"Run, Mika! You've got to get out of here!"
The small blonde stood on the clifftop, her mouth agape and her four year old body frozen. Her tunic hung lazily on her shoulders, as parts of it still smoldered from the fire which engulfed the child's house. Mika's sister—the one who yelled—stood pinned to a boulder by a large man in black armor.
"Mira…." Mika murmured.
"Mika, get out! Leave! He can get my collar, but don't let him take yours!" The twin sister cringed as the man made a move for her turquoise collar. She slapped him across the armor and kicked his abdomen. Nothing happened.
"Mika, you've got to fly. Now!"
Mika had a choice. Stay and die at the hands of this Big Bad Boss Man, or jump off the cliff behind her.
She jumped.
Brigget sat up crossly, crying out as she looked around the room. Nothing was on fire. She wasn't on a cliff….
And no Big Bad Boss Man.
"That's the third night in a row." Brigget rubbed her head thoughtfully as Ribbon rubbed up against her master's side. Brigget ran a finger along her turquoise choker, sighing.
"I've got to finish the duplicate in a hurry."
-----
Rick sighed, injecting the last of the medicine into the red-winged chicken. He stood, wiping the sweat from his brow. It'd been five days since the raining incident, and no one had heard from Brigget since. Every now and then people would see her at her farm, and Zach said he always found items to ship in the box, but she was always busy. Rick growled in frustration.
Why did everything have to happen to him?
It wasn't fair. It couldn't be fair. There was no way that anything that had happened to him by her was fair. First she gets the chickens into the coop without touching them, then she predicts the weather, then she tells him his own chicken gets sick and four days later it's eggless.
What a week.
Placing the rest of the chickens outside, he picked up the corn. Hastily he pushed it into the mill. The feed came out. He began spreading it into the boxes.
That's when he saw it.
He didn't know what it was, but it was gray. It flashed past, so he only caught it out of the corner of his eye. But there still was no way he could have missed it. It had almost flown by, keeping close to the ground.
Could it have been a dog?
Unlikely. It was gray, and both Hannah and Ribbon were orange. He dismissed the thought. It had to be something else. A wolf, maybe? But there weren't any wolves in Mineral Town.
Wolf Stables.
For some reason, the name crawled into his train of thought too easily. The Mayor had told everyone in the bar that night about how easily the name of the farm came to her.
Shrugging, Rick made his way back into his house.
"Here's your gold." The familiar voice said. Rick stared at the woman, amazed.
It was Brigget.
She now wore a red pair of overalls, with her red bandana still secured over her hair. Her brown hair lay in low pigtails across her back. She smiled at Rick.
"Hi, Rick." She said. "I just came to get a chicken."
"She's already got the money for one." Popuri squealed. "So we're going to get her one."
"Would you mind taking it to her once we give it the right inoculations?" Lilia asked. Rick sighed, a frown creasing his brow. It'd only been a week. How could she have come up with 500 Gold in that little amount of time?
"Yeah." He gritted his teeth. This woman annoyed him to no extent. "Yeah, I'll take the chicken to her."
"They like it if you name them, you know." Popuri insisted. Brigget rubbed her chin.
"What would be a good name?" She asked herself. "What about Sigil? In my home it means Bringer."
"Bringer?" Rick repeated. Brigget nodded.
"The Bringers brought food to our home." She explained. "So in a way, the chicken is a Bringer." Shrugging, Brigget bowed.
"I'll be waiting for my chicken."
-----
Stupid chicken. It's not my fault Popuri let it go when we were injecting it. She's scared of seeing the chickens get hurt. We had to get another chicken.
The farm was totally cleaned up. Rick recalled the time when there were rocks straddled across the field and branches and weeds imbedded into the ground. Now there were no more weeds, the branches had been moved to a space next to Brigget's house, and the rocks were either smashed into pebbles or cleverly made into a fence around the field. Instead of destroying the beehive that resided in the apple tree next to the pond, Brigget had turned it into a honey hive. Chuckling, Rick watched as the small foal that Brawly had given Brigget trotted up to him happily. The chicken in Rick's hands cuckooed slightly as Rick set him down.
"Hey, there," Rick rubbed the foal's nose. "Where is Brigget? Do you know?" The horse looked to the top of the house. Rick turned to stare.
It was a wolf.
The gray wolf glared at Rick, growling intensely. It showed its pearly white teeth at the boy, licking its chops as it increased the volume of its growl.
Rick stood defensively in front of the foal, which just nickered and stared at the roof. The wolf disappeared over the edge of the roof.
Rick raised an eyebrow. How could a wolf get that high onto the roof? It was physically impossible for it to climb up the ladder and sit onto the roof.
It would have to have wings.
"Thinking the roof is going to fall on me?" Brigget's voice surprised Rick. She stood next to her house, leaning onto the ladder. "I thought you weren't coming for a while. Didn't mean to scare you."
"There's a wolf on your roof!" Rick sputtered. Brigget burst out laughing.
"A wolf? On my roof? Are you sure? You could have been mistaken. Without thumbs to climb the ladder, you'd have to have wings to get up there." Brigget rubbed her backpack as she said the word 'wings'.
"It was there. I saw it!" Rick insisted. Brigget shrugged.
"Alright. Let's go check." She climbed the ladder next to her. "Nothing's up here but a huge roof and a bunch of bird droppings. No sign of any wolves." She climbed back down. "Maybe the heat's been getting to you. Do you want something to drink?"
"Sure." Rick followed Brigget into her house and sat at her large round table, folding his hands together on the face of it. Brigget handed him a glass of tequila.
"Tequila?" He asked, holding it up.
"Gets the heart pumping." Brigget answered, beaming. She chugged hers quickly, shaking her head and grunting as she swallowed. "Go on, try it."
Rick stared at the tequila questioningly.
"If you don't want it, I can also get you a glass of milk. I bought a little bit from Brawly." Brigget suggested, getting up to get it.
"No, no." Rick pulled her back down. "I'm alright with this."
He drank it. It wasn't like he hadn't had any tequila before, but only in the bar. He'd never heard of anyone having their own in their house.
"Is this why you're never in the bar at night?" Rick asked, getting a refill on his drink.
"Well I'm not really a people person. I have one of those faces that people recognize and call the officials on." Brigget shrugged, leaning back in her seat and laying her glass on her elbow.
"You're a wanted person?" Rick gawked. He couldn't picture Brigget as a person with a price on her head.
She shook her head. "It wasn't even my fault. A friend did something and I got blamed for it about three years ago."
"Well that's not fair." Rick agreed. Brigget smiled.
"When I find the guy responsible, I'll slug him." She said, fingering the rim of her cup.
There was a silence as Rick contemplated what to do next. When he first saw Brigget he'd wanted to help her out immensely. She'd seemed so lost, he had no choice. Then once she "helped" him with the chickens he felt jealousy. No one should be able to whistle and then tell the chickens to do something and have them obey. Rick had tried that when no one was looking a few days later and the chickens seemed as if they were laughing at his gaudy attempt to scare them. Now he felt like he needed her to get friends. She'd only been a week on the farm and the only thing people had heard of her were rumors that the farm was being worked again.
"Say," He suggested. "Why don't you come to the bar with me tonight to meet everyone?"
"That's alright," Brigget shook her head. "I already said I'm not a people person."
"Well, yes, but you need to get out more. No one knows who you are. Most have never seen you. Let me just introduce you to everyone. Have a few drinks and stay for a while. I know you and Ann could be good friends. Just come." He pleaded. Brigget stared at him intently. Her serious expression changed quickly to a smile.
"Fine," She said, crossing her arms. "I'll come."
-----
Brigget walked into the bar, her arms crossed over her chest and her feet planted firmly below her.
"Well, it was nice coming here." She turned around after standing for a few seconds. Rick, no longer timid in front of the farmer, grabbed her arm and pulled her to the stools.
"Hi Ann." He said, waving to the small red head. Her braid bounced up and down as she jumped at the newcomer.
"You're that new farmer!" She cried. "Ooh! And you're here with Rick! He's snagged a good one this time!"
Brigget slowly allowed a smirk to cross her face, crossing her arms and turning to Rick.
"'This time'?" Rick chuckled nervously.
"It's nothing." He scowled at Ann. "Just get us some beer." Ann nodded. She filled two mugs and set them onto the table.
"So this is the new farmer." Said a voice behind Brigget. Her ears pricked and she spun around nonchalantly. A man with a green hat and a large feather on its rim stood in front of her. She cocked an eyebrow.
"That's right. My name is Brigget." She shook the man's hand.
"Name's Basil. Nice to meet you." He winked at her. She grinned.
"You're the plant guy. I saw you last Monday with your family. You were scaling the mountain like it was easy. I'll have to come with you one of these days." The man chuckled, brushing aside her praise to him.
"Well, I hope you're not planning to sit there and stare at the wall all night like Rick usually does. Come and have a conversation; and try to drag him with you! The boys and I are already in deep banter." Basil pointed to the table behind him. "There's Saibara, Mayor Thomas, Zach, and Officer Harris." Basil identified each man as he said their name. "They've asked me to cordially invite you into a little game of BeeRaps tonight." Rick rolled his eyes and moaned as Brigget chuckled uncertainly.
"I'm sorry, BeeRaps?"
"It's a drinking game." Rick rubbed his temples. "I was hoping this wouldn't happen."
"It's customary for all new villagers to be issued their first game of BeeRaps once they step foot into the Bar, but since you've already ordered your beer, we'll let you come and talk for a while before we start the game. We'll even explain the rules to you before we start." Basil winked again, grinning widely.
"You don't have to do this if you don't want to." Rick patted Brigget's shoulder. "You can turn them down."
"No thanks," Brigget nodded to Rick. "I'll play their game. But later."
"Then come join our conversation." Rick stood with Brigget to join Basil and his comrades at a table.
"Mission accomplished, Mayor." Basil joked. "May I introduce Brigget, the new farmer."
"Hello, there." Saibara, a portly man with scraggly gray hair sprouting from the sides of his head bowed his skull to the new farmer. "I run the blacksmith shop here in Mineral Town, and I also own a pottery shop in Flower Bud."
"I know you. Your grandson Gray helped me out the other day with all that wood I had to carry back." Brigget smiled politely. Rick scowled, rolling his eyes.
He would go after her…. Rick's thoughts were thought before he could stop himself. He found himself turning red and his eyes bulging.
"You should know the rest of us quite well, lass." The Mayor insisted. "Now you and your young chap come and join in our conversation."
Shrugging, Brigget took a seat and listened intently as Saibara grumbled that someone had brought him a hammer that had been snapped in three different places. Suddenly the conversation switched to Officer Harris and his finding of something gray shooting out of the corner of his eye. Rick sat up at this, and Brigget gasped, standing.
"Gray?" She asked, her jaw dropping. Harris cocked an eyebrow at her.
"Well, yes." He insisted.
"Was it out of the lower corner of your eye?"
"I believe so, yes. Why?" Harris became suspicious. Brigget gulped, sitting back onto her seat and interlacing her fingers together.
"No reason. It could have been a Wolvite." Brigget shrugged.
"A Wolvite?" The Mayor laughed, slapping a hand to his stomach. "Why would the Wolvites have any interest at all in our village?"
"Yes…. Why…." Brigget mumbled, rubbing her chin. Rick watched her intently.
"This town's gone to bad luck and worse if we've got Wolvites in it." Zach whispered, his voice hushing as if someone might be listening in. "Sinister creatures they are."
"You can't tell they're Wolvite until you see them transform into their wolf-like state." The Mayor added.
"So it makes them easy to spy on people." Harris finished.
"None of them have been seen for years," Saibara added. Brigget rolled her eyes. "They only show up when they're about to cause trouble. I heard the last town they were discovered in is now a deserted ghost town."
"For near seventeen years now the Wolvites have caused nothing but chaos and sentenced nothing but doom to all who cross their paths." Basil smirked. Rick glanced from Brigget to the other men at the table. Brigget seemed slightly annoyed.
"Is that all you know about the Wolvites? They can transform into wolves?" She seemed disgusted. "And it's not their fault they act like that. Someone just…. Grabbed them by the collar." She rubbed her own choker. "Literally."
The upstairs door swung open and a pair of boots clanged their way down. Rick stared up the stairs and watched as Kai strolled down, his purple bandana askew from laying on his bed and clothes ruffled. Brigget ignored the new presence and continued staring at a specific knot in the table. Rick groaned, shaking his head sadly.
And just when things were looking so high, too. Thought the poor poultry farmer sarcastically.
"Hey, Ann. Get me a vodka." He said, slapping his hand on the counter.
This is where everything went wrong.
Brigget gasped, standing.
"I know that voice." She turned, eyeing Kai. "Kai?"
Kai, bottle in hand, turned to face Brigget. He stared at her for a minute, searching her from top to bottom. His expression changed from a look of confusion to glee.
"Sawyer?" He asked, his jaw dropping. "Is that you? I haven't seen you in almost three years!"
"What?" Rick asked Brigget. "Brigget, did he just call you Sawyer?" Kai scowled at Rick.
"Sawyer, did he just call you Brigget?"
"Three years, Kai." "Brigget" sauntered up to Kai quickly, her face contorting into a look of malice.
She slugged him.
-----
Yeah, yeah. It's a before school starts back special. I got out the second chapter. In the third chapter they actually explain and play BeeRaps, so if you don't like alcohol usage, what are you doing reading Harvest Moon anyway? Lol. Happy new school year everyone!