Chapter 62 - Digging in the dirt...

Author's Note: Hello there Ladies and Gentlemen!

I seem to have succeded in my endeavor and I will be invited to work in the facility I wanted to work in for a day to test wheather it suit me or not. If it does then I will probably get the job. Luckily for you this job gives me a lot of free time in the afternoon and evening, possibly motivating me to write more chapters. So let's see what the future holds.

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When Kaiser woke up the next day this time together with his siblings he carefully began to dress himself. His big sister still looked at him worriedly, ready to help him should his wounds open up again. Theodore seemed to have forgotten Kaiser had been injured at all and simply stormed out while shouting everyone who was still sleeping awake. When everyone arrived at the table and began eating breakfast Kaisers mom asked once more where he and his little brother had been in the evening. Yesterday they had successfully avoided it by pretending to be too tired to respond and Kaisers injured back, hoping that she would forget about it the next morning. Today however they had no excuse.

Saying that they had been behind the house somewhere where Kaiser could get fresh air and recover better both successfully avoided any punishment although his mother still complained that Kaiser shouldn't move to much in order to allow his body to heal further. Although his outer skin may have healed he could have retained more serious injuries on the inside. Because she had been worried this much Kaiser agreed to drink medicinal tee and accept herbal wraps around his back for at least 5 hours each day and whenever he went to sleep.

However as he had gotten stronger and one was seemingly unable to take good care of him whenever he was outside ones field of vision as he would then proceed to do whatever he felt like with complete disregard for his injuries.

When Kaiser left with his mother and siblings towards the orchards his father and uncle had long left the house. At the gates that separated the living areas from the orchards and other fields peacekeepers carefully kept watch. They were sorted into the groups in which they would work and when enough had assembled two peacekeepers would escort them to the right location. Today their mother and older sister had been chosen to work on the smaller fields instead of the orchards where they were responsible for the harvesting of blackberries. At the moment, as it was early summer, most the fruits were still ripening there but still many many things to do there and pick. The people in the orchards at the moment are mostly responsible for supporting heavy laden trees with forked sticks as long as they aren't ripe to avoid branches breaking. Additionally they had begun harvesting apricots, cherries and nectarines.

After having passed through several groves where different varieties of fruit were grown they arrived at the fields where the fruits grew in abundance. Everyone worked here, even the small children began to pluck the ripe berries and collected them in baskets and buckets. After about two hours the children which had to go to school left while the small children and older a.d.u.l.ts stayed. Around the same time the younger children including Kaisers younger brother began to run around and began to play. A few old women followed them slowly to keep watch. Now he knew how they could run around without any a.d.u.l.ts present, they simply ran faster than the old a.d.u.l.ts that were supposed to watch them.

Deciding to follow them he ran after them, slowly catching up to the slowest. These were mostly the youngest and a few sickly ones that were older. Not long after they exited the gates while the peacekeepers simply watched them without any sort of worry, merely keeping an eye on them as it was part of their orders. The group turned left and entered the woods before slowing down. With the oldest ones in the lead they quickly made their way towards their newly discovered hideout. One after the other they slid down into the depression and began to play.

In their imagination the small space underneath the branches they had thrown there transformed into the halls of great kings and queens where many treasures could be found. Righteous knights patrolled the realm and protected the inhabitants. Magicians and witches brewed powerful potions with mud and leaves that strengthened and cured many people. Smiths forged powerful swords from twigs and fearless adventurers left the safety of the kingdom in order to search for powerful materials.

Despite all the chaos around him Kaiser did not join in but kept a clear head. Today he had come to investigate the strange thing he had seen just before he left. Opposite of the "palace" he found what he had set out in search for. In their great excitement the children seemed to have missed to look at this spot. Here a small piece of metal stuck out of the hill, although most of it was covered in dirt and rust a small piece was still clear. Perhaps someone had run over it, clearing it up. When he looked more closely and tried to pick it up he noticed that it was much larger than it seemed to be at first glance and most of it must be hidden within the hill. Quickly he stood up and walked towards one of the kids that had taken up the role of adventurer and gave him an order. "Hey there. I need a somewhat flat stone as wide as my hand or a piece of wood with similar qualities, the wider the better as long as it isn't too unwieldy. "

"That's a difficult one." the boy replied. "I'll see what I can do but it will cost you a lot."

"What do you want in exchange?" Kaiser asked curiously "Is there something specific?"

"I want something beautiful." the boy said "Or something that could impress everyone else."

"Ok" Kaiser nodded agreeing to the boys wish. "I will find you something"

Having an idea on what he wanted to give he ran outside. Walking around for a while he quickly found what he was looking for. A long vine of ivy that grew on a large tree. Grabbing a nearby fallen branch he broke it until it had a suitable size and began to somehow bash/cut off the ivy. After a few minutes of work he managed to rip it in two. Grasping the end that connected to everything that grew on the tree he began to pull until it snapped high up, falling down into a large pile at his feet. He carefully removed anything that grew away from the main vine, ending up with a long, straight piece of vine that he rolled up and began to carry back to the hideout. Halfway to the base he stopped and began to pull it after resting for a short while to recover. As soon as he arrived at the base he showed the vine to the impatient "adventurer". "Here is what you requested customer." With that the boy extended his hand and showed a large, flat stone. "It really wasn't easy to find one so you better have something interesting for me."

Kaiser grinned widely and threw the rolled up vine towards the boy "There you have the object you desired. A tool that can be used as a whip, to pull things and do many more things. It is perhaps one of the best and most useful things you will ever find. Additionally it is very durable and will serve you well. Is this enough?"

The boy laughed and replied: "More than enough my friend. Should you ever need something else come look for me and I will give you anything else for free. This is way better than I expected. Until next time."

Kaiser smiled and turned around. "Very well. I wish you good luck in your future endeavors. Until we see each other again I bid you farewell."

Walking back to his new excavation site he began to dig with his new tool.