Death on the Trek (24 page)

I do not. They may be looking for spear shafts. There is talk of a hunt soon.

Yes, I know. I hope we get a large animal so there will be much hide.
Vala glanced down at her mammoth skin garment, thin and worn, as were all of the garments of the Hamapa.

Enga wondered if Vala thought she would get the first skin for her own use. That would probably not happen. She realized she had not cloaked that thought thoroughly when Vala narrowed her eyes.

Vala looked at the ground for a moment, then looked up and gave Enga a wide smile that felt cold.
Enga Dancing Flower, do you think you could find someone to watch Sooka while I show you something?

I can take her with us.

Do you think that would be good?

How far away do you want to go?
Enga asked.

Vala looked at the flat-topped mountain across the water.
To that place. Will you go with me? I think I see a cave we could use, but want to make sure.

Enga thought that would be a good thing to look for. Hapa had wanted to send some males to do that, but she thought it had not happened yet.
Yes, I will go with you, and we can take Sooka. We will take turns carrying her.

Vala pressed her lips together, then smiled again.
That will be fine. Let us go now. You can carry her first.

They walked around the end of the lake and made it to the foot of the mountain soon. Enga had thought it would take much more time to get there. It was nice that the mountain was so close, especially if there was a cave there that the Hamapa could use. They needed a sheltered place for Akkal to keep the permanent fire, and a place for the rites of first Red Flow for females, for First Coupling for new mates, and a place to give birth. It looked very much like a break in the rocks above them could be an ideal cave.

Enga and Vala started climbing up the slope, which was not too steep at first. The slope grew more steep, however, and soon they wanted a place to rest. A ledge was ahead and Enga was glad when they made it there. The ledge was narrow, but flat. She had carried Sooka by herself on the climb so far. It would be time for Vala to carry her next.

From the ledge, it appeared that the cave was not far above them. They could not tell how deep it would be inside, so they decided to go all the way up to it after a short rest.

Look how far we can see.
Vala sat beside Enga and they both dangled their legs over the edge. Vala gestured to the plain below.
There is the river, the lake, and we can even see our settlement.

Yes, our brothers and sisters look small from here.
Enga had set Sooka on the back of the rock, but the baby lay down and rolled over toward the edge. Going over the drop-off would not be good. Sooka would probably not survive the fall. Enga had not known that Sooka could roll over so well. That was a good sign of progress. Maybe the child would walk some day.

If you stand up, you can probably see more,
Vala thought-spoke.

Why did not Vala stand up and see for herself?
Why do you want me to stand up? Why do you not do it?

I am very tired from the climb.

Enga felt a tension coming from Vala. She stood, holding Sooka, but could not see much more than she could seated. She turned around to tell Vala that and found Vala standing next to her, very close behind her. Vala had a smile on her face that seemed genuine this time.

Enga Dancing Flower! Vala Golden Hair! What are you doing here?
Tog Flint Shaper, with Teek Bearclaw and Bahg Swiftfeet, came scrambling down the slope from behind a thick stand of pine scrub. Enga had been concentrating so hard on what Vala was secretly thinking that she had not sensed their presence. Vala had not sensed it either, Enga thought. Vala jerked her head toward them and stepped away from Enga and Sooka. Her smile was gone.

We are looking to see if that cave would be good for us to use.
Enga pointed upwards at the opening in the rock.

Yes! It is a very good cave,
answered Tog.
We have just been there. It is dry and deep and does not shelter any large animals.

Good. We can tell Akkal Firetender and he can bring some fire to it,
thought-spoke Enga. She felt a wave of darkness coming from Vala. A coldness entered her and she wondered if Vala had meant to throw Sooka over the ledge. Or if she had meant to push both Enga and Sooka. Enga could not stop her arms from trembling as she held baby Sooka on the way down the mountain.

All of them returned to the place where their new village would be. Enga thought of it as their village even though nothing had been constructed but a firepit. She kept Sooka for the rest of the day, until dark time, when the tribe had another gathering. No new meat had been caught, so there was not much to eat. The mood was good, though, because they all felt ready for a hunt at new sun.

The Gata males had found straight, strong shafts for spears, and Tog and others tied some points onto them that he had already made. Tog had come back from the mountain with a few pieces of flint rock, but he had seen a place farther up that had much more flint for new spear points, and some obsidian lying as if it were a river coursing down the slope. Obsidian made excellent sharp-edged knives, so he would be back for that soon.

When Tog and the others had been on the mountain, they had moved around to the other side and had seen that a large herd of mammoth was close beyond it, and moving in their direction, toward the water. They could not see that the plains around the mountain had a place to trap the animals, so they would have to creep through the tall grasses and surprise the herd, trying to take out one or two that were the closest as they came to get water at first sun.

Enga loved the way the eyes of Ung Strong Arm glowed in the firelight with anticipation of the hunt. Akkal had kindled a blaze, not as large as the one at the last dark time, but of the usual size. If Enga faced the fire and closed her eyes, she could picture the half-circle of dwellings that would be behind her, the new mammoth tusks gleaming white in the fire, and the tanned hides stretched tight to keep out the breath of Mother Sky when it blew cold. On a warm night like this one, the door flaps would be thrown open, letting in the slight breeze and the leaping light.

Again, she danced almost until she could not move her limbs. Tog quit long before she did. The only dancers remaining as long as Enga were Vala, tossing her hair so that it shone like Sister Sun, and Bodd Blow Striker, who stayed close to Vala.

Chapter 38

“Columbian mammoths had very long tusks (modified
incisor
 teeth), which were more curved than those of modern elephants. The largest known mammoth tusk, 4.9 metres (16 ft) long, belonged to a Columbian mammoth… The tusks of females were much smaller and thinner… At six months of age calves developed
milk tusks
a few centimetres long, which were replaced by permanent tusks a year later.”

—from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_mammoth

Jeek had trouble falling asleep after the gathering. His birth-brother, Teek Bearclaw, would go with the adult males who would carry the largest of their skins, the skin that would be used for dragging the kill back to the tribe. The animal would be butchered and roasted, but most of the meat would be dried to eat during Cold Season. Fall Cape Maker had told them that he knew much about treating hides, so Hama had put him in charge of that.

Jeek himself would be behind the others, with the younger members of the tribe who were old enough to go along, the two little sisters of Gunda and the two little brothers of Mootak Big Heart. They would help however they could. Jeek ached to throw a spear with the females, but had not asked to do that for this hunt. Another time he would again, when the hunt was not so crucial.

Sooka let out a sharp cry, which was soon muffled, probably by the breast of Vala Golden Hair. She fed her baby, but did not do much else with her. Enga Dancing Flower had held the baby, rocking her in her arms, for a long time after they came back from the mountain.

Jeek started to fall asleep with those hand signals from Tikihoo going around and around in his mind, as they had been doing for days and days. With a gasp, Jeek bolted upright. Now one of them became clear. Tikihoo had acted like she was crying, then right after that, had made the motion of rocking a baby. It all fit together. The baby had been Sooka and someone had picked her up and comforted her. Sooka had been on the riverbank.

He crept over to where Enga Dancing Flower slept to wake her and relate to her what he had figured out. Next to her, Tog Flint Shaper was sitting up late and talking with Bodd Blow Striker about the flint and obsidian they could gather. Tog waved Jeek away, giving him the picture of Enga sleeping and a stern warming that no one should wake her.

Jeek slumped back to his place beside his mother and his birth-brother, determined to talk to Enga at first sun. He knew how important it was that all the females be rested to throw spears long and straight and hard, so he was not too upset about Tog waving him away.

* * *

Hama sent out a wake-up message to everyone while Brother Moon still shone in the dark Mother Sky, surrounded by her many eyes.

Enga Dancing Flower sprang up, full of energy for the hunt. She grabbed the spear that had been prepared and ran to where Ung Strong Arm, Lakala Rippling Water, Fee Long Thrower, and the other spear throwers were tying wraps on their feet. She put hers on and walked with her spear to the edge of the clearing.

Hama and Hapa, with Cabat the Thick, stood in a row so the hunters could file past the Elders. Somehow, Cabat was now an Elder again. Hama had brought out her gourd and rattled it as the tribe chanted softly, giving a blessing to the spear throwers walking past.

After they got away from the village, they started running lightly. They had to go around the end of the dammed up water to get to the herd. In the dark they could not see if the herd was nearby or not. The still air did not send them any scent of mammoth or camel. Enga sent up a plea to Leela, the Spirit of the Hunt,
Let the herd be watering. Let us take an animal. Let us not starve.
Then she also sent the same pleas to Aja Hama.

The males and younger tribe members followed at a distance. On this hunt, they would stay behind until an animal was brought down. Maybe more than one would be taken if everything went well.

Enga felt the mind of young Jeek lightly touching hers, but she closed him off, needing to concentrate on the hunt.

When the females got to the end of the lake, they stopped to test the wind. It was slight now, but blew toward the hunters. Mother Sky often stopped sending her breath in the time just before Sister Sun appeared, and also in the time just after she went away. That was happening today. The air grew more calm as the sky started to lighten. The females nodded at each other. Their scent would not be blown to the animals if they were at the water. Enga had caught a faint whiff of mammoth before the air calmed, telling her that they were near.

The hunters moved away from the water and into the tall grass where they went slowly, creeping with the most silence they could manage. The grunts and lapping sounds of the herd came to them through the still air. The herd was taking water. That was very good.

Ung and Fee went before the rest. Enga saw the head of Ung poke up above the grass to see clearly where each animal was. She sent back the picture to all the females. On other hunts, at the old hunting grounds, the males would sometimes try to divide the herd, but that was not practical here with no place to hide, except in the tall grass, no woods they could spring from to surprise the animals.

The herd was relaxed, with the males and females intermingling and the babies in the middle as well as at the edges of the grouping. Nearest to the hunters, two camels drank beside two large males. A female and a baby mammoth waited behind them.

They concentrated on the female and the baby. Ung and Fee drew closer and closer, Enga and Lakala behind them, staggered so they could all throw at once. The other females spread out to the sides to try to catch any animals that ran when the spears started flying.

Ung gave a silent signal, stood up with Fee and they both flung their spears. One hit the baby, the other hit the mother. Other spears followed, bringing both animals down. The baby fell onto its side and the mother to her knees.

A mighty blast came from the largest male mammoth and the group began to run, leaving the water. At first they headed toward the hunters who were flanking Ung and Fee. Vala and Ongu and Zhoo sprang up and ran away from the animals. The Hamapa males jumped up, ran toward the mammoth, and shouted, waving their arms. The herd kept coming toward them. The males turned and tried to run out of the way of the stampede. Enga was almost, but not quite, in their path. She had thrown her spear, so she yelled and jumped up and down.

When the herd was almost upon the fleeing females, Ongu, standing her ground, cast her spear, hitting a young male in the eye. As soon as the spear connected, the stampede veered and thundered away from the tribe. The male mammoth who had been stricken stopped, but stayed upright, swaying and shaking his head to try to dislodge the spear in his eye. The others who still had spears threw them at the animal. Then he was down. Enga sank to the ground in relief, as did a few others.

Now Fee Long Thrower called the males to come make sure all of the animals were dead. The males swarmed over them, stabbing with their knives and clubbing with rocks to finish taking the lives of all three. The baby was dead, but the other two needed to be attacked further.

With the rest of the herd well away and the dust settling, the animals were cut into smaller pieces that could be carried.

Enga had noticed, even in the flurry of the hunt, that these mammoth were large and healthy. They were the shorter-haired kind, the same kind they had encountered in their old home most often. She thought the long-haired shaggy ones must not like to live in this much warmer place.