“What the hell are you talking about?” Herzer said, backing up. “I’m not slacking off, you are!”
“The hell I am!” Earnon shouted and pushed Herzer, hard, on the chest so that he stumbled back further.
“Whoa,” Jody said, walking up behind Herzer and grabbing his arms as the boy crouched to spring. “No! No fighting! Herzer, Earnon, you’re both docked for the afternoon meal!”
“What?” Herzer said, struggling in his arms. “I was just trying to get him to do some work!”
“This boy’s been doing nothing but hanging on the end of the saw,” Earnon said righteously, crossing his arms. “Then he came over and accused me of not working. I’m not going to take that. And you can’t dock me for defending my rights!”
“I can dock you for looking at me wrong, Brooke,” Jody said dangerously. “And if I was to guess who was the troublemaker here, it wouldn’t be Herzer. But you’re both getting docked for fighting. Now you can either get out or get back to work. I don’t really care which.”
“Are you going to be able to keep it together?” Jody asked Herzer, releasing him.
“Yeah,” the boy said, shaking his head and picking at torn skin from a blister. It was only halfway through the morning and he was already starved. Missing lunch was going to hurt. “But I didn’t start this.”
“If you have a problem, you come to me,” Jody said. “You don’t start a fight.”
“I was just trying…”
“You don’t start a fight,” Jody said dangerously. “You come to me.”
“Okay, I’m coming to you,” Herzer said, quietly, turning towards the boss. “I don’t care what you set me on, but I’m not going to try to cut down this big-ass tree with this useless asshole.”
“The hell with you, punk,” Earnon said, charging forward.
“Hold it!” Jody said, stepping between the two. “Watch your tongue, Herzer. Okay, if you two can’t work together, that’s fine.” He looked around and shook his head at the total lack of work out of the rest of the group. “What does this look like, street theater?” he shouted. “Are you guys a bunch of minstrels to sit around on your butts? Get back to work!” Then he waved at one of the men. “Tempie, get over here.”
He waited until the other young man came over then waved at Herzer. “Go clear limbs if you can’t work in a pair.”
“I can work in a pair…” Herzer said hotly.
“Go,” Jody said, waving at the axe that Tempie had dropped.
Herzer stalked over to the axe without another word and started chopping at the limb that Tempie had left.
The axe was broad bladed with a rounded head wrapped around a circular haft. It was designed more like a battle-axe than a standard wood cutting axe but it was sharp enough and each of Herzer’s furious blows took out a huge chunk of wood. The tree he was working on was large like the others. Instead of the branches spreading out they were fairly short and tight together. Nonetheless they were rather thick at the base and took some cutting. Which was fortunate for Herzer because it gave him a chance to work out his rage at the injustice of the previous incident. Unable to let go of his anger he rang blow after blow on the branch until it broke free, then started immediately on another. As he worked the rhythm of the blows, and the physical exhaustion that working at the pace induced, tended to relieve the anger and he slowly started to gain equilibrium and think about the incident instead of just running around in a fugue of anger at the injustice.
“You need to slow down or you’ll kill yourself,” Courtney said, coming up behind him.
As she said it the axe bounced sideways barely missing his leg and he swung it back into line carefully then set it down, panting.
“You’ve got a point,” Herzer said, turning around.
Some of the females had started to help with the cutting but the greater muscle mass of the males quickly proved that they could do it faster and longer. In general they had taken over the “lighter” jobs like dragging aside cut limbs, replacing broken equipment and watering the workers. On the other hand, two of the women were still at it, as if to prove that they were as good as, or better than, any of the males. One of them was Deann Allen, who just attacked everything like Herzer had been attacking the tree, and the other was Karlyn Karakas, who must have had some major body mods; she was over two meters tall and built like a male body-builder. Deann, on the other hand, was much smaller but if anything more aggressive about the work; she seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about a mile wide. So since she was clearing limbs just as well as any of the males, Jody hadn’t even suggested that she leave off.
The other three women, Courtney, Nergui Slovag and Hsu Shilan had taken up the lighter tasks. They were pulling the lighter branches aside as they were cut and piling them up, bringing tools, driving wedges and carrying water.
Which was why Courtney thrust a pottery cup at him, half filled with water.
He shook his head and downed the water then stared at the cup. It was poorly made and the impression of a finger was still visible, cast into the interior by the firing. It was already cracked at the top and slightly porous so his hand holding it was dampened by the water seeping through.
It was at that moment that things really caught up with him and he thought he would break down, right there, and cry. He was really here, having to work or starve. And he was never, ever going back. He suddenly, desperately, wanted to see his small cabin in the woods. It had never been much more than a place for him to sleep and keep a few things he treasured. But he wanted to lie in his bed and have the genie bring him a glass of beer and a great big steak. He wanted this to all be a strange dream and just be over.
“You look like somebody killed your dog,” Courtney said. “Is the water that bad?”
“No,” Herzer said, trying not to sob. “No. It’s just… I just suddenly realized, this is it. This is what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life!”
“Well, hopefully not this,” Courtney said cheerfully, then nodded soberly. “But… yeah.”
“I just…” Herzer stopped and shook his head. “Never mind. Thanks for the water.”
“LUNCH BREAK!” Jody yelled, banging two pieces of metal together. He waved at Herzer. “You can take a break until it’s over.”
“Why?” Herzer said with a shrug, picking the axe back up. “I’ll keep working.”
Jody looked at him with an inscrutable expression for a moment, then nodded, and headed over to the pots that had been smoking over a fire.
“It’s not fair,” Courtney said hotly. “You didn’t start that.”
“I know,” Herzer said, spitting on his hands and wincing when the spittle hit his now bleeding blisters. “But I think I kind of understand it.”
“What, telling you you can’t eat? Because you complained about that useless jackass?” Mike asked, walking up.
“Because of how it ended up going,” Herzer replied, taking his first hit at the next branch. “None of us have ever had to work for a living. We’re having to learn how. How to work in groups, too. Jody’s got a tough job and the only way he can do it is to be a hard-ass.”
“Well he pissed a lot of people off today,” Courtney said hotly, looking over at where the foreman was being harangued by Earnon. It was clear that the man couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to be permitted to eat.