Death on the Trek (20 page)

As Sister Sun lowered herself, she sent out spectacular rays of golds and reds. Jeek knew this was pretty, but if they were still there at new sun, those colored cloud garments could gather and bring trouble for the Hamapa.

Akkal Firetender had been gathering long grasses on the walk that day. They were dry and brown in this hot place where Sister Sun had more strength than where they used to live. Akkal scraped out a small pit in the dirt, piled the grasses into it, and lit it with a spark from the fire he bore.

The Hamapa did not have a Saga that evening, but they danced to the singing of Lakala Rippling Water into the dark time to celebrate seeing a herd. Brother Moon shed a bright light from the half of his face that was showing and the many eyes of Dakadaga shone steady in the hot air.

Jeek did not want to interrupt the dancing of Enga. She was having a good time, he could clearly see. But when she left the circle of people cavorting around the small fire to get a sip of water, he ran to her.

When can we talk about what was found today
? He almost jumped up and down in his excitement.

You have found out something? You know who killed them?

He did not want to disappoint her, but he could not mislead her, either. He shook his head.
No, no one knows anything more than we already do. But there is something I did not tell you earlier.

She drew him away from the others, into the darkness outside the circle of light cast by the flames.

Even in the dark, Jeek could see her smiling at him, encouraging him to tell her his thoughts.

I did not tell you about Tikihoo. She came to me and to Fall Cape Maker, together, and she was trying to tell us something.

Enga nodded at him.

Did Fall tell you this?

He did. He said she made motions with her hands. But he did not know what they meant. Tell me what you saw and maybe we can figure this out. You and I together, Jeek, are clever, are we not?

Now it was the time for Jeek to give a huge smile.
We
are
clever. Maybe we can tell what she was trying to say. I will do what Tikihoo did.

That is a good idea. I will try to understand what you are telling me.

Jeek thought that would probably not happen, since he did not know what the motions meant. But he started waving his hands.
She motioned toward the water. No, wait. First she acted like she was crying.

Enga nodded, encouraging him to continue.

Next, she…I know what she was doing. She was telling me that the killer of Panan One Eye has long hair.

Yes, that is what I thought when Fall Cape Maker did that motion, running his hands down from his head. What did she do next?

Next she acted like she was holding a small child.

Enga raised her eyebrows.
What could she be trying to tell you with that?

Jeek did not know.
You can not figure it out, either?

Enga started to leave, then turned back and replied.
This will take a lot of thought. There are many things that Tikihoo could have been trying to say. Maybe she wanted long hair. Maybe she was afraid of a person with long hair. I do think she was afraid of someone. If we can figure out who that is, we would know what Tikihoo tried to tell you.

If we knew what she tried to say, we might know who killed her.

That is true, Jeek. We must think about this. I might have an idea, but I am not sure that I do. I can not tell you now since I am not certain.

He felt his shoulders and his spirits sag. He would have to wait for her to tell him. There was nothing else he could do.

Chapter 31

“Some paleontologists find it ironic that for tens of millions of years both camelids and equids evolved in North America, only to migrate into and survive in Eurasia and South America, while they vanished in near time in their evolutionary heartland (Hulbert 2001).”

—
Twilight of the Mammoths
by Paul S. Martin, p. 39

Enga Dancing Flower was shaken out of her deep slumber by Tog.

Awake! We must try to get to a place that is higher.
It was not quite time for Sister Sun to appear, but there was no sign that she ever would. Mother Sky was dark. Her eyes were all closed, or hidden behind cloud clothing.

Tog pointed to the very dark cloud garments in the distance, where Sister Sun should be rising. Long streaks of gray ran from them to the flat ground. Lightning flashed between them and the ground. Rain was coming.

Hama says we must not get caught in a flood again.
Tog stood over her, slinging his pouch over his shoulder and tugging at their sleeping skin so he could fold it.

Enga jumped up and shoved her belongings into her pouch, then took an edge of the large pack and helped pull. The tribe headed for a high hill that looked close.

They walked for a long time, though, before they reached the foot of the hill. It was nearly as high as the mountains that had made them turn and alter their direction many suns ago. The dark clouds were moving closer and rumbling came from them.

Tog Flint Shaper, can we get our burdens up there
? She pointed to the top.

Maybe Hama heard that thought, because she sent out an urgent scarlet public message.
We do not need to get to the top. We only need to get higher than this low ground. We must all go with as much speed as we can.

With a bit of grumbling and a lot of grunting, everyone helped, and little by little the burdens were dragged and carried upward. They encountered plants with sharp spikes that they soon learned to avoid, when they could. Many of them soon bore torn skin from the pricks.

When they wanted to stop, Hama and Hapa urged them on, higher and higher.

When they were halfway to the top, Hama let them rest.

Rest, however, did not last long. The storm was upon them. The bright, flashing spears that Mother Sky threw sparked almost without a moment between them. Her rumblings crashed above them. Enga felt they were going through her. Mother Sky wept more tears than anyone had ever seen. The rain tears pulled some of the plants with sharp spikes out of Brother Earth. The plants came crashing down, rolling past them, some of the plants catching the flesh of the Hamapa.

It went on and on. Mother Sky snarled and growled with so much raucous, hostile noise that Enga thought She might fall from her heights and lie flat on top of Brother Earth, leaving no room for the Hamapa. Enga found it hard to breathe.

Enga could not see through the torrent for more than the length of her arm. She heard a cry that she thought came from Akkal Firetender. She tried to move toward the sound, but was blocked by a river of mud washing down the slope. What if Mootak Big Heart had attacked Akkal? She shook her head. No, Mootak was not a killer. She had told herself this many times. But what if the actual killer had struck Akkal?

The sound of the rushing water became less. The lightning spears and grumbling crashes moved away at last. Soon Enga could see her tribe. They were all there, huddled on the side of the steep hill, all alive, all drenched.

But Akkal crouched over his pouch and his tip of horn where he carried the fire, and he wept.
The fire is gone! I have lost our fire!

Hama went to him quickly, sloshing through the mud and hopping over the piled up thorn plants.

New fire can be gotten. It can be created or found.
She stroked his back and laid her head on the top of his bowed one.

He stopped sobbing after a time.

Hapa leaped off the ground and waved his arms.
There is fire! It is coming this way!

The spears from Mother Sky had lit some of the plants afire, even through the solid wall of rain. The wildfire raged above them, coming down from the top of the mountain with a roar.

The first thought of Enga was that Akkal could gather this fire. But she realized in the space of another thought that they were in danger from it.

Now the tribe scrambled to gather their things and rush down from that place. Running and sliding, they reached the bottom of the slope in a much shorter time than they had climbed up. When they got to level ground they kept running, glancing behind at the fierce, licking tongues, devouring alike the uprooted plants and the ones still standing. At least the lower ground was not flooded. The water had all run off to somewhere else.

When they had outrun the slowing flames, they dropped their belongings, but Hapa, Akkal, and a few others ran back toward the fire, burning itself out on the soggy flat ground, to claim a bit of it for the tribe.

When they returned, the face of Akkal shone with happiness as Sister Sun broke free of the clouds. Akkal bore smoldering embers he had just collected in the tip of his hollow mammoth tusk. When his moss that was still wet had dried out, he would cover the embers with that. For now, slightly damp dried grasses filled the horn. As always, a thin plume of smoke followed Akkal.

Mootak walked beside him and they grinned at each other. Cabat the Thick, who was the seed giver of Akkal, waddled up to them and pulled Akkal away from Mootak, being careful of the horn he carried.

The shoulders of Mootak sagged and his smile vanished. Enga went to Mootak and gave him a hug. She was ashamed and angry that Cabat made it so obvious he thought Mootak was a killer. He had not thought so at first. What had made Cabat change his mind? He had first argued that the killer was not Mootak. She overheard some thoughts from the others that agreed with Cabat. Some had the opinion that Mootak was the killer, but if he were banished, there would be no Saga, so that they had to act as if he were not a killer. Enga could not tell exactly where these partially veiled thoughts came from, but they came from more than one of her brothers and sisters.

The tribe did not go much farther and stopped well before dark time fell upon them. At the request of Hama, Bahg Swiftfeet and Tog climbed part of the way up a small mountain as the others were settling down. They came running back to report that a mammoth herd was not far ahead of them.

Some Hamapa wanted to continue right then, but Hama and Hapa both convinced them to rest.

What to do about the herd was discussed at length.

If we do make a kill
, Ung Strong Arm pointed out,
we will have no way to bear the meat with us
. The meat from a mammoth would usually last the tribe many, many days, and many more days for the portion they dried. Now, they had no firepit for drying. Since they were moving, they could not drag that much fresh, undried meat with them.

Fee Long Thrower had a good idea.
Bahg Swiftfeet tells me that the herd also contains at least two camels. They are smaller and maybe we could get a camel instead.

The camels were easier to kill. The Hamapa preferred the meat of the mammoth, but they had often eaten camel meat in the past. Also, the hide of the camel was softer, although smaller.

It was agreed by everyone that they should try to get a camel for now.

At first sun it may be that we can send out a hunting party
, Hama thought-spoke to them, standing on a flat rock near the pine woods they had come upon at the base of the mountain. A stream gurgled from within the forest, not far away from the sounds of it.

It was a happy group who made camp. Enga, Ung, and Lakala gathered as many gourds as they could carry and went into the forest to bring water back.

Enga thought she had never seen such a pretty stream. It rushed over rounded rocks and swirled in eddies at the foot of a small waterfall created by the rocks. As they approached, a small frog leaped into the water, leaving widening circles behind. A turtle, sitting where it caught a ray of sun on a rock near the far bank, slowly turned its head toward them before abruptly splashing into the water also. If only they could live here, she thought.

The three females dipped the gourds, collecting the fresh water. Ung and Lakala rose and started back. Enga stretched her legs in front of her and stayed another few moments, listening to the sounds of the water and of a slight breeze rattling the needles of the trees. From deep into the woods a bird gave an alarm call, warning the woods of the intruders. The water at the last few places had not tasted good. In some of the places, the water sat without movement and had a scum on top. Enga cupped her hand for an extra taste of this fresh, delicious water.

Enga strolled back to her tribe with a feeling of peace that she had not had for some time.

As soon as she reached the group, that mood vanished.

Cabat held the upper arm of Mootak, shaking him, and sending out ugly thoughts.

Chapter 32

“One member of the genes (
Camelops
) was Yesterday’s camel (
Camelops hesternus
), also called the western camel… Abundant and widespread…[i]t probably both browsed and grazed on a diet of leaves, small plants, fruit, and grass. It was larger than living dromedary camels. The legs of Yesterday’s camel were about 20 percent longer than those of the modern dromedary, but otherwise the two probably looked alike.”

—
Ice Age Mammals of North America
by Ian. M. Lange, p. 158

159

Enga Dancing Flower set down her water gourds with care, then rushed to Cabat the Thick. She grabbed his arms from behind, pulling him from Mootak Big Heart.

When others saw what was going on, they clustered around. There was much racket in the head of Enga from her tribe.

What is Cabat the Thick doing?

What are you doing, Enga Dancing Flower?

Cabat the Thick, why are you shaking our Storyteller?

Enga sent a thought to Cabat herself.
Cabat the Thick, do not try to harm Mootak Big Heart. Do you want to lose our Story? We will have no past, no history, if you harm him.

Cabat shrugged himself out of her grip and spun to face her.
Do we want a killer for a Storyteller? Do we want a killer in our tribe?

Enga felt a fire build inside her, but before it could erupt, Hama stepped between them, pushing them apart with her hands. Hama looked at Cabat and sent him a message Enga could not read, but it was not a friendly thought. Cabat glared back at Hama, returning thoughts to her.