The Wandering God

46 Travel Day And Night 1/2

日夜兼程
Rì yè jiān chéng
To travel day and night.
To travel without rest.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I forced Zakhar to ride through the night and all the next day.

When evening was falling, light slanting low across the plains, he begged me for a rest.

"Please Ao. My arms are killing me, tied behind me like this. And the horses are exhausted."

He was right. I could tell from In'yii's slowed gait the horse was tired. I scowled. I should have taken those bounty hunters' horses as well.

I looked around. We had been heading north, keeping the mountains that rose to the east to our right. To our left the plains stretched, endless and empty. We had passed a small village earlier, but I did not want to waste time returning just for the comforts of an inn.

We would have to camp for the night. I scanned the darkening mountains, wondering if it was safer to camp among the trees or out here on the plains.

"I have my tent," said Zakhar, swaying in his saddle beside me. "It will fit us both."

I ignored him. I did not think it wise we slept so close. Zakhar was still a man after all, and many times stronger than me. I did not worry of him taking advantage of me. No, I worried he would try and drink the poison, or some other foolhardy thing while I slept.

I also did not want him to know how much I had missed his touch.

I was about to settle on camping among the trees when a light caught my eye, sparkling yellow at the base of the mountains.

Zakhar saw it as well. "A hunter's lodge, probably," he said.

But as we approached I realized it was a small farm. A ranch, more likely, judging by the fenced in paddocks in front of the log built house. A large barn stood to one side of the property. That will do nicely.

There were no animals in the paddocks and I knew they must have been taken out to graze on the plains.

"Wait here," I instructed Zakhar. Not that he could do much else, bound as he was. I threw Dunya's reins over the top of a fence post. Then, double thinking, I knotted them.

I approached the door of the cabin, climbing the steps to the porch. A lantern burned in the window, and I realized it was to guide the ranchers home.

What a quaint scene.

I knocked on the door and it opened quickly, a laughing woman standing there wiping her hands on an apron, her black hair turning to grey.

Her laughing paused on seeing me, clearly expecting her men folk. "What brings you out here, boy?" she asked, not unkindly, but a bit puzzled.

"I am a guiding my friend, who is an.... antiquitarian. We are traveling north, and I was hoping we could seek shelter in your barn for the night and a meal in exchange for some coin."

I motioned to where Zakhar still sat, astride Dunya. Thankfully, in the evening gloom and with his coat bulky, it was hard to tell his arms were bound behind him.

The woman agreed to my terms. I passed her some coin, and she disappeared with them, coming back with a steaming pot of soup and two cups a moment later.

"Will this be enough?" She asked me.

"Perhaps some bread?" I asked hopefully, feeling the rumble of my stomach.

The woman agreed, after another coin changed hands.

I made my way back to the horses, pot of soup in one hand, cups in the other, and bundle of rolls tucked under one arm.