He didn't ride very long before the swaying movement of Tsen's gait began to work on his cracked ribs until he could stand it no more and Tor had to get down off the horse. Hobbled along with his makeshift crutch for another hour until he reached a place suitable to make camp where others had obviously done before. A rocky overhang with enough materials from previous beds and fires for him to also, sleep on his sore bones once more. At least now, he had a warm fur robe to put under him and one to put on top during cold nights. Most too warm this time of the year.

Snares and gathering greens, seeds and mushrooms provided him with food. There still wasn't any need for him to kill larger game that came into view quite often on the trail or coming down to the river to water. Easily seen when he camped. On the trail, they often mistook him on Tsen as some sort of taller deer, walking right up to them until they saw or smelled Shin, fearing that he was a wolf, and bolted off the trail.

These camps of others, some old and some recently used, sometimes provided him with immediate shelter when it rained. Otherwise, he huddled under his animal robes and then dried them off when the overnight rain was replaced by morning sun.

For a few days, Tor's pain got worse, especially the elbow, and then, his right leg when he tried to put too much weight on it while walking. But each day, with the help of his two friends, he traveled further and the pain began to gradually subside until he could sleep entirely through the night without any pain and travel longer the next day, better rested.

The river finally cleared up and Tor had been waiting. He left his splints on even though they had been itching badly. Sometimes he would take a branch with buds on it and run it inside the splint up and down to relieve the itching chaffed skin. He entered the water very carefully, not sure how the cool river water would feel flowing on his irritated skin.

What Tor felt was cool relief. He didn't feel comfortable swimming with the splints on though. They got soaked and became heavy. Some of the ties broke and had to be replaced. But he found when he took them off, after a short while he needed to put them back on. His bones were just not mended enough to support his weight without the external support of the splints.

Tor's sore elbow healed first and no longer gave him pain about a week after he fell. Eventually he became used to the rib pain, and after about two weeks, took off the wraps around his chest for good and burned them in his fire that evening. But every time he put pressure on his right leg, the pain returned and he either limped or rode through a phase of the moon before he felt confident to walk on it again. And when he walked, he would no longer make any fast movements or try to run. Only very carefully placed steps keeping the pain to a minimum but glad to be free of the leg splint and knowing the bones would completely heal before long.

The next day on the trail, Tor was riding when something he had expected happened. Up ahead, he could see above the intervening brush, heads bobbing of some people walking toward them. Suddenly, there was a commotion and those people left the trail. Riding up to that spot, Tor noted from tracks in the wet trail that there were five. Two heavier tracks with worn sandals and three barefoot tracks, one about his age, and two younger, one perhaps 12 and the other 6 or 7. As best he could read them.

Seeing no harm from these tracks, Tor called out loudly a friendly greeting, not knowing if they understood him or not. "Hello! It's okay! You have nothing to fear…!"

Tor and his buddies stayed silent, although Shin wandered under Tor's legs, nosing his feet excitedly, whimpering and anticipating… And then, there was a small commotion some distance off the trail, and an old graybeard stuck his head up from the bush he was hiding behind raising his hand in greeting, too.

Tor motioned for him to come and he did, followed by an old woman, a teenage girl, and two boys. All looking like they had not eaten for some time, they were so scrawny.

The first thing that Tor asked was, "Do you want something to eat?" Motioning toward his bag where he carried most of his food. Putting his hand up to his mouth, pretending to chew on something. A hopeful look on his face.

The old man eagerly shook his head up and down, "Yes," and hurried to come out on the trail. The others followed until they were all standing there in front of him shivering, partially afraid and partially curious about this large goat with this strong young man sitting high on him.

Fortunately, the Thal language and the language of the old man, both of the Rine Valley, were very similar so it was quite easy to communicate. Tor handed out strips of dry meat to each of them to their delight, especially the children, and they began chewing on them. Except the older couple who had very few teeth left. They just sucked on the meat gathering nourishment from the softening meat and fat. Tor made note to make a soft stew for them as soon as possible, they looked so malnourished.

The old man said, "I am Dupree, this is my wife, Conie. We are from Danis, far downriver from here. We just passed a very fine campsite where we can stay the night and we can tell you about ourselves. It is a long story. We are so tired and hungry."

"I am Tor. I am searching for my mother. But I will stop my journey and help you if you will let me. Did you see her on this trail? A strong woman with light brown hair braided to her waist and green eyes. Perhaps traveling with others?"

"No, it has been good fortune that we saw no one. And our bad fortune that we cannot gather enough food to feed ourselves. We would appreciate your help very much. I can't hunt and we've only been able to forage for leafy plants and a few roots for the past few days in our run from danger. No time to stop and catch fish. We are fishermen."

Before long, the group of stragglers arrived at a substantial campsite that had suffered winters but still had some shelters that would keep off the rain with a little filling in the cracks that had formed with time. Tor broke out his ember and made a fire. The youngsters gathered firewood and he went to the bags on Tsen to get meat, vegetable roots and mushrooms for a stew.

They warmed themselves by the fire while the stew simmered and the meat softened. The youngsters continued to chew on dried meat like they never had eaten before. Sensing the need for more food, Tor took the kids with him and set his snares. It was obvious they were not used to this kind of hunting.

Tor asked the girl, who told him that her name was Cloe, if she knew how to set snares like this to catch small game for food. Modestly, with a bit of embarrassment, she giggled and said, "No." Shaking her head from side to side in the universally understood message.

So Tor set about showing her and the boys, first by setting one trap along a log for a squirrel to run along and then, close to the trail where there were green munchies for rabbits in the growing evening, a rabbit snare on a natural rabbit trail back into the brush. Soon, he was guiding her pale hands tying knots and placing the snares just so, so that the animal would run through and get caught by the neck, strangling itself.

Cloe seemed to be enjoying the close contact with him. And he found himself enjoying her, too, even though she was clearly malnourished and needed to be fattened up. The boys, the older named Thad and the youngest, Alon, on the other hand, just had fun tagging along and watching the girl play with their fortunate new friend. Quickly learning the skills, too. They would be eating well tonight for the first time in many days and looking forward to it, still chewing on their sticks of dried meat.

When they returned to the campfire, the stew was ready and everyone ate their fill. Dupree, gumming his food, took the opportunity to tell Tor their story.

"Conie and I were out, some distance from our camp, one of several that our people have on the Delta of the Rine. This time of the year we do that because I can no longer hunt and the greens we gather are needed by our clan, currently 29 people." He started to sob when he said it and his face grew pale. Gathering himself together, coughing amidst spitting some of the food from his mouth, he began again…

"Off in the distance we heard loud yelling and screams. We immediately knew that the camp was being attacked and we hid in the bushes this side the camp. The fight went on for some time. But our people are not vicious fighters, just fighting for their lives. Soon, we saw Cloe and the boys come sneaking through the brush towards us. I called them over. They were shaking and crying. Cloe told me that many bad men came into the village with spears and clubs and were beating everyone to death. She barely escaped by hiding behind huts and dodging them.

"The three of them ran from the camp our way. Our only choice was to continue this way as far as we could. They may be coming after us. But they came from here, so they probably went downriver. We will winter up ahead if we can somewhere and then return in the spring with the hope of finding anyone alive. There are other camps of our people. But those marauders seem intent on killing everyone." Hardly able to breathe over his obvious fear, Dupree just hung his head and cried.

Tor was shocked with what he heard. "About a half-moon ago from where I came, I came upon my people's winter encampment to find that it had been attacked the exact same way yours was. I had to remove the bones of many who lost their lives and properly send them to the afterlife. It was terrible. But I did not find any bones that matched my mother. So I came this way on the hope that she came this way.

"Perhaps she did, or perhaps she didn't. I don't know."

Warming around the campfire before they went off to the three huts they had prepared to sleep in for the night, Dupree approached Tor with a proposition. "Young man, I want to thank you from all of us for helping us get this food. And for helping us fix up these shelters from the cold tonight."

And then he whispered in Tor’s ear. "I see that Cloe likes you from the way she looks at you. I like that. Our clan has been decimated by those renegades who came into our encampment killing for no other reason than to kill and plunder. Conie is not fertile and will not have any more children. I want for you to share your bed with Cloe tonight and for as long as we are together. We need babies that are strong like you. I know she is young, but I hope you will treat her gently. She's been with no other."

Tor patted the old man's arm and whispered back, "I will do as you ask. I will be gentle with her."

Their hunger sated and exhausted from their journeys, everyone went to bed. Dupree and Conie in one hut. The two boys in another. And, as Tor entered the one he had prepared for Shin and himself, Cloe followed as though she knew what Dupree wanted of her.

She took off her shift and curled up in a fetal position in Tor's arms without saying anything. Tor had never held anyone so skinny before. She needed warming and he pulled the robe up over them and held her close until she stopped shivering and relaxed next to his chest. Both hearts beating strongly in unison.

Her breasts were but buds and her cleft between her legs was soft and hairless but open to his caressing fingertips that touched only to please and sooth whatever hurt resided within her. Her kisses were childlike, but she moved to let him enter her most private place because she wanted his seed in her as much as Dupree did. It wasn't love, but necessity that drove her. She wanted to have many babies to replace those her clan had lost.

Cloe couldn't help but fall in love with this strong, yet strange, young gentle man. All she had felt before were uncles and other men of the tribe forcing themselves on her. Too young to fight back, she luckily, hadn't conceived of any of them. A baby would have killed her. Now she felt different. She wanted a baby with this man. A man who had conquered a strange animal to ride and could hunt with great skill… Even live and travel alone! But sleep befell her before she could tell him.

Tor once again found himself waking to the need to bathe and pee from a full bladder. This time, he gathered his bow and quiver as he set out for the river, just down the slope to the water from this abandoned camp. He knew that the path there was wide and with no one around, animals would find it easy to follow.

As he approached the water, Tor saw three deer swimming across the river directly to that spot. He hid behind some bushes and forced Shin to sit beside him and quietly like he was trained. All the bucks could have been brothers from their bobbing antlers in velvet. He carefully picked out the yearling with the small rack. Shin trying his best to be quiet, but growling under his breath at his master's side.

Tor let loose an arrow creating a pain in his ribs, but he hadn't lost his touch and the arrow struck true , right behind the young deer's front elbow as it passed by on the trail. Run through the heart, he stumbled while his brothers, startled, took off and ran up the trail right past him with Shin on their trail until Tor called him back with a whistle.

Tor pulled the young buck back onto the trail and gutted him quickly. Taking a bite out of his, still warm, liver. His whistle and the commotion woke the others and the two boys came running down to see what it was and were very excited to see the fallow deer. Dupree and Conie soon followed. When they saw the kill, they retrieved their knives and began skinning and cutting up the find. Thanking Tor profusely while they did for the much needed meat.

Tor tasked the boys with retrieving all of his snares for him while he helped with the butchering. When the boys returned, Tor's skillful sets had captured two squirrels, a grouse, and three rabbits. There was enough meat in that one morning, to have a feast for a clan of 30. Tor had other plans. Quickly creating a smoking enclosure, he took embers from the fire the night before and started the process of drying and smoking strips of meat from all of the animals. While waiting, they roasted a squirrel and the grouse for breakfast with gruel prepared by Conie and Cloe.

But there was no all day celebration that lasted into the night. As soon as the meat was dry and smoked and breakfast was consumed, Tor packed up to leave. Making sure that the others had most of the meat and other food gathered.

He told the others, "I have to get back on the trail from where you came to see if I can catch up with my mother. I know that's where those marauders that attacked your clan are down that way, but if my mother is in further danger, I want to be there to help protect her."

Dupree didn't agree. "We may go back next year. But for now, I think we'll go upstream to find a place to winter over before we come back."

"You can winter over at our encampment. You'll find it right on this trail a few suns from here. I'll be back before winter to put in food and wood for that hard cold time. I know you can't hunt and I will need some company. Until I get back there, my family lodge is the one with the skull of a great bear over the doorway."

"Great bear?"

"Great cave bear. My father killed it. They are all gone. I hope to see one and kill it someday. Like my father. But I may not."

"Thank you for your kindness and willingness to help us out in our weakness. We will try to be strong enough to return here and home after the winter. Cloe will have a child by then."

Cloe didn't say anything, she just smiled for the attention. But she felt like she was no longer a girl taken advantage of by men. She was a woman. Learning all she could from Conie.

"What if you run into the marauders coming back this way after their bloody rampage over our lands?" Dupree was clearly worried by the look in his face.

"I have Tsen who can run like the wind. I will not go up against grown man killers. We can hear and smell them coming long before they come into sight. We will retreat and either pick them off, silently, one by one, or if the opportunity arises, kill them while they're sleeping. I have witnessed it myself. An old man killed my father and three of my father's best men in their sleep. I got an arrow in the old man, but it was snowing heavily and he got away high on a mountain."

"May the gods be with you and may you be able to get some revenge for yours and my people lost."

Tor mounted Tsen, waived to everyone and the three companions followed the trail downriver once again. He was sore in his bones but felt much better having met some friendly people and helped them out. He bore no love for Cloe, but knew that he would miss her warmth in the nights ahead.

Copyright 2020 © Ronald W. Hull

10/5/20