Beyond the Fence

Chapter: 7

 "Where do you want these to be kept, sir?" The stable boy asked as he adjusted the stack of heavy hay he was carrying. 

"You know where to put them, boy. Do not ask me every time!" 

"But sir..." 

"I said, put the stack and LEAVE!" The boy quietly hurried out of the cottage, his head hung low. 

"You have got to go easy on the boy, Itis. It won't be long when he runs away and you won't have many servants left." 

"Oh, I don't care, Ojas. That boy is useless, anyway." 

"You tell that now, wait until he runs away." 

Ojas chuckled and Itis glared at him, "you do know that I let you talk like that to me only because you know about the crops, right?" 

"Right, How can I forget that?" Ojas's laugh echoed through the empty cottage. "You know Itis, these potions are quite a puzzle. One wrong herb and the entire potion gives you a completely different power!" 

"That is why I have spared you now, didn't I?" Ojas rolled his eyes and pulled an empty vial from the table.

Itis always felt lonely in his empty cottage, not long ago he had lived with his two sons and his wonderful wife, curse the Old Sage for killing them. He had always wanted to avenge their death but someone had been fast and clever enough to kill him before Itis could even have a proper plan, curse the man too! Itis had only let Ojas stay because he wouldn't feel too lonely with the old buffoon rambling about in the cottage and Ojas was a clever man. 

Itis, always wanted to learn to make potions, he had always wanted to learn the combinations, the art of making powers but he had never gotten the chance, as it would not have paid the bills and fed his wife and children. But once they were gone, he had nothing left. Nothing to look after, nothing to love, nothing to lose, he had nothing. Itis would have gone mad if it wasn't for Ojas.

It was a chilly night and it was only a month since the Old Sage had killed his wife and his sons, Itis was drunk to make his way back to his lonely cottage. He sat down near a dumpster, shivering in the cold when he had met Ojas. 

Itis had been grateful, if it weren't for Ojas, he would have died in the cold. When he had gotten up the next morning, he was tugged in a blanket. He still wonders why such a brilliant man had passed out near a dumpster. 

He had asked Ojas a number of times but never really got an answer. Ojas, from then, had always kept Itis company, never letting the man out of sight. Ojas had become a brother to him.

 Slowly, Itis had learnt to make potions, learnt the combinations but had not become an expert as Ojas, but at least he now knows to make them.

The village had gotten crazy since the death of the Old Sage. Though the man had been mad and evil, he knew to keep the people under control. The day he had died, the village had gone crazy with power, vengeance, hatred and all the bad things they could do. 

People started making powerful potions that lasted for more than a decade. Such potions always had side effects but that was not the bigger problem, the worst problem was that the people started killing each other for power, for money and for fun.

Itis had always wanted to escape the village, but where would he go? He had no family and Ojas wouldn't come with him. Apparently, for mad old Ojas, he cares too much for the Godforsaken land to just leave. So, Itis had to stay. 

After a year of madness and brutality, after Ojas's constant pleading for support, Itis agreed to help the village. They started making potions that would reduce the power and switch them with the once that enhanced the powers. Soon, the village had gotten less brutal; but nothing had stopped.