73 Chapter 73 The Pain Of Loss (2/2)

He sighed again, and she glanced over at him.

”You sigh a lot.”

”I know,” he said, sighing again.

”That's it, time for a bathroom break. Then we can warm up something for lunch.”

”Alright, that sounds like a good idea.”

As Stella tied her belt back in place, she noticed a few barbarians walking towards them. They had noticed the fire Joseph had started. There were two women with a young boy, girl and a baby.

”h.e.l.lo?” one of the women called out, and Stella raised her hand in the greeting she had learned from the barbarians that meant they were welcome to join their fire.

With a small smile of thanks, the women ushered the children to the fire. The boy stared at Joseph curiously, as he was the same size as him. The girl didn't look around at anything but the fire. She was s.h.i.+vering pretty bad, and it looked like she had lost both of her shoes.

With a wince, Stella handed a pair of her spare shoes to the girl, who stared at them for a moment, then nodded in thanks and put them on. Her feet were b.l.o.o.d.y and raw from the cold, but it didn't look like she had any frostbite yet.

”Thank you so much!” said the woman with the baby as she sat down by the fire.

”You look like you're all hungry,” said Joseph, handing out some of the food they had brought with them.

Stella did inventory in her head, and knew that she would have to hunt some, despite the serious lack of anything living.

”Are you lost?” asked the other woman, eating her food slowly so as to be able to share it with the children when they had finished their own.

”Oh, no! We're on a mission from Tekaun,” said Joseph.

Stella remain quiet, wondering if they would ask more, or if Joseph would give more information away. While she didn't mind helping these people, she didn't want them to think they needed to force them to go with them.

”Ah, Tekaun is a very wise shaman. If she has sent you to do something, then it is best you complete your task. We thank you for the fire and the food, but I am afraid we must continue on. The cold will only get worse, and we do not want the fog to catch us again.”

”The fog?” asked Joseph.

”Yes, eh,” they looked at each other, and one nodded at the one speaking. ”Our tribe had stopped to harvest a large elk hunt. There was enough meat to survive on for the rest of the summer, and we needed the food badly. The fog caught us before we knew what was happening. Everyone it touched was frozen. We lost half of the tribe in fifteen minutes. Our husband was touched. He chose to remain behind as the cold creeped up his arm and leg, so the beast in the fog would stop its march long enough for us to escape. We could hear it crunching on the frozen limbs of those in the fog.”

”He sacrificed himself so we could get away,” said the boy, his eyes bright with the pain of loss.

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