Chapter Nineteen
Footprints in the Snow
Part Two
It was a weary group that moved on at first light. Not taking the time to cook up a hot meal, they had to satisfy themselves on dried meat—yet again.
Ludeg led them due south, and by late morning the low plateau had played out completely, bordered by a wide swath of light grey gravel. Past this, the sand began to ripple and become more densely packed. Small dunes formed, growing slightly taller as they traversed them, one after the other for as far as they could see.
As the sand dunes became a burden to cross, they veered back toward the seashore. Ludeg kept them on the edges of the dunes, where they formed, and walking was a little easier. The sledges were a real burden to push through the sand, even though it was hard packed. The sand was a constant drag.
The sand also figured prominently in the failure of the first sledge runner, Talut and Brenan were pushing it at the time the left one snapped in two. When they stopped to examine the broken runner, they were both surprised that other one was heavily worn as well. The abrasive sand had worn the runners into thin, brittle sticks half the size that they started out as. It was absolutely amazing that they had worn out so quickly, two of the sledges were rather new, but their runners were in bad shape too.
Talut called for a rest stop to repair the sledge, and to check out the runners on the other four. Though the one he and Brenan had been pushing was in the worst shape, but all of them showed definite signs of wear. With no trees in sight any where near them, this was a true dilemma.
"We have to locate some decent sized poles to replace these with." Talut said to the men gathered around the broken sledge. "Ludeg, you and Brenan climb up to the top of the highest dune and scout out the area. Rug, you and Branag go with them."
These men gathered up a few tools, and took off for the tallest dune which was off to the southeast a little way. They carried full scabbards of spears.
"The rest of you all help me get these unloaded, they will be too hard to work on full." Talut continued.
A flurry of activity began around all five sledges.
**********
"Will you look at that." Brenan said reverently, looking to the southeast. "I think we've found Wymez' mountains that push out to the sea.
It was true, the tops of what appeared to be a long mountain range pushed out of the rather flat, grassy plain a few days walk away. From the light blue and scattered white coloring of the highest peaks, they looked tall.
Back out to the southeast, there were no real trees to speak of. A few growths of heavy bushes dotted the tan grass in dark spots, and an occasional scrub tree was seen standing alone.
"Thin pickings, anyone have any ideas?" Branag asked, looking out over the vast grasslands.
"We can split up and hit the trees, salvage what is there." Brenan answered, thinking aloud.
'Look for long, thin branches that we can weave together.' Rug added, with Brenan translating his signs as best he could.
"Now there is an idea worth trying." Ludeg said grinning. "Well, let's get after it, there's not going to be much daylight left by the time we get back."
Brenan went with Ludeg toward a pair of leafless trees to the southeast, and Rug led Branag due east toward what looked like the single biggest tree in sight. They trotted through the mid calf high grass, spears up and accessible. Both destinations were a good distance away.
**********
Tulie supervised setting up the largest of the tents inland a little way between two good sized dunes to get out of the constant sea breeze. Nezzie and Inca got a bag of stew going over a small fire Wymez and Rymar set up in a burrowed out indention in the sand. The fire was fueled with grass and dung and was rather smoky.
The women came up with enough grain to make up a few grain cakes, some of which were eventually added to thicken the stew which was sorely short of greens other than seaweed. It did smell good though, and the aroma teased the tired men mercilessly.
Talut used the Clan tent to wrap over the huge pile of bundles and baskets stripped from the sledges, anchoring the edges with rocks. The sea breeze was full of sand, and everything was getting gritty to the touch.
**********
Brug and Mortan walked the coastline, Draag walked with them, hanging back to keep an eye on them. It was low tide, and the shore was littered with pretty shells and crabs scavenging. The tasty, fat blue crabs were easy to spot, and more than a few of them were captured.
Draag had a basket to carry back any fresh seaweed they came across, as well as anything the boys found. The breeze coming off the water had a definite cold bite to it, though it had been one of the warmest days in a while.
A few large rocks stuck out in the smooth sand, and some more could be seen out in the surf. The boys investigated every one for edible critters, and gathered the seaweed that often clung to them. Huge jellyfish floated just below the surface, there were a lot of them here. The boys stabbed a couple that got too close to the shoreline in knee deep water, and tossed them back out onto the sand for Draag to add to the basket.
Around one large craggy rock that stood high above the waves in thigh deep water, they pried half a dozen shellfish off the back side of it. Brug almost got bitten by an eel that struck at him from a wide crack in the rock just below the surface. After the two of them got over the shock, Mortan put a small crab on the tip of his spear to try and lure him into striking again. On the second try, Brug speared him when he stuck his head out and lunged at the bait. The eel wasn't very big, but he did have a mouthful of extraordinarily sharp teeth and looked to supply them with more than a little fresh meat.
Draag caught a strange movement out in the waves. He stared at it until he caught a better glimpse of it, and was confused by what he saw. There were the strange water animals that breathed air out there, dark brown and sleek. He had heard tales of such animals before at Clan meetings from the Clan that lived far to the south, but had never personally seen them. They were amazing to watch, and fast. He followed one of them that was swimming on the surface of the waves, and watched as the seal hopped up onto the top of a rock in the shallows. He had a silver fish in his mouth, and settled down to eat.
Another seal caught his eye, heading for the same rock from the southeast. Draag watched him swimming on top of the water, in awe of the seemingly effortless way he moved. Something was following the seal, and Draag almost jumped out of his skin when a wide fin appeared , breaking the surface of the water behind the unsuspecting seal. A huge shark busted the water right behind him, and his huge, white mouth full of jagged teeth caught the seal from behind. The shark twisted and shook the seal from side to side a few times, then tossed the lifeless body up into the air. The seal hit the water limply, and the shark circled around for another run at him.
Draag looked quickly over to the boys, now in waist deep water.
"Brug! Mor-tuh!" He called out, an excited, nervy edge to his guttural voice.
They both looked over at him quickly, and were caught off guard by his frantic, but insistent signs for them to come—now. They waded back out of the cold water as fast as they could. As they neared the shallower water, the breaking waves hindered their footing and slowed them down.
Draag watched behind them, fearful of another shark making an appearance. Every developing white cap on the surface of the water made him a little more anxious. No shark came.
**********
Brenan reached over and stopped Ludeg with an arm across his chest.
"Whoa!" His voice just above a whisper. "Look at that."
He pointed to a dark hole in the ground just to the right of the short, scraggly tree trunk a dozen paces out in front of them. Both of them studied it for a moment, then started looking over the ground around them. At first nothing was obvious. As they looked harder though, the signs were all there, all around them. Wolf signs. Tracks and dung both. A lot of them.
"Let's just back off slowly, they can have this tree." Ludeg said softly, and they did exactly that.
**********
Rug pulled a long, thin branch away from the trunk of the tree and clipped at it with his small axe. It came free on the second stroke, and he tossed it aside and reached back up for another spindly limb.
Branag climbed up the split trunk, and grabbed a hold of two of the longest limbs within his outstretched reach. He grasped them with each hand as Rug chopped off the branch below him, then hopped off the trunk and let the weight of his sizeable body pull them down to ground level. The branch in his left hand snapped, and Branag lost his balance and went down to one knee in the grass.
Rug reached up and chopped on the bent branch, freeing it on the third whack of the axe. He pulled it free from the tangles of other limbs and started cutting off the twigs.
Branag sat down, stripping the twigs off the other branch as he pulled it across his lap.
**********
The four men met up a little over half way back to camp, each of them had an armload of thin, flexible limbs bundled together with thin leather straps. Brenan told the other two about the wolf den they came across.
Ludeg stole glances behind them every few steps, all the way back as the sun began to set.
**********
After the hot evening meal, a large group sat in the sand and a long discussion took place concerning the damaged sledges. The materials on hand were not really suited to make new runners, but it was all that there was to be had.
In the end, it was decided the only way to use the new limbs would be to somehow wrap or weave them around the existing poles. This way the new limbs would add their bulk and strength to the original runners, or so went the proposed theory anyway.
Talut pulled the broken sledge into the light of the smoky fire, and various methods were tried. The limbs were just too stiff to wrap, and they were way too hard to hold in place along the bottom of the damaged poles. It took too many wraps of leather to hold them secure, and they all knew that the leather wouldn't hold up for any time at all being dragged across the sand.
Nothing was working until Ranec suggested soaking the new branches to make them more pliable and bendable. Though the idea was a good one, Talut objected. He didn't want to take the time that would be required to soak the sticks and then let them dry back out again. They had seen no further signs of the Eastern Savages, but no one was very comfortable that they weren't following behind, ready to attack at ant time.
In the end, Ranec used a wet out and heat technique to bend the thin sticks. He wet them out in a stew skin full of seawater, then heated them over the open flames for a little bit. Then he used a spear shaft to bend the sticks around them, starting the basic curves required. He was relatively successful, and before long the method was in full swing by over a dozen men and women.
The wolf songs began shortly after darkness set in. Constant and close, the wolves continued howling through the night as a large group worked on bending sticks and reworking runners. The wolves weren't the only sounds of the night, but they were the loudest and closest. It kept the camp on alert, and two groups of five guards each took their positions on top of the dunes on either side of the tent.
It was a long, busy night.
**********
It was well past dawn before the last sledge was repaired. As tired as they were, they ate a hot meal of leftover stew with added jellyfish and eel before breaking camp and heading out. There was a chill on the salty wind, but the sun was bright in a partly cloudy sky.
The sledges were even harder to push with the new, fatter runners with the twisted new sticks bogging them down. It took two men to a sledge every step of the way.
They trudged on.
**********
The next two days brought the mountain range closer and closer. One more day would put them at the base of the low end of the range.
Food stores began running out, even dried meat was running perilously low. If it weren't for Brug and Mortan's twice daily excursions on the beach, fresh foods would have been nonexistent. The boys became quite expert in scavenging the shores, and seldom came back without a basket full of bounty from the sea.
Draag watched and learned as he tagged along with them as a protector. He had become very deft at locating and digging up clams from the wet sand along the water's edge. The consummate hunter, Draag enjoyed learning better how to take advantage of this vast, previously unharvested resource. With his leg limiting his hunting prowess more than he would have liked, it was just another way for him to contribute.
**********
As the travelers approached the low rise of the start of the mountain range, the terrain began to slowly evolve. The sand dunes grew to new heights and pressed in closer to the surf, and the grasslands petered out into scrub brush and short, wind blown trees. The dunes began to be covered with a new and different type of vegetation. Stiff deep green triple stemmed plants that grew about knee high with flat, broad spiked leaves grew close together and in tight clumps. Most of the odd plants had a single pod in the center that probably held a flower at some time or another in its life cycle.
The high ground funneled the winds off the sea into a more northerly direction, creating stronger and slightly warmer, heavily gusting breezes. With the higher winds, the sand had a definite tendency to be much dryer, and carried much more easily and readily on the winds. Light, gritty sand got into everything, even the food.
The diminishing widths of the shorelines became rockier and in some places morphed into large patches of gravel with little or no sand at all. The light grey and deep brown, fist sized rock flats slowed their progression considerably and put further wear and tear on the patched together sledge runners. At times, they had to gang up and actually carry them over some of the rougher ground.
The progress made was slow and extremely tedious, but steady.
**********
"There, there they are again." Mortan said excitedly, pointing up the long slope of the low mountain to the southeast. "Right there!"
Brug and Draag both studied the heavy brush and scraggly trees at the higher elevations, looking for anything that looked even remotely out of place. Both of them saw it at the same time, a single ram lifting his head up to look around, his magnificent curved horns curling around the sides of his face.
'Let's go back and tell the others.' Draag signed.
The three of them turned back to the northeast and headed toward the campsite still being set up for the night. It wasn't far and with the excited spring in their steps it didn't take long for them to get there.
**********
"...the only way to hunt mountain goats effectively is to get above them." Ludeg was saying, the discussion on how to get at these mountain goats had been going on for a while.
"Agreed, but from where we are they will see us for sure if we try to work our way up the side of the mountain in daylight. We'll have to go up in the dark." Danug argued.
"Danug's right, how else can we get even close to them?" Salen added.
"It's rough climbing in the dark." Frebec put his opinion in the mix.
Tornec stayed busy, translating for the Clan hunters who were grouped together in the center of the gathering around the fire on the west side of the camp.
'I can lead us up the mountain quietly.' Troog signed, and the gather quieted as Tornec spoke his words.
'Our Clan often hunted country similar to this, it can be done.' Rug signed, agreeing with Troog, a very solemn but satisfied look on his face.
Talut grinned, if anyone could get them close enough to hunt this band of goats, it would be his Clan hunters. He had total confidence in their hunting abilities, he had seen their skills and incredible resolve enough times on this journey.
"Good." Talut said, loud enough to quiet the others still talking amongst themselves. "Rug and Troog will lead this hunt."
All eyes went to the two men of the Clan, and the discussion slowed as Tornec had to put their silent instructions into words for the rest of them.
Mog-ur sat back, watching proudly. He was no longer surprised by the way the hunters of the Others respected his hunters of the Clan, but it pleased him nevertheless. The way the two different peoples worked and lived together in such smooth harmony was rather inspiring. Mog-ur often wondered if this would continue, and if his Clan would end up staying with these Others when their destination was achieved. It would prove to be interesting, he thought.
**********
Eleven men and two women followed quietly behind Rug and Troog as they worked their way up the rocky slope. The half moon gave off a little light, but their night vision didn't allow them to see very far out in front of them. Footing was mostly pretty good, the slope was terraced with rock and gravel bands that the men of the Clan followed between short ascensions. The higher they got, the more grass, brush, and small trees they encountered. The slope of the mountainside grew steeper as they climbed steadily higher and higher. They followed more thin ledges as the density of the brush increased and slowed their ability to walk quietly.
Night sounds were clear but distorted by the heights and the winds grew, increasing with more gusts and stronger. Owls and nighthawks were heard often from above them, and wolves howled from the south and from somewhere beyond the other side of the peak. Somewhere above them farther to the south, a brief but loud fight took place between a badger and something else that was hard to discern. Many small, mostly unseen animals rustled through the brush around them, escaping into the darkness of the night.
The hunters stayed alert, and slightly on edge in the unfamiliar territory. The climb was tiring even at this slow and careful pace. There were no stops to rest, it was important that they got up higher on the slope than where they last saw the goats before sunrise.
They moved steadily on.
**********
Rug and Troog both stopped at the same time, both of them had caught the faint scent. Troog licked the back of his hand and held it up into the soft wind, the winds came from the south. They looked at each other for a long moment, then moved on up the slope even more slowly and quietly than before. The scent grew stronger on the gusting breeze with each whiff they caught.
Troog saw stars over the tops of the short, thick trees to his left. They were very near the peak. He and Rug veered a little more easterly and climbed up a steep bluff. When the bluff leveled off, the Clan hunters found themselves in a tangle of thick, thorn covered briars that grabbed and tore at their leggings. The dead, brittle leaves that still clung to the stiff stems rustling as they tried to find a clear path through.
The briars thinned at a waist high bluff of solid, jagged rock. Rug used a gnarly overhanging tree limb to pull himself up. When he stood up straight, he gasped at what he saw down in the valley below. Camp fires, a lot of them. Even through the darkness, they could see the smoke swirling through the valley below where the winds seemed to hold no constant direction. Now the knew the source of the scents they had caught before.
**********
"I don't guess we can assume them to be friendly." Talut whispered as the entire group of hunters looked down at the huge camp.
"It has to be the Eastern Savages, doesn't it?" Ludeg asked softly. "That camp we busted up were probably a hunting party from here."
"Probably." Talut said simply.
The moon was almost completely out of sight now, but the sunrise was not due for a good little while yet. Stars glistened above them, bright in a partly cloudy sky.
**********
Draag walked the perimeter of the camp checking on the three pair of men on guard duty. All were awake and alert, with so many of the men out hunting Draag took it on himself to assume the responsibility of the safety of the camp.
It was almost dawn, and he knew the boys would be wanting to go back to the seashore soon. It was their daily ritual. Draag walked off the top of the sand dune and back to the camp fire.
Etra nursed her baby in one arm and made up a basket of morning tea with the other. Wymez and Rymar sat near the fire with the two boys who were both pulling their spear scabbards over their shoulders and getting ready to go. Draag joined them, and Ova walked out of the tent with a small basket of food leftover form the night before. He motioned for her, and took the sleeping infant from her, cradling the little pretty little girl gently in his arms.
The shrill whistles of a covey of blue quail rang out from the grassy slope to the southeast. Sea gulls answered them with calls of their own from the shoreline to the west. Wrens, sparrows, and thrush's added their morning whistles and chirps from all over and the entire area slowly came to life.
Draag was almost finished with his second cup of an alfalfa based tea when the baby girl began to get restless in the crook of his arm. Ova sat beside him and took her, the wrap around the babies butt was a little stinky and Ova walked away from the fire to take care of her.
Brug stared at Draag, waiting as patiently as he could for the older hunter to stand up, the signal for the boys that it was time to go. The first faint glow of the coming dawn was becoming visible, and both boys were anxious.
"Draag." Wymez said, getting his attention.
When he looked over, Wymez made a subtle hand gesture toward he and Rymar that meant they both wanted to go with them. Draag nodded, and the three men stood up together.
Brug and Mortan took off, scampering out of the camp toward the shoreline ahead of them.
**********
The valley floor was still in the shadows, but the faint light made the size of the camp quite visible. The low lying depression of moderately wooded land was no where near as far down the slope as the sea was on the opposite side of the mountain. They were definitely in the higher elevations now.
There were more fires and conically shaped tents than any of the hunters could possibly count, and people were already milling about in droves. The only real clue as to who they were was seen as the sun slowly lit the camp. They all seemed to have straight, black hair.
"Wow, now that's quite a bunch of people." Ludeg whispered, his eyes wide.
"Now what?" Danug asked, looking at Talut who knelt twisting the bottom of his red beard, deep in thought.
"Well, it would be best if they didn't know we are here." He began. "But I think we could still try and hunt the mountain goats. Does any one see any guards positioned very high up anywhere?"
Talut's question spurred them all to scan the hillside between them and the camp below. It was quiet for the longest time as they all searched the wooded drop off and beyond. If the savages had guards posted, none were spotted.
"All right, Rug, it's your call." Talut said finally breaking the silence. "How do we hunt the goats?"
Rug nodded as Tornec translated Talut's question, and he motioned for them to follow him and moved quietly down off the peak far enough to be out of sight of the camp below.
**********
Wymez used a pointed stick to dig for a clam int the wet sand that Draag had pointed out to him, Rymar was doing the same thing a few steps away. Draag watched the sand as he walked slowly, and dropped to his knees to dig at the slight indention in front of him.
Brug poked at the carcass of some kind of silver fish with a greenish blue head and tail that had washed ashore just up from the waterline. A huge bite had been taken right out of the middle of him by something big. He used his spear to roll the fish remains over and reached down and plucked three crabs feeding from the jagged meat.
Mortan walked on down the edge of the water, a flurry of movement began as the sand gave way to another wide swatch of gravel. There were crabs galore, and he dropped his spear and started to chase them down. They were quick and found hiding places easily in the fist sized gravel, but Mortan's eyes were sharp and he didn't let too many get away that he tried for.
Brug saw what Mortan was into, and rushed over to join in the hunt. They gathered a lot of crabs, filling the basket high with the tasty tidbits.
**********
The goats grazed in a long, broken line on dead grass and leaves along a narrow rocky ridge some thirty paces below them to the southwest on the steep slope. The huge male with his heavy curving horns stayed a few steps higher up the rise than the females and yearlings. He was wary and constantly looking around and especially through the brush down below.
'We split into three groups, come around them from above and try to trap them between us.' Rug signed to the semicircle of hunters in front of him. 'I will lead the far group, "Troog" the center, "Tral-ut" stay here. I will give the signal when we are all in place.'
Tornec whispered the plan to the rest of them , and they split up into three groups. Rug led Tulie, Brenan, Salen, and Mekan quietly south behind a low tangle of brush. Troog followed behind them with his crew of six quietly in tow. Talut and Vincavec stayed with Silvie, Jozen, and Tornec and scouted out a good place to hide and wait.
Troog set his six hunters spread out in a loose line, and watched the lead band move on to the south in the cover of a line of short trees. The slope increased for a short span, slowing Rug and the others considerable as they struggled to keep their footing and still move quietly. He lost sight of them through the cover as Brenan brought up the rear and disappeared behind a wide brown rock outcrop. Troog could lean over around the trunk of a stunted evergreen and could just barely see the muscular shape of the mountain goat down the drop off some thirty five to forty paces.
Rug moved up the slope to get behind some brush on the edge of a rock bluff about knee high, he froze suddenly half way over the moss covered rock. A strange sound from just past the brush gave him pause. He pulled his favorite spear from the scabbard across his back and motioned for Tulie to follow and the rest to stay put. The look on his face left no doubt as to his command for silence.
Tulie got a firm grip on her long throwing spear and crawled behind Rug as he slunk low to the ground and up behind a bush covered with dark brown, brittle leaves. Then she heard it too, a soft voice speaking briefly in a rhythmic sing-song cadence. Tulie's heart raced as she took a deep breath to calm her quivering hands.
Rug reached out and pulled the tops of a clump of brown grass gently to his left, peering past the obstruction. There were two of them, Eastern Savages wrapped in heavy sleeping furs with two of their short, long tipped spears between them. They occasionally peered down the steep slope, but mostly sat and talked quietly.
Tulie crawled up beside Rug, and had to fight back a gasp when she saw them. She looked to Rug, and he made a hand gesture that she understood. Tulie swallowed hard, then nodded her head. They backed away from the two guards quietly. As soon as they were back out of sight, Rug pulled a second spear out and grasped it firmly in his left hand and got up into a crouch. He started back up behind the bush to his right. Tulie mimicked him, grasping her own two spears and followed beside him.
The two guards heard the pop of a twig just before they both went down from the well thrown spears. The nearest one grunted loudly as the point bit deep into his side, busting his ribs as the flint cut deeply through his vital organs. The other savage was hit in the upper back, and screamed out once before falling on his face. The sound echoed out in the stillness of the peaceful early morning.
Rug dropped his spare spear and with five steps was quickly on top of the man that screamed, cutting his throat full across with his knife. Blood spewed into the air. He jumped over to the other one and yanked his head back by the hair and cut his throat as well.
Tulie watched Rug finish them off, her whole body shaking and trembling.
Rug picked up their weapons, stashing them in his scabbard and turned to peer down into the shallow valley. Tulie took a deep breath and went over to look down herself beside him. His hands and forearms were covered with blood.
There was no discernable change in the activities down below, they appeared to not have heard the scream. Rug watched for a moment longer, then took Tulie by the arm and led her back away from the top of the crest just as Brenan led the other two hunters into the guard station.
Rug was visibly shaken, but set his jaw firmly and signed slowly but his hands trembled slightly as he did.
'We go on, this hunt is important.'
**********
"What was that?" Druwez whispered softly, looking to Frebec all scrunched down beside him behind a tall patch of light brown grass.
Frebec wondered himself, the sound was terribly distorted, but still it sounded somewhat like a human scream. A distant scream, but human. The gusty winds this high up the face of the mountain made everything appear noticeably out of place and skewed. The odd sounds of the winds whistling through the dead grass and brush, and the soft rustling of the stiff needles of the evergreens seemed to come at them from odd directions. He looked at Druwez and slowly shook his head.
Troog heard the soft exchange and looked over at Druwez and shot him a hard look, Druwez cringed and nodded. Troog looked back down through the short trees, the male was out of his realm of vision again, but he could see three females and a yearling grazing on a ledge unconcerned. He exhaled slowly, Troog didn't realize he had been holding his breath.
Frebec grinned at Druwez, whose red face almost glowed. The young man was so intent on becoming a full fledged hunter that he sometimes seemed to try too hard. So far, he had conducted himself well on every outing he had been a part of. The boy was definitely growing up, he thought, seeing the growth of soft reddish fuzz that covered his chin and cheeks.
A whistle, not too unlike a meadow lark came from the south. The hunters in the center position all heard it, and with a subtle hand sign from Troog, they all got ready to move. Troog looked to Druwez, then made another hand sign to the boy.
Druwez felt a flush of confidence and acceptance, and puckered his lips and whistled twice. Once to the south, then again to the north.
**********
Talut heard the whistle, and couldn't help but to grin. He reached over and nudged Vincavec beside him with the butt of his spear, and Vincavec got the attention of the others with a wave. They all quietly got ready, getting up into a crouch with their weapons at hand.
**********
Draag peered down the steep slope, charting his next few steps. He walked in a crouch toward a flat rock next to a short evergreen slowly, the grass rustling underneath his feet softly. His footfalls quieted when he reached the rock, and he slid down to his knees to look over the edge of the slope again.
Tulie stayed two steps behind him, a hard, determined look on her tear streaked, dirty face. Every time she looked at Draag, all she could see was his blood stained hands and forearms. The emotional turmoil she felt inside kept her mind reeling from one extreme to another.
The sudden ambush was terrible, but oh so necessary. Tulie would never forget the feelings of pure fear and loathing that was always in the front of her mind whenever she thought back to the unprovoked attack on the river bank. The Eastern Savages had been brutal, as brutal and remorseless as Chaleg and his band had been so long ago. These thoughts never seemed far from the forefront of her mind these days.
So many deaths, she remembered, so many evil people. Up until two years ago, Tulie had never even heard of people killing people, and now---she had killed herself, several times. A wave of cold chills washed over her entire body, raising prickly feeling goose flesh. She took a deep, ragged breath as another fat tear rolled down her cheek, and suddenly she felt grateful. Draag had not even hesitated, he had seen the threat to them all and quickly neutralized it. Tulie admired the quiet resolve of this man of the Clan, she knew he had been through a lot in his life and come through it all stronger and wiser. I guess we all have, she thought to herself as Draag stepped down off the rock three steps out in front of her.
Tulie should have been paying better attention to what she was doing, instead of simply following behind Draag. Her cluttered mind was not focused on the hunt the way it should be, and when she stepped off the flat rock her foot slipped. Two fist sized rocks rolled out from under her foot, and Tulie plopped down on her wide butt. One of the rocks rolled to a stop against the trunk of a leafless tree. The other bounced along the uneven ground, picking up speed as the slope dropped off. It disappeared over the side of a rocky crag, and the crack of it hitting something hard over the edge of the outcrop made them all freeze in place.
**********
The old male goat looked up and snorted. The scattered females below him all looked up, and quickly followed him as he took off to the south.
Even in the rough terrain of the rocky slope, the sure footed goats were able to traverse the mountain side with relative ease. No animal was ever more in their own element than they were, and they moved with a grace that belied their speed.
**********
The clattering of their soft hooves sounded like thunder to the center group of hunters who had just started down the slope and were caught by surprise with the noise. Troog pulled his spear up and looked around for any possible cover to hide in. His hunters all froze, raising their own weapons and trying to follow the hard to read the direction of the coming sounds.
The male popped up nimbly between two short evergreens right out in front of and between Druwez and Ranec. He was close enough for Druwez to see the goat's golden eyes with the dark vertical slits that made him look scary—and mad. He suddenly dropped his head and charged right at them.
Ranec set his feet and let go with a powerful throw, the spear flying fast and true. The spear hit the goat full in the ribs just a little in front of his rear legs, and Druwez fired his own spear just as Ranec's made contact. Druwez' spear hit the goat behind the front shoulder on the opposite side as the goat spun around from the impact of the first spear. The second spear knocked him off his feet and he slid down the slope and out of sight, legs kicking out in furious abandon.
Troog saw the male go over the edge and out of sight just as a pair of females went by just below. He got off a shot, and so did Thorec a few steps off to his right. Neither man could see the results of their throws.
Frebec caught a glimpse of a goat running awkwardly with a spear protruding through her neck, and sighted in on her and let fly. A second goat passed her in a leaping bound and then was gone through the brush. He lost sight of the goat he had thrown at, and straightened up to look down the slope.
**********
Talut heard them coming, and whistled as he dropped into a crouch. The rest of his hunters quickly followed his lead, raising their spears.
The first goat came over the rise right in the midst of the last group of hunters, climbing the rise in leaps and short bounds. By the time they got their spears up ready, there were five goats right in the middle of them. Spears flew in rapid succession, and three more goats, two of them the smaller yearlings, came at them. It was almost like a competition, a rapid fire shooting gallery. They were everywhere, and they were fast afoot.
When Talut reached over his wide shoulders to pull out his third spear, it was over. Down below, he heard more animals escaping, those who had not tried to climb the slope made it away unscathed. Five goats lay writhing before him, three of them hit with more than one spear.
**********
Rug helped Troog pull the large male over the large rock ridge by the horns. They struggled with his weight briefly, then the incredible strength of the men of the Clan won out. As soon as they had him securely on more level ground, Rug made a quick sign to Troog.
'We must hurry and catch up with the "Others".
Troog gave him a questioning look, but nodded and squatted down without openly questioning his leader. Rug grabbed the horns of the goat, and with a mighty yank pulled the limp body of the goat over Troog's back. Troog grabbed the front legs of the goat, crossed them over his chest, and stood up.
The weight of the old male was no real burden to the strong man of the Clan, and he walked slowly behind Rug as they followed along the rock ledge back to the south. They caught up with the hunters of both southern groups, and two more freshly slain mountain goats.
Rug took the larger female over his back, and Frebec helped Druwez get a grip on the smaller one. Druwez was determined to carry his kill all by himself, and did, though not as easily as the powerful Clan man were able to.
They continued south, climbing the mountainside along the rocky ledge.
**********
The hunters all gathered at the southern killing field. Talut had removed all the spears, but had just dragged the carcasses into the clear space between the brush when the others arrived. The butchering had not yet begun.
They had all took a moment to catch their breath, and Rug and Troog added their goats to the others all laid out in a neat row. Druwez patted Troog on the shoulder after dropping his goat, grinning broadly. Talut watched with a deep sense of pride, glad the young man had obviously done well as Troog put his hand on Druwez' shoulder and gave him a squeeze. The relaxed mood of the tired bunch didn't last very long.
"Listen up," Tulie said in a firm, but not overly loud voice. "We have some bad news..."
**********
The trek back down the mountain was considerably quicker than the trip up had been in the dark. They had the seven goats gutted out and tied to a pair of spears by the hooves, the two smaller yearlings tied to a single pair of spears. Everyone shared the burden of carrying the goats down, and it made for rather tricky footing on several occasions as they hit steep sections of the hillside. It took until mid morning to get down to level ground, and they came off the mountain well to the south of the camp. The rest of the walk back went easier in the soft, level sand.
**********
"...we have to get going as soon as the goats are skinned out and cut up." Tulie was saying, addressing the entire camp. "The Eastern Savages are bound to find the dead guards soon, or at the least notice then missing. We hid the bodies, but it was rocky and all we could do was to cover them with limbs and grass. The vultures are sure to find them and give away their location. People, there are way too many of them for us to fight. Way too many, we have to flee, now."
Tulie's words were sobering. The camp lingered around quietly for a long, quiet moment, then slowly kicked into action. The camp was on the move in no time, trudging south in the sand.
Brenan, Danug, and Branag made up the rear guard, staying a hundred paces or so behind the long line of travelers. They all watched over their shoulders, and up the steep slopes of the mountains as they walked.
Every sound they heard got their undivided attention and made them jumpy and nervous, and many sounds came off the steep slopes, twisted and made indiscernible by the gusty winds.
**********
"If we stop here, we still can't afford to make a fire." Tulie argued with Talut as the long procession trudged past them. "We need to go on."
Talut stared at Tulie, she was being her usual hard headed self, but with an edge of fearful defiance this time. This wasn't normal, nothing shakes her this bad, he thought to himself as he stared at her tear stained cheeks.
"All right, we'll walk on through the night, but we need to stop soon and give them a rest."
Tulie grinned up at her sibling, and nodded. She was too weary to fight, and grateful Talut had acquiesced so easily. Her hands trembled slightly when she picked up the heavy skin full of bulky cooking platters and such, heaving it over her shoulder and turning to follow a group of women as they passed.
**********
Late afternoon the next day, the shoreline turned abruptly to the east behind a low wooded hill that seemed to grow out abruptly from the base of the mountain range. It was faced with heavy, jagged, dark grey rock that ran all the way into the surf. It took a while to get past the ridge at the waters edge, but when they did it was well worth the effort. A narrow inlet bay stretched out before them and a warm, light breeze blew around the mountain range and turned back across them and on out to sea. Across the bay, a long line of strange, tall thin trees with fat wavy tops blew and swayed in the wind.
They were all weary to the point of dropping, having been on a forced march for almost two full days. Talut and Rug got the tent put up at the base of the hill with the open ends windward. No one bothered to unpack anything more than a few sleeping furs, and other than the guards posted at the top of the wooded hill, everyone else found a place to sleep.
Brenan and Ludeg took the first watch. They found a great vantage point beside the fat trunk of an evergreen at the top of the hill. From here, they could see a long, long way back behind them.
**********
The moon was high when Brenan and Ludeg came off guard duty, relieved by Branag and Thorec. The two of them had been at the rear guard during the entire trek, and thankfully had seen no visible signs of the savages following them at all. With any luck, it would stay that way.
In no time they dug out and lined a large fire pit with rocks, piled it high with dead wood and lit it up. They watched the smoke of the fire carry out to sea, glad that the bright glow of the fire would be impossible to see from the other side of the hill. There was a lot of dead fall on the hill, and the two of them along with Rug and Druwez had gathered up a huge pile of it.
Nezzie and Etra cut up one of the yearling goats into long steaks, getting it ready to put on the spit that Ludeg was finishing setting up. Their babies slept peacefully with freshly full bellies on a sleeping fur laid out on the ground nearby.
Most of the others were still asleep, but the smell of roasting meat would remedy that soon enough. There was a lot of meat to be cooked and dried, if all went well, they would be here for a while.
**********
"What is that?" Mortan asked, forgetting to sign as he spoke, a rare occurrence for him when he was out with Brug. This time, though, it didn't matter, Brug had seen the same thing. The water glistened in the early morning sun, casting bright, shimmering sparkles off the tops of the low waves. It was well after dawn, and the boys felt like they had wasted the majority of the morning having just now gotten out to scavenge the beaches.
The two boys watched the water to the south, and it happened again. A spew of water erupted from the surface, along with a huge black dorsal fin that slid up and then quickly back down out of sight.
Draag saw it too, and caught up to the boys as they stood still watching for more. The three of them watched as the strange sight repeated itself a few more times, each time getting closer to the far eastern shore of the inlet bay. When the water got shallow, the black fins stayed out of the water and they caught glimpses of the huge black and white bodies of the monster sized animals.
All of the sudden, a huge exodus of seals appeared waddling up the shore to the far east. The surface of the water exploded behind them and a black and white head popped up into sight with a seal in his mouth. The orca twisted his head with a jerk, and tossed the seal back behind him where another on burst up out of the water and grabbed the limp body. Both of them disappeared back into the blue-green water.
The three hunters watched with their mouths hung wide open, none of them had ever seen anything quite like it. The scene repeated itself a few moments later, with three of the huge orcas this time, tossing around two seals.
Brug shifted his attention to the mass of seals congregated up on the beach. He looked all around them, hoping to see some kind of cover to hide in. His hunters mind at work, this looked like a prime situation to him, how to best take advantage of it. Brug watched every movement the seals made, studying their tendencies and habits as another group of them escaped the feeding orcas. He saw a pattern slowly begin to develop, and his mind kicked into high gear.
**********
"This is the best meat I've tasted in months!" Talut said, talking with a mouth stuffed full and the platter in his lap absolutely overflowing.
"Oh Talut, you're exaggerating again, you're just hungry as always." Nezzie chided gently, smiling with Manut firmly ensconced to her breast. Her tunic was open to the waist, and his little pudgy hands grasped at the other breast as if to protect it for himself.
The late afternoon sun began to wane into a thin cluster of light clouds high on the far horizon. It should make for a magnificent sunset later.
Not quite half the meat was cooked, and a group of women kept the spit loaded and fresh meat cut up and ready to go. Another group of men and women worked the hides, smoking them over another fire set up on the outskirts of the camp to the southern side. They used grass and soaked dead fall to generate the heavy smoke necessary to cure the hides out quickly but properly.
On top of the wooded hilltop, Ludeg and Thorec kept watch to the north. The watch durations were rather short, as other men took over the duty on a regular basis. It was a relaxing afternoon, and everyone tried to catch up on the meals they had missed throughout their rapid exodus.
Druwez hung around with Wymez, Rymar, Branag, Danug, and Brenan at the north side of the fire. He liked the company of these expert tool makers, and joined them whenever they got together to ply their trades. They always seemed to be willing to teach him and never grew tired of his constant questions. It amazed Druwez just how much these men knew, but watching and listening to them dissecting this odd black stone was rather incredible. For once, no one had all the answers. In fact, this discussion seemed to generate more questions than answers, at least so far.
Brenan had brought out the back pack full of the shiny black stone he had picked up, some of it had been pre-shaped roughly, but most of it was still in the rough. It was all Druwez could do to keep from laughing the first time Wymez took a swing at the stone. The look on his face as the wide, jagged flake popped off and struck Danug in the chest was just too funny.
"Ow!" Danug exclaimed, pulling the piece of sharp edged stone out of his lap. "You did that on purpose."
Wymez laughed, then picked up the piece of shiny rock. The piece that had broken off was erratically shaped and the indention from where it came from was oddly shaped as well. It had not broken off at all like he had presumed that it would from the angle of the stroke, Wymez studied it for a moment, deep in thought. He passed it around the small circle, each man examining the stone and offering their thoughts.
Druwez listened intently, learning something new from the conversation than he never thought was even possible. These fine craftsmen, the best he had ever seen, were having a hard time.
**********
Brug and Mortan looked over the flat sands near where the seals had all come out of the water this morning, escaping the assault of the orcas. Draag was with them, and walked the loose, fluffier sand a little further inland.
They had seen no more signs of the orcas, but the seals had congregated out in the water on what must have been a narrow sand bar island. They were in constant motion, swimming out and diving out of sight for long periods of time before returning to the sand bar to eat the fish they came out of the water with. Mostly, they caught a slender, silver fish that looked a lot like mullet from the shore. Mullet tended to school up into huge numbers in the shallows, and more than once dark streaks were seen from the shores that was probably them.
Draag dropped to his knees, testing the density of the sand by shoveling it with his hands. It was easy to shape, and he stood back up and studied the immediate surroundings all around him.
Brug and Mortan walked the shoreline, and Draag walked out to join them. The signs the seals left in the sands had mostly dissipated near the waterline, but they found all sorts of markings in the dry sands. Odd markings, had they not seen directly what had made them Draag didn't think he would have figured it out on his own.
Draag walked around the area, stopping three times to draw a line in the sand with his foot. The boys were curious, and followed him. He walked back to the center position that he had marked, and explained his plan to the anxious boys.
'We dig small trenches in the sand to hide in, scoop it out with your hands like this.' Draag signed, dropping to his knees and demonstrating. 'Make a mound in front with the sand you pull out.'
The boys caught on quickly, and rushed over to the outlying positions and started scooping sand. The sand here was wet under the surface which slowed their progress, but they were all diligent and kept at it. Draag showed them how to shape the mound in front of the ditches and then smooth it over to make it look more natural from the waterline.
The sun touched the horizon by the time they were finished and walked back to camp.
**********
"...what would happen if you heated this stone like you do flint?" Druwez asked.
"That may be a good idea." Brenan answered, studying the stone in his lap. He had little luck shaping this stubborn black rock, everything he tried resulted differently than he was used to with flint. "Nothing else I have tried has worked well at all."
"Me either." Danug said, scowling at his bloody thumb he had cut with a flying chip. The stone in his lap was jagged and crude, and he stuck his thumb in his mouth to clean the blood off it while he contemplated trying something different.
"Try it like this," Wymez said, lifting the shiny black rock up and tracing a line across the stone with his finger. "Strike it softly along the outside of the ridge with a blunt punch." Wymez held the heavily worn bone punch up to the rock at an odd angle.
They all watched intently as Wymez demonstrated, a neat piece flaking off with the first whack of his hammer stone against the back of the punch. Wymez redirected the punch and hit it again to similar results, and everyone of the skilled stone workers watched his every move.
"Wow, I like the looks of that." Branag said, and picked up a similar punch of his own from the tools at his side.
Chipping sounds rang out anew from the circle, Druwez watched their various techniques for a moment before concentrating on his own stone. The first strike he made was promising, and he grinned as he re-positioned the punch for another go.
Rymar took a break and watched Druwez as he struck the stone again and again. He smiled at the young man's funny facial expressions he made while he concentrated as he worked. Rymar saw Wymez watching Druwez as well, and the two older men shared a smile at Druwez efforts. The boy was learning.
**********
Just before dawn, the three of them walked quietly out of camp. Draag led the two boys, insisting that they follow him this time. Normally he merely followed them as they scavenged the beaches, but today they were on a new kind of hunt. A hunt that none of them were familiar with.
Draag stopped well short of their destination, and the boys flanked him as they all stared into the darkness ahead. Dark shapes littered the beach, right out in front of the mound fronted ditches they had dug to hide in. It was hard to see, but the dark bodies of the seals against the lightness of the sand well enough.
'What do we do now?' Brug signed, holding his hands up for Draag to see in the darkness.
Draag shrugged his shoulders, he had no idea, this was not at all what he expected to see. Was it possible to sneak up on them, he wondered.
Mortan wondered the same thing beside him, as did Brug. Brug, however, hung a twist on the idea.
'If we circle around to the east, maybe we can crawl up to our hiding places.' He signed, and saw the sparkling in Mortan's eyes as he did.
Draag thought about this for a moment, then decided Brug's idea was worth a try. He motioned for them to follow, and walked slowly to the east, directly away from the shoreline.
**********
One thing the three hunters learned quickly was that these seals have an excellent sense of smell. As soon as they were upwind, the seals barked amongst themselves and retreated into the surf. The gathered back out at the sand bar island, observing the funny smelling humans.
'We try to get into position tonight before dark, or maybe just after dark.' Draag signed, wishing they had tried to approach more from the southeast and out of the wind. He considered the pros and cons of either plan, there was a lot to think about.
Brug and Mortan were disappointed, but didn't allow it to spoil their morning hunt altogether. They took off back up the beach, scavenging as usual. Draag watched them go, and kept an occasional eye on them while studying the seals more intently from a distance. How they moved, what they were watching, learning from every idiosyncracy they showed to him. He noticed quickly that they seemed to communicate with each other regularly, almost constantly in fact. This was important information, he thought, as he stored this knowledge away for future reference.
**********
At the first shift change of the guards on the hilltop, they spotted them in the early morning sunlight. A line of people trotting along the surf line far to the north in a single line. There were eight of them, their long black hair blowing loosely in the coastal winds.
Brenan left the other three men at the top of the hill, heading quickly back down to camp to find Talut. It was the last thing he wanted to see this morning.
**********
Long before the encroaching Eastern Savages were any where near close enough to engage, Talut put his plan into action. Thirty three adults, both men and women, including Druwez, Mortan, and Brug all trotted out from the bottom of the wooded hillside together. They were all well armed and made a show of it, holding their spears away from their bodies as they spread out into a wide line to face the small band. They stood a few body lengths apart, showing their superior numbers and exaggerating them as well as they could.
The line of savages slowed, then stopped. The showdown didn't last very long, and the savages retreated back down the waterline to the north without challenging the travelers.
The wide line stayed still and in place, watching them leave. No one in the group was sad to see them go without further conflict. In fact, this bloodless victory tasted rather good they all thought in one way or another.
Talut felt a wave of relief as they trotted away, but knew that it was now time to move on again. He couldn't help but to remember the incredible number of savages they had seen in the shallow valley, and now they will all know just exactly where we are, he thought to himself. It was not a pleasant thought.