woman he rescues. He can see just from the faces of half of the women he saves would sleep with him if he even shows them an ounce interest. Shaking his head in defeat as he watches a possum-like creature that twice the size of one on earth ambles through the woods.

Winter will hit in a month from Joseph's memories. The farmstead that he sent the others to is out of the way. Unless you travel a few miles off the beaten track, it would be hard on anyone to spot or even find the place. No one has checked the farm other than Joseph in the last year or two. The storage cellars of the nearby farms may have some food that been harvest before this little war started. Considering most of the men were grab soon after harvest season.

Glancing around, Tex moves deeper into the woods until he came upon a stone marker that was about six feet tall and a foot square. Carve into the stone is some runes, as his hand move close, they begin to glow. Taking his hand away from the runes, they return to normal.

"I am past that totem that is trapping me in this place. There are three more that surround me. Destroy them, and I will give you the ability to help your friends."

Tex snorted. "Sorry, no deal, I came because you said you could heal the elven mother!"

"Free me, and I will tell you what you need." The woman wail.

Tex thought for a moment and said, "Tell me how to free her, and if it works, I will destroy one of the four totems you said trapping you here."

Tex waited a good twenty minutes in silence, not knowing what the voice will do. While he waited, he found two of the totems figuring he find the last one just a few feet past some tree, making a six hundred square feet area. While searching, he found a fragmented skull and some parts of a human bone. Bury under years of dirt and debris. He found two rings that were buried in the soil along with bones of two hands of a person. The teeth of the broken skull he found were two fangs like the vampire movies he seen as a kid.

"So, a vampire lock you in?"

"Yes! His name was Finnegan Blood, a blood mage that turns himself into a vampire. He thought to still my life to make him more living than dead." She pauses. "Three hundred paces to your left, you can find a bush with berries. Picking a handful of the purple berries and crush them until they are pool in a liquid. Take the seed and pulp out and add a mouthful of water and stir until thoroughly mixed, Pour the liquid into her mouth and make sure she drinks all of it. Await one hundred heartbeats and cast your healing spell. It should save her, after you are done, destroy that totem," pausing for a moment, "please!"

"Alright, when the woman is safe, I will destroy one of the totems. For the others, we will have to discuss that later." Tex turns and went to the spot and found the berry bush.

As she watches the mortal head to the bush, the pile of leaves and branches gave a snort. "Why must I put my life in the hands of this mortal. His soul does not belong to that body. The people of this world will eat him. Too much kindness in his soul." The leaves move as the wooden face of a girl stares up at the heavens. "I do not like the fact that you are forcing me to bind with this mortal. What do I get out of this other than my freedom?"

Snorting again, "Companionship is overrated. I can survive on my own thank you very much."

Fluster, she growls, "Not my fault that I got trapped!"

As the creature in the tree argue with an unknown source. Tex was able to pick about two cups of berries. For some strange reason, the word Soul Berries came to the forefront of his mind. Seeing a green glow on the berries and the roots at the base of the grow glowing. Looking around, he can see plants with green glows, red glows, and a lot with no glows at all. Checking a few of the red, he can see blood-red berries on some and sticky thorns on others. Words like Death Berries and Weeping Thorns came to his mind. Several other plants that did not glow words like Lick weed, Grap thorn, Kew grass would pop up in his mind. Several oaks and cedar trees were pointed out as well as a Maple tree that he marks with his knife. The glow faded away as he staggers and leans against a tree. From start to finish, the information that flows into his mind was about five minutes.

"That was a nature spell that you somehow invoke. It is called Plant Identification. The spell allows you to identify plants that are safe to eat, use in potions, and what plants are poisonous that could be used in making stronger poison. As you get stronger in using it and more knowledge you can glean from the spell. More you use a spell, the longer you can cast it." Ella's voice spoke in his head again.

"Do you even know what privacy is?"

"Okay, youngling, I won't tell you about the goblins nearby then!" The presence of Ella in his mind abruptly disappears.

"Goblins?" he mutters under his breath. The only thing he knows about goblins from his world is what he read in books or watch on TV. The stories that Joseph knows about goblins are about what the local knows about them. Goblins come down from the barren lands to the north to raid in the fall for food. Grabbing up livestock and people to use as food, using the women for breeding purposes, and living behind destroy farms and towns depending on their size. Sometimes in the winter, if the goblins don't have enough food, they will rush to the south and wiping out large areas feeding upon anything living. The goblin will only stop when they encounter a strong force that destroys most of their tribes or when the weather becomes warmer, and the vast herds in the north move south again in the plains and barren lands.

Signing to himself as he looks around and seeing movement to the west of him heading toward the farm. Spotting a total of four strange-looking creatures that stand only waist-high moving through the woods. Zooming in with his eyesight, he can see they are pale orange in color and wrinkly in their skin. They have donkey-like ears that hang down. Pug like noses with small tusks protruding out of their wide mouth. The small amount of hair like weeds sprouting from their forehead, Long thin legs and arms that nearly drag on the ground. Their potbelly is sticking out. Two of the Goblin are carrying sharpen sticks over their shoulder. The other two do not look like they are carrying any weapons unless you don't call claws as weapons.

Tex still feels tired from the spell, trying to decide on where he should attack the goblins from as he pulls the bow off his back and sting the bow.

Looking around for any more goblins, he moves stealthily through the woods, trying to keep a large tree between him and them, still feeling tired as he stops at one of the trees and sees the Stinky Thornbush next to it. Taking his knife and cutting off about ten thorns, he moves on to another tree and seeing the four goblins arguing and pointing toward the farm that is about a thousand feet away. After a few moments, two goblins split up from the other two and move to the north. The other two goblins spread out and started crawling on their belly like dogs. Tex grabs an arrow and pulls it back to fire at one of the goblins when he heard sounds of creatures running from the west.