In the morning, they lowered the Ibex and cut it in quarters. It was too heavy, even with Tsen's help, already heavily loaded with trade goods and other food. The whole time, Tor kept thinking about what Thad had said, and tried to get it out of his mind. But he would have been a big help in trying to carry all that meat.

A quick check of their snares yielded a hedgehog, two rabbits, and a squirrel. Fresh meat for their journey ahead.

Finally, he got an idea. Since the stream nearby ran all the way to the Po, he decided that they would make a raft that would carry the meat downstream so they did not have to. All they needed to do was keep up with it and make sure that it didn't get hung up. The trail followed the stream so it was easy to keep an eye on it and.

He told Shea, "If we make a raft, we can take all of the meat."

"But the river isn't big enough for us." Annoyed.

"Just for the meat. We will walk along the trail and keep sight of it. When we get to the Po, we will build a bigger raft that can take us all the way there."

They set about finding suitable dry wood of the right length because cutting logs to length would take too long. Using a combination of leverage by placing a piece of wood on a high rock and then, jumping on it with his bare feet, he broke branches into suitable length. Or better, having Tsen put his heavy hoof on it, to break it to length.

While this was being done, Shea was busy making cordage and using it to tie together a raft that was quite small, to navigate the small stream, but large enough to carry everything but the two front leg quarters. Each of them would add one to their heavy packs. Some of what they had in the packs was transferred to Tsen's back. It was a load that he could handle easily.

By midday, they were ready to launch. The meat was tied to the raft so that it wouldn't slide off and it was put in the current where it started out slowly, downstream. The pace was leisurely at first, but as springs and their rivulets added to the flow the raft moved along more swiftly. Every once in a while, it would get hung up on something like a rock or a branch across the stream, and Tor would have to remove his pack and go rescue it.

Traveling this way was much more pleasant than carrying such a heavy load. But what they were carrying was heavy enough, so with the raft still drifting at a slow pace, they could stop in the shade and enjoy a rest until it came into view again and they would continue their journey.

When night came, they picked out an ideal site that was also one that the Thals had used. They pulled the raft, with Tsen's help, up on the bank and covered it with damp moss. Hoping to keep the night predators like weasels, fishers and foxes from finding it. They hung their front quarters from a tree like the night before. Except for mosquitoes that were gone after the night deepened, they slept as best they could with nightmares of tragedies they had witnessed waking them up sometimes.

With a warm puppy licking their faces, they rose with the sun, and continued their journey. This time, by the end of the day they had reached the point where the stream they had been following joined the Po once again. As expected, the bank was littered with remnants of boats and rafts that had been used to cross the stream by others.

The entire next day was spent in piecing together boats and rafts into something that would be maneuverable by paddles and would take a sail while carrying them and their heavy cargo. Fortunately, they found enough cordage to make that possible and didn't have to tediously make new. By nightfall, they were tired, but had a strange looking, but useful, craft ready to go. The Ibex horns were lashed to the front of one of the boats.

The next morning, when loaded, the craft was too heavy, although it was already halfway in the water, to launch. Their solution was to take Tsen swimming and have him pull the raft into the water. It worked. They climbed aboard and immediately began being taken by the current, downstream.

Tsen, relieved of his load, knew what his task was, and followed obediently alongside until the trail meandered away from the river for a while. But when they stopped mid day to rest and eat. He appeared shortly after like he always did before.

Tor spent their time floating leisurely telling Shea what the birds, fish and animals were that she had not seen before. Once again they were working on her language so when they got there, they both could converse with the Po. This time, river crossings were not a problem. They were already on the river and only Tsen would joyfully wash the sweat off of long trots along the trail, scaring many creatures along the path who had never seen anything like him before.

It was a lazy time, a time to reflect. And a time to relax. With burdens off their shoulders and gradually leaving their minds, the couple made love at night like never before. Shea's baby bump was growing and would be visible to the people of the Po. During their talks on the river, Tor often thought of his first love, Gael. But he did not want to burden Shea with that tragedy just yet. Instead, he told her about the village and that there were horses there like Tsen.

"I think that Tsen will be surprised to be back in his herd again. He may not want to leave." Tor laughed heartily at that thought and Shea understood.

The second morning on the river, a fallow deer appeared. Tor and Shea almost simultaneously fired arrows. The deer ran off into the brush, but they soon found it with Shea's arrow in its heart. Luckily, while it lowered a bit in the water, their makeshift boat could handle the extra weight. Extra meat to bring as their welcoming gift.

They arrived much sooner than expected because they moved so fast on the river, sometimes setting sail when the wind was right. It was halfway through the morning when they saw the thinning of the surrounding vegetation, and then the fields of wheat and other grains, and finally, the smoke from the stone, mud and straw built huts of the village curling up in the almost windless, day.

As they pulled up on the bank, some members of the clan remembered him and started shouting, "Tor! Tor has come back! He's here!"

Clan members came running down and helped them pull the ungainly craft up on the bank. And then, there were hugs and kisses. Men were hugging Shea and kissing her before Tor had a chance to introduce her. Some had foul breath that recoiled her.

Finally, Tor saw Lucius, now all white-haired and hunched over, working his way down into the crowd with a crut okay muckingch. When the two of them met, they embraced and Tor felt all the time between them had made him a frail old man. Now crying his eyes out for the return of someone he considered his adopted son.

Tsen was somewhat behind since the current had been strong and the two of them both sailing and paddling hard to get there quickly had outpaced him. But he soon sensed familiar smells and broke from a trot to a gallop.

He could smell it in the far off distance, his own kind, his own clan, his herd. He galloped into the village, startling those crowded at the riverbank, tore through the huts kicking up a lot of dust, and ran straight to where seven horses were grazing.

He immediately attacked the largest stallion. They fought until the sun was high and they were both white with sweaty foam on their bodies, screaming and pummeling each other, biting and kicking. The villagers gathered round along with a surprised Tor and Shea who had never seen him like that before.

Finally, the other stallion ran off and Tsen extended his lovemaking tool and began to mount the females who were not receptive at the time. 

Finally frustrated, Tsen headed back to the river, dove in, and cooled off. Later when he returned to the herd, the other stallion came up to him and nuzzled him in obedience. The villagers cheered when they saw that. With the venison and Ibex meat that they brought, the celebration began.

Copyright 2021 © Ronald W. Hull

8/14/21