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I woke up with a start and shot to my feet. Too quickly, for my head began to ache with a fierce storm of pain and nausea. Hunched now, I leaned forward with my hands braced on my knees while scanning the area around me. Finally, I was able to fully stand and began looking in earnest.

The wagon was on its side, the horses gone. The tarp was torn to shreds, and bits of broken crates and scattered cargo spread across the canyon floor. Food stores were tumped over on the rocky path, and the various bits and bobs of commerce and trade lay about us like someone opened crate after crate and then flung its contents in frustration. I couldn’t tell if anything was missing or not.

The worst part was the barrel of water was turned over, which made me realize I was parched; my tongue was sticking to the roof of my mouth. I found a pebble and popped it into my mouth, sucking on the rock as if it were a piece of hard candy to generate saliva.

I found Sige under a piece of tarp. He was alive but unconscious. I left him there for a moment until I could finish looking for anything that might be of use. I wanted to know who attacked us, why, and how we were going to get back to a town before we dried up into goat turds out in the desert.

I walked a ways from the wagon to see what was around the next bend, and there I found ole Joady’s hat. He had one of them fashionable new hats that come out of the fancy shops in Valorion, the north country. It didn’t quite fit his ugly face, but he loved it. I think he thought he looked dashing in it. There was no other sign of him. I kept looking around.

From what I could tell, we were pretty far into the canyon. The tracks were disturbed all around us but I could see heavy traffic in the sand behind us from where we came, and then preceding after us to where we were going. I recognized one of the tracks. It belonged to one of the horses pulling the wagon. It had a fresh shoe and a distinct canter when not harnessed.

I was ready to wake up Sige now and walked back over to where I left him under the tarp.

‘Sige. Sige, wake up. Come on you whelp, wake up.’ I slapped his face a few times and he finally opened his eyes. They were glassy and unfocused at first. Possibly from a concussion, I guessed. My head hurt too, so I went softer on him. ‘There you go. Sige. Sige! Look at me, lad. That’s it. Look, how many fingers am I holding up?’ I shot him the bird and he stared at it for a moment before giving a weak smile of recognition.

‘What happened?’ he asked.

‘I’m not 100% sure but I think we were attacked,’ I responded slowly. I was scanning the skylines and cliff faces in case there was anyone else hiding. ‘We have to get to high ground,’ I said. ‘We are at a disadvantage here.’

I helped Sige up and we made an inventory of what gear was remaining. I still had my saber and seax, as did Sige, but his bow was broken which was rotten luck for us. My crossbow was under the wagon and it took us both leaning against the front wheel to raise it enough to dig it out from underneath. I did a functions test and it seemed ok. The string wasn’t frayed and there was only a gash and some scratching on the stock, otherwise, it was fine. I tied a bit of rope on the front and back of it and slung it across my shoulders. I only had two bolts left that weren’t broken, but Sige had a quiver full of arrows.

‘Take those,’ I ordered, pointing at his otherwise useless quiver. ‘They aren’t ideal, but in a pinch, I can cut them down and use them with the crossbow.’ Among the debris, we found our packs and saddle bags. I started stuffing different items into them. ‘We can only take what we can carry and we got to go light,’ I said as I looked up at him.

He was over twice my height but was almost half my age comparatively. He nodded and shouldered his pack in reply. ‘Ready,’ he said.

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This is part two of “Love’s Sendero.” Click here to read the next part. If you like these free stories, please subscribe. If you REALLY liked them, please consider leaving me a tip by purchasing it on Kindle for .99 (the cost for 1/3 of a cup of coffee).