Nearly two weeks after he left the village, Shane turned back.
Why?
He didn’t really know, but something nagged at him.
Perhaps it was that kiss Rin and he had shared, perhaps it was that his supplies were running low, perhaps it was the loneliness – and perhaps he wanted to get to know her.
Whatever it was, he found himself urging Shadow into a gallop as he neared the village.
He leapt off Shadow’s back and tied him to a sapling near the edge of the water, where he could eat and drink all he wanted to.
After he had unsaddled him and was satisfied that his horse was happy, he slipped through the brush quickly but silently, headed in the direction of the village.
He knew something was wrong before he got there – much of the forest was charred and the ground crunched beneath his feet, twigs and trees turned to charcoal.
He was running, out of breath by the time he reached the charred remains of the village.
Pale and gasping, he stopped to lean on what was left of a tree, his shoulder coming away black with ash.
Nothing moved in the village.
He approached the first cabin with a shocked numbness, looking first in the window and then to door.
Dishes and glass figurines starred at him with blackened faces.
Garbage littered the dirt pathway, things hurriedly thrown out of the small buildings.
There were patches of sand where tremendous amounts of blood had been spilled.
As he walked down the path he saw a large body laying in the dirt, covered in charred furs and gripping a medieval sword.
It was a raider, he felt sure.
Not much farther down the path was the cabin Rin had been staying in, charred like the rest, the roof collapsed and nothing but the frame left.
Almost mechanically he jumped through the window frame and shoved boards out of his way, searching for he didn’t know what.
He soon wished he hadn’t – bones, and charred flesh filled the interior.
His foot crumbled a grinning skull as he scrambled out, horrified and disgusted – were any of them Rin?
Suddenly he heard deep, throaty laughter coming from the direction he had just come from and ducked behind a charred door just in time to avoid being seen by a large fur covered man.
“Eh! Sable! Come take a look-see at what I found meself by the stream! You’ll never guess!” He shouted ahead of him.
“I ‘ope it’s dinner,” came the answer. “Well, I ‘spose it could be, and enough fer several weeks as well. Unless you know how to ride, that is!” He said this teasingly, as if he was playing with the other fellow.
“What! Did you find a girl? Did ya?” Came the other man’s excited reply.
“Nope, better! I found a horse and saddle!”
Shane didn’t hear the other man’s reply.
He was too terrified – not for himself, but for Shadow.
It was almost certain that the horse and saddle the man claimed to have found was Shadow.
Just to be sure, Shane leaned past the door to peek over the edge…
And paled even more.
It was his beloved horse.
Kip came running into the temporary camp that evening after scouting for any remaining raiders for most of the day, an anxious expression on his face.
He stood in the center of the camp, catching his breath and drawing everyone’s attention.
Finally he was able to huff a few words out – “Four – raiders – left – caught a – stranger – tied him – up – in a tree – and – and a – horse.”
With that he sat down and drank deeply from a water container someone offered him.
Rin was the first to speak – “What did he look like?”
Sarah noticed her interest in the subject – could this be the same boy Rin had told her about?
“What he looks like doesn’t matter,” Kip said, glaring
“It matters to me!” Rin cried, outraged, standing up with her fists clenched at her side.
“Why? Because you think he could be that idiot who left you to die? All that matters is if we want to rescue him, which I’m inclined to think would be a bad idea. We’ve lost too many already. Why should we risk our hides for someone who may or may not even be worth it?”
Kip was making too much sense to Rin – with a glare in his direction she stalked into the bushes, knife in hand.
Kip glared after her
Sarah could see something in his expression when he looked at Rin that made her heart plummet – was he in love with Rin?
Her question was more or less answered when the glare left his face and, sighing, he followed her into the brush.