Fallow Buck Courtesy Wikipedia
Upriver, once again, the trail was carved clear to rocks and dirt between animals and occasionally, people following the bank except where cliffs reached the water, but still discernible when it deviated from the river to avoid these spots where there was no riverbank to walk or camp upon. Often, a high trail was worn into rock over a mountainous region, sometimes requiring climbing that was not suited to Tsen.
Those steep places required skirting around. Sometimes requiring several suns until getting back to the river again. But it was worth it to keep his loyal steed with him. Their two rotations of the seasons had resulted in them both growing up together and bonding like no woman had with Tor. For them, it was until death do us part.
But Shin could not be ignored in the equation. He was as helpful and probably more loyal than his friend and alpha companion, Tsen. Together, they formed a triumvirate of power, ingenuity, unnatural senses, and camaraderie. Something that Tor had not had even with his father's men.
The spring weather was filled with the activity of new life that made it easy for Tor and his able companions to find fresh food and nourishment. They moved quickly and ate light. Each was at the peak of his manhood. No more in their lives would they become any more capable. Wiser, more experienced, cautious or stronger, perhaps, but never more capable. As a result they moved quickly, covering much ground while the sun shone and required little overnight sleep during the chili spring nights to recover for the next day's trek into the unknown.
And unknown it was, because Tor in his short life had not gone this way and he didn't recall any of the elders telling him about it. Every turn in the trail, every bend in the river presented new possibilities. Suddenly they came upon one.
Two girls in their teens bathing in the river. He was riding atop Tsen so easily saw them before they saw him coming. Shin had not given even a whimper to alert either Tor or the girls. So he had a few moments to observe them washing their hair in thigh deep water and admiring their figures, while emaciated, still feminine.
But soon, they spotted him. They rushed for the bank and held up their ragged stitched together skins in front of them in some form of modesty that wasn't required. They were scared and shaking… Worried that Tor would harm them. Instead he laughed at their fearfulness and called out, "Hi, I am Tor… And who might you be?"
Timid at first, the tallest girl finally spoke in a language that he had left in the morning. "I am Alm and this is my sister, Kish. Be careful, our father is nearby." Her shivering belied the warm morning continued.
Tor suspected she was lying. "I mean no harm. I'm on a quest to find my mother from a very vicious horde who attacked our encampment a cycle of seasons ago. They may have come this way. I only want to find her…"
Alm fidgeted her feet on the grassy bank while Shin approached Kish for her pet and then, uttered, "They came here, too! We were lucky to escape with our mothers, picking berries when we heard them, the cries of pain, all dead, hacked to bits." She burst out crying uncontrollably.
"Where are your mothers?"
"They are not far. We had to move our shelter in the recent flood. They are rebuilding it now so that we will have a place to hide if the evil ones return. If you promise not to harm them, we'll take you to them." She stopped shaking and put a hand on Shin's head that he, of course, welcomed, trying to smell blood or urine between her legs, tickling her with his actively searching nose.
Tor allowed the girls to put on their tattered skins and then followed them a safe distance back from the trail into a grotto of ancient trees where there were large boulders and a shelter was being built among them by two emaciated young women, seemingly not much older than their daughters. Unlike their daughters, they lit up seeing the young man with them.
"This is Tor and his animal companions. He is searching for his mother he says may have come this way." Stroking Tsen on the neck, Alm introduced Tor while Shin rushed up to them, scaring them a bit, simply for a pet or reciprocating lick.
"He's okay, just overly friendly. I've trained him to be nice to people," Tor lied. He could see that the hard life they lived showed on them with teeth missing, straggly graying hair, scars and tattoos meant to ward off evil pain spirits and breasts that sagged from childbirth. Their ribs showed from having to fend for food without their husbands or male companions. So unlike the way he remembered his mother.
"I've got food. Would you like some?"
"I am Manna, mother of the girl who just introduced you. I can speak for everyone that we are all very hungry. But we must finish this shelter and there is not enough time to hunt or find food before the day is done."
Tor dismounted. From his pack on the back of Tsen, he unwrapped smoked fish, dried meat and the fresh meat of a rabbit that Shin had brought to him in the morning. He also had fresh greens, mushrooms and some oats to add to the meal.
The women began cooking or heating what he had brought and made a tea that Tor had never tasted from a plant they showed him that grew nearby. While it was still scalding hot, the women and girls gorged themselves on what he brought them. All the while eyeing him like he was the saving grace they hoped for, lustfully.
With a gape tooth smile, pausing from her scraping the remnants from a rabbit bone, Tessa blatantly blurted out… "You will stay, won't you? I need a man. I need another child, a boy. Girls are useless, they cannot provide or save you from evil. Will you stay and be my man?"
The others looked at her aghast. Manna lashed out, "How dare you! We all want a man. Can't you see we all want him!" Seemingly ignoring that Tor was right there listening to them. Trying to be more diplomatic, "Don't worry, I won't let that old hag attack you or let my daughter or hers take advantage of you."
Tor could see what was happening, more in the eyes of all of them than anything they said. He had to break up the fight. "I understand your plight. I will help you rebuild your shelter and get enough food for now. But I can't stay long. I must continue upriver looking for my mother.
"But I may have a solution to your problem. I just left a group of elders and young boys just downriver from here who were also attacked by those marauders and have lost nearly everything. When I left them I suggested that they join my clan, also decimated by the same marauders. These people seem to be of your clan because you speak the same language."
"Yes we knew of a branch of our clan just downriver. Our elders had a dispute with them some cycles ago and we had come here to escape violence, missing our sacred shrine in the cave that dwells there. We could not go back."
"I have seen that place and observed all those drawings. I believe the hero that killed the great cave bear is my father." The women shook their heads in doubt.
"Oh… perhaps that happened after you split from your clan. It is a new drawing made by the current people, honoring my father for killing that monster. You must go there and see it, soon. I'm sure that those people, before the end of summer, will be leaving to join my clan if they are going to survive. And I think you should join them if you are going to survive." Tor looked intently at his now sated but subdued audience. "We had better get busy, it will be dark soon."
With Tor and Tsen's help they quickly gathered dead timbers to shore up the walls and roof of the shelter. With that finished, Alm took him to a clearing nearby where they routinely saw deer. A nice yearling fallow buck came out of the trees into the open before the last rays of sun set on fresh nibblings. Soon, Tor's arrow found him and a knife quickly put an end to his misery. It was enough venison for a moon for them. On the way back, they set snares for squirrels and rabbits to be checked in the morning.
With Tor and Shin added to the interior of the shelter there was no room or need for a fire. Throughout the night Tor felt wandering hands from more than one side and kisses. All four of the women wanted to have a piece of him. He was as accommodating as he could be, but when the morning found him, he was groggy from loss of sleep, intense exertion, and spent manhood. Wondered how the elk with a harem did it.
Thankfully, that eddy where he first came upon the girls awaited; Shin and he escaped the sleeping women to refresh themselves with a morning swim before returning to the rebuilt shelter and cooking something to eat before he left.
"Why don't you stay?" Alm asked as they shared a pot of gruel flavored with some fresh strawberries and dried pork strips. Her eyes were entreating and her smile told Tor how much she wished it.
"I would. You are all quite lovely. But you girls have your mothers and I don't have mine. I can't delay my quest to find her. I hope you understand. I will return someday but I'm not exactly sure when. There's a lot of ground to cover following the branches of the river Rine before I will find her."
With the girls crying and their mothers pining, Tor loaded his belongings onto Tsen's back and left them. Before he did though, he reminded them of their clansman downriver. He strongly urged them to join the others for their own survival. It was strange, giving advice to two mothers who had been through hell. But he couldn't help it. His experience had made him older than his age. He was thriving while others weren’t…like these women before him. He left them his provisions. Tor would gather more along the way.
It felt good being back on the trail again. In the late afternoon they came to a major river flowing into the Rine. There were remnants of boats used to cross but most of those had been badly damaged by the flood, dragged up into the trees.
Tor decided that he would not cross but would follow this tributary. For starters, where it would take him on his planned thorough quest to find his mother. Each step bringing him closer to her, he hoped.
Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull
3/11/21
