Tor was not willing to spend the winter alone, yet. So he followed the path to the east, downriver, until he was where dead and dry wood was more plentiful far from the gathering range of the old encampment. Finally coming upon great tree trunks and logs cast up on the bank from floods long past.

He camped there and began, with one mighty log and fire, to burn and carve out a dugout canoe that would be his transport on the Rine. He labored for a half-moon until he had crafted his best boat yet. Light, but roomy with a single outrigger to keep it stable when in rough water.

Wishing that he had those Ibex horns, Tor began lashing some elk antlers on the bow to complete the craft and it was ready for a test run. With Thin at the bow signaling the way with his nose in the air, he launched. The craft was very river worthy and much lighter than what he had before.

Tor sailed back to the spot where he launched it and loaded everything that he had onto the boat. Actually, only what he had carried before in his pack and what he had hunted and gathered while working on the canoe. Glad to be free of that burden and able to pick up much more to make his life alone more comfortable.

Gliding swiftly down the north side of the river, and adding a small sail when the wind was favorable, his new canoe quickly took Tor all the way to the camp of the Belg. Of course, everyone came from the camp and greeted them with great gusto and quizzical faces. With many questions about the whereabouts of Shea and of course, Tsen. Tor waited until he saw Borg and Mara coming.

He clasped hands with Borg and hugged Mara. She was carrying her 12th baby. It did not look like him, but it looked like another son of Borg. Somehow, she looked older, her breasts were sagging more, and he knew that his appearance, with the white hair, was much different from when he left their camp not so long ago.

"Welcome my friend. It's so glad to see you again. I wasn't sure whether you would keep your promise or not. But I'm dismayed, I haven't seen Shea? Many nights and even days I have dreamed of her and her beauty. And your horse? Is he going to come into camp soon like before?"

"Tsen is fine. He is with his herd of horses and with mares to breed. Too happy to come along. But I must tell you, that a pestilence that attacked me in that village by the river Po attacked Shea in midwinter and she died in my arms. We tried to save our daughter, but she died, too!"

Tor was crying so hard that his nose began to run and he was choking from grief. Mara, put her free arm around him to protect him while he gagged and gradually recovered. Blurting out finally when he could talk again, "And the baby girl looked just like you, Borg!" Sobbing uncontrollably, again.

The celebration this time was muted. Especially when Tor told them of how Roan had met his fate on the mountain. Something that his hosts had never seen or understood except by his description, knowing only of shifting sand and its peril when it became quicksand. Mountains so high and cold to make your nosebleed were difficult to comprehend. Even though Tor made drawings to show them.

In an effort to reduce Tor's great sorrow, Borg and Mara brought a young virgin, Gwen, into their home to offer to join them that night. As a guest, Tor could not refuse their offer. But into the night when he found it difficult to sleep, Mara's arms around him reminding him of Shea, while Borg gently ended the virginity of Gwen who was most willing to do whatever her chief asked. Such an honor to join him in his bed along with such a famous friend.

To keep his mind off his sorrow, Tor immediately started helping the villagers gather the stores they would need for the winter. He was a guest with nothing to trade for his being there, so he had to earn his keep. Soon, they were at the ocean again, harvesting its bounty.

Among the things that Tor and Borg did together were to bring back ten seals from several hunts, and one great walrus. As a reward for his part in the killing, Borg gave the skull and tusks to Tor to mount on the front of his canoe. Tor traded  the elk horns for some needed items that he lost when Roan was lost. The walrus skull and tusks were something to show people upriver and to prove that his tales were true .

The high point was when a great shark larger than his canoe came close to the canoes and boats. Tor was one of first to fire his arrows into it, joined by others. But it was his arrow into the great beast's brain that caused it to quit thrashing and float to the beach. Where they had a great celebration, tasting the raw heart and liver while praising the gods for all of this wonderful shark meat.

There were many fish and more sharks caught or killed, along with many mussels gathered, eggs from seabirds and birds whenever they could snare or shoot them with arrows or beat the young ones with clubs. They always came back to the village with their boats laden for the winter for the women to preserve.

But after the fall seafood festival, the cold damp set in along with no real way of using fire to keep them warm, having constantly to be wrapped in skins except on warm, sunny days. It was never as cold as on the mountain, but it felt colder, even when in bed with two women to help keep him warm. Tor vowed to himself to never spend another winter by the seashore. But never told his hosts.

Spring finally came. His canoe laden with bounty from the sea and many crafts and tools made over the long winter to replace what he had lost, Tor offered his goodbyes and declined to take Gwen telling them, "The gods are not in favor of me taking another wife."

Gwen cried he when she heard that, but Borg comforted her, "I will marry you to my eldest son. He is close to your age and will be the chief of this village after me." He put his arm around her and she tried to smile as they all watched Tor leave for the last time. Some of them crying.

As a parting gift, Borg gave Tor a necklace made with teeth from the great shark. Tor hugged him and thanked him profusely for his hospitality and the gift that would impress in land people of the wonders of the sea. Mostly

Tor didn't want to overlook his friends, the Danis, so he stopped at the first encampment and spent a moon there. Their ways were not much different from the Belg, so he helped them with their repair of their driftwood structures, and went hunting and fishing with them. By midsummer, he was eager to leave and find a place to stay for the winter.

A large sail made of sewn together seal skin enabled him to sail upstream most days and he made tremendous time, stopping first at the old encampment to release the great bear skull from its bindings after another winter's claim to destroy the lodge. His canoe was now laden with trade goods and the skull added to its weight. But the craft still rode high in the water.

Occasional rain was the only water that got in the canoe. Tor was able to bail that out easily with a carved wooden scoop. The lowest point where water gathered when he was underway was right in front of him. Sitting on a low wooden bench at the rear he could bail, easily steer the canoe and paddle at the same time.

His next stop was with the refugees that he had rescued who had abandoned the old encampment to where he had suggested they go. While he had hoped to see to see Glu, he was gone. And the camp was now led by a matriarch, Manna, supported by Tia and all of their children.

Tor had to explain, once again, what happened to Shea, Thad, and Tsen. Once again, Tor went into a tailspin of pain and regret. Manna took him into the lodge that she had the clan build. She had a large bed that she offered to him. That first night, both Manna and Tia joined him for lovemaking but he was not up to it, to their disappointment.

By the next day, Tor had thrown off his sorrow. When he opened his trading bags clan members marveled at the things that he brought to trade with them. He was treated like a celebrity and led the young men on hunts so successful, most of the young women wanted to go traveling with him, but he always declined. His heart and soul was still with Shea.

Tor decided that he would go to the fiery river and the camp of Glu and Conie for the next winter. He would have to get there early in order to store away enough food for the winter. He didn't plan on having anyone with him. He looked forward to the hot pool where he could ease his aching muscles and bones.

But as Tor sailed by the black forest, after several days of rain, the river rose quickly and he could not make headway against it. Suddenly, the flow was filled with much debris that had been torn from the banks, including whole trees that were very dangerous and could sweep him away if he hit one.

Tor turned as quickly as he could off the river. But the water had risen beyond the banks and up into the trees. He found a place where he could glide in between huge trees until some distance off the river. In near total darkness he found mossy ground again.

Tor tied his boat firmly to a tree and hoped that the water would not rise higher and wrench it loose in the night when he was sleeping. His first business was to get a fire going with everything very wet. But he found some dead leaves and dried moss that a squirrel had used to make a bed in a hollow of a tree and with his fire rocks got a fire going to dry all of his things while he made shelter and gathered wood for the night that came too quickly.

During the night, there was much scurrying of animals and birds in the trees. Tor was familiar with those sounds and the call of several night birds, including squeaking bats and hooting owls. But there was a certain eerie feeling that crawled up his spine just being in this place where the dark seem to keep secrets of the gods and horrible creatures that he saw sometimes, in his dreams.

But, nestled up under a huge fallen tree with a warm fire, his exhaustion got the better of him, and he fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he woke up to hear Thin growling deeply.

While his ears were still thick with sleep, Tor thought he heard a far off cry or wail that he had never heard before. But Thin heard it and his hair on his back stood up as he growled some more and began to get agitated. Shaking under Tor’s hand.

In an instant, the young, inexperienced dog, with good night vision and sense of smell that Tor did not have, began running and barking as the only way to follow him off into the night. He ran until his barking was very faint and there was a single loud, "Yelp!" That was it. The forest became unnervingly quiet. No more night sounds. Fear seemed to reign supreme.

Shaken, Tor could not sleep. So he fed the fire and waited, listening. Hoping to find that his Thin would come back soon, wounded or not. But near morning, he drifted off into sleep and didn't wake until the fire was merely embers and about to go out in the rain.

Tor was forced to stay there two more nights before the river finally lowered and he had to put the boat in so that he wouldn't have to drag it all the way to the riverbank. Before that he had followed what he thought was Thin's path into the dark bowels of the forest as far as he could go, but found not even a track, a bit of misplaced moss or smelled a trace of blood.

The black forest had swallowed his young companion and Tor, once again, was totally alone with his conscience for having lost so many along the way.

Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull

8/25/21