Journey of the Messenger Cycle 1 Part 8a

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Osran

Osran was starting to feel more at ease around the horses. Over the past ten days she had learned to ride with Berri’s help. During the first few days of their flight from the republic she had been very sore, especially across her lower back. Now though, she could sit on a horse properly and for the most part they did what she wanted them to do. Before she had left her people and the Sudakkar Wasteland behind, horses had only been a source of meat to her.

They had fled west along the Old Trade Road, towards Freeton. The Maldorn Mountains were a continuous wall along the southern horizon. Periodically she saw great swaths of forest on the sides of the mountains. She was pretty sure the mountains in this part of the range were smaller than the areas she had previously seen from the southern regions of the Sudakkar. Certainly the land was less barren here. There were frequent streams and brooks, while the terrain was quite rocky there were many areas, especially around the water, where there were trees. North of them the plains were vibrant green and yellow with shades of brown. Black and grey dominated where the grasslands met the foothills they were riding through.

The days had been generally hot, but today there was a high blanket of clouds and the sun was a pale disk ahead of them, the breeze from the northwest was cool, they had kept a good pace throughout the day. Ijah seemed to enjoy the heat of summer, while Berri often complained that it was too hot. Osran thought it was nicer than the heat of the wasteland.

Ahead of her, Ijah raised an arm and signalled for them to stop. She slowed, coming up alongside her war-leader, she nodded and silently waited for Berri to catch up. Ijah had been behaving more like how Osran expected such a person to conduct themselves since they had fled the republic. The change had been unexpected. For a while Osran had been under the impression the three of them were becoming friends. Their morning and evening training sessions had become more rigorous, especially for Berri. Ijah seemed unhappy with both of them most of the time.

Whoever they had been planning to visit, south of the republic, was an unapproachable subject with Ijah now. During the first few days of their flight Osran had asked about that, or tried to. Neither of them seemed to remember their previous intention and Ijah became angry when Osran brought it up.

So now they were heading to West Port at what Osran considered to be an impressive pace. They each had two horses for riding, the needful and useful equipment had been spread across the seven beasts, though no one rode Horse as she still carried the majority of the supplies. They had a number of new weapons, Osran was particularly fond of the two boar spears and had become rather attached her new war hammer.

She had been confused by the change in her companions, they had fought and slain many soft-skins and now had much loot. Ijah was a good war-leader. Maybe they would have gentle times again, maybe not. Osran was content with the change, she was still travelling the many lands and was curious about the place called West Port, which sat on the edge of a vast body of water… She was having a difficult time imagining what so much water would look like.

Berri joined them, leading Horse and the extra mounts. Ijah continued to scan the nearby area, after a few moments she pointed downhill from the road, “Berri, take the horses down to the stream, we’ll set up camp along that flat area above the water. Osran, I want you to run over to the taller of the hills north of us, take a good look around. When I return we’ll train.” She turned her horse around to ride off westward along the road.

Berri dismounted and stretched, “Looks like a good place to camp, not much for wood though. See what you can gather along your way.”

Osran also dismounted, she pulled the two boar spears from where they were secured with her bedroll, “Is fishes tonight?”

“Probably, but keep your eyes open for game, it’s still a long way to Freeton.”

“I be back soon.” She was pretty sure that game, in this context, meant food animals. The word could mean other things but those were not as fun as Berri seemed to think. Hunting was fun.

Berri gathered the horse’s reins and headed down towards the stream.

Osran looked around, as best as she could tell no one had been along the road for some time, there was an old fire pit not far to the north. She kicked a few pieces of partially burned wood to one side then carried on towards the higher hill, it would take a while to reach her destination. Along the way she stayed in the low areas between the hills. Periodically she found wood and made a point of making small piles to gather on her return. The high ground generally did not have trees, there was too much stone in the hills, but the low areas often had brush, sometimes small trees where the soil was deep enough.

About halfway to her destination she spotted a large shelter, part way up a hill to the southeast. She stopped, listened and sniffed the air. The shelter was rather run down, made from stone and modest sized logs. There were some doves and a few smaller birds, but no indication that anyone was presently living there. Her destination was in the other direction but the wood drew her towards the shelter.

The smaller birds scattered as she approached. The doves watched until she was only a few paces away, then they retreated to the partially intact roof. Osran spotted a pile of dung. There were raspberries bushes, she found the tracks of a sizable bear nearby. Cautiously she circled the structure, there was a small spring and more signs of the bear, much more recent, perhaps a day or so past. Tattered scraps of cloth hung from the entry to the shelter, shifting in the breeze. Despite much of the inside being obscured by shadow, she did not think the bear lived here.

She moved a bit uphill and took the time to observe the area. She neither saw nor heard the bear. Cautiously she moved back down towards the shelter. The doves cooed. She shifted a spear to her left hand and readied the other to throw, they were not ideal throwing weapons beyond a dozen paces or so. As she came to the entrance the doves took flight. She used the spear in her left hand to move the scraps of cloth to the side, carefully looked around the interior and inhaled deeply. The bear did not live here.

The inside was a mess. A broken table, a couple of benches, a collapsed stone chimney, a few shelves and two narrow double stacked beds furnished the place. There were pottery dishes, scraps of cloth, a couple pots, other pieces of metal here and there. Much of it was covered in dirt and leaves, with a coating of bird shit. There was also a partial skeleton with a leg that seemed to be missing and many bones had been crushed. Aside from the birds, rodents were the only thing living here now.

She was happy with the find, if nothing else there was a lot of wood here. She would return on her way back. Circling the place, she found a stove made of stones in the back and further from the structure a small shit-house had collapsed in on itself. She climbed to the top of the hill, then continued on towards her destination.

She was nearly to the high-hill when she came across bear sign again. As she made her way up the base of the hill she spotted a cave, and could smell bear strongly. She moved further up, the cave was below her. She considered her options. A bear would provide enough meat to see them all the way to Freeton, but processing it would take at least a couple of days. Killing it by herself would be a dangerous endeavour. She decided to think on the issue while she finished climbing to the hilltop.

Near the peak she found an old standing stone that had been knocked over and, either in the fall or from weathering, had cracked into three pieces. She considered the smallest of them. Likely she could lift it but the question was; could she carry it down hill and be able to drop it on the bear as it came to or went from the cave?

She thought about that as she looked around. The hills south rose higher and became rockier, the mountains dominated the horizon. To the east and west the hilly landscape stretched as far as she could see. Smoke hung over the hills and drifted with the wind to the southeast, maybe half a dozen yat away, as the crow flies. A village of some sort. Southward the hills receded towards the plains, from her position she could make out a small length of the road. Neither in the distance nor nearby did she see any threats to their camp, other than the bear. As she finished her observations the sun edged under the level of the clouds and warm golden light spilled across the landscape, the clouds turned a deep orange colour, with bursts of red.

The many-lands were full of all sorts of beauty and danger.

She went back to the fallen standing stone to test the weight of the smallest chunk. She had been correct in her assumption that she would be able to lift it and she was fairly sure she could carry it downhill. First, she moved down to take a good look at the terrain around the cave, she was quiet and listened until she was able to confirm that the bear was in its home.

Having done so, she left her two broad-headed spears near where she intended to ambush the creature. The hardest thing about this plan would be drawing it out of the cave.

Osran moved back uphill to get the piece of stone, she felt a tingly warmth at the thought of the coming confrontation. Tonight they would eat bear… and silver scales.

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