He spoke to my situation, not his. There was no impossibility large enough in a world this small for him not to return home. I had nearly a thousand years of time between me and my home. He just had to travel for a few weeks on horseback to get anywhere in the known world at this time.
The breeze tickled the back of my neck. I picked up my over tunic and pulled it on.
"What if you weren't convinced it was impossible?" I asked.
"Then I would try until I succeeded or until I knew it was not possible."
There was tightness around his eyes that warned me his well-masked pain was wearing on him after the long day of travel. I was still uneasy about being around him but finding it difficult to recall him as the monster I'd seen him become when we were close like this and he seemed so … normal. Pleasant almost.
"The fire will keep wolves away," he told me and got to his feet.
I trailed him to the small bonfire. He had stacked the saddles and his belongings neatly on one side of the fire. He had put up a pup tent-sized shelter consisting of a felt wall connected to the ground on one side and a boulder on the other. It was going to be a tight fit … unless it was for him and I was on my own.
Sitting with another grunt, I sighed when I was down and my leg muscles could relax.
Batu passed me dried cheese and meat, along with milk. The meat had no flavoring but was tender.
I ate what he gave me and gazed into the fire, feeling a little lost in my thoughts. He tossed me a pouch, and I blinked. It landed in the grass beside me.
"What is it?" I asked and plucked it up.
"I carried these since I was a child."
I dumped the contents of the pouch into my hand. "Moldavite," I murmured and leaned forward until the fire turned the dark chunks of glass a familiar green.
"I was born near where you fell from the sky," he added. "My bloodline supplies the guardians. We all carry these to remind us of the sacred honor. They came with you, did they not?"
"Yeah," I said, smiling.
"Does this remind you of home?"
I considered how to answer. Not of home, but it was a connection to my time. As a hobby geologist, I had a fascination with the green glass before leaving on my adventure and awoke in the eighteen forties surrounded by it, and again seventy years ago when Carter dropped me off in the steppes.