Wolf’s Bane

“Diwa, this mushroom soup is great!” one of the guys around her, spoon in his mouth, told her, complimenting her food which definitely deserved it.

“The pastries are perfect, Di, I love them,” another one said, his face full of crumbles.

From one of her sides, Eron looked at her dreamily, feeling even more proud than if he had made an achievement himself. And he wasn’t fully conscious of what he was feeling, or noticing how he was lost looking at her.

“I can’t believe how good this pasta smells, Miss Di,” one of the younger workers said. “I can barely stop myself from eating it now instead of at lunch! So tempting!”

Meanwhile, Jack thought and wondered what had happened today with the craziest of the guys that worked for him.

“Where the hell did this man go, seriously? In the two years that he has been supervisor here, he has been late twice, and both times he at least texted me.”

“Hey, Jack, why so serious? What happened?” Eron asked, seeing the worry on his boss’s face.

The foreman’s attention was taken abruptly from his thoughts again. He then intently looked at the former city boy, who was chomping on a coconut caramel rice cake.

“I was just thinking… that you’re my man!” Jack replied joyfully while still staring at Eron and putting an arm around his new hire’s shoulders.

“Bro…” Eron laughed. “First the thing about staying with you, and now you’re saying I’m your man? Haven’t I told you that you’re not my type already?” he joked while chuckling.

“Is it possible that you stop your mind from misinterpreting everything that I say in THAT way?” Jack said with a short guffaw. “What the heck! Seriously, you need a girlfriend, bro, and I hope you get one soon!”

Eron’s thoughts: “Yeah, sure… my mind? Bro, I really still think that, since yesterday, you’re trying to get me hooked up on something that’s more than what I signed for! Ok, I better hear him out now since he’s already explaining what he meant…”

“Anyway, listen, there’s one of the guys that apparently didn’t come to work, so I will need you to work on the first sawmill today, instead of out here. Do you think you could cover for him? It’s easy work, you just need to be focused and careful. I’ll teach you how to use the tool, I mean machine… and, if you’re not comfortable with it, I’ll have you change positions,” Jack said innocently, while Eron tried not to laugh at all he said.

“Damn… teach me to use the ‘tool’? Change positions? And then I’m the one who’s taking things the wrong way? Sheesh…” Eron said to himself.

However, he easily answered “Yes, boss,” aloud and with a sardonic smile.

“Ok, follow me. I’ll show you where you’ll work today,” Jack replied as he started walking towards a large piece of machinery at one corner of the open space.

Diwana was still surrounded by buyers, but even as busy as she was, she suddenly felt that something – or someone – was missing from around her when he left.

Eron could just look back for a moment, feeling as if she was searching for him, and then he followed his boss.

“Don’t worry, Eron, she’s busy and will not even notice… after all, what are you so worried about?” he tried to convince himself while walking right behind Jack. “Luckily, it’s not that far. I can even see her from here if I want to… And oh, I do want to.”

Eron kept his mind trained on her, thinking of her, and then scolding himself. His focus would then, unconsciously, go back to looking at her, and focusing on her, and then yelling at himself to stop it because he couldn’t have her, and she deserved better…

“So you see, it’s pretty easy. What you need is just to be very careful, like I said before. Understand, Eron?… Eron?”

“Understood, boss,” Eron answered distractedly, as he looked at the “tool” his boss was showing him. It was actually a large machine that had a glass and metal booth with a long platform with trenches on it and a large circular saw in the middle.

“What is it with everybody today? He was very attentive to me when I was giving instructions to him yesterday but now… Damn, suddenly I feel like I woke up in a different reality…” Jack whispered to himself.

“Pardon me?” Eron said, finally looking back at Jack. “So uh… can you run by that last thing you told me again?”

“Oh, hello! Well, I was talking to myself, so it’s really funny that you are paying attention now…”

Jack repeated his whole instructional speech just to be sure Eron got it all by the end of it. By the way, the newbie was touching the panel, knobs, and rods, he knew the guy had already understood everything he heard.

“Anyway, give it a try, and see if you’re comfortable,” Jack said as he ended his talk. “Remember that those control handles are kinda hard, so you need to push and pull with a little more force than usual. Give it a good thrust to get it into position, but be sure to handle everything with care…”

“Daaaaamn… the things he’s saying… Maybe I really do need a girlfriend,” Eron thought with a smirk that his boss understood, and just let go…

“How can this guy have such a dirty mind? Are all the people from where he used to live and work in so lusty? Damn bro, and this is at work, too! I’m sorry for your hand, but maybe you had a lot of willing females to ‘relieve’ you of your heat,” Jack thought, trying to remain serious while supervising Eron’s work.

The Charmer carefully pulled the handle, activating the machine that started with a whirring noise. Then, slowly, he pulled another Lyoner that would get the machine to pass and push the larger pieces of wood loaded on its upper Lyonels through the marked lines so it get sawed off into the right sizes.

Jack looked happily at his new employee, who seemed to be able to do whatever he asked of him. Well, as long as he wasn’t distracted from looking at a certain busty and tanned lady at the other end of the area.

“Good work, bro. I’ll leave you at that. Just be careful and stay alert, ok? And again, if you need anything, just let me know.”

“Thanks for the trust, man. I’ll do my best. And yeah, will be careful too,” Eron said with a smile and a short wave.

The former assassin was so thankful that he had mastered the skill of mimicking his mentors. All he needed was to be taught only once with a short demo and he’d swiftly and perfectly learn what he had to do.

His memory was one of the skills that was first honed in his pack life. Afterwards, his assassin assignments had polished his expertise even more. He continuously improved on this skill to this day, making it difficult for him to miss any important details and info.

He even joked that his memory was so neatly organized that they were in mental boxes with labels on them. Due to this, it was easy for him to retrieve from these storage bins whatever information he had seen, heard, done, or passed through any of his senses.

And Eron found this skill very useful now when he’s trying to start a new life doing a job that he’s never done before.

Meanwhile, Mad Max, who was still in hiding, angrily looked at Diwana. The way she seemed so comfortable and happy just the day he wasn’t openly around was getting on his nerves.

“I’m sure she knows that I’m always taking care of her, even if she hasn’t come forward and told me about her feelings… Argh, those games of hers that I can’t understand! Anyway, the pretty boy doesn’t know what is coming his way. You’ve been warned, ‘bro’ so this is all on you…” Max whispered from his secret hiding place.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

From the sawmill’s glass cubby, Eron had been smelling the dead squirrel’s creeper stink even from the time when Diwa and he left his campsite. He knew Mad Max meant trouble and was planning to do something against him. Why would the bully even go near his camp in the first place, if it wasn’t due to that?

However, our new lumberjack star was soon completely focused on his work and was now expertly flipping the rods and Lyoners of the sawmill. It was then that he noticed “the mad one” walking towards him and getting closer.

What Eron didn’t see was how Max had taken a piece of hard rock, just big enough to fit his hand, before the lumberyard team leader started walking up to the sawmill…​