23. Processing Beasts
It took the rest of the daylight that Mark had after such an eventful day, but with a bit of help from the guards he had managed to get his slain beasts to the forge for processing. The beasts scattered about the rocky valley were not as easy to bring back but they managed to bring them all back to the village.
While it would be ideal to process them immediately, he knew he could wait for a night since beast blood rarely clumped up before a day and a half had passed due to its voracious nature.
Mark was excited but managed to get to sleep early that night so he could get up early the next day and start working. The work orders would be backed up for a few days after the growth and everyone was understanding about that since everyone had their work delayed every time the growth messed up their regular schedule.
His sleep was dreamless as it usually was and he managed to wake up before the sun came over the peaks of his window.
He finished off the food that had been cooked for him by the villagers since he was out of dried meat and set off to the forge to get the dead beasts ready for processing. There was a big tree near his forge with many large straight branches sticking out of it that were perfect for draining their blood. He just needed to drain the beasts before the leatherworker and butcher who had agreed to help him, in exchange for some beast meat and a warg hide, showed up.
He just grabbed some rope that was lying around the forge and started stringing up the beasts. He then grabbed one of the knives he made while experimenting on the special ores since they cut beast hide like butter.
After stringing up the beasts with their heads down where he could reach them, he slit their necks to let the blood drain.
The tree that he always drained the beasts at is the same tree used by all of the blacksmiths of his line to drain beasts of their blood. It was his father that had taught him how to do this and his own father taught him.
It was not really a tradition as it was more of a practical way of preparing the beasts for processing.
He looked at the tree that could almost be considered an elder tree. It had a thick base sticking out of the ground at one of the areas on the bedrock that was actually a field with a stream running through it. The tree was situated at the far end of the field, near the blacksmith forge. It was about 6 meters in diameter and the top of the tree was about 14 meters from the soil it was growing out of.
Each branch was at least 8 meters from the trunk it branched out of and they were about a meter thick closer to the ground. The first branch started about 3 meters off the ground and the branch stumps closer to the ground revealed that someone a long time ago had made it that way on purpose.
. . .
The elder tree that was further on the other side of Mark's house was over 20 meters in height and it had a trunk about 12 meters thick. The branches of that tree did not start for over 4 meters off the ground though but they started at 2 meters thick and gradually got smaller as they went up to the top of the tree. The reason the tree near the smith was not considered an elder tree was because it looked small compared to the actual elder tree.
There were ideas on why these two trees grew so large on the side of a mountain where nothing should grow that tall.
The prevailing idea was the beast blood that was drained at the smithy tree. No one used the elder tree to drain beasts but the villagers say that it was used a long time ago when it was not so tall, just like the smith tree is now. This theory was supported by the fact that the smithy tree grows every year while the elder tree has not grown a bit since even the village elders were children.
It was thought that the beast blood had some special property to it but no one had been able to make some sort of medicine or potion out of the blood that would benefit humans.
The only evidence of the special nature of the beast blood was how plants and trees would grow when it was spilled on the ground. This idea was not without merit either, since the beast meat was known to help people grow strong if they could handle it.
Everyone on the mountain ate some beast meat but no one was able to eat it like Mark. That is why everyone could fight the mountain beasts, they were all a bit stronger than normal humans.
Even though Mark could eat beast meat without any problems, the weird old witch lady in the village still couldn't make a beast blood potion that even Mark could consume and have any tangible effects.
Anyone who tried to drink the blood would vomit it out almost immediately because it was disgusting. Mark had also tried to drink the blood of beasts after the witch lady had insisted he do so from time to time but it just made him sick.
While he would not vomit from it, he would still feel wrong for the rest of the day and he had no measurable benefits from it.
The potions that the witch lady made were better as they did not make him sick but he still did not have any tangible benefits from it.
The best he could do was eat some beast meat which was noticeable as he got bigger every year. Since he was still growing as a 15-year-old boy, the boost of the beast meat was turning him into a giant of a human.
He was not quite at a ridiculous level yet as there were bigger mercenaries that showed up with the caravans, but even they were surprised when they learned that the giant blacksmith was only 15.
His height was not the only thing that the beast meat aided with in his growth. Mark was an abnormally muscular teenager.
. . .
After Mark had finished draining out the blood of the beasts, he cut them down and carried them next to the smithy to be processed. The butcher and leather worker showed up a bit after Mark had pulled them to the side and started skinning the smaller panther.
The butcher was a stout bald man and the leather worker was a skinny but tall man at about 186cm which put him at the same level as Mark and the only other person in the village that could look Mark directly in the eye.
"Good morning Mark, looks like you're already up and at 'em eh?"
The leatherworker seemed to be a morning person.
Mark didn't look up from what he was doing but replied, "Yep, just trying to get these materials ready to be used as soon as possible."
The leatherworker nodded his head and started pulling out his skinning tools as the butcher did the same.
"I suppose we will get to work then, what do you think Grom?"
The seemingly emotionless butcher just grunted a reply. "Hrm." He was not a very vocal person.
The leatherworker chose the biggest panther since it would require the most finesse, while the butcher started to work on the gullen.
"I will be able to keep this pelt the most intact as it is going to be the most useful for you, Mark. Even though these hides are quite tough, there are still some parts that will need a more experienced hand to work on. It will only give you a bit of extra material but I am sure you know how valuable such material is."
Mark was thankful for the help of the skilled leatherworker, but he was also starting to get annoyed with how chatty the guy was.
'Man, this guy can talk. He has been here less than 10 minutes and I already want him to leave.'
Instead of being rude, Mark just replied, "Thanks".
With the three of them working at the same time, they managed to get the beasts skinned quite quickly and the leatherworker grabbed some of the warg fur as his payment.
Mark and Grom managed to not kill the guy but he was just as chatty during the entire skinning process as he was when he first arrived.
"I suppose you guys will be able to take it from here, meat is not exactly my specialty but I guess you did only mention needing real help with the plets to me. Once again, thank you for the trade Mark, and don't hesitate to ask for help in the future if you have a pile like this again. I can always use some of the fur and leather from these beasts, they make for great trade goods with the merchants. Though, I suppose you already know that. Hahaha."
The leatherworker seemed sincere so Mark took note of his offer.
"Thanks, Edward, I will keep that in mind in the future."
They shook hands and Edward left with his payment.
'Long winded as ever. . .'
Meanwhile, the butcher never stopped working and he had already butchered 3 of the beasts while Mark and Edward were gathering the hides together and talking.
Since it seemed that the butcher would need no help, Mark took the newly skinned leathers over to his tanning area and strung the hides up before rubbing the special paste on them to tan them into a sturdy leather.
When he got back to the butcher, the man was already done with the beasts, and the bones were nearly perfectly cleaned and in a pile next to the meat. He was currently putting his payment into a pile.
Mark was quite impressed with his work so he made the suggestion, "Frank, you can take some extra meat. I think you did a bit more than we agreed to so I think it is only fair."
The bald butcher just nodded his head and took a large slab of meat from the big panther.
It seemed he had wanted this piece but was hesitant to take it initially since they had not mentioned that meat in their agreement. He looked back and Mark nodded his head with satisfaction.
'If I keep Frank happy then I should be able to get his help in the future as well. It takes me forever to get the meat off the bones when I do it myself.'
As Frank grabbed his sack of meat, Mark spoke up again.
"Frank, I would like your help in the future with getting the meat off these beasts. Would you be interested in the work?"
Frank just wordlessly, but seriously, nodded his head while making eye contact with Mark before he walked off toward his butcher shop.
The last thing Mark needed to do was put the beast bones he wanted to keep into the giant boiling pot before he went home to get the work orders for the day.