It wasn't long before they came to the spot where the young Po turned to the right and a shortcut presented itself to the left. Although that route was shorter, it was filled with memories that Tor had to face if he was going to go all the way to their destination. His journey had already been way too long, so he chose the shorter, if more memorable, route.

Very soon, they came to the cache where they gathered up what was needed for another high mountain pass. Even Shea was a veteran by now, so she knew what they would be facing ahead. Hoping that there would be no places where rivers or scree stood in their path. She didn't say anything to Tor, but prayed silently to the gods.

Like before, they gathered up firewood and secured an ember in damp moss for a stay up on the mountains. They found something warm, a boot, to put little Thin in to keep him warm when it got cold and windy.

By nightfall, they stayed in one of the places that Tor, when he was a youngster, stayed with his father and the others on their raids. Built of rocks by ancestors, but most welcome against the cold and the wind.

Already they missed Shin's resourcefulness for finding food. Shea was able to find a few bird eggs, but they didn't have any marmot to eat that night, only dried fish that the strange people gave them.

This time, the two passes and the lake in between were higher and more spectacular, if the wind had not been so bad, even in the bright sun, sapping the heat from their bodies they might have lingered a while. But they hurried through these beautiful places where the stars were closer and the snow sparkled at night.

As they thankfully descended from the snow and ice above into rocky terrain, up ahead, they spotted horns. As Tor saw them, the memory of Thad came flashing back, wanting to, "Eat an Ibex."

He immediately tied Tsen to a large rock and made sure that Thin was tied securely on his back, unable to wiggle out of his warm bed. He whined a little bit, worrying Tor, but it wasn't loud enough in the wind that was in their favor so that the skittish Ibex below didn't hear it.

They could see their horns, but the Ibex could not see them. There was a little ridge that they were behind that provided perfect cover. Tor bent low with an arrow already in his bow and started to sneak down the mountain towards their target.

Shea was right behind, making their silhouette look like one animal rather than two. They had to get very close in order to kill one with its tough skin and wary nature, but the ridge provided that for them. All they had to do was to be very quiet and not disturb any rocks or make any noise at all with the brisk wind in their face in favor.

Soon, Tor could smell them as he hunched over even further and when he got very close to the ridge line of up jutting rock, he literally crawled along on his hands and knees, scraping them on the sharp rock. But he had to get close, and that was the only way. Shea also felt the pain of sharp rock on her knees.

When they crawled up to the rocky line, Tor pointed to the largest set of horns and counted with his fingers as a signal for them both to spring up to their feet and shoot their arrows. It was over in an instant and each was only able to get one shot off before the small group of five males bounded off down the mountain.

Tor let them run. They returned to find Thin whining and wiggling, trying to get out of his captive bed. So they let him out for a little while so that he could run around. Very soon, he started to pick up his little paws that were hurting and was beginning to shiver all over from the cold. After that, he gladly went back into his bed without whimpering.

The couple headed back down the mountain to the point where they had fired arrows into the Ibex. They found blood and began to trail it down the rocky mountainside, keeping the trail in mind to return to later. They found him soon, down but struggling with two arrows bleeding him out. Tor's obsidian blade quickly dispatched him and they had warm blood to drink. They gutted him and his steaming entrails fell out. They gathered up the best, thanking the gods for their good fortune. Leaving the rest as a sacrifice.

Tor tied him by his horns to Tsen. The animal's tough skin and the slippery rocks made it relatively easy for the horse to pull the load behind him. The entrails, while valuable, were left for the eagles and vultures who roamed these high reaches. Or the occasional fox or weasel would find that treat waiting for them in the harsh alpine climate.

It was too cold and windy at that high-altitude to cut the Ibex up. And it would have been heavy to carry with Tsen already heavily loaded. So, they worked themselves back to the trail with the kill being dragged easily behind them to a much lower altitude.

They were rapidly coming upon the place where Tor had killed the old man who killed his father and the rest of the raiders in their sleep. Still wondering why he did, but admiring him for traveling alone without the help of a dog or horse. What kind of man was that who would kill so brutally, his father, without giving him a chance to fight back. At least I put an arrow in him, he thought, but didn't tell Shea.

Once again it was getting late when they arrived at that fatal place. The gods had been good and there wasn't even a bone in sight. Although it may have been haunted, the place was still a great place to stay the night alongside a free-flowing stream that Tsen rushed to, to take a lusty drink. Soon, Thin was running around joyously, feeling the evening warmth and smelling the wonderful smells of the place. He was growing every day. Soon to outgrow his comfortable boot.

They found a large tree and hoisted the Ibex, grateful that Tsen could do that for them. They set snares and crawled off to bed, dead tired. They would sleep well with their puppy sleeping with them, comfortable and warm.

But a familiar howl, nearby, wrenched them from deep sleep and Tor from a terrible nightmare of finding his father still alive but dying and tried to save him and the others. Still groggy, he faced another nightmare. The Ibex blood scent had drawn its natural predator off the mountain, a pack of wolves.

The fire had died considerably, so by its weak light in the firelight, they'd gathered dead dry branches and placed them in the fire to catch and make the fire brighter as well as make firebrands to throw at the wolves. The little tyke was excited, whimpering and running around free, already smelling what he knew from what he had heard before to be danger.

Tsen was also disturbed. He snorted, trying to get the evil smell out of his nostrils, he whinnied, and he paced back-and-forth. He knew the drill. He would have to fight them like he had before and he was ready, if a little bit frightened from their nasty bites on his forelocks he remembered vividly.

As the firebrands lit up and the little one was tied back in his boot and covered with damp moss to disguise his smell, he struggled, but couldn't get out, whimpering. But when they could hear the wolves in close, snarling and grunting in a very intimidating way, circling the camp, he stopped whining. The extinctual behavior of young, vulnerable animals, keep quiet.

With the fire behind them to cast eerie shadows, Tor and Shea stood ready to launch arrows into the night at any wolf that dared to come close enough within range. Soon, they saw a flash of gray, and then several wolves came running in. Both of them let fly their arrows and then, hearing the yelps of two hits, turned around and each grabbed two firebrands that they threw at incoming wolves, also eliciting yelps when they hit them with sparks flying.

Tsen, at first, holding back and rearing up to show his mighty self to them, charged into the circling pack and singled out the alpha for his wrath. Running him down, biting him and pummeling him with his hooves until he went limp and crumbled. But the mighty horse wasn't finished, he started chasing after the wolves as they ran off, catching the last one and knocking him down midstride. Dispatching that one, too.

Putting the firebrands back on the fire to build it up, they released Thin from his captivity. But kept their bows and arrows close by. They fell asleep quickly, knowing that those wolves were smart enough not to come back, ever again.

Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull

8/12/21