Leaving the encampment that morning, Tor was relieved to be leaving that place still reeking of death. But it was his home and he would be returning when the land turned cold and snow came as it always did, making searching for his mother near impossible. He would have to shelter and make use of what he could gather and store there before the cold lean times came again.
The three experienced travelers were greeted on both sides of trail by wildlife everywhere as they left. Birds teaching and feeding their fledglings, out for their first flight. Nests of baby rabbits that Shin loved to disrupt, with them scattering in all directions. He bringing back one in his mouth to show Tor his hunting prowess with a big doggy grin. Since there was plenty to eat, Tor chastised him and made him drop the wiggly little prey. And then give him a chewy meaty snack as a reward. All babies were allowed to grow up this time of year. He didn't kill mothers with babies, either. This, the elders had taught him while teaching him to hunt. Save the young ones for food next time the season comes around. Grown-up and fat.
Berries were everywhere, so he often stopped to pick some. Soon, they came to a familiar place where the trail left the river for a bit where it went through a canyon with steep cliff sides. It was getting close to midmorning and Tor had passed through there many times before. When the sun was past its apex, the trail started to work downward and, as he looked over the edge of the ledge they were on, he saw an apple tree growing on a ledge below.
Apple trees were a rare treat. This one was about 20 feet down. Its branches were sparsely covered with half ripe apples just out of reach. Tor was hungry, having not stopped and really hankered for the taste of apple. He dismounted and looked over the edge. Not thinking about creating some basket where he could reach and pick them from the tree. And not thinking about how he would get back up, Tor looked down on how he could get in that tree and pick some apples to take with him. He would then climb down the tree and back up to the trail some other way.
Looking down, he spied a substantial branch about 10 feet directly below. He planned to land on it with his right foot at the crotch where it joined the trunk and grab the trunk above it. Apple trees were not big and strong, so Tor thought it would bend enough to shake some of the apples off the tree and break his fall. He had leapt down on trees like this before. A childhood game shared with other boys showing their strength and agility. Conquering trees like conquering the land in preparation for being hunters and gatherers. There was no one to caution him this time. Danger was not on his mind. Apples were.
Sure that his bag of implements was around behind his back, along with his water bag, Tor took one last look, and then, leaped. His right foot landed in the tree crotch properly, but his hands slipped off the trunk and he fell backwards with his toe catching the trunk as he fell with a loud "crack," and a sharp pain as he fell the rest of the way to the ledge landing on leaves, apples, a thin layer of mossy ground and his water and implement bags, breaking his fall that still knocked his wind out and left him senseless for a time.
When he shook the numbness from his mind and cleared his eyes, Tor saw Shin up above looking over the edge and whining, running away and then coming back, as if to jump, but had better sense than his master. Tor took assessment as he heard the water running out of his bag, deflating as it went. The fall must have forced the wooden peg that blocked the hole out or worse, split it open. He could feel water running down his back, about gone already.
Tor's left elbow was really sore for having hit the ground hard. His hands were sore from losing their grip on the tree trunk, scraping the skin off, there was a sharp pain in his ribs when he breathed in and out, and, looking down at his right foot, it was off to the side and didn't look right. He had seen that before… A broken leg!
And he suddenly was thirsty… Very thirsty. Tor crawled towards the apple tree and pulled himself painfully up the trunk. It was too painful to put any weight on his right foot, so he stood on his left and looked around, getting his bearings. Shin was no longer up above whining, so Tor thought that he had left to find another way to him. There was no going back the way he came and he couldn't remember if there was a way out from down here by continuing downriver on this ledge.
Returning to his good knee, Tor crawled around and picked up bruised and wormy apples that had come off the tree in the storm. He bit into a couple. They were sour and he wanted to spit out the worms, but they were food, too. He didn't know when he would get out of his predicament and he only had a few bites of dried fish and meat in his bag.
Tor started hopping, tree to tree along that ledge downriver. Below him it dropped off nearly vertical for over 100 feet to the murky, muddy floodwaters of the river below. There must've been heavy storms upriver that often occurred this time of year. It wouldn't be until autumn before the river would become clear and tranquil again. With each hop his ribs would cry out in pain and his dangling leg hurt both sharp and dull pain like he never felt before.
Working his way along the ledge, Tor came upon an ancient birch tree. He immediately saw its benefits. With his sore elbow telling him to stop, he used his obsidian knife to carve a vertical cut down the trunk where he could peel off a large section of the tree's bark. Sliding to the ground painfully, Tor cut a section the length of his right leg from his ankle to his knee. He cut two other half sections from the widest part of the tree trunk to fit on either side of his rib cage.
Tor had nothing to tie them down with, so he shoved the pieces in his bag and moved on. Whenever he found a long root hanging down that the dirt had eroded away from, he cut it off and stuffed it in the bag to be used to tie down the birchbark. This took a lot of effort and time. He made progress, but not very much. Before long, looking across the river the way the sun was turning trees yellow on the far bank, Tor knew that he didn't have much more daylight left.
He found a mossy spot with trees growing below him, so that he wouldn't roll off in the night and pulled his bag up over him, exhausted, thirsty and hungry. He ate a piece of dried, smoky fish and an apple, but he felt like throwing up. So he stopped. Tor then felt a fever coming on with lots of thoughts spinning around in his mind about his mother, his father, the fall, and what he could've done or should've have done to try to prevent it.
Tor awakened midday the next day after the gods of night willed no rain and he didn't fall off the ledge in his delirium. And, he would not have awakened then except for the warm licks of very happy Shin, reunited with his master. Wagging his tail so hard he almost slipped off the ledge.
Looking ahead, Tor saw that there was a gap in the ledge about 8 feet across that Shin had jumped to get there. There was no way that he could do that. Fortunately, there were roots hanging down from up above that had been exposed when that ledge gave way and fell into the river. He would have to use his arms, his strong arms and hands to get across that chasm. But was he up to it? His left elbow still ached and was swollen. His hands still sore.
When the cobwebs from his long sleep and fever cleared, Tor assessed his situation. He had gathered enough roots to tie a splint around his leg, but had also learned from the elders that he had to set the leg straight, first. He crawled to a spot where a small sapling grew from a crack between the ledge and the stone wall above. Working his way around painfully, Tor lifted up and dropped his right heel in that crook upright, and then, used his arms to pull back his body sharply until he and his leg screamed and his leg was, straight.
Having cut the birchbark to size, he spread it apart and slipped it over the leg from the ankle to knee. Tor then tied four supple roots around it as tightly as he could. And then, carefully lifted his heel up and out of that notch between the rock and the sapling. Almost instantly, when he put it down, the pain in the leg seem to subside with everything in place. But when he tried to stand and put any weight on that leg, the sharp pain returned and he couldn't stand on it.
Tor had another purpose for the sapling. With his knife he hacked away at it until it came down. Cutting away its meager branches, he ended up with a 15 foot pole. Dragging it over to the gap in the ledge, he worked it across with the heavy end to the other side. Taking off his bag and tying down the two remaining pieces of birchbark as well as tying the opening of the bag shut so nothing would fall out, he tied it tightly to the purposely cut branch on this side of the gap.
Lightened of that load and with the bark splint making his right leg feel much better, Tor studied the root system to see where his handholds would be. There was no other way except falling to the turgid water below and being unable to swim with that leg in the fall, so far down it might kill him. That might happen anyway if he missed a handhold. So he had no choice but to try or to stay where he was and die of thirst or starvation.
With daylight threatening to disappear again, there was no time to waste. Shin had been watching his every move attentively and quietly, but as Tor got to his good leg and reached for the first handhold, hoping that it would hold, there was a whimpering whine that maybe, just maybe, his master would fall again. He couldn't hold it back. The whimpering made Tor nervous, but he had to ignore nervousness and pay attention.
Both his elbow and his ribs screamed in pain as he swung out and put all of his weight on the bruised arm reaching the next handhold with his stronger and uninjured, right arm and hand. Hanging there for a moment and bringing the left arm alongside, he started to swing from side to side with his ribs still screaming and reached for the second handhold and got that one by the strength of his fingers alone. It didn't break and he had only one more swing to make it to the other side where the ledge was larger again.
Swinging back and forth one more time, Tor propelled himself to the rocky outcropping and landed hard on his good left leg, falling down to the hard rock, scraping himself a bit, but so relieved to not have fallen into the river below. He just sat there, regaining his strength and trying to relax while Shin wandered back and forth on the other side whimpering, until he backed off some distance and made a mighty leap across the chasm landing on Tor to painful, but happy ribs. Once again licking him profusely in the face.
Tor, knowing that he didn't have time, carefully dragging the sapling across with the bag on the other end, managed to bring it to him. Untying the bag, he mounted it on his back and began the long and painful walk to where he would reach the trail again. But he didn't. It soon got dark and he had to find another place to curl up for the night. Fortunately, this time, he had Shin to curl up with him and keep him warm. But no amount of wet dog licks could take away his dried cracked lips and his dehydration. Tor needed water.
This time, he awoke before dawn and had to wait for the sun to come up on the other side of the deep river gorge before he could safely continue along that treacherous path he was on. He had only gone a few feet when he saw water dripping out of the rock above. The water could not have come at a more opportune time. It was ice cold and one of the most refreshing few drops he had ever tasted. But it was not enough and he had to keep moving.
Finding longer roots that would go all the way around his chest, by midmorning, Tor had four of them and could place the two birchbark halves on either side and tie them tightly. Although his splints were providing support, Tor's broken bones still ached and gave him pain if he put any weight on his right leg. Hopping along on his left foot and grabbing onto trees for balance, he worked his way along the ledge that eventually came down to the muddy river. Testing the water, it tasted bad from all the mud.
Working his way back up the steep bank was difficult because every time Tor pulled himself up by grabbing onto saplings and tree roots, the sharp pain in his chest told him of his cracked ribs. Hours of this struggle brought Tor to a place where water was trickling out of the rock above where he finally quenched the thirst that had been building ever since he fell the day before. While he replenished the water in his water bag, Shin gladly helped him, lapping up the fresh cold water pouring out in its race to the river.
Tor finally came to a level spot where deadfall created a natural den for a bear that this time of the year was uninhabited. The sun had departed from that slope an hour before and it was growing chilly. He was exhausted from all of the effort trying to get back to the trail and find water. Tor crawled into that musty depression and almost immediately, fell into a deep sleep giving his broken bones a rest along with his mind… Continually blaming himself for the predicament he was in. Shin settled in alongside of him to provide his master with warmth and comfort.
Sleep heals the injured body. Tor suddenly awoke to the heat of the morning sun bearing down on him. He had lain so long in one place that when he moved, sharp pain told him that he was now rested but still badly injured. As he crawled out from under the overhanging deadfall, the ground was very wet everywhere. Not from the morning dew, but from a rainstorm the night before that he didn't feel.
Tor heard a whinny off in the distance and knew that Tsen was nearby and that the trail would also be near. He crawled back to the spring and drank his fill again. Shortly after, he took a long pee break, with his urine following the same path to the river as that pure water. It all was the same to him. Nourishment or excrement, all part of the living cycle.
Shin came running back to greet him excitedly. He found a branch that, when he cut it, created a makeshift crutch to support his right leg and he was able to make better, painful progress up through the rock and trees to the trail where Tsen came to greet him with a happy look on his face. Fortunately, everything was still tied to his faithful horse's back. Painfully, Tor climbed up on his back, too. He was through walking now. He would ride for a few hours and then make camp early to tend to his wounds. A hot fire would be nice.
Copyright 2020 © Ronald W. Hull
9/1/20
