Piggyback

"How far are we from Tiaanway?" I asked while sitting on the ground exhausted. The 15 minute fight was more tiring than 2 hours of walking. It was already around 2pm, I was starting to wonder just how long it would take to go back to Tiaanway.

"It shouldn't take more than 3 hours, 2 hours if we go at the pace we were going before" replied Mark.

Well that pace would be quite difficult now that we had to carry this wolf as well.

"Do we need to take this wolf back as well? Or will you extract the core here?"

Mark looked at Cindy. Cindy thought for a moment and said, "We can extract it here but it will take time…. But it might be safer this way. It is more dangerous if we have to carry the wolf back… hmm…"

After a bit more thought Cindy continued, "Let's take the wolf with us. We will use it for your training as we go. We still have 4 hours of daylight after all."

"Oh… ok" I didn't know whether I should be happy or sad. I did want to be trained but I felt I was being a burden on Cindy and Mark. I didn't really have anything I could do for them. I didn't think they would accept any money I offer.

After a few more minutes of rest I got up and Cindy and Mark took that as me being ready to leave. To my surprise, Mark picked up the wolf on one of his shoulders and carried the supplies on his other shoulder. Just as I was wondering what Mark was carrying both, Cindy got in front of me, bent down to grab my legs and stood up with me on her back. She bounced me into position and started walking along with Mark.

I was under the impression that Cindy wanted to train me. So why was she carrying me instead of letting me use this time to increase my strength? The casualness of the whole thing made it difficult for me to bring this up. Finally not being able to come up with a good argument, I settled into my position.

Mark and Cindy moved at a fast pace, sometimes almost running. They kept this up for at least half an hour and I was sure that I could not have kept up with them. No wonder Cindy decided to carry me. She had better measures of my strength than even me.

"Mark, let's stop here," said Cindy as she slowed down. I started getting down from her back but she held my legs and said "Hold on for a bit."