Journey of the Messenger Cycle 1 Part 8b

Journey of the Messenger Cycle 1 Part 8b

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Osran ate the heart of the bear before returning to the camp, still warm from life. Full of bloody juice, it had been delicious.

Initially when she returned, well after dark with the carcass of the bear, Ijah had been rather angry with her. Her war-leader had been upset with the delay that would be required to process the meat, she had almost insisted on taking a small portion of the animal and leaving the rest.

That had not sat well with Berri, who objected, “We can’t do that, Ijah. Besides, we’re close to two eight days from Freeton and by the sounds of it there are few places between here and there where we’ll be able to buy food or supplies. We can take three or four days now, smoke and dry the meat, or we can stop to hunt and gather for a half day for every two as we travel. We’ll be more secure if we deal with this now, better able to push on should the need arise.”

Osran thought that Ijah was going to put Berri in her place, instead she let out a frustrated sigh, “You’re likely correct. If it can be done as you say.”

Osran informed them, “There’s more wood, and more of other useful things for task at hand at little house, not far. Much there. No people.”

“Very well then. Osran move that thing further from the camp for now. You will have to stay up to keep the animals away. We’ll deal with the rest at first light.”

So that was what they did. Osran and Berri went to the abandoned camp at first light, pulled out the useful things that would be needful. With the help of a couple of the horses they dragged most of it back to the camp in one trip. Another trip would had been required to get the rest of the wood. They set up the processing operation across from the camp on the other side of the stream, Berri and she did most of the work while Ijah kept an eye out for any troubles that might come their way.

They dried thin strips of meat in the sun, smoked a fair amount of it and ate bear for most of their meals. The pelt was framed, they scraped and treated it. Osran kept the skull, hoping to craft a fearsome helmet from it at some future point. They used much of the rest of the body as well; fat, intestines, sinew.

Both she and Berri had done this sort of thing before, they worked well together, Berri was delighted by the surplus and impressed with how Osran had killed the bear. In truth there had not been much of a fight. Osran had missed the bear’s head when it had come out of its den, she had crushed its shoulder, then from above she had thrown one of her spears. She was very happy to have the matched boar spears. She had climbed down to finish the job with the other.

During the time they were preserving the meet, only a trio of travellers had come along the road from the west. Ijah had invited them to take their midday meal together, they were happy to encounter friendly people and grateful for the meat. They had left Freeton nearly a month ago, the news they carried was not good. Freeton was in a shambles. The town had been attacked the previous year, its gates lay broken and the old mayor had been slain. No one was presently in control of the place and it had become rather unsafe to live there.

Further news from the west was no better; goblins and bandits were rampant through the southern stretches of the Linklow Forest and word had come in the spring that the Tannicans had been spotted on the other side of the Easter Sister River. Thankful for the news, Ijah had given them some more of the bear meat as they departed. Osran knew the big river flowed past West Port into the bigger water, it sounded like there would be plenty of fighting as they journeyed.

On the morning of the fourth day they headed out shortly after sunrise, The hide had not finished curing but Osran took it anyway, hoping that by putting it atop Horse’s load it would be alright. So long as it did not rain she may have herself a nice cloak for the coming winter.

Ijah had them travelling at a steady pace throughout the day. Berri mentioned her concern for the horses and suggested they should take longer intervals walking them. Ijah scowled and responded rather curtly, “The horses are fine, Berri. The summer is nearly half done, we need to get this satchel to West Port. So how about less chatter and more riding?”

They carried on. Osran noticed that Berri was scowling and muttering to herself as they rode. She did not know enough about horses to say much of anything on the subject, yet, Berri seemed to have a gift with animals of all sorts. Osran would have listened to her. She still had been unable to shake the feeling they were supposed to be going the other way. They were forgetting something important. Or someone. She wished she remembered the name she had heard, Imme, Ima, Emma? Had they not been on their way south of the capital of Caffern?

The day passed without incident. They stopped along the side of the road where a semi-permanent camp appeared to have accommodated many other travellers over the years. There was a nearby brook running out from the hills, there were carved posts and even a large rock had been etched with some sort of imagery. Osran was unsure what it was supposed to be. There was a small corral and a low rock wall had been built up around the camp. There was even a shit-house near some sort of shrine and a wood crib that was partially filled.

Ijah pointed to a nearby hill, “Osran, head up there and take a look around. This camp is well tended, I expect there to be a nearby community or holding.”

Osran gathered her spears and jogged off towards the hill, Ijah called out after her, “No need to do any hunting. We’ll be leaving with the rising sun.”

It irked her that Ijah was treating her like a child, of course there was no need to hunt. Still, Ijah was her war-leader, if she wanted to talk down to them or ignore good advice, that was her choice… At least until she did something too dumb or became too insulting. Berri likely could not challenge Ijah, though it was her place to do so. Osran would not. She was in a much better situation than she had been previously, she did not understand the drastic changes in her companions, but she knew honey when she tasted it.

The physical exertion helped clear her brooding mood. She made it to the top of the gently sloped, flower covered hill and took a look around. It was later in the day than they had previously been stopping, perhaps Ijah was not going to train with them this evening. The terrain was a bit lusher in this area, the nearby hills had more trees than their previous camp. She could see no signs of a homestead, there was no smoke from cooking fires, no trails and certainly no village. She took the time to look around again. When the lower part of the sun slipped behind the hills to the west she made her way back to camp.

Her companions were having a heated discussion. Berri’s voice was raised with an edge of anger, “… little feed left, and Horse’s right foreleg is tender. We can’t push the horses like we did today. In fact, we need to take it easy tomorrow or we’ll lose Horse.”

“If the animal can’t keep up, we’ll have to lighten our load and leave her behind.”

“Oh, that’s your solution?”

“Show some respect girl, I don’t like your tone.”

“You show some respect!” Berri hissed at her, “Aside from the fact you think it’s a good idea to run the horses into the ground, you’ve been treating Osran like she’s stupid.”

Osran slowed her pace, she was approaching the camp from the other side of the corral, the horses screened her presence. The argument continued. “Goddess! The way you’ve been fawning over the half-blood is just encouraging her bad nature.”

“What are you talking about? We’re only this far along because she made a friend of that bargeman, whatever his name was. And we have enough meat to see us most of the way to West Port, because of her. I think she might even be right about us forgetting something important.”

“Oh, not that again! Goddess save me. We’re taking the satchel to West Port, that’s always been the mission. Then we go back to Swampdon.”

“If so, why did we not just go down the fucking East Sister? We could have been there a month ago.” Berri’s tone was heavy with scorn.

Osran started around the horses, there was the sound of a loud slap, Berri cried out. Ijah was livid, “I told you to watch your tone, girl!”

Osran came into their view, “What goes on?”

Berri picked herself up off the ground, her left cheek was bright red, her eyes angry. Ijah looked to Osran and scowled, “Enough of this foolishness. Prepare some food, I am going to meditate.”

Osran watched Ijah walk away, she went to the shrine and sat down cross legged in front of the altar. Berri spat, ran her tongue along the inside of her cheek, she spat again. There was a bit of blood.

A heavy silence settled between the three of them. Osran helped Berri prepare the food, the two of them ate as the darkness settled. There was no training that night. Osran secured the food from one of the camp’s many posts, then settled down on her bedroll. She stayed awake until Ijah had come back and eaten her portion of the meal, then the Kereshi sat by the dying fire, her sword resting across her knees. When it was obvious she was staying up to take the watch, Osran settled down to get some sleep.

She woke a fair while before the sunrise, it appeared as though Ijah had not moved through the night. When Osran was up and moving around the other woman went over to her bedroll for a bit of sleep. The early morning was uneventful.

They had a slow start to the day and it was near mid-morning before they were back on the road. The pace was more moderate, but the heavy silence remained.

 

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