The Thinking Rocks (15 page)

He walked swiftly through the camp
toward Ceola’s fire. He had to pass the small pen Gennos had made for the wolf
puppies.  Dola was playing with them; he had a small bone on a strip of
hide, and was pulling it past the pups.  They scrambled over each other trying
to get the bone.  Dola was laughing at them and not paying attention to
the noise that they were making. Bana paused as he passed Dola.  He didn’t
like this child. Feeling a need to assert his authority, he said, “Those wolves
are noisy. Make them be quiet.”

Dola looked up quickly and seeing who
it was his smile faded.  “They are only playing, it’s not very loud.”

Bana was nervous about seeing Ceola
and did not want any back talk from a child.  “I told you to make them
stop making noise.  I did not ask you to do it, I told you to do it.”
Starting to lose his temper, he shouted “Do it now!”

Dola knew he should not argue with a
grown up, but he didn’t like Bana. Besides, it was his job to take care of the
wolves. “They will stop making noise after I feed them. I’ll do that now.” As
an after thought he shouted “You are not my Father, don’t yell at me.”

“I didn’t tell you to feed them I
said to make them be quiet.”

The pups where getting excited with
all the shouting and they renewed their barking and howling at this point.

Gennos came out of his shelter and
confronted Bana and Dola.  “What is happening?” he asked.

Bana turned to him angrily, “These
wolves are making too much noise and I want it stopped.”  He pointed to
Dola “He needs a lesson on how to act before adults.”

There was no love lost between Gennos
and Bana, but Gennos knew he should try to calm things down. “They are not
making that much noise, but if it will make you happy I will quiet them down.
He turned to Dola “Feed the wolves, that will make them be quiet.” Gennos
turned back to Bana he said “Does that satisfy you?”

Bana exploded, “I don’t want the
wolves fed, I want them quiet. If you can’t quiet them I can.”

Gennos stood his ground, “What you
want does not mean anything to me.  These wolves are mine, do you
understand? You can’t tell me what to do with them.” He looked Bana directly in
the eyes and said, “If you don’t like it, why don’t you go home and get your
father to solve your problems, like you usually do.”

This was more than Bana could stand.
He had a child talking back to him and now a cripple was insulting him. 
He pushed Gennos out of the way. He reached into the pen and grabbed one of the
wolves by the neck.

Gennos lost his balance and fell to
the side knocking Cano’s spears over. One of them fell and struck Bana a
glancing blow to the side of his head.  This caused Bana to lose his grip
on the pup he had started to pick up. He fell to his knees.  As he tried
to regain his balance, his hand came down on the white-faced wolf puppy’s tail.
In a reaction that was as old as a wolf’s need to howl, the pup spun around and
sank its razor-like milk teeth into Bana wrist and racked his hand, before
jumping free and rushing to the far corner of the pen. She crouched in the
corner and bared her teeth in her best puppy snarl.

Bana jerked his bleeding hand back
and yelled. He turned and looked toward Gennos and screamed, “Do you see my
blood? You caused this.” He looked over at Dola and then grabbed him and
dragged him over. “Do you see this blood? Here take a close look.” He rubbed
his bloody hand over Dola face. “Do you see it now?” He rubbed more of it
across his chest before he tossed him aside.  He grabbed the nearest pup
and threw the small body against a tree.  The bundle of fur made a sickening
crunch as it hit the tree and then slid down to the ground with only a small
twitching of its hind legs. Then it was still.

Bana took hold of another pup and
stood up; looking over at Gennos, he said; “Now that is a quiet wolf.” Drawing
his arm back, he said, “Here is another.” And the second body followed the
first to the
tree.               
Gennos scrambled to his feet “You can’t do that, those are mine, stop or I’ll
…”Bana interrupted “Or what? Are you going to stop me cripple?”  With that
said, he reached in and grabbed another pup and smashed it to the ground and
then stamped on it.

The crunch of the tiny bones was
heard by Dola who was huddled on the ground where Bana had tossed him after
rubbing the blood on him. These pups were his responsibility, and they were
being killed.  He could not let it go on. He flew in to a rage and lunged
at Bana’s legs. He jerked at them in an attempt to make him fall, but he wasn’t
strong enough. In his desperation he took a lesson from White Face, he sank his
teeth in Bana’s leg. He was rewarded with a scream of pain, and then a fist to
the side of his head, which knocked him unconscious and sent him spinning away.

“This has gone far enough,” yelled
Gennos as he grabbed Bana.  Unfortunately, Bana was faster and tossed
Gennos toward the tree where the puppies lay.  He tumbled across the
ground until his head struck a rock. His dazed form lay in the dust with the
dead puppies. Bana straighten up and looked at the remaining pups.  The
white-faced one was still in the corner with his ruff up and a snarl on his
muzzle. Reaching down quickly he grabbed the other pup and looked around for
something suitable to destroy it. It was then he heard his voice called; he
turned toward the voice and found Cano standing there.

Cano spoke again, “I said, stop! I
will not say it again. What do you think you are doing here? Why have you
attacked my brother and a child?  Have you gone mad?”

Bana took a moment before answering,
“I’m giving lessons in respect. These wolves were making too much noise and no
one could get them to be quiet. I am showing the child and the cripple that
when I say something, it should be done. Not questioned.” He paused and smiled
“Would you like the next lesson?”

Cano could see that Bana wanted to
fight. “Those wolves are mine and not yours. You have no right to kill them. As
for teaching me a lesson, the only thing you could teach me is how to run for
camp when there is danger in the woods.” Cano hesitated and then added “like
yesterday.”

The chief’s son knew there was talk
in camp about why he wasn’t in the fight with the saber-tooth.  However,
this was the first time anyone had dared say anything aloud. The rage he felt
redoubled itself and surged to the surface. He held the squirming pup up to
Cano, then reached up his other hand, and grasped the pup’s head; he twisted
until its neck snapped.  He smiled and tossed the pup’s lifeless body to
the ground at Cano’s feet.

In less than a heartbeat, Cano’s fist
flashed out and struck Bana’s face with such force that his nose seemed to
explode. Bana staggered back with his hands over his shattered nose. Cano
knocked his hands away, and grabbing his throat in both hands, started
squeezing with all of his might.

Bana grabbed Cano’s throat
instinctively and returned the pressure. He liked hurting him. It made him
smile.

Cano saw the smile on his face and
decided to see if he could remove it. He released his right hand from Bana’s
neck, drew back his fist, and smashed it into his face.  It felt so good
he did it again. Bana’s mouth was a bloody mess. The smile was gone. Cano
struck repeatedly until the hands at his throat slipped away and Bana fell to
the ground and rolled over.  Cano stood over him and looked down. He asked
quietly “Is my lesson over yet?”

Bana crawled to his knees slowly,
dripping blood on the ground.  Then with a lightning like move he threw a
handful of dirt into Cano’s eyes.

Cano staggered back blinking his eyes
in an effort to clear them, it was futile. “No, the lesson isn’t over yet,”
hissed Bana through his mangled mouth. He smashed his head into Cano’s stomach
and knocked him to the ground. He jumped on top of him, grabbed his ears, and
started pounding his head on the ground. He soon tired of this and started
pounding him in the face with both of his fists. Cano was almost unconscious
and bleeding from his nose and mouth.

Gennos came slowly awake, as the
fight had just started.  He had gotten to his feet and shuffled over to
where Bana was beating Cano. He tried to pull him off but was rewarded with a
forearm to the head, which sent him spinning to the ground.  He knew he
had to stop the fight or Bana would kill Cano.  As he rose to his feet, he
saw the Canohawk on the ground.  Quickly he picked it up and rushed back
to the fighting pair. He turned the Canohawk so that when he hit Bana it would
be with the flat side of the head and not the blade of the weapon.  Before
he could complete his swing, he felt someone grab his forearm. He spun around
trying to break the grip.  He came face to face with Koonai.

“Gennos stop!” he yelled.

In the meantime, Hedra had grabbed
Bana and dragged him from Cano’s still form.  Bana twisted and tried to
break free until he saw who it was that held him.

“What is going on here?” he
demanded.  “Don’t we have enough trouble without us fighting among
ourselves?” Hedra turned to Koonai, “Take Gennos and see how badly Cano is
hurt. Try to find out what happened here. I’ll try to find out what this fool
has to say.”  He motioned to Bana to follow him. “Koonai, come to my fire
when you are done and we can decide what is to be done.”  With a scowl on
his face, he grabbed his son and dragged him away.

Gennos explained what had happened.
Dola also explained how it had all started.  When Gennos had finished,
Cano was sitting up wiping the blood from his face, Koonai spoke,” I will speak
with Hedra, but there is a problem that will cause trouble. You,” he looked at
Gennos, “have broken the most serious rule of the clan. You raised a weapon of
death against another member of the clan. To make matters worse you did it to
the chief’s son. You may have been justified to fight, but we never raise
weapons against each other.”  He paused before continuing, “I must discuss
with Hedra what should be done”. He moved quickly away before Cano could
speak.  Looking at his brother, he said “Why do things like this happen to
us? I thought that yesterday was a bad day, but today is not looking good.” He
paused, “It makes me mad, Bana causes all the trouble and we are the ones that
are blamed.  I look forward to the next time I get him alone. He won’t get
me with the dirt in the face again.”  He stopped a moment to tear a piece
of loose skin from his torn lower lip and then said, “Hey, you know what? I forgot
to say thanks for helping; I could be in bad shape if you hadn’t helped.”

Gennos smiled at his brother “I hope
you are not saying that you are in good shape.  I have seen animals hurt
less than you die. Lets get your face cleaned up, although there isn’t much I
can do, it has always been a mess.” He dodged the swing Cano threw at him, and
then smiled more when he saw the way Cano winced from the effort of the swing.

The Clan of the Spear’s camp was
quiet and subdued for the rest of the day.  Everyone except Dola stayed
close to his or her hearth. Dola had gathered the four little bodies of the
wolves, carried them into the brush, and buried them. He hid them so that no
one would try to eat them. He had been told to take care of them and look what
had happened. Almost all of them were dead. It was his fault.  He would
make sure that nothing bad would happen to Whiteface. When he had finished with
the burial, he piled rocks on the tiny graves. He felt so guilty about the loss
of the pups. He had failed Cano.  Gennos had told him not to worry, that
it wasn’t his fault.  The final truth was that there was only one wolf
left.

When Dola returned to camp, he took a
small piece of meat to the remaining puppy.  It was sleeping in the corner
of the enclosure he had made for them.  He reached out and gently stroked
the pup’s fur; it was still soft and thick. He knew that later the fur would be
coarse and much longer.  The pup came awake slowly and rolled onto its
back. Dola stroked the young female wolf’s stomach. It rolled its head to the
side and then wagged its black tail. The stomach was so soft and warm that he
smiled at the little fur ball.  After a few moments of stroking the wolf,
Dola spoke in a quiet voice, “Whiteface, would you like some thing to eat? 
You can pretend that it is Bana. No, that’s a bad idea; he would probably make
you sick.”  Smiling to himself at his joke he placed the chunk of meat on
the ground near the pup. Whiteface pounced on it with little growling noises.
Dola watched little wolf devour the meat. As the pup ate, Dola made soft
clucking noises with his mouth. At first, the pup looked up, but then he
returned to eating.

Early the next day Koonai and Hedra
called Gennos to a meeting. Cano came with his brother.

Hedra said, “We have talked over what
happened. We have decided that the fault lies with more than one person. We
will have suitable punishment for Bana, but now we are here to talk about what
you did. You raised a weapon against a fellow clan member.  There can be
no excuse for this action. If we hadn’t come by when we did, you may have
killed a clan member.  Lucky for you that this didn’t happen or the
punishment that you would have received would be much more severe.  We
have decided that you, Gennos are to be banished from the clan.  When the
sun sets on this day you must be gone.”

“That isn’t fair,” cried Cano. “We
were the ones that were attacked; it was our wolves that were killed. Your son
was the one at fault. He should be the one to be banished.  He destroyed
what belonged to us.”

Hedra had listened in silence, “You
can think what you wish, but Gennos is to be banished by sunset today. That is
my decision. Now leave this place and help your brother prepare to leave.”

Cano stood and stared at both Hedra
and Koonai and then said, “No.”

Hedra was shocked by Cano’s retort.
“What do you mean; 'NO.' Are you challenging me?”