Alcingeria

Chapter Eighteen: The Vipers

Chapter Eighteen The Vipers:

Thursday June 24th 1690

"So, how did you guys come to be?" Asked Robert as we continued to follow him through the farmland.

"I'm glad you asked. See, I first formed the Vipers with some of my friends a number of years ago. We had gotten into some trouble with the law, and we wanted to start a little group. We were young and adventurous, you know how it goes. It wasn't meant to be serious at first, just a group for us to belong to."

"Hey," Don realized. "That's kind of like us."

Then, Ceberus's tone got a little more serious, mourning.

"All of the founding members are dead, either killed by vampires, or the Law. Only William and I are left, although Erin has been with us for a few years."

None of us knew what to say, so we waited for him to continue.

"I keep this group together, because in a way, it's all that I have left of my friends. We take in criminals who are on the run from the law, because they remind me of how my friends and I were when we were your age. Some of them stay, some of them go."

"That's really something, Ceberus." I smiled.

"This group mostly stands as a safe haven for people like us, we don't do many jobs anymore. We've had a number of people just like you come through here every now and again."

That was a sad, grand tale. The fact that it came from Ceberus, a reminiscing old man, made it all the more so.

"I'm sorry for your friends." I said sincerely.

Ceberus nodded sadly.

"Thank you."

We came to a path that led from the remains of road to the house ahead. It went straight through the field of crops but was only about two feet wide. Ceberus lead us down this path and we made our way to the house. As we approached, I could see that the people tending the fields all turned to look at us.

"Good afternoon, Ceberus," a man called over his shoulder as he resumed to hoe the field.

"And to you, Raymond."

We were close now. No one else greeted us. All we received were suspicious looks. We finally approached the house, which was made of wood, and Ceberus opened the door. He stepped in and the rest of us entered behind him.

The house was a long, rectangular log cabin. Sunlight streamed into the house through the many windows that lined the walls. The part of the house that we entered had a little kitchen to our right complete with a wash basin, a counter, kitchen knives in a holder on the countertop and the counter had a series of drawers on either side. Cupboards were in perfect alignment on the wall above the counter. To our left was a room with a few sofas as well as a table with about seven chairs around it. Several playing cards were strewn on its surface. A sign of an unfinished game. Ahead of us, to the left and right were bunk beds that were built into the walls. They had their own separate room.

An older blonde haired, blue eyed woman came out of another room and headed towards the kitchen. She paused when she saw us.

"Who do we have here?" She asked sweetly.

"These are the Scorpions, Martha. William and I met them earlier."

"The Scorpions?" She asked, sizing us up. "How long will they be staying?"

Ceberus cast a questioning glance at Robert.

"Well, I'm not sure. We do have some money troubles, particularly after Ignacio, but we've been managing. We weren't planning on staying at all, we just got chased out of town and these two led us away."

"You look like you haven't had a good meal in over a week," Martha frowned. "At least stay for dinner. We usually take people like you in, at least until they solve their 'money troubles', one way or another."

"We don't want to impose," Robert stiffened. "And far be it for us to freeload. We're thieves, not lords."

"In that case," she said with a smart gaze, "dinner won't be ready for a while. Would you four go outside and help the others tend the fields? It would be a big help."

"Sure, it's the least we can do."

Ceberus returned the smile. Robert got up and motioned for us to follow him out the front door. Ceberus followed us outside.

The sun was beginning to dip towards the horizon. I estimated that it was a few hours past noon. Ceberus pointed to a man that was close to us, he was harvesting a crop. It was the same man who had greeted Ceberus on our way in.

"Raymond, could you show these men how to work the fields?"

Raymond was a dark skinned man who was almost as tall as Macalister. He fell short a few inches, and didn't look as muscular.

"Certainly, Ceberus."

"Thanks a lot. Dinner will be in a few hours."

Ceberus left and went back to the house, and Raymond turned his attention to us.

"Alright. I have no clue who you four are, but I have a feeling that I'll find out at dinner." He said with a friendly laugh that lit up his eyes. "We usually do introductions in front of everyone, it's kind of necessary when we get people coming and going."

"Can't wait to meet everyone," Robert said amicably. "We've never worked a field before, though."

"Right, tending the field is very simple. Go through and pick out any weeds-" Raymond kneeled down and showed us the green, prickly weedy plants. "Harvest any crops that look like this-" he paused, showing us a carrot that had deep green leaves and a bright orange crop.

"We have peas, carrots, potatoes, cabbage and spinach in this field, so just pick whatever looks ripe. You won't need a hoe for this kind of work."

"Alright. We'll get right to it." I punched Don in the arm enthusiastically.

"That's what I like to hear!" Raymond said happily.

I began walking across the field with my eyes cast downwards, scanning the ground for any weeds or ripe crops. I found a weed plant that Raymond had shown us and reached down to pull it out. It wasn't prickly, it was actually quite fuzzy. I held onto it, I would get rid of it later. I wasn't given a basket so I would have to make do without one. I continued to walk along, my shoes made wet squelch noises in the moist, fertile soil. The soil sucked at my boots, but they stayed on. I saw a ripe carrot and reached down to pick it. I removed it from the soil with ease, pulling it up by the green part. The orange crop was dirty from being in the soil. I held onto it and I carried on walking.

I went on with my work, finding a basket by the house to carry the crops in. Raymond had told me that I could put the weeds in a pile behind the house, saying they'd be burned later. There was a sizable stack back there by the end of the day.

***