Death in the Time of Ice (26 page)

Every member of the Hamapa tribe was affected by the injuries of both Kokat and Sannum, but Nanno could only think of her mate, Kokat, and his injured leg. She also stubbornly held the little girls to blame for the injury to her mate.

Nanno had never gotten over that feeling. And now, with Enga and Ung banished, she finally had her revenge.

Sannum could not lie in his wipiti with Enga and Ung out in the cold. They had been gone for three suns. Soon Enga would be too hungry to hunt. It was not time for first sun yet. But he arose, put a few dry pieces of peccary meat in his pouch and, careful not to disturb his sleeping tent mates, went to find them. He was weary from keeping his thoughts about Enga and Ung from the others. He wasn’t used to hiding anything.

No one stirred in the dim light from Brother Moon. The fire sent sparks onto the stones when the breath of Dakadaga, Mother Sky, whistled by. Sannum pulled his fur about him and stole into the woods, in the direction he had seen Enga and Ung go.

He had not gone far when hail and sleet began to pummel his weathered cheeks. Ice soon coated his beard and his long hair. Sannum walked on. He knew the two young females were also out in this storm, alone.

Chapter 22

Enga Dancing Flower had slept, but not much. She felt insecure in the open, this close to the village. Sister Sun had not arisen yet, but Enga brushed the snow off her cape and stood to shake it out of her hair.

A brittle sound rattled through the branches above.

She looked up. A hollow space gaped inside her, then filled with dread.

Mother Sky sent hard, cold tears—hail, mixed with sleet—to make her task difficult. But she could not wait for Sister Sun to join Mother Sky. Afraid someone would find her, she started trotting back through the woods toward the cave where she had left Ung Strong Arm.

The sleet cut like slashing obsidian knives. Enga knew which direction the cave lay, but could not retrace her steps since she hadn’t used a path. She sprinted when she could, slogged through thick undergrowth when she had to, and at last spied, through the trees, the spruce branches that concealed the small cave.

She was halted by a sudden feeling of dizziness. Was it because she hadn’t eaten recently? No, an instant later Enga understood what was happening. She had heard Panan One Eye tell of this in a Saga once. When things are out of harmony, it upsets Brother Earth and he reacts, Panan had said.

Brother Earth was moving.

Something had greatly angered him. He was roaring. Heaving up and down.

A huge crack appeared in Brother Earth’s skin beside Enga and she barely avoided falling into it.

She dove to the ground to avoid being knocked over. The trees around her clanked their trunks together. Some of them succumbed to Brother Earth’s rage, crashing to earth. She crawled toward a thicket of fern trees.

Her hand encountered warmth, flesh. She parted the underbrush. Lakala Rippling Water, the special friend of Ung, lay there. Unconscious.

Quickly Enga rolled her over and put her fingers on Lakala’s neck. Her life rhythm beat in her throat. Lakala was alive. Enga lay next to her to wait for Brother Earth’s fury to abate. Lakala must have been looking for them. Enga was sure she missed Ung. No wonder Enga hadn’t detected her presence in the village. She hadn’t been there.

Tall trees tumbled down around her, startling a short scream out of her with each one.

She wondered if the cave where she had left Ung would collapse.

* * *

Sannum Straight Hair had journeyed almost half a day. He did not understand what was happening at first, but quickly realized Brother Earth had become angry and was throwing his skin around to express himself.

A crack in the earth opened before him with a boom. He dodged aside to avoid being swallowed up by Brother Earth. The crack expanded.

He ran.

The crevasse yawned wider, then lengthened toward him.

He zigged and the opening followed him.

Was Brother Earth trying to kill him? Had he made Brother Earth angry somehow? Maybe by being away from the tribe during dark time? Or did Brother Earth disapprove of defying the Hama? His love for Enga and Ung was stronger than his fear of either Hama or Brother Earth. Even though the wipiti would probably withstand the quaking, maybe the tribe was being punished, not just him.

Hail fell harder, pummeling him like a cold, hard waterfall. It had been falling his whole journey and now coated the ground beneath his feet. His feet slipped as he tried to avoid the crack coming toward him. He grabbed the trunk of a huge spruce.

The opening gaped, came closer. It tore at the roots of the spruce, exposing them. The trunk started to topple.

Sannum shoved himself away from it and ran harder. Why was Brother Earth so irate with him?

Sannum fell.

He skidded on the hailstones, couldn’t regain his footing.

He slid toward the widening crevasse.

* * *

Jeek lost his balance and fell on the wet ground, pebbled with the hard, icy tears of Mother Sky. What was happening?

The bits of dried hare he had clutched in his hand flew up, then landed in the growth at the side of the trail.

He had hoped he could track Enga Dancing Flower and Ung Strong Arm and bring them something to eat, but the ice had made it difficult to get their scent. And now Brother Earth was shaking as Jeek had never experienced. He remembered the Saga of Brother Earth Shaking, but could this be one of those times? Did Brother Earth shake this violently? Was Brother Earth dying? Was Mother Sky weeping her sleet tears for her dying son?

As the suns had passed Jeek had become more and more worried about the twins, Enga and Ung, out on their own in the cold forest. He kept expecting Hama to reverse her decision. Most of the tribe agreed it had not been a good one. But, so far, Cabat the Thick had backed her up and if two Elders agreed on something, the tribe followed their wishes.

But Panan One Eye had been fomenting a resistance, trying to cajole Hama into changing her mind. Jeek had observed both Cabat and Panan visiting the wipiti of Hama many times a day. He did not think they had been summoned to couple. In fact, he did not think they had been summoned at all, but were each petitioning her for his own purpose.

He shuddered with each shake.

A new idea occurred to him now. Were Mother Sky and Brother Earth angry at the tribe because of their dissention? Had Brother Earth removed the large animals from their reach to punish them? No, the animals had been disappearing before the animosity began. But this upheaval, this shaking. What was it? Would it injure him?

A whimper escaped his trembling lips.

Jeek rolled out of the way as a huge aspen whooshed through the air and crashed down to the spot he had just left. It would have crushed him! Brother Earth was angry, he was certain of it. Maybe Brother Earth was as upset as Jeek was about the banishment. Maybe, if Jeek found Enga and Ung and brought them back, it would appease the Spirits.

But how could he find them? Brother Earth thundered like Mother Sky and kept heaving. Jeek slipped.

* * *

Jeek awoke. He was cold. The sight he saw when he sat up amazed him. Huge trees lay on their sides, their roots dangling in the air. The rushing of a nearby stream surprised him. He hadn’t been near a stream. Why had Brother Earth put this new one here? Was he trying to drown him? He would be careful not to fall into the rapid waters.

When he lifted his head a sudden wave of nausea rose in his throat. He clunked his head back down. It struck a rock. And it was sore!

He must have fallen and hit his head on that rock. He knew a head injury could put someone to sleep for a while. That must have been what happened. He rubbed the knot on the back of his scalp. The bump was not too large and no Red flowed. He sat for a while and the nausea subsided.

Gingerly, Jeek tested the ground as he stood. It seemed to be staying in place. Brother Earth’s fit must be over. The angry, hard tears of Mother Sky had quit pelting down, too. The forest floor was strewn with them.

The blow to his head had not made him forget his mission. And now it seemed more urgent than ever. He hoped Enga Dancing Flower and Ung Strong Arm had survived the storm. He searched for a short time but could not find the dried meat he had meant to bring them. But maybe he could at least find them.

He found he could still follow the path he had been on. It was partially blocked by fallen trees and uprooted shrubbery, but he could get over and around those. He continued, although he could no longer catch the scent of the two females. They had to have headed this way. There weren’t that many paths through the forest.

But, just ahead and a little to his right, a new canyon gaped. It had never been there before. He caught the wave of distress just before he heard the cry. Then he stopped and sniffed. Sannum Straight Hair! He was in the new chasm.

Jeek crept to the edge of it, being careful not to dislodge anything into it. A falling log might injure Sannum. If he wasn’t injured already. He peered over the edge. Sannum greeted him with a huge smile.

Young Jeek! I am extremely happy to see you. I do not think I can get out of this hole.

But why are you here?

I am searching for Enga Dancing Flower and Ung Strong Arm. What are you doing here?

The same thing. I do not want them to die.

We can help each other, but I must get out of here first.

Jeek sat back on his heels and pondered the situation. Sannum was stuck in the hole. The hole was a little like the one Jeek had dug when he had hoped to trap a giant beaver. The beaver had clawed her way out, collapsing the walls and climbing up them.

Stand back from this side
, he thought-spoke to Sannum.
I have an idea.

As he shoved some of the dirt into the abyss, the side started to crumble. The dirt was wet and moved easily. Too easily. With a whoosh, the mud slid down, and Jeek with it.

He screamed all the way down.

The mud stopped moving. Jeek flexed his limbs. He was unhurt.

But where was Sannum? Under the mud?

Chapter 23

The woodland musk ox (Symbos cavifrons) was a wide-ranging animal that apparently preferred warmer and more wooded climates than other musk oxen species did.

—
Ice Age Mammals of North America: A Guide to the Big, the Hairy, and the Bizarre
, Ian M. Lange, p. 148–149

At last Brother Earth lay still. Bahg Swiftfeet rose to his feet inside his wipiti. He had hovered over his infant son and Fee Long Thrower during the shaking, but nothing had fallen apart inside their dwelling.

Cabat the Thick and Panan One Eye had each taken his own quick assessment and now conveyed it to everyone. Some of the tribe convened at the Paved Place. Now, poking his head out his doorway and looking around, as far as Bahg could tell, no real damage had been done. He had heard trees clanking their trunks together, and some falling, in the forest, but their village looked like it had survived intact. There were cracks running through the Paved Place that had not been there before, but they could refill them with gravel. All the wipiti were standing. Although a few mammoth bone supports would need to be set back to their upright position, none had collapsed.

The light wind carried the scent of dirt, maybe from the uprooted vegetation, Bahg thought.

Cabat and Panan both withdrew into the wipiti of the single males. Bahg was glad he was not in that dwelling to witness the hostility between those two.

Fee spoke to Bahg.
It may be that we can find animals that perished in the storm and the quaking.

She called the young girls together, and, leaving their baby with Bahg, led them into the forest.

Bahg had never been so happy in his life. Or so distressed. He waved a stick above his baby boy so the infant could follow it with his eyes. One day he would grab for a stick. It looked like he was trying now. This boy would grow to be a fine Hamapa male.

And it seemed that Fee was fully recovered. It was a good sign she felt well enough to lead the young females.

Intense joy filled this warm, comfortable wipiti. But there was no joy outside of it. Hama had been seeing both Panan and Cabat in her dwelling. Was she mating with both? All Hamapa knew this was not a good idea. If a female lay with two males, the two males would quarrel.

The last attempted hunt had fallen apart before it started because two of the females would not go if the others went on the hunt. Half the tribe agreed with the thinking of Hama, especially regarding Enga Dancing Flower. The other half disagreed. They suspected each other of having killed the Aja Hama. And all hunters were needed to succeed in a kill, so no hunt was made.

And the Elders were no help. If Panan squatted by the fire chipping a spear head, Cabat made a wide circle around him to go down to the stream. And if Cabat was drinking at the stream, Panan would go far upstream to take a drink for himself. Bahg was afraid one of them would push the other one into the water soon. The air between those two was thick with rancor. How could the Elders make decisions like this?

What could be done? The tribe could not continue this way. The anger between Panan and Cabat had been raging for three suns now, ever since Enga and Ung had left.

Hama had told them about the Gata tribe whose leader recently died of a sickness. There was so much dissension among the Gata afterwards that they could not organize a hunt. Part of the tribe had left and traveled far away to start a new tribe. The remnants might not make it through the next season.

And the two tribes he and his brothers had encountered on their recent failed trading mission had been even worse. One completely gone, the other, the Cuva, almost all starved to death.

Would the Hamapa make it through the Cold Season themselves? They had to. There had to be a way to mend the relationships of the Elders. Bahg was afraid that Cabat and Panan each suspected the other of killing the Aja Hama. Maybe one of them had. He knew Enga had not. And Ung hadn’t even been accused, just expelled because she was Enga’s sister. That was not right. The Hama’s decision was not good, not wise.