heading away from the riders, toward the trap. The riders kept their horses to a walk, and at a distance that just barely threatened the cows. The cows kept trying to turn south, the riders kept trying to force them to move westward as well. The circus moved off to their left, gradually working closer to the thin line of people. A few shirts were waved. Despite the distance, the cattle stopped, milled about nervously. Then turned and trotted off to the west. Harry relaxed. This is going to work.
The next herd he spotted was well off to the west, shuffling along quietly with Romeau trailing behind.
Chris snickered. "Guess that spell works."
A cloud of dust heralded the next herd. The dimly seem cows charged straight at them. No amount of flag waving or spells changed their trajectory. The kids started heading for the shelter of thick tree trunks.
Vince stood waving his flag a moment too long before scrambling for cover. Four shots snapped from a grove of trees. The cow closest to Vince buckled, chin hitting the dirt then rolling to a stop. That turned the herd. Harry dodged for safety, and checked that everyone was safe. The breeze cleared the dust away. One dead cow, a bunch of impressed children. Hell, he was impressed too.
The boys were experienced, and set to butchering the cow.
The day wore on, with occasional sightings of cattle, some being chivvied into the trap, three more groups stampeding over everything in their path. As the sun set, they all pulled in, to check the total in the trap.
Romeau sauntered over, leading a bay mare. "Eighty cows, sixty-two calves. So roughly thirty heifers, this time. I suspect the lottery will be fierce, just remember we can do this as often as we want to."
Romeau was put in charge of separating out the heifers, by universal acclamation. He put the bus kids to works, extending the area under the calming influence, and the cows and male calves were sent on their way. The heifers all got vaccinated, dewormed and inspected.
Lillian won a heifer in the drawing. Vince looked relieved, the rest disappointed. Harry had to admit that he hadn't actually wanted one, but Romeau looked a bit disappointed. Wolf had just shrugged. He'd also killed a stampeding cow. Two people had been injured, but no one badly.
"Not a bad day's haul." Leo wiped his forehead. "Now all we have to do is get them back home."
Romeau grinned. "There are tho se things we call bubbles. I think this would be an excellent time to put them to use." He reached and plucked absolutely nothing from thin air.
Harry squinted. It was a bubble, like the ones in Wolf's attic. And now that he was looking for them . . . "Huh. They're all over the place."
Romeau chivvied heifers while Wolf and Harry caught bubbles. Everyone, even the kids with magic boggled, and apparently couldn't see the bubbles at all. It was a spooked crowd that followed them home and watched them retrieve the heifers and turn them loose with the domesticated cattle.
***
Then Harry got back to the important things.
Hi s first boat was actually a raft.
Adequate for fishing, but not the sort of thing he wanted for a long trip. As he got better at tanning hides—his first experiments were burned as public nuisances—he started thinking about ways to magically waterproof both rawhide and leather, and he managed to impress Wolf with his first canoe.
He went west first, taking along a load of window glass. It was a long paddle up the lake to the next village. Over a hundred miles, at a guess. The glass was very welcome, and they told him the head of the lake was just twenty miles on.
"There's a short river in the northwest, linking to another lake. I think there are a dozen villages along there." The recently elected mayor pointed north. "And the Alps have grown. Some of the people that arrived at this end moved north, across the river. They thought maybe there'd be fewer lions where it was cold."
Harry stayed long enough to teach everyone the
The next herd he spotted was well off to the west, shuffling along quietly with Romeau trailing behind.
Chris snickered. "Guess that spell works."
A cloud of dust heralded the next herd. The dimly seem cows charged straight at them. No amount of flag waving or spells changed their trajectory. The kids started heading for the shelter of thick tree trunks.
Vince stood waving his flag a moment too long before scrambling for cover. Four shots snapped from a grove of trees. The cow closest to Vince buckled, chin hitting the dirt then rolling to a stop. That turned the herd. Harry dodged for safety, and checked that everyone was safe. The breeze cleared the dust away. One dead cow, a bunch of impressed children. Hell, he was impressed too.
The boys were experienced, and set to butchering the cow.
The day wore on, with occasional sightings of cattle, some being chivvied into the trap, three more groups stampeding over everything in their path. As the sun set, they all pulled in, to check the total in the trap.
Romeau sauntered over, leading a bay mare. "Eighty cows, sixty-two calves. So roughly thirty heifers, this time. I suspect the lottery will be fierce, just remember we can do this as often as we want to."
Romeau was put in charge of separating out the heifers, by universal acclamation. He put the bus kids to works, extending the area under the calming influence, and the cows and male calves were sent on their way. The heifers all got vaccinated, dewormed and inspected.
Lillian won a heifer in the drawing. Vince looked relieved, the rest disappointed. Harry had to admit that he hadn't actually wanted one, but Romeau looked a bit disappointed. Wolf had just shrugged. He'd also killed a stampeding cow. Two people had been injured, but no one badly.
"Not a bad day's haul." Leo wiped his forehead. "Now all we have to do is get them back home."
Romeau grinned. "There are tho se things we call bubbles. I think this would be an excellent time to put them to use." He reached and plucked absolutely nothing from thin air.
Harry squinted. It was a bubble, like the ones in Wolf's attic. And now that he was looking for them . . . "Huh. They're all over the place."
Romeau chivvied heifers while Wolf and Harry caught bubbles. Everyone, even the kids with magic boggled, and apparently couldn't see the bubbles at all. It was a spooked crowd that followed them home and watched them retrieve the heifers and turn them loose with the domesticated cattle.
***
Then Harry got back to the important things.
Hi s first boat was actually a raft.
Adequate for fishing, but not the sort of thing he wanted for a long trip. As he got better at tanning hides—his first experiments were burned as public nuisances—he started thinking about ways to magically waterproof both rawhide and leather, and he managed to impress Wolf with his first canoe.
He went west first, taking along a load of window glass. It was a long paddle up the lake to the next village. Over a hundred miles, at a guess. The glass was very welcome, and they told him the head of the lake was just twenty miles on.
"There's a short river in the northwest, linking to another lake. I think there are a dozen villages along there." The recently elected mayor pointed north. "And the Alps have grown. Some of the people that arrived at this end moved north, across the river. They thought maybe there'd be fewer lions where it was cold."
Harry stayed long enough to teach everyone the
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