Free The Awakening (The Stones of Revenge) by Justin Sargeant Page A

grunt. A sharp pain coursed through his left side. The wound in his arm throbbed from the exertion. Gritting his teeth, he bent down again and pushed with his legs. This time, expecting the sting, he lifted himself upright and balanced the weight of the tool on his thighs. He carried it across the farm to place it into the field to prepare for the next row. The strain from carrying the plow usually wasn’t much, but with the wound in his arm, crossing the farm seemed like an eternity. Every step forward was torture. Pain burned in his left arm and radiated up towards his shoulder. His other muscles were trying to compensate for the lack of strength, and it made the whole endeavor much harder than it usually wound have been. Landon felt as though he was reliving the cut each time the plow bounced on his shoulders. Finally, Landon dropped the plow into the dirt relieving the tension in his body. He rubbed his arm as his wound throbbed.
    Once it was set in place, Landon crossed the farm again to let loose Octavius and Sertorius. They were the easiest beasts on the farm. They always knew exactly what to do and never struggled against Landon or Mordecai. He opened the gate, and obediently the two oxen trudged towards the field and stood directly in front of the plow waiting to be connected. Landon set the yoke upon the two animals then connected the harness to it. He then stood behind the plow and surveyed the vast expanse of dirt he was about to trudge through. Even though it was still rather early, steam could be seen rising from the surface indicating the extent of the sun’s power to come that day. Landon was not encouraged.
    Plowing was difficult work. Not only did he have to hold the plow steady in the dirt by using the full strength of his arms and legs, he also had to make sure the oxen which pulled did so in a straight line. To do so, he had to keep his eyes completely focused on a point at the end of the row he was making. Each row was five hundred feet long. Luckily, Landon had already plowed part of the field before the first harness broke so much of the work had already been completed. Looking ahead to the day’s work, he figured it would take him about the rest of the day to complete.
    He decided that it was time to stop lingering and simply plow. He got underneath the plow and whistled for Octavius to move forward. As he did, Sertorius moved with him. Both animals, together under the yoke, began to move forward inch by inch as Landon dug the spade of the till into the ground creating a perfect triangular groove in the dirt. The dirt was quite hard from the beating of the sun, and it took much effort to break through the topmost soil. It also hurt a good deal due to the sore radiating in Landon’s arm. Ignoring the pain, Landon pushed on.
    “Uncle should be here helping me,” he muttered. “He knew the work we had to do. This errand better be worth it.”   Finally, after half an hour of pushing, the first row was completed. He turned the oxen for the next row and paused to catch his breath.
    He pressed on again, and soon he had another three rows created. The work began to get easier the longer he worked, but he still knew he had a long way to go. The sun rose in the sky and with it came the blast of warmer air. The sweat which was condensing on his back and neck did little to cool him. Already, the sun had waxed to noon and Landon had nearly half of the field completed. Stopping to survey the work he told the oxen, “I believe we can afford a slight break. Now I’m going to let you go, but no more than five minutes. I should think we can take no longer than that.”
    He loosened the harness which bound the oxen to the yoke. Then, he eased the yoke from their shoulders. Slowly they shook themselves loose and trotted over to their water trough. Landon decided to do the same and walked over to a barrel full of water on the edge of the field. This barrel was covered and sat continuously next to the field for