Page 53 of Bosse
He quickly ate the meat and rolls, saving the sweets for later. He chugged the water and stuck the cork back into the empty container to use again.
Titan needed an easy way to carry this bag. Alifair had given Bosse a rope for his pants, which he wouldn’t need while Titan had their body. He shed his clothes, then retied the bag into two halves with a rope attached to each side. He set it up so that Titan could slip his head through the loop and work the bags into place over his shoulders.
Between the rain, the sleep, and the food, he felt refreshed in a way he hadn’t in two years.
Woman was good to us, Titan said.
Yes, she was. I still feel bad about her not coming with us.Guilt put a wet blanket on his upbeat mood. Bosse’s struggle over continuing alone was not going away any time soon. He admitted to Titan,Like you, I don’t think she told us everything.
She spoke truth when she said to leave without her.
Sighing, Bosse said,I agree. Except for us being free, I don’t like the way this all worked out.
Titan was correct. Bosse had to respect her wishes even if he did not understand them. He had a bad feeling the guilt eating at him would not go away until he found her again. She’d reached inside him and discovered a spot for her when he’d have laughed at anyone else who thought they could.
Just thinking about her brought a shining light to the darkness he’d fought through day after day.
I will take the body and run fast today, Titan said.
Bosse happily handed the body to Titan, who hooked the satchel strap over his neck. Once Titan had it to his liking, he stepped out of the cave, taking in the vast landscape.
Bosse reminded Titan,We must stop at some point to drink water and fill the gourd.
I will find water,Titan said, then turned to a sound coming from the northeast.
One of the tracking wolves appeared maybe two kilometers back.
A tiny speck flew in the air.
Clear skies held no promise of protective lightning today.
Time to go.
Over the next few hours, Bosse wished for a way to help Titan, but his wolf was better at picking up scents and moving quietly across rugged terrain. If the Lammogo caught up to them, they’d have to shift for Bosse to have a chance of striking it without getting close enough to be paralyzed.
He hoped he was correct in believing Krol would not allow anyone to kill him and steal Krol’s desire to watch Bosse suffer as he died.
The Lammogo had proven it could deliver prey without killing it. That worried Bosse more than the wolves.
Until they ran into an unexpected obstacle, Titan would continue in the same direction until they found the sea. Once the land leveled out to normal terrain of occasional trees and some open fields being farmed, Titan would set a reasonable pace he could maintain day and night.
Luck smiled on them when his wolf encountered a two-lane road and shadowed it from the tree line, watching as vehicles came by two or three at a time.
Titan said,Our scent will be strong today with no rain.
Bosse asked,Are you thinking of hitching a ride on a vehicle?
Yes. When I find the right one.
His wolf kept moving and watching until a truck approached, hauling logs on a trailer with vertical steel posts holding them in place.
It was also traveling in a southwestern direction.
The commercial trucks they’d seen before had been followed by a couple of cars close behind and itching to pass. This one had rust on its faded blue cab and rambled down the road all alone at a leisurely pace.
Titan ran ahead to where the road curved to the right and waited until the truck slowed as it neared the curve. Perfect. Titan raced after the truck, running right behind it in a blind spot, and leaped, clawing to hang on, then climbed up the pile. It wouldn’t have been so difficult for him if he hadn’t been carrying the makeshift saddlebags.
He found a spot on the side of the logs where his body shape and the bag would not stand out, then turned to face behind the truck. He settled in with claws hooked in logs on each side. His Tundra wolf had a deep gray coat with dashes of rust color, which would blend in from the air. Getting off the ground would end their scent trail for a while.
