"Nyyyyyyymmmm!" he cried out. Standing on the other side of the field there was a small boy, with a dirty face, tattered clothes, and a pair of bright blue sandals. He held a handmade slingshot triumphantly above his head. Yorn stood up to face his foe, with his fists clenched. In a single burst of energy he began to run after his lilliputian attacker. Nym turned and ran off down the road. Yorn's energy spurt didn't last long but he made it to the end of the path but Nym was gone. He spun around, his mouth wide open gasping for breath. Yorn called out, his voice mixed with anger and anguish. "NYM!!" his voice echoed. There was no answer. Yorn realized he was wasting precious time and started on his way back to the fields.

There was a knock. Yorn's father stood and hobbled across the room and pushed open the back door, letting in a breeze of cool late-afternoon air. Standing on the doorstep was a small boy with a dirty face and a mop of unruly brown hair. It was Nym, wearing his characteristically blue sandals.

"Yorn must..." He studdered breathlessly, "He must come and kill the monsters that lurk in my barn."

Yorn jumped to his feet, this was a welcome reprieve from the uncomfortable meal. His father had a visible resentment because Yorn had been shirking his responsibilities around the house as well as in the fields. He was, as of late, spending the majority of his time with a young girl named Trisha.

Yorn bolted out the door and followed Nym into the approaching evening.

Nym's barn was a building, not much larger than Yorn's house, on the other side of the plateau. It was old and abandoned. Most of its wood was rotten and it was a breeding place for rats and bugs.

When they reached his barn, the large door hung open, darkness inside. Nym stayed a good distance from the building as Yorn approached.

"Want my slingshot?" asked Nym, holding out a handmade slingshot and a handful of reddish brown pebbles.

"No need," he said, breaking a stick from a dead tree, standing by the entrance to the barn. Yorn stepped into the darkness and let his eyes adjust.

Hay was scattered about loosely in here. There was the smell of long gone animals and the bitter smell that identified that this building was still occupied by one who has little regard for good housekeeping. Yorn crossed the large main section of the room to the back wall, walking past many empty stables, and one with a sleeping donkey, breathing quietly. A ladder here led up to the hayloft. He tested it out, then proceeded to climb it.

Nym occasionally had complaints of "monsters" that lurked about in his hayloft. It was always the wind or some particularly feisty rats, but Yorn would come and make some noise and pretend to do good, this satisfied Nym.

Minutes later, Yorn emerged, stick in hand.

"You should have no further troubles," he said smugly as he headed for the road leading back to his home.