Will Billy gently stirs on his bed, his eyes flickering just enough to see the first rays of dawn come over the distant horizon in thru the smoke-stained window. But it was not this faint light that had caused him to stir. The creaking of the floorboards of his porch with the shuffling sounds of something not quite easy on its feet, though muted thru the walls, were as loud as church bells to his senses. Then a crashing thump, thump, thump on his door caused him to bolt upright, his magic wrench seemingly appearing from nowhere in his hand. A deep yet cracking voice follows, “Farmer! Farmer, I have business to conduct with you!”

Farmer! His thoughts race, then he remembers, yes, he is a farmer now. He quickly replaces the magic wrench to its resting place and starts the arduous morning task of removing his worn body from the comforts of the mattress, throwing aside the heavy blankets. The impatient person outside again hammers the door thrice and bellows, “Farmer!”. This is not going to be a good day. “Hold on!”, Will Billy shouts back, his patience already gone, “Some of us cannot move as fast as others!” Finally freed from the bed he staggers and opens the door.

Stepping out on to the porch, eyes adjusting from the shadowy interior of the cabin to the growing brightness of sunrise, he observes a young well-built man wear a dented-up breast plate over a tunic of chain mail, and even though shiny it did not lay quite right. The rows were uneven here and there and were too tight there and too loose there, though not with age or battle but as if the tunic was made for another. A hand-me-down perhaps. His eyes look younger than his body but that could be the Tavern’s wine having the affect as he was still carrying one of the Tavern’s largest steins, almost the size of a small butter churn. Great, Will Billy thinks, an upstart. “What can I do for ya, My Lord?”, Will Billy asks, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible and to get on with the day’s chores.

Shifting back and forth as if the porch were a boat sailing in rough waters with one hand tightly clinging to the porch rail and the other steadily holding the stein. “I hear you grow things, I mean, these things that give one the ability to breathe fire and lay waste to one’s enemies. Is this true, Farmer?” the young upstart slurred.

With a deep sigh, he responded, “Aye, I grow the fire nugs you seek however, be warned...”. The young night cut him off,” Listen Farmer, I have fought battles you cannot conceive, and I have ate the wings of buffalo from the Tavern! This fire nug will not master me but I will master it! Now, go and fetch me 1 Demplars’ worth so I can return to my company!”

Shaking his head Will Billy reluctantly went back inside to retrieve a small bag of fire nugs. When he returned the upstart knight snatched the bag from Will Billy’s hands dropping the Demplar to the floor and boasting with all his youthful drunken arrogance,” Watch what a real knight can do!”. With a speed and steadiness that belied the knights current state of inebriation, he grabbed a single nug and threw it into his mouth. With about three chomps of his jaws he easily swallowed the fire nug. “See old timer, I can handle these fire nugs but if I do not start breathing fire I will want… Uhm, I will wa.. Uh.. Oh, wha. What is hap-p-pen-ing?” , the knight stammered. The pain and discomfort he was experiencing clearly showed on face as monstrous amounts of perspiration and tears soaked from his hair line streaming down his face. He hastily lifted his over sized stein and emptied whatever was left in with a single gulp. That was not enough and searching around he spotted the farm’s well, he started to rush to it dropping the stein and tripping over his own feet. Struggling to return to his feet he could only double over and fall back to the dirt. Laying there on the ground curling into a fetal position, wailing in agony, suddenly he burst into flames, a magic fire that seemed to burn hotter than the midday sun in the middle of the fields.

After a couple of minutes all that was left was ash and metal slag. Will Billy reached down and retrieved the bag of nugs the knight had dropped then walked over and picked up the stein while popping a fire nug into his own mouth for a fiery breakfast snack. I tried to warn him, if you cannot handle the heat, it will burn you alive but he did not want to hear it. Looking at the stein, I will return this to the Tavern tonight. The mention of the wings of the buffalo has given me the hankering for them. Will Billy turn and headed to the shed to grab his tools to tend to his fields before the noon day sun came to roast him back to the shadows of his home.