Page 13 of Blackwood Milk Farm #7

Buggy Invader

The Leaf-Cutter Farm appeared as Asher remembered it. Weathered white walls, green roof and a strength that could not be put into words. He approached the front door, a calm flowing over him as he lifted his fist to knock. He knocked twice before he heard the footsteps of someone rapidly approaching the door from the other side.

The door swung open. Asher visually drank in the beautiful woman with wide eyes, happy smile, long gray-white hair with some feathers along it.

Verda gasped before she embraced Asher so quickly, she caused him to take a step back and steady himself.

The owl-shifter snuggled to his neck, her arms under his shoulders. She held him tight as a sigh left her lips.

“Asher,” she whispered like his name was a magical word on the wind.

The lord held the owl-shifter to him, his hand moving up and touching the back of her head, keeping her to his neck.

“My wonderful Verda,” Asher said with an equally mystical edge to his tone.

For a long moment the pair held each other in silence.

When they pulled apart, Verda kept her happy gaze.

“How has farm life been for you and the others?” Asher asked.

Verda’s happy gaze dimmed. “It’s wonderful and different. It’s not the same as the Blackwood Estate.”

Verda put her hands behind her and looked at Asher with wicked eyes.

“It’s all work and no play,” she said, the last word coming out with a seductive twist.

Asher couldn’t fight the gravity of her deep cleavage. She was wearing a black robe, but the front wasn’t as buttoned up as the rest. Pale flesh glowed in the daylight, and Asher’s hand twitched, fighting off the urge to simply grab her.

With the might of a demi-god, Asher lifted his gaze to meet Verda’s silver-gray eyes.

“Where are the others?”

“They are trying to find a xykk that has been eating some of our crops,” she said with a deadpan tone.

Asher’s eyes widened. Xykks were humanoid insects that plague farmlands from time to time. They have carapace armor, four arms, two legs, and transparent wings.

If a xykk is lurking about, it may be trying to look for a spot for a queen to create a colony!

Asher glanced to his left. Strawberry bushes and cauliflower bulbs stretching across the field as far as the eye could see.

Lord Blackwood put his hand on his sheathed enchanted dagger and rushed toward the fields.

“They can handle it!” Verda yelled.

When the owl-shifter saw Asher’s determined walk, she let out a huff and followed.

Asher entered the field with sharp senses. His gaze drank in the bushes and leafy bulbs. A breeze touched his sensitive ears. He scanned the lush crops trying to find any hint of movement. When he saw three figures in the distance, he bolted in their direction.

The former ranger made long strides across the field. He drew his dagger, a small shimmer gleaming off the blade. Each footfall drew him closer and when he reached the trio, chaos stormed.

Kimi swung a sword at the seven-foot-tall insect humanoid. The xykk dodged her swings easily, sometimes stepping just out of her range. Its antenna twitched to each of her swings, like it knew each one before they happened.

To the side, Alma aimed a pitchfork at the xykk, but did not attempt to stab it. A war of emotions played out along her face, unsure if she should stab the creature or hope it had enough and would fly away.

“Rrrrrrr!” Kimi shouted in frustration as fur sprouted along her entire form.

The xykk watched with unblinking yellow insect eyes, the red-haired woman turning feral before him.

Kim threw the sword down and launched at the creature. As she barreled at it, two arms swung out at her. Hard insect claws slashed across Kimi’s furry cheek and her chest. The pain was minimal as the fox-shifter made a long swipe with her claws, severing the arm that slashed across her face.

Foul yellow liquid spurted from a stump as the xykk pressed its attack. Its remaining three clawed hands pulled back to unleash a storm of attacks. Alma saw Kimi’s blood, her friend hurt. The uni-goat shifter let out a mighty roar as she heaved back her pitchfork, ready to impale the monster that hurt her friend. But she didn’t follow through as a blur reached the xykk.

In one smooth strike, Asher swung his arm up with power as his enchanted dagger stabbed under the xykk’s head. The blade penetrated the carapace skull, the point stabbing upwards and through its small brain.

Yellow blood spurted as Asher drew back his arm with the dagger and slammed his boot into the creature’s midsection. The xykk folded as it was launched backwards and hit the ground.

Verda had reached them, her gaze filled with horror as the xykk turned onto its side, trying to stand up again.

Asher whipped around the fallen creature and slammed his boot against its back. The xykk landed chest to the ground, yellow blood still spurting from under its chin.

“Why is it still moving?” Verda asked as Asher took his dagger and stabbed it in the lower spine.

Yellow blood blasted Asher’s face, chest, and stomach, his dagger to the hilt in the xykk’s lower back.

The xykk instantly wilted. The glow in its yellow eyes faded away.

Asher stood up with a clear yellowy substance covering his front and dripping down his body. He used the top of his wrist to wipe away the yellow blood from his eyes.

All three pairs of eyes were on him.

“Xykks have a second brain in their lower back. That’s how they keep fighting after their heads are damaged,” Asher said like a weathered veteran.

The trio watched in disbelief as he knelt and pointed to parts of the yellow bloodied carapace.

“You see here and here, this xykk was only lightly armored, which means he’s a scout. It’s a good thing we killed him. If he went back to his queen, they would have set up a new queen here in the valley.”

Asher’s eyes took a faraway stare. Memories haunted him of fighting dozens of these monsters at different times during his adventures. The Xykk were monsters every adventurer knew. They also knew how to kill them after their first encounters with them. The Xykk are strong and tenacious but predictable in some ways.

Unlike our mage problem. Sontar is an enemy I never wished to encounter ever again. I lost too many friends to mad mages bent on their lust for power. No. He will regret coming to our lands. Our home.

“Asher, are you okay?” Verda said as she bent down a little and touched his shoulder.

Asher woke up from his dark dream. A forced small smile appeared across his lips as he stood up. He saw the worry in all their eyes as they surrounded him on three sides. Kimi had returned to her normal, the bloody marks already healing from her powerful regeneration.

“May we speak inside?” the man said as he regained his mind and composure.

***

“And that is why we have a mage problem,” Asher said as he finished explaining about Sontar.

There was no surprise in the trio’s eyes. Only a soft resignation.

Asher sat with Alma, Kimi, and Verda on the common room floor. The four were covered in dirt and xykk blood, especially Asher. The foul xykk ichor dripped on the wood floor with a dreary scent.

Asher continued, “I only came out here to warn the three of you. I didn’t expect a xykk problem when I arrived.”

“We were handling it,” Kimi said a little sternly. “I had the creature.”

Asher nodded and smiled. He knew Kimi’s pride was bigger than the whole valley.

The fox-shifter’s eyes softened, almost like she caught her pride getting in the way of her generous guest.

“But I am grateful you arrived when you did and ended the threat. I thank you, Lord Blackwood,” she said with a small bow of her head.

Asher bowed his head to her. “Thank you for allowing me to do the dirty work. I would hate to see xykk blood on three of the valley's beautiful women. It does stick a little,” he said with a smile and pulling a little at his dripping shirt.

Kimi stood up, her fluffy tail swishing from side to side behind her.

“Alma, get the buckets. Verda and I will get water from the well. I think we have a spare robe for Lord Blackwood as we wash his clothes,” Kimi ordered.

Asher stood up. “Don’t worry about me. I can walk back and get myself cleaned,” he offered with a sincere tone.

Kimi shook her head, her pointed ears up. “No. You did us a favor by killing the xykk. We must repay your efforts.”

The fox-shifter showed a small smirk as she stared into Asher’s eyes.

“This isn’t some feigned attempt to keep you here to ourselves. Just a little courtesy for everything you have and continue to do for us. I know how it is at the Blackwood Estate. We are running things a little differently here. We earn our peace through hard work and kindness.”

Alma and Verda nodded with sad eyes.

“We have a guest room you can stay in for the night. Your clothes should be dry by morning.”

Asher nodded.

“Let’s go,” Kimi ordered and made for the kitchen beside the common room, and then for the door leading outside.

Alma followed without looking back. Her head was tilted forward and to Asher it seemed her golden horn had lost a little of its luster.

Verda moved to Asher’s side, her lips close to his ear.

“Not I, Lord Blackwood. I will make sure our home is just as warm and inviting as your home,” she said with a wry, seductive confidence. The once shy owl-shifter had become a different person to the lord of Blackwood.

Verda stepped past Asher and made for the door, following her fellow farm sisters.

“I seem to be in danger,” Asher chuckled to himself.