The Warrior And The Pacifist

The Cave Of Horror

How long had it been since Tamura had been on the back of an ostrich horse? Goddess only knew. Growing up on Sun Dao much of his childhood had been spent on the saddle, riding for hours with no real destination in mind. As a child Tamura had never felt more free than when he was on the saddle of a well bred and even more well disciplined war mount the wind hitting his face at such a speed it almost stung. He didn't feel that freedom today.

Sitting high on the saddle of a loaned Ostrich Horse, Tamura rode beside Captain Gengxin, with them twelve others the group riding in two columns. An hour or maybe two had passed since they had exited Sipo village and followed a series of tracks heading westward into a literal maze of high canyons. Here the only foliage that could be seen was the occasional shrub.

The tracks in question looked as if there had been a large number of people had moved through the area at one point or another, dozens of feet and shoe prints on top of each other. During that ride Tamura noticed that a great many of these shoe prints had made small circular holes in the ground where the heel of the shoe would be.

From his time in King Gemeng palace, Tamura knew that his soldiers wore a type of boot that had rows of hob nails imbedded in the soles that not only reinforced the boot but gave the wearer more traction on rough surfaces.

"You see how they are spaced out?" Gengxin said, pointing down at the tracks. "They were moving quickly, I saw a few that looked as if someone was being dragged or lost their footing at some point. At the other villages we searched we couldn't find any tracks...that's telling me that either this is a different group that lacks the wear-withal to cover their movements, or this is the same group and they're starting to get sloppy."

Tamura hoped that the second part of Gengxin's observation was the correct one, the thought of multiple groups with the exact same MO was not a thought he wished to humor. "They have a few days lead on us." Tamura responded. "They could be miles away from here by now."

Gengxin grimaced. "Aye that was a thought that crossed my mind as well. At a steady pace the average person can travel twenty miles in a day on foot. I'm willing to go as far as it takes just so long as this madness ends."

"So am I." Tamura agreed.

Gengxin looked at him now. "Between us...do you think we will find that little girl's parents...still alive?"

The more Tamura thought about it the more his mind wandered to a place that he wasn't ready to visit, going back to Kyah and telling that poor little girl that her family was gone and they were never coming back. He didn't want to face that harsh reality yet...even though that would have to most likely sooner rather than later. "Do you?" Tamura asked.

Gengxin cursed under his breath. "Honestly...no. This mess has been going on about as long as the war has. In that span of time we haven't heard from or seen a single person from all of the villages targeted. I would love very much for this time to be different, think we show up just in time to save those people from their fate...whatever that fate is. But you know as well as I do that life isn't that fair. You've seen war first hand, you know that those who don't deserve to die usually do..." He shook his head. "If the worst I fear happens...and that child's parents have passed to the next life, I will take her with us. She will live with my wife and daughter in Ba Sing Se. At least until we can figure out if she has any extended family out there would might want her. If not then I will make sure she's taken care of."

Tamura could commend Gengxin for making such a choice. While the same could be said for almost anywhere in the world, when it came to many of the people in Earthlands the word "kindness" wasn't a regular part of their vocabulary. Here people looked out for their family groups first and foremost, and children like An had limited options when it came to finding something as simple as a place to lay their heads at night. Here "charity" came at a price and it was often more than a adult could afford, let alone a child.