The Pythagoras Curse Part XIX

In Search of Gerung Brandt

It was not rays of warming sunshine tumbling into the cave which roused me as much as the stench of death.

With my back against a wall I opened my eyes and surveyed the carnage.

Long Feather sat leaning against the opposite wall. His eyes were open and I thought him dead. When he blinked I breathed a sigh of relief. He offered me a wry grin then closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

Both of his arms were streaked with blood. His hands as well, still curled around the hilts of the two Quillion daggers he had plunged into the back of a dog stretched across his lap.

I counted the number of dead animals around the boy.

Three. Including the one across his legs he had encountered four beasts in close combat throughout the night.

I took count of the number around me and at the mouth of the cave. Three at my feet. Two lying at the cave entrance.

Those two I’d managed to slay at the beginning of their attack. But firing blindly in the darkness quickly enough I was forced to reload.

Rather than fumble in the dark while one of them reached me and tore out my throat I had tossed the pistol to the ground then began slashing and hacking at the darkness.

Long Feather and I fought the only way we could, aiming our assaults in the direction of the snarling and howling of the beasts.

I do not know how many of them roamed in the herd which attacked us, but I know the beasts which fled left nine of their brothers and sisters to die at the hands of our specific attentions.

“Boy are you seriously wounded?”

“I not know.”

I watched him yank the daggers from the dog’s back then heave the carcass from his legs. His jeans were ripped in various places and I saw blood stains in one or two spots.

I allowed him time to perform his self assessment and inspected my own hands, arms and legs. Aside from a single set of puncture marks on my right forearm and a few trails of dried blood I was intact. Using my long sword I had managed to keep the animals at a distance as I dispatched them.

Long Feather was not as fortunate.

“Long Feather will heal.”

I watched him rise to his feet, sway, then steady himself with a hand against the wall. I rose, stepped over the carcasses and knelt in front of him to inspect the wounds on his legs.

One of them troubled me.

A deep, sanguine ravine of flesh had been slashed open on his upper thigh.

I searched the back of the cave praying we’d managed to protect my horse from harm. I did not see the beast anywhere and my heart quickened as I pondered how long our journey would take on foot with Long Feather’s injury.

“Let us step outside. I need to find the horse and I need to dress your wounds as best I can.”

The boy could barely walk as I helped him limp to the mouth of the cave and sat him down. I retrieved my sword and pistol, reloaded and handed Long Feather the pistol.

“It may be a spell as I search for my horse. Should they come back do not hesitate to use that.”

“River.”

“What?”

“Horse not run far. Stop to drink.”

I patted him on the shoulder and began my search.

The sun had reached its azimuth before I found him as Long Feather had said I would. When I neared him he broke his attention from the grass he was eating and walked to me.

As I saw Long Feather do I stroked his mane and patted his neck then gripped his pastern and tugged at it.

The horse dutifully pulled his leg back and knelt on the one knee then the other. I mounted him, grabbed a tuft of his mane and with gentle pressure from my legs turned him round and headed in the direction I had come.

My first attention was to dress Long Feather’s wounds and after a rather difficult conversation with the boy I convinced him to at least remove his jeans.

Using one of the Quillion daggers I cut away the leggings of his long johns and inspected the myriad of bite marks on his legs.

Except for the more serious looking gash the others were of little consequence. I suspect the animal across his legs had been the one to inflict the most damage.

Blood was slightly oozing from the wound and I knew I would have to wrap his leg tightly with something. I stared at the remnants of the boy’s long johns then snatched them up and proceeded to tend to him.

Satisfied, I saddled the horse, slid our saddlebags in place and sheathed my sword. Helping Long Feather to the saddle I swung myself in place behind him.

I intended to put as much distance between us and this carnage as possible.

It was my intent to cover as much ground as we could. Instead of providing the horse a respite from having to bear two riders, I chose to walk ahead, reins in my hand while Long Feather rode.

The boy was not doing well.

There were times I looked back to find him slumped over in the saddle despite the horn pressing into his stomach, his chest and head against the horse’s withers.

Each time we stopped I redressed his wound, attempting to find a spot on the bandages free of blood I could wrap his leg with. The blood flow had lessened but I cared not for the beginnings of suppuration around the edges of the wound itself.

I had seen wounds such as this on the battlefield.

Men had died from wounds like this.

Not quickly at the hands of a foe, from the sting of a blade or lance, but a slow lingering death where the skin rotted with putrefaction.

I made the decision to continue traveling north. Perhaps I would stumble upon another tribe of indigenous people, or maybe even a small settlement where I could find medicine.

One thing I knew for certain. In ninety three days time I would be required to commemorate the curse and I needed to find Gerung before it came to pass.

But it would not be easy with Long Feather in his current condition.

I feared for the young man’s life. I also feared the decision I would be forced to make if he died.

Pondering these things as I led the horse I reached the conclusion perhaps God had chosen to toy with me for a bit.

READ ON — THE PYTHAGORAS CURSE PART XX

Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, Part X, Part XI, Part XII, Part XIII, Part XIV, Part XV, Part XVI, Part XVII, Part XVIII, Part XIX, Part XX, Part XXI, Part XXII Part XXIII, Conclusion

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