97 Pines ahead

The journey through the night had met with little trouble.

The animals were hand led so they were following not leading. They felt safer and stepped out as if it were broad daylight. 

The injured slept; the rhythmical movement of the wagons coupled with the coolness of the dark night, lulled them like babies.

Those who walked supported each other. All were tired and desperately fought their desire to sleep. Men moved in pairs, not speaking but aware of each other imminent collapse.

Second Master looked at them. He knew he had to stop, but where. He called over Bǎo. 

"We've got to stop, rest and sleep or we'll lose more troops."

Bǎo nodded, "I've had people out looking for the best spot. If we can get off the main road it would be better, but we're also acutely aware of the need for water and provisions." He paused and looked ahead in the hope someone would be returning. "Niao and Xin have gone off hunting but warn us this isn't the best time as most herds have already left for warmer pastures. They reckon there a chance of a herd of the larger types of deer have stayed as there's no snow as yet but she's not sure." He raised his arms in a gesture of 'unknown'. "How long can we justifiably keep moving?"

"Not much longer," Second Master looked back at his men. "They're walking dead, we can't expect any further without a break, even for a couple of hours."

Bǎo nodded. "So let's call it a stop here. Let the troops sleep. Get some water on a fire and let them have a thin congee. If we move again at midday...." he trailed off. He knew this wouldn't be enough, but he knew they'd need to stop for a few days very soon, he could smell the pines ahead and shuddered.

Xin and I moved through the undergrowth. We could smell the tell tale odour of deer and large ones at that. As we homed in on the smell, we began to hear their grunts.

Xin signalled, 'down' and crouching I trained my eyes to where she was looking.

Holding her fingers to her head, she said, 'male' then puffed her cheeks, 'big', then made the sign for needles. I nodded, giving the sign for 'you go for it'. She nodded and loading a small bone dart with a paralysing mixture, she loaded the dart and fired. 

It struck home with force and almost as soon as he went to turn and run, he froze and dropped.

Instant response from us.

We silently ran forward and she slit its throat. Within seconds it was dead. 

It knew nothing, it felt nothing. 

We both thanked the gods for our kill and proceeded to remove the intestines and stomach. These we left behind. We kept the main organs as they could be added to broth and give flavour.

Now we had to get it back.

Tying it to a length of branch we hung it between us and walked back to the main track.

"We'll need to follow that herd and see how big it is. We might be able to pick off a few more?"

Xin had matured, she was as skilled as me. I smiled. "Not sure which male we caught, but he was away from the flock, so I can presume he is one of the more junior ones."

"Mm," Xin replied, " must avoid the dominant one. What about the females? They'll all be pregnant won't they?"

I nodded. "Depending upon the number of young males, we could take a few more but I'm always loathed to take the pregnant mums."

"Okay, so we look for another herd?" 

"We sniff out another species! If they're still here,"I said gesturing behind me, "we might be lucky and come across something else." I started racking my brains, 'what else may have stayed?'

I felt useless! 

The men were only just managing to place one foot in front of the other. They were stumbling over pebbles; they had to stop.

I checked the wagons. 

"All okay here?" I quietly called to the physician.

"So far, Officer Chen, but I would like to stop soon, so I can change bandages on a few of the men."

"Right. Let me check further and I'll get back to you."

I dropped the flap and walked to the next wagon, then the next, then the next. All said the same, they needed to stop sometime soon.

Reluctantly, I walked to my father's wagon. Lifting the flap I repeated my question. 

The physician looked at me. "We'll need to allow him to wake soon. His heart is beginning to suffer with the continuous administering of knock-out drops. I'm worried it might kill him if we push it much further."

A part of me wouldn't mind if he didn't wake, but I knew that wasn't right. At least I could attempt to be filial. 

"How long have we got before he's awake?"

"Probably another hour but he'll be groggy for some time before he is back to his full self. In fact he might not come back to his full health, we're not sure. He is well aged."

The physician looked nervous, would he be blamed if Senior Master was incapacitated by this.

"Don't worry," I smiled, " you did what was needed to be done at the time. Whatever happens is destined." With that, I patted the physician's arm, "you've done a superb job and we thank you."

The physician smiled, bowed his head and dropped the flap.

I headed back to my brother. I wondered what was going through his mind.