The rooster crowed right in his ear. Dern flinched back and threw the bird across the room by pure instinct. He sat up, checked on it, got dressed, and headed out to tend the fields. It was harvest time, so he took a deep breath and headed for the barn to grab his tools and joined his father at the far end of the first wheat field.
They worked all day, gathering bushels, tying them up, setting them in the back of a wagon to take to the barn so his mother and sister could thrash the wheat to get the grain off the stalks. After he set his fourteenth bundle down, his father put a hand on his shoulder.
"Take this load to the barn and bring it back along with a jug of water," his father ordered.
He nodded. They were both hot and sweaty from the days activity. He put the shoulder straps on, used a walking staff that was on the front of the wagon to knock out the support posts from under it, and rocked it back and forth a few times to get enough momentum to move towards the barn. He huffed and puffed as he pulled the laden cart up to the front of the barn where his mother and sister were busy already thrashing the last of the day prior's harvest. They paused to unload the cart and all looked up at a strange sound that his sister said sounded to her like the ringing of tiny bells.
When nothing else happened, they shrugged and finished unloading the harvest. He got the cart turned around while his mother went inside to get water and a couple loaves of bread and some dried meat for him and his father.
After everything was inside and put away, the family stood together to watch the sunset past the mountains over their peaceful valley. It had begun as a cute little thing his sister had insisted on. Since she was a small child she'd loved the sunsets; she'd fallen gravely ill once, and they all came together on what they believed would be her last night, and continued to do so, even after she recovered.
Once the sun's final glow disappeared behind the mountains, everyone else went off to do their own thing, Mother to the day's mending, his sister to her dolls, Father to his pipe, and Dern to his studies. As he turned from the door, he caught movement in the tree line, at the edge of the forest. He leaned out, squinting.
"What?" he breathed. It couldn't be... "Father." An annoyed grunt answered him. "Father, you may want to see this."
YOU ARE READING
At Dusk
AventuraA young and powerful spellcaster accidentally connects the setting of the sun with the raising of the dead. No, the sunrise doesn't undo it. A new wave is raised with each new sunset.
