5 Staff

Muttering to himself, Alex went to the cabinet, grabbing a stone staff out of it. The staff was small to him, his hand easily coiling around the outside of it, and it barely reached his waist.

He proceeded to break the staff in two over his good leg, holding one half and placing the other back into the cabinet.

"W-What was wrong? Why did you become… like that?"

I slowly pushed myself back up to my feet, carefully watching Alex to make sure he really wasn't angry anymore.

"It's nothing, kid. But if you had said a different color you wouldn't still be alive."

Holding the stone staff out to me, he beckoned for me to take it.

The staff was larger and heavier than I thought; it looked tiny in the hands of Alex.

Its color was light gray with a tinge of red; both the top and bottom flattened perfectly with seemingly no imperfections along the smooth surface.

My hand could barely coil halfway around the staff's diameter, and I had to use the ground to help me keep it upright.

"This staff will help you control the animals. It's made of a type of stone that they don't like; a type I obtained myself. It will also help you move their waste to the back corner of the outside enclosure. The Demons use it for something.

"You can go try it out now. I'll be out getting materials, so if you need anything, save it for later."

Walking out of the heavy stone door, he gave me a soft smile. It was hard to believe he was the same person that threatened my life just moments before.

I shook my head, clearing my mind of any stray thoughts and followed Alex's advice. I went through the leather doorway and into the outside area of the farm, wielding my new stone staff.

The animals nearest to me immediately started backing away, while the others farther back eyed the staff I was holding warily.

One Stony Cow even got so frightened, it produced waste right then and there.

Cleaning it up proved to be even easier than I thought as I pushed it into the corner where there was already a pile of waste of all shapes and sizes.

The waste consisted of rough, jagged, almost-spherical pieces of darkly-colored stones that were hard but brittle if enough pressure was applied to them. Whatever use they might have to the Demons, I hadn't the faintest clue.

**

BWOOOOO

The rest of my shift went by faster than I thought; the end-of-day horn sounding out across Adonia as I sat in one corner of the outside pen, watching the Stony animals feed on the wild mushrooms.

"Rookie, you out here?"

Alex's voice rang out as he walked through the leather separating the two areas, looking around.

"Right here."

Standing up, I patted the seat of my pants to get any clay that may have stuck to it.

"Good. Did you have any problems?"

"No."

"Okay, great. Try moving the animals inside now. I'll help you if anything happens, but for now, try it on your own."

Gripping the staff with purpose, I moved around the side of the Stony animals, making sure I could get behind them all to get them inside.

The staff worked like a charm, the animals already accustomed to moving indoors when the staff was used.

Only a few younger animals didn't immediately go inside, but by the time I got them where they needed to be, the rest of the animals had already settled into their pens.

"Nice work, rookie, you're a natural at this. That's all for today. See you again tomorrow."

Taking the staff back, Alex placed it in the cabinet for me to use the next day and waved me off.

"Before you leave, kid, what's your name?"

"Dylan."