The Myth Of A Dream

Working at the Grimbar Farms

Page 6

Inside the Inn, you and the Hunters step towards the bar. Belenir orders some drinks from the Man behind the bar. After the drinks are paid, the group walks with the drinks towards one of the tables. There, at the table, you and the Hunters are having a good time. You drink and get drunk, from the strong drinks. Belenir orders more and more drinks and you empty one glass after the other. The Hunters talk and laugh, having a good time. You mostly drink and look around. Inside the Inn there are two other groups of Men, sitting around tables, talking, drinking. While sipping from the glass, you start thinking about yourself.

"What am I going to do now?" You ask yourself.

You find yourself unable to answer your own question.

"Where am I going to sleep? How will I get something to eat?"

Realizing you've got no money, you start to get worried.

"Will I have to live like a tramp?" You ask yourself, while you look at your clothes.

You can't answer any of your questions, all you can do is sit and empty one glass after the other.

The door of the Inn opens. You see a Man walking in, it's a soldier.

"Alright! Listen everyone!" The soldier shouts.

All the Men in the Inn stop talking.

"I am the personal messenger of the City Head. I'm sent here to offer everyone of you, to work for the City Head himself."

"Work? What work?" One of the Men in the Inn asks.

"The City Head is looking for Men to work at the city's farms, the Grimbar Farms. You will be paid well."

"At the Grimbar Farms? Oh no, no money can get me to work at The Farms. I'm not that crazy." A Man reacts.

"No, me either." Says another Man.

You see more Men shaking their heads. The soldier asks the Men on one of the tables if anyone wants to take the job. All the Men refuse the offer, again shaking their heads. The soldier walks towards the table of you and the Hunters.

"Does anyone of you want to work for the City Head?" The soldier asks again, looking at everyone on your table.

"No." Answers Ergil, as he shakes his head.

The other Hunters also turn down the offer. The soldier looks at you.

"You, do you want to work for the City Head himself?" The messenger asks you.

As you look the soldier right in the eyes, you are still thinking. Though you quickly realize, that you can not refuse this offer.

"This is my chance to get money for food." You think.

But you are a little hesistant, since you having no idea what you are signing up for.

"Well.." The messenger asks. "Yes or no?" 

"This is my chance, I have to take it." You think.

"Yes, I take the job." You answer.

Everyone in the Inn reacts surprised.

"Alright then. After the Inn is closed, wait outside. The courier will pick you up at the Inn." The messenger says to you.

The servant of the City Head walks towards the last group of Men. Again the messenger repeats his offer. None of the Men on the table accept the offer.

"I'm not that drunk." One of the Men responds.

The messenger turns and walks towards the exit door. He stops at the door and looks back, at you.

"Remember to stand outside the Inn. The courier won't wait."

As the words of the messenger echo through your head, the servant of the City Head leaves the Inn. Shortly after that, the Hunters stand up from the table. The Hunters go upstairs, to their rest rooms. The other Men leave the Inn one after the other. With the last Men standing up, the owner of the Inn tells you that he's closing the Inn. You stand up, stretch your arms and walk out, feeling quite drunk. Outside the Inn, you stand and wait, as told.

At the Grimbar Farms

You wait and you wait outside the Inn, until you see horses towing a wagon down the road. The Man sitting on top of the wagon makes the horses stop in front of the Inn.

"Get on the wagon, quick!" The Man shouts at you. 

Hastily you walk to the wagon and you go sit on the back, in between other Men. None of the Men is saying anything, all looking in front of them. The courier softly strikes the horses with the handles and the wagon moves again. Along the road the courier stops at several other Inns. One other Man gets picked up. The wagon comes at the city's gate. The guards open the gate and the courier leads the wagon outside. On the sandpath outside the city, the courier strikes the horses harder, to make them speed up. On a crossing the wagon goes left. Through vast open grasslands bordering forests on both sides, the sandpath goes further and further. During the ride, you see herds of grazing beasts, wandering over the grasslands. Over some slowly climbing hills and after a sharp turn to the left, you eventually see fields with crops in front of you. The sandpath ends at a group of three buildings in the middle of the crop fields. The wagon stops at one of the buildings.

"Step off! We've arrived!" The courier shouts.

All the Men on the back of the wagon step off. You take a look around you, as you come off the wagon.

"Ah, finally you people are here!" You hear someone saying.

You see a Man has come out of the farm house, standing in front of the door.

"Come on you farmhands! Stand in line! You are working for the City Head now! Need to get some order in you lazy scum. I'm your Farm Head. And I will show you that life outside the city is different. You will be working hard, in shifts, at The Farms the work is never done."

"What about our payment?" One of the new farmhands next to you asks.

"Yea." another farmhand adds.

"You will get your payment." The Farm Head answers. "At the end of every shift. But first you'll have to proof that you are worth the money. Until you've learned your way around here, you will get food and a place to sleep, but only when you work hard. Come, I will show you your work clothes and tools. Then I will show everyone of you where he needs to go and what his job is. I will also let you see the place where you farmhands will sleep and eat."

The Farm Head shows you and the other farmhands everything. You put on the farmhand clothes, grab your farm tool and go to the crop field where you are ordered to go.

On the crop field at the Grimbar Farms, you do your work. And as you do your shifts, you start to learn your work. Every shift the work goes better and better. After work, you eat and go to sleep, only to wake up again and do your shift. Several shifts later, after work, during eating, the Farm Head enters the rest room of the farmhands.

"Well, you Men have proven you can handle the work at the Grimbar Farms. From now on, you get your payment, as promised."

The Farm Head walks around the rest room and hands out the money to all the farmhands.

"Here you go!" The Farm Head says to you, as you receive your coins.

A feeling of celebration enters your body.

"Now I can finally buy my own food." You think.

The Farm Head leaves the rest room. You look at the coins, before you put them into one of the pockets in your pants. Done eating, you go to sleep. Next day you continue your work and get paid again during eating. Like that, you spend shift after shift. Many, many shifts go by and you get quite some money in your pocket.

At the end of one shift, again during eating, the Farm Head enters the rest room.

"Men! This was your last shift! Your work at the farm is done. A new group of farmhands will replace you. Go to sleep, get some rest. After sleeping the courier will bring you back to the city."

The Farm Head hands out the last payment and steps outside. On one hand you are glad with the money that you've earned so far, on the other hand you have uncertainty in your head.

"How am I going to earn my money now?" You think.

With that thought in your head, you go to sleep. The Farm Hand wakes you and the other farmhands up.

"The courier is here!" The Farm Head shouts.

Half asleep, you step outside. Yawning, you stand in the middle of the other farmhands at the wagon of the courier. Other Men, farmhands, step off the wagon.

"Get on the wagon!" the courier shouts.

With all of the old-shift farmhands on the back of the wagon, the courier hits the horses with the handles.

"We go!" (courier)

And so, the wagon rides off, away from the Grimbar Farms. The wagon follows the sandpath all the way back, back to the city.

Back in Grimbar, starting to live a dream

At the city's gate, the courier drops you off. Together with your colleague farmhands, you walk through the city. At the first Inn, the group stops.

"Let's go in for a drink." One of your colleagues says.

"Yea!" Shout several other Men of the group.

You follow the group into the Inn. Inside, the group goes standing at the bar. It feels great that you can now buy your own drinks. You empty one, two drinks very quick. At the third drink, you think about that you need to keep money for other things. Slowly sipping, you look around, talk a bit and listen to your colleagues.

"I'm going to get me some girls." One of the Men says, half celebrating.

"Oh yea." the group responds.

During the conversation one of your colleagues turns his head and looks at you. It's the colleague that worked with you on the same crops field at the Grimbar Farms.

"So, what you're going to do now?" the Man asks you.

"Oh, I don't know.." You answer.

In fact, you really don't know. The question of your colleague brings you back deep into your thoughts.

"What am I going to do now," You think. "Now I have money, but what am I going to do with it? Where am I going to stay, where will I sleep?"

You think and you think, with uncertainty, but still you feel a bit more comfortable now, with a good sum of money in your pocket. 

"Well, I'm going back to my family, to my wife, my children." The colleague responds. "See you all."

The Man empties his glass, puts it down on the bar and leaves. Other Men from the group leave soon after that. Eventually, everyone of your colleagues has left, as you stand outside the Inn. After a very long time thinking about what to do next, you can think of nothing else but to go back into the Inn.

"Ah, you back." The owner of the Inn says, as you walk in again.

"Yes." You say.

"Do you wish to hire a rest room at the Inn?" The Man asks.

You look up.

"Oh, not sure. Maybe." You answer, in a polite attempt to dodge the question.

"Well, think about it. And let me know when you've made up your mind." Says the owner of the Inn.

You go sit at the bar, buy a drink and continue to think about what to do next. At a certain point, you decide to have a look around the city. You stand up and walk outside. From there you walk through the main road of the city. You pass the market. The market is very busy, with people looking at goods, sellers shouting, advertising their products. From the market you go further along the main road. The main road ends at a gateway, heavily guarded. From the main road, you enter a side road. Like that, you walk through many streets, side roads, back alleys. On a bench at a small open place, you go sit down. There you sit for a while. You come to the conclusion, that there is no other way..

"I'll have to try to make a living, in this.. this world, this dream world."

You stand up and head for the Inn where you came out of. Hoping that the Inn is still open, you will try to get some sleep there. After sleep, you will go around the city, to search for a job. And when you have a job, you will try to get a house, a place of your own, in this city.