With few exceptions, each day grew warmer as Tsen made the trail easier for Tor because he could help carry food and other supplies that otherwise Tor would have had to carry on his back. He still carried his carefully constructed backpack with essentials, because the horse, a semi wild animal, was both subject to running off, frightened by a bear or other beast and even, killed. Splitting up his belongings was just part of survival. Trying to think of making sure that he had whatever needed to continue on his way without having to get help from others who could be hostile rather than helpful.

They moved faster with Tor often riding Tsen for some of the day and then walking with him for some to ease his load. But there were stops where Tor would allow Tsen to graze on older grass and young shoots that were popping up along with the wildflowers that the horse favored. Tor often had to shoo him away from eating flowers and plants that he put in his boiling pot for nourishment. 

Tsen had a better sense of smell than Tor. With bears coming out of hibernation hungry and seeking the riverbank for a source of fish and new grasses, the same grasses that Tsen liked to graze, he often alerted Tor to the scent of a bear with a snort or small whinny, and then move off in a direction he felt safer, taking Tor along for the ride. Sometimes, they had to wait for the wind to change or skirt around a hungry bear. The last thing that Tor wanted to do was surprise a bear on the trail.

Upon finding a safe location for the night, Tor would set Tsen to graze while he got a fire going using tinder that he had or even embers that he had saved in his clay pot from the morning before. He would then set water to boil in the pot with some grain or herbs that would make a tea or stew if he had enough vegetables dug out of the ground along with mushrooms.

Tor would then quickly scout the area and set out snares that would catch squirrels, rabbits, grouse and other numerous creatures that would follow natural trails through the brush that Tor knew so well. A task that rarely took him very long. With the awakening of spring and the appearance of food from under the melting snow, animals came out and foraged frequently this time of year. Some of them only at night.

Settling in for the night by a warm fire, Tor would either eat smoked or dried meat or fish, or cook something that he had carried with him having caught that day on the trail. To save his arrows he wasn't after large game. Besides, if he killed even so much as a small pig, it would be difficult for him to carry it alone, even with Tsen. A piglet would be an exception, and a very fine tasting animal. Wherever there was pig activity, he set snares designed to catch one.

But there was always serendipity working. His daily swim in the morning in the river provided that opportunity. Ducks were migrating north and using the river as a stopping off point. Many had never seen a man before and were unafraid of him. Tor found that he could swim close to them, and then go underwater. Coming up from underneath he could easily grab one by its paddling feet. An easy catch. The first time he tried it, though, he made the mistake of grabbing two swimming ducks, one in each hand. When he regained his feet in water up to his chest, both ducks were struggling, splashing water in his face and pecking him on his arms to the point he dropped one and was only then able to grab the other by the neck and wring it. Lesson learned, Tor always grabbed only one after that.

He especially enjoyed roasting those ducks because they were very fat and tasty, just what he needed for his long journey. Their feathers were very dense and useful, too, for fletching for his arrows. The river provided a variety of food that he wouldn't get later on when just moving through the forest.

And then, there were the times when the river became filled with fish spawning. At those times, only twice on the first few days, from two different kinds of fish, Tor was able to wade amongst them near the bank and as they swam by him, grab them and throw them up on the bank. At times like this he could easily have provided enough fish for the Po Clan for a month or more. Instead he only gathered enough so that he could smoke some of them overnight and then carry them along to be eaten during the day and for evenings ahead. Tor was resourceful and food was plentiful if one knew how to capture it like he did.

As the floating ice left the river, Tor spent more time in it during his morning bath and began to enjoy the water more as it got warmer, not so shockingly cold that he had experienced for so many moons. The river offered more choices in food, more plentiful wildlife and a ready source of drinking that he didn't get when the trail moved through the forest. But he knew that before very long he would leave the river for a rushing mountain stream that would once again have frigid water in it.

Passing through what had been territory of the Po was devoid of any other humans and that suited Tor just fine. But as they moved along the trail each day, he conjured up in his mind what he would do when he came upon others alone. He knew that having a horse would give him power so that he wouldn't have to sneak around settlements, but he was definitely at a disadvantage that he didn't have with the girls, because Tsen was so large and would attract attention. He wasn't sure about how people who hadn't seen a horse before would react. They might want to kill him for food.

The long hours on the trail had Tor thinking about his mother, the death of his father and of Gael. At times he was happy with the happiness of spring, but other times when it was rainy and dreary or he was cold at night, his thoughts were his enemy and kept him from sleeping. So much weight on a young man's shoulders. The only thing he could think of was to move forward. There was no going back, no way of changing things. The trail was ahead and that's where he went.

Copyright © Ronald W. Hull

11/28/19