Standing beside him, she began backing him up slowly, moving together with him when he moved, his great clopping hooves stamping the earth mightily one at a time like the sound of a giant's hammers, as he backed away slowly until he progressively drew the rope taut. Continuing with him in this manner, Si'Wren encouraged him until he began to drag the shroud containing the lifeless man's body from the gentle slope of the wide, shallow ravine and up onto level turf. The shroud vaguely resembled the color and shape of a boat being dragged up a dried-grass beach from a shadowy blue-white and green sea of morning glories.
Although the land beyond the ravine was fairly smooth, it grieved her in no small measure to have to treat the foot soldier's mortal remains even so disrespectfully as this, but at least the tent flap could afford some small measure of protection.
Spying a steep upjutting hill of fractured rock nearby, the base of which consisted of jaggedly strewn loose shale and myriads of angular rock fragments, she worked her horse like a draft beast and drew the burden the remaining distance directly to it's base, until it came to rest within the split of a rock, the split being just wide enough to admit the shroud, so that it was closely sheltered on both sides by the rock. There, she untied the tow rope from the saddle and shroud, although she left the shroud entirely closed up with it's end-ties intact.
She looked up at the pinnacle of the tall hill, and then down at the field of broken rock around her. Much loose shale had fallen from the slope, affording her with plenty of raw material.
She began lugging the heaviest stones she could possibly move one at a time and building them up in successive layers in a protective barrier around the shrouded body. Finally, she stopped to look around, and realized that she was running out of the right-sized rocks. Dismayed, she realized that she was nearing the limit of her strength, and had not half-covered the body yet. What could she do?
The fact of the matter was, the rocks must not only be large enough to keep the hyenas and other large animals from digging through, but in spite of this, they must at the same time be small enough for her to be able to physically move them. What remained to her now were stones which were all either too large to lift, or too small to be of proper use to her. She was left in a quandary, for much work remained if the burial mound was to be properly constructed. The hyenas had gone, but they were sure to return after her departure. Then, as she looked up at the steep, uneven slope, she thought of a way that she might resolve her dilemma.
First she walked her horse a safe ways off, and stood him there.
She knew he would remain wherever she left him until she returned, and was extremely unlikely to simply run away. He was very loyal to her, because of the way she dealt with him, being consistently sensitive and gentle, but firm. Moreover, he had to be free to defend himself or flee for his life, if necessary. Left to himself temporarily like this, the most he might do would be to graze at successively farther locations, which was only natural.
Then she climbed the slope, and began picking out more of the right-size stones. These she dislodged, to send tumbling down near the body, one by one, where they landed and lay scattered, providing plenty of new material for the unfinished cairn.
Then, with the unintentional dislodging of an especially large boulder, she watched aghast as it rolled with a monumental grinding, banging, and crunching down the slope and quickly picked up speed and momentum.