The Long Road To... - 28. Brother Moon

After our break, we were up and taking a fast march into the ravines. The crevasses had space to pass easily. Years of caravans had worn down the path. Some places had even been chipped or shoveled down to make the way manageable. The sides were wide enough to allow maybe four or more wagons abreast between the steep walls. Even with the twists and turns, we managed without having to shift out the carts. We were led past the side chasms by the guides at the head of the column.

When we had entered, the accompanying soldiers spread out along our flanks. They rode on their horses, one to either side of all the merchants. None rode next to us or the former-Bullmen that followed. We were at the tail end of the train. The four former-Bulls appeared to be there to guard the rear. I did not see the other walkers any longer. I suspected that those few who had started like we had, had hopped onto the rear of any wagon they could.

I chanced a glance at Foal. Although he was breathing heavily, his step was strong. He caught my eye. I pointed up to the peddler’s cart in front of us. He shook his head and smiled.

The farther in, the more my sense of foreboding increased. There was almost no talking now. The long shadows from the dropping sun only added to the ill feeling in my gut.

Somehere past the halfway point, I nudged Foal to jump on the back of the wagon and rest. He nodded his head in agreement and pushed himself forward toward the back of the cart.

Horns suddenly blew from somewhere ahead in the column. The two soldiers that flanked the wagon galloped forward. One of the former-Bullman trotted up past me and shouted to the driver to not stop no matter what. Our pace quickened.

The sounds of struggle, metal on metal, and shouts became louder as we advanced. The former-Bulls road up to our sides and directly behind us.

“Get on the wagon!” One of them shouted.

We ran after the now racing cart towards the noise of battle. We were never going to catch it now.

We rounded a bend and saw our caravan train speeding past one of the dark, side ravines at a junction of passes. Clogging its mouth were mounted troops holding off the Boar raiders allowing us to speed by.

Foal dropped at my side.

A horse reared.

A body was thrown.

I stopped.

Another loud huff and a horse bucked at my side.

I panted roughly.

Foal was down under a horse and its former rider was on the ground steps from me.

The mounted former-Bulls shouted and turned to the two on the ground. “We got to get out of here!”

The man who had been thrown was out and by the look of it, had a broken arm. Foal was trying to stand on a bloodied leg while holding a most likely broken arm. It seemed the horse had stomped on him.

The wagon was far ahead now and the sounds of battle seamed louder.

One of the former-Bulls reached down from his horse and began pulling Foal up with him. He cried out but managed to climb on in front of the rider. I grabbed at the fallen one and began trying to prop him up against me. I had him almost completely upright when I heard boots. One of the others stood with me and helped hand the man up to the other who was still mounted. Once up, he galloped after his compatriot who had Foal. The empty horse, the one that had thrown its rider, was nowhere to be seen.

I turned to the battle. I could help there. I knew what to do. I started that way.

The remounted man shouted. “Get on! Get on!” He turned his steed around and in between me and the skirmish. He lowered his hand. I hesitated and looked at the soldiers. He gestured with his hand again. I grabbed on and pulled myself up behind him. I gripped around his waist hard. He kicked us forward.

I chanced a look behind as we sped away.

The troops were engaged and doing well. They were making a good show against the Boars. One turn and they vanished from my sight, but something wasn’t right. The shadows, the sun, were in the wrong place. A horn sounded.

“The Boars are running!” the man called, “The troops are called back to the caravan!”

A few hundred yards and I was thrown forward and into the back of the man. I knew something had been wrong.

He cursed and then shouted. “Wrong ravine!”

He yanked hard and turned us around and kicked hard. The horse took off again, back toward the scene of the skirmish. We came around the corner, he kicked again. There were still some Boars in the space. He skillfully ran us along the far side.

A few ran at us.

I pulled my sword, but it was unnecessary, none of them were on horseback and we sped past them. The sun and shadows seemed in the right places in the sky, so we ran the steed hard to catch up with the soldiers.

The sun was casting more darkness in the ravines, but we still had not caught up. We passed another junction. He pulled up on the reins.

“I can’t tell which one,” he gasped.

We listened for sounds ahead or behind, right or left. There was no fresh sounds from anywhere, only long lost echoes in the distances from every side. A cool breeze brushed past us. The horse shook its head.

“What do you think?”

I looked between them. The shadows obscured the ground making wagon tracks invisible. I did not want to jump down, we needed to move in case the Boars were following. I looked at the sun and pointed my best guess.

“Sounds good to me.”

The darkness increased and our pace decreased.

“This channel must lead somewhere,” he said.

It was much more polite than saying we were lost.

Clouds shielded the light from the sky. No help from the stars or moon. Torches would only attract unwanted attention. All we could do was follow, slower with each step. The horse could not go on too much longer in growing pitch blackness.

He finally pulled on the reins to bring us to a halt.

“If we want to keep going, we need to lead him.”

I swung down, he followed.

We slowly pulled the horse behind us. Our hands out making sure there were not up against the walls. The darkness was nearly complete. We would have to stop soon. It had come too fast. The ill omen of nothingness surrounded us.

“We need to stop, I can’t see you.” I heard from off to my side and a little farther back than I had thought him to be. I stopped and slowly shuffled toward him. The horse snorted suddenly.

“We could wait it out in the dark. If only the skies were clear.”

I nodded although I knew he could not see me.

“Let’s wait a bit then try again.”

I again nodded into the darkness.

I could not feel any breeze against my face. No wind meant no cloud movement. I listened to the breaths of the horse and the last echoes in between the walls. There were sounds in the distance, but I could not make it out what they were. We would have to try and feel our way until dawn. Staying put would only increase our chances of being caught. If we could at least hear the sounds clearly, we would know if they were friendly. In the meantime, mobility would keep the Boars guessing, if they were even looking for us at all. Judging from the scene in the ravine, they had got the worst of it.

There was a flash of white light. I caught a glimpse of the man with his arms stretched to the sky. The moonlight broke through the cloud and into my face. I blinked my eyes a few times and examined him. He was on his knees, head bowed. His arms were raised to the sky.

The moon showed down around us. We were at a junction. The ravine behind us showed no markings only walls, ahead lie the same. To our side, a flash of light shown down in the darkness. I looked and the wall was not complete. There was sky at our level, an exit. Escape.

My traveling companion was still on his knees. I looked up at the sky. The clouds circled, but did not cover the moon. Its white light washed down into the canyons. Had the clouds not parted, we most likely would have walked farther on and not seen the side passage.

The horse snorted and tugged on its reins. The man looked up and blinked several times into the light. He looked at me. I nodded to the exiting ravine. He smiled, stood, and led the mount behind us down the passage.

We walked out onto a ledge on the wall of cliffs that marked the edge of the territory. Down to our side were torches showing the gates of the cliffs. We would have to leave the horse and climb.

The man nudged me and pointed. Reflected in the white light was a snaking, narrow, trail sloping down the side of the cliff. He must have had the eyes of an owl, it was not visible to me until he pointed it out, and only barely then.

He led the way. I followed with the horse, its long tether behind. The slope was gradual but winded sharply in places. The horse was doing well with the twists. It kept away from the edge by instinct. I, on the other hand, had to concentrate and watch my step.

Soon enough we made it to the wide open slab. One way showed the gaping mouth of the ravine we were supposed to have come through with the caravan, stone walls to each side. Opposite was the reasonably wide rock and wood bridge over the abyss of air and water. Torches plainly illuminated the wooden gates of the post on the cliffs.

The sky suddenly went dark once again. The clouds covered the moon and stars. The only light now came from man’s hands. We turned toward the gates and started over.

Before we had made it across, there were shouts and the gate began to slowly scrape open. Once we were inside, they hastily ground shut.

The men at the gates had questions. The ones who were former-Bullmen gathered around him and he answered all their inquiries and the rough dialect that they favored. The few Bulls looked to me for answers, I shrugged and gestured to the man I had come in with. They lost interest and wandered away.

I looked around myself. The fortification had grown. The city had spread over the pinnacle taking every available space above the black waters. I could see a few torches down below where the docks were.

I was trying to locate where Foal and other wounded might have been taken when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I flinched.

“Sorry,” the man whom I rode in with said. “I didn’t know your name…”

“Talon.”

“Leaf.” He smiled. “We can find your friend and my nephew this way.” He gestured to the men behind us. “They will take the horse.”

He started off down the path with me in tow. There was another bridge, all wood this time, spanning a large chasm. The bottom was invisible in the cloudy darkness.

We went into a large house. A kindly woman greeted us.

“Leaf! You had me worried! Come he is this way.” She looked at me. “You looking for someone?”

“He was probably brought in with Horn,” Leaf interjected.

“Follow me.”

We ducked under a low doorway and into an open room with about a half dozen men in beds. One or two sat next to them. Foal was sleeping in the corner. I walked over and put my hand on his head. His eyes fluttered open.

“Thorn? What happened… ouch!?” He grabbed at his shoulder.

“Lie back dear.” The woman was at our side. “You got knocked about pretty badly.” She turned to me. “Broke this one…” She gestured to his leg. “This one…” she drew a line in the air over his arm then down over his shoulder. “And that one.”

“We are going to try and set them in the morning,” she whispered.

“Ouch,” Leaf whispered beside me. “You want help with that?”

“Well now that you are here, another set of hands would help. He is young and strong and my strength is not what is used to be. We will tend to that when the sun rises.”

“How is Horn doing then?” He backed up next to a bed nearby.

“Just his arm,” she crossed and looked down at him. “There is a gash in his head I don’t like. He still hasn’t come around.”

I looked down at the young man. The bandaged head was familiar in a way. I pictured Thorn laying at the bottom of the wall of rock and hear Kjartanei saying something about him needing to wake… was it by evening or the next day?

“What did you put on it?” Leaf pulled at the wrap gently.

“A mixture of horse-plant…” She went on and listed a few other things.

The tincture that Kjartanei had gotten from that traveling doctor had seemed to help.

“Dark-berry?” Leaf placed the cloth back.

“We did not have any.” She frowned.

I didn’t remember dark-berry in that mixture but there was something else. “White-bulb?”

They both turned to me.

“White-bulb. Saw it once.”

Leaf smiled and turned to the woman.

“We got any?”

“You think it would work? Maybe, I hate that stuff. It stinks.” She walked out.

I looked down at Foal. His eyes were closed in sleep again. He needed the rest. The morning would be painful. Resetting bones was not a delicate or gentle procedure.

“Ale?” I nodded down to Foal.

Leaf grinned. “Ah, the oldest treatment side by side with the newest.” He pointed at Horn.

We waited for the woman to come back. She made a face while applying the solution of white-bulb. Leaf suppressed his laugh and let her do it without offering any assistance.

We walked out under the dark sky. The moon was clearly visible again but was much lower and distant. The sun was coming to chase it away. We found a sleepy inn that Leaf was familiar with and sat in the common room. We sipped our way through a tankard each in the quiet space. Leaf raised his hand to the serving man.

“More sir?”

“No we actually need to get about… one?” He looked at me. “Two skins of whatever you wouldn’t give to your worst enemy.”

The man nodded.

“Whatever your friend…”
“Foal.”

“Whatever Foal doesn’t drink, we can finish for him.”

I was finding I liked Leaf more already.

We barely made it to the sleeping room. I could see was the last rays of the white light through the window.

~ ~ ~

I dreamed the tale of Sun and the Moon, sons of the Earth Father. They chased each other across the skies before the times of night and day trying to prove who was the greatest. The Sun said he caused things to grow. The Moon said he provided rest and healing. The Sun gave warmth. The Moon gave the hunt. They argued and did no work. Plants did not grow and animals were confused.

The Earth Father scolded them. He reminded they had chores to do, they were much alike, and the best at different things. They were equal. They needed to be good, work hard, and play fair. If they would not behave, he would separate them forever.

Pride continued to get the best of the brothers and they fell back to fighting. The Earth Father yelled out the World. The moon went pale, the sun blushed crimson. From that day forward, they were forbidden to be in the same part of the sky together.

The brothers cried and pleaded, but the Earth Father would not be moved.

After many years, the Earth Father was visiting his son, Moon. He saw that he missed his brother. He missed feeling the warmth and seeing the growth and life his brother had given him.

The Earth Father was pleased.

Not long after, the Earth Father visited his son the Sun. He was missing his brother too. He missed how his brother ran with him and played hard but still let him relax when he helped with the chores. All there was now for him was hard work.

The Earth Father relented and agreed to let them see each other every day after that, but only for a few minutes and not in the same part of the sky. The Moon and Sun could rise earlier and set later. The brothers were happy and each day they greeted each other as they said goodbye to one another.

Then came the day when the Earth Father came looking for the Sun and could not find him. He went to the Moon and asked if he knew where his brother was. The Moon said he did not know and had not seen him. Just then, a shaft of light shown around the Moon and the Father knew he was lying and was angry at the brothers.

The Moon explained that he was only helping his brother rest because the Sun had been working so hard and he felt sorry for him.

The Earth Father’s heart was softened. The Moon had helped the Sun out of love and they were truly brothers. The Moon, however, would have to be punished.

The Earth Father scolded his children with a smile. He said that although he would still not let them be together all day every day, he would allow them to visit each other once in a great while. As punishment for lying, he shrank the Moon just a little. When the brothers would meet, the Sun would always be visible to him as ring of light around his smaller brother Moon.

I dreamed of my father telling my brothers and me the tale and telling us that when the Moon and Sun came together, we would be reminded of both a father’s punishment and a father’s love for his sons.