Tales from the New Earth: Volume Two by J. J. Thompson

Author:J. J. Thompson [Thompson, J. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2017-11-23T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

“Why didn't your people ever domesticate any animals?” Simon asked as he adjusted the pack on his back yet again. “I mean, horses would be a handy thing to have right about now, don't you think?”

Ethmira continued to lead the way through the never-ending forest, but took a moment to glance over her shoulder and give him an amused look.

“There are no horses on this world, Simon. And what good would they do anyway? There are very few large open spaces where such a creature could run. All we have is the occasional meadow or field. As I understand it, the horses on Earth evolved to run on huge plains, did they not?”

Simon pushed a thick branch out of his way as he rounded the thick bole of a tree. The path that they were following was as thin as a thread and wound in, out and around many old trees. The heavy scent of pine, or something that smelled almost identical, was delightful but the trek itself was exhausting.

“That's true,” he answered and wiped sweat out of his eyes. His leather clothing was comfortable and protective, but it didn't really breathe and his body was slick with sweat. As usual, Ethmira looked cool and walked lightly in her natural environment.

“But there must be other animals that you could have domesticated to ride on or at least carry packs for you, aren't there?”

“Perhaps it never occurred to my ancestors to do that,” she replied, her voice muffled as she ducked under a thicket and disappeared from view.

“But as you've seen, we do not even keep animals for meat. We hunt for what we need and let all creatures live free, as they were meant to.”

“It wouldn't have killed you elves to keep a few chickens,” the wizard muttered to himself. “I really miss eggs for breakfast.”

Either Ethmira didn't hear him or chose not to answer because they continued on in silence. They had been on the trail for three days now and, if it wasn't for the elven maiden, Simon would have been totally lost. The sky appeared through the thick foliage only rarely and even after living here for several months, he still couldn't identify which roots and plants were edible and which ones were poisonous, and there were a lot of those.

But Ethmira led them steadily and harvested food as they traveled, so there was always enough to eat when they stopped for a meal. She had also caught and skinned one of the small animals call a croop on their first day on the trail. It looked something like a rabbit but had black fur and tiny ears. There was enough meat on the animal to last them for a few days once it had been cooked and wrapped up properly.

They had had to stop several times a day to allow some of the forest's more dangerous predators to pass by. Once they had both scampered up a tree that fortunately had low branches when a massive kravon had crashed through the forest, indifferent to the noise it was making.

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