Trail of Pebbles

Next day, with Gisela in tow they arrived in a small village that had a few square fur covered huts scattered around. Her fever was explosive. The heat coupled with the loss of blood from chronic internal bleeding caught up with her. She fainted.

When she woke up in the night, she found herself on a fur blanket on the floor in a smelly hut. In her delirious state of mind, she did not know where she was. She felt streams of light touching her. Happy serene thoughts made her believe she was in Heaven. It was not until the next morning, that she recognized. She was disappointed to be back in the same conditions that she wanted to escape.

 Someone walked in, but she kept her eyes closed. Whoever it was put a damp cloth on her forehead and left.

 Her fever slowly disappeared but she felt terribly weak. Another person came and put a tin bowl next to her. It was filled with some food that smelled awful. She vomited.

 She was kept in isolation in the dark hut. She heard people quietly come in to see if she was alive. Days past. Unexpectedly a group of boisterous men came to the center of the settlement. Then started a big ruckus. Their rowdy and obnoxious behavior related to a bargain over Gisela. The tribal people thought she made a great trade and should bring a high price. Their talks went on until evening. A filthy looking Mongolian walked inside the hut, pulled her up by the arm but she promptly fell to the ground. Angrily he lifted her up and carried her to his cart and off they went. The dust left behind the cart was all that could be seen.

He arrived with his new trade at his poor village. He dragged Gisela a few hundred feet to his tent, where he threw her down on a fur blanket and left.

The burly vicious man came back at night, this time with food. She refused to touch it. He got so furious that he took the food and tried to stuff it into her mouth. She bit him as hard as she could. The man acted very surprised, looked at his finger and started laughing uncontrollable. Others came running, wondering what had happened. He proudly showed off his insignificant injury and everyone seemed to think it was funny.

In the distance a camp fire was burning lightening up the dark night. People sat around happily laughing, shouting and singing. Late at night the man came back into the tent. He through himself down next to Gisela. She put her arms around her body and froze. Defense was out of the question. He was big and strong. He groped her, rolled her off the fur blanket and onto the cold mud floor where he attacked her merciless.