River Guide: Pawprints on the Riverbank

Wolf Meets Shrew

Cherish was alone, but she was not dead yet and not ready to be. Her strength returned while she recovered from the entire emotional ordeal with each passing hour. She now took the time to get a feel for her surroundings. The land she knew as home was a lifeless death trap. Everything was unstable. She saw no more lines of smoke as far as she could see in any direction. That hilltop gave a great view and gave Cherish a sense of what she had to do to move forward.

If she continued along the hills where the river she used to fish in ran alongside, it would carry her up and on to the next valley or flatland. Whatever was there, it was above all the destruction here. Therefore it was her only way forward. So be it. She packed what she could carry of the meager supplies and a small pile of pine nuts. Then she set off up the hillside. The river-side of the hills seemed to have more shelter and, she hoped, more food. She traveled carefully now through the rough sparse debris littering the hillsides. There were still many dangerous slide areas, but she made good progress along it for now.

By evening she had made some real progress. She had gathered plenty of downed pinecones from the areas she passed. The washes that went over the edges offered nothing but difficult crossing. She began to get a whiff of something that smelled off as she walked along. It smelled like burning hair and blood and smoke. The further she walked, the stronger the smells became. She searched around to see what might be the source of the gagging stench of aromas. Then she found it.

A partial carcass of a horse. The head was intact and made clear by the swollen face. But someone had skinned it and taken a lot of its meat bulk. Cherish was concerned at the lost possibility of resources she desperately needed but also put out by it. She could have used the leather now. There were only small pieces still showing. Then she got downright mad and grabbed the legs, pulling the carcass over to expose the bottom side. Her heart soared as she could see it was mostly untouched. There was plenty of leather and, even better, meat. The storm had been so thorough that flies had not yet found this bloody stinking chunk of charred food. Cherish smiled as she looked toward home and shook her fist in the air defiantly.

She now thought that whoever did this might still be around. She soon discovered the drag marks and blood trail that indicated someone had taken their portions and left the rest untouched. Awesome. This find was all hers. She would make the most of it. Bones held food that would last. She could cut away the remaining leather from it and garner what useable meat there was. Getting a fire going was almost too simple. There was the fire pit the other person had used, and still enough branches gathered to make a good fire. Cherished gathered more wood in the immediate area. There wasn't much, and a lot of it was still wet, but enough was there for her needs for the night's warmth and the following day's carcass work.

Finally set for the night, Cherish cut away a chunk of meat and held it over the comforting fire on a sharpened greenwood spike. It took time, but soon Cherish had hot meat to chew on. It tasted wonderful. It tasted just like what life and victory were supposed to taste like. Her resolve to survive was as powerful as the river churning far below. She watched the stars twinkling in that clear sky overhead as she dropped into a deep sleep wearing a smile wet at one corner with delicious meat drippings. She dreamed of floating over the land and watching death wash over it, ripping everything alive away. Then, life began to poke its nose out again, and there was so much life. Soon, the land was growing again with green plants, and big animals roamed about, eating the plants. Clear waters gently flowed and were filled with many fish. She tried catching a fish with her bare hands, but it was slippery. She couldn't get a good hold, and it swam away. Still, she laughed and waved goodbye to death as it shrugged and went its way. Death lost. Life won. She had won and was alive again like the land soon would be.