...we crossed the river and left the mechanistic folk behind. And yet the omens bode badly I fear. Sticks and stones break bones and we meet these messages so regularly now that we can no longer believe that they are a chance constellation of objects on our route.
Our route! Yes, I can say that now. We know the route we follow is the right one. We must be close, within two moons, says the tracker, for the sense of destination and way is strong inside all of us and pulling him as the moon pulls the tides. This has to be put in the scales on the one side, to weigh against foreboding.
At least there has been no evidence of the Dog-Folk. But I am coming to fear that this might well be worse. I can hardly say the words, I cannot say them aloud, and can hardly think them within the bonewalls of my skull, but I wish at times the sage were here. He might now.
Each time we see one of these frightful formulations of wood and mineral in our path, the people look to me. I cannot help but cast my eye over the horses - such fine legs they have. And the goats. But they are sturdy things and seem the least affected by out long travails. Last half moon, one bore a kid, which I carried until it could skitter by the side of its dam. This was better for she had butted me every time her teats got big for her babe to suckle. I bear bruises, I am sure, and the people laughed at me, the children almost rolling in the dust with their merriment. I was glad to see them cheerful, but could have wished her short horns were less sharp.
In this place, we eat some greens and leaves, roots and tubers when the tracker points the place to dig. The men shot a deer and we thanked her for her sacrifice and fed on flesh for a night, sucking the fat from our fingers, chewing our share of marrow-rich bone. I like not that we must kill for our survival and fear that these messages warn us that our sins must be repaid. With what? I would now, I think, give up my precious cargo before I would let one of these people have their bones broken in recompense for our group's crimes against the vital world.
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