Wendy — The Gravitator and Hendry — The Herbalist

Chapter 218 Wendy — The Gravitator and Hendry — The Herbalist

After a light breakfast of the leftover roasted meat and some pottage made from tubers and other edible plants, they had several mugs of tea as they waited for the sun to rise up above the top of the trees.

The pottage was considered superb with chunks of roasted meat within the pottage of vegetables and once we had a bowl each, they began to tidy up the place and break camp. Before long, we were walking downstream from River Ouse towards River Ure.

Andy hauled the 5 quivers behind his back and helped the other of their bundles of provisions. Soon, they walked along the river and idly watch the fishes splashing about on the surface of the river as it tries to catch its prey of insects hovering close by.

"Hey Andy, you need help with those quivers of yours?" Wendy mentioned to Andy as she reached out her slender fingers and touched the load of quivers laden with arrows. Within an instant, Andy felt that he was carrying nothing behind his back and thanked Wendy profusely.

"Thanks, Wendy, you're such a great help. Too bad, no one in our group was able to shrink these things so we could just stow them away in our pockets. Hahaha. This would be a great way to travel with swinging arms and all."

Andy remarked and Wendy laughed at his antics. No, no-one was able to shrink physical things that were man-made. The only thing they could do was like Wendy, who could make a ton of something to just weigh a few pounds.

Andy grinned at his own thoughts at Wendy and marvelled how a person could possess such a special ability. With just a simple touch of her hands, she could make things seemed weightlessness.

Before joining the Pagan, Wendy was an ales woman. She, too, had abandoned her village, in search for better living conditions as she was going to be out of work if she stayed longer in her previous village.

She abandoned her village and left all her worldly things behind and carry only those what's important for her. Since it was the Hundred Years War between the French and England, a lot of able-bodied men and boys who were old and strong enough to wield a sword was called upon to serve the militia.

The town she worked in previously were female-dominated and the job she landed there was an ales woman as she had the experience in brewing ale before. The town was void of many able-bodied men and also young teenagers who would be storing enough to wield a sword during that time.

Her main task was to brew ale for the militiamen, as this improves their morale and at the same time proves that ale was a better drink than water for the rivers on the battlefront were not potable as it was poisoned with the decomposed bodies of soldiers.

The enemies even went to the extent of throwing decomposed bodies down water wells to render it poisonous and unfit to drink. The alternative choice was for the ale to be brewed and sent in to the battlefront regularly.

Wendy had gotten her special abilities way before her teenage years and having that special ability really does help her a lot in her profession.

When the available men would find it a task to lift a 15-gallon cask of ale up a wagon, Wendy could do it almost effortlessly. With her special abilities, the 15-gallon cask of ale just weighs a few pounds to her.

She would be able to work alone in the brewery, maintaining the huge copper tuns to steep the barley — the whole process. She could easily lift a 50-pound sack of barley herself from the start of the process right down to filling up the kegs and cask before storing them.

With a touch of her fingers and her strong mind, she converted those heavy weights into manageable ones. Everyone marvelled at her but as the casks were wheeled out and delivered to the battlefront, it became its original weight after travelling out of range from Wendy.

The delivery guys were surprised at her abilities and discovered that it was a blessing having her as an ales woman as well as part of the workforce. They were delighted to find such a strong woman too, among the group of men that were working as delivery guys.

With her expertise, she was able to churn out at least 900 pints of pale ale every day, equivalent to 112 gallons...!

This was due to having adequate equipment and brewery. In other words, the bigger the brewery, the bigger her output is.

However, the female-dominated reign in the town finally came to an end when some of the militiamen returned back to the town. Those were the injured while in action and was rendered as invalids by the militia.

They either had a leg or arm missing or their nerves being shot and can't function that well anymore. These invalid militiamen were considered as discharged and they went about to work back in their respective towns.

So, out of work and very soon out of money she went from town to town seeking employment and soon after she met Penelope and the rest of them when she was out foraging in the forest.

Since food was scarce and the lack of people tending to the farms, a lot of landlords were looking for hands to work those farmlands. This brought to a fluctuation of wages and somehow Wendy managed to find employment again.

Wendy kept in touch with Penelope during these times when she finally discovered that the true livelihood she was searching for was with the Pagan.

No doubt working for others would bring in the copper and silver coins but then she doesn't feel that she had reached the realm of self-sufficient. Without money, she had worries and with money, she too had her worries as well.

After finding out what the Pagan stands for and what her special abilities could actually help the group, she left her work as a farmer after 6 months of collecting enough funds to finance the group. At least for it would suffice to buy some raw provisions along the way.

=*=

"So, Wendy... The weightlessness that I felt right now was due to your special abilities. It affects only within a certain range. Are you able to make it permanently light without being close proximity to you, like a huge boulder?"

Andy asked since he was wondering what happens when a boulder some people would remove and when it became out of range, would the weightlessness suddenly diminished and crashed to the ground, pinning the workers or would the weight gradually becomes heavier and heavier.

Andy would sum up a comical event in his mind for those poor workers who had to carry the boulder and tailed Wendy just to be within her range of influence.

"Of course it would return to its own weight after it leaves my range. Unless I made a mark on it and make it 'permanent'. But who would want a boulder that was so light that it could be washed away by the slightest current of a river? Hahaha. Do you think the boulder would float on the water or something?"

Actually, that's what in Andy's mind right now. Of course, he can't imagine it to be a boulder but maybe as what she mentioned way back before, making a full laden wagon and to be able to somehow 'float' it over a river's surface.

"Oh well, these Pagan Witches have all their special abilities and the more I think about it, the more muddleheaded I would be." Andy thought to himself as he walked with the group and felt that his quivers he was carrying really weigh nothing, almost like a feather.

Andy can't help but wonder how Wendy would have carried those gallons of ale without much assistance and he imagined that she could even balance them in her head as she juggled a few gallons at one time. "Hahaha. That's one thought of how Wendy would be handling the barrels in her own."

They finally broke camp and the vines that were inside the moat had disappeared and went back to where it supposed to come from. Only Penelope could answer that question.

The ground that was depressed into the ground had been levelled by Earl and everything seemed to be in order just the way it was before.

The sun was high in the sky as the group made their way gingerly to their next destination — the settlement that the Old villager of Adewera had mentioned to them the day before.

Well, a settlement of a village is still better than a ghost town without a single inhabitant. Only cats and rats would be scampering along the ground and making homes inside those abandoned homes that would soon be dilapidated through time.

Andy wondered how was life in the town after nearly everyone had left their small settlements and villages. It would be such a waste to build something and in the end to let everything in shambles.

The rest of the group never thought of anything like that since it doesn't make them any difference. As long as they were kind to Mother Nature, their kindness would be repaid accordingly. Their lives depended on nature itself and what they have to offer.

But as the season wore on, they would definitely meet with some difficulties especially foraging for edible plants as most plants would be buried in either light snow in some parts of England or sleet in most places.

The ground would always be wet and soggy and everything would be a sorrowful sight during that season. No one would be caught dead trying to survive in such conditions at all. Even the fishes would not bite as frequent as they should be during that particular season.

Andy observed Hendry that was walking ahead of the group and was peering close by and would wander off and come back with certain herbs in his hands. He would share the information with the group about the uses and benefits of the herbs.

Be it taken orally or made into a tincture, every herb that was introduced to the group would be made known to everyone, including Andy. The good thing about Hendry, even if his world was grey, he managed to pinpoint any type of herbs once he conjures up his special abilities.

Any herbs within range would somehow give off a pulsating white aura and that's how he was able to target it. Furthermore, the moment he held the herb in his hand, all sorts of information would flurry into his mind and that's how he became a naturally born herbalist.

As a natural-born herbalist, no one could ascertain that his vision was grey throughout when he was born and his divinity to locate herbs within the forest for medical treatment remained unanswered.

He wasn't considered as a Pagan Witch at that time because people thought he had a knack of locating such obscure plants and herbs in bushes and forests. All he needs to do was to mention this inside his mind, "I wish to find something to cure influenza" and then he would be able to see a pulsating aura in the distance that pointed to a herb or plant.

Another special ability he had was when he held an unknown plant or herb in his hands and all kinds of information would appear in his mind. The name of the plant, its uses, the methods of preparation and also the dosage even.

But this only applies to herbs and plants because when Michael gave him a piece of ore, he cannot distinguish whether that was a piece of rock or hardened clay and what it actually contained.

Guess everyone had their own special abilities and their limits, eh?