After tossing down another couple boulders onto the pile, Cael finally called it quits for the time being. Although Alex certainly wasn’t feeling the effects of fatigue thanks to the potion he’d taken, the two of them were dripping with sweat and in need of refreshment before they shriveled up in the hot sun. By now, Cael’s chest hair was stuck to his chest with perspiration and a warm and thick musk hung in the air between them, a mix of Cael’s salty funk and Alex’s own earthy scent (not to mention the slight whiff of cum still clinging to Alex after his earlier mishap).
“Give it a rest there, Alex. You might not be feeling tired, but your body still has its limits,” Cael warned as he leaned up against the pasture wall they had begun mending. There were still a few holes in the wall still needing to get fixed up, but they’d made far more progress than either Cael or Alex had thought possible. “...Should be fine for now. The bulls know better than to wander, so they’ll stick around the pasture even with a couple holes…”
“...Bulls? You have cows here, then?” Alex asked as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. By now, he’d ditched the shirt that Cael had loaned him and was working just as shirtless as the orc-blood was, enjoying the warm sun against his throbbing muscles. This was definitely something he could get used to, though he’d definitely have to get some more of that potion unless he was willing to commit to one hell of a gym routine.
“...What’s a cow?” Cael asked, complete bafflement in his voice. “...Well, whatever it is, no. We farm woollies ‘round here. My pa, the one on the orc side of my family, he learned to herd ‘em when he lived up with the northern orc tribes for a couple summers. Brought ‘em back south with him, and now we’re the only ranch in the whole kingdom that farms them. My brother Roy, he’s obsessed with anything remotely ‘orc’, probably ‘cause he didn’t get as much of the blood as I did from our pa. So he usually tends to the herd, but he’s out on an errand so I’ve been watching the woollies for the past few days.”
“’Woollies’? Some kind of sheep?”
“Kid, where are you from, anyway? Cows and sheeps, ain’t never heard of these things…” Cael muttered. “Better to just show you, I s’pose…”
With a motion of his hand, he lead Alex out into the paddock, but Alex didn’t see any sign of these ‘woollies’, or any other animal for that matter. But Cael confidently walked over to a large pile of hay and reached inside, where a sharp squealing hiss came as the orc-blood sharply hauled… something out of the hay.
Slightly bigger than a large dog, it was covered in thick brown wool, but with thick scaly legs and a long tail whipping behind it that was easily the same length of the rest of its body. Its face was long, narrow, and reptilian, with slitted orange eyes and plenty of daggerlike teeth poking out from between its jaws, and with a pair of curled black horns twisting around the back of its head.
“There we go, found one. A genuine woolly croctosaur. They like to cool off in the shade on hot days like this, ‘specially around mating season,” Cael said as he set the grumpy-looking creature on the ground, where it gave the big rancher a growl before slowly starting to slink back under the cool haystack. “Ugly fuckers, that’s for sure, but gods if they aren’t useful. Meat, wool, eggs, leather, and milk, all in one ill-tempered package. Orc tribes breed massive ones that they used to ride into battle, ‘least that’s what pa says. But since the tribes settled down a bit, they mostly just herd the little ones…”
“...Did you say ‘milk’? You can get milk out of a thing like that?” Alex asked, equal parts disgusted and curious.
“Why wouldn’t you? Don’t tell me a city boy like you doesn’t even know where milk comes from!” Cael laughed, making Alex blush and roll his eyes. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“O-of course I know where milk comes from!”
“Prove it, then.”
With a deep chuckle, Cael reached over pulled the creature out of the hay, carefully lowering the woollie to the ground before turning it over onto its back and letting its legs splay wide. Between its rear legs was a big, pink, and fleshly-looking mound that was heaving up and down with its breath. Alex gulped and bit his lip, unsure of what exactly to do, but for some inexplicable reason he couldn’t find it in himself to back down. “It’s gotta be an udder… right?” he thought to himself as he slowly reached out toward the pink organ between the woollie’s legs. It wasn’t until he fingers were about an inch away that Cael reached over and gently pulled his hand away.
“Knew it. Trust me, there’s not much that’ll piss off one of these guys faster than touching it down there,” Cael laughed. “I mean, most fella’s wouldn’t mind a good stroke from a handsome fella like you, but these ornery bastards are more liable to take ‘yer hand off…”
Still chuckling, Cael reached over and parted some of the thick wool around the woollie’s torso, revealing a row of scaly nipples. With a gentle tug, Cael coaxed forth a thick stream of clear, oozy liquid into his hand, which he held up in front of Alex’s face. The scent was sweet and only slightly musky, with a definite hint of honey or dried flowers.
“Interested in a try? This here’s a luxury product, I’ll have ‘ya know. There’s an elf prince that pays good money for the cheese that gets made outta this stuff,” Cael said, tipping a bit of the milk into his own mouth before offering the rest to Alex. “And how else do you think a guy like me grew up so big and strong?”
“Orc blood and growing up on a ranch?” Alex replied dryly, but the scent of the ‘milk’ was definitely tempting him, even knowing where it had come from. He took a deep breath before cautiously leaning forward and carefully sipping the liquid from Cael’s hand. There was a slight salty tang (probably more from Cael’s sweaty palm than from the milk itself), but as soon as it hit his tongue it blossomed into a thick, creamy, and mildly nutty flavor, albeit one with a slightly off-putting thick texture.
“Haha, there ‘ya go! Now ‘yer officially a farmer, Alex,” Cael boomed, pounding him on the back with one hand and knocking Alex to the ground. “’Course, that doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop callin’ you ‘city boy’.”
“Wouldn’t have expected you to,” Alex sighed as he wiped some milk from his upper lip, making sure to lick it from his hand so as not to waste the surprisingly satisfying stuff. As Cael wandered off to check on the rest of the herd, Alex started to pull himself up from the ground after getting knocked over, but as he did he spotted an odd object in front of him in the grass. He picked it up and held it up to the sun, seeing that it was some sort of amulet, as far as he could tell. The necklace was decorated with roughly carved beads which Alex guessed must be made of some sort of bone, while the amulet that dangled from bottom was made from a small piece of polished green jade, wrapped around with copper wire and deeply engraved with some sort of runes.
“...Weird thing… Did it fall out of my pocket when Cael knocked me down?” Alex asked under his breath as he looked over the odd thing. “In that case, it’s probably Cael’s brother’s, but…”
“You coming, Alex? Or are you gonna try to feel up a woollie again?”
Cael’s booming voice rang out across the field, snapping Alex out of his thoughts. He leapt to his feet with the amulet still in his hand, and as he hurried over to where Cael was waiting...