chapter 60

The horse’s whinny cut through the silence, a plea for convenience with a mix of fear and discomfort in its tone. It was a loud cry for its rider to either ride or get off it. Doctor Haishi was jolted from his deep thoughts. He had to make a decision and he had to make it now.

His frustration boiled over like a pot left unattended, bubbling with a mix of desperation and helplessness, as he remembered he had no map with him any longer. His swearing words echoed his dissatisfaction to the ears of Mother Nature, a lost feeling that surmounted the herculean task ahead of him.

‘You have to make a choice now: are you going to save the raider who saved your life, or are you going to join the band to watch him die?’

His thoughts gave him no luxury in the morality of a second choice. It felt like he had aged a year on the spot as he filled his mind with thought after thought of scenarios and eventualities. A cruel fate of guilt and regret seemed to always end the thoughts that fuelled his m