Death on the Trek (23 page)

Hama smiled at this and agreed to let them know when that time came.
How far away do you dwell
?

Yama waved her sturdy arm in the direction of the strange mountain.
In the shadow of the hill, at Tiki Vis. It is a journey that takes less than half of one sun
.

At that, they hurried into the trees and left.

* * *

Enga Dancing Flower held Sooka out before her and dangled her, pretending to dance with the baby, sending her a thought-message that the new home of the Hamapa was a good place. There were neighbors who were friendly, and there would even be a large gathering soon. Sooka smiled back, showing her nearly toothless gums. Enga bestowed a kiss on top of her sweet-smelling head, then set her down to sit and watch while the tribe went about continuing to decide what would go where in their new village.

Hama and Hapa, with Cabat the Thick helping because he was one of the older members of the tribe, walked the perimeter of the clearing, gesturing and conversing with each other. Enga was relieved those three were getting along.

Akkal Firetender picked a spot in the middle of the clearing far away from overhanging branches, and with a nod from Hama, began trying to dig a firepit. The ground, however, was hard and unyielding. Tog Flint Shaper came to him with a wide, flat blade. Together they found a stout branch, notched it, and fastened the flat stone to it with sinew. After Tog broke the ground with his chopping rock, Akkal and Tog were able to dig the dirt and scrape out a pit with the blade on the handle.

Meanwhile, Hama and Hapa had set out pine branches to mark where they thought the dwellings would go. They ranged them in a semicircle around the firepit, just as they had been in the old village, with the wipiti of Hama and Hapa sitting a bit removed from the others. It would be larger to accommodate meetings, and because the greater wipiti told everyone who the leader was.

All the wipitis would back up to the swift stream. Enga sat for a short time in the location where her wipiti would be, listening to the voice of the water. She thought she heard the whisperings of Wawala, telling her all would be well. Sooka stopped her constant fidgeting and listened to the water also. Enga knew she would enjoy falling asleep to the sound of the water running over the rocks that were scattered in it. Maybe they could rearrange the rocks to make an easy way to cross the water here, instead of walking to the other end of the lake to cross where a narrow dribble emerged from the dead trees that had become piled there.

Another large wipiti would be put at the other end of the semicircle for the unmated males. Vala Golden Hair chose a place for her wipiti nearest the spot for that of the unmated males. Enga thought that Vala would probably be inviting them all to her place. She wished Vala would settle on a mate so that jealousy would not arise and so that there would be no bad feelings among the males. Bodd Blow Striker walked to Vala and squatted beside her. Maybe he would be her mate. That would be a good thing, Enga thought.

There were not as many unmated males as there had been at one time. There were Cabat and the two Gatas. Teek Bearclaw and Mootak Big Heart would probably move in there also. Those younger males had been living with their parents. The son of Cabat, Akkal Firetender, would also live with the unmated males.

Her thought returned to Vala. The birth-mother of Vala had been the Hama after Aja Hama had died, but Enga had never liked her. The present Hama was the birth-sister of Vala, so also the daughter of that Hama, but the two females were not alike in any way. Vala was like her mother. Roh Lion Hunter, who was now Hama, was more like her seed giver, Kokat No Ear, a person Enga had liked very much.

Enga finished unpacking her belongings in the space she and Tog had picked out. Now they would need many mammoth tusks to build the dwellings. They would spread mammoth skins over the tusks, after they were set into the hard ground. The skins would be their walls, weighted with rocks, maybe brought from the water, or maybe from the rocky hills around them. It would be many suns, maybe many moon cycles, before everyone had a wipiti, so Hama announced that they would try to get two, or maybe three built before Cold Season. Maybe all the females could stay together and all of the males. They would complete their village after Cold Season was over.

A ripple of dissatisfaction came from Vala. Bodd had left her to finish setting up by herself. Enga concentrated on the emanations, poorly cloaked, and understood that Vala did not want to live with other females during the dark time. She much preferred to be with the males. It made Enga sad that Vala seemed to prefer the males over her own baby, too.

Sooka brought Enga out of her musings. She squalled and let Enga know that it was time for her to eat.

Chapter 36

Jeek was happy that his mother, Zhoo of Still Waters, the Healer, was spreading her things next to the place Enga Dancing Flower was using. He liked being near her. He would also like to be near Gunda, but she would live in the large tent with her parents, Hama and Hapa.

Vala Golden Hair had finished nursing Sooka and had handed her back to Enga. Now Vala struggled to straighten out her sleeping skin on the ground. It would not lie smooth. Jeek saw the problem. There was a root where she was putting the mammoth skin. He thought there had been a large tree growing nearby at one time.

He passed Enga and Sooka, who were watching Tog Flint Shaper drive wooden stakes at the edges of their future wipiti, and walked over to Vala. He watched for a moment before pointing out the reason for the bump.
Do you want me to try to chop this root so the ground will be flat for your sleeping?

She looked annoyed.
I can move over. There is no need to do that right now. Maybe at a later time.
She snatched up her pouch that lay near where Jeek stood. What looked like a stone wrist or arm band dropped out of it. She grabbed it and stuck it back into the pouch in a hurry. The stone was shiny and polished.

That is a pretty stone
, he thought-spoke to her. It reminded him of something, but he did not know what.
May I see it?

It is nothing
. She turned her back to him and he left, a bit angry because Vala was so rude to him.
No wonder most brothers and sisters do not like her
, he thought to himself, keeping this soft and private.

The tribe had bustled about, arranging things, hauling stones from the river that they might want to use, gathering twigs and logs from the woods, and this was after they had walked for so many suns at a fast pace. However, no one was tired. They were energized by finally reaching their goal.

We have arrived!
Hama thought-shouted, in the most brilliant hues she could summon, as Sister Sun began to disappear.
There will be a celebration now that it is dark time.

They rushed through eating the meager fare. The dried jerky was almost gone and very little remained of the three rabbits from the day before.

Akkal Firetender gobbled his meal and finished before anyone else. He piled the dried twigs he had gathered into his pit and fanned the flames until they blazed upward as if they wanted to greet Mother Sky. He piled on log after log. Jeek knew he would not always be so wasteful, but it was a night to celebrate.

The tribe gathered in a half-circle around the fire. He saw that Sannum Straight Hair had already found a small hollow log so he could beat the rhythm, and Fall Cape Maker held the flute of Panan One Eye. He smiled inside at the thought of dancing. Gunda took her place near her parents, Hama and Hapa, with her two younger sisters. When she looked his way, he felt his skin glow.

Hama stood before them, her straight back to the fire, her dark curls glistening in the light of the flames. She raised her arms high and spoke. Jeek leaned forward to catch every word of the Pronouncement.

“Hoody! Yaya, Hama vav.”

Listen! Yes, the Most High Female speaks.

“Hamamapapa ah yaya wipiti mana.”

The Hamapa have a good place to stay.

“Ta Ka. Ta Wawala. Ta Dakadaga.”

We give thanks to the Spirit of the Earth. We thank the Spirit of the Waters. We thank the Most High Spirit.

Jeek saw that his eyes were not the only ones that held tears and his cheeks were not the only ones that shone with wetness in the firelight. A slight wind led the flames into a slow dance for their joy.

There were no thoughts that were not thankful and cheerful as Hama nodded and Sannum started the slow beat. There were songs giving thanks to almost every spirit, the voice of Lakala Rippling Water and the notes from the flute of Fall Cape Maker blending, rising and falling. Jeek danced next to Gunda and he thought his insides were growing too big for his skin, he was so full of happiness.

* * *

After the most festive time the tribe had celebrated since they left the old village, Enga Dancing Flower collapsed on her sleeping skin while Tog Flint Shaper went to the edge of the woods to eliminate before he slept. She had danced her best, giving all that she had to thank the Spirits for the journey and for this place. She felt she was strong and well, in her body, from the ordeal of losing the baby.

She gazed at the stars above, each one clear and bright, some winking to show that Mother Sky was kind to the Hamapa at this time. She glanced toward the place where Vala Golden Hair lay with Sooka at her side, sound asleep. Enga felt she needed to keep track of Sooka and always make sure she was well taken care of. She knew other Hamapa felt like that, too. No one trusted Vala to care for her own baby in the proper way.

After such a glad celebration, a dark thought came to Enga. This thought was never far away for her. In this tribe, there was a person who had killed, twice. The deaths of Panan One Eye and of Tikihoo had not been accidental. Someone had drowned Panan and someone had pushed Tikihoo from the cliff. The only sign of what had happened were the hand movements Tikihoo had given to Jeek and Fall Cape Maker. Enga thought about these. She recalled the motions. There were motions of crying, then pointing to the riverbank. Then an action that was like combing long hair. The last motions were of rocking a baby and walking slowly. Again, as every time she thought of these things, she wondered if she would ever figure them out.

Enga missed Tikihoo for what she could have told them, and for her ability to speak with others, but she also missed her quiet presence. If only there could be a way to tell her Hooden tribe what had happened to her. They must wonder. Someone there must be missing her, Enga thought.

An idea came to her. She could ask each Hamapa separately, in private. She could show the motions to each person. If one of them had killed Panan, would that person recognize what the motions meant? Would the thoughts of that person give away the Hamapa who had killed Panan, then Tikihoo? Enga was convinced that Tikihoo was pushed from the cliff because she knew who killed Panan.

She clamped her thoughts shut when she saw Bodd Blow Striker pacing in a ring around the sleepers.

Chapter 37

“The Abric Romaní [Capellades, Barcelona] provides 10,000 new fossil remains about the domestic activity of Neanderthals. The diversity of the stone raw materials used for the lithic industry and also the variety of the animals hunted show long-term occupation of this specie in this territory. The distribution of the hearths and the archaeological remains from level Q reinforce the division of the occupation surfaces into sleeping, animal processing, tool knapping and rubbish areas.”

—from IPHES (
The Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution
) news https://iphesnews.wordpress.com/2015/08/26/recovered-a-container-excavated-on-a-neanderthal-occupation-floor-from-60-000-years-ago/

At first sun, Fee Long Thrower and Ung Strong Arm started to discuss a hunt. The tribe needed mammoth tusks and new hides soon, before the breath of Mother Sky turned cold. They talked of having the hunt at the next new sun and then began to plan the details. Enga Dancing Flower listened to them and the other females gathered by the smoldering firepit for a time, then went to check on Sooka.

She found the baby sitting upright, all alone, on the sleeping skin of Vala Golden Hair. Vala had left the baby alone. Sooka was starting to whimper, but was not crying yet. Enga scooped her up and rocked her. The child smiled up at Enga and Enga had to smile back, although she felt much anger toward Vala.

When Vala came sauntering back, Enga asked her why she had left the baby alone.

I had to go to the woods.

Enga assumed she had been to the place, off the deer path, that had been chosen. It was far enough away that the odor of their waste would not be too strong, but close enough to get to when they needed it. But Vala had been gone a long time. Too long to go that short distance, Enga thought.

Enga answered Vala.
Then why did you not take Sooka with you? She does not like to be by herself.

She gets into too many things.

Enga grew more angry.
Sooka cannot even crawl yet. How could she get into things?

Vala looked away, a faint frown creasing her forehead between her brows.

Sooka started kicking and whining. Enga thought she must sense the tension between the two females.
I will tend her then, since she is too troublesome for you.

Enga walked away with the baby, feeling the sharp spikes of anger that Vala directed at her back. While Vala was in such a bad mood, Enga did not want to leave the child with her, even if she was her birth-mother.

However, it was not long before Vala approached Enga, who was playing finger games with Sooka and tossing pine cones at the edge of the clearing. Sooka had such long fingers for a baby, Enga thought she would be another one who could stitch.

Do you know where Tog Flint Shaper is?
Vala asked.

He is scouting the rocks for material to make spear points with.

That same line deepened between the brows of Vala.
Do you know where Bodd Bow Striker is? Or Fall Cape Maker?