The next morning, Tor wasted no time checking to see if the youngsters were on their way to what he thought would be a better existence in this cruel world. He checked his snares and found that he had two rabbits and squirrel. Enough fresh meat to carry him for a day or two. After a brief dip in the river, Tor was on his chosen way again and his companions seemed to be happy that they were, too.

His day was like most of the others. He easily jumped across two small streams that emptied into the Rine, but nothing worth following to see if perhaps his mother had been taken back up into the mountains beyond. There was no clear trail.

In fact, he covered a lot of ground and was beginning to look for a place to spend the night when he was, once again, alerted by Shin whimpering that there was something coming on the trail ahead. Not willing to have any direct confrontations, Tor quickly steered Tsen off the trail and into a deep thicket of birch trees that easily masked the horse's outline and he could hide behind some of the larger tree trunks to see who was coming.

They didn't wait long until the strong scent of sweat of exertion and uncleanliness reached Tor's nostrils and he knew that he had made the right choice getting off the trail.

Shin started getting anxious and whimpering, as though he wanted to go and investigate what he was smelling, but Tor held him close by his ear and cautioned him, once again, to be quiet for his master and he obeyed. So glad I have taught him to obey me, he thought.

Soon, he could hear them as well as smell them, their figures bobbing along the trail as they made a lot of noise, walking very fast without paying much attention to their surroundings, seemingly on some kind of rushed mission. In the brief time that he saw them passing by, they looked very much to be raiders like his father's companions. There was no white in their hair but they had heavy beards and leather clothing that was more armor than for warmth; why they were probably sweating so much. Their huffing and puffing as they passed indicated they were tired and using great exertion in order to catch up with who they were after.

Oh, the gods!  Tor thought. These were the evil men that Teve was worried about. Those kids were right in having to move fast. But based on how fast those two men were going and how weak the three youngsters were, they would catch them very soon. I hope not tonight. I hope not…

Instead of making camp for the night, Tor decided to follow them. He tied Tsen to a tree after giving him water with a rope long enough so that he could graze on the grass beneath the tree. And then, some distance away to another tree he tied Shin and gave him some meat to eat and water as well.

Shin whimpered his eagerness to go along with his master, but Tor knew he had to go alone. His companions would too easily give him away in their willingness to help him. He couldn't afford that. Tor would have to use stealth that he had learned during those three raids he remembered he made with clansmen and his father, seeming now, so long ago.

With time wasted to curtail his companions, Tor set off on foot at a pace that even out distanced the evil ones. But he was fresh, even though he had walked and rode all day. He had not kept a pace that would tire him, knowing he had a long way to go and had to carefully check out every clue he could find to where his mother could be. He thought of her now as he chased after these men into the twilight of day. Are these the men that have her? Is she still alive? He didn't know, and that's why it bothered him so much. He would ask them if he could. But could he ask them?

Along the way, he frightened a swan that flew gracefully out of sight and then returned to the water nearby and pretended to be wounded because it had a bevy of baby swans up under the bank that the mother was trying to protect. And then, he came upon a magnificent red deer coming to the water to drink. He startled the buck rather than sneak up on him for the kill. No time to hunt animals; he was hunting man.

The light dwindled darker until the stars began to come out and a pale, half-moon reflected off the river water. It was enough to give his youthful night vision a clear view of the trail ahead and he did not slow his pace much but was careful not to step on twigs with his bare feet as he moved like a lynx almost silently through the night. Hoping upon hope, that those men were too tired to push on until they actually caught up with the young people sleeping.

Would they kill them or take them back? He was sure that they were going to capture them and take them back to wherever their clansmen were now. He shuddered at the thought of arriving where those clansman were someday soon. What will I do? What will I do? Will my mother be there?

But these were only two and he had the advantage of them not knowing that he was coming. Coming and hoping that they would camp for the night. Tor was not mistaken. He had not gone very far in the dark when he began to hear them up ahead. And what he heard pleased him… Snoring.

All of the thoughts running through his head during his chase now came to a head. A rage came over him like it did when he found his father and companions murdered so brutally by that old man in their sleep without a chance of fighting back. But it was a lesson learned. And he learned it well.

Tor came upon the two of them lying under a tree and sleeping soundly, snoring in their dreams. From his bag he removed his copper ax and obsidian knife and very carefully and noiselessly approached the closest man sleeping, some distance from the other one.

Remembering the wounds his father had, he swung his ax with all his might into the sleeping man's ear, surely knocking him out, as blood spurted from the wound, and then, with the knife, as he had done to many an animal, slit the man's throat and he was gone… Never to sleep again. The only sound was the gurgling of blood as it was pumped out by a dying heart.

Bloody now with the rusty smelling odor of blood on him, Tor approached the other man who had not even missed a breath over the commotion that just occurred. Once again, with a heavy blow with the copper ax, followed by using the knife to slit the man's throat, the deed was done. Both men were dead and Tor was shaking with anger and upset at himself for doing what he loathed.

He dragged the bodies down to the river's edge and pushed them in. Letting the fishes eat them. And leaving no evidence that they ever were there except the blood on the ground that small creatures would devour with gusto. Such was the way of the world. Those men did not deserve a burial according to the gods. They were nothing but evil that had to be removed from men. At least that was Tor's rationalization of the awful act.

Tor returned to his companions as swiftly as he had chased the others. He reached them in time to settle in for some sleep himself and setting Tsen free to graze. Shin couldn't resist licking the dried blood on his body, so Tor let him. That way he got to participate in the adventure just like his master, benefiting from the spoils. At least his knew that those three youngsters would no longer lead those two evil ones to burst into the coppersmith camp and kill everyone.

While his thoughts raged for a while, he too, fell into a deep sleep from all the exertion.  Shin was there to wake him if in danger; thank the gods.

Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull 

4/16/21