Riders of Qiber part 2

They arrived at the ford and Oss fell silent. Kal didn't press the matter further either, since crossing the Saev at this spot and this time of year wasn't an easy task. While most steeds usually swam well, far from all of them did it willingly, especially not with a rider and heavy saddlebags. Travelling downstream to the bridge would have been safer of course, but doing so would mean a detour of at least three to four hours, which in turn would mean it'd take another full day to catch up with the herd again. The situation back home wasn't exactly desperate – winter hadn't been that bad, but everyone longed to start living again, instead of merely surviving. And few things defined living like a big slab of well-cooked meat.

Oss seemed lost in thought for quite some time, occasionally muttering under his breath. Eventually he dismounted and produced a length of neatly coiled rope from a saddle bag. As he went over to an old willow tree and tied one end of the rope around it, the water reached almost to his knees.

“What's your plan?” asked Kal. “Even if you could throw that far, there's nothing to lasso over there.” The far bank of the river was a good sixty paces away

“I think I can throw that far actually,” said Oss calmly as he knelt and started unbuckling his steed's saddle. “but I'm not going to. I will send Bera over first, she knows the drill.” He gave the saddle a final tug and it fell to the ground. The rope was put around the animal's torso and front legs in a series of loops and finished off with a knot behind the hump on the back.

“I've heard about this technique,” Kal volunteered “but I didn't think anyone would actually ever do it! Are you sure about this?”

“Don't worry” her uncle replied. He snuggled up to Bera and spoke softly in her ear. Kal thought the big moose tensed up visibly, as if gathering strength for the task ahead. Oss tested the knots one last time, stepped back and barked a short order. Bera lumbered forward and splashed into the turbid water. Dug up grass and a few lingering tufts of winter coat bobbed in her wake and were quickly swept downstream. The water reached up to her neck now, but it wasn't until she had reached nearly halfway she had to start swimming. Instantly, Kal saw, she had to start struggling against the current. Oss made odd noises that apparently were meant as encouragement. The animal did indeed seem to work harder.

A few moments and an eternity later, Bera successfully scrambled for purchase on the opposite shore and Kal, who – much to her own surprise – had been holding her breath, exhaled heavily. The moose shook the water from her shaggy fur and turned to look at her rider, seemingly for instructions. A warbling shout from Oss and she took a couple of steps backwards. The rope shot out of the water in a cascade of droplets and seemed to hum briefly as it tensed. Oss quickly hung the saddle over the rope and buckled it. He got another coil of rope from the saddlebag, tied one end to the saddle, tossed the coil to Kal and then climbed into the girth, lying on his back. In a swimming, climbing motion he quickly crossed to the other side where he leapt from the girth with a flourish.

“Showoff!” Kal shouted after him, laughing.

Oss removed the rope from the moose and tied it to a tree instead, and did the same with the one tied to his saddle.

“Now you tie Ting in the same way!” He shouted to Kal.

Kal was about to dismount when Ting pricked up her ears at the mention of her name. She trotted forward, accelerating. Too late Kal realised what was about to happen and instead of reining her steed in she had to grab a hold wherever she could find it.

If moose diving was a sport, Ting would have received high scores. Like in slow motion, Kal saw her own hands tug the free end from the rope coil and throw a clove hitch around the saddle horn. Then the murky waters rose to engulf her.