Death on the Trek (22 page)

Enga was sure Tog could feel her smile as she returned her own thoughts.
Be safe and step with care. I know that two of you could carry one injured one down, but do not make that necessary, if that is in your power. I will miss you this dark time, but I will imagine that you are curled up next to me.

Fee and Zhoo both received reassurances, too, and broadcast them to the tribe. Enga slept well knowing that the three males were alive and well.

As others were awakening, Enga heard the squalling of Sooka, the baby girl of Vala Golden Hair. She saw Fee Long Thrower rise and stoop to pick up her own infant, Whim, then approach Vala to help with Sooka. Poor Fee, thought Enga. Then she joined them and took Sooka herself.

The child was not like a Hamapa child, but she was bright and eager when she was not crying. It seemed to Enga that Sooka got bored and liked to be entertained, since she could not walk yet, nor even crawl. Enga ended up playing with both babies. She hid her face with her hands, then opened them with her eyes and mouth wide. Both babies squealed in delight every time she did it.

Eventually, Whim toddled off to follow Ung Strong Arm and Lakala Rippling Water into the woods to gather wood for the fire.

Sooka, who could now sit on her own, followed him with her eyes.

Yes, you can do that, too
, she thought-spoke to Sooka.
You can get up on your legs and walk. Watch how Whim does it.

The little girl tilted her head and looked at Enga. When Enga smiled at her, she grinned back, showing her smooth gums with the one bright tooth, growing more long every day.

See? This is how you can crawl.
Enga picked her up and set her on her tummy. Sooka pushed up with her chubby hands, trying to get her tummy off the ground. Enga encouraged her, wondering if Vala was doing anything for the development of her child.

Well before high sun, Teek Bearclaw sent an excited broadcast to the whole tribe.
We are at the top. We can see a large herd at a watering place that might be only a few more suns from here. And we can also see a second mammoth herd in the distance. They are here!

Even with the three missing brothers, the tribe celebrated with song and dance at dark time, as well as they could without them.

Jumbled, joyful thoughts flew back and forth.

This is our new land.

We can settle near here.

At last we have arrived.

Soon there will be fresh meat.

New mammoth skins.

The thoughts flew on and on about building a new village, new abodes, finding a place to keep the fire safe, and a place to have First Couplings and births and first Red Flows for the young females. The Sacred Cave on the Holy Hill had been used for those purposes at the old village. Enga wondered if any place could ever be as ideal as that had been.

In spite of the optimism and hope, she wept silent tears for her old home, and for the baby she had lost on this awful trek. She also wept for the two lives lost, Panan One Eye and Tikihoo.

Sooka, who was in her arms, touched the cheek of Enga and wiped a tear with her stubby finger.

Sooka, you make me feel better.
She almost told her she wished that Sooka were her birth-child, but before she sent that thought-speak, she realized that would not be a good thing to tell the child.

At first sun, Ung Strong Arm came to Enga Dancing Flower.
Why were you sad? Why were you not rejoicing with all of us?

Enga realized she had not kept her weeping as private as she had wanted to.
Just missing the old place
, she answered, not wanting to tell Ung everything she had mourned for at dark time when it was such a happy time for Ung and all of the others.

Chapter 34

The scouting party returned by high sun the next day. They came down the mountain more quickly than they went up.

We used the same path when we returned. It was more easy coming down than the climb up was
, Tog told her.

Hama decided they would walk for the rest of the day, even though a good part of it was already gone. It seemed to Enga that they went with more speed than usual. There was a bounce in her step, and in that of all the others. The burdens they carried and dragged seemed lighter, and the sweltering heat, while still very hot, was not complained about. There were towering rocks that shed intermittent shade. They did tend to linger a bit in that coolness, but still covered a great deal of distance.

They trekked through three more suns before they reached the large body of water. They got there early, soon after Sister Sun appeared. The lake had been created by a massive pile of dead trees, which blocked the flow of a creek. Rivulets trickled through the branches and a small stream ran out.

Hama got their attention.
We will trek part of one more day, upstream, and look for a good spot
.

Enga Dancing Flower turned to Tog Flint Shaper.
Do you think she means a good spot to stay? A spot where we can live?

I am sure of it. We are nearly at our new land.

Enga noticed the others having excited small conversations, too. They were all thinking alike, that they were almost home. The tears that now ran down the cheeks of Enga were not for sadness. She saw the cheeks of others shining and wet in the sunshine, also.

The water gourds were quickly dipped in the lake and filled, then they hiked to the other end of the lake, where a large stream entered it. That took more time than Enga thought it would, but they kept up a good speed, and soon, in about three hand lengths of Sister Sun through Mother Sky, came to a place that almost looked familiar, though it was in this strange land.

Needled trees grew along the banks of the stream, leaving a small area clear where they stopped. The trees stretched in every direction and were dense. There would be plenty of wood. Less than one sun away across the water was a strange mountain. It was as if the Spirit who created Brother Earth had put one small flat-topped mountain on top of a much larger one. Enga hoped the mountain held a cave that could become sacred to the Hamapa.

For the rest of the day, until darkness started to creep across Mother Sky, the tribe worked on setting their things in various places, picturing how they would construct the new village, where the firepit should be, and the wipitis. Hapa thought they would need to find a place that was not so crowded with so many trees, but others thought they could live among them.

Some of the females ventured into the forest, carrying spears. When they returned with three fat rabbits, Enga clapped her palms together in glee. Ung Strong Arm, who had killed one of the animals, told them there was a place along the stream, not far away, where the land was more clear of trees. It did not take the tribe long to move their things to that place. It looked like there had once been a fire there, probably from one of the burning spears that Mother Sky sometimes threw during a storm. Some of the tree trunks were charred, but it had been some time ago because the ground was now covered with soft grasses and small bright flowers.

Hama stood in the middle of the clearing, turning around and nodding her head.
Yes, this is the location of our new village
, she thought-spoke to everyone.
At new sun more exploration will be done.

Soon, we must send some males
, announced Hapa,
to see if the nearby mountain contains a place for a Holy Cave.

Hama nodded at this, too.

As they, once again, distributed their scant possessions around the clearing, imagining what the finished village would look like, sounds of something approaching came from the forest—steps on crunching branches, muffled by layers of fallen needles.

Enga did not think they were the footfalls of animals.

Someone approaches on the deer path we discovered in the woods
, Ung thought-spoke to her.

The tribe turned to face whoever, or whatever, was visiting them.

They emerged from the trees one at a time, having walked the path single file. The first one was a male. He was a Tall One like Stitcher had been, tall and narrow, but with skin the color of acorns. He wore his straight hair in a topknot, secured with a bone, just like Tog Flint Shaper did.

Two more stepped into the clearing. They were all males and all wore short skirts that had been stitched together.

Yes
, Enga thought to herself,
these are Tall Ones, people like Stitcher, and like the tribe we encountered that told us the mammoth were not far.

These did not wear the hides of horses like that tribe, though. The fur on the stitched footwear looked like that of bison. Maybe the clothing was bison hide also.

The one who had appeared first ran his gaze over all of them, then settled on Hapa and nodded to him. Hapa turned to Hama, who nodded back at the strangers.

Enga remembered that these people were led by males, rather than by females, abnormal though that seemed.

The males made noises that Enga now knew were the way they communicated, like the Hooden did. But no Hamapa could understand the peculiar speech. They listened to the sounds in silence, trying to read the thoughts of the newcomers. If only Tikihoo were still with them.

Sooka picked that time to start babbling. Enga was holding her. Vala Golden Hair had handed the baby to Enga while she sorted through her things.

One of the males smiled at Sooka and made sounds back at her. She reached for him and all three of the males grinned. He stepped forward and let Sooka grab his long, thin finger.

Another of them motioned, first to the Hamapas and then pointed across the stream. All three of the visitors nodded and all three gestured to the tribe and then across the water.

Enga wondered if they wanted the Hamapas to go over there, but that did not seem like what they were trying to tell them. Maybe they lived there.

The leader reached into a pack he wore on his back and drew out some strands of tiny, tinkling shells, strung on sinew. He handed them to Hapa, who gave them to Hama. The males exchanged puzzled looks, then comprehension came to their faces, that Hama was the leader, and they all nodded their heads to her. They then stepped back into the woods and vanished into the trees.

As everyone crowded around to see the gift that had been given to Hama, relief flowed through the group. They had neighbors and the neighbors, though not like them, were friendly.

Darkness now fell and Akkal lamented that he had not started a central fire. Hama assured him that they would pick a place for it at new sun, but for this dark time, they would bed down as they had on the trek, on their skins in the open. The weather was not yet cool and they had time to construct wapitis to dwell in before Cold Season.

Enga, who still held Sooka, saw that Vala was kneeling on her sleeping skin. Enga walked toward Vala to return the baby. Vala jerked when she saw Enga coming and put her hand into her pouch.

Later, as Enga was falling asleep with Tog at her side, she wondered what Vala had not wanted her to see.

Chapter 35

A grunting noise awakened Jeek. He rose on his elbows, realizing that all of his tribal brothers and sisters had slept past new sun. That was a rare thing for them to do. This was a sign of how relaxed they felt here.

He gazed upward, into a color that must have been created when Wawala, the Spirit of the Waters, mated with Mother Sky. She looked deep and liquid this day.

The grunting continued, even grew louder. He peered with sleepy eyes past his recumbent tribe to see several strangers standing at the edge of the clearing, next to the trees. They were people like the Hamapa, but dressed differently. At first he thought they had shiny legs and feet, but then saw that they were merely wet. These people must have come from the other side of the water and waded across the stream where it was narrow.

There were two females and two males. The males both scowled, but the faces of the females seemed friendly. The two females also looked very much alike.

Jeek jumped up and smiled at them. He also quickly sent a thought-message to the tribe.
There are strangers here. Wake up, everyone.

Hama was the first to spring to her feet. She approached the two females solemnly and nodded at them. They both nodded back.

Hama tried to ask them which person was the leader.
I am Hama. We are the Hamapa, the Most High People. We have come from far away. Who is your leader?

The two females glanced at each other. For a moment, Jeek thought they had not understood the thought-speak of Hama. Then one of them answered in brilliant colors so that everyone could understand.
We are the Yamapa, the Most Good People. We dwell across this water. We live in the Most Good Place.
The other female gestured to the creek as the first one thought-spoke.
You are welcome to dwell here, on this side of the water.

The other one asked,
Do you have enough to eat?

For now, we do have enough to eat. We will hunt soon and store food for Cold Season.

Hapa, who stood nearby, spoke up.
Does this place have a Cold Season?

The taller male told him that it would come at the end of the Hot Season, after a cooling time.

Jeek thought this place must be similar to their old home, just much warmer.

One Yamapa female, the one who had spoken first, told them she was called Yama, The Most Good Female. The other said she was Yama Doe, The Second Most Good Female.

It was puzzling that there seemed to be two leaders. They looked alike and would be impossible for him to tell apart. He thought they must be twins, people who were born at the same time from the same birth-mother.

They started to turn, to leave, when Sooka started babbling. She was in the arms of Enga, as she had been a lot lately. The four Yamapas stared at Sooka, their mouths dropping open.

Yama Doe thought-spoke first.
Our tribe has a baby such as this. Where did she come from?

Vala Golden Hair spoke up.
She is my baby. Her name is Sooka. Her seed came from a Tall One.

Yama and Yama Doe both nodded.
Yes. That is true for our baby also. Her seed giver is a Tall One.
After a brief silence, Yama thought-spoke one more time.
The Yamapa would like to meet together to feast and dance when you are ready.