'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 3: The Prophecy

Hendry's Task

It was early morning when Priest Hendry, his wife and daughter had set out after their breakfast towards the edge of town as the walked from their home in the first cluster as they passed through the second cluster on a horse-drawn wagon.

They had carried some food and water supplies with them and decided to try out their luck if Priest Hendry would be able to visualise the sought after products that were handed to them the night before.

"We can't be long outside here since I would need to fulfil my other obligations later by 3 in the afternoon. Hope you would also be able to give me your support as well, Maria."

Priest Hendry handled the papers that they had received last night while his wife, at his sides, was handling the reins of the horse that was pulling the wagon.

Mona was sitting at the back of the wagon and was ensuring that the baskets of their supplies would not topple and also ensure that there would be enough baskets to store the necessary ingredients that they might chance during this mid-autumn season.

There are a few hand shovels, linen gloves and hemp sacks to gather other necessities as well too.

"Hendry, Our Majesty really is a great wonder. Just in two days after we had watered the near barren herbal farms behind our house, the plants began to show the progress of growth despite this balmy weather."

"It was as if the plants were experiencing Springtime and this would be most beneficial to our constant supply of herbs needed by our town folks and dispensary on the hospital. Old Kayla was also delighted to see the growth and had never seen such miracles in all her life before."

Priest Hendry turned and faced his wife and smiled regards to the discovery of the magical waters that was imbued with the Psi energy orbs when His Majesty came to visit at their home with the rest of the family members.

"He's quite an alright chap. He's not demanding and quite easy-going. From what I used to hear, he and the earlier pioneers rolled up their sleeves to take part in building the first settlement by the banks of River Ure here."

"He's a king for the commoners and he doesn't mind down and dirty to get things done his own way. Even he is of such a young and tender age, I believe that he had the foresight of going well into his silver years to come."

"I was a bit sceptical when he announced to us that he was bestowed with some special abilities like one of us, and when he showed us what he could do, it really opened up our eyes. Fortunately for him, he bears his children first, or else he would be barren like us."

Priest Hendry retold of what happened back then in the Priests Guild and was delighted to find that the water that had been imbued with the Psi energy orbs tasted sweet and it was really refreshing and invigorating as well.

"Well, he does have a long foresight on the development of this town's economy. What are the chances of finding such herbs that His Majesty requires?"

"Well, Maria. One thing for sure I could never say that my eyes had failed me once. Even if we are in mid-autumn, and the herbs had withered down to a single blade of grass even, I could conjure up my special abilities to source out every single ingredient that had been listed here."

"I am not being boastful here but my special abilities allow me to detect even those obscure roots hidden one or two feet underground. That's why we have our hand shovels and gloves as well as several hemp sacks to handle certain delicate roots or herbs."

"That's right dear, ever since I knew you, you had never been a boastful type but had a kind of charisma when you talk about herbs and plants even to those that are considered rare."

"Oh... We're approaching the southern gate now." Maria remarked as they slowed down and greeted the guard on duty.

"We would be heading out to find the herbs that Our Majesty requires for the new upcoming products that would be soon be produced in the factories here. We would be heading out here and might be entering from another gate."

"It's going to be a big possibility that we would even be encircling the whole perimeter to look for the right herbs. Would that be alright?" Maria informed the guard and the guard assured that it would be alright since searching for herbs would not be only in one direction.

"No issues there, ma'am. You may proceed out from here. Good luck on your findings..." the guard replied and ordered the gate to be slid open to let the horse-drawn wagon passed.

Priest Hendry waved his hand to the guard and also the soldiers who were manning the towers above as the horse-drawn wagon slowly slipped out of town.

A neat row of defoliated trees lined the distance where the fallen leaves had lined the ground around the base of the trunks. Priest Hendry took another glance at his lists and informed Maria that he would be conjuring several herbs according to the list of ingredients on the papers.

"Alright, Hendry. You can conjure your special abilities now. Just tell me where you would need to head down and I will traverse this wagon for you."

"Once we had reached the place, let me know and we will bring the necessary equipment down to dig those precious herbs up."

Maria motioned to Priest Hendry as he sat back and conjure up his first ingredient on the list — Arrowroot. Thinking it was some kind of flowers, Priest Hendry soon detected the source for Arrowroot and informed Maria to proceed to the location.

After a while, they had reached the location and Priest Hendry could see clearly the white spots and silhouettes that are illuminating the under and above the ground amidst the greyed out vision of Priest Hendry.

"It's over here. Arrowroot. Hey... It is not a root shaped like an arrow? This is a kind of tuber, right? The one that could be boiled down, steamed or even deep-fried to make afternoon snacks. Why was this called Arrowroot if it is not even an arrow-shaped root? Hahaha."

The Arrowroot that they had first referred from the list of ingredients was actually tapioca and the young leaves could be made into some kind of meal. Furthermore, the tapioca could be made into snacks as well.

"His Majesty was actually looking for Arrowroot powder and its actual tapioca flour that could be found from the bakery itself.

Nevertheless, the Hendrys dug up the tapioca tubers from the ground since it would be an addition to their meals that would be prepared in the outdoor kitchen area.

After collecting about one hemp sack full that weighs almost nearly 50 pounds, Priest Hendry hauled the sack filled with tapioca tubers back to the wagon.

He laughed at his foolishness for not reading the full list properly and dismissed the word powder that was written clearly beside the Arrowroot.

His family members also laughed together as they knew that even if the first find was a bit bountiful, it could be used to make some tapioca snacks when it's being grated and mixed with some colouring, screwpine extract, sugar and milk. It could be steamed or pan-fried.

Priest Hendry looked at the papers in his hand and then he conjured up the beetroot that was next in the list of ingredients. Soon after he could see the same whitish silhouette illuminating in the distance.

It's a common beet that could be made into a kind of colouring needed and so they took off towards the next intended location. This time, they had found the beets and even though the plants had already defoliated, it was easily retrieved from underground.

It was yet another recipe they could be used to cook and consume besides using its extract to turn it into powder. No matter what, a sackful of beetroot was dug up and stored inside the hemp sacks available.

"Well, Hendry, I guess we would have to collaborate with Alicia the Alchemist to turn this from a liquid into powder form. I guess it's a good thing that the two building would be constructed and placed beside one another. It would be ready within a weeks time, an I right, Hendry?"

Maria inquired as she helped Priest Hendry to haul yet another sackful of bountiful harvest up the wagon. It turned out that they had become gatherers or foragers for the time being as they hauled in vegetable after another.

"Yeah, Alicia has her own methods of doing things. Instead of being copped up inside the factory, she now had her own building to work in."

"At least it is beside ours and we could definitely be able to work together for a long time."

"Besides she would be collaborating with Marcel about the extraction and breaking down of several of the paint elements."

"It's sure is a task left for the experts to handle."

Priest Hendry replied to Maria as they went about their tasks as they discovered every single ingredient that was listed in the papers in his hand with ease.

At least he was able to find all the necessary herbs and plants (including foodstuff) when he conjured up his special abilities to locate them.

They had a short break around midday near the River Ure before they resumed their findings. It was only after they had filled their previously empty wagons filled with hemp sacks and a few basketfuls of those herbs before they head back to town.

"There's a few more of these resins that need to be located. I won't be able to detect any of those here."

" Which means that the resins they are being required might come from overseas. We need to inform Her Majesty about it so Marcel would be notified and purchases are made."

"That's right, Hendry. You did make some annotations regards to the things that need to procured outside your means right? Mona, later on, I need your help to bring these down to the house first and these few sacks would be sent to the outdoor kitchen area where the kitchen helpers there could clean this tapioca and put it into storage first, alright?"

Mona replied with a sound as the Hendrys made their way back to town from the western side as it would be better for them to bring the ingredients to their house first while the rest could be carted away by hand.

After greeting the guard manning the western gate, Maria traversed the horse-drawn wagon back into the second cluster where there are rows of crop fields that yielded golden yellow spikes filled with grains, awaiting to be harvested in a day or two.

Looking at those golden yellow spikes of wheat signifies that the months ahead during winter would not be a shortage of food to sustain the community that had nearly hit the 3500 population mark.

Most of the farmers had gone back to their homes before lunchtime as there was nothing much for them to do since the seeds had planted and germinated.

All the would do in between was to ensure that the scarecrows would still be upright and no other birds of any nature come and peck at their crops.

The work for them was like spending 2 to 3 days planting and rest for a week before harvesting the readied crops. It was definitely hard work in the start and the end of planting and harvesting period but there's a lot of free time in between too.

As the horse-drawn wagon nested their house, the Hendrys quickly offloaded the items they would be stored in their little shed behind the house and would be replanted accordingly in the herbal farm.

Once the work had been completed, the remaining hemp sacks filled with tubers and such was handed over to the outdoor kitchen area of the town square.

Priest Hendry then joined the Priests Guild as they pushed their individual food wagons to the Macleod Coliseum where the monthly wrestling match was about to begin.

Mona, his stepdaughter, helped him along as she steered the donkey that was pulling the food wagon towards their intended location.

A specially designated place was allocated for each of the 8 food wagons as refreshment, snacks and other foodstuff that was to be sold to the public was loaded.

"Hear ye... Hear ye... Popped corn, steamed buns, chilli con Carne... Get yours over here folks. Fresh from the Ovens and ready to eat anytime...!"

Mona was calling out to her potential customers as Priest Hendry parked the food wagon at his designated spot and gave a carrot to the donkey for its assistance.

The stream of people began to snake around the food wagons as they bought the snacks and brought it back to the bleachers.

"This is going to be another sold-out day, isn't it Daddy?" Mona asked as she served up a chilli con Carne and placed the cons she received into the slot designated to store all the coins received.

"Yes, it is, my dear daughter... Yes it is..." replied Priest Hendry as he rubbed daughter's head with tender love.