I woke as the sky began to lighten and ate quickly. Getting the packs on the horses and secured proved harder than I thought it would. I was tempted to just lead the horses but knew I would have to relearn to ride sooner or later. I made a last look around and finally climbed clumsily into the saddle. The horse was not like the ones I had ridden long ago.
After I picked myself up and picked the grass out of my hair, I started trying to coax the horse back so that I could try to mount again. This time I was remembering a TV show I had once seen. When I landed in the saddled, I grabbed onto it and leaned forward as the horse started bucking. I slammed my fist against the side of the horse’s neck and to my surprise it locked its legs and froze.
I hesitantly patted the horse, “You and I have a ways to go. If you take care of me, I’ll take care of you.”
It turned its head and I pulled on the rains to make it turn towards the lead pack horse. I pulled my rifle out of the pack and then took the lead rope. Each of the other horses was tied to the packsaddle of the one in front of it. I turned my horse towards the west and as he started walking. I tied the lead rope behind my saddle and settled back. I slung my rifle as we entered the forest.
We weren’t going very fast. At first the horse would grab a mouthful of grass and I had to remind it to keep going. By afternoon the horse was into a rhythm, it would get some grass and then start moving again. It was a few hours before dark when I called a halt for the night beside a small creek. I was sore and tired but unsaddled the horses and put them on a long picket.
I had thought about things as we went along and as soon as I had camp made I set out a few snares. It had been many years since I had practice martial arts and it took awhile to loosen up. I let my mind relax as I moved through the katas and as I finished, I started practicing with two long daggers. After the daggers, I used one of the better long swords as if it was a katana. When I finished, I pulled the longbow out and shot a couple of dozen arrows.
When I was done I washed up in the creek and made dinner. The next day was a repeat of the day before and it was almost five days before I came to a road. I had been catching rabbits and sometimes birds in my snares. Along the way, I had learned that the plants and animals here were both familiar and in some cases different.
My first encounter with another person came a few hours after I had started out for the day. We came out of the woods into a field. I could see some kind of track on my right and turned to ride to it. Twenty minutes later I was approaching several mud brick huts. As I started getting closer I could see a couple of women rushing as if to hide with their children.
It reminded me of some of the third world countries I had been in. By evening I had passed a dozen more small communities. I made camp on the edge of a small group of trees next to a field. I had just finished my exercises when a man came to my camp. He was wringing his hands as if very nervous and waited until I nodded to him.
He looked down, “My lord, word was sent to the baron of your travels. I have been told to… direct you to his customs stop.”
The man was speaking an old type of Spanish but I could understand him well enough, “Customs? And why does your baron want me to go to his custom stop?”
It was almost as if I could smell the man’s fear. He was shaking as he continued, “You have to pay the baron for crossing his land.”
The image I got was of a robber baron from Europe in the middle ages. I thought about it and nodded, “anything else?”
The man shook his head, “No, my lord.”
I looked out at the narrow track, “Where is this custom stop?”
